MY '70 GMCCHEVY SWB Build: Keep it Driveable

[KRUSTY 51]

Well I'm new to the site and I thought I should share my trucks story. Back up the time machine to 9 years ago, I was in the middle of remodeling my house when the '63 VW truck I had borrowed from my dad caught fire on the highway and burned up.( He was really bummed, but insurance fixed it), so I needed a cheap truck to drive. A friend found this truck and after haggling with the owner I paid him $2300 & drove it away( stuck in 1st. gear) about 5 miles to my dads house.
This is what I had :1970 GMC swb,good running396 motor, 3spd manual trans with funky Hurst floor shifter, manual drum brakes, manual steering with a 14'' wood wheel, 15x8 E.T. Turbine rims,all 4 tires a different size,crappy old glasspacks turned out in front of the rear wheels (nascar style) really shoddy wiring that the P.O. did to get lights,wipers and misc. things to ?work?. My dad wouldn't let me drive it away from his house until I fixed.....
1. new tires
2. tranny linkage issues
3. All the funky wiring strung across the front of the truck.
4. Headlights issues (they were wired straight to the battery)
So the lights just needed a new dimmer switch, tranny linkage was a broken Z-bar pivot & broken shift rod, bent rod from the pedal to the Z-bar, adjusted the brakes, and bought new tires. Now it was road worthy, quick scrub/wash and I drove it home. My son was 3 in the first picture (sorry it's a pic of a pictures) I drove it this way for about 5 years, then decided to start upgrading so things.
First I ordered a 4-wheel power disc brake kit from CPP, then 2.5" dropped spindles,2" dropped coils &5" dropped coils from ECE,their hidden trailer hitch, their 1 1/4" front sway bar. and I picked up a chrome sport bumper from the Truckshop at a GoodGuys swapmeet, swaped out the E.T. rims fora set of 6 lug rallys.(pic 3 is how it turned out).I drove it like that until Last Dec.

[KRUSTY 51]

Update my son is now 12 and my youngest son is 7. It was my intension to keep this truck 100% driveable no matter what, no tearing down and letting it sit waiting for parts, and NO MONEY out of the household, meaning I have to earn extra money doing work for other people.my friend Dave had given me his old truck, a running driveable but rusty '69 LWB, so over the month of NOV. I completely stripped down that truck.
What I kept were the P.S. box,doors, and front clip for my truck. I kept the 350/350 to install into my wagon. then sold everything else including the chassis. with the money I made I bought all the P.S. parts I needed (big block) at the GG swapmeet.
Fast forward to Dec. 17th 2011. My boys have no school for 3 weeks, Christmas break. I decided to use some vacation time to work on the truck. I took the chevy front clip apart and cleaned and painted the core support, fender wells,(aerosol overhaul) semi-gloss black. Then I took the wiring harness apart and repaired/replaced any "iffy" wires.on to the truck, I removed the old manual steering box and installed the new ps parts on the truck...WOW what a difference power steering makes. then over the next few days I took the GMC clip off and installed the chevy core support, and fenders ,then the wiring harness for the front end.
JAN. 2012:
I aligned all the sheet metal, installed the bumper (it's got a slight bend in it ) and then installed all my old lower trim. I painted the black on the grille & headlight rings, welded the holes on the hood where the letters were.

[KRUSTY 51]

Now here's what I forgot to tell in the last posts, When I did the discs, lowering, I converted the 3spd. tranny to a built up turbo 350 short shaft, so I didn't cut the driveshaft any. installed a auto column, 'stock '74 steering wheel ( a freebie) Headman long tube headers & Flow masters with a 2.5" pipes run out the back tucked up and dumped below the rear bumper. I have collected new sheetmetal for the inner/outer rockers, cab corners, and I need to get pieces for the kick panel /A pillar on the leftside, cab supports for the L&R front witch mine have rust. I installed a new outer gauge panel & cleaned and painted the black part. So thats the jist of it, I got the back-up lights working thanks to this site...thats how I came to find this place, and why I decided to start this thread.

[KRUSTY 51]

Latest update: the heater works now, this last weekend I spent some time chasing wires and replacing a relay on the heater box under the dash. It's nice to be able to see out of a defrosted windshield. I also installed my $5 tailgate band. I installed a new 650 carb and had some questions about a part ( on the message board) that I don't Know what it's for. Please give me some feedback, comments, advise, positive,negative or whatever. I have more to do, but it's gonna take a while.

[67c10rustbuket]

Nice truck and cool history, Man I hate rust. surprised you got that much out in cali. keep up the progress !

[shawno72]

I like it already keep it up.