Unnamed as of Yet

[Jacob's 72]

So im am going to start posting things i do to my truck onto this thread. This is somewhat of a continuation of my rustoleum thread that can be found here http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...26#post5285526
I decided to modify the rear bumper a bit and i believe that it turned out about right. Help me out with a project name as well guys.

[Jacob's 72]

Before

[Jacob's 72]

Also before the paint.

[Tinkermc]

I' watch

[VWNate1]

I'm watching , you've done a pretty good job here IMO .

Did you remove the lights , grille etc. or just mask it all off ? .

I'm amazed you deleted that hard to find rear bumper but if you're never going to work it like a truck , I guess I can understand why .

When do we get to see the interior and under the hood ? .

[Jacob's 72]

I pulled quite a bit of the parts; door handles, grille, marker lights etc, as well as the bed. I wasn't aware that those bumpers were hard to find, just ugly as far as I'm concerned. I took the bumper to school and put the plasma cutter to work cutting off the steps, i then took the round corners off of the steps and welded them back onto the ends of the bumper. I think the bumper looks far better now. Even compared to many of the other step side bumper options out there.

[Jacob's 72]

Here is the interior, i had a bench seat at one point but was not a very big fan. The Ford Probe bucket seats are awesome, probably the most comfortable bucket seats i have sat in. There is even a control to inflate the sides of the seat and its like gettin a hug from my truck I also made the console out of some scrap wood and cut some some 3 inch ABS pipe to make the cup holders. I have never done interior work so the mexican blankets made a pretty solid learning material. On top of that i think they look awesome.

[Jacob's 72]

Originally Posted by VWNate1

I'm amazed you deleted that hard to find rear bumper but if you're never going to work it like a truck , I guess I can understand why.

I don't think that this was a factory bumper or anything of that sort. When I first got the truck the steps on the sides of the bumper had plate steel that extended all the way up into the fender where it was bolted in. That was in no way good for the fenders.

[VWNate1]

O.K. , now I see : you've never actually worked a pickup truck in the Field .

Those bumpers with the weird ' wings ' going forward to the fenders , are terrif. if you have to drop the tailgate all the time for access ~ no banging your shins against the tailgate nor does it ever get bent and when that new kid borrows the truck to run a load of fence poles & wire out to the far end of the pasture , he always seems to back the rear fenders into a potted fence post , boulder or other truck , those ' wing ' things , are good fender savers . not for City Folks .

I think you did a bang up job on the interior ! looks very nice .

I spy a " Three On The Tree " shifter ? Saginaw three speed manual tranny ? .

What's under the hood ? .

Have you made suspension up grades yet ? .

[Jacob's 72]

Lol. no fields out here in the middle of the desert, just a few cacti.

The transmission is of the saginaw variety. Had to replace a few synchros in there too. Got pretty good at pulling the tranny. also had to tear apart the column and scrape all the dirt out of it. I didn't make any suspension upgrades, although i did have to rebuild all of the suspension. Motor is easier to show in photo form.

[VWNate1]

I like it ! .

I always think of Ranching although I grew up a Farm Boy Down East (Milking Shorthorns) , here Way Out West there's more need for Ranch trucks , different but equal .

Your truck looks about like mind did when it was new , mine had a three speed too , I don't know who converted it but they did an O.K. job (not great) as they found & Used the correct column .

Taking the old wobbly column apart and cleaning out the dirt before greasing , re assembling and finally re adjusting it , makes any old Chevy shift great again , so few ever bother .

I bet you can find a three speed Overdrive tranny in Az. , if ever you hit the freeway , you'll love that option .

I need to look up DIY's on adding a sway bar , I just bought one and can't wait .

Keep up the good works ! .

[Jacob's 72]

Im not sure the gearing on the truck but its way up there. I get on the highway almost daily doing 70 comfortably. BTW putting the sway bar in is pretty simple. kill a few rivets bolt on the brackets and bolt on the bushings with the sway bar. I suppose i didn't mention up top that I'm a junior in high school lol.
Ive thought about a t-5 but the 3 speed is so easy to work on.

[VWNate1]

BEWARE of over - revving L6 engines ! yes , I know that your truck will easily go 85 + MPH with less than 2/3 throttle , however , the engine begins to beat itself up a lot over 3,200 RPM's for any longer than it takes to up shift .

You're right , the entire truck is easy to work on and cheap to repair , that's NO MISTAKE ~ GM used to do things very differently and that's why GM trucks outsold all other brands combined for over 40 years.......

Yes , your C/10 is a *very* cheap truck but at the same time , it was built for an extremely heavy duty cycle unlike most other Light Duty trucks .

The change came when the various Manufacturers all discovered that 92% of all light duty trucks were being purchased for NON TRUCK USE so they began , bit by bit , to make the wretched crap we have now .

I looked underneath my C/10 and another C/10 that came with a factory sway bar , my frame has no holes/rivets where the factory one mounts .

Maybe there's an instruction sheet in the bottom of the box as I tend to give my little SB Stepper a serious workout in the hills & canyons so it needs it .

[Jacob's 72]

The sway bar was probably the best upgrade that i made to the suspension. worlds of difference.

[VWNate1]

As a Professional Driver I'm keenly aware of this .

I just have to work it into my schedule....

[Tinkermc]

so who says high schoolers can't do very impressive work?

[Jacob's 72]

Originally Posted by Tinkermc

so who says high schoolers can't do very impressive work?

LOTS of people. But proving them wrong is a plus.