My sloow project.

[Aaron_L]

Well I figured it was time to start a thread on my truck. Both my grandpa and my dad had squares when I was growing up, and I always wanted one of my own. I really wanted a short bed, but here in Texas most SWB's command a premium price. A few months back I found an '83 LWB with a 350/700r4 on craigslist for $800 so I went to check it out. It was fairly straight with a really bad paint job. The owner said the engine was rebuilt and after that the trans went out. I opened the hood and saw the TV cable wasn't hooked up. I talked him down to $600. Then I hooked the cable up, adjusted it , and drove it 50 miles back home.

Here's a pic of when I got it home:


I'm not say ing the trans is ok, it's screwed up for sure. It shifts ok, but when it's in OD if you touch the throttle it slips - BAD. I may try to rebuild it myself, I've never done a 700 but I've done a few turbo 400's, I wouldn't think it would be that different.

My first project was to shorten the truck. As I said before I really wanted a SWB, so here goes. Me and a friend did it in about 6 hours taking our time because of the heat.

Here it is cut:


My friend is a better welder than me, and since he was reluctant to cut a truck in half, I did all the cutting and fitting and he welded.





He also has a small plasma table, and made these trick reinforcement plates:



All the square cutouts in the middle were welded to the inside of the frame, as well as the perimeter of the plate. It's 5/16" thick, he first welded the frame inside & out, I ground the inside down, and then he welded the plate in.

Future plans include a 5/5 drop, and adding some widened rallies in the rear, rebuilding the trans, and painting it. Also I have a bunch of small block parts in storage so I'll give her some more beans too, lol.

So that's where I stand for now. I have 3 kids, and we are living in a townhome right now so I don't have a place to work on it as often as I like. I have to drag it somewhere to work on it every time I feel like messing with it, lol. We are also looking at houses so my situation should change soon.

[tc4x4]

Looking good so far. Chopping a frame like that would freak me out. Ive thought being I have a long box.