1971 GMC Sierra Grande 2500 "Sadie"

[Odaroloc]

Hey guys! Im Michael and 18, im a long time lurker on the site. Been looking though here since i was 12 in 2009!! I bought my first car on March 31, 2014. Its a 1971 GMC Sierra Grande 2500 2wd. It has a 1972 7.7L Cadillac 472 in it! I get about 7-9 mpg. I saw the add on CL for $800. I was just about to pull the trigger on a 84 GMC Blazer but decided to look one last time and i saw it and called him up! He said he had 3 other people in line to look at it. I was crushed! I thought for sure one of them would've bought it. I asked him to call me if none of them bought it. I moped around for a couple days until my mom picked me up from school and said "Hey, were headed to Anchorage!" I was really confused. Turns out no one bought it and 45 minutes later, i was looking at my future truck! So the ad said $800, but when we got there, the first thing he said was the TH400 lost reverse, so he lowered the price to $500. Test drove it, and offered $450! We got it back to my house and parked it for a while. I didnt have any money to work on it because i didn't have a job at the time. So about two months past and we moved and i finished my Junior year of high school and got a job! It's unfortunately only at McDonald's but hey, i was getting paid so i didnt care. So in the next few months i bought another TH400 from a 74 pontiac for $150. and then bought a rebuild kit off e*ay for about $170. Took two months to rebuild. We made our own shift kit but drilling out some holes, plugging some, and shaving the tabs off of a cylinder piece in the valve body. (I dont remember the name of it ) Taking the tranny out wasnt hard. It was putting the rebuild one back in. we had moved up to Alaska from Kansas about a year earlier from when this took place so all we had was out bottle jack, 4x4 wood blocks, and our awesome strength!! What was supposed to be a 2-3 hour tranny install turned into a 9 hour nightmare! So we got it in and it was time for the first test drive of the new tranny! Backed out of the garage great! Put it in gear, good so far.....then it was getting close to the first shift point, aaaannndddd it never shifted! My dad hoped in and he must have revved it to 6-7K before it shifted ti 2nd. So we parked it till the following Saturday when we both had off. Took it out, tore it apart, and found out that my dad put a beveled ring in the wrong place and it ate the inside of the case!! So we put the new internals into the old case and it runs like a champ!! I got my Permit and started driving it all the time! So ive just been doing small things since then. Carb rebuild, plugs, wires, cap and rotor. All that good stuff. Here are some pictures from the day i bought it to a few weeks ago. Sorry for the quality on some of them, i took them with my phone.










This is a few days after i bought her. I painted the rims black and i took my model car paint and painted the white letters on the tires!








More pics to come!!

Michael

[Odaroloc]

Alright! So those pics look nice right?!?! Well now for the bad stuff! RUST!!











Passenger side is completely gone!






Some engine Pics!




Another good shot!


More to come!

Michael

[Odaroloc]

So after driving it for awhile and meeting some awesome people at work, i was going out with a girl so what did i have to do!? Spend 3-4 hours washing and waxing her of course!! If you look closely, you can see our rv in the paint. This is original paint from 71!

[cooperhw]

Very nice truck. As to "no build". When you are your age "just keeping em running is your build".
Enjoy your truck and life. The whole world is in your future.

[Odaroloc]

So i haven't been on here for a long time, life gets in the way sometimes, but since my last post, I have been building a 350 to replace the leaking, knocking caddy 472 thats in it now, also the dana 60 4.10 decided to eats itself :/ so does anyone know where i can find a set of 4.10 gears that isnt going to break the bank? and will any 4.10 ring and pinion work? cause im finding them online for around $140-$200 but im not sure if itll bolt up or not. I dont want to buy it and find out i cant use it. Thanks! Mike

[Odaroloc]

Wow its been a while since ive posted any updates. So since my last post, my truck has sat in the same place, still waiting on a rear end. I bought a posi unit but the carrier bearing cap/retainer (honestly not sure what its called) broke in half and i havent been able to find another. But ive painted my 78 gmc K25 in my driveway and its everything but good lol. But ive also bought a 75 Camaro. Had a blown engine so i put the 355 that i was building for the 71 into it and its amazing! I only drove it for about a week before the cold snap happened here in Alaska and winter set in But its gonna be fun in the summer! So i also picked up this 1960 buick on a 76 K10 frame with a 454/4-speed Unfortunatly i already have 3 projects i had to let the buick go but i got an awesome welder and parts to my 92 jeep cherokee! Plan for the 71 right now is to find a nice rebuildable 396 for it, fix rust and do a small resto on it. Possibly a frame off if i have a garage by then. Right now i have no garage and i thought i could work through the alaskan winter outside but nope lol i got bronchitis twice! lol Im gonna see what i can do now but there may not be alot of progress till closer to spring. Heres the pics! Some are just random pics i took of my driveway, i have too many vehicles and projects for an 18 year old lol. Enjoy!