70 GMC of the frame build

[Hawkynz]

Got this truck for $500. Drove it from Texas to Kansas. Had a good running 250 in it. Other than the shifting column being trash it was pretty good. For some reason the crossmember that the shocks mount to was broken off, weird. The carrier bearing was mounted on with wire but it was working. Decided to tear it all apart and see what happens.

[Hawkynz]

When I started this tear down, it was going to be an original rebuild with the straight six. I took lots of pics of grounding wire and shim locations. It took a turn at some point.

[Hawkynz]

Short beds look cooler.

[Hawkynz]

Cut the bed down. 12 inches out of the front and 8 inches out of the rear.

[Hawkynz]

Going with an Gen IV LS out of a 2010 Silverado and 6L80E. Used original perches and original style motor mounts. Got the adapter off Ebay for $25. Really good quality as well. Had to get a trans crossmember. I beleive its from POL.

[Hawkynz]

Doing a 6 lug to 5 lug axle swap. Found a good deal on Amazon. Still have the old axles if anyone is interested.

[Hawkynz]

Cleaning up the rear end. Got some brackets from Captain Fab for a disk brake conversion.

[Hawkynz]

Went to the junk yard and got some calipers off of a 95 Camaro. Cleaned them up and rebuilt them. I used 95 Caprise rotors as well. All this info is from C-Fab and found on the forum.

[Hawkynz]

Added a C-Notch. Not sure I need this but plan on using 4 inch drop springs. I could go lower later with no problem now. Also got a shock cross member since the original one was gone. In total I got an adjustable pan hard bar, crossmember, shock relocators, c-notch, springs and lowering block. All from CPP and not at the same time. Not that I like their products but after doing alot of research and YouTube, I kept finding myself back there. Especially for the c-notch kit. They are high quality and fit compared to other reviews and Ebay comments.

[Hawkynz]

Back from powder coat. I am getting the frame to a rolling chassis before I leave for a deployment. I need to get to a stopping point.

[Hawkynz]

Front suspension and rear end installed along with brake lines. NOT ALL TRUCKS ARE THE SAME WHEN IT COMES TO BRAKE LINES!!!!!! Pretty much had to bend them all over cause a 71 is not the same as a 70.

[Hawkynz]

Engine, transmission and crossmember is installed. I have it in the forward holes right now. Once I get the cab on, I will see where I want it to sit. Manifolds are turned up because they hit the stock perches. This is known. There are headers and other manifold styles that are supposed to clear. If not will have to notch them or get new ones.

[Hawkynz]

Waiting on the spindles to come in. Started to work on cleaning up the bed. Probably going to put it all back together until I get back so its not all over the place. While working on the bed floor I found a bunch of pin holes. There was a rubber bed mat in the bed for probably 40 years. Every nipple on the bottom left a little crater. I am probably going to end up getting a whole new bed. In the mean time I will clean this one up, weld in the holes and get it coated so the rough metal doesn't show.

[cornerstone]

First off.... 500 bucks!?! What a deal!

Nice work on a nice truck! Looks like you know exactly what you want. How long have you been working on this?

[Hawkynz]

I tore it down at the end of 2017. I went on a deployment Feb 2019 and came back in Nov 2019. The last stopping point was the frame cut and weld. Everything else has been since November. I saved up money to get here. Supposed to go to Honduras for a year so I needed to get to another stopping point. Next will be all the body work and rust repair. The truck never left Montague county so the rust isnt that bad.

[slimjim66]

nice build, $500 is a steal for sure. i was convinced you had those manifolds flipped for a set of turbos

[cornerstone]

Thanks for serving our country and sacrificing so much personal time to do so.

[Hawkynz]

A turbo has definitely crossed my mind and is not out of the picture yet. If I could find a deal on one, I would probably do it. Planned on keeping the bottom end stock. With a turbo, I might have to do a little extra. Not really familiar with turbo applications yet. I saw a GMC with twin turbos and the guy had two air filters coming out of the inner headlight locations.

[Hawkynz]

I am going to use these shocks. I got them from Summit Racing. I read many reviews and questions about them. They seem pretty good. I won't know for a while, but hopefully they work well. They are meant for lowered trucks 60-72 if I remember correctly.