1969 GMC Short Fleet Build

[lolife99]

Oh man,... I thought there was an update. .

[gcburdic]

....me too!!!

[djmachinist]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Oh man,... I thought there was an update. .

Sorry Keith and Geoff, Did not mean to trick you.....

I have done some updates to the truck, I had it rewired with a Painless
wiring harness. Other than that , I have been taking care of a few bugs
that were left on the "To-Do List" from the initial build such as finding and fixing a bad rattle coming from the passenger side floor board. Turned out to be the new Hooker full length headers hitting the frame. I fixed that. The truck now has about 4ooo miles on it now, the engine/drivetrain is smoothing out very nicely. I have been driving it to work a couple of days a week. I am pretty happy with the truck.

Dale

[djmachinist]

Well, I'm having the engine worked on again. I was not happy with the original ZZ4 350. The engine ran on 93 octane only with the CR of 10:1. It did not idle very well for a fairly mild engine and its off idle street manors were not very good. On top of that, no way the engine put out the 355 HP that GM claims. Well I then went wild and had the ZZ4 stroked to a 383 ci.
with AFR 180 Heads, Comp Cams HR269H cam, Edelbrock RPM AirGap manifold and topped off with a Quick Fuels 680 Holly type carb w/ full headers and magnaflow mufflers. I have put about 3000 mile on this set up in the last eight months. The engine is pretty good. Puts out about 420 HP/ 430FT/LB
of torque. The low speed off idle responce has improved from the ZZ4, however the MPG is still pretty bad at about 9 mpg if I take it easy.

I thought I wanted this kind of engine, a real hot rod, however I have found I do not really want to live with this engine on a daily basis. So..... I am backing down the cam and carb specs. I am having Bumbera's performance install a milder Comp offroad cam that Comp tells me will improve the low end responce and torque and smooth out the idle with very good gas miledge over what I have now. I also am changing the carb from the QF Holly to a Sean Murphy built Quadrajet. I have read and talked to a lot of people about the Quadrajet. I've heard everything from the "Best Street Carb ever made" to the quadrajet refered to as "quadraJunk". My Engine man (Kenny Bumbera) says If built and tuned properly they are a very good street carb. The idea is the small primaries give you excellent off idle response and good gas miledge. And the huge secondaries give you decent power if you want it. I hope this will accomplish what I am trying to get too. I want an engine that has good low speed and idle manors with decent MPG. Yet will produce decent power.
I know I should not care about gas miledge on a vehicle I will drive only 3 to 4 thousand miles a year. But for some reason it bothers me I am only getting 8 to 9 MPG. I will post the verdict after I get a few miles on this set up.


Dale

[Bennett68C10]

Good luck with the changes to the motor, hope everything works out the way you want it to. Is that a Endurashine Manifold, very nice.

[lolife99]

The description of the engine you want sounds alot like a 5.3 or 6.0 LS swap.
I know you have a ton of money in your current set-up,... but it might be something to think about.
I would love to have an LS engine in one of my trucks,... but I don't know enough about the swap.

[djmachinist]

Originally Posted by lolife99

The description of the engine you want sounds alot like a 5.3 or 6.0 LS swap.
I know you have a ton of money in your current set-up,... but it might be something to think about.
I would love to have an LS engine in one of my trucks,... but I don't know enough about the swap.

Keith,
You are right, if I had it to do over again, I would go to a LS swap. maybe in the future.

G4L,
Yes. that is a performer air-gap endurashine.

Dale

[72BlckButy]

Good to hear from you Dale... even if it is due to your continued longing for the right motor.

Best of luck on the engine search and like Keith... I would love to do an LS swap in a future project. Can't wait to see what else you have in store for your truck.

Anything else new? Did you hit/win a few shows this summer?

[djmachinist]

Originally Posted by 72BlckButy

Good to hear from you Dale... even if it is due to your continued longing for the right motor.

Best of luck on the engine search and like Keith... I would love to do an LS swap in a future project. Can't wait to see what else you have in store for your truck.

Anything else new? Did you hit/win a few shows this summer?

Good hearing from you Nate, I see that you have been busy with your extended family...Oh congrats again on your LMC cover, very cool.

Yeah, I'm determined to develope the engine manors that I want.
I also am going to install a wood bed, I'll Post pics. The only other thing I'm working on is the windshield and back glass with the SS trim. What a mess getting that done was. After two installers who destroyed 3 windshield gaskets and one set of new trim, both windows w/trim are in the truck. However the top of the gasket on the windshield is laid back on the inside of the cab. Leaks like a sieve. big time wind noise. Getting someone that knows what they are doing is hard to come by. So....I need to sort that issue out.

Dale

[djmachinist]

Look what I got for Christmas!!! A Bruce Horkey Show Deck. It went together pretty easy.

Dale

[djmachinist]

More Show Deck Pics.

[lolife99]

VERY nice!

[VA72C10]

That looks great!

[VA72C10]

How's the engine doing for you now since the changes...and did you get the gasket issue solved?

[72BlckButy]

Love the new Horkey floor; nice addition!

[big_al_71]

Wow I really like that wood floor.......One more thing to add to my list....Everytime I check on someones project I end up spending more $$$$ lol

[djmachinist]

Originally Posted by big_al_71

Wow I really like that wood floor.......One more thing to add to my list....Everytime I check on someones project I end up spending more $$$$ lol

Thanks,
I read thru you build thread, very nice truck!

Dale

[djmachinist]

Well, I said Good-Bye to the Green Monster sunday. A very nice couple from Pensacola, Fl. bought the truck. I'm sure they will give it a good home.

I would like to thank Nate and Keith and everyone on this board. a lot of
people gave me advice and support during this build. It was a lot of fun.

I am moving into a new house, and the wife insisted her car has a place in the new garage. I considered dumping her (the wife) but thought better of it!

Dale

[lolife99]

What?
After all the hard work?

Congrats on the new house.
Posted via Mobile Device

[kevokevo9]

Hello everyone. My name is Kevin and i am the one who bought this truck. I must say that pics dont do it justice. The truck is great and I really appreciate all the time and work he put into it. Thanks again. I will keep you posted on any new pics

[lolife99]

Welcome to the board.
You have a very nice truck!
Posted via Mobile Device

[72BlckButy]

Congrats on the sale buddy and welcome to the board Kevin!

[kevokevo9]

thanks everyone...I dont plan on doing anything radical to the truck at all. Maybe a couple of lil things here and there.

[big mike71]

I always liked that truck.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by kevokevo9

Hello everyone. My name is Kevin and i am the one who bought this truck. I must say that pics dont do it justice. The truck is great and I really appreciate all the time and work he put into it. Thanks again. I will keep you posted on any new pics

Nice score! You need to bring it up to Burger King on 9 mile road. There's a car show there every Saturday starting around 4:30-5:00.

R/