"1950 GMC" -Charlotte

[Advanced Design]

Many a night in a hotel I've planned out and dreamed of the next steps in a build. Garage space was always an issue and we parked our daily drivers outside.

Good luck with figuring out space utilization and hopefully no more nights on the couch!

[lower50's]

So I finally said, "Listen here woman, you get all the rooms in the house and this is my room and I will do as sees fit!"

Well ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you I made a good decision when I bought our current couches for my wife last mother's day. They are very comfy and cozy to sleep on...


Love it!!! We all make sacrifices..
I'm in the same boat for space, it's my space just not that much of it.

[iowaboynca]

Like i said before I didn't want to get too stagnant, so I decided to pop open the cover on the 8.8 I got a while back and see how it looked and if it needed work.

In the first picture is the axle when i pulled it in to the garage from the side of the house to start working on it.

The second picture is when things get interesting...The pic doesn't do it justice but it looks brand new! No visible wear, the fluid is still somewhat clear and no metal in the bottom. Even the backlash was good. This unit looks like it either wasn't ever abused or they kept up on the maintenance. Heck the brake pads even had about 3/16" left on them. So as the saying goes, we'll let this dog lie...

The third pic is the inside of the differential cover after a little cleaning.

The fourth pic is after a put everything back together with new fluid and a new gasket. Had a bit of a scare on this one as I broke one of the bolts torquing it down! Must not have seated very well because I was able to get it back out pretty easy with the bolt remover...whew...after the trip to the hardware store to get the grade 8 replacement we were back in business. I decided to paint everything to get it looking presentable. I'll get the tube and the rest of the brake assembly as they get closer to done. I thought about polishing up the rotors and having them turned as they seemed pretty good but i decided to start from scratch and get both new rotors and pads from Brakes Performance. I ended getting a decent deal on a set of drilled and slotted rotors w/pads.

The fifth pic is an homage to my daughter who named the truck Charlotte. Her favorite color is red, so i decided to paint the shaped portion of the diff cover red....hmmm, its got a bit of black widow look to it and there was a famous spider named Charlotte...Of course this has nothing to do with why i did it, but it brings everything together

Time to start getting parts for the motor (yikes its gonna be pricey, but that's what you get when you want to retro a LSx). That and still looking for my suspension parts...

Stay Tuned!

[solidaxel]

What did you order for a front end?

[iowaboynca]

I got a Welder's series x-member from Paul Horton's. Great turnaround and you can't beat the currency conversion right now. Its about a 15-20% exchange rate given the day. The mustang II components from Speedway. Speedway was backordered, but i'm not that concerned yet. Figure i've got about another 1-2 weeks given the delivery times on other builds.

And to be honest, it somewhat doesn't matter cuz its just another system that needs to be checked off, Need to finish the motor and get the parts to mate the tranny to the motor, etc...and that's the fun!

[Advanced Design]

That is a clean diff so nice find there. Looking like IH red?

[iowaboynca]

Yeah it was left over from the welding cart, and it is my daughter's favorite color. And I wasn't going to with her other favorite color...pink.

[lower50's]

Nice and clean diff. One less thing to worry about

[iowaboynca]

Just a small update, not much to post, but i'm still at it...sort of

Update:
Called Speedway earlier this week for a status. They said they were expecting their shipment within a week and half and I should see some activity within a week after that so fingers crossed. Wanna get this suspension!

In the meantime i've been going over the welders series instructions and setting a good ride height. Just making sure I've got a pretty good handle when i go after it. Nothing is stopping me from tacking in the x-member but I guess I'd like to have the components here as well (that's what i'm waiting for.)

Some good news. While doing some research I found this article: http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/...st-comparison/

The reason i reference this article, I've been debating upgrading the cam back and forth for probably a couple of months.
Pros: More HP...duh

Cons: Too much HP for rest of drive train. Cost. Need to upgrade heads/rockers, i.e. cost

Now the whole intent is some respectable power, hence the V-8 but its going to be a daily driver, so nothing overwhelming. Going back to the article, the section that caught my eye was the area around the 6.0l cam into the 5.3. So I started to search ...So i find a used 6.0L cam w/lifters on ebay for $75 all together! what the heck, I bid on it and won and it just showed up yesterday. I confirmed the part number and its the one I want so i'm a little excited about that. Get a little more lift and little more duration but don't think i'll need to replace the springs.

So know the little hiccup...
Like a doorknob i ordered the wrong brake rotors for my rearend. For some reason I kept thinking i had a '03 vs. the '98 that I do have and ordered the '03 which are about an 1/8" too big in diameter. In post mortem, and checking all my notes from research '02 is when they changed to IRS so in my mind i kept telling my self look 03 and older...i know its weird and it stuck. So after review the axle tag i confirmed i had a 98 and sent back to Brake Performance to replace, minus shipping and restocking

So in summary, i think i'm getting close to getting some suspension parts on the truck so the cab is gonna have to come off. That means major cleanup in the garage. Thats what ive been working on all morning before the heat shows up. I think i got it in a good place. So still tinkering, still researching still having fun!

[lower50's]

Too much HP is limited by your right foot. As the rubber is melting off the tires LOL Nice job on the cam!!

[iowaboynca]

Christmas came early!!!...or late...being that its about 6 months either way

Suspension parts came in from Speedway. Was showing the wife as I started to take inventory and she got 'excited'. I replied, "Really, that's all it takes?" and she answers "When I think what that truck will do when your done, yeah..." I can imagine what her reaction would have been if I went with the Scott's front end (cuz I think its gorgeous).

Anyway couldn't wait and decided to weld in the gusset & spacer into the x-member that came with the Speedway parts (too bad i ordered the same from Paul Horton's...oh well...) The driver side gusset is a bit on the high side but should work. Regarding alingment, i had the A-arm bolts in the spacer and gussets when i tacked the parts in so i won't have a problem when assembling.

So...need to find some boxing plates and get some shielding gas for the welder. I don't mind welding w/ flux but get a bit bubblegummy. (is that a word?) then we'll be *ahem* cooking with gas!!!

In closing, i'm getting more impressed with Speedway. The parts they sent look really good and the customer service has been good as well, and the price was right. Kinda wish the packing was a little better but hey it got here. I'm pretty happy with the purchase.

Stay tuned!

[iowaboynca]

Just a real quick update, i'm kinda beat after this weekend! After 2 1/2 days of getting my boxing plates sorted out, cut and fitted, reading all the instructions provided 3 times over and measuring at least another 4, doing all the required cuts and welding, my front suspension is in for the most part.

Still need to get the springs in but that will wait until i've got the weight of the motor in. Probably finish up all the brake stuff.
I think i'm going to need to notch the front end. Just eyeballin' it and it looks to be the case...Yeah more work to do!

Then i'll get working on the back end.....

On a side note, i yanked a hydroboost out of an astro van the other day at PnP for $30. Still thinking about what i'm going to do with that....but that's waaaaayyy down the road.

Stay Tuned!

[Advanced Design]

Making good progress. Nice!

[iowaboynca]

Just a quick update...
Got rack installed. Should have been an easy job but required everything coming apart so I could 1.) install the lower A arm bolts in the right directions and 2.) so it wouldn't damage any bushings with the heat. Also made cutting and welding in the frame notches easier. Then I had to shim the rack so it would fit. Oh well that's hot rodding.

I'm a little concerned that i'll have to cut the springs but I don't want to make that decision until the weight of the engine is over the front and that will be a long time... so I can either get working on finishing the engine (going for that retro LS look) or can get working on the rear even though the front isn't done.

Meh, i'll get it sorted out
Stay tuned...

[iowaboynca]

Update!

I decided to tackle the rear end. Some background, decided to go with a Speedway motors bolt in triangulated 4-link. I wanted to have this done last week but as everyone knows, life gets in the way. My peach tree and tomatoes decided to explode and i'm the chief canner so...i can proudly sayI have 46 quarts and 12 half gallons of canned peaches and 18 quarts of BBQ sauce w/ 3 gallons of tomato paste to be processed later, not to mention school starts this week, but I digress...

So when I did get to work on the truck, I decided to tackle the rear end.

I went together pretty straight forward. Actually I'm positively surprised. This kit is designed to be mounted to Speedway's aftermarket frame. Not really researching their frame I wasn't sure how much it mimics the OG frame. The instructions are a bit vague and I was thinking, " great, I'm going to have to do this the old fashion way by winging and eyeballing, and drill out the holes for the kit..."

So as I'm starting to mock up the kit, I realize that it uses existing holes in the frame, or previous rivet holes....sweet! I only needed to "massage" the front lower 4 link arm bracket so it would fit in between the rear bracket of the running board and existing bracket for the parking brake. (at this time I'm going to try to use them with existing 8.8 rear and incorporate an Exploder E-brake). I also had to trim the axle brackets as their for a 3" axle and the 8.8 is 3.25", again no big whoop.

So like I've said, i'm a bit surprised by the utility of the Speedway kit. Everything goes where its supposed to and the upper and lower arms line up the axle in the original location, plus their adjustable. I have the pinion set at 4 degrees currently but can tweak if needed.

Now the bad...if you can call it that. Whoever packs for Speedway messed up and mis-id'd the upper brackets. I got sent 2 right side brackets but one was mis-packed so when it was scanned it came up correct. I've reached out to their customer services and provided pics to help explain the issue. we'll see what they say, i'm not to worried as I've had good experiences with them in the past.

So...next steps. I need to drill the brackets for the upper brackets ( hence the drill on the frame, ) I need to order coil overs for the rear and place the bracket. When the upper brackets arrive they need to get tacked in. When everything looks good, all brackets need to be final welded. Then the rear will be done

Then on to the motor....
Stay tuned...

[solidaxel]

Does this kit move the rear wheel 1 1/2" to the rear to center in the wheel well?

[Advanced Design]

Canning? Cool...has been years since we did any. Becoming a lost activity.

Rear install looks good. Glad it worked as well as it did.

[lv2tri2]

Good progress, thanks for the pictures and detail.

[iowaboynca]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Does this kit move the rear wheel 1 1/2" to the rear to center in the wheel well?

Solidaxel: What I can tell you is the kit places the axle where the OE axle was, based upon my previous marks and my trusty plumb-bob. That's the best i can answer. The rear wheel placement looked good before, but then again this truck was from multiple donors so it may have been moved in the past? You may want to reach out directly to Speedway Motors as this kit was designed for their aftermarket frame. (you know I should be getting paid for as much endorsing as i do )

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Canning? Cool...has been years since we did any. Becoming a lost activity.

Rear install looks good. Glad it worked as well as it did.

Thanks Advanced Design! Yeah i guess its another skill i brought from growing up. We have such a large family (including extended) it just makes sense. My MiL watches between 7-12 grandkids after school until they get picked up so the 1/2 gallon jars takes care of business!

Originally Posted by lv2tri2

Good progress, thanks for the pictures and detail.

Lv2tri2: Thanks, appreciate it!

[oldman3]

Looking good...Jim

[maxdog51]

Keep up the good work! Each time you make some progress you'll be that much closer to driving the old Gal.

-Frank

[iowaboynca]

Update-Charlotte has legs!

Finished up the rear end. Everything is welded up and torqued to spec. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I've always liked the way a hot rod looks from behind with coilovers.

Then i decided to give the front end one more shot. Surprise surprise when you put the spring in the perch and not the back of the A arm you can lift up the A-arm and spring...

So I was able to get the front end all done as well. I need to fix the alignment but looks good so far. I gave everything a quick shot of paint to stop any rust. And of course the front will squat once the engine/transmission get put in. I've got one more pic from the front end that i'll attach in the next post. So guess what's next...

Stay tuned...

[iowaboynca]

Front suspension from the...front.

[Sim6]

Looking good!

[mikec4193]

Loving the look...I like the looks of them standing tall like when they were originally built....

Is Charlotte going to keep a 6 cylinder under the hood?

Keep up the good work..

MikeC