Grandpa's 66 GMC SWB

[jrbynf]

Bed wood. White Oak from MAR-K. I used apitong oil (product for flat bed trailers) for the finish. Sanded with 300 grit.

[jrbynf]

Putting inner fenders and outer fenders on. I had mocked up the body 2-3 times in primer. These fenders are all aftermarket. My trick was putting the inner fenders on loose (just barely) then placing the outer fenders. Shimming them perfectly with the doors. Once outers were tight I tightened the inners and shimmed them. Putting the hood on was a challenge and required a lot of shimming and extra hands.

[jrbynf]

The GMC grill is original. My grandpa's was actually perfect just a painted type. I had it, as well as the hood emblem, re-chromed in Topeka. They did a great job

[jrbynf]

Wiring harness install. I used American Auto Wire. Nice kit. My first time so it took a long time for me to do. Went well overall

[jrbynf]

I used the original gauge surround and used Classic Instrument Gauges

[Johns 66]

Welcome to "Its Not A Show Truck" club.

[DPowers]

Sharp

[jrbynf]

Custom built buddy bucket seats by Rick’ Custom Upholstery. Bolted right in perfectly
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[jrbynf]

Bed wood install. I did it the hard way. Installed the side bed wood leaving the middle open for exhaust install and wiring. Ended up having to drop the tank and drop hitch anyway. Had to put a hundred bolts in on my back. The fuel tank fill turned out nice.
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[jrbynf]

Finished product. The front glass was a bear to install. Took my wife and I a good 4-6 hours. Used a ton of masking tape, wd40, and beating to get it installed. My wife picked up an ambitious 18k pound license plate for me. I’ve put nearly 3000 miles on it since May.

Driving characteristics: good power, Holley carb still needs tuning, transmission and clutch are perfect, suspension is very tight with the HD front coils and 3/4 ton rear leafs (I do bounce off the seat with some bumps),the sway bars keep it very level, steering is nice with power steering and a quick ratio box by CPP, and braking is powerful with the wilwood system.
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[jrbynf]

Timing is a very interesting topic with these engines. I currently have 32 degrees btdc all in at around 2500. I am still messing with this. The engine has vortec heads and Chevy recommends a max of 32 degees. My vacuum is locked out at 10 degrees with the crane cam adjustable unit. I modified the unit with some help from the ignition man on the Chevelle forum website. I typically average 15-16 mpg right now. The engine runs very cool
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[jrbynf]

My transmission is the tko 600 with 0.6 overdrive. This is mated to a 3.7 ford rear end. This places me cruising at 70mph at about 1900 rpm. I am typically pulling about 15 inches of vacuum on level ground. At idle I pull about 19. I think the truck would have done better with this steep overdrive if I would have gone with the 4.11 rear end. This would have made the overdrive more useable in the city, allowed easier starts to protect the clutch when towing, and placed the Rpms more in the powerband. I am no expert but have done a lot of research on these topics to build this truck.