"1950 GMC" -Charlotte

[Advanced Design]

Looks good! It is a great feeling when they are a roller back on the ground.

[iowaboynca]

Originally Posted by 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

Yeah but it won't be that tall for long as i need to get the drive train in which will make it squat. I'm going with a LS swap...but with a twist. I got a heck of a deal on a 5.3 long block that i'm going to back-date it, Performer intake w/ throttle body injection. The guy I got from was going to do the same thing with a '63 but he ended up getting his hands on a 383 stroker so my lucky day. Initially i was going back and forth on keeping the 235 or not but the fact that I love a v8 rumble won out. I have 3 daughters and a ton of nieces and nephews w/ gearhead moms and dad so the 235 will more than likely find a home somewhere down the road. Thanks for the kind words

[iowaboynca]

Not too much to update this week at least picture-wise. So this weekend was motor. To update, it was a 5.3L out of a '02 tahoe.Got the following done:

-New Cam. Put in one from a '03 6.0L. Got the idea from a Hot Rod article and some research, sounded like a cheap way to add a little more HP.

-New Gaskets (timing cover, cylinder, oil pan), and cylinder head bolts. Then decided to button everything up with a new edelbrock intake. I'm probably going to paint everything chevy red, but i kinda like it in raw form right now. I'll make up my mind when i get the retro valve covers on it.

Still waiting on a couple of things. I'm debating if i want to swap out the needle bearings in the rockers or not. Now's the time since they're off right now.

Lastly, I just have the OE valve covers to protect from anything getting in the motor. I got some adapters so I can mount SBC valve covers, but you got to move the coil packs, but I was planning on doing that anyway.

Stay tuned...

[Steve-W]

tuned in, a mate of mine and I just bought a 50's 3100, so looking for inspiration

[Advanced Design]

Nice, sounds like you are going old school look on the LS. Look forward to seeing that!

[lower50's]

Cool idea with the motor

[iowaboynca]

Quick update today. A little here, a little there...

So I wasn't expecting to do much this weekend as it was the 2nd week of college football (Way to step up in the clutch ISU...) and the 1st week of NFL. That and figuring out where all the fires are popping up here in CA!

I ended up get the mounts welded up Friday night and Saturday, even though i had to switch to flux midway because i ran out of gas.

Went w/ Paul Horton's mounts and WAY more material then I need due to the width of the frame but better too much than too little.

Spent most of Sunday trimming the mounts then measuring, then trimming then measuring..."Wait now its off more!" more measuring and a little trimming until I was satisfied and welded them in.

And yes i had the transmission attached too so i new if i was too high too low etc. Everything looks good. Going to have to 'massage' a little transmission hump for the shifter but no big deal.

As you can see from the pics the first one is mounted, the second is to see how the steering would line up, thanks to some left over 3/4" copper tubing and the third is to show clearance to the back. You can see the billet adapters that i'm going to put the SBC valve covers on.

I think i need to "meld" and trick the transmission and motor to like each other. That's the next system to check off.

Stay Tuned...

[iowaboynca]

Somewhat small update today. Also I apologize for any spelling errors. Doesn't look like spell check is working and I can't spell without it.

Things have gone a little slow with life and 3 little girls in soccer and football and all but I have been tinkering here and there, not what I'd call update worthy. On top of all that my hard drive decided to crap out about 3 weeks ago so...

So when I last posted, I made a comment that I'd need to trick the transmission and motor into liking each other. (GM never put a manual behind a 5.3L, just the 4.8L. But we all know its the same block...yada yada yada). So when i'm plannning out this phase, i tell myself, "hey, I can mount the transmisison w/the cab on. Oh wait i need to see where the new under floor brake/clutch bracket is going to line up so i need to take the old off." Ok so i dive under the truck, and take a peek. "Hmm. would be easier if i took the body off."

Then I tell myself, "Wait, I should take a look at patching the body. Well hmm, corners look like they need more work, so that should probably wait."

So I finally decided that the cab had to come off and i jimmied up the good ol' engine hoist cab puller and planned to put it on a pallet with some left over casters. As I have the cab over the pallet i realize, "Wait, how am i going to get the legs of the hoist under the pallet. Ugh...well i'll just put it on jack stands." Once i the jack stands i realize i need a little bit more mobility so I buits a dolly out of leftover wood and the casters mentioned above. (Pic 1))

Then back to the motor/transmission. Got the new flywheel, got the new clutch kit, got the new pilot bearing, got the new throw-out bearing. Now wait, "are you kidding me, they couldn't send the mounting bolts?" So back to the refurbished computer, to begin the search on what size bolts are needed. (Actually, I can't cray that much, it wasn't that hard.) So now the flex plate, pilot bearing and clutch kit are all together. (Pic 2). Next on the list is to finish mating the transmission to the motor and figure out how i want to mount the transmissions. (I've got a couple of ideas)

Stay tuned...

[Advanced Design]

Funny how one thing leads to another! Looking good!

[lower50's]

In a round about way like it always seems to be. Your ahead

[Chance48]

Nice build iowaboy. That manual is gonna be fun. Last year I completely from ground up restored a Farmall M tractor. I use it and love the ole gal. It's absolutely enjoying to brush hog with a 6 footer and listen to that engine dig in, surprising how strong it is. Sorry to be off task with that....just referring to your comment earlier about being an IH family. I'm partial to the red iron myself. I'll post a pic of it later when on my other iPad if you don't mind it, I like sharing it, lol...

Chance

[iowaboynca]

Originally Posted by Chance48

. Last year I completely from ground up restored a Farmall M tractor. I use it and love the ole gal.
Chance

Sorry somehow i missed your reply. That's the "M" in your build right? It is sweet. Looks like it will keep rolling for another 70 years.

[Chance48]

Yup, that's it. Thanks. I hope it does, my sons can use it and maybe restore it again before they pass it on, as it will be used and not just for looks.

[iowaboynca]

Yeah an update!!
To recap, I'm putting a NV3500 5-speed transmission behind the 5.3. To do this I needed:

Flywheel- PowerTorque from Orielly's P/N NFW1050
Clutch Kit w/Pilot Bearing- PowerTorque from Orielly's P/N K70318-01
throw out bearing- National P/N 614083
Grade 8 metric bolts 10mm x 35mm x 1.5, local hardware store
Slave clutch cylinder- PowerTorque from Orielly's P/N CS2250

In the meantime I ending get a frame mount booster/clutch bracket off ebay. The arms are shorter that OE but I mounted it as close to the front as could. I even had to grind down a tab on the transmission (kinda at pic 1, ignore the red motor til later). I even had to take out the engine mount/cross member and man it didn't want to come out. I think it was 12 rivets and few surgically placed cuts

While that was going on, a thread on here got me thinking about hydroboost for the brake booster. So $30 later and a couple of hours i got a hydroboost out of an older Astro van. You have to go older if you want to go this route. The newer model Astro vans hydroboosts point down. So I mock up the bracket and things will be tight!

Now i need to finalize a bracket for the trans. I was going to fab up a bracket using a Dakota mount I got easy out of the junkyard but with the location of the brake bracket it just wasn't going to work. So i ended up fabbing one up with the isolator mount and at the desired angle back (still @ 3 degrees)

[iowaboynca]

At the same time I was finishing up the motor. If you remember, i'm paying homage to the GMC V6 truck motors. (first pic). So I finally put the rockers back on and sealed everything up with new gaskets. I got a pair of SBC valve covers from the turlock swap meet for $25 to with the adapters.

I ended up getting the accessory package from Jegs because my motor was a long block and didn't have everything. (P/N 19258433)

When I was happy with everything I decided to lift it up and paint it Chevy Orange! (the last 3 pics, the last one with all the tape off)

Some difficulties did come up. I was having a heck of a time getting the fan clutch off the waterpump, when i said to get with it, and went to Autozone to pick up a new waterpump. I probably could have used the old one but the expense paid vs. time, plus the thought in the back of my mind of our family mover's water pump hand grenading itself and the fun i had fixing it, had something to do with my decision.

So that's pretty much it. Gotta get taxes paid and that will tell me how much wiggle room i'll have with the build this year. I want to get the plumbing mostly done with the cap being off and I need a gas tank. Then the big purchase, i'm fuel injection on top of the motor, either FITech or the new Holley unit coming out.

So in conclusion, i didn't think i had done much until i realize i had.

Stay tuned...

[Chance48]

Looks great, digging the 5 speed and fuel injection. Keep it up.

[Advanced Design]

This is a good look for your engine. Nice progress.

[lower50's]

Nice red.

[iowaboynca]

The Good News!!!
My headers came in!!!

The bad news...
There is no way they will work with my current under floor brake/clutch bracket. Actually its not that big of a deal. I'm actually on the fence about the under floor set up anyway.

Cons: close proximity to exhaust/heat, cut an access hole into the floor, slight HP loss with the center-dump shorty headers (maybe?).

Pro: Unique cool factor, Closer to OEM, doesn't clutter firewall, don't have to find new bracket.
Decisions, Decisions....

If I do go with the headers, I will have to make a small notch on the passenger side for the collectors but that's nothing. Like I said not that miffed. I'll sort it out, eventually.
Stay tuned.

[iowaboynca]

Since Wednesday was my B-Day, I decided to take the rest of the week off and get caught up on stuff around the house including "Charlotte" so today is just a small update and no pics this time...

I ended up fixing a wrong from earlier. When I first put the notch for my rack and pinion, I ended up putting it a little farther forward than designed and was trying to make due with washers. It was still rubbing and I just wasn't happy with it so I ordered more notches and ended up getting it set up right. The welds aren't pretty but its done and where it should be.

The second thing i did was getting rubber hoses on the mustang II mounted. This is in prepartion for getting the brake lines mocked up when the hardline shows up. Not a big task, but it did require a trip to the hardware store.

I also fished the OE brake line from the 8.8 when i brought it home to see if it can be salvaged. Doesn't look like it, as the orginal hard mounts are right where the coilovers are. Oh well, looks like i'm going to need to replace the OE rubber hoses in the back as I'm not happy with a mounting point on the rearend without a potential kink.

I still need to get some different headers and get the tank so I can work on the fuel system. Work marches on! Stay tuned...

[Advanced Design]

Good you can make some progress on Charlotte. What is wrong with the headers?

[iowaboynca]

Thanks AD...you've been getting a lot done on your burb!

They hit right where wear my frame mount pedals are. Its not really that big a deal. My brother-in-law is doing a 5.3L swap into his 69 GMC and he says he'll buy them if they work. Also i have a buddy at work that has a 5.3 in a 70 nova and he wants them if the BnL doesn't want them.

I should have gone center dump on the headers but these were so pretty...

[Hilljack51]

Don't know how I missed your build thread before, but it looks great! Good to see someone else utilizing Paul Horton's great organization. Subscribed to this one. Keep up the progress!

[iowaboynca]

Just a small update on Charlotte...

Its not like i haven't been doing anything but i swear I spend some weekends just going out the garage and sit there looking at her.

So here's where we're at. I took advantage of LMC's special in late may and got the FI Tech plus the $100 rebate. Nice. I also ended up following Advanced Design and DWSR and going with the 68-69 camaro tank. At first, I was going to go with the mustang tank but all in all i know i still going to have to fab up some kind of frame/cradle to mount it so why not get the camaro tank with the same amount of fab. I also got the block hugger headers from Speed Engineering out here in fresno. I like them but...(more on that later)

As reference, where credit is due regarding the camaro tanks:
DWSR's build
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...569491&page=13

Advance Design's build:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...627134&page=41

So where am I at? I've got brake lines,but not installed check, got a tank, check, got a hydroboost, check, etc. The more i look at my frame mount brake/clutch bracket, i'm just not that excited by it. I think it sits too low and will really mess with the exhaust, but i digress, i'm not working on that right now.

So I figured the best plan was to start fabbing the mounts for the gas tank and i came to the realization that the x-member that came with the speedway kit is mounted a tad too forward, thank god for bolt in. Anyway to make it right, i'm going to need to plug weld the holes i drilled earlier, but didn't have a decent copper spoon, until today! I give you the copper spoon made out of some scrap 3/4 in copper tubing and using the hammer and dolly kit i bought at the last good guys show swap meet!

To summarize. Holes have been filled. the spare tire x-member is out and flipped and the coil over x-member is at the correct 32in from the top bolt of the lower 4 link mount. (as per directions )...and i have a new tool in my spoon!

Stay tuned...

[lower50's]

Ha Ha I scrolled down and started reading your post, but didn't get the picture on my screen and I was wondering what the ____ is he using a copper spoon for!! Then I scrolled down to see the picture and I was like
It's ok to sit and stare at it.