Grandpa's 72 restoration

[Snake72]

That's the third time i've had someone recommend Cliff. I just ordered his book last night and will call today for carb kit and jets/whatnot. I've rebuilt lots of motorcycle carbs and 1 "light" rebuild on the quadrajet that was on my first car, a Monte Carlo SS. I had already ordered a carb rebuild kit from Brothers or somewhere, very dissapointed in parts and quality when I received it. Had a few gaskets and thats about it for a "complete" rebuild kit...

Yes you can get replacement manifolds, dorman brand I believe. If originals are cracked I'll probably try the vette manifolds and get creative on the downpipe routing.

[68Gold/white]

Is the sweet corn ready to pick?

[Snake72]

You bet it is, sweet corn stands scattered all through the county right now. There's a guy I went to high school with that makes his living on sweet corn, best in the state! My little 4 year old girl will mow down 3 in a row, true Iowa girl.

Truck progress has slowed way down, my wife and I have 4 week old twins that are taking up all my free time...and money. They're the cutest little kids, cant wait to get them working on "their" truck.

Next up is to finish engine assembly, mate to trans and set it in. Then the cab can go on and will finally look like a truck again.

[ApacheIvan]

I am in, subscribing to build.. I too am restoring a family truck, love the sentiment and you will cherish this as will your kids! Great work!

[Snake72]

Thanks man, I browsed through your build a few days ago, looks great! Love the highlander seat cover. Sure is fun to know the history of your truck since it rolled off the lot

[ApacheIvan]

Here is an ad with your g-pa's truck with the pinstripe and camper on it

[Snake72]

Super cool man, thanks for posting that ad. That's exactly what the old beast will look like when finished! Neat to find an original pic of the pinstripe.

[nicklear36]

If you don't mind me asking, what did you end up spending on your engine rebuild and machining? Seems much less expensive than buying aluminum edlebrock heads and an intake manifold. What kind of numbers will your motor be putting out, as far as torque and horsepower?

Thanks,
Nick

[Snake72]

I have 3200 in machining, parts and labor. Took the stripped oily engine to shop, couple weeks later picked up a nice orange 383. Block was cleaned, magnafluxed, bored .030 over, honed, decked, align bored, clearanced for stroker crank/rods. All new eagle internals with 6" eagle rods and hyper pistons. Cam is clay smith 270. Heads decked, valves enlarged to 2.02 and 1.60, stainless valves, "Z28" springs, comp magnum roller tipped rockers.

I'm using stock intake and exhaust manifolds for the stock/sleeper appearance, and slightly modified quadrajet, all will probably hold back numbers a little vs headers and performance intake. Builder estimated 350-375 HP and 425 torque. I'd guess smaller numbers but who knows.

Hope that answers your question!
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[Snake72]

Also, the original block was a 4 bolt, kinda surprised at that.
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[nicklear36]

It does, thanks!

[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by Snake72

You bet it is, sweet corn stands scattered all through the county right now. There's a guy I went to high school with that makes his living on sweet corn, best in the state! My little 4 year old girl will mow down 3 in a row, true Iowa girl.

Truck progress has slowed way down, my wife and I have 4 week old twins that are taking up all my free time...and money. They're the cutest little kids, cant wait to get them working on "their" truck.

Next up is to finish engine assembly, mate to trans and set it in. Then the cab can go on and will finally look like a truck again.

Awesome! Is the 4 year old the oldest?

My Dad is in area, right now, visiting in the Vinton area.

[Snake72]

Ha my office manager is from Vinton, small world. Yes, the 4 year old is my oldest.

Anybody have experience with aftermarket bed sides? The front bed panel I can save, already have a new tailgate, but the bedsides are goners. The metal is so thin and rusted inside it's not worth patching.

Also, i'm undecided on tires. Since the truck is stock height i'm leaning towards fairly tall skinny, maybe all terrain to keep the farm truck look.

Similar to these?

[68Gold/white]

My uncle from Vinton, still lives there has 3 children. They are all older than you. Their names all start with the letter "T". Hope it's not one of them... LOL

[stikshooter]

Awesome build. I'm new to this site as well and am in the process of building my grandfathers 72. First time taking on something this in depth. I will be posting pics and asking for advice in my thread.
Really nice job so far.

[RedRider]

This is like a storybook tale you read about in magazines; I love it!

Add me to the list of people restoring their grandpa's old truck, and keep up the great work!

[Snake72]

Looking forward to watching you guys build your trucks. Without obsessively reading this forum I would be lost, so much in depth instruction on every facet of building these trucks. My father in law also has incredible talent and every tool a guy could ask for, makes things much easier...and cheaper.

I wish I didn't have to go complete body off restoration but the truck was so completely shot I had to in order to make it safe and reliable. Plus the truck deserves it, will be a family treasure.

My grandma told me that the old truck used to have wooden stake sides and she and my uncle would haul horses in the back to go riding. Unfortunately no pics of that set up. She did say she has a picture somewhere of the day it was brought home from the dealer with my 13 year old dad sitting shotgun

[Snake72]

Found a few pics on my old iphone, truck looks a lot better in pics than it is. This is in the garage at my grandmas cabin that she built on "the back 40" at the farm.

[Snake72]

A few more to peruse...

[Snake72]

A few more of the truck and a couple pics of my old FXR that I sold after we had our first daughter. Should have NEVER sold that bike, regret it all the time

[Snake72]

Been a while since I updated this thread, finished assembling engine and ready to mate to trans and set in frame. Ran all new brake lines from inline tube, they were pre bent and were pretty close in fit but had to work each one a little bit to fit right. Hoping over Christmas to get engine/trans in and get the cab on. Will be a good sight

[Snake72]

made some progress this weekend, nice to see the engine and cab back on for the first time in 2 years

[LSSierra]

Looks good bud. Great build. Keep updating please!!

[Snake72]

Thanks for the kind words, updates may be slow but will certainly continue. As soon as I get it running I'll start back up on body work. Need to finish reskinning the doors and pick up new repop bedsides. Then I can assemble and test fit panels and gaps prior to paint

[Snake72]

Slowly getting my quadrajet rebuilt, ordered HP kit from Cliff's high performance, highly recommend this guy. Should have carb done shortly. Will be sending my distributor to him for rebuilding.

Bought some new valve covers from trans-dapt, way better than the finned aluminum ones I had, junk baffles and screws, loose grommets. Trans dapt covers already had baffles installed, great quality