53 GMC 5 window RestoMod Bagged

[WorkinWrenchs]

Originally Posted by Valarius_Starchaser

Heck if I was closer I would buy the trans and help with the rebuild I love a good SBC rebuild its relaxing with as many as I've done now be sure to post up some pics what heads did you end up with?

So funny story, or not so funny, I started to tear apart the motor and happened to look at the casting number and it wasnt 3970010 like i was told it was. Instead it was 355909 which would make it a 262 or 305 so i looked at the date code which was J20 78 so this makes it a 305 ,so i text the guy and he said he didn't bother to look either since he was told it was a 350. Luckily he has another 350 that he is trying to sell and said he would give me that one, that he is sure is a 350.

Coincidentally some co-workers and I had set up a shooting party at one of their houses, which is just down the road from him. So hopefully before or after slinging some lead down range on Sat I will take him back the 305 and get the 350, and make sure I check the markings this time.

On the other hand I got some goodies from Speedway today. Got some motor mounts, universal weld on mounts and S10 headers. Fingers crossed there are no more surprises.

[lower50's]

Have fun shooting and good luck with the motor exchange.

[99 to Life]

live and learn. I'v learned the hard way on few engines, but its made me a better person. Last engine I went and looked at, guy had the heads off and I had to point out to him it was a 4.8 not a 5.3 like he stated. He felt schooled and I didn't feel like a fool. You gotta have limits to what you'd pay while expecting the worst with an engine. whether the seller knows the problems or not.

[WorkinWrenchs]

2/6/16
Not much to report except I got the S10 headers, weld on motor mounts and 90* rubber mounts in. Picked up the 350 last saturday, which he was really cool about it and gave me some lights to go in the bed rails, which i will not be running so if anyone wants to purchase them. Got the cab pulled today and drilled the holes for the rubber body bushings. Also got the motor mounted where I think it needs to be. I made some tabs just to hold it in place until I can get a template made to cut up the universal mounts.

Side note purchased a rocker panel from Classic Chevrolet Parts since they are close to where I live.

Still no lower cups from ThorBros, who I think should change their name to SlowBros.

[FarmerSid]

Good progress. Looks like you have a nice big area to work in complete with some nice signage.

[lower50's]

WAY more room than I have. Looks good I always like when the motor goes in!!

[WorkinWrenchs]

There is a lot of room when the wife lets me move the vehicles out of the garage. Typically there is my truck and her car in there. It takes me longer to get everything moved out and set up then I actually get to work on the truck. She has me on a short lease on the time that I get to work on it, since we have a 6 month old and a 3 year old usually I have Jackson outside with me. Hence why it is so slow going right now.

[99 to Life]

nice friggin garage. and yota

[Coach529]

Nice looking set up.

[lower50's]

Jealous.

[WorkinWrenchs]

Nothing to report on here but I do have a question for you guys. I sold the tranny from the S10 today so that basically paid for the S10 so now I am no money into the S10. But more importantly I have cash in hand to buy something and was looking at this radiator/fan combo. Can anyone tell me if this would be worth the purchase, i know that I will need to fab up a shroud for it which wont be that hard.

47-54 CHEVY C/K SERIES TRUCK PICKUP L6 3-ROW FULL ALUMINUM RACING RADIATOR+FAN

[99 to Life]

I would get you sheetmetal on bf I bought a radiator. I think going with the stock dimensions rad on an s10 swap is going to be very difficult. That fan and radiator is a good deal and now days rads and efans are all pretty reliable, even the cheap ebay ones.
It does seem like your body is higher off frame than most, so maybe you'll have some luck, but that is always the route I go, sheetmetal first then see how much room you have.

[WorkinWrenchs]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

I would get you sheetmetal on bf I bought a radiator. I think going with the stock dimensions rad on an s10 swap is going to be very difficult. That fan and radiator is a good deal and now days rads and efans are all pretty reliable, even the cheap ebay ones.
It does seem like your body is higher off frame than most, so maybe you'll have some luck, but that is always the route I go, sheetmetal first then see how much room you have.

Thanks for the input 99 to life, I will wait until i get the sheet metal hung. As for the height of the cab I threw on a running board to mock up and it is about 1/4" higher than the frame, which is fine with me since I want it to lay frame and not body, also less of a chance to scrap the body on turns/speed humps. That is will the front fenders hung and making the running board level with the lowest part on the fender. I think that is where is it supposed to be, this is my first 3100 build.

I will pick up a factory assembly manual tomorrow from Classic Chevrolet since they are just down the road from me. That way I will know exactly how all the sheet metal needs to be hung and the proper spacing.

[lower50's]

Ya that is the order I did it too. Get everything together then see about a rad.

[WorkinWrenchs]

Not a whole lot to report today other than I got fed up with waiting for the lower cups so I ordered so lower control arms from douggieschopshop.com and got them in 3 days along with everything to link the rear end. I am going to press in the ball joints tomorrow and then get paint on them so hopefully sunday I can install everything. I am hoping to get some time in the garage this week since I have my sons 3rd bday party this weekend and I will be out of commission next weekend due to getting snipped.

[reaper71]

Looks like some really nice pieces!

Mark...

[99 to Life]

yah those looks really good. there are plenty of quality parts out there and this is a prime example of a company doing their part. Providing good parts and shipping them that week.

[Coach529]

Fresh clean parts rear to install. Nothing Better!!

[lower50's]

Nice parts FINALLY!! Good luck with the snip, it's not that bad.

[WorkinWrenchs]

3-4-16 Got some little things done today.

Got the ball joints installed and lower control arms painted, they are drying as I type this up. Got the lower cups and spindles painted yesterday. PB Blasted the crap out of all the nuts and bolts on the front suspension because 30+ years of rust is never easy to break apart, I will hit them one more time before I try and disassemble the front suspension, that will make 3 times it will be soaked.



Placed a rear cross brace so i could remove the factory one and open that area for my tank and compressors later.


Cut off the coil spring buckets from the Blazer rear end so I can get the rear linked on Sunday hopefully.

[WorkinWrenchs]

Forgot I also started to welded up a filler plate for the gas filler hole.

[WorkinWrenchs]

Got some hours in tonight. Got the front done minus putting the rotors back on. Took me about 2.5 hours to get to this point. May not get to the 4 link tomorrow there is some severe weather expected on Monday so I will need to get everything pushed back over so I can get the vehicles back in the garage. Does anyone know a good way to get rid of the 30+ years of gunk. I have tried about everything from engine degreaser, simple green, oven cleaner. I dont have access to a steam pressure washer because that would be ideal. Currently i am scraping off the gunk followed by a lot of rags, simple green and then elbow grease. Eventually i will take it to a guy to sandblast the frame before i paint it.






Side note I sold the motor and tranny from the S10 got $400 bucks so that paid for the S10 so I am ahead on that part now by $40. Also sold the Turbo 400 that came with the 350 and got $300 and sold the ram horn exhaust manifolds for $150 so i am ahead on that purchase also by $100.

My parts shelf is looking a little bare now that everything is installed, so I may have to get some engine parts.

[Layedoutsonoma91]

Great project! I was curious about your blazer disk brake rear end. I noticed your calipers are on the front of the axle, mine are on the back side. Did you move them?

[Layedoutsonoma91]

Edit:::: Looked at my two axles. The 2wd the calipers are on the back, my 4x4 axle the calipers are on the front.

[WorkinWrenchs]

Got the front done today. Need to tear it back apart since the bags rub on the frame and there is a slow leak on the driver side.

Cycled the suspension through its rotation a couple times to make sure nothing else was causing issues.



Didnt get as far along with the rear as I hoped since the wife told me it was my turn to watch the boys. I did however get the plates cut to box the frame where I am going to put a "mid-crossbrace".