Shrunken66Stroker's build thread.

[shrunken66stroker]

I'm going to start from the beginning to give you guys a sense of how far this project has come. My Grandfather bought this truck off the lot in 66 along with a chevelle for my Grandmother. I think he must have run into some money to buy both of them at the same time. The chevelle is currently sitting in my Dad's driveway in pristine unrestored condition. It has the original 283, powerglide and only about 70,000 miles on it. That's my next project if I can talk him out of it. Back to the truck.
This truck sat broken down in my yard from the time I was in middle school till I was 21. My Dad and I put a rebuild small block in and I drove it around the country. 30,000 miles later I finally moved into a house with an empty two car garage out back. This was 2 years ago in January 09'. I started stripping it down to the frame immediately. Once the frame was bare metal I decided to convert it from a long to a short bed. With some help from my Brother and Dad, we cut 20 inches out of the frame and the bed. I ordered up the Air Ride Strong Arm kit for the front and back along with a four wheel disc brake set up from Baer. After the bags and brakes were on I put the cab back on the truck and started cutting rust out of the floor board, kick panels and rocker panels. I patched the floors on both sides and moved to the front fenders. I bought new ones but have since decided to cut them up and patch the original fenders. When you get a part for your truck and it has a made in Taiwan sticker on it, it makes you cringe. Plus nothing fits like original sheet metal. I've done most of the hammer and dolly work and have gotten all of the panels pretty straight. When the front fenders are done I'll be ready for primer.
Right now I still have the rebuilt small block in it but I traded out the old 4 speed granny for a T-5 out of a Firebird. It's a good cruising combination for now but it's only a place holder for what I'm in the process of building. I've started a 383 stroker that will have about 450hp and will be bolted to a Tremec TKO500 5 speed. I'll probably have to finish the truck first with the engine and tranny that are in it now and swap them out later. I've had to prioritize since the economy turned to ****.
I'll post as many pictures as I can to give you guys a good look at some of the work that's been done. Some of them are from my phone so there a bit fuzzy but effective.
Thanks for looking.