My Highschool Project truck a 1969 GMC C20 (Old Blue)

[Wideopenracing15]

I'd love to man but I forgot all the details on it. Could you send me a link?

[-dylan-(OO==|==OO)]

nice truck im in the same position lol im 15 in the 10th grade lol ive got a 72 gmc that has typical rust.... check my pics out if u get a chance on one of my threads

[jce4isu]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=397285

[68 GMC step long]

I got mine when I was 14 and now I'm 19. I had to completely rebuild the floor, the top of the cab by the windshield on the inside, replace the box sides, one rear and one front fender. Put a bored out 355 small block with a turbo 400 trans in it. Swapped out the rear axle with a 88 Chevy ½ ton. Changed the front knuckles to a 92 Chevy ¾ ton, so I have disc brakes in the front. All in all it was completely worth it. I hope your having as much fun as I did.

68 GMC 1/2 ton stepside long box.

[Wideopenracing15]

Originally Posted by jce4isu

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=397285

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by 68 GMC step long

I got mine when I was 14 and now I'm 19. I had to completely rebuild the floor, the top of the cab by the windshield on the inside, replace the box sides, one rear and one front fender. Put a bored out 355 small block with a turbo 400 trans in it. Swapped out the rear axle with a 88 Chevy ½ ton. Changed the front knuckles to a 92 Chevy ¾ ton, so I have disc brakes in the front. All in all it was completely worth it. I hope your having as much fun as I did.

68 GMC 1/2 ton stepside long box.

Nice truck! What'd you swap out the rearend for? Is it disc? And did the the 92 knuckles go right onto the stock ball joints or what? I'm pretty interested in doing this.

[68 GMC step long]

I wanted a limited slip reared and its going to give me better gas mileage. I did the knuckle swap back in 06 but I’m pretty sure that it went right in at the ball joints. But you do have to replace the inner and outer tie rods, flip the outer to the top of the knuckle (grind or drill to fit) and do some drilling on the bar that the inner attaches to. Actually you just might be able to reuse the old outer tie rod since you have to modify the knuckle anyway. It just seems like I replaced it all for some reason.

[Wideopenracing15]

Sorry guys its been soo long. I've been hella busy lately. Working tons and yet I still have no money..? Well Its summer and I'm back and hopfully going to get alot done soon.
Now to add to the list- Headers, One of the primarys blew a pretty good sized hole in it. Where can I find some good long tubes?

[292farmer]

best place is either summit or jegs they have a wide selection and usually well priced, think u can get a decent pair either flowtech or dynomax blackjack for around 120-150$. or just get the bargain summit/jegs for about 100$ ive never had a problem with the bargains parts ive gotten from them.

[Wideopenracing15]

Ok I've been shopping around and I'm not sure what I want lol. I really want a coated pair so they don't rust again. I'm not sure what to do as far as size goes. I know I want a 3in collector but I'm not sure about the primaries.

I'm looking at these:

Kinda out of my price range but I might be able to get them, but I don't know if I want to dump all my cash here.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HED-69890/

Maybe,
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G9006-9/

Kinda Sketchy
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G9006/

Any ideas?

[292farmer]

i had a pair of those summit 99$ specials on my 77 impala, they were great the only thing i did when i got them i went and bought a thicker exh. gasket as im told they sometimes don't seal well. and used the thicker gasket to help fill any gaps where sealing might be a problem. i truthfully never had a problem though. good luck!

[292farmer]

try maybe these http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BIG-11500FLT/
i like the look of these shiny
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HED-69090/

[Wideopenracing15]

I'm liking the Heddman ones farmer. Soon as I get paid I'm going to order those.



On a side note, Look what I got! A buddy of mine traded me for a old CB radio I had in my garage lol

[oldblue1968chevy]

^^^^SCOREEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Those are awesome dude! Id love to run those! Unfortunately I have centerbolt vavle covers. Hurry up and get em on!! Post pics.

[Wideopenracing15]

Okay I'm back guys! Sorry if i disaapointed anybody, I just had a lot Of person issues to address first. I won't bore you with the details. Finally pulled her in in the garage today and started to work. I go the headers loose and all the plugs out and all that fun stuf. I just have two more bolts to cut off the collectors to get them out.
I've had a lot of time to think and I might just patch this cab together and run it for the winter due to lack of money. Il just put my donor cab in the garage for winter and just pick at it little by little, that wAy ill be able to undercoat it all that kind of stuff.


Oh and on a side since I plan on painting it another color I'm thinking about changing her name to Laverne lol. Whacha guys think?
Posted via Mobile Device

[oldblue1968chevy]

lavender or laverne lol...

i need a decent cab sandblasted in the shop to work on this witner, ima put licence plates down on my floor to patch the holes and go for the rat rod looki lol

[Wideopenracing15]

Laverne as in the lady off of scrubs lol but yeah im doing the same thing to my floor for this winter.


I was going to do roller lifters and rockers but budget's getting a little smaller and if we were to do that me and my dad just want to stick a new cam in it too. We've just decided to do that when we do a cab swap.

Right now all I'm doing:
Cleaning everything up
Headers
Rebuild the carb
Intake gaskets
valve cover gaskets
and upgrade to HEI.

I'll have some pics soon. They arent of anything important but I'll still put them up lol

[Wideopenracing15]

So I come home from school to find this! My parts finally came in



But theres a problem.... ball and socket.



Heres my exhaust.





What do I do?! I dont even know how a ball and socket collector works. Should i just send them back?


Oh and sorry I dont update much. Its a pain to get on the computer and this site wont let me update on my blackberrry.

[oldblue1968chevy]

SWEET! New parts, I want some too!! It makes you so motivated (in my case)

what kind of headers? Keep us updated!

[67chevylongbed]

I love the feeling of new parts.....

[Wideopenracing15]

Oh I'm very motivate!

I just went with hedman. They are 1 5/8" primary and 3" collecters with. 2 1/4" reducer

I ordered lifters (just summit brand) and intake manifold gasket.
I would love to get my valve covers done but I just haven't had the time.


On a side note, what color should I paint my headers? I was thinking black or red?
Posted via Mobile Device

[Wideopenracing15]

Oh I'm very motivate!

I just went with hedman. They are 1 5/8" primary and 3" collecters with. 2 1/4" reducer

I ordered lifters (just summit brand) and intake manifold gasket.
I would love to get my valve covers done but I just haven't had the time.


On a side note, what color should I paint my headers? I was thinking black or red?
Posted via Mobile Device

[JRBECK64]

Originally Posted by Wideopenracing15

So I come home from school to find this! My parts finally came in



But theres a problem.... ball and socket.



Heres my exhaust.





What do I do?! I dont even know how a ball and socket collector works. Should i just send them back?


Oh and sorry I dont update much. Its a pain to get on the computer and this site wont let me update on my blackberrry.

The Headers should have come with a Collector to fit the flange on the exhaust side of the headers. I am going to make a suggestion and that is to go to your local high performance auto parts store and pick up a set of crush gaskets for the headers where they bolt to the Heads. You tighten them down and forget about them and they wont leak. The gaskets I am talking about crush down to about half there size in thickness and allow for a really good seal on the head. The other thing you probably should look at is the surface on the headers where they mate with the head. I bought a set for my Sons 64 Chevy Shortwide and found that the machining on the surface was bad. We actually welded the bad areas and then grinded them down so it would make a proper seal. If there is one thing I have learned with headers is to take the time to get them to seal properly because if you dont, you will have to tear them back off sooner than later. Good luck with your project.
JRBECK64

[mdgraham1973]

WOW you guys just took me down memory lane I was 15 when I got my 69 chevy long bed fleet side from my dad I will have to post some pics of it im 36 now and its tucked away in the garage due to having a family but will never get rid of it have heard to many stories about how guys wish they had their first car back or a certain car in their past back. I just fell in love with my truck the day my dad brought it home i am only the fourth owner and will never get rid of it unless its to pass it on to one of my sons if they want it. you guys have some great trucks and even though they may not look the best to you right now keep your eye on the prize and keep focused on what your idea of a complete build will be it will happen.no believed i would ever get mine back together once i had it torn down to the frame but i proved them all wrong and every one was so surprised when it was done and a few were really jellous!!! well worth all the aggrevation and hard work!!!! KEPP IT UP AND STAY STRONG GUYS

[Wideopenracing15]

Originally Posted by JRBECK64

The Headers should have come with a Collector to fit the flange on the exhaust side of the headers. I am going to make a suggestion and that is to go to your local high performance auto parts store and pick up a set of crush gaskets for the headers where they bolt to the Heads. You tighten them down and forget about them and they wont leak. The gaskets I am talking about crush down to about half there size in thickness and allow for a really good seal on the head. The other thing you probably should look at is the surface on the headers where they mate with the head. I bought a set for my Sons 64 Chevy Shortwide and found that the machining on the surface was bad. We actually welded the bad areas and then grinded them down so it would make a proper seal. If there is one thing I have learned with headers is to take the time to get them to seal properly because if you dont, you will have to tear them back off sooner than later. Good luck with your project.
JRBECK64

Yeah it has an adapter. I looked at it when i got them out of the box and I didnt think it would work for some reason. I dont know what i was thinking, I was just being an air-head. They will bolt right up. I used to use copper gaskets because thats the only thing we could get to seal on my old headers but I think they were all worped and rusty. These ones came with the style I think your talking about. They are pretty thick and squishy. I'm going to give them a shot.

Yesterday I took them into auto class and sandblasted them because the paint that comes on them is not heat proof and I dont really want to burn it off and have rusty headers again so I went out and bought Black Rustoleum header paint. Its supposed to hold up to 2000* so I think I'm safe lol.

On a side note, I'm getting ready to spray my rusty fender with primer to match my hood, tailgate and door (I'm just goint to steal this one off my donor cab for this winter, its a '72 so its not the same crank and door panel but I'm not worrying about it this winter) I'm going to put on. What should I do to get all the surface rust off? A D/A? its the entire fender so that would take foreverr. I'm also going to just patch up those holes with just some sheet metal and rig it up for the winter and lay some cheap carpet down to help it stay warm.

And thanks mdgraham1973! I plan on keeping this thing forever. I love to hear other people's stories about their cars. Id love to see some pics of yours!

Oh and I have tons of questions I need to ask but I cant think of them right now /: The only one I remember is: How do I adjust Valve lash? I know how do to do it on other cars and quads and stuff but I just wanna know the "by the book" way of doing it.

[Wideopenracing15]

Wow I've been gone a long time. My home computer has been broke and it wont let me post from my blackberry ): oh well. Not too much to update besides I've been driving it everday and gas is expensive! 10mpg sucks! And a blew out the header gasket on the drivers side. Getting ready to do that later today. Next week I plan on doing a front disc swap from a newer truck. (71/72) if I can find some. What all would i need to do this? Im redoing everything around the brakes. I need new lines, wheel cylinders, master cylinder and maybe a booster but I need to check on that. What would I need off another truck to swap to front disc?