Glock's new project: "Fred" w/ 5.3L LS swap info

[glock35ipsc]

We got the 85 picked up from HuggerCST and made it home Monday night with no problems. 12 hours on the road each way, 2 days..... I'm pooped! The kids decided to name this truck Fred. Not sure exactly where that came from, but it has stuck. So Fred it is!

I thought I would go ahead and start a project thread for this truck. Not much will be happening at first, but I will be doing little things here and there.

First thing this morning, I pulled off the bed rails and the push pads. Sorry you purists, I'm not a fan of those!

I went over the top of the cab and the hood with some polishing compound and the buffer too before I left for work. I think everything will buff out real nice and be nice and shiny for now.

Short term plans are:

* Finish waxing it. **DONE**

* Lower the front and rear a little, maybe two inches all around. The front sits a little higher than the rear right now, by about 3/4". So I'll try to get the front down just a touch lower than the rear. **DONE**

* O2 sensor. I need to add a heated O2 sensor. **DONE**

* Stereo! I must have my tunes! I have my trusty Alpine deck, Rockford Fosgate amp, RF component speakers, and RF 12" sub. I have the faceplate for the deck, now I just need to get a different box for the sub. **DONE**

* Windshield. This one has some chips and a good munch on the lower left side.

* Power steering gear. Wynne said this one leaks, so I pulled the one off the 91 Suburban to swap out. **DONE, NEW ONE**

* Rebuild the door hinges. The drivers door shuts hard, the passenger is a little easier. Wynne included rebuild kits for those. **DONE**

* Sport bumper for the rear. **DONE**

* Rear tires. Drivers side is about gone, and the passenger will be great as a spare. **DONE**

* Replace the seat cover. **DONE, "NEW" SEAT**

* Exhaust. The exhaust dumps on the back side of the rear end right now. I'm going to run it from there straight out the back with a pair of 3.5" x 18" tips. It sounds good as-is, but I really like those big tips! **DONE**

That's mostly all for now. Later on I'll do the Suburban grill swap (**DONE**), fix the rust, swap in a TH700R4/3.42 combo (**DONE**), redo the interior, then paint it and replace all the moulding and trim with new stuff. **MAJOR REVISION TO THIS, KEEP READING!**

[HuggerCST]

I like your plans Bob. I had planned to repaint it after I finished the 70, and do away with the rails. I was planning to keep it pretty stock, and always liked the push bumpers, but since you are going a little more custom with it, I agree that taking them off and adding a sport bumper to the rear is the way to go. It's gonna look pretty sweet. What color do you have planned for it?
It definately could use a good sound system too, but I don't think that I'd be able to cut that NOS dash bezel. I think the suburban bezel is a little different though, and has a square opening. When you take off the bezel in the truck you will find that the dash has already been cut for a later model stereo, it just has a patch panel screwed in place to accept the stock radio.

[cochino12]

Looks good Bob

[LEEVON]

Nice ride! Any long term plans or just going for driveability right now? Here's a tip if your seat foam is soft, find a crew cab rear seat they're usually as good as new.

[glock35ipsc]

Wynne - I don't have the heart to cut the NOS bezel right now either, so I am going to use the original bezel. Maybe by the time I paint and redo the interior I will have the courage to do it. But not right now, in fact I have already put the NOS one in a trash bag and put it up in the shop attic. I did notice that the dash had already been cut. The cuts go beyond the bezel just a little so it was noticeable from the passenger side. I'll leave it alone for now, but I'll weld in some new metal when time comes to redo the interior. As for color I'm going to keep it red. Too much work and $$$ to change colors and do it the right way. I've always been a blue person, but the red is growing on me. My wife said if I ever did change the color, the name Fred would then mean "Formerly Red".

Adam - Thanks! Is Sunday still good for you?

Leevon - This will be nothing at all like my 68 was. The final truck will be lowered (springs/spindles, flip axle) painted, newer GMC Suburban grill swap, sport bumper, etc. It will eventually have a 5.3L/4L60E combo. Stock interior. Just a really nice clean driver, that has good power with reliability and great mileage. Thanks for the tip on the crew cab seat! In fact, I know where one is right now and is the right color! Are the mounting brackets the same, or what needs done to make it work? This seat is very comfy, the cover is just worn through in a couple places.

[tvblazer78]

Good looking truck Bob.. Keep us posted on it..

[JohnC]

Looks like an awesome truck. Hey if you want a blue truck I'll swap ya! Sounds like you have about the same idea that I do. Just a nice clean, not heavily modified truck just to enjoy cruising around in. Can't wait to see updates on it. Subscribed!

[glock35ipsc]

Altitude adjustment!!!

Took one coil off each side, and I think for now it sits perfect! This tells me that when I am ready, I think I will go with 2" coils, 2.5" drop spindles, and flip the rear by cutting and re-welding the spring perches.

[HuggerCST]

Nice!

[menace121978]

looking good bob! real clean truck... and he (fred) doesnt look like a 4 x now!

[LEEVON]

on the crew cab rear seat, just remove the two mounting brackets and replace with your sliders, the bolt holes are there. Easy as Sunday mornin'

[glock35ipsc]

I found some ambition after I got the kids to bed! LOL. I finished waxing the rest of the truck by hand, no buffer this time. It's not show ready, but it does shine real nice!

On a test drive to settle the springs I noticed the tailgate was rattling a little, so Bryce and I got that adjusted so it's nice and tight now. And quite.

After that, I just washed all the windows and cleaned up the inside. Not that it was dirty, but is has accumulated some dust from the trip and sitting outside for a bit Tuesday with the windows down.

Going to the DMV tomorrow morning to get plates on it.

Leevon - Thanks for that info!! I got "sidetracked" tonight and forgot to call on that seat I know of. I'll have to remember to do that tomorrow.

[JohnC]

Looks great man! That is a sharp looking truck!

I just want to know how early the kids go to bed if you did all that stuff afterwards. Unless you are a nocturnal person!

[glock35ipsc]

Nocturnal, not! That's my wife LOL! The kids were in the shop "helping" me while I lowered the front. They went to bed about 8 or so, then I went back out and started the wax job.

[72BlckButy]

Bob, it sounds like a great plan, and looks like you are off to a great start. Good luck with the project!

[glock35ipsc]

My wife is telling me this is my mid-life crisis vehicle! I told her she should be thankful I brought Fred home instead of a new ZR1 Vette!

Fun pic..... my 81 I had in the late 80's/early 90's, and Fred:

[ndametz32]

^ That 81 is sweet. My mom says my Dads Corvette was his midlife crisis

But thats a nice lookin' truck you got, can't wait to see more in the future

[glock35ipsc]

Forgot to add.... I got the title and plates this morning with no problems, so I'll be rolling to work in it tomorrow!

[JohnC]

Looks like the grass got a little greener since then!

Glad your good to roll on the truck. What's first on the list?

[glock35ipsc]

Well, I lowered the front end last night, then put the kids to bed and went back out and finished waxing it.

Tonight I got the heated 3-wire O2 sensor installed and wired up. Then tweaked the timing a little.

Then, for the dumb-dumb move, I found a fresh bottle of fuel injector cleaner, and it just happen to be the size to treat 16 gallons of gasoline! Bonus! So, out of habit I walked over to the drivers side tank and dumped it in. Then, as the last drop came out of the bottle, it hit me like a ton of bricks. The fuel selector switch was set on the right tank, the one with almost a full tank, NOT the left tank! DOH!!!!! OK, so at least when I fill that tank it will be ready to clean the injectors.

Otherwise, not much more done tonight. Found a loose bolt on one of the front bumper brackets, and tightened up a few on the grill. Found the radiator to be almost 3/4 of a gallon low. Then once I had it filled back up, I filled to overflow tank on the fender to the "COLD" level. At that point I found a leak at the hose running from it to the radiator. Fixed that leak, now the cooling system is good to go. Topped off the rest of the fluids.

I pulled the firewall mounted trouble light off of the Burb and started to clean it up. I'll install that on the truck sometime over the weekend.

I'm trying to get in touch with another board member that has a good maroon rear crew cab seat to see if I can get that from him. If so, I'll swap it out for this seat. This one is really comfy, but is worn in a couple spots.

Oh, I also got all the presets on the AM/FM/CASS radio set to my favs!

[flamingbig10]

good looking truck, its looks like it has heavy duty coil springs

[glock35ipsc]

I think you are right. The wire is the same diameter as a new set of big block springs I have. Cutting one coil off seems to have put it in just about the right place.

When the time comes, I think getting it down about 4" all around will be just right. So I'll probably do shackles in the rear instead of flipping it.

[JohnC]

Sounds like your making pretty good progress. Don't feel bad about the fuel injector cleaner. I've do things like that pretty often. When are you planning on doing the suspension drop? What are you using to get the front where you want it?

[glock35ipsc]

Originally Posted by JohnC

When are you planning on doing the suspension drop? What are you using to get the front where you want it?

No real sure when I'll do it. My son and I have been talking about taking another 1/2 coil out of the front and then 1 leaf out of the rear and run it like that for now, I might do that this weekend. As for doing it "right" , it will either be this winter or next. Then I'll go with spindles and 2" springs in front and either shackles if I want 4" or flip the rear for 5".

Once I get a few things swapped out and a few more things done to it that I listed in the first post, I just want to drive it for a while! Then I'll start gathering parts here and there.... carpet, door panels, paint and supplies, lowering components, etc. Then most likely next winter I'll strip the interior and redo it, then start on the outside. I don't want this to sit forever like the 68 did!

I was going to swap the 700R4 out of the parts Burb into it, but reverse is out of it. So in the next month or two I'll just have one built, then swap rear ends too. I don't know what gear ratio the Burb has, but since it has a 700R4 it's got to be better than 2.73.

[JohnC]

Sounds like a pretty good plan. I know several people on here have said that the 5" that the flip kit claims, is actually closer to 6" I'm still on the fence about it. I don't want mine slammed, but I do like them low too. I'm thinking about doing the 4" shackle/hanger in the rear, and then 2.5" spindles in the front. I already have 1" springs up front so hopefully that will get me where I want. I have the same thought as you though. I don't want to tear too much down where I can't drive it while I am saving up parts and money.