65 SWB fleetside build. NEED YOUR ADVICE AND GUIDANCE!

[Slowtruk]

Guys, I bought this truck out of the weeds the other day. $900. Pretty straight, usual rust under the doors and lower fenders. No rust up above by the drip lines or roof. Been repainted at sometime...has no holes for the trim on the bed and doors and behind the windows, so I can only assume that option wasnt chosen or they welded them all up. Heres the initial "show off thread" I posted a day or two ago so you can run thru it, if you want, its just one page. Lots of pics.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=479648

One thing I'd love is for yall to check in frequently and give your much needed advice, this is not my first project as I had a '64 GMC suburban before as well as my current side-truck an 85 C20 I saved and rebuilt the engine, and love that truck. I also have a 05 suburban kid hauler and just totalled my hot rod 01 chevy 2 weeks ago. so the red 85 is my daily now.

However I know yall know all the tricks to these 60's trucks. Right now my laptop likes to freeze up when I try to post pics, so I'll start this thread and then add photos from my iPhone.

I washed it, cleaned the inside, put it on stands and steam washed the chassis and all that. has original balljoints cause the rivets are still there. Looks pretty solid. Of course someone put a plywood bed in that rotted away again.

Goal is to make her run first. I may be only 26 but I've been through this enough to know that slick paint doesnt make it go. So Thats the first priority.

Sad to say It came with no engine or trans nor a driveshaft. Kid said it had a 305 v8 when he got it, drove it to school and back until the rad busted and overheated the engine. Said it came with an inline six originally. 3 on the tree trans. I'd love to find all that and redo it with a six cause they are so cool, but I want it on the street. I have money to get all this going, but dont want to spend a large chunk on securing a six and then rebuilding it.

I have a 350 that came out of a 87-88 burb, smokes but I'm gonna tear it down and rebuild it like I did the 85. I'll hve the block honed and cleaned, an I'll replace EVERYTHING besides the crank and rods, unless they need it. Might even do a nice cam. need a 700r4 but cant find one lately. I have a friend who will rebuild it cheap. If I put a big enough cam in the 350, I have a brand new all billet triple disk 3800 stall converter from Circle D in Houston that I could put in...It wuld be nasty. Also have another $1000 in beefy 4l60e parts that would swap into the 700r, mostly. not sure if I want to do that or not.

Tonight I took out the rusted through battery tray and ordered another one. Tomorrow I plan on buying heater hose, plugs and wires, dist cap and rotor,fuel pump, oil pump, water pump, oil, coolant, then I'll order the gasket set and hopefully Ill know soon what needs to be done with the engine hard parts. I'd just like to get the easy parts such as the wires and all that out of the way and on the shelf for when I need em.

Questions right off the bat!

1. The area that holds the radiator is only about 27" wide. I noticed the rad in the 85 is 34" wide roughly. Do I mke room for a bigger rad if possible, or stick the small size in there and hope it cools?

2. the kid told me when he bought the truck it had 305 v8...which tells e with the proper motor mounts the 350 would sit right in there. WHat about the trans? He didnt say what trans was in it, I texted hima sec ago with no answer yet. It is manuel 3 on the tree shift inthe cab still, with no other shifters in sight. So that means he had to have a manuel 3 speed in there right? Will they even bolt up to a 350? I assume so since they had them behind smallblock v8's back then? IDK.

3. where abouts does anyone know of the relocation kit to put the gas tank under the bed? That can be done while I'm waiting on the engine and securing a trans...Ive also noticed a lot of people buying blazer tanks and sticking them between the frame rails in the back.....

4. Pulled out all the little bolts that go in the heater box to remove the heater core, but still cant fig out how to get it out. Looks like there may be two tiny stamped parts holding the halves together. Dont know need more tinkering time.


I know this is a novel ad I apoligize, but Im super excited to have this truck. Ive even thought about, after its running and I can drive it everyday, saving up and going back to the inline six it wouldve had. THANK YOU FOR LOOKING AND PLEASE COMMENT!!! I need the help! And I appreciate it. pics in a sec

Forgot to add, the gas tank is new, and the whole truck has been rewired from front to ack using harness's from Classictrucks.com. They did a good job

[Slowtruk]

[Slowtruk]

[Slowtruk]

Nevermind on the issue with getting the heater core out...man, this thing looks solid and is kinda heavy lol. Says "HARRISON" on it, maybe original. I bet its expensive to replace...

[Slowtruk]

Got my name on the list for the guy who produces the inside panels to convert to a BBW. Cant wait!

bout to take that heater core to my friends at the radiator shop, see if its leaking. If not its going back in, thoise things are high brand new!

[Slowtruk]

stopped by oreillys and bought that pulley I needed for the suburban power steering...also bought a new oil, water and fuel pump for the 65, plugs and wires, cap and rotor, 10 quarts of cheap break in oil, a house brand filter and a wix, brake fluid, coolant, heater hose and clamps...bout $220ish I think. I need to get the receipts and keep a tally on this build. So far with 900 on the truck, and about $500 in stuff from classic parts and oreillys combined, im in about $1400.

Also just dropped off that heater core at the radiator shop and the guy is going to make it right.

[Slowtruk]

Went and picked up my heater core, no leaks and jimmy said he washed out a ton of crap out of the core and fins. Looks great, plus he fixed the ends of the tubes where the hoses attach, looked like when people would pry the hose off to change it, the screwdriver gouged them.He did a fantastic job for $10.00!!!

Also, its my lucky day. These guys are old friends and they did the 4 core radiator for my 85, so we got to talking about the 65. He asked if I had a radiator and I said no. He walked over to a shelf and pulled down an original Harrison radiator from a 65 C-10! Said a guy in march brought it to him to be rebuilt, then never came and picked it up. Said he called the guy and his wife answered, said he got a dwi and was in jail and she sold his truck lol.

Jmmy had rebuilt it with a heavy duty 3-core inside and said it'll last me a LONG time. He still had the ticket from march that he wrote up, $285 after taxes but he sold it to me for $200 cash. How lucky!

[Delmo]

Cool truck man.

[Slowtruk]

Thanks Delmo. She aint no california dime like yall are used to finding but shes straight for around here!


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Heres the 350 I'll be working with. 88 suburban and smokes a little. Pullingapart tomorrow


Bought a cam kit. Comes with lifters, timing chain set (my dumbass forgot that and bought an extra timing chain set) springss and all that. Says its a 268 duration but actual duration is 218/218 and lift is 454/454. $337.95

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-K12-210-2/

Also bought a full gasket set, trick flow brand $119

bought a seperate rubber one piece gasket for the oil pan like $36

Bought 4.030 flat top pistons with 4 valv relief like in the 85 engine so I can put them anywhere in the block. $94.50

Bought rings 4.030

and of course that stupid extra timing chain set.

Looked for chrome valve covers that didnt look cheesy for under $150 but had no real luck.

Going to have the block bored .030 (which is why Im buying oversized pistons)...$110 to do this.

I'm trading the newer style "valve cover bolts thru the middle" heads to my dad for his regualr older style heads off of his built 350 in his truck. Theyve been mildly ported and polished. Also getting his aluminum intake and running a Q-jet for a while.

So anyways I hve pretty much allI need to build the motor. besides the bore, hone, and block clean. Oh yeah I'll have him install cam bearings and give me some cleavite rod and main bearings.

Thinking about having this engine painted chevy orange, and doing chrome valve covers...Ive always wanted an orange engine, and it should show good in this open engine bay. Which will also have to be freshened up to make it shine.

I'm sure i'm leaving something out.

[Slowtruk]

I could put this stall behind it if I wanted lol...would need a bigger cam tho lol.

Circle D triple disk 258mm 10.5" all billet 3800 stall....but its going in my 01

[Slowtruk]

I'll just keep updatingthis thread until someone comes in here and shows me some more motivation! lol.

Just bought some coated headers

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HOK-2451-1HKR/

Also percys collector gaskets, 3" collector reducers to 2.5", and some roller tip rocker arms.

[Slowtruk]

to keep a tally Im into this build $2,815 so far.

$900 for truck
$260 classicparts stuff
$260 at oreillys
$250 heater core and radiator
$630 Summit racing for engine stuff
$515 summit racing headers and more engine

[Slowtruk]

added a chrome timing chain cover to the mix

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRO-66666/

[Captainfab]

Is there a reason you bought passenger car headers? Didn't you say you were keeping the 3 speed trans?

Originally Posted by Slowtruk

I'll just keep updatingthis thread until someone comes in here and shows me some more motivation! lol.

Just bought some coated headers

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HOK-2451-1HKR/

Also percys collector gaskets, 3" collector reducers to 2.5", and some roller tip rocker arms.

[Slowtruk]

HAHA thats why I said I needed somone checkin on me! I get to buying, see "Chevy small block" and SOLD! LOL how about these.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HED-69890/?rtype=10

[SFTorange]

Your progress looks great! Good find on the radiator. I like the way you're keeping track of the budget. Eventually I decided to just remain blissfully ignorant about mine.

There are a number of different options for relocating the tank behind the bed ranging from the blazer tanks to a camaro tank to a new custom aluminum one. If you do some searching around the forum, you'll find lots of options. I bought an aluminum tank from Dave Boyd who is a board vendor and makes a great product.

Look in the FAQ section for a bunch of helpful tips and how-to's. I ended up finding several cool little projects in there that really added to my build. I highly recommend the front sway bar upgrade.

[Slowtruk]

Oh and captainfab, going with a th350 or hopefully a 700r. I bought the truck headers and canceled my previous order

Thanks orange, yeah the faq area is great! Thats where I learned about the BBW swap. This site is full of info.

I'm about to go grab that 350 from dads and tear it down, inspect it and send it to the machine shop to be bored and cleaned and get cam bearings. After I tear the motor down today I'm planning on pulling the front cip off. Truck needs a new radiator support plus a pass inner fender to get the frame to body mount back in shape. While the clip is off I'll do the frame some justice and might get to do all the steering and brakes also.

[Slowtruk]

Progress today-pulled front clip off. Gonna replace pass inner fender (any idea where to buy?) and also the middle core. SOmeone saw the passenger body to frame mount area was rotten so they tried to weld it, I had to grind it down.





picked up the 350 I have and need to tear it down and send it to the machine shop.

[Slowtruk]

FIrst load of **** came in from classicparts.com

bed to frame bolts-stainless
wood floor bolts-stainless
chevy tailgate lettters
lots of general sheetmetal bolts for bodyassembly
new lug nuts,
cuple wheel studs
new heater fan
battery box

[Captainfab]

Yes those will fit the truck just fine, and will work with the manual trans if you keep it for a while. But be aware, if you go very low with the suspension, you will be dragging those collectors.

Originally Posted by Slowtruk

HAHA thats why I said I needed somone checkin on me! I get to buying, see "Chevy small block" and SOLD! LOL how about these.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HED-69890/?rtype=10

[Slowtruk]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Yes those will fit the truck just fine, and will work with the manual trans if you keep it for a while. But be aware, if you go very low with the suspension, you will be dragging those collectors.

Thanks again cap'n, I hope they work out fine.

You know, I love lowered trucks, always have. Have two 80's swb lowered and a 2001 lowered...But i dont know about this one. I really like the stock look, but I'll probably get bit by the lowrider bug later.

Tried to clean the place up around here, the less vehicle related stuff she sees the better mood shes in. So I stuck all the big pieces together and hung a lot of smaller stuff off the shelves in garage.

[Slowtruk]

Headers came in, and Percys collector gaskets.


For anyone who was wondering Im scrapping the idea of a cammed rebuilt 350, going with this.

http://www.jegs.com/i/GM+Performance...67353/10002/-1

Also looking into a crate 700r4

[Slowtruk]

Christmas

[Slowtruk]

Got a 700r4 from my dad...



Update...

Yesterday I dropped the trans pictured above off to a local trans shop recommended by everyone. Guy said its an 86-91 trans and is exactly the one I want. He said they make a 'Painless' wiring kit that plugs into the plug on the trans and wires in directly and provides the lockup.

He is going to pull the trans apart next week and call me, to tell me what it needs. I told him I want it like new. He said $800-1,100 and thats only if it needs something radical.Price will Include the wiring kit and a brand new converter. When he calls me I'm going to tell him I want a good warranty with the work

[Slowtruk]

Made progress today. Pulled the bumper, tailgate, bed, and rear glass. It my only day off so I had limited time right now.

Looking into the power steering upgrade also. Next SUnday I am driving 3 hous to cut out BBW panel for free! More progress as I go









glass


pulled the bed by myself