1972 GMC Project Future Daily Driver

[lilpanther]

Hey everyone, Long time lurker here. I have wanted one of these trucks for years and about 4 or 5 months ago a buddy mentioned that he had one sitting around he would get rid of so I figured it couldn't hurt to go look at it. When I got there I found a 72' shortbed fleetside just begging to be drug out of his yard and be put back on the road.

It's a manual brake, power steering truck that was originally a 6 cylinder/ 3 speed truck that someone swapped an 80's 305/700r4 into. I am trying to get this truck back on the road as a semi budget daily driver so I will most likely be leaving the 305 and swap the 700r4 out for a th400 that a buddy offered me since I found the truck only has 3.07's in the rear it really doesn't need overdrive.

I already went to the local junkyard and snagged a serpentine set-up from a 95' chevy and some electric fans from a 2005 nissan that fit the radiator perfectly. Whenever the people that threw this truck together swapped the 305 into it they pretty well hacked the wiring so I will be putting a good bit of time into that since wherever they needed power they just twisted bare wires together and left it hanging.

It will be a pretty slow start to this project since I am in the middle of trying to finish up my 46' Chevy rat rod but I wanted to go ahead and get a thread made so I can update it as I do some small things to it in the meantime.

Enough rambling, Here are some pictures of the truck.

My first time seeing the truck at my buddies house.


Underhood pic along with some pictures of the hack job wiring.





Interior pictures. It didn't have a glovebox door so I have no clue what the original options on it were.


Somebody drilled an old tach into the cluster.


My Junkyard serpentine set-up waiting to go on and fans.




And some outside pictures.

Straight off the trailer with mold and moss on it.


After a good scrubbing it shined up nicely. The paint job is far from perfect but it will do for a driver.



And a picture of it out in the yard with my semi-daily driver that is 5.3/60e swapped.

[rwade]

Can you show me some pics of the engine bay of the Ford? I’ve got a 48 F-5 that I’m planning on a 5.3L swap as well and am curious about how the figment next to the firewall and floor with the trans. Are you running a rack n pinion on it. Sorry so many questions about that one. Love the GMC too!

Wade

[notsolo]

Nice solid looking truck, you might get lucky and find a build sheet under the seat. 700r4 has a low 1st gear and would get better MPG if it runs decent, drive shaft may not work depending on the various lengths, and differences in both transmissions. Wiring needs some TLC, might surprise you, hook all the wiring up it might run as is. Sometimes under hood wiring comes up in the for sale section.

[lilpanther]

Originally Posted by rwade

Can you show me some pics of the engine bay of the Ford? I’ve got a 48 F-5 that I’m planning on a 5.3L swap as well and am curious about how the figment next to the firewall and floor with the trans. Are you running a rack n pinion on it. Sorry so many questions about that one. Love the GMC too!

Wade

Thanks. I'll send you a PM with some info on the F-1.

Originally Posted by notsolo

Nice solid looking truck, you might get lucky and find a build sheet under the seat. 700r4 has a low 1st gear and would get better MPG if it runs decent, drive shaft may not work depending on the various lengths, and differences in both transmissions. Wiring needs some TLC, might surprise you, hook all the wiring up it might run as is. Sometimes under hood wiring comes up in the for sale section.

It actually runs as is and kind of drives, The driveshaft they have in it is actually too long for the 700r4 and they tried driving it without the TV cable hooked up so the 700r4 isn't very healthy. Unfortunately the underhood wiring isn't the only one they hacked, They also hacked up the wiring under the dash and for the steering column.