"My wife now hates me" build. 383 stroked and bagged

[charx2]

I bought this truck in April for 2k. It has a 383 stroker (or strong 350) and 350 trans with shift kit. 3.08 in the rear but I have liberty 3.73 gears with eaton posi boxed up brand new in my sons room. It's bagged all way with 8 valves, 2 compressors, and 2 5 gallon tanks. The A-frames have been replace and are tubular and the front is not disc brakes. When I bought it the guy who sold it was a moron. It was running off of 5 cylinders due to the headers burning the spark plug wires. Header plugs fixed that. After a tune up man did she come alive! Anyone the guy didn't do the work, he bought it from someone who did and he just didn't know how to do anything. I believe he did manage to slam the truck while it was in motion and bent the front x-member and scrapped up the lower a-frames. We will get to that later.




The interior, in the picture I have some things taken apart, parts and stuff all over the seat.

Part of the wiring nightmare I temporarily fixed. Replaced those relays and I'm going to reroute the wiring to go between the tanks. Also my rear bumper bracket that look like they have been cut?

A-frames

The few rusted areas, oh year, the rockers have been replaced as well.



This is the passenger side A-frames and x-member. Notice how the x-member is buckled by those 2 bolts holding the lower A-frame on? Idiot PO.

[charx2]

This is the right side, how the x-member is supposed to be. Notice no buckle?
So I decided that x-member had to go. Got a used one in good condition from a guy and started taking stuff apart. Here is my hoopty ass setup, lol.
\
Started off by removing the power steering pump, notice how it's not completely straight? Will have to work on that during re-install.


This is the 2x4 helping the motor mounts hold the motor when I remove the x-member.

I then removed all of the steering components and unhooked the brake lines, I'm going to need to replace the front lines later on...


I'll post more tomorrow, got plenty more to go...

[charx2]

So I took all the bolts off of the x-member and dropped it.

This is the motor mount that is no longer being supported by the x-member thanks to my trusty ol' 2x4.

So here it is, finally got the x-member out after 3 days and plenty of busted knuckles and an extreme amount of frustration.


Here is is painted and all bolted in.

[charx2]

Whewwww, now all that's left is to bolt the motor mounts up, should be a breeze right? WRONG!!! I have 2 different sets and they will not line up to the x-member holes. Wow this turned out to be way more then I expected.


These are the mounts, 2 are the same and the 1 that's different is the one that I left connected to the motor. The other is still connected but none will line up, looks like I will be drilling into my newly painted and bolted x-member!


Ok, now that catches me up to where I am right now. I will continue to post progress most likely tomorrow when I drill the motor mounts into the x-member.

[charx2]

Drilled the X-member and bolted on the motor. Also bought a 350 out of a 79 vette for $50. That will be my slow 400+ hp slow build. Drilled the holes for my bag brackets and for the hoses, pictures to soon follow....

[67chevy1series]

nice build

[OARNGESI]

Nice build how is the back bagged

[charx2]

Back is also bagged, the wiring in the back is a nightmare which I put a bandaid on. Still working on the front then will work my way back. Finally got my brackets and bags mounted onto the a-frames, still need to shim the a-frames, will get to that tomorrow after I get some.

[charx2]

I really really really need to tackle this, but I still need a wiring diagram to follow and the ones I have found are not very clear.

One of many results of said wiring...Truck is off btw...

[bigguy69]

followng along

[threeonthetree]

Nice! i wish i could help with that wiring haha

[charx2]

Me too! I have nightmares about it when I fall asleep at night. Notice how the starter switch wiring is spliced into all red wires? Yeah, awesome.

[nibs]

what year chevy is that seat from?

[charx2]

Originally Posted by nibs

what year chevy is that seat from?

Not sure about the seats, but I think they are going to go. i want some buckets and I know a guy who has some out of a late model chevy truck he will give me for $50, they have a couple burns in them but otherwise in good shape.

[charx2]

Ok, got out there the last 3 days and maybe screwed in 6 bolts. It's been like 100 out with crazy humidity. So I got my lower control arms torqued to 65ftps and bought some fuel lines and a line bender.

Isn't this bend so purty???

That pipe bender is from harbor freight, it was $6 and it works great.
Here is the passenger side, it was the reason why I had to replace the x-member due to it being buckled. Well as you can see it kind of deformed the bag a little bit, hoping when I put some air to it, it will take it's original shape and when I drop it, not get caught in anything.

here is the right drivers side, I just need to put the rotor back on and connect the steering blah blah blah.

It is a real pain in the ass to get these lines bent with everything put together. I struggled today and got sick of being blazing hot so I called it a day. Also, I need to replace my trans gasket due to me installing B&M shifter and loosing 2 of the bolts. Not sure if you can see, but there are only 2 bolts holding the trans x-member, one of the bolts is rounded off inside of it. I will have to cut that one off.

Found a better use for the top to my sons sand box. It's better then using it to cover up one big ass kitty litter box that was supposed to be a sand box for my son. Damn stray cats!

[charx2]

Also bought a 350 out of a 79 vette for $50. It sat outside for like 2 years but I cleaned it up a little bit. Still need to take it to the machine shop to make sure no cracks and get it machined. It's a 2 bolt but I'm still going to try to get it to about 400hp. That will take me years to complete though. Not in any type of hurry.

Crank and pistons, a lot of rust too...

[charx2]

Also, can someone give me some advice. I'm sure I need to rebuild my carburator, but my truck never smoked. I installed the gas pedal bracket that holds the linkage on. It was being held on with a nail. I then adjusted the idle and fiddled with the 2 screws in front. I closed the left and turned it 3 turns, then did the same to the right to make it match, well now it smokes. I'm not a mechanic, I'm learning as I go but is there a way I possibly could of blown a ring or something when I adjusted the carb? It's in pretty bad shape I think. When I got it, it had a cheap air filter and the housing had a huge hole in the front for a hose or something. Well it was not being plugged so that was all unfiltered air going in for god knows how long. It was also all dingy, and I left it without the filter on for like a month, didn't run it during that time but I think that may have the float sticking. Any advice would be very appreciated. Thanks for following guys, you all keep me motivated through all the *****ing my old lady does.

[charx2]

I have messed with the mixture screws to but it seems like they don't do anything anymore? I can close them and I get nothing, before it would stumble and almost die. I'm just worried about the smoke!

[charx2]

Some updates for those who have been following me, I removed, clean and painted the trans pan and the tie rod steering bar? I also finally got my brake lines done and installed the upper ball joint. Now what I had to do to get the brakes lines done. It was a fiasco trying to figure out which advanced auto part would fit. I know I have a 67 but I have disc brakes, now I ordered the ball joint (OE brand) for a 71 but it would not fit and it was metric. The picture it had on advanced computer showed a picture of what I pulled off the truck but the one they gave me looked complelty different. Apparently they had in the system that a 67-71 had the same exact ball joint. Well after a bunch of crap I ordered a 71 Moog ball joint and it fit thank god. Then I tried to order some brake hoses. Well yet again, advanced had the wrong stuff in the computer I guess because they could not show me one that would fit. I went to O'reillys and they hooked me up. All i have to do now is replace the inner and outer tie rods and then she can finally move again!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! Oh yeah, I sprayed my carb with some carb cleaner and it fixed it, now running like it should I think. We will see when I get it on the road.

[charx2]

oh yea, I still need to secure the brake line, I have the clips and self tapping screws that I will try to get done tomorrow.

[charx2]

SOB!!! Well, I got everything put back together and bled the brakes but could not get all the air completely out, think it's my MC so I bought a new one and bench bled it, just need to put it on. Well I drove it down the street a bit just to actually drive it, it's been like 3 months. Drove great! My order from CPP came in, I got front and back shock relocators and shocks. Just found out I think I have the wrong shocks. No big deal, I just need to make sure of the size I need and they will except a swap. Well I go to start it up and it's running very rough, almost like a cylinder is not firing. So I pull the #1 plug and I can't tell a difference in the motor, I put it back in and pull the #2 plug, can't tell a difference and both shocked the living piss out of at the distributor. Tomorrow I'm going to pull the plugs and see if one is gunked up which is very likely with the way my carb has been running. Man I tell you, this truck is just one thing after another. Don't get me wrong, I still love it but it seems sometimes to just be too much for me! Fix one thing, 2 more things go wrong, fix those, then it's something else! My wife is sure enjoying talking trash "I told you you shouldn't of bought that stupid truck" or the classic " Maybe if you had'nt bought that truck then you would be able to relax" blah blah blah blah, that's what I hear anymore. Sorry, just venting...stupid truck!

[VA72C10]

Sorry to hear about the trouble....hope it does turn out to be an easy fix.

[charx2]

Me too man, me too. Where is Midlothian? I'm from Hampton roads.

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by charx2

Me too man, me too. Where is Midlothian? I'm from Hampton roads.

basically Richmond (suburbs). I'm about 15-20 minutes from downtown

[charx2]

Oh ok, well hello from a fellow Virginian? What ever we are called, I moved to Alabama and I miss VA so much. Nice to know some people back home have very good taste though!