1978 Silverado Epic Technology Frame Off Restoration

[ERBSIX]

I understand this list is long, and might take years to accomplish, but I’m okay with that. My biggest struggle is determining what order to do all the work in.

Body Work:

Remove the crappy body molding (weld up the holes left behind)

Remove the front bumper
Remove the lower grill panel (part behind the bumper & beneath the grill)
Fabricate a front roll pan
Strip & paint the old bumper and create a removable mounting bracket (so the bumper can be taken on and off to protect the front roll pan & grill)

Clean up the firewall.
Remove all unnecessary components and move the necessary ones to make it as pretty as possible.
Fabricate custom front inner fenders.

Shave the fender marker lights
Shave the mirrors & replace with something (I’m not sure yet)
Shave the door handles (the doors will have a remote key-fob and solenoid to open them)
Shave the rain drip rail over both doors
Convert the windows & window wings into a solid pane of glass (there is a kit for this)

Fix the tailgate (some dents & dings)
Shave the tailgate handle

Shave the taillights
Remove the rear bumper & attached receiver hitch assembly
Add a sheet metal roll pan with LED lighting (no license plate holder)
Build a custom tube bumper and removable mounting bracket (so the bumper can be taken on and off to protect the rear roll pan)
Build a front & rear license plate flip-bracket (allows the plates to be hidden behind the bumpers for showing)

Remove the bed, sandblast, and fix all rust spots
Line-X the bed and put on an undercoating (POR-15)

Frame Work:

Remove everything from the frame, clean (possibly sandblast but there is little rust, so little need to) and put on a bullet proof & permanent frame protector. This has been an ongoing battle with me. I originally wanted to put Line-X on the entire frame, the underside of the bed and cab, and inside the cab and bed; however, this would add 500 POUNDS to my truck! Also, I have been told by several people that bed liner material is more of a saran wrap on metal, so when it cracks moisture is trapped between it and the metal causing rust. I have found several other materials, but I have not settled on one yet. POR-15 seems to be the best.

While the front clip, cab and bed are off the frame, replace ALL the bushings & cab mounts. The 30+ year old rubber ones are obviously shot and the new polyurethane ones are awesome.

Article about this... $60

Drive Train:

The engine has now been rebuilt twice, and the automatic TH 350 transmission has been rebuilt once. I think it will be fine for the life of the truck but after I’ve completed everything, I think a new fuel injected (crate) engine and a modern transmission with higher gears might be in order for better gas mileage, power and all the electrical craziness I have in mind.

Interior Work: (My Pièce de résistance)

The interior of this truck is where I really want to spend the majority of my time.
Unfortunately, this is the part that I know the least about, which isn't saying much since I don't know much about the rest either.

My goal is to have a 30+ year old truck with an ultra modern, electronic interior.

The bench seat is staying (per the wife’s request), but everything else is going to change.

Remove the carpet
Reupholster the bench seat
Replace the old worn out seat belts
Replace the steering column
Line-X the floorboard after putting down sound deadening (emboss bowties on each floorboard)

Now, for the craziness:

Completely remove the dashboard and gauge cluster.
This truck will not have a single gauge, switch or button when it’s completed.

All the inputs for the truck, speedometer, fuel level, oil pressure, volt meter, temperature, odometer, etc... will all be ported to a computer which will in turn display everything onto a 21” touch-screen monitor which will sit atop the transmission hump in the cab.

The dashboard will be one solid, uninterrupted piece of sheet metal (minus the top holes for the defroster) fabricated by me. As clean and sleek as is humanly possible.

Every piece of this truck will be controlled by the on-board computer system through the touch screen monitor, including:

Starting it (which I want to be fingerprint authenticated)
Unlocking the doors (with a manual override by pulling the door handle inside the cab)
Rolling the windows up and down (including the rear window)
and Controlling the in-flight entertainment system

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Holy crap, putting all that down, and I’m sure that’s not everything, is really intimidating. That’s probably why I’ve avoided it for so long. Next I need to attach prices and times to each of these items to see if I can finish this before the truck and I both die of old age. The problem is, the more I work on the truck the younger it gets, but I don’t stop aging!

Well, there it is. Almost everything I want to do.
This has been my dream now for almost 10 years.
I’ve got the truck, it’s in good shape, and now I just need to start.
I have pictures of many things I want to accomplish which I’ve seen on other trucks and in Truckin’ magazine, so I will post those soon.

Also, I’ll post some pictures of both my 1978 Silverado’s.

I forgot to mention that earlier.
I actually own two 1978 Silverado trucks, one is my half-ton daily driver (blue & silver) that is in great condition. The second is a 3/4 ton retired farm truck that’s in rough shape. Solid engine and four speed manual (crazy low gears!).

Since I’m no crack welder or sheet metal worker, I am going to use the 3/4 ton truck to practice on, including stripping it apart to see how everything goes together, and using the sheet metal components to practice welding, sanding, and painting.

Alright, pictures to follow soon!

p.s. A thousand thank you's to two users on this board: leddzepp & chevy71c10 their build threads are amazing and gave me a TON of information!

[RandyP]

Sounds like an awesome build. As long as you can keep your interest high and your will power and interest higher, you'll have some fun and end up with a one of a kind truck.

And....

[ERBSIX]

I know it's worthless without pictures.

I've got several pictures of the Blue & Silver truck I want to restore, none of the other "farm" truck, and I've also got a series of pictures from the internet to illustrate what I want to do.

I will compile all those and post them ASAP!

[ERBSIX]

Ok. These are terrible pictures I took so the insurance people would insure it for what I wanted.

This was right before we pulled the motor and rebuilt it (the second time).

I will get some better pictures of the truck in a more flattering setting than inside a building. :-)

[RandyP]

Call me an old man, but I absolutely love those race track moldings!! That blue and silver is one of my all time favorite color schemes as well, the single round headlights just add to the class of the truck! I love that truck the way it is on the outside, gorgeous! The more I see the 73-80's, I should have went with one of those instead of being hard headed and picky for an '87.

Love your truck man.

[ERBSIX]

Thank's a bunch RandyP.

I am getting rid of the molding on the truck regardless. They are cheap, crappy, and most importantly they allow gunk to accumulate between them and the paint, scratching and causing rust. Also, they are held on by the equivalent of pop rivets, so I have holes in my sheetmetal. I hate that too.

However, the truck will be repainted almost exactly like it looks now.

That is my favorite color scheme (and my wife's) as well!

[ERBSIX]

Recently, I finally put down in text the lits of modifications I wanted to do to my 1978 Chevrolet C10 Silverado Half-Ton.

Over the past 10 years I have collected a large assortment of Truckin' pictures and internet*pictures of trucks which I liked, in order to get a better visual of what my truck will look like when completed.

I am going to try to explain some of that here, but obviously I won't be able to cover everything in one post. Plus, I have not been able to find some of the old Truckin' articles I saved. So I will dig those up as soon as possible.

Checkout the pictures and then read my comments below to see how they fit into what I want to do.

Custom Front Roll Pan – Fabricated by Me







These are three very good examples of front roll pans. The bottom two are the same year of truck that mine is. The top yellow on is a 68-72 model, so the body style is different, but the front roll pan on it looks really good.

Regarding the second and third pictures, this is very close to what I want to accomplish; however, I do not want it to appear that there is a bumper there at all. Instead of having it "bump out" like all three of these do, below the grill, the sheet metal will go straight down and be completely flat.

Also, I plan to not have the "slots" beneath the grill either. I'm not sure why they are there. So far as I can tell, they serve no purpose, so they will be removed to leave a very clean front end!


Removable Bumper


Since the front roll pan will leave the front of my '78 a little too vulnerable for my taste, fashioning the old bumper into a removable accessory is key.

The solution will be to fabricate two brackets in a V shape. One leg of the V will attach to the bumper and the other leg will have four bolt holes on it which will match up to four holes (two for each bracket to keep the bumper from "flexing" from side to side) on the frame underneath the front of the truck.

This will allow a bumper to be on the truck when driving around town, but if it is entered into shows, it can quickly be removed (just remove 4 bolts) for maximum prettiness.

To Turn Signal, Or not to Turn Signal






You can also see from the last two pictures that the orange truck still has the front turn signals and marker lights, while the green one has neither.

My truck will definitely have the marker lights shaved (removed) so the fender will look just like the green truck.

I also want to remove the front turn signals, again, like the green truck, but I need to verify this is legal in the State of Missouri before doing so. I sure hope I don't legally have to have front blinkers in Missouri. If anyone knows please shoot me a comment.

Verbosity


Wow, this turned out to be MUCH longer than I had anticipated.

I will cut it off here for now and create more posts to keep showing pictures similar to what I want to accomplish.

Feedback and Tips are always welcome!

[RandyP]

Every state will have a law saying you must have signal lamps front and rear, and side marker lamps. If nothing else every state will have the catch all of "vehicles must have similar equipment and safety devices as they were built with".
However, I have seen headlamps that have a built in turn signal. I believe I seen them on an old VW bug years and years ago, was an aftermarket solution so they could remove their teardrop fender mounted signals.
Also another solution is to do a flush mounted LED lamp system for side/turn lamps. It is a very poplar thing to do on motorcycles right now. Basically get the LED lamp/lens fitting flush, do body work and primer to make it perfectly seamless and more or less ghosted in. You can even put a light layer of paint on it to help hide it, but once turned on the LED's show through. I've seen my custom motorcycle painter friend do lots of them, and the results are awesome.

The green truck, without the front signal lamps, just looks like a lot of real estate below the headlamp. Reminds me of the 3/4 and 1 ton heavy duty trucks in the 90's that had a huge filler below the grille and on top of the bumper.
I love the looks of the orange truck, sleek and functional. It's a give and take thing making one a show truck, yet a driver as well.

[ERBSIX]

RandyP, do you have any more information, perhaps online articles I can look at, about the process of creating the LED lighting behind paint?

Does this process have a name which I can Google?
I tried searching for ghost lighting but it's all motorcycle related...
(By the way, I love this look. I with I had done it to my '00 ZX9R)

I am very intrigued with this idea. I would love to stay legal but completely hide the front turn signals. That would be awesome. The green truck is my preferred look. I just love how sleek, simple and clean it is.

Keep in mind, that when I'm done, the sheet metal will go straight down and be completely flush with the metal like under the headlights where the signals used to be.
Where you see the two holes on the green truck and the "bump-out" roll plan, mine will be completely smooth and flat.

I need to find a way to get a drawing of this to better illustrate my point.

Regardless, that side (fender) marker light has got to go! :-)
I cannot stand that light being there. Smooth sheet metal looks much better.

UPDATE: Thanks a million to mcmlxix who pointed me to what are called Phantom Lenses by Anvil Auto.

[RandyP]

I can find pictures of lots of bikes, but not really on cars. From what I've seen, the LED light is a self contained lamp with a clear lens. They cut a hole so the lamp fits in it and they mount it where it's flush. They then use body filler and fill in the seam and lightly out over the lens (mask off the shape you want to keep totally visible I guess) and smooth it where there is no line at all, goes from the metal to the lens and back to metal, totally flush and smooth.

My motorcycle guy cusses them because he'll get parts in that have had the light put in and he does not realize it because they put a light coat of sealer on the bare metal and actually cover the light up. He throws things if he realizes it after he has primed and sanded everything and layed out his artwork, then has to go back and wetsand the lights down where they actually can glow through.

The LED lights I've seen have wings behind them, so you can mount them however you want, either gluing or screwing or however. If that even remotely makes sense at all. Clear as mud and as easy as a monkey humping a football.

[ERBSIX]

My uncle gave me a good idea this weekend.

Instead of doing the LED lights hidden behind paint (which I still love), to make it easier I might just hide the turn signal LED lights inside the grill.

Just looking at the grill they would be hard to see, but when the turn signals are on then they would be plainly visible.

If I can find some more information about how to do the LED behind paint trick, I might attempt it. :-)

[ERBSIX]

1978 Silverado Tear Down is Coming to Video ASAP!

As I mentioned before, I actually own two 1978 Silverados.
One is my daily driver (Blue & Silver pictured above)
and the second is a beat up farm truck which I'm going to practice on before messing up the good truck.

A friend of mine has agreed to video record and photograph the entire process to then share on the internet for other newbies (like me) who need all the info they can get before tearing into something.

I've never done this before. So wish me luck!

[menace121978]

good luck buddy!

[STOCKISH]

Yeah, especially with all the dash and electronic items. Definately one of a kind.

[mooseknuckles]

Originally Posted by ERBSIX

My uncle gave me a good idea this weekend.

Instead of doing the LED lights hidden behind paint (which I still love), to make it easier I might just hide the turn signal LED lights inside the grill.

Just looking at the grill they would be hard to see, but when the turn signals are on then they would be plainly visible.

If I can find some more information about how to do the LED behind paint trick, I might attempt it. :-)

I believe the green chevy has the turn signals behind the grill like my 86 does

[ERBSIX]

Parts truck pictures! This is the retired farm truck I mentioned above.







I did not take a picture of the passenger side fender which is caved in, but you get the idea! :-)

I'm kind of sad to tear this 1978 Silverado 3/4 Ton appart because it still runs great!

But, I am going to tear apart the engine and see what kind of damage is inside (I'm sure there's something wrong!). After talking to my uncle (whose been an high performance engine machinist for 30 years) I am going to build [or buy] a water-tight container to fill with old oil and submerge the engine block and components in so they do not rust sitting around the shop.

Note to all: Do not let an engine block sit! It will attract moisture, rust, and destroy itself. If you cannot store the engine submerged in oil, then the best way to keep one is to mount it on an engine stand, wrap it in a heavy blanket, then cover the whole thing in a plastic bag.

And here is another picture of the 1978 Silverado 1/2 Ton I will be working on restoring.

[ERBSIX]

My 1978 Silverado's fuel pump was leaking pretty bad, so $42 later it's got a brand new pump and rubber lines.

Pump: $21
Rubber hose, Brass fittings and Clamps: $21

Click on each picture to see a larger version (Warning! They are HUGE).

Pictures!

Here is the pesky old fuel pump I removed which was leaking. Unfortunately the metal fuel line which connects to the carburetor was too stuck to unscrew from the pump. Thus, I had to replace the metal fuel line with a new rubber one.



Here is a close up of the frustrating fuel line fitting which would not unscrew. Penetrating oil and Vice-grips proved an un-worthy adversary for this little fitting!



New hardware! 5 feet of rubber fuel line, two brass fittings and four hose clamps.



Close up of the brass fittings. These things are nice, but at $7.50 a piece about gave me a heart attack. One goes into the new fuel pump and one into the carburetor.



New fuel pump installed. No lines hooked up yet, and the old one needs to be removed.



The carburetor. No lines hooked up yet.



The carburetor with the new brass fitting to make sure it would thread up right. I put the fittings inside the hoses and tightened the hose clamps before screwing them into place.



The brass fitting screwed into the new pump, and the old line (an inch too short) in the picture.



These fittings are super nice. Double flared at the end to make sure the hose doesn't work its way off (and makes it tough to get it on in the first place). Hose clamp just for extra measure.



He's ready for his close up Mr. DeMille.



The hose on the fitting, clamped down, and screwed into the carb. You can see the line is routed between the alternator and the alternator bracket, then down to the fuel pump. Hopefully the alternator won't get too hot and melt my rubber hose.



The fitting screwed into the fuel pump.



A close up of the fuel pump and line.



That's it! No more fuel leak!

[Matt Man]

love your truck looks really good i should start one of these build thingys, i need to do some more things to it.

[ERBSIX]

Just got this in the mail:

Should help out quite a bit!

[ERBSIX]

Picked these up today! Two 55 gallon drums.
I got them for $10 a piece, so $20 total.

I'm going to fill one partially with used motor oil to put the engine parts out of the red 3/4 truck (shown above) and the other I might put GreaseMaster in for cleaning parts.

Also, I'm picking up a brand new 2 ton (foldable/collapsible) engine hoist and a 1 ton engine stand tomorrow morning! Those should help a lot with the work.

I will post pics when I get them home.

I found this One Man Cab and Bed Lift a while back on here.
That might be a good project to use with my new hoist!

[RandyP]

Odd, most places throw away 55 gallon drums or get them hauled off by the scrap man. Lord knows we've thrown away a ton of them. Only need so many trash cans in the shop. Always have one fresh empty (we get lacquer thinner in 55 gallon drums) in case the waste thinner or waste oil/antifreeze gets full.

When I have a 2 wheel drive during winter, I keep an empty in the bed of my truck with 2x4's on each side. I put the big hole opening on the bottom and the little on top. I'll fill it with water if the roads are gonna get bad, it freezes up and gives a lot of weight. When the roads thaw I just open the bottom and let it drain so I'm almost to no weight. Then I found out years later that someone invented the "truck bladder". They so stole my idea...

[smokedat]

subsrcibed

[ERBSIX]

Just got back from a 100 mile trip this morning. :-)

I left at 6 am to head south to pick up my engine hoist and engine stand.

Well worth it. They both look brand new.
I will post pics this afternoon.

Even though they are in like-new condition, I want to test out POR15.
I am going to strip down the adjustable arm of the hoist and put POR15 on it.
This is the box-steel part that slides back and forth like a crane arm.
I'm curious if the POR15 finish will stand up to this kind of abuse,
which is probably less abuse than my truck frame is going to see.

Originally Posted by RandyP

Odd, most places throw away 55 gallon drums or get them hauled off by the scrap man. Lord knows we've thrown away a ton of them.

Wish I could have gotten them from you then. :-)

Originally Posted by RandyP

When I have a 2 wheel drive during winter, I keep an empty in the bed of my truck with 2x4's on each side. I put the big hole opening on the bottom and the little on top. I'll fill it with water if the roads are gonna get bad, it freezes up and gives a lot of weight. When the roads thaw I just open the bottom and let it drain so I'm almost to no weight. Then I found out years later that someone invented the "truck bladder". They so stole my idea...

That sucks. But thanks for the idea for this winter! :-)

Originally Posted by smokedat

subsrcibed

Thank You sir! I love your truck and can't wait to see it done. You're making FAST progress.

[ERBSIX]

I just picked up these bad boys.

2 Ton Engine Hoist
1 Ton Engine Stand

Now I just need to fabricate a One Man Cab/Bed Lift

Wooden Cab/Bed Lift

Metal Cab/Bed Lift

[ERBSIX]

Sammy James of Minnesota Fastlife did a rough draft rendering of my truck.

You can request a rendering from him from his website (mnfastlife.com) or contact him on this board via his thread: Hot new artist here.

Here is the pic of my rending: