Introducing myself & the truck

[yossarian19]

Hey, so I've posted a few "lost newbie" type questions here but thought I'd take a slow morning at work and throw up an intro post.
I'm Tom, I'm 27, not quite broke but not rich either. I'm an auto mechanic who has never worked on anyhting but MPFI engines. My old man is a hot rodder, has been since 1962, and I learned from him. So whatever I do with the truck, it probably won't be a resto.
Here's the truck as she sits now:
[IMG][/IMG]

Under the hood things are in progress and far from complete:[IMG][/IMG]

When I got to her, the head & oil pan were off & the #2 piston & rod are in a box in the cab.

The truck came into the family when my girl's father bough it in 1977. Her brother came into it maybe 10 years ago, got it running & used it until it spun a bearing. Now it's my turn.

I'm still not sure if I'm tearing the I-6 out to rebuild or to swap in a carbed SBC, or maybe go all the way and swap in an LS. I'm pretty sure I don't want to go through the wiring & swap issues for anything less than an LS, though, so if it isn't carb'ed it is going to be a 5.3 or 5.7 Vortec.

Thanks for reading & for all the info I've gotten here. Cheers!

[55metalmonkey]

Nice truck, is it a long box or a shot box? form the pics it looks like a fairly solid base to start with, how is the rot on it? cab corners and floorpan seem to be the cancer prone spots on TF trucks.

do you have a grand plan like IFS, 4 link, rewire or just get it running? lots of ideas on the site for just about any taste


Welcome, keep up posted on your progress

[LDO]

Welcome to the forum. Lots of knowledge here and folks who like to help out!

[yossarian19]

It is a short box truck with the big rear window.
Having climbed around under & in it, I think the rust situation is pretty mild. There is one corner that will need to be restored & some surface rust underneath it but nothing that looks real bad.
The plan for now goes like this:
First, I'll get the engine out & over to the machine shop for an estimate. If it is over $1,000 I'll put the engine parts on a shelf till I find a buyer & go V-8, or maybe another inline if I can find a good one cheaper than a V-8 swap.
If I go V8, I'll check the budget out and see if I'm going LS or carb'ed. The girlfriend and I are in this one together (her family truck, my wrenches) so I'm not sure what the budget is, exactly.
Once it is running again, I'm planning to replace all 4 corners with disc brakes. It is a 6 lug truck, which limits my options a little. I think it has a 10 bolt rear swapped in, not sure yet.
Once I've got it running & disc'ed with modern two-stage MC & power brakes, I'll drive it a while and see how I feel.
I will probably add sway bars & quality shock absorbers, but keep the suspension otherwise stock. I want to keep it 1/2 ton rated, so the common street rod IFS swaps are out. I don't have the welding / fab skill to do anything fancy with it.
Eventually it will be a forest green / british racing green with bumper, grill etc all polished up in chrome. I think the body work will be the last thing to get done.

[Helilog56]

Great looking project Y19.....another new guy here with a 51 GMC under construction...!!!

[Kim57]

Welcome.
Sounds like a nice project. Be sure and post pics of your progress.
Kim

[Maximus]

Are ya sure its a shortbox? It looks like the fender emblem reads 3200, and that step on the bed is one from a longbed, from the photos it looks like a big-window 1/2 Ton long bed pickup. Looks like a great start to a project! Any more photos of the exterior? Is it going to remain a camper special??
Good luck! And there are conversions out there to convert to 5-lug axles and hubs if u wanted to go that route but keeping it as-is would be just fine as well as log as you can find the rear brake stuff your looking for.
Keep us posted on your build! And don't feel bad if progress is slow. I'm 10 years into m truck and counting....
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[Rednek13x]

Yeah sure looks like a long box, Got any more pictures showing the camper, pretty neat!

[yossarian19]

Hmm. I guess it is a long box after all - I just thought it looked shorter than some of the big-assed modern trucks I've seen rolling around.
The camper probably won't stay. It weighs over 1000#, is top heavy & doesn't fit the bed super well. I think I'll probably add a tow hitch & some day I'll get an airstream behind it. God help me, I love the post-war era styling. An old airstream tear drop style camper would be the perfect tow-along for this truck... and I want the bed free to haul things with.
It may go 5 lug but with a 6 lug rear end back there already... well, we'll see what the budget is (I think I've said this before) and what makes sense. I really want disc brakes and hauling capacity, don't much care how many lug nuts I'm spinning down the road.

[mr48chev]

That's a pretty solid looking truck. I think right now if I was on a tight budget I'd see what it would take to get the six running and driving and reliable. I probably wouldn't go overboard on the rebuild though. If the cylinders will clean up, don't have too much taper and will hold new rings I'd be inclined to have the crank turned, do a ring and bearing job an grind the valves and make a driver out of it. Then when you have it back running and driving you can figure out what you want to do with the brakes and what not and stash away a bit of cash at a time to save up for the engine you really want. I can't see putting a lot of money in the six if you don't plan to keep it long term.

[reaper71]

Welcome from another new guy in Missouri..

Mark

[1959 Apache 3600]

Welcome to the forum from Iowa...

Looks like yet another great project!