Towmissile rebuild

[v30crewcab]

Well I wrecked my crewcab awhile back. This is my rebuild thread to keep myself motivated. I bought this truck a long time ago, its an airforce crewcab, and I basically got a frame, cab, and beat up bed. I built it, drove, it, swapped a cummins in, then swapped a 5speed in. now I'm at this point. I'm done with the supershort bed, so since I had to fix the bent frame, I replaced it and am going with a regular shortbed.
well heres some pics.



hit a culvert, and the diff hit the oilpan, and pushed the transfer case off the transmission, and bent the output shaft.

[v30crewcab]

so I got a new frame, but made more work for myself cause I got a 2wd frame. oh well. too late now. lots of grade 8 bolts later.
taking it apart.


also ended up getting some 60" springs from a 99 model 3/4 ton suburban. just to be different. we'll see how it rides.
had to move the spring hangers 4" forward.

also putting an 03 silverado 2500 disk rear in.

[v30crewcab]

got it back on its wheels, with a shortened frame, just welded the top and bottom until I could get the bed set on it and make sure it was straight.


I have to order some new front springs, as i bent them. I'm also swapping the 60 front out of my scout into it, and putting the bent one back in the scout. its an offroad toy so it won't matter.
at this moment, its in the shop with all the windows out, getting some bodywork done so I can get the cab painted and start getting things back together.
it will be on a 4" lift again, with 315/70/17 bfg's, and I'm going to put compound turbos on it for more towing power.
also going to do crossover steering, and going to a 89 gmc grille. tired of the single headlight setup.

[rocking chevy]

looks like a nice pickup, keep up the good work.

[Mattman2010]

I've seen your truck over on pirate before, glad to see you are working on it and getting it back together. I think it will look a lot better with the regular short bed rather than that shorty short bed. Will be looking up to more updates!
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[v30crewcab]

thanks. got some bodywork done today. replaced the rocker on the drivers rear door today. it had been hit there previously and packed full of bondo. had to fix it right. almost ready to sand the cab down an put it in primer, in prep for painting. I'll try to post some more pics tomorrow.

[Mattman2010]

Are you going back to the same color or are you going to change it up?
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[v30crewcab]

yes I had the plate under the steering column scanned and new paint mixed. wanted the factory air force blue. thought about changing the color but too much work and everyone likes it this color.

[v30crewcab]

Wow this thing is alot of work. got it all in primer tues nite. started water sanding it this afternoon, hoping to paint tomorrow. not going to happen. probably be half the day sanding tomorrow, and when I get done, I'll be too tired to hold up a paint gun! we'll see how it goes.
Also set the bed on the frame, to make sure it was straight. not. good thing I tacked it together. theres more gap at the bottom of the bed than the top, and the bed is half a hole to the right at the rear so its straight down either side. so after I get it painted, gotta deal with that.

[v30crewcab]

forgot I hadn't posted a pic of the outer rocker skin I put in. got to use my miller spot welder I got last summer. worked great!

[v30crewcab]

got the cab painted. gonna have sand and buff, but what can you expect with no paint booth.
set the bed back on to make sure the frame was straight before final welding.
then decided to put the fenders and core support on to make sure they fit, so figured I'd push it out into the sun and get a few pics as well. sitting on stock suspension till I get it back together and running, then I will put the 4" lift back on. harder to work on that high!

[v30crewcab]

Also thinking of taking the plastic sound deadening off the firewall, and I have some spray on sound deadening from scorpion linings to put on the firewall and under the body. I was thinking of leaving off the plastic, and just painting over it. I am missing the piece that goes around the a/c box anyhow, so its probably not that effective.
What do you think?

[Mattman2010]

Looking good man!
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[Dieselwrencher]

Man, that is exactly what my brother did to his V30 crew cab when he wrecked it. Bad news man, glad to see you're rebuilding it. That color des look good, and it's cool because you rarely see that color. As fas as the fire wall plastic, I rip it off and add sound deadener inside and coat the fire wall like you mentioned. Those 3rd gen wheels look pretty well on there. I have always wondered what they'd look like on there.

[joe231]

I'm in!!

Gonna be sweet!!
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[v30crewcab]

I swapped my tires onto the new rims yesterday evening, so I can sell the stock height tires, and the h2 rims I used to have on it. figured I'd take a pic with them on the front at least. looks much better. can't wait to get it together and get the 4" lift back on.

I also have two of my bilstein 5100's in as well. the rears will be here this coming week.

And my husky floorliners showed up today as well. tired of the carpet getting dirty all the time. just got done powerwashing the carpet and its hanging on scaffolding drying.
you can also see the centercaps I'm going to run sitting on this tire as well.

[ghettoluxury]

What year are those rims?

[v30crewcab]

04 I think? they require spacers. they have 6" backspacing.

[Dieselwrencher]

That looks good! 6" back spacing huh? That may be the ticket on my Longhorn. What turbos are you going with?

[v30crewcab]

I'm using my stock hx35, and an Ht3b. I'm sure theres more powerful combos out there, but I just want a good setup for towing, and I got into an ht3b for almost nothing, and its nice and tight. I'd rebuilt the turbo on my truck a few years back so its nice as well.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by v30crewcab

I'm using my stock hx35, and an Ht3b. I'm sure theres more powerful combos out there, but I just want a good setup for towing, and I got into an ht3b for almost nothing, and its nice and tight. I'd rebuilt the turbo on my truck a few years back so its nice as well.

That is a dang good combo and can make plenty of power. If you still have a 12cm exhaust housing on the 35, make sure you drill through the divider and enlarge the hole to 5/8". Set that 35's wg to be fully open at 25psi and you should be good.

[v30crewcab]

Well, I got the frame painted, not exactly the way I wanted, but its black.
going to be changing the gaskets on the motor tomorrow, hopefully my buddy will be able to come and help. need to get this put back together soon. got a road trip coming up in about 4 weeks, and I have to do some work to my scout as well, as I am taking it to PA to wheel! lots to do.

[Dieselwrencher]

Sounds like a blast man, keep at it!

[Mattman2010]

This thing is looking good man. I am really starting to like those h2 wheels, and those center caps look sweet! What are you going to do on the front with the center caps? Drill a hole in there for the hub? This will really be a cool truck when its back together.

[v30crewcab]

yeah I am going to cut a hole in the front, so the lockout sticks out. it won't stick out much though.
Working on the motor this morning. changing just about every gasket on it. head gasket has been leaking for a long time, as well as the timing cover to block gasket. hope I can get it all sealed up and not leaking anymore this time around.