The Hangover Express

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Well I guess its about time to put some pictures of my truck/project on here.Just like alot of other full frame off projects go,it starts with one little mod,and next thing you know Porterbuilt parts start showing up and it turns into a few years instead of the couple months like it was supposed to.I purchased this 1972 chevy pickup from a guy and his son in Camrose Alberta,in sept. of 2010.When I called the guy he told me that I could come see it but couldnt take it for a drive because its buried in the garage and hadnt been out in 3 years.I told him you better move some things because if I like it I'm driving it 500km's today.(Which is 300 miles for you folks in the US)So we went and looked at it,made a deal and headed north towards Fort Mcmurray.It had a little hesitation off of idle but other than that ran really well the whole trip.

[Rodzzilla]

Looks like a good start.

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As you can see there were some issues with this truck that had to be addressed such as a cracked windshield,it needed some rear shocks,an intake and carb,and of course a smaller gap between the tires and fenders.Luckily at the time I was doing some machining at a finning shop where there was a mechanic there who had lots of good advice on how to remedy the situation of tire to fender gap.You guys know him as slammed64.So I ordered some 4" drop coils for the rear and cut one wrap of coil off the front.Made the truck look like it should.........For the time being anyway.

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As you can see now that the truck sits alot lower,there are some major eyesores on the roof that are going to have to be dealt with in the future.Dont worry,I got rid of the lights and sunroof.But not quite yet in the story of the Hangover express.So as soon as it was sitting at a nice height so I could drive it around and feel good about it,It needed to run a little better.The PO told me that as far as he knew the engine was a 327.Well it had a 2 barrel carb on it so of course the second thing I did was buy an edelbrock intake and carb for it.It did run alot better but still didnt feel like it had the type of power that I figured it would need to drive me around the streets of Fort Mcmurray.

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Well the winters in Fort Mcmurray are long and cold.But on the bright side it gives you alot of time to scheme up new ways to spend your money on old Chevy's.One day a buddy of mine called me up and said he knew of a good deal on an engine.A young fella had a 99 Tahoe and had run it into a post.The engine had just been replaced in the vehicle with a GM long block and since I could buy the whole vehicle,fuel injection would be an easy swap.Well being an old lover of fuel injection from way back I decided to abandon the edelbrock setup that I drove around the block about twice and start heading down the road of the 5.7L vortec.I payed $1200 for the Tahoe,pulled the engine,parted the rest of the good stuff out and ended up paying $400 for the engine.Instead of using the wiring harness from the truck,I decided to go with the Painless Harness for the engine,alot less time to install then trying to figure out what u need and dont need from the tahoe.

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So it turned out that the engine I pulled out was not a 327,once I ran the numbers it was a 305.So that gave me a good indication as to why I couldnt smoke the tires with 3.07 gears.I was living at a friends house so took my project to the compound of the company that I work for to do the engine swap.

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So yes thats right,once that vortec was firing on all 8 cylinders burnouts were not an issue at all,it didnt even move from the spot that the engine was installed to perform its first one.One hard lesson that I learned with the engine install was always read the directions that come with the painless harness'.I first tried using the ECM out of the 99 Tahoe.Nope that was the wrong thing to do.There was alot of head scratching and cursing done to get that one figured out.Turns out u need to use a specific S/N ECM to get it to run properly.A quick trip to the local pick a part and $40 solved the problem, but many a words were thrown around befor that quick fix.

[low&slow]

Subscribed!!!

This truck is sure taking shape. Really like the drop and the color green. My truck will be that color some day maybe.

You plan on keeping it green?

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So after a few burnouts(lets be honest,more than a few),it was getting to the time in the tires life that the canvas was showing in the center of the tread.So of course,instead of buying new tires to fit those old rallys,I bought 18" Ridler rims and some rubbers to make the truck look a little more up to date.8" wide on the front and 9.5" on the rear.Tires to fit turned out to be a little harder to find then the rims,but nothing money cant take care of.

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Originally Posted by low&slow

Subscribed!!!

This truck is sure taking shape. Really like the drop and the color green. My truck will be that color some day maybe.

You plan on keeping it green?

Yes I do plan on keeping it green,Its a color that the previous owner put a bunch of paint in a jar and thats what came out.I get alot of compliments on it.It stands out really well compared to some of the other greens around I find

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Another thing the truck was lacking was a rear bumper,so a quick phone call to Scotts Super Trucks in penhold Alberta,and he had me fixed up quickly as usual.Also when you put on rims that have big gaps in them it shows off all your rusty old brakes.But luckily I had just bought a house here in town that came with a garage.Not the big garage of my dreams that I have been drawing out in my head for 15 years.But good enough to keep me out of the weather and soon to find out,small enough so that I dont get too many projects on the go at once.I always preached "finish one project befor you start another".just didnt realize how tough that can be sometimes.lol.

[hookedonchevys]

Well after it got the new rims,tires and rear bumper,it was time to get rid of those landing strip lights and the 80's sunroof.And since the rear was starting to shape up with a new bumper,why not get a proper tailgate instead of that painted wooden board that had been on there for decades by the look of it.So again slammed66 came to the rescue with some good advice and introduced me to PHAT TONY.One look at his orange blazer was enough for me to decide that this was the guy to fix my nagging roof issue.So I drove it down to Red Deer and dropped it off for a little stay at Tony's.

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So since I had the outside of the truck looking the way I wanted it,it was time to start working on the interior.I was at a local cruzin the dub and met a really nice older fella who asked me if i was looking for a new steering wheel.I told him I was wanting a wooden one,just so happened he had 3 steering wheels in the back of his truck,and one was a wooden one that was still in the original box.So he gave me the 3 of them and wouldn't take anything for them.Just wanted them to go to a good home.Perfect!I also picked up a new dash pad and bezel,so the interior was starting to come together.

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Well as you can see there was one really big issue with the interior.The color of the seat.I ended up getting that seat from a guy down the street from me who had a 70 4x4.He was cleaning out his garage and was going to throw it away if I didnt take it.It had great foam in it,so it just needed to be recovered.Well after driving around with that hideous blue for over a year,it was time to tackle the upholstery business.

[mooseknuckles]

great lookin truck!

[hookedonchevys]

Well of course since the seat looked alot better and almost everything was cleaned up on the interior it was time to put in some carpet to finish that new old truck look that I was going for.I also installed a retrosound stereo so I didnt have to cut my dash up and still had the option to plug my iphone into it for good tunes while I was bombing around.

[hookedonchevys]

Also the other thing that was really driving me crazy was the sound of the truck.Have u ever heard a 5.7L runninug through a 2" exhaust and 2 cherry bomb mufflers?Well thats what i had,when I installed the engine,I just threw the old exhaust back on.Well I'll tell you,it didnt sound very good.So I purchased myself a nice miller 211 mig and bought a mandrell bent exhaust kit.It took me a few days but I was really happy with the results when I was done,I used 2 magnaflow mufflers and sent the cherry bombs packing.

[hookedonchevys]

Now here is where the story turns from a daily driver,into a project.Just when u thought I would be happy with driving this truck that is starting to look like a nice ride,I started scheming.Now I'm not gonna blame anyone except myself,but I did have some help with scheming and access to some great new parts from other board members,and of course pictures of builds didnt help.So at first I told myself I was just going to buy an Accuair setup and bag it........

[hookedonchevys]

So after my last rip of the year I decided to do a little garage maintenance and get it ready for the events that were about to unfold over the winter.Little did I know at the time exactly how much work was going to take place in this little 16x24 building.I was thinking at this time,Yeah I'll just do a small notch.I'll just do the rear this winter so I dont get to ahead of myself and still be able to drive it next summer.I was lying to myself at this point but didnt realize it yet.So I removed the box and set it out in the driveway to get it out of the way.

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So then it was time to make a decision.Well you know what decisions mean.Many hours researching projects and builds on 67-72.com.I didnt want to disappoint myself either.I'm not sure if anyone knows what its like to live in Fort Mcmurray,but its a very special place.It's probably the lifted diesel capital of North America.I dont even look sideways at trucks anymore unless they have 40" tires or bigger.And previous to my slammed chevy addiction I had a Jeep with 42" TSL's on it.So I figured since all these trucks were getting lifted up,I might as well go as low as possible.So after a few phone calls to the guys at Porterbuilt,I had my christmas list on order.I ended up ordering the extreme notch,front drop member,rack and pinion steering,yeah thats right,pretty much eveything they had to offer.

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As I was waiting for all those wonderful parts from porter built,I figured it was a good chance to build that tired old 12 bolt that had been a big player in the numerous smoke shows I had done with the old tires that were on there.Well I would say it was a good time to pull it apart because the pin had alot of wear and the spider gears werent in very good shape either.But the new eaton posi,3.73's and install kit that I got from the best man at my wedding for a wedding gift,were going to resolve the one wheel peel issue I had in the past.

[hookedonchevys]

And yes your right,I sacrificed the old pinion so that I could get the bearing off without destroying it.Also did a little more garage work and installed some more lights.I cant stand working in the dark.slammed66 pulled a favor and got a buddy of his to do a rendering of the Hangover express.Alot of people called the truck Skittle because of the color green it is,but Skittle just doesnt have ring to it that hangover express does,and since Matt thinks he's a comedian I figured I would humour him and call this build that.

[hookedonchevys]

So after spending a small fortune building up the 12 bolt so it will provide the traction that the high horsepower 5.7L puts out(little joke there),I heard that there were a bunch of boxes that showed up in Red Deer that were still hot from the beautiful welding job that had been performed by the welder at none other than Porterbuilt Fabrication!Well I'll tell ya,I was a very excited man,Luckily at the time,we were kinda slow at work,so I told my boss to forget my phone number for a few days and started the build that I had been wanting to.Still telling myself I was going to just do the back notch and four link for now and do the front next year.I didnt want to get into too much work and not have a ride for the summer.It would be a shame to not have anything to cruise around in,although the winters are long and cold up here,summer is very nice,it stays light till 11:30 at night and the weather is usually sunny and hot.

[hookedonchevys]

I found the Porterbuilt parts fit really well and was very happy with the quality of them.Since I already had almost all the crossmembers out installation took no time at all.It was 2 days worth of screwing around to install all the rear dropmember,fourlink and cross members.I hadnt removed the steady bearing crossmember yet and that was kind of a pain to remove with the cab still on.But nothing a grinder,die grinder,and carbide burrs couldnt take care of.

[hookedonchevys]

So this was also the first time I really got to try out my new miller 211.I only had 110v power in the garage up untill a couple weeks before the poreterbuilt boxes of goodies showed up.I lured an electrician friend into my garage with beer,and got him to give me a hand running 220v out to the garage.The 110v with the welder is great for exhaust and body work,but no good for melting together 3/16' or thicker.I was very impressed with how the welder worked once I got the 220v out there.I highly recommend it if anyone is looking for that good sized welder for your small project that turns into a frame off.