My Luxurious late model truck (not so much)

[Tx Firefighter]

The name is a joke. There is nothing fancy, nor will there be anything fancy about this build. Valerie and I joke that I've finally got a luxurious new truck to drive.

Those of y'all who know me well know that the GMT400 is my favorite style of truck. I've been wanting a 4 wheel drive for a few different reasons so I figured to get an old beater and build it up.

My criteria were....

1) White in color
2) 3/4 ton, 8400 GWV with 8 lug wheels (not the 6 lug light duty 3/4 ton)
3) Standard transmission
4) Regular cab
5) 350 engine, not diesel or big block under any circumstances.

Guess what, that's not a common truck. I found a fair number of extended cabs, light duty 3/4 tons, different colors, and automatic transmissions, but seldom ran across one that met my "must have" criteria.

Finally, I found this old ranch truck on Craigslist. He wanted 2500 bucks for it. I drove it and looked it over and it was obvious that the 350 was only hitting on 7 cylinders so I walked away.



About two weeks later the guys texts me and asks if I was still interested in buying the truck. I had let it drop since the truck wasn't worth 2500 or even close to that number to me. I told him I liked the truck but I wasn't a buyer at anywhere near his asking price. He asked me what I had in mind and I came back with 1500 dollars. We settled on 1700 dollars and the deal was done. I had bought a 4x4 with a hurt engine. I'm sure some of you guys will think I paid too much, and I might have, but if you want an 8 lug, 8400 pound GVW, white, regular cab, standard shift, small block truck, you have to settle for what you can find.

The run down on what I got....

350 TBI, Muncie SM465 transmission, NP241C transfer case, and 4.10 gears. And, don't forget, only 7 of the 8 cylinders were reporting for duty.

Caved door.



Ranch truck interior.





My favorite transmission ever.



We don't get rust here in my area of Texas.





Ranch truck bodywork. You guys with livestock will recognize what happens when you park a feed truck anywhere near hungry cows. Bump...



Dig the barbed wire pinstriping.





More in the next post....

[Tx Firefighter]

Right off the bat I ran into a snag. A real snag. I went to swap the title into my name and the problem arose. Try to follow me here....

The guy I bought it from, we will call him person B, had only owned the truck a short while. He had bought it from person A. But, since he only owned it a short time, he never transferred the title into his name. So, when I bought it, the person whose signature was on the title was person A, not person B. Problem was, person A had signed the wrong line on the title. My girl at the courthouse gave me a form for him to fill out legally stating he had signed the wrong spot in error. Now what do I do ? I sit in the courthouse with a messed up title and a blank form that needs to be signed by a guy who I didn't know and had no idea how to contact him.

Ultimately, I wound up going to his house and knocking on the door. Fortunately his wife was a peach and set up a meeting with me and her husband so he could sign the form for me. When I met him, he was a great guy and explained to me some history on the truck.

He had bought the truck spur of the moment to pull a 35 foot boat from Florida to Texas. He said the truck pulled it at 65 miles per hour the entire way. It seems a combination of 4.10 gears, no overdrive, and pulling a 35 foot boat across the country was enough to hurt the engine. He admitted it had a bad miss when he finished the trip.

He told me the reason he sold the truck though was the throwout bearing had begun screeching and he didn't have the skills to change it or the desire to pay to have it changed. He asked me if the other guy, owner B, had repaired the clutch. Beats me, the throwout bearing doesn't make any noise now (more on this later).

[Tx Firefighter]

So, now that I got all of the paperwork legally squared away, it was time to figure out what all the truck needed to be a solid driver.

First issue, fix the 7 cylinder engine. I narrowed it down to number one cylinder. So, I turned it over until both valves were closed (TDC) and hooked my air hose into the spark plug hole. The air was blowing out the exhaust pipe, but nothing out of the throttle body or oil filler cap. That can be only one thing, a bad exhaust valve.

So, off with the cylinder head to see what was going on.

This, fellas, is a burnt exhaust valve.







It began to sink in that the engine needed an entire freshening up rather than just a valve job. Sucks that I am always broke. Gotta figure out something because buying a crate engine is out of the budget.

[mud.man.rj]

Truck is a bit rough but all there and an 8 lug, got what you wanted, seems like a fair deal TX, so what are your plans for it.

[DPowers]

Can't wait to see the finished project

[Palf70Step]

I am in to see the rest of this project too!

[Tx Firefighter]

Plans are....

-Repair engine. Rebuild with roller cam
-Solid drivetrain. No leaks, nothing worn, every attended to
-New doors. Both of these are beat up. Rebuild everything associated with the doors
-Kodiak/TopKick door handles
-A better rear bumper
-Replace rear window with non slider
-Cowl hood
-Late model PY0 wheels with BF Goodrich tires
-Spray in bedliner
-Full interior overhaul
-Cab lights
-All LED bulbs throughout

Next post, I'll go into the engine and what I did to repair and upgrade it.

This thing makes my stepside look like a mini-me

[flashed]

Im in for another great build .

[LEEVON]

Cool truck, I'd rock it! Will be following along.

[Zane M]

Sitting back with an adult beverage to watch this one progress.
My next truck is going to be similar('cept I need an auto due to a wrecked left knee), so this one project is of great interest to me.

[rusty76]

I'm riding shotgun!

[Palf70Step]

I like your mini-me Kevin!

Kool pic!

[Stoney]

Nice engine hoist I have the same one. Trucks too.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by Stoney

Nice engine hoist I have the same one. Trucks too.

It's been a good one. It's previous life was as a rental unit. I had to put a new jack on it a few years ago. If I can ever get any time ahead I'll drag it into the shop and freshen it up for another 30 years.

[Stoney]

Mine too, old Hi/Lo rental unit.

[Willowrun]

What year is the 2500? Is the dash not cracked?

[Tx Firefighter]

It's a 1990 model. Dash is good, no cracks.

[aggie91]

subscribed to this one....

[Low Elco]

Excited to see how this one comes out!

[jhama78]

Glad to see ya start a thread on this rig.

[Primered_69]

you need me to find you a red seat?

[Tx Firefighter]

Michael, I need seat, a door panel for the driver side (no power), and all headliner stuff. Notice I have no trim at all on the B pillar, no headliner board, and no trim below the back window and everything associated with the driver door panel is destroyed. I'd even take a red carpet if I could find one with no holes. I can hang it over the fence and pressure wash it if its any kind of usable whatsoever. I'm not building a show truck by any means. Low price > perfect condition.

[83GMCK2500]

Oh, FANTASTIC! I love that big one piece SM-465 & NVG-241 shift bezel. Really really glad to hear that the OBD-I ECM was able to deal with your changes and that it runs great.

Dang! I think I know where most of the red interior parts are that you're looking for. I'll shoot off some emails and see what I can find. Do you want the correct early bench (pre '95 interior) with the single fold down armrest for the driver? Love your to-do list, really great upgrades you have planned. I installed the medium duty door handles on mine a month or so ago and I love them, just flat love them. Mine have been sand blasted and powder coated gloss black as well, I'm looking forward to what you may do with yours. I always thought body colored buckets and black handles would look good.

EDIT: I also know where a full set of cab lights are, harness, fasteners, etc. I do not know lens/gasket condition, would have to look. I recently put the factory LED clearance light bulbs in mine and they are awesssome. However, I am having water problems now, prior to bulb upgrade everything was dry, now I'm getting a wet floor and a couple lenses are partially filling.

EDIT #2: Forgive me if you've crossed this bridge already or already have it in your notes...when you put the PY0s on, if you want to run the -400 center caps you will need to use the black nut covers from the -800 caps to hold them on, there may be another solution, or a better one, but that was my solution for the problem when I encountered it. I observed that the -400 cap sits further out on the PY0s, just far enough to prevent the nut covers from reaching the lug nuts. If you (already have) solve this differently or observe something else, I am looking forward to your solution.

[Tx Firefighter]

I don't think finding the interior parts locally will be a problem. Primered69 is a local legend at parts sourcing. He uses some combination of ancient sorcery and bloodhound nose to find the un-findable. When he's on the job, results are always forthcoming.

But, we need to talk about the LED light inserts. I was reading a build thread on another forum last night by someone named 88GMC....something or the other. He posted a picture of those GM LED inserts that he used in his black dually. I got the impression you two were local to each other and knew each other. Can you get me the part number ? I can set my buddy, the Jedi dealership parts guy, on it from there. I need those light inserts. They are fantastic.

On the wheels, I haven't delved off into that yet. I know there are differences and techniques to make it work. I figured I have a set of late model PYO center caps, my GMT400 center caps, lugnut covers for both sets, and 64 lugnuts. I figured I could make it work somehow.

[83GMCK2500]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I don't think finding the interior parts locally will be a problem. Primered69 is a local legend at parts sourcing. He uses some combination of ancient sorcery and bloodhound nose to find the un-findable. When he's on the job, results are always forthcoming.

But, we need to talk about the LED light inserts. I was reading a build thread on another forum last night by someone named 88GMC....something or the other. He posted a picture of those GM LED inserts that he used in his black dually. I got the impression you two were local to each other and knew each other. Can you get me the part number ? I can set my buddy, the Jedi dealership parts guy, on it from there. I need those light inserts. They are fantastic.

On the wheels, I haven't delved off into that yet. I know there are differences and techniques to make it work. I figured I have a set of late model PYO center caps, my GMT400 center caps, lugnut covers for both sets, and 64 lugnuts. I figured I could make it work somehow.

Excellent, Primered69 sounds like a great resource.

LEDs, PM sent. Also, I can just about get you any part number (for the '90) if you need.

Wheels, it should have occurred to me that you'd have both sets of caps and all the associated bits.