79 GMC Sierra "Back in the Family"

[Turambar]

I'm new to the forum, and before I started a post with a barrage of questions, I thought it might be beneficial to show what I am working with.

First, a little history...

In 1979 my parents bought their first vehicle, a '79 GMC Sierra with a 250 engine and th400 transmission. I was born in '80, and by '86 my parents had divorced. I had some good early childhood memories in that truck, and somewhere I have a picture of 3 year old me with my hand on the front bumper.

Fast forward a little bit, and you arrive at 1995. I got my licence that year in Louisiana, and my father told me that, if I wanted it, I could come and get the old family truck. He and I were somewhat estranged at the time, but it was decided that in the summer of '96 I would come and spend two weeks with him to work on the truck and bring it home. Those two weeks were some of the only "good times" that I remember having with my father. The truck had set a few years before I got it, and we did about 3k worth of work to it while I was there.

Like many other idiot teenagers before me, I got tired of the truck and sold it 2 years later.

A decade passed, and I wondered what happened to that truck. I remember good times in it while my family was whole, working on it with my dad, and tearing up the roads in it while a teenager. Luckily, I still had the VIN and Louisiana works on the "good ol' boy" system. A cop friend tracked down the truck, but the owner wanted way too much for it. So, I forgot about it until October of 2013.

The tale of how I got the truck back this time is long, hilarious, and convoluted, but I have it in my possession. I also have some money to throw at the project (not a lot mind you, but enough to do a decent restore).

This is me grinning like an idiot after getting it home:



Alternatively, this thread could be called "A computer geek gets by with a lot of help from his friends." I am by no means a gear head, but I have learned a lot, and we have already done a lot to the truck. More pics to follow soon...

And questions... lots of questions...

[Sillyoldman]

Great story & welcome to the board!

[Billy81]

Originally Posted by Sillyoldman

Great story & welcome to the board!

X2 Welcome..

[Turambar]

Originally Posted by Sillyoldman

Great story & welcome to the board!

Thanks for the welcome!

I somehow managed to not really snap some good starting pics. These are from 2009 when I had a friend track it down:





It looked pretty much like this, but a little worse. You can't tell from the pic, but the bed was incredibly rusted out.

[Hankster]

I know about the whole family truck thing.. My brother got my dads truck that he had built over a 8 year spand... my brother got rid of it in 1 year, found it on craiglist but couldn't afford it.. still want it back, anyways kinda odd for a straight 6 with turbo 400 huh?

[MTCK]

Cool story. Looking forward to the build. Welcome.

[Turambar]

So, I've hit a small snag, so I thought I'd crop some pictures and show the progress.

When I got the truck last October, it still ran! When you would crank it, it made the most terrible grinding noise ever. We suspected the flywheel, and this later proved to be true.

Part of me really wanted to rebuild the straight 6 that was original to the truck. The man helping me on my project, however, has rebuilt more 350's in his life than many full time mechanics. So, 350 it is. The 250 must come out first!

The hood removed:





My helper getting the old engine secured for the lift:



And, she's out:





So what to put in? Well, there is a junkyard very close to where I live. The guy who owns it is great. We grabbed a full 350 out of a truck for 60 bucks. I don't remember the full story on the engine, but the issue it had was minor. This truck is going to be used as a daily driver from time to time. It doesn't need to win any races. I got some old 991 heads, and headed with them and the block off to the machine shop.



I had the heads gone through, cleaned given a valve job, and new springs, and I had the block bored 30 over, decked, and vat'd.



Time for a little primer and paint:





New rods and a chevy performance kit from Northern

[MTCK]

What's the snag? Looks great so far!

[bnoon]

Looks like fun and a great story to go with it!

[c3006]

I'm in,I love it when a plan comes together!

[Turambar]

Originally Posted by MTCK

What's the snag? Looks great so far!

Well... the snag. I ordered a kit from DJM to drop the truck 5/5. I put all new bushings in the upper and lower control arms, replaced the pitman arm, the idler arm, the tie rods, installed new shocks, and I got all the djm stuff installed:



I went to put the stock 15's back on so I could move the truck to put the engine and transmission back in and...

THEY WOULDN'T FIT!

The new spindles (where they hold the caliper) just barely touched the inside of the 15's. They would not turn. So I thought, "Okay. Maybe I can just put some washers on as a spacer, move the truck over to the lift, and still get the engine and transmission in."

Custom rims were always in the future for this build. There is so much body work, paint, and interior things that need attention first.

So, I hit up Craigslist. I live near Austin... fairly large city, right? Surely I can find some 5x5's with a 3.06 hub bore for next to nothing so I can work on the truck, right? Nothing. How about wreckers and tire shops? Maybe someone has something. Oh, you need that in a 16 or larger? Don't have it. Order some 5x5 spacers to give me an extra 2 inches? That will take a week to get there and cost 100 bucks for something you'll never use again.

I found one guy with something I could use. What does he want? $400 for one of the ugliest sets of custom rims I have ever seen.

Everything is now stalled because I can't get my stock 15's back on. So, in total frustration, I went ahead and got myself some custom rims. Which was the last thing I wanted to do, but I can't move (literally) until I get tires back on the front of my truck.

So this is what I have coming:



I want to give Barry a shout out at bigwheels.net. He thoroughly checked to make sure that these would fit my truck, and he price-matched the rims down to the lowest price I found them new on ebay.

I am going to have one beat up looking truck sitting on almost 2k of tires and rims... sigh.

[bnoon]

Originally Posted by Turambar

I am going to have one beat up looking truck sitting on almost 2k of tires and rims... sigh.

LOL! That's actually the way I prefer things! To each their own though. My 2.5" drop spindles made the stock rallies rub the lower control arm, but I knew that from reading all of the other lowering posts here. You are able to grind clearance easily for my setup though. Good luck with yours.

[Turambar]

Just a pic or two to update for tonight. There have been a few steps to go back over, but the engine and transmission are in.

[Nin92]

Looking awesome! Amazing what wheels and a drop did for the attitude of the truck!

[Hankster]

Wheels look good, I like the truck!

[Turambar]

So it has been a while, and a lot has been done. I've been driving my truck for a little while now.

The engine went in, and then it had to go back out because of a bad crank. I figured out a plethora of wiring issues, a drive shaft issue, and a ton of other things along the way.

The body still needs attention... a lot of attention. I know the ideal situation would have been to do all of that first, but I was worried about having enough funds to get it running. That was of greatest importance to me.

So if you have any questions or comments, feel free to fire away.

Without further ado, it is picture dump time!



Bad fender removed.



Another angle



"New" inner fender and front passenger fender on



Exhaust going on



Some final engine pics

[Turambar]

I also have some pics of the empty engine bay, the bed removed, and the flip kit installed if anyone would like to see them. All in all, I'm excited to be on the road again with her.

[73Super8]

Wow man looks great. Great story too. I have my Papaws 88 S10 he bought new. Slowly been restoring it for my son.

[Turambar]

Originally Posted by 73Super8

Wow man looks great. Great story too. I have my Papaws 88 S10 he bought new. Slowly been restoring it for my son.

Thanks for the compliment. I know it has a long way to go, but it is running great!

[JWall]

Glad you were able to get the truck back & are taking it in the right direction.
Lookin good!

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by Turambar

Exhaust going on

That's a good shot. Truck is looking great!

[68Timber]

Glad to see you got it back - looking good!

[Low Elco]

Love me a "patches" truck! I wanna hear the rest of the reacquiring story!

[aggie91]

Nothing wrong with doing the paint and body last...

What size wheels and tires did you go with?

[3drburb]

This looks like the return of a long lost family member, being treated very well. Glad you got it back and nice work on getting it running around first.