73 Super Custom GMC

[67chevy1series]

So a good friend of mine received this 73 GMC from his dad recently, the truck was ordered and bought by his grandpa in December of 1972 in Merced and they took delivery of the truck in January of 1973, the truck was over time passed down to his dad and as of recently the truck had just been sitting and so his dad asked if he wanted the truck... So I'm pretty sure you guys know how the rear went. So a week or so after they got the truck in 73 they changed the rims to some aluminum rims which have since been changed again so the steel rims are long gone and we are already on the hunt for them, but a little bit before my friend got the truck his dad for who knows what reason decided to spray paint over the original olive green with black spray paint.. So right now I'm in the process of removing all the black and bringing it back down to what I believe is the "medium olive" green, the truck was a two tone or technically a "tri-tone" it had a white top with the olive green and it had the wood grain decal inside the side trim and olive green below the trim. So his plans are to bring the patina'd green back and change anything back to the way it was stock except he wants too lower it so we're planning a 4.5/6 drop from CPP. I do have some questions I'm hoping you guys can help or confirm for me; what is the paint code for the lighter olive green, and up to what year could you get that paint on GMC's and Chevys? Another question is what does the gauge bezel and headlight switch look like for a 73 super custom? I'm sure there will be other random questions I'll have but for now here's the truck when I first seen it

[67chevy1series]

Here's another shot (I can only post a picture at a time so please bear with me it's as annoying for me as it is you lol)

[67chevy1series]

Oh and the truck is equipped with the tool and stowage box in the driver bedside! Slight problem... The door will not open, the handle can be pulled up but it doesn't unlatch the door.... The lock is gone as well. Is there any possible way to get it to open? Does anyone have any pictures of the 73 style tool box with the door open?

[67chevy1series]

Here's the factory green underneath the black

[67chevy1series]

The hood isn't really green with patina or rust it's now rust with green so we are on the look out for the hood and some other body panels which is why I'm interested in the paint code and up to what year they used that color on trucks.. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[cadillac_al]

I'm still kicking myself for not painting my truck med olive green. I looked at a lot of them and it seems 73 and 74 had the color I like, like yours. I even like it aged with patina. Other years had a brighter kinda lime green. I'm glad there will be another med olive truck still roaming the earth. That side tool box is kinda cool and rare but it looks to be quite problematic to me. I'm sure that's why they discontinued it, too many warranty jobs on a friggin optional tool box.

[67chevy1series]

Yeah I noticed the late 70's seems to have a different shade of green but this 73 seems to have the same paint as the 72's. The toolbox is cool, I've always liked them but there is the usual rusting and I guess jamming problems...

[nsulacountry]

What are product are using to remove the spray paint, but leave the base coat?

CT

[67chevy1series]

Originally Posted by nsulacountry

What are product are using to remove the spray paint, but leave the base coat?

CT

The cleaner I use is called "super clean" (it's say on the label that it is corrosive so I'm careful on where I spray and no to let it sit on areas just incase) I take my time and I ease up a bit when I see the green showing through. Some spots are tricky, because underneath the black is a "patina'd" area, in which the green has already wore down to the original black primer underneath the black rattle can, so it gives the illusion that I didn't remove the rattle can paint, so stuff like that you have to be careful for.

[67chevy1series]

A little update I figured out the tool box door and got it open. I removed the latch mechanism and cleaned it up/painted it and greased it up to help it work a bit smoother. Now it actually functions... But the metal tab that is spot welded to the handle for the door is weak and it tweaks if the latch gets jammed so it's a little delicate. Also been removing more of the rattle can. The upper portion of the front driver fender is proving to be more difficult as his dad sprayed multiple coats of black... And heavy coats at that, there are runs all over the place.

[67chevy1series]

Since we are planning to replace the hood with a better patina'd original green hood (still have yet to find one but there has to be one out there) I haven't touched the original good yet, but I have removed the headlight bezels and cleaned off the black from the rest of the front end.. and I also removed those poorly modified factory parking light lenses for some very nice originals...

[67chevy1series]

And here's the passenger side as of tonight.. Started getting dark so I stopped for the day.

[67chevy1series]

Turlock swap meet is coming up soon, hope to find a set of 15" stock steel rims for this truck and a set of the stock dog dish caps and a lot of other small stuff. I'm finishing up a CPP 4.5/6 drop kit install on a 79 c10 and once that's done I'm pulling this one in the garage for some much needed love. Also here's a shot of the tool box

[TrailerTrash]

good progress man its lookin nice

[nsulacountry]

Castrol Super Clean? Wow, that is a use I never thought of! It is highly caustic in its concentrated form.

Nice progress on the GMC. I like the tool box. I believe they were pretty rare on GM vehicles.

CT

[67chevy1series]

I think that's the same as what I use. Yes it has a pretty high corrosive level so I have to dilute it, but (for lack of a better term) it's got a "slimy" film to it which kinda helps the scrotch Brite pad not be so brutal to the stronger factory paint.

IMO one of the coolest things about longbed are the tool box option, I've always wanted to install one into my 68 k10

[bhc41051]

Very cool truck! If I was ordering one of these trucks back then I would have included the tool box, wood bed floor and tach.

[1774btcrew]

Paint reducer works really well at removing spray paint and is non corrosive. It can be bought at auto paint stores. I use it all of the time.

[nsulacountry]

Originally Posted by bhc41051

Very cool truck! If I was ordering one of these trucks back then I would have included the tool box, wood bed floor and tach.

+1 on the tach.

I swapped a Tachometer and small fuel gauge from a 1974 C10 Cheyanne to my 1979 C20 Bonanza. I took the full size fuel gauge and clock from the 79 and put them in the 74. At the time, in 1997 (high school) I wanted the tach (in a stock, automatic, 350 4bbl, 3/4 ton, makes no sense...) Now I realize the clock made the Bonanza package... Live N learn!

I did have to solder jumper wires on both printed circuits to make both truck clusters work. You cannot swap 1974 and 1979 clusters. Pinouts don't match up. So we had to swap gauges and match up connections. We sold the 74. I still have the 79. Tach is still cooler than a clock that didn't keep very good time!

CT

[67chevy1series]

Originally Posted by bhc41051

Very cool truck! If I was ordering one of these trucks back then I would have included the tool box, wood bed floor and tach.

If could order a 73 and it was longbed I would definiltey have ordered a tool box! The tach is very cool, there's so little of them a round I actually forget they could even come with them lol. The wood floor is also pretty rare, I've had a bunch of guys argue with me about them not coming with one.

Originally Posted by 1774btcrew

Paint reducer works really well at removing spray paint and is non corrosive. It can be bought at auto paint stores. I use it all of the time.

Forgot all about paint reducer

Originally Posted by nsulacountry

+1 on the tach.

I swapped a Tachometer and small fuel gauge from a 1974 C10 Cheyanne to my 1979 C20 Bonanza. I took the full size fuel gauge and clock from the 79 and put them in the 74. At the time, in 1997 (high school) I wanted the tach (in a stock, automatic, 350 4bbl, 3/4 ton, makes no sense...) Now I realize the clock made the Bonanza package... Live N learn!

I did have to solder jumper wires on both printed circuits to make both truck clusters work. You cannot swap 1974 and 1979 clusters. Pinouts don't match up. So we had to swap gauges and match up connections. We sold the 74. I still have the 79. Tach is still cooler than a clock that didn't keep very good time!

CT

So bonanza model c10's all have clocks? That's pretty cool info to know!

[67chevy1series]

Haven't done a whole lot to this truck, been busy working on my other friends 79 and went to the swap meet and ended up getting parts for a 73-74 Chevy that I don't even own... But one day in the future it may be nice to have... Anyways I finally pulled the 73 into the garage and pulled the rotted passenger inner fender out. I thought we were catching it right in time but it already ate the radiator support so much that when I went to remove the outer bottom radiator support to inner fender well screw it just busted a chunk of the radiator support and inner fender off into my hand... So I'm going to have to weld a patch panel in. I did get started on cleaning up the firewall.. I don't believe this truck has ever been wiped down or any type of clean up under the hood, but I'll do my best to clean it up and bring it back to factory (minus the CA smog crap, that's all getting pulled and removed) styling, I'll keep you guys updated on progress.

[RandyS8229]

Looking good man! That toolbox is awesome. Does anywhere sell them? I'd like to put one on my 85.

[67chevy1series]

Originally Posted by RandyS8229

Looking good man! That toolbox is awesome. Does anywhere sell them? I'd like to put one on my 85.

I'm not aware of any company or manufacture that reproduces the factor tool box doors. It's too bad the tool boxes are very hard to find!


As for an update finally; motor and transmission are pulled, transmission is getting rebuilt and im cleaning up the motor, and engine bay. I've got the motor stripped and now I'm doing the very long messy job of cleaning all the collection of oil and dirt since probably 1973. Going to try and bring this engine bay back to how the factory had it in 73. On other news, the owner has acquired a set of correct steel rims, dog dish caps and the correct early GMC squarebody steering wheel and horn cap. The rims are going out to be powdercoated white and looks like the owner will be running a 235/75/R15 white line tire. Having trouble finding a 1973-78 factory green hood I think the color is called "lime green". I've found a couple of trucks locally but there not interested in parting out, so the search continues. Trying to get this truck back on the road, and hopefully a lot nicer looking then the first pictures on this thread because this summer is the owners high school reunion and this is the truck he drove to high school so we both think it would be cool for him to take this! Anyways here's some pictures, nothing major or good to look at since its its tear down pics of all the filthy engine bay. Pictures of the motor cleaned up and the engine bay soon.

[67chevy1series]

Removed the hood to pull the motor as well as to swap out hood hinges for better ones.

[67chevy1series]

Only reason you can see Orange on the PS valve cover is because I scraped the coat of grease off lol. Anyways all brackets are currently pulled and im going to be cleaning them up and painting them semi-gloss black tomorrow and continue cleaning the motor. Got the front accessories (except the water pump) and carburetor pulled off the engine. Also ditching the AIR pump and related components on this motor, already removed the pump, bracket and some hoses and I have some manifolds too swap out without the smog lines. So far I'm in 3 cans of degreaser.. I'm thinking 7 cans of degreaser total might do it... Anyways gotta get new oil pan, valve cover, carburetor, exhaust gaskets will be changed and then there's some things like plastic file filter and odd clear hose for fuel line to the carburetor and such that needs to be changed for better function as well as safety. Anyways heres last picture for now. Tomorrow I'll start back up on it again.