85 GMC dirt cheap refresh

[Jaysonb]

I sold my step box and took this gmc as part of a trade. I will be fixing this old girl up and sending it down the road. It will need outer rockers, small patches on the cab corners, and some patch panels on the right box side. It has a rebuilt 700r4, and a pretty tired 305. It seems to drive pretry good, I drove it home from 3 hours away. It came with front drop springs, and rear lowering shackles, and a new grill, and a new sport bumper for the rear. So far all I've done is replace the driver side window motor, and switch, and cleaned the lock switch, and gave it a once over. I had to put my spare wheels on it, I really should paint them silver. Plan is to install the springs and shackles, try and find a good running cheap 350, fix the body and paint it all black. It also came with new chrome trim for the sides. For the interior I'll put new upholstery on the seat, clean the carpet, and put a dash cap on it.

[Jaysonb]

I have been slow to start working on this project, I have driven it quite a bit, and it seems to be growing on me. The big puff of smoke on start up was getting to me, so I decided to start working on it. I started by pulling all of the emissions stuff off the engine, put valve stem seals in it, swapped in a regular hei distributor, and dropped off the carb for a rebuild. The carb won't be ready for another week, so I thought I would tackle some of the rust. I started on the right box side. I was able to work on it for about 5 hours yesterday, this is how far I got. I hope to get the box side done by the time I get the carb back.

[tinydb84]

Good start!

[Matt Man]

Any updates?

[Jaysonb]

No updates for now, I put this truck on the back burner for now, while I finish up my winter beater. I did buy a parts truck with a goodwrench 350 in it for this truck though.

[rusty76]

I know this one is on the backburner but I just want to keep up with it. When you do get back on it i will be ridding along.

[Jaysonb]

Originally Posted by rusty76

I know this one is on the backburner but I just want to keep up with it. When you do get back on it i will be ridding along.

My winter truck is just about done, so I might get this truck pulled in next week and get some work done on it. I have another project coming in at some point, so I will use this as a fill in project for now.

[Matt Man]

Always love your builds, looking forward to this one!

[Jaysonb]

Well the tired old 305 in this truck gave up on me! I have too much going on too spend any time working on it, I pulled and resealed a 350 from a parts truck I have. I installed a new oil, water, and fuel pumps, valve stem seals, rear main seal, and all the gaskets. A buddy of mine swapped the engines for me, it was pretty weird having someone do work on one of my trucks! He did a great job though, all I had to redo is swap the plug wires around, as he had the plug boots on the distributor. Now I just need to find a little time to tune the carb for this engine, but for now it runs and drives again. I had some hooker headers, and a nice exhaust with some flowmaster mufflers I had to install on it. The drivers side dipstick on the 350 didn't work with the manifolds that were on the 305.

[rusty76]

Cool. At least she’s running again

[Jaysonb]

I had to pull this old girl into the shop to put a new heater core in it. I did some general maintenance while it was in here. I couldn't stand the black tube grille that was on it, so I rigged up an aftermarket grille that came with it. It's not set up for the marker lights in the grille, so the bottom corners stick out a little, and the emblem is for an s10, or mini van, somthing I found on ebay. Not perfect, but better than the tube grille. I got some NOS center caps, and got those installed, they are the best thing on this truck for now. Now I can put some miles on it over the winter and stay warm doing it.

[rusty76]

Looks good to me.

[aggie91]

Anything new on this one?

[Jaysonb]

Not much progress on this one, as I have "Dads79gmc" in my shop getting some body work done on it right now. I have been driving it a bunch though getting the bugs worked out after the motor swap. The new parts store fuel pump was causing a bunch of problems, pressure was to high causing flooding, and about 8 mpg! After I figured out what the problem was, I installed a fuel pressure regulator, and have been fine tuning the quadrajet, and I'm getting a little over 16 mpg now. I can live with that till I can get a wide band o2 kit ordered up. This one has definitely grown on me though, I think I will do a nice build to keep on it.

[Jaysonb]

Well, I have been rounding up parts for this old truck, and I'm going to start digging in to it soon. The plan still remains the same, kind of a low buck refresh. Body wise, it needs floor pans, cab corners, rockers, and I have a right bed side, so I'm going to swap that out instead of fixing the one that's on there now. I think I'm going to keep it 2 tone, but go black and charcoal grey. And I will do a black spray in bed liner. The engine and transmission are working good, so they will just get cleaned up, and a couple seals replaced. All of the suspension bushings are going to be replaced, and the frame, and components will get cleaned up and painted. I have new fuel tanks, and a tank selector valve, and I have a 2 1/2"x4" lowering kit that I'm going to install while I'm at it. It won't be a super fast build, as I will have other small projects coming throughout the winter.

[LT7A]

Cool! Keen to watch this one too!

[rusty76]

Know me I’ll b watching

[Dads79GMC]

You about done with this? lol!

[Jaysonb]

I have started working on this old truck, but it's not quite done yet Mike. I decided to start with the bed, so I pulled it off, and removed the right side, and end panel. While the bed was off I installed new cab bushings, then test fit the new bed side, and end panel, and test fit the bed back on the truck. Of course with aftermarket market stuff it's not just bolt on and go! So with the box on, and off a couple more times, I got the panels to fit pretty nice, cleaned up, and primed the mating flanges on the floor, and got the bed put together. I also got the fuel tanks removed, and the 4" drop spring hangers, and shackles installed before my final test fit of the bed. With a few shims, everything lines up nicely, and after a bunch of pushing, and pulling the tailgate gaps are acceptable. Now the bed can be removed again for body work, and paint.

[rusty76]

What kind of work did you have to do to get the bedsides to work? Just curious.

[Dads79GMC]

Looking good Boss!!

[Jaysonb]

I have made some progress in the last couple of days, I got the front end, seat, carpet, and right door taken off. With that stuff out of the way I was able to get started on the right rocker panel. On the right side I got lucky, all I have to replace is the bottom 2" of the inner rocker, the outter rocker, and a very small patch on the cab corner. The floors have some minor surface rust, and the kick panel is fine. With the door on and off a few times, I got the outter rocker trimmed to fit nice, then pulled it back apart to do the inner rocker. I like to leave as much of the factory metal there as possible to fit the outter rocker, even if it's rusty, get it tacked in, put the door and fender on, and get the fit up nice, and make some alignment marks so that it goes back in the exact same spot after I take it back off. I find if you just cut everything out at once, it's too easy to end up off a little off here and there, as the aftermarket parts don't fit correctly without some work.

[Dads79GMC]

Some great learning points there! Great job Jayson.

[Dads79GMC]

Any update?

[Jaysonb]

With the right side wrapped up, I got a good start on the left side. I got the floor, kick panel, inner, and outter rocker cut out and replaced. I have a small portion of the cab corner that needs to be done, but I'm going to take care of that when I have the cab off of the frame. That takes care of most of the rust repair on this truck, there is still a small spot on the left door to cut out and replace, and a little work to do on the left fender lip, but it is pretty minor.