Grumpy

[Grumpy63]

Greetings,

For a long time I've been wanting to get something to build so my wife and I have something to cruise around in and enjoy. I've had a 96' Town Car sitting around for a while that we don't drive anymore and decided to trade it to a friend of mine who has a yard of vehicles for a 63' GMC short bed. It doesn't have a motor or tranny but it is a pretty clean truck body wise. Don't know what I'll do with it yet but it will be fun either way. Part of me wants to drop a 6L LS into it. The other part of me screams 383 stroker...

Look forward to learning and doing. Luckily I have a few friends who have done these sorts of things before.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum

That looks like a pretty straight GMC. Does it have much rust? It even has aluminum slot wheels.

[Grumpy63]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Welcome to the forum

That looks like a pretty straight GMC. Does it have much rust? It even has aluminum slot wheels.

Thank you.

It has very little rust on the body, just a few minor spots on the drivers side wheel well. The drivers side floor pan is soft so I'll have to replace that. It appears that someone started a resto on it because when the pulled the engine out they sprayed the entire compartment with black paint. So there is no rust there. I'll likely pull the bed and cab, blast it here at the farm and re-paint it just for good measure.

The only dent I'm not sure how I'll fix is on the top drivers side. But I have a welder and know how to use it.

[flashed]

Looks nice .

[BFD305]

Looks like a clean body to start with. Good looking truck.

[Grumpy63]

Well, Grumpy was delivered today. It was my best Monday in a long time. My buddy who traded me for him has the new front windshield and a bunch of parts like floor pans and such for me to pick up tomorrow from his yard. I'm stoked to get started. Time to start tearing it apart to build it back up!

[IMG][/IMG]

[Grumpy63]

Was at the same junkyard where I got Grumpy and my buddy that owns the place has a 454/TH400 that came out of a 1977 motorhome with 10k miles on it. Thinking about putting it in this truck. I'd welcome your thoughts.

[northern 85]

Sounds like fun to me!!!!

[Grumpy63]

Well, I secured the deal today. It is a 454/TH400 combo out of a 1977 Chevrolet Sports Coach RV with all the goodies. The RV has 10,333 actual miles on it! Got the engine, tranny and all the associated parts for a whopping $800.00! Now I just have to wait for my buddy to call me and tell me to come over and help him tear it out. Should be a fun day full of fork lifts, blue wrenches and grunt.

[Rusty63]

nice score on both the truck and engine!

[Bomp]

Welcome and WOW on the truck and motor score.
Sub'd,,,,,,,,, this looks like a great build in the making.

[Grumpy63]

Well, just a short update. Today a friend of mine came by to have a chat. He's not in good health. He up and gave me a 1975 GMC Jimmy that has a little fire damage. Apparently the alternator caught fire and the fire department had to cut the hood off to put it out.

He had just put a rebuilt 1967 Chevelle 327 and T350 in the truck. So I guess I'm gonna make Grumpy into a 4x4 with dana 44 front, 12 bolt rear and the 454/Th400 out of the motor home.

So much for a street rod, but I've always favored 4x4's more anyway. And my drive is half mile long of gravel and mud about 6 months out of the year anyway...

I also went and got my new windshield that was sitting at my buddies garage. It came with the 63' so that saved me some serious coinage!

Should be interesting this winter as we tear into everything!