Build thread for the 72 GMC, finally. Thanks John!

Mad_Ratel wrote:

Dusterbd13 wrote: Cv swap?

Crown Victoria front end. it's a near bolt in for the f100's but some more massaging is done for the chevy's. Gives you individual front suspension setup that was designed for about the same curb weight, modern disc brakes, modern steering rack, newer choices for go fast goodies. etc... oh and you can bolt in a mod motor... (since the mod motor mounts bolt direction to the portion.) one of dese.

That is a nice looking piece. Is that a cast aluminum K member?

yuuup.

I'll quit cluttering up the thread. though I might have found a bronco to mess with.

So back on track, I took my lunch time and ran through a quick engine budget, and then I wept softly for the rest of the afternoon.

When the Leaf is through being leased, with gas prices as they are now, I ought to have an extra $100-$175 not leaving each month. I suspect that a good engine rebuild that it deserves will take over than a year of saving. I guess that's not happening. I'll figure out a cheap & now button.

YOU need a duster type deal. lol.

Mad_Ratel wrote: YOU need a duster type deal. lol.

The kind where the bodyman holds my truck hostage and keeps it through the winter thus cracking the block during the freeze that I totally wasn't prepared for since it was supposed to be done months ago?

No thanks!

What I would like is for a most excellent birthday present:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hpe-hp36m/overview/make/chevrolet

And then remove the chrome and go to town.

But yeah, the easy way isn't really my style.

I think he meant 350 for 350. But thanks for the reminder though. ..

Dusterbd13 wrote: I think he meant 350 for 350. But thanks for the reminder though. ..

hehehe

We all felt that one. I still can't believe how ugly that worked out. You still got yours finished, which is far more than I can say!!

ouch tuna.

did make me laugh some though.

Dude with bronco has not texted me back. so may be a bust again.

Keep chipping away. You may still get your truck done before mine. It is, after all, back at the body shop.

This time with antifreeze.

Cheer up...you are way ahead of me! AND you know what you are doing

I took a few months off of my build too. It was hard to get back in the swing of working on it again, but I think I'm there now. Keep chipping away.

Wasn't the truck a runner? Why not use the original engine to get it mobile while you save up for and build your dream engine. It's easy to swap out an engine...

That engine budget issue is the same reason the wagon still has the i6. man do those parts add up!

bgkast wrote: I took a few months off of my build too. It was hard to get back in the swing of working on it again, but I think I'm there now. Keep chipping away. Wasn't the truck a runner? Why not use the original engine to get it mobile while you save up for and build your dream engine. It's easy to swap out an engine...

Ahh yes. Well, you see, it's the slippery slope thing. On one hand, if you're counting every penny from a budget standpoint, it makes more sense only to pull the heads once, since you'll have to buy new gaskets, to name an example. If you follow this line of thinking, it should get a complete rebuild to be the most cost effective. It's that darn slippery slope.

The engine indeed ran, and ran well, when I parked it. It was a daily driver which I drove into the parking spot in the garage six years ago. The carb was in need at that time, for a few days earlier I began to notice the obvious signs of a sinking float. Other than that, and a badly adjusted vacuum advance canister, it ran fine. Now, when I say 'ran fine', I mean that it made good power and was pretty tractable. However, it did leak and had some good blue smoke, especially on startup.

I rebuilt a small block of this vintage once before. When I did, I saw the bad ridge these things get. There is a ridge reamer tool, but I have a line on some machine work that should cost me a lunch or two which makes an overbore practically inevitable. At that point I'm in for at least $350 for pistons and rings that I'd actually put in an engine. The heads need to be rebuilt, seals and guides. The aforementioned machine work can get them milled which will help greatly.

Do you do all of that without changing the cam? That's just silly talk, so in come a cam and a set of lifters. I'd ideally like a roller with the junkyard hydraulic lifter setup from a modern V6 which uses the same lifters. Sounds easy, but that combo is another $400 or so. Sticking with flat tappet drops that to around $150 but adds tremendous risk at break-in. Do I want to do this once or do I want to do it piecemeal? As you say, a running truck is better than a truck all done with engine parts scattered all over.

An intake is an easy ebay/craigslist score for cheap for a small block, no worries there.

And like that I just went from valve seals and a carb rebuild to over a grand in parts.

I actually tried something later in the driving life of the engine. I borrowed an engine stand, and pulled it out on Saturday morning. I had borrowed a pressure washer, bought some big steel brushes, some degreaser and some other tools. I pulled off the oil pan and reshot the Chevy Orange and replaced the gasket mess with a one piece rubber deal from Felpro and cleaned the dickens out of the thing.

Well it stopped the leak, and I added 75lb of grease to my driveway, but the engine still looks like a huge slimeball. It sure would be nice to tear it all apart and hot tank everything and make it purty to match the rest of the truck.

And there I go again.

In essence, I am not really that conflicted. I have plans, but I just don't like them. I get a lot of gift cards from work for places like Amazon. Piece by piece, I intend to order what I want until I get close to enough to enact the plan of rering/cam/intake/carb rebuild/head rebuild. If it's a great year for gift cards, I'll spring for the roller cam and some aluminum heads. The engine I 'want' will come later on. I can't bear the thought of "finishing" the truck and still having that slimeball of a smoking engine left in there. At the same time, I'd rather not take a risk on a junkyard engine when I know that mine isn't fatally injured in some way.

Anyway, sorry for the gripe fest today. To add to it, I just got a call from Nanny, the Jeep from Heck won't start... again. Off I go, giving up garage time to help a friend. Lets hope IO can get it done so she can get to work. So far I've put a cam sensor, crank sensor, water pump, starter in it. I've done the 4x coolant change to get rid of the Dexcool, I've done a few dozen oil changes and the transmission fluid. The serpentine belt, the radiator hoses, the heater core hoses, the reservoir, the exhaust... you know, the entire truck. I can't wait to find out what it is now!

Dome light needed to be turned off. The power steering reservoir was empty, and the neutral safety switch was falling off. I was certain that I would have to have her spend the $130 she doesn't have on s new one but in a fit of "let's try wiggling it around" I found that it had come loose. Extra credit to Tunadad for helping me find the silly thing via text message.

tuna55 wrote:

bgkast wrote: I took a few months off of my build too. It was hard to get back in the swing of working on it again, but I think I'm there now. Keep chipping away. Wasn't the truck a runner? Why not use the original engine to get it mobile while you save up for and build your dream engine. It's easy to swap out an engine...

Ahh yes. Well, you see, it's the slippery slope thing. On one hand, if you're counting every penny from a budget standpoint, it makes more sense only to pull the heads once, since you'll have to buy new gaskets, to name an example. If you follow this line of thinking, it should get a complete rebuild to be the most cost effective. It's that darn slippery slope. The engine indeed ran, and ran well, when I parked it. It was a daily driver which I drove into the parking spot in the garage six years ago. The carb was in need at that time, for a few days earlier I began to notice the obvious signs of a sinking float. Other than that, and a badly adjusted vacuum advance canister, it ran fine. Now, when I say 'ran fine', I mean that it made good power and was pretty tractable. However, it did leak and had some good blue smoke, especially on startup. I rebuilt a small block of this vintage once before. When I did, I saw the bad ridge these things get. There is a ridge reamer tool, but I have a line on some machine work that should cost me a lunch or two which makes an overbore practically inevitable. At that point I'm in for at least $350 for pistons and rings that I'd actually put in an engine. The heads need to be rebuilt, seals and guides. The aforementioned machine work can get them milled which will help greatly. Do you do all of that without changing the cam? That's just silly talk, so in come a cam and a set of lifters. I'd ideally like a roller with the junkyard hydraulic lifter setup from a modern V6 which uses the same lifters. Sounds easy, but that combo is another $400 or so. Sticking with flat tappet drops that to around $150 but adds tremendous risk at break-in. Do I want to do this once or do I want to do it piecemeal? As you say, a running truck is better than a truck all done with engine parts scattered all over. An intake is an easy ebay/craigslist score for cheap for a small block, no worries there. And like that I just went from valve seals and a carb rebuild to over a grand in parts. I actually tried something later in the driving life of the engine. I borrowed an engine stand, and pulled it out on Saturday morning. I had borrowed a pressure washer, bought some big steel brushes, some degreaser and some other tools. I pulled off the oil pan and reshot the Chevy Orange and replaced the gasket mess with a one piece rubber deal from Felpro and cleaned the dickens out of the thing. Well it stopped the leak, and I added 75lb of grease to my driveway, but the engine still looks like a huge slimeball. It sure would be nice to tear it all apart and hot tank everything and make it purty to match the rest of the truck. And there I go again. In essence, I am not really that conflicted. I have plans, but I just don't like them. I get a lot of gift cards from work for places like Amazon. Piece by piece, I intend to order what I want until I get close to enough to enact the plan of rering/cam/intake/carb rebuild/head rebuild. If it's a great year for gift cards, I'll spring for the roller cam and some aluminum heads. The engine I 'want' will come later on. I can't bear the thought of "finishing" the truck and still having that slimeball of a smoking engine left in there. At the same time, I'd rather not take a risk on a junkyard engine when I know that mine isn't fatally injured in some way. Anyway, sorry for the gripe fest today. To add to it, I just got a call from Nanny, the Jeep from Heck won't start... again. Off I go, giving up garage time to help a friend. Lets hope IO can get it done so she can get to work. So far I've put a cam sensor, crank sensor, water pump, starter in it. I've done the 4x coolant change to get rid of the Dexcool, I've done a few dozen oil changes and the transmission fluid. The serpentine belt, the radiator hoses, the heater core hoses, the reservoir, the exhaust... you know, the entire truck. I can't wait to find out what it is now!

That all makes perfect sense for the engine you are going to be rebuilding from a $50 core that you picked up on Craigslist. But if you have an engine that runs and does not actually lower the mosquito population in the hood next summer, just drive it while you build up the dream engine form a core. Just saying.

Nohome speaks truth...you'll be eleventy times more motivated to save for and replace that hulking mess of an engine if you're able to drive the truck to the parts store, while cursing the protection of a smoke screen and oil slick defense on the way there.

If its only on startup, cheap vortec heads and keep rocking. Rattle can rebuild it and enjoy. Think drivabeater.

What about buying a known running engine from a local? A running newer truck you can part out and recoup the purchase price? That would help the budget too, as you could get the engine for free and wouldn't be buying other parts while you strip the donor.

I just want to express my appreciation for this thread, and your constant updates. Of all the threads I view on this forum, I check in on this one every day. Usually more than once. Please keep it up.

And I hear you on the engine rebuild - mine was supposed to be quick and dirty re-ring, which turned into pistons and a lot more money than expected. But.... I now have an engine I won't have to deal with again for 20 years. Theoretically.

Keep up the great work!

In reply to SkinnyG:

Hey thanks!

Many apologies for boring updates lately.

Last night I recieved the second air hockey table for the kids from their Grandmother. The first one was broken. The second was too. I made one good one out of the two, and finished up around 11:00, so I decided to skip truck stuff last night.

Clean up your present motor, replace the crank seals, use an air check and the "special tool" to replace the valve seals without pulling the heads, new valve cover gaskets, and fix your carb. Put in motor and drive. Acquire parts for killer motor one piece at a time. When all the parts are in, save for machine work. When the parts get back from the shop, assemble motor. Install. Drive. Grin.

Did I miss anything?

Jerry From LA wrote: Clean up your present motor, replace the crank seals, use an air check and the "special tool" to replace the valve seals without pulling the heads, new valve cover gaskets, and fix your carb. Put in motor and drive. Acquire parts for killer motor one piece at a time. When all the parts are in, save for machine work. When the parts get back from the shop, assemble motor. Install. Drive. Grin. Did I miss anything?

Nope, that's a solid plan.

We'll see if I can stand it.

Van work last night. A wobbly and noisy heat shield kept me from the truck.