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

Sine_Qua_Non wrote: Where is this place? My little ones would love to go.

Inman. It's called "Upstate Speedway" and they are on 11140 Asheville Highway

calling tuna.

Stop spending money on your current motor.

355 chevy... http://charlotte.craigslist.org/pts/5489698491.html

In reply to Mad_Ratel:

Thanks for the heads up, but I don't want to spend $800 on basically the same thing I have, but with a cam.

I was not sure. Sounded well put together with heads you did not have etc...

In reply to Mad_Ratel:

Just buying a (mostly) perfectly good motor? Where's the GRM in that?

So I'm renting a truck and trailer combo from Budget to move this whole house.

Getting the truck up the big driveway hill with the moving van is probably hard and precarious.

Can I borrow a favor from some handy GRMer to hitch their truck to our rented trailer and tow the Tunatruck to the new address? It's like five miles.

I keep asking you to just let me know which weekend...

my truck wont haul anything on a trailer. not enough weight capacity or trailer hitch.

so take luke up on the offer. hes got a new fullsize.

I actually do have to admit, pulling E36 M3 with my truck excites me.

Yeah I'm weird. My wife barely stopped me from buying an F250 so I could haul a bigger trailer with it. (below is a 4cuyd trailer. with mound I think I was hauling closer to 5/5.5 cuyds. you can see that the tire just barely does not touch the fender.)

In reply to Mad_Ratel:

Not a weekend! April 28th. Thursday. You still in? Has to be early afternoon.

Hmm I work halfday friday's so that'd be a bit easier for me than a thursday. Luckily I can shift some hours (we are pretty flexible.) So if you are deadset on a thursday yeah I can help.

In reply to Mad_Ratel:

We have to be out by 6pm Thursday and we can't start moving until 2ish on Thursday.

Ideally I'll load the truck on the trailer and have it sitting and waiting while we close at the lawyer.

Let me know what time you have Thursday. That also makes unloading the van way easier.

that is a tight time frame to move a whole freaking house. Wow.

I could probably leave around 3 and help you out. That means I only have to shift 2 hours of work.

Mad_Ratel wrote: that is a tight time frame to move a whole freaking house. Wow. I could probably leave around 3 and help you out. That means I only have to shift 2 hours of work.

Sounds like a deal to me. Do you still have my cell number? Just text me when you are heading my way.

How's it going with the move? Did you make it in the time frame?

If Mad_Ratel drops out I might be able to help. I have an Expedition with the smaller V8 so I wouldn't be much good for a long trip, but if it's only 5 miles I can likely do it. My work hours are flexible as well.

Move is on the 28th.

Luke is amazing, but he has been bumped. It turns out that it's more expensive to rent the trailer for two days (because I'll have the truck for two days) than it will be just to pay a flatbed. Also, this way I don't have to worry about the difficulty of getting the truck up on the trailer, up my steep driveway, and stopped on the trailer (no brakes yet)

So I am concentrating on getting most of it put back together. Last night I painted the engine and drilled the new rocker studs for some pins. That's all done. Tonight, the engine comes off the stand, and gets the bellhousing/cutch/fork put back in, and then the transmission on if I am feeling it.

Stay tuned! THe idea here is that it's way easier to move this stuff if it's all bolted in the truck, even if it comes right back out again.

I'm one day behind actual progress with regards to my documentation.

I'll just put this here to summarize yesterday's progress.

And tonight I had a friend swing by to help manhandle the engine. He's actually the Dad of a neighbor kid my kids like to play with who is a similar motorhead like me. We got this far:

Goals for tomorrow include fenders and hood.

wow the engine looks pretty awesome in that color!

Rufledt wrote: wow the engine looks pretty awesome in that color!

THANKS!

It will look even better with a new water pump, black (and new) balancer, grey manifolds, and the carb on there. Unfortunately, I think it has to come out to paint the firewall, so I'll get another shot at it soon!

Chevy orange is a great color, though.

Last night I had help again, and we handled the hood and fender. Tonight, I did the tailgate by myself, along with digging through bins and bins of parts in the attic, trying to remember how to assemble the hood latch. Remember the golden restoration process:

1: Take everything apart as quickly as possible
2: Store everything in random and varying places over the next few weeks
3: Have a few kids and give up
4: Try to figure out where everything is, why you bought brand new tail light lenses seven years ago, and guess as to how things go back together. Also thank God for the LMC truck catalog.

So anyway, I apparently bent the bed either when I welded in the fuel filler or when I put it back together, so I have some work to do. Good thing this mockup happened sort of accidentally. Moving day is a little over a week away.

Any chance of adding one more step to the restoration process?: 5: see the parts mocked up together, plastidip them all, put engine back together, and drive to the new place

also for motivation I saw 2 trucks of this body style in my town this week- one orange, the other blue. They look nice in person, lots of character that the later body styles lacked IMO

In reply to Rufledt:

Sorry but no seat, windshield, brake lines, electronical system, steering, and a thousand other little things means it's not going to happen, plus it all has to come right back apart.

Oh, and I also have to move the rest of the house someday.

One note: the engine is together. I mean, I have not fired it, but it could be ready to fire after attaching the carb, fuel lines, coolant hoses, and throttle cable.