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I purchased this truck in May, of 1999 from a family member. At the time I
commented on buying it, was as a point of sarcasm and Beer, more than a genuine
offer. The next day I bought it. It was a sun bleached beat-up Burgundy and Cream
white color. "Other than the passenger fender and front bumper being damaged, it
was in horrible shape!" I just didn't know how bad it really was! It was not running;
the engine had frozen up, and the thing was in parts. It had a great big rust spot on the
rear quarter and multiple little “door dings.” I won't even mention the holes someone
had drilled in different places for antennas. I guess that it was CB antennas. Snaps that
were causing body rust, from a cover long since gone; front bed panel rusted beyond
repair; the paint was spotted with tiny holes allover the front end.
commented on buying it, was as a point of sarcasm and Beer, more than a genuine
offer. The next day I bought it. It was a sun bleached beat-up Burgundy and Cream
white color. "Other than the passenger fender and front bumper being damaged, it
was in horrible shape!" I just didn't know how bad it really was! It was not running;
the engine had frozen up, and the thing was in parts. It had a great big rust spot on the
rear quarter and multiple little “door dings.” I won't even mention the holes someone
had drilled in different places for antennas. I guess that it was CB antennas. Snaps that
were causing body rust, from a cover long since gone; front bed panel rusted beyond
repair; the paint was spotted with tiny holes allover the front end.
You are Visitor #
I thought that with a little work, I could fix it up and resell it!
I bought a long block 350, which is what it had in it to start with. I dressed it up while I reassembled the pieces. The transmission was a 350 THD and had sustained
damage to the pan. We started removing the old engine and transmission then we started finding bolts missing from the transmission housing and loose (finger loose). A
coat of oil was preserving the under carriage in a way that Chevrolet had never intended.
I bought a long block 350, which is what it had in it to start with. I dressed it up while I reassembled the pieces. The transmission was a 350 THD and had sustained
damage to the pan. We started removing the old engine and transmission then we started finding bolts missing from the transmission housing and loose (finger loose). A
coat of oil was preserving the under carriage in a way that Chevrolet had never intended.
That is how it goes! It is started and it is a no sale item now! I have roughly $2,200.00 at this point of realization that "I have a project hotrod - restore!" let me say that I’ve
put in hundreds of man-hours with my brother-in-law putting it back together correctly.
Completed the Engine replacement; cranked the first time we wound it up! It was heaven! Timing the little monster was really not fun. You should have seen the fire I
started! Yes I did, I just have the guts to tell it! Didn't damage the truck. Finally 12 BTC works fine. Valves adjusted and a third trip to State Inspection later and we were
legal! Sell? No, I had begun that journey of building a model and that is a passion! So I looked at it and fixed the instruments and looked at it some more and fixed the
dashboard. Fixed the AC, new compressor, dryer, and repaired hoses. I blew a compressor (re-manufactured) then a hose and then another hose; finally, it worked like a
champ! Now the A/C is essentially new.
Brakes: The brake system was all but gone. We knew the power brake boost was new so we left it alone. New Hubs, Disks, Wheel Bearings, Shoes, Wheel Cylinders,
springs, Master Cylinder, Pads and a fluid flush. Everything is replaced! New front upper A-Arms came with the truck, new ball joints and bushings, the ones that were on
it were in bad to terrible shape. Locking lugs on three of the four tires for which I had no key! Long Shoe in back short shoe is on the front!
Interior: The interior was in the same shape the exterior was. Someone had put Burgundy Astroturf up the back of the cab and secured it with no less than 50 screws
that penetrated the cab wall to the bed. A cover that you buy in an auto supply store covered the seat. It was dirty off colored and the original Burgundy seats were covered
in duct tape. So was the carpet and now that we we're talking about things with duct tape and other ugly nasty kludged fixes Big huge screws had been replaced for factory
trim screws in the door panel and jam-steps. Weather striping was shot all the way around and the doors rattled. The driver door had been adjusted so far in that it no
longer lined up with the body. All of this had to be fixed, repaired and/or replaced! This would just start the renovations needed, just starting to scratch the surface of the
problem.
put in hundreds of man-hours with my brother-in-law putting it back together correctly.
Completed the Engine replacement; cranked the first time we wound it up! It was heaven! Timing the little monster was really not fun. You should have seen the fire I
started! Yes I did, I just have the guts to tell it! Didn't damage the truck. Finally 12 BTC works fine. Valves adjusted and a third trip to State Inspection later and we were
legal! Sell? No, I had begun that journey of building a model and that is a passion! So I looked at it and fixed the instruments and looked at it some more and fixed the
dashboard. Fixed the AC, new compressor, dryer, and repaired hoses. I blew a compressor (re-manufactured) then a hose and then another hose; finally, it worked like a
champ! Now the A/C is essentially new.
Brakes: The brake system was all but gone. We knew the power brake boost was new so we left it alone. New Hubs, Disks, Wheel Bearings, Shoes, Wheel Cylinders,
springs, Master Cylinder, Pads and a fluid flush. Everything is replaced! New front upper A-Arms came with the truck, new ball joints and bushings, the ones that were on
it were in bad to terrible shape. Locking lugs on three of the four tires for which I had no key! Long Shoe in back short shoe is on the front!
Interior: The interior was in the same shape the exterior was. Someone had put Burgundy Astroturf up the back of the cab and secured it with no less than 50 screws
that penetrated the cab wall to the bed. A cover that you buy in an auto supply store covered the seat. It was dirty off colored and the original Burgundy seats were covered
in duct tape. So was the carpet and now that we we're talking about things with duct tape and other ugly nasty kludged fixes Big huge screws had been replaced for factory
trim screws in the door panel and jam-steps. Weather striping was shot all the way around and the doors rattled. The driver door had been adjusted so far in that it no
longer lined up with the body. All of this had to be fixed, repaired and/or replaced! This would just start the renovations needed, just starting to scratch the surface of the
problem.
Exterior: Paint was hopeless and the front passenger fender had a large unplanned event in its lifetime. So had the front bumper only, someone had pulled that back into
half way decent shape. As Chrome started coming off of the truck I started noticing rust but most minor. I noticed a large almost vertical crack in the paint just behind the
driver's door. It was poorly applied Bond-O as it turns out covering a half-ass repair job indicating that area quarter panel had been replaced at one time or another. The rear
bumper was bent also. The spring on the tailgate handle was missing.
Bad from the start "Things learned" on the 2nd of June I had planned to go to work and go home pick up the truck, which had the old long block in it and go get it
exchanged. On the way to SRS Engines we had an accident. I was accosted by another vehicle (1997 GMC white Jimmy) on the freeway. The old long block ran rampant
on the bed of our '93 Chevrolet Pickup! "Things learned"; should have secured the engine block, just in case this happened! $2700.00 worth of damage later I finally made
it to the engine place to pickup the re-manufactured Long Block.
The engine was a re-manufactured long block '76. I replaced the starter; intake was Edelbrock Street Dominator, Rochester Quadra-Jet 750 CFM. I found 2of the bolts
holding the transmission to the engine missing and two were so loose that I could get my finger between the bolt and the transmission housing, the final two were the only
tight ones. The engine wiring harness was loose. There was a wire from the alternator to the fire wall plug that had been cut. A new wire had been spliced into the Field
Coil line of the Alternator and had been ran back to the fuse box, inside the truck, to an auxiliary" ignition on" plug. I later found this was because the light in the dash was
burnt out which, would prevent the Alternator from working properly.
As in all projects, first things first! We installed the new engine with the transmission attached. That was no small chore! The truck was on ramps in the front so that we
could crawl up under the darn thing to connect up things. Like I said, "Things learned", we should have removed the fenders and front end to do this it would have been
so much easier! So, we finally got it in where it needed to go. Time to reconnect all the stuff. Starter on then the exhaust system and the drive shaft, transmission lines,
speedometer cable, shifter linkage, fuel pump, fuel line, intake, carburetor, radiator, oh, did I totally go past the part where the heater hose nipple had to be J.B. Welded to
the intake? The old heater valve had broken off in the intake manifold. The intake had to be drilled and tapped. The hole was slightly larger than it really needed to be. So to
assure proper sealing J.B. Weld was applied to the threads of the hose nipple before it was put into the intake.
The transmission lines had been twisted when the engine and transmission were removed. "Things learned"; we should have removed the lines from the transmission
before we removed the engine/transmission combo. Did I mention that it was raining off and on during this whole ordeal? June, that was when we started this "quick"
project.
half way decent shape. As Chrome started coming off of the truck I started noticing rust but most minor. I noticed a large almost vertical crack in the paint just behind the
driver's door. It was poorly applied Bond-O as it turns out covering a half-ass repair job indicating that area quarter panel had been replaced at one time or another. The rear
bumper was bent also. The spring on the tailgate handle was missing.
Bad from the start "Things learned" on the 2nd of June I had planned to go to work and go home pick up the truck, which had the old long block in it and go get it
exchanged. On the way to SRS Engines we had an accident. I was accosted by another vehicle (1997 GMC white Jimmy) on the freeway. The old long block ran rampant
on the bed of our '93 Chevrolet Pickup! "Things learned"; should have secured the engine block, just in case this happened! $2700.00 worth of damage later I finally made
it to the engine place to pickup the re-manufactured Long Block.
The engine was a re-manufactured long block '76. I replaced the starter; intake was Edelbrock Street Dominator, Rochester Quadra-Jet 750 CFM. I found 2of the bolts
holding the transmission to the engine missing and two were so loose that I could get my finger between the bolt and the transmission housing, the final two were the only
tight ones. The engine wiring harness was loose. There was a wire from the alternator to the fire wall plug that had been cut. A new wire had been spliced into the Field
Coil line of the Alternator and had been ran back to the fuse box, inside the truck, to an auxiliary" ignition on" plug. I later found this was because the light in the dash was
burnt out which, would prevent the Alternator from working properly.
As in all projects, first things first! We installed the new engine with the transmission attached. That was no small chore! The truck was on ramps in the front so that we
could crawl up under the darn thing to connect up things. Like I said, "Things learned", we should have removed the fenders and front end to do this it would have been
so much easier! So, we finally got it in where it needed to go. Time to reconnect all the stuff. Starter on then the exhaust system and the drive shaft, transmission lines,
speedometer cable, shifter linkage, fuel pump, fuel line, intake, carburetor, radiator, oh, did I totally go past the part where the heater hose nipple had to be J.B. Welded to
the intake? The old heater valve had broken off in the intake manifold. The intake had to be drilled and tapped. The hole was slightly larger than it really needed to be. So to
assure proper sealing J.B. Weld was applied to the threads of the hose nipple before it was put into the intake.
The transmission lines had been twisted when the engine and transmission were removed. "Things learned"; we should have removed the lines from the transmission
before we removed the engine/transmission combo. Did I mention that it was raining off and on during this whole ordeal? June, that was when we started this "quick"
project.
| Last Revised: Monday June 18th, 2007 5:50 PM CST Copyright © 1998-2007, V. R. Engstrom, elcaminoplace.com is a Registered Trademark All Rights Reserved |
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