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1986/73 huge change of plans opinions needed

blazinzuk

blazinzuk

Buzzbox voodoo
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So I might as well start a build thread about this thing as I hope to finish it up here pretty quick.

This is what I started with

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86 Crew cab with no engine trans t case and other various pieces you need to run.

And this

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and this

whitetruck.jpg



The flatbed donated the front clip and the 454, the white truck donated its 465 ( hydro clutch) and 205

I got the crew cab from a buddy in vegas who had bought it for its front 60 axle and then went another direction with his build. He owed me and after trying to sell it for 5 months or so he said come and get it, its yours.

I had that flatbed and white truck still, the white truck had an engine fire and the 350 in it was way tired anyway. The flatbed had a 454 with a 465 in it and I thought I would just use the parts I wanted.

So I tore the daully apart

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To make the inside nice, as all I was going to do was regasket the motor and put it all together.

So I bought some nice interior bits, new carpet, pulled the door panels and changed the color

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BTW SEM is the ONLY way to go don't go thinking anything else will work as I did not use SEM and they chip very easily.

Pullled the motor from the flatbed and tore it down to regasket it. Well I took the pistons out just to check stuff, and as I was stuffing one back down in the hole a ring broke. So block is ruined, as in can't use it the way it is. So that ended that.

The reason I was just using all old stuff is cause like a moron and went and spent money on stupid things before the thing was actually running. So I didn't have enough money for motor work.

Now thats been some 3-4 years ago this all happened. Lots had gone on in that time period and I haven't been able to save money to finish the motor, actually I have been able to but every time I got close we had a car/medical/school/ other emergency come up that required my crew cab fund.

Now we find ourselves in 2012 and I really need a good solid tow rig. Towing with the Jimmy local is fine but on the highway for a decently log distance. Never going to happen.

Got a good tax return this year and my wife agrees with me it needs to get done.

So this week the heads go off to the machine shop to get done up (the block got done up a couple years ago), and I will be making a list of things I need to do to get this beast up and running.

The future plans for it are pretty cool ( if you ask me but then again I came up with them) but it will take a while to get completely done.

I would like to run bigger tires so I am thinking 315/65/16s on stock rims, not so big but larger than stock. Suspension wise I want to do airbags all the way around. All the links will use bushings ( its a mall crawler), and probably square tube to keep costs down. The suspension will hopefully happen sometime in 2014 or 15.

Interior is very important on this rig as I want it to be as comfortable for my family as possible. I have new seat covers, new carpet and I redid the headliner with some nice stuff. I plan on doing lots of sound deadning and making thing as comfy as possible

It will eventually get the 73 front clip and paint to look like this

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But with slightly bigger tires of course :D
 
I put together a cluster from a couple different trucks to come up with this. Pretty sure I should be able to make everything work just fine, we shall see

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Most of the cluster is from a C -60 truck and in the lower left corner is the double air gauge that will come in handy when I do get my fancy airbag suspension happening

Close up of it, one gauge is white the other is orange

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adding another subscription to the 8,954,627 I have.... I like the plans for this one!
 
Some of the stuff I have done in the last couple of years.

The headliner. When I got the truck the headliner was of course hammered, they don't make an aftermarket ABS plastic headliner for the crew cabs.

So I took to doing my first headliner, well when I got it all torn away it was not in good shape. Although its hard to see here, there were great chunks missing and I was afraid those would transfer to material a little too much.

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So I tried to level it all out with some sheetrock tape and adhesive

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Here is the finished repaired headliner ( with no cloth on it)

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Why I do not have a pic of the finished headliner I do not know why. I will dig it out and take a pic, I used a suede headliner material to do it. I am going to try to use the same material to take some of the plastic out of our oh so plasticky interiors.
 
Oh yah and I should have a fresh set of 781 heads here in the next couple weeks.

Droppin em off tomorrow.

So question of the day, what should I have the machinist do to the heads?

I realize most of the power is made in the heads but this is a low compression, not terribly large cammed big block. I am also on a decently tight budget.

Going to try to sneak some of these in the budget though

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These worth the price of admission, I have used summit parts in the past and have had decent luck, realize of course this rig will not be daily driven. Probably see less than 5k miles a year.
 
I went with these stainless cheap ones. The guy that built my engine said he has been using them a while with really good results. Said he blew the scat crank in a 383 he built and ran hard, and never had any issues with these roller rockers. And he said that motor had some hard spring pressures.


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I would imagine they have them for BBC too, ill have to find out where he got them.
 
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I love the build! Cant wait to see the outcome...All these CC builds to watch now, I love it!
 
If its up to me, I gotta go with 2014 before my wallet and BART will be ready to tow that far again. Probably won't even start the resto of BART until next summer some time.
Eric, I would just port match the heads....from what I hear they are dam good right off the shelf as is for an engine under 4500 rpm
 
If you wanted to spend money you could get bigger valves and do some port work. If it was me I would get some good springs, have a good valve job repairing any valve or guide problems, cut them as much as you feel comfortable, pick a nice rv style cam and run them. My 454 in my k30 is 7.8 to one and runs pretty hard, was actually pretty hot on gasoline.
 
80' 427 said:
If you wanted to spend money you could get bigger valves and do some port work. If it was me I would get some good springs, have a good valve job repairing any valve or guide problems, cut them as much as you feel comfortable, pick a nice rv style cam and run them. My 454 in my k30 is 7.8 to one and runs pretty hard, was actually pretty hot on gasoline.
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As 80' 427 mentions...some bigger valves, and some port work would be advantageous...just not sure how much $$$ you want to put into the heads, of course a valve job should include any guide problems (replace with cast iron if needed) and a complimenting set of springs for your cam would be necessary too!
I think my 76 454 has those heads on it too, you've driven that, and it pulls dam good up to 80mph and more, and I think they are still bone stockers.
 
I'm watching Eric! (que the little emoticon pointing at both his eyes and then back at you with both fingers several times).

For a tow rig and long hauls I would probably not want aluminum rockers. If one of those busts it can cause more damage as crap falls into the bottom end. I'd get the comp magnums steel roller rockers, or the roller tipped steel ones, or just use stock and spend the money elsewhere for that engine, such as 2.19/1.88 stainless valves or something. Then again I put used aluminum harland sharps in my regal back in 1997 and they are still in there (knock on wood).

For the heads I would do a nice smooth bowl blend at the least. And smooth the combustion chamber machining around the intake valve before you get a nice valve job done.

Of course check all the guides as they said.
 
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