79' GMC C15 - Spruce Caboose

[Chevy305]

I really like your idea hear. The trans is meh though.

I did a mid 80s T5 transmission in my S10 V8 swap years ago. I had the bell housing and everything so the whole thing was angled like it was in a Camaro. So weird they did that. Anyway mine had a bent shift fork and wouldn't go into 5th gear real well. All of my forcing it wore out the synchro so I pulled it, fixed the shift fork, replaced the shift fork pads and the 5th gear synchro. 5th gear worked like a charm but it started popping out of 1st every time you took off hard. You could hold it in 1st and it was fine but super annoying. I ended up selling the truck like that so I don't know what happened exactly. But my mini rebuild showed me that these transmissions are pretty simple and easy enough to rebuild. Perfect for a 1st timer. Hardest part is lining everything back up to put it back together.... Nevermind those extra parts..... Lol

 

[bix]

I really like your idea hear. The trans is meh though.

I did a mid 80s T5 transmission in my S10 V8 swap years ago. I had the bell housing and everything so the whole thing was angled like it was in a Camaro. So weird they did that. Anyway mine had a bent shift fork and wouldn't go into 5th gear real well. All of my forcing it wore out the synchro so I pulled it, fixed the shift fork, replaced the shift fork pads and the 5th gear synchro. 5th gear worked like a charm but it started popping out of 1st every time you took off hard. You could hold it in 1st and it was fine but super annoying. I ended up selling the truck like that so I don't know what happened exactly. But my mini rebuild showed me that these transmissions are pretty simple and easy enough to rebuild. Perfect for a 1st timer. Hardest part is lining everything back up to put it back together.... Nevermind those extra parts..... Lol

Ah right on, I have heard lots of people saying their weak point is how you shift them, if you upgrade the main shaft, but power shifting them seems to bust em..

Finding a decent t56 these days is super tough and yea I'm not sure what its purpose will have, but I thought the same thing. Tons of info out there on them, rebuild manuals easily available.. I'm definitely a tad nervous because I didn't get to take it apart myself... But oh well. Always wanted to rebuild my sm465, and never got the chance. It may become too expensive to have it worth being swapped in. But would be fun to have on the shelf for some other little project.

 

[bix]

The mystery 4l60e in the truck will be there until it blows up most likely. I'm just hoarding future bad decisions at this point..

 

[bix]

Being back home from the ol honeymoon, and having the shop empty was a nice feeling to come back to ! When the tenant had moved in, i crammed my side with a lot of stuff, the truck also got incorperated into the pile.. also this build has kinda gotten all over the place like someone with ADD ... Cleaned up alot and got a yet another list made of things to tackle on the truck. Gonna have to sit down and amalgamate all of them into one solid list someday.. Got the drivers side door hung and gapped to where it looks good, and feels good. So much easier when the door is just a shell, Should i be compensating for any sag once the doors are fully assembled with glass and everything?











The current list is :

Finish seat brackets and weld in mounts.
Make and fit console brackets.
Re install carpet.
Learn how to reupholster the seats and purchase good hog ring pliers
Figure out why the brakes are soft
Sand and prime doors + reinstall all the guts, get weatherstripping for the vent windows and doors.

The interior has been eating up my time since i decided to go to buckets.. Once thats done i can then focus on body and engine bay stuff so shes ready to be driven come spring.



Also got the camper van ( 89 e150 ) parked inside, which is nice because the top windows leak , and the tarp always finds it way onto the ground. Been thinking of a LS swap in this also with a 4.8 or something. Only deterent is of course cost, but italso it has a fresh rebuilt tranny mated to it so id hate to eat that cost.. Not sure if the motor is just a turd or... its just a turd, but it could definitely use some help on hills.. Its got 160 K miles on it so it shouldnt be too bad but i dont know much about fords. Only real reason i snagged it up was because its NOT rusty, like most of the campers that have managed to sit around in the rain for the last 15 years before they became popular again.. In a perfect world a coyote motor would be ideal, but im not that delusional. It does have a ticky injector so Id like to replace that. Maybe its not delivering enough fuel to be as efficient as it could be. I also have been dreaming of 1 ton 4x4 swapping this thing with a factory ford e350 set up. Either way that engine will need some help.

First thing is to gut the now moldy, shabby carpentry work done to the inside. The use of space was very poorly thought out.

The sticker that says - Chopped by "buster" in 91 in a state that has been warn off..is still stuck to the inside fiberglass of the top. I havent done much homework on it, but i wonder if someone went and had it made like this, or not.



The wifes happy its inside and that im working on it, so lifes good!

 

[bix]

Oh and I also scored these sweet 1979 BC truck plates. The fact that they are white and green really sold it for me.
Found an old boy in the interior who had a massive collection of mint BC plates. Some even far back as 40-50s.

 

[mrk5]

I like those plates.

 

[bix]

I like those plates.

I lucked out because i was about to buy a standard blue and white set, until i told him what its going on, and then he asked if id prefer truck plates. I said sure, and they happened to be green and white. Lucky me.





In the crazy hunt down of door panels, I sorta ended up commiting to two pairs.. the one pair I posted earlier, and then also these. Not sure which ones Ill use or use yet. The doors still need to be painted and I'm gonna see about getting the wooden inserts out so I can paint the door panels also.

 

[max 02]

I lucked out because i was about to buy a standard blue and white set, until i told him what its going on, and then he asked if id prefer truck plates. I said sure, and they happened to be green and white. Lucky me.

View attachment 401455
View attachment 401456


In the crazy hunt down of door panels, I sorta ended up commiting to two pairs.. the one pair I posted earlier, and then also these. Not sure which ones Ill use or use yet. The doors still need to be painted and I'm gonna see about getting the wooden inserts out so I can paint the door panels also.

View attachment 401458View attachment 401459


View attachment 401460

Love the new plates! Rene’s grill too!

 

[bix]

Love the new plates! Rene’s grill too!

Thanks ! It's actually not renes grill. I stumbled upon two of these grilles from the guy who was selling me the gauge cluster face. They were like 50 bucks.. the other one I got, someone painted black and has no emblems... Rene has the proper set up with the black inserts in the headlights that came from factory.

Ordered up some seat warmers so now it's time to get this interior done!

Also found a set of orange marker lights/turn signals when I was cruising a junk yard too.

 

[bix]

Me at work waiting for the trucks to show up that our turd prime minister screwed over with new regulations...

the already fragile supply chain thanks you.....

 

[mrk5]

Me at work waiting for the trucks to show up that our turd prime minister screwed over with new regulations...

the already fragile supply chain thanks you..... View attachment 401524

You're giving me sweaty palms......

 

[6872xtc]

Me at work waiting for the trucks to show up that our turd prime minister screwed over with new regulations...

the already fragile supply chain thanks you..... View attachment 401524

I like this post because of what you do at work, and the view!
Not because of the crap that is slowing down progress.

 

[bix]

You're giving me sweaty palms......

no place for sweaty palms when youre swinging an 8 pound sledge 250 ft in the air, into things you cant drop lol.

I like this post because of what you do at work, and the view!
Not because of the crap that is slowing down progress.

i figured as much, who likes waiting on parts!?
a few photos from yesterday. One guy on the crew isnt the best help but he does end up taking good photos with his down time haha
Im now realizing when the wife wants to go watch sunset at the beach close by, im usually not that impressed after seeing it while on the end of a 250 ft boom, 200 ft up...

 

[Truckman4life]

I'm assuming you work on the cranes or do assembly disassembly and such? Pretty sweet! I don't mind heights but that might be kinda freaky. There's always a ton of cranes going up in the big SLC Valley. Never thought about the crews that work on them.

 

[bix]

I'm assuming you work on the cranes or do assembly disassembly and such? Pretty sweet! I don't mind heights but that might be kinda freaky. There's always a ton of cranes going up in the big SLC Valley. Never thought about the crews that work on them.

Yea, the heights actually end up being the least of your worries, you sort of don't realize what you're doing in terms of height due to safety and procedural risks. Kinda like riding a bike downhill, not much room for error.. I have my red seal as a mobile operator. I used to operate the cranes that built them, including the yellow one in the photos, I trained the current operater in it before I left for school as my replacement. I'm back working at the old company , and I'm mainly focused on everything that goes into putting these up and taking them down. Pieces needed, inspections and repairs, doing site evaluations for the big mobile to come in, plus erect them when the day comes. Me and another guy share the responsibility with the owner. They will have 21 tower cranes up by may this year...so there's no shortage of 60 hour work weeks. Also toying with the idea of doing an electrical apprenticeship since these towers have a ton of electrical...

The real "fun" is when you jack the top of the crane off, and physically slide and pin new sections in, make themselves taller when a mobile cant put it up as tall as it needs to go.




This was back in December. This city is currently going through the transformation of going vertical. They removed some laws and now people are going for it...

 

[bix]

One thing i do need to tackle before i prime these doors is put the side view mirror mounting holes in this door... Tried looking online for a template or measurements, and havent had much luck. Does anyone have any measurements and a bench mark to go off? I cut the braces out of a set of doors, but i think locating the exacxt area might come first.. If anyone knows a way of locating them, thatd be a huge help.






I am going to use the brown panels that are in better shape ( saves me from painting them ) and then switch the wooden inserts. I also have two mis matched arm rests but i think itll be good character. Not sure if i am going to use the bags or not. They are in such good condition.. but its just a spot for me to cram receipts into so i might sell them. I am going to try and clean up the mounting brackets inside the arm rests, one is cracked and will need to be fixed. I also need to track down a centre consol bracket, as there isnt much left of this one after letting it soak in Atf and rust remover.. I was hoping that i could find a general one at the hardware store and bend it to the same profile, to fit.

Im still cleaning up in the shop and stumbled upon this clock, I dont know why i didnt install it earlier, but im assuming because it sort of needs a refresh..

p.s i think i look pretty good in my wifes crocs

 

[Truckman4life]

Way cool.

 

[kennyw]

What mirrors are you using?

 

[bix]

@kennyw
This style, but factory white ones i got off a truck that was stored here for awhile.




I managed to track down the chunk of door i cut out of the same truck, the mirrors came from. Which was good enough to give me a good starting point for laying out the matching drivers door. Ill have to replicate these to the passenger side, but thatll be easy with a template. The missing link at the moment is where the S shaped bent braces go. I read in a thread online, that the longer one is for the passenger door.. but not much more info. It also appears there is quite a bit of different braces out there in square doors..






Ive looked and looked for the other door chunk but it was long enough ago that i dont even remember if i cut both out or not... so ill just make another one if need be. Heres the S bend pieces im not too sure about. Im holding both pieces at once, sort of looks like its together.






I also got the door panel inserts all removed and swapped over.





I also need to track down some of these well nuts? down before i drill any holes.

 

[kennyw]

This style mirror uses the rod style brace. I believe it runs from the circled hole to the mounting screw across from it holding the wing window in.





The sheetmetal brace you show is for the smaller sport mirrors only.