Trucky McTruckface
Newbie
Hello,
I've owned this truck for around 6 years but have not put many miles on it. I've mostly used it for picking up hay and feed plus the occasional gravel load. it has a 14FF, Dana 60f, TH400 and a 327 sbc.
as previously stated I haven't driven the truck much more than 1000 miles since I've owned it. I just wrapped up a full remodel on my house, and now I need another project. I have it pretty well torn down. I removed the rear leaf pack to inspect, paint and install new bushings. I pulled the brake lines and cables. I removed factory exhaust brackets to clean up the frame. I've sanded most of the chassis to paint it with epoxy DTM primer and hi-performance enamel. the cab is stripped, I think I'm going with lizard skin on the interior. I'm replacing both tanks with new E85 proof tanks and nicopp lines. I went with oem 87 saddle tanks, sending units and ep381 in-tank fuel pumps. I drained and filled both differentials using lubelocker gaskets. that covers everything under the bed besides 14ff pinion seal. I'll likely take care of that if/when I need to replace driveshaft. for now, it's not leaking at all.
now I'm getting to the more fun stuff. I started pulling stuff from the engine bay a couple days ago. I pulled the radiator and fan. I plan on reusing the stock diesel radiator as it is a beast and looks pretty good. I'm using dual electric fans that will be triggered by my sniper efi system. once I'm finished pulling the core support and 327 out, I'll get to repainting the front half of the chassis and inner body work of the engine bay.
the replacement engine is very simple. I wanted something with decent torque, reliability and simplicity to tune. I wanted to go zero mile on everything. I thought going the 12v cummins route, but I already have a couple diesel trucks and I wanted to keep this thing lighter in the front. not to mention when I go camping, I take my dirt bike and/or sxs and it's nice to only worry about a single type of fuel for the extended trips. I wanted to avoid a carburetor due to constant elevation changes. I often go riding at sea level one weekend and drive up to 10,000 plus feet the next.
I decided on a L31-R from Chevrolet. its just a vortec era 350 with 4 bolt mains from 1996-2000 3/4 and 1 ton vans/trucks. I purchased a Holley sniper efi, weiand street warrior intake with a 1/2 throttle spacer between. I also got the Holley dual sync distributor. if you guys haven't looked into these two items, the amount of stuff you can control and program with the system is awesome. you can trigger your dual fans, TH400 kickdown, fuel system, automatically control ignition and fuel for nitrous, change any parameter of your engine with the tap of a screen. along with many other things. I wanted to keep it clean under the hood, so having all that wrapped up into one package was nice. it's basically a stand alone ecu for your truck. when the warranty is up on the motor I plan on a cam, installing threaded rocker studs and reworking the heads. other than that, I'm looking into a centrifugal super charger or dry NOS system just for fun. on the exhaust side I got some hedman black maxx ceramic coated long tube headers, into a 2.5" x pipe and dual stainless steel magna flows.
I'm looking at different locker or lsd options for the dana 60 front. I'd also like to rebuild the king pin at some point, although it looks and feels tight. I'll stick to the th400 and np208 for now. I'm looking for a good 4l80e to swap into it that I'll control with a microsquirt tcm. I'll figure out what to do with the transfer case when that happens.
I'll be sticking with the 33" tire size that's on the truck now, as they fit stock with no lift. these 1ton cucv chassis can fit 35's without a lift and not any rubbing, but I don't need anything bigger other than looking cool. I may lift the truck in the future, but as of now I like it the way it is. how extreme I'll get wheeling is limited by my fear of body damage. I'd like to weld up some custom 2x4 sliders I can French into the bottom seam of the rockers and bed someday. I'd like them to flush into the bodywork so they aren't noticeable.
I'd like to repaint the whole truck soon, but it looks decent now. on the interior, the PO installed leather power seats from a newer Tahoe that are fully functioning, but I'd like to get new, new ones with integrated seat belts as my factory seatbelts don't lock when jerked on anymore. I plan to mount the sniper efi touchscreen where the radio used to live and just use a nice bluetooth stereo between the two seats. I'm rebuilding custom door panels when the mechanical stuff is finished. I planned on removing the plastic dash trim strip and the corresponding upper trim strips on the door panels and replacing with a strip of steel the same size and shape(I'll have to custom bend the strip on the dash). from there, I want to pay an engraver to do a custom engraving job on the steel like they do on trick shotguns and revolvers. I was thinking a cali motif that starts with an ocean scene on one door panel and transitions do a high desert on the dash strip to a Sierra Nevada alpine lake on the remaining door strip. but of course integrate the chevy bowtie into each piece. I don't have any tattoos, so this will be my "canvas" to do something cool and important in my life. I also want to build a custom "hidden safe" under the bed rails, flush with the inner lip of the bedrail to hide/store long guns. I'm tired of hitting my head on the gun rack and some people in CA start screaming if you have your long gun stored in it's proper place in the rack. someone told me it might even be illegal to "display" them in public now anyway, but I didn't hear anything about that during my CCW permitting. best not to tempt the thieves anyway.
sounds like a lot work, but I've already come very far since I started tearing it down after work about a month ago. when complete, the power plant will be as modern and never require rejetting, the frame and suspension will all be repainted with modern epoxy paints and I hopefully just need to change the oil and put gas in it like a modern vehicle. only I like to tinker, so I'm sure I'll still be messing with it.
I tried posting pics, but not sure if I can on a basic membership. maybe someone can tell me how this is done.
I've owned this truck for around 6 years but have not put many miles on it. I've mostly used it for picking up hay and feed plus the occasional gravel load. it has a 14FF, Dana 60f, TH400 and a 327 sbc.
as previously stated I haven't driven the truck much more than 1000 miles since I've owned it. I just wrapped up a full remodel on my house, and now I need another project. I have it pretty well torn down. I removed the rear leaf pack to inspect, paint and install new bushings. I pulled the brake lines and cables. I removed factory exhaust brackets to clean up the frame. I've sanded most of the chassis to paint it with epoxy DTM primer and hi-performance enamel. the cab is stripped, I think I'm going with lizard skin on the interior. I'm replacing both tanks with new E85 proof tanks and nicopp lines. I went with oem 87 saddle tanks, sending units and ep381 in-tank fuel pumps. I drained and filled both differentials using lubelocker gaskets. that covers everything under the bed besides 14ff pinion seal. I'll likely take care of that if/when I need to replace driveshaft. for now, it's not leaking at all.
now I'm getting to the more fun stuff. I started pulling stuff from the engine bay a couple days ago. I pulled the radiator and fan. I plan on reusing the stock diesel radiator as it is a beast and looks pretty good. I'm using dual electric fans that will be triggered by my sniper efi system. once I'm finished pulling the core support and 327 out, I'll get to repainting the front half of the chassis and inner body work of the engine bay.
the replacement engine is very simple. I wanted something with decent torque, reliability and simplicity to tune. I wanted to go zero mile on everything. I thought going the 12v cummins route, but I already have a couple diesel trucks and I wanted to keep this thing lighter in the front. not to mention when I go camping, I take my dirt bike and/or sxs and it's nice to only worry about a single type of fuel for the extended trips. I wanted to avoid a carburetor due to constant elevation changes. I often go riding at sea level one weekend and drive up to 10,000 plus feet the next.
I decided on a L31-R from Chevrolet. its just a vortec era 350 with 4 bolt mains from 1996-2000 3/4 and 1 ton vans/trucks. I purchased a Holley sniper efi, weiand street warrior intake with a 1/2 throttle spacer between. I also got the Holley dual sync distributor. if you guys haven't looked into these two items, the amount of stuff you can control and program with the system is awesome. you can trigger your dual fans, TH400 kickdown, fuel system, automatically control ignition and fuel for nitrous, change any parameter of your engine with the tap of a screen. along with many other things. I wanted to keep it clean under the hood, so having all that wrapped up into one package was nice. it's basically a stand alone ecu for your truck. when the warranty is up on the motor I plan on a cam, installing threaded rocker studs and reworking the heads. other than that, I'm looking into a centrifugal super charger or dry NOS system just for fun. on the exhaust side I got some hedman black maxx ceramic coated long tube headers, into a 2.5" x pipe and dual stainless steel magna flows.
I'm looking at different locker or lsd options for the dana 60 front. I'd also like to rebuild the king pin at some point, although it looks and feels tight. I'll stick to the th400 and np208 for now. I'm looking for a good 4l80e to swap into it that I'll control with a microsquirt tcm. I'll figure out what to do with the transfer case when that happens.
I'll be sticking with the 33" tire size that's on the truck now, as they fit stock with no lift. these 1ton cucv chassis can fit 35's without a lift and not any rubbing, but I don't need anything bigger other than looking cool. I may lift the truck in the future, but as of now I like it the way it is. how extreme I'll get wheeling is limited by my fear of body damage. I'd like to weld up some custom 2x4 sliders I can French into the bottom seam of the rockers and bed someday. I'd like them to flush into the bodywork so they aren't noticeable.
I'd like to repaint the whole truck soon, but it looks decent now. on the interior, the PO installed leather power seats from a newer Tahoe that are fully functioning, but I'd like to get new, new ones with integrated seat belts as my factory seatbelts don't lock when jerked on anymore. I plan to mount the sniper efi touchscreen where the radio used to live and just use a nice bluetooth stereo between the two seats. I'm rebuilding custom door panels when the mechanical stuff is finished. I planned on removing the plastic dash trim strip and the corresponding upper trim strips on the door panels and replacing with a strip of steel the same size and shape(I'll have to custom bend the strip on the dash). from there, I want to pay an engraver to do a custom engraving job on the steel like they do on trick shotguns and revolvers. I was thinking a cali motif that starts with an ocean scene on one door panel and transitions do a high desert on the dash strip to a Sierra Nevada alpine lake on the remaining door strip. but of course integrate the chevy bowtie into each piece. I don't have any tattoos, so this will be my "canvas" to do something cool and important in my life. I also want to build a custom "hidden safe" under the bed rails, flush with the inner lip of the bedrail to hide/store long guns. I'm tired of hitting my head on the gun rack and some people in CA start screaming if you have your long gun stored in it's proper place in the rack. someone told me it might even be illegal to "display" them in public now anyway, but I didn't hear anything about that during my CCW permitting. best not to tempt the thieves anyway.
sounds like a lot work, but I've already come very far since I started tearing it down after work about a month ago. when complete, the power plant will be as modern and never require rejetting, the frame and suspension will all be repainted with modern epoxy paints and I hopefully just need to change the oil and put gas in it like a modern vehicle. only I like to tinker, so I'm sure I'll still be messing with it.
I tried posting pics, but not sure if I can on a basic membership. maybe someone can tell me how this is done.
