sweetk30

well been hanging out here a bit getting info and making a few posts. figure time to post my build info.

started with basic rust belt truck.

cab rockers/ cab corners gone and also box sides rusted out past point of repair panels .

scored it for 725 and was just up the street from me. even come with vary solid replacement cab.

sweetk30

next was pull it in shop and strip it down to bare frame and see what i got to start with.

only reusing the guts from inside old cab as replacement was in electrical fire under dash and had to scrap it all. also had tan inside that i dont like but old truck cab was blue guts thats a whole lot better.

then frame was real clean for the year of truck uphere in the rust belt that hardly any of them are left at all.

sweetk30

once i got frame as a roller i was looking it over and degreasing it and found these few problems.

left/driver side rail twisted out at top about 5* off 90*.

then left/driver side rail pulled out to left about 3/4" off center.

then a major crack in the frame on left side just above the suspension crossmember . and not as comon in 2wd as the 4wd version but craick in steering box hole.

sweetk30

getting down to bissness gotthe steering box area all fixed up with part of a repair plate kit from a 4wd part.

drilled out the ends of the crack to keep it from growing and cut out the crack and then welded it all in place.

sweetk30

after the steering box area fix i went and ground out and drilled a hole in the crack in the rail above the crossmember / suspension mount all the way down to the crossmemeber . then welded it up and ground flat and set a big fish plate over it and then welded it in place and rebolted it all in place. figure this will hold up just fine.

sweetk30

then the major task at hand was pulling and twisting the rail back in place.

took and found were the impact of past accident got the rail twisted out of square as it bent in the rail area were the outer bumper suport bracket bolts up.

so i took a 4lb hammer and huge punch along with rosebud tip on oxy/act cutting tourch and got it glowing read and beat it all back in place real easy.

this got the rail back to a much closer to 90* than i figured it would as easy as it did.

sweetk30

next was the pull over of the rail back to the 27 3/4" spec that i found off my other trucks frames.

i did have a frame pulling post i could have used in the shop but wanted to keep it old school and show guys you dont need fancy tools to fix the bad stuff.

i was able to use some 5/8" threaded rod and few nuts and huge thick washers and brace the rail up top were i didnt want it to pull in and then fix the right side to the lift and keep it from pulling off square as i pulled the left in place .

all i did was turn the nut in on the left up to just over the 2" narrower than spec to alow for spring back . but before i let it go back i took the 4lb hammer smacked the frame in a few area's to help resore the frames memory of were it needed to be.

as you can see i got it on the money with basic hand tools and little playing with simple tools.

sweetk30

next i got on to the cab strip down and check over.

inside was basicly perfect after all guts out.

the cab corners needed a tiny bit of rework with simple repair panel patches.

only problem i had was repair panels were 1/8" to wide on the inside radius . this was fixed by cutting it off and rebending the lip and now you cant even tell it was fixed to match.

basic rust repair was simple this time .

sweetk30

next was time to truck it down and have it media blasted to know what i got and get ride of heavy rust on back of frame rails and the light rust on firewall were elcetrical fire in cab took place inside and out.

then i found a few more small repairs to do .

little on pass A piller top of winshield / few on bottom of winshield frame / and 1 on cowl just above blower motor area / and gas pedel area also .

sweetk30

next i repaired the tiny holes by plug welding them shut and then next was repair patches.

took the rest of the extra large rust repair cab corners i cut off and then made the patches needed to fix the cab.

just so happened almost every patch made worked from scrap left with little to no reshapeing needed . you dont getthat lucky everyday . . .

sweetk30

last few repairs made .

also deleted the ashtray as i dont smoke and or store crap in there.

and winshield repairs on bottom will get skimmed off with all metal and then primed and painted and last covered in rubber gasket with winshield.

sweetk30

next was lining up a new driveline. decided by the time i did same old sbc or bbc i wanted efi and tbi is nice but still work to swap in .

so for same price in end and little more work i just went 03 yukon 5.3/4l60e and full pull out.

4l60e was from 2wd truck and driveshaft for parts also.

both have under 100k miles. and inside of tranny pan is CLEAN .

sweetk30

then reading here and few other places i did the bypass steam hose mod to the h20 pump .

took the pump off as most of them by now if not leaking still need pump to block gaskets ( mine did ready to pop ) .

this let me drill n tap easy and flush out in sink to remove shavings.

sweetk30

next was time for test fit and dirty ding mounts for drop in to 2wd c/k truck .

i had room all the way 1" forward nothing hit so i then slid it back to stock and still fine. then i figured the reason i got these was shove it back as far as possible and get some weight backwards.

found about 1.25" back from stock was good fit no firewall mods needed and room for wires/ fuel lines / tranny dipstick tube ( needed tiny flat spot to clear firewall pinch weld ) to all clear just fine.

sweetk30

then with test fitment i reused the 4wd truck manifolds to see just how bad that fit or hit.

pass side fine just need thumb nail size clearence on top rail for ear to fit and not hit from down pipe flange.

driverside the down pipe flange fits in the middle of rail C section. no way for stock down pipe to bolt up and work at all.

but a thinking man can see a lot of room to still bolt up and fit if the pipe was bent a little diffrent.

sweetk30

so i cut off the pipe about 1" down and started to play and think .

bolted flange up and took pipe and spun it 180* end for end and were the cat was to be before cut off the 90* tuen made a perfect turn for me.

so i set it and marked 2 points of refrence and pulled it out and tack welded it.

retest fit found perfect fit / room to clear / o2 sensor bung in nice place no problems .

so i pulled it and welded it all up and rechecked again to be safe and found i hade a stupid simple cheep fit and lots of room.

only thing is you need driverside manifold off to set in or pull out the motor from the frame.

sweetk30

pass side down pipe clears just fine. other than tiny clearence on top lip of frame rail to clear manifold flanfe stud boss.

then i got a drain plug to remove the oil level sensor and make a oil temp sensor port for it.

drilled / tapped / over drilled 1/2 way to make room for oil to contact sensor probe.

sweetk30

next back to the body i pulled the box in and lifted it up on the forktruck and figured this bad if i replaced the box sides with bolt on and labor/my time it would be more than just getting a southern takeoff box.

so i checked local craigslist ad's and found a guy 2hr away from me that had a 2 tank option shortbed for sale.

went and picked it up and has 1 small rust area pass side front wheel arch at bottom easy patch panel will fix .

got it for 800 bucks.

sweetk30

then i decided to drop the old girl 2.5" front with drop spindles .

and the rear i had a set of bolt in drop shackles . but after putting them in place and test fitting the box i found the drop shackles to long/tall and major mods would be needed to to clear them in there range of motion.

so i ordered some 1" longer shackles 5" over the stock 4" but a lot less than the bolt in drop ones of 7" . this will get me 1/2" drop over stock as you get 1/2 the drop/lift of the length diffrence.

then next i got my old brain in gear again and decided to remove the front hangers and fill in the holes on the frame. then reset the hangers 2" higher over stock and redrill some new holes and bolt them up .

this was cleaned up by cutting off the top of the hangers to keep it clean / stockish looking and not hit the bed floor.

this will net me 2.5" of drop in the rear that i think will be just about perfect.

fyi the stock rivit holes are between 3/8th inch and 7/16th inch dia. so best to drill out to 7/16" and then use grade 8 bolts and hardened washers with metel crimp nuts to lock it all in place. and get bolts that have a smooth shoulder on them for the frame and hanger section so the threads dont flatten out and alow movment.

sweetk30

then striped down the front end and ditched the upper rusty control arms and got replecments from friend in texas scrapping a 2wd burban. he also hooked me up with all swaybar parts as mine were mia from sometime ago.

all new energy suspension bushings / mounts / enegine mounts and body mounts in whole vehicle will be used. nice smooth ride / better handling and cheeper than stock o.e style rubber replacemnet.

the energy suspension kit is basicly 1 stop shoping for all bushings and mounts. just had to order the engine mounts seperate.