Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Just recently bought this truck from a friend, and it is registered as a 72 gmc. He threw in some grille and headlight chrome with the purchace and put a fender on the drivers side that had been smucked. The replacement fender isn't the same as what he took off. The fender he put on matches the chrome trim that I have but not the other fender that was un-damaged. Did someone put chevy fenders on this thing at one time? I will post as many photos as I can. pls help and thx.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

A couple more shots and a rad question. My old rad packed it in and I had this brand new 3 row from a 67 beaumont (malibu). Although it isn't as wide, it will go in with a couple tweaks. The original fan shroud is a maybe, most likely not. Any thoughts? The rad drain is located on the bottom of the rad pass. side, so that is why it is tilted. Have to drill a 2" access hole if I can use it. Apparently the 3 row rad I have, cooled the BBC's in those cars?

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

67 chevy fenders= 67 gmc fenders
68 chevy fenders = 68 72 gmc fenders
69 72 chevy fenders = nothing in gmc

you have a 68 72 gmc/68 chevy fender on the passenger and a 69 72 chevy fender on the drivers side

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Thank you 67! Ok, the chrome I have in the truck bed is also chevy?

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

your welcome the chrome you have is for gmc so all you need to do is get a new 68 chevy or 68 72 gmc driver fender and your set

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Thanks again. More swapping and trading I guess.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Great info there Rick....nice follow-up to help out a new member!!!:D

Glennerd....:welcome2: to the boards from NC:D

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Welcome to the board nice looking truck..

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

HUGE thanks again, Rick! Found the correct fender, glovebox and a free vintage roadside spotlight, all for $40. It's great to have questions answered by people who know thier stuff!

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

I'm glad you scored the parts, but your title was "Olds powered 72 GMC" and you didn't tell us anything about your power plant. This Rocket lover wants to hear details.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Pardon me folks. Sadly I don't have much great news about the engine. From my understanding, the motor only has about 15,000 miles on it after a complete rebuild "BUT" it's a 1977 350 block. First year of the less desired, low nickle content, lightened main support blah blah. The engine is cammed a fair bit, but I have no specs on it. Just purchased a billet HEI dist. last week (truck now has points) and a week before I bought it the previous owner put in a streetfire multi spark w/rev limiter, msd wires, flamethrower coil (that I don't need now), new exhaust from collectors back w/magnaflow mufflers and new rotors/drums and brakes. It sounds great and it will fry the tires right off from a stand still all day long. I bought the truck last year and drove it for an hour before the tranny emptied out on me. It has been parked since. Now it has to be finished properly. I have a couple photos and one is of the driver's motor mount. If you look close, you can see that the install expert collapsed the front header tube to make room around the mount. I have a new 350 tranny so I'm gonna pull the headers to make some room for the swap, pull the dent and cut the mount a bit where it needs it.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Kinda screwed up on the photos. When I washed the motor, most of the "fresh paint" came off. Any suggestions on prep and paint to clean it up a bit? Not very familiar with the newwer products.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

The trim you have is mis-matched. The upper grille trim is for 69-72 to match the hood you have. The fender trim in the photo is driver side for 67-68. The 69-72 GMC's had wider trim on the fenders to match the upper grille piece.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1299804156

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

I need to change out the tranny so the headers came out of the way and got media blasted and repaired ( kind of a hack job on the driver's header. Decided to clean and paint. GM blue is the correct engine colour, but I bought it thinking it was a rocket. So it's gold now! Ha ha! It's kinda over the top I think, but it's done.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

My Oldsy loved me.....mid 90's I ran a 461 in my longhorn. .030 over,TRW pistons, polished & peened rods,arp bolts....a hard sot after forged crank, nice balance job, nice street/strip Engle cam,Torker intake/800 DP holley,big valve C casting heads(all the blend work done by a fat man with a beard;)) the old truck ran a set of hedmans(a body, & the rails still wear the scars from the fit on the tubes.She ran a hy volume pump, main restrictors,& all the chit that Mondello reccomended......Man did that lill bioch run! 400 turbo/24-2500 stall, 3.40 gears......at 125mph, the ? was always, will it ever quit pulling! Dont ever underestimate an Olds, but if you start building,be ready to lay some coin down;)crazyL

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Don't worry about the color man. It's still a Rocket.
Ought to do this to mine. I have a few Olds motors laying around.
Nothing much better for good cheap torque. :metal:

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Sweet truck, gotta love them olds motors

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Thank you very much for the compliments, guys! To be quite honest, I have had some regrets about the purchase. Not when I initially bought it, but more after I started going through it and realizing how much was not up to par. The interest people have shown in my truck (I want to call it a project) has changed the way I am looking at this now. I bought a pair of chrome valve covers that say rocket on them for a dozen beer (actually drank 6 of them myself before I loaded them in my truck). Looking for a better idea on the cheap. Sand and paint the covers I have now and find decals? Not sure. Ideas with cheap in mind would be cool.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Some more recent pics of my?

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

And a couple more.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

More pics to come. Keep finding everything needs to be re-done as it was never done correctly to begin with.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Do yourself a favor and trashcan that downflow radiator, put a stock crossflow back in the truck. The downflow radiators are nowhere near as efficent as the crossflows that these truck came with, there is a reason that just about every manufacture went to crossflows. Besides the way that downflow is in there (big gaps at the sides) the air will just go around and not through the core. Use a heavy duty cooling with A/C Radiator for a SBC including the fan shroud (the fan are always pretty close even though it is a Olds). Put a good clutch fan on it too.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Do you have any good shots of the motor mounts? I have a 403 Olds out of a Trans Am that I have been thinking of using. I have been wondering how to make the mounts.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Lost the rad and had the old one re-cored. Went with a TCI tranny cooler to lighten the load on the rad. I haven't got my camera right now, but tonight I will post some photos of the motor mounts. I bought the truck with the motor in it, but as you can see I had to modify the drivers mount to allow clearance for the #1 primary tube. The pass. header was not modified but the driver's side was and I'm not sure what the were off of to begin with.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

I have an Olds 455ci in my '67 Burb and if I wasn't at work I'd shot to pictures of it. The one thing I don't like about mine is the exhaust manifolds (no headers) on one side of the frame rails almost touch them.

My engine has an Elebrock Torker II intake and Holley 800DP, other than that I have no clue. Even though it sounds like it might have a cam at low idle.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

I was contemplating the 455 at some point in the future, if all goes well with this 350. I was told that both motors share the same mounts and exhaust and that the 455 would just hook right up (transmission would need to be changed out and driveshaft shortened). Are the two frames different up front or is the 455 just that much wider?

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

It's been a few years since I swapped a 455 in place of a 350 Olds, but if I remember right, I was able to use the same mounts, accessory brackets, and nearly everything. You'll need the flex plate from the 455, but you shouldn't have to shorten the driveshaft or move the motor mounts. The 350 mounts will make the engine sit about an inch higher than the 455 mounts, but in our trucks that shouldn't be a problem. You'll also need new accessory drive belts, since they'll have to reach farther.

That's all I can remember.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Reason for driveshaft was I figured the turbo 350 would have to go for the 400. Not sure about the length difference.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

I think you could use the TH350 behind your 455, as long as the motor's not really built. The TH350 is really pretty solid. I've heard of them working with over 750 hp with some modifications.

I'm pretty sure you would have to shorten the driveshaft if you put in a TH400.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

I believe, if memory serves my right, that the 455 has a taller deck.The heads will "fit" each other.I wonder for mounts could you not use the early 80's olds diesel mounts to put these in our trucks? Had a few cutlass' in the past and I think these torque monters would be the ticket in a truck.They are very durable too,my first car was a 75 olds with a 350 all original it had 280000 miles on it when I stopped driving it.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Motor mount pics. I didn't mount the engine, I bought it this way. lol

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

The diesel mounts are a perfect fit for the 455, if they are from the 5.7 diesel. I don't know about other diesels.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

My truck had (still has) the drivers side fender like yours. I assume that the holes in mine were for the Chevy trim. I just got the GMC edge moldings and it worked perfect. You can't even tell that it is a different fender.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

I managed to wrangle up a new (used and better)fender that matches the pass. side. Pass. side just needs 3 holes drilled in it and it will take my new trim. Parts aren't as plentiful up here. WAY more expensive to find good quality and just plain rare. Reproduction parts are a hit and miss. Replace too many panels and you have $6000 into a truck worth $3000. The market up here is flooded with crap parts that aren't worth using.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Thanks for the pictures and the info on the motor mounts. I am suprised to see so many guys running a rocket. I am currently running the Olds 403 in my 47 Chevy Aerosedan but can't keep the temps down. Thought that it would be a better match in the GMC with a bigger radiator and more air flow.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

A few pics of my Ford Thunderbolt inspired air intake in its early fab stages.

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More pics.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

This reminds me of tha 70 lwb my pop's drop a olds 350 in..that thing would scoot.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

I'm feeling pretty lucky to own one of these trucks. Sure enjoying going through the old thing. VERY poorly put together, but I feel much more aware of what I will be driving now. Damn fun! Just a photo of my re-furbished heater box.

Re: Olds powered 72 GMC
 

Even the patio is crowded with parts. No better time to clean up the inners than now. Gotta love our west coast weather.