$3,000 driver build
 

It's an honor to be amongst you guys, my truck wouldn't be where it's at today if not for this site and it's members. Look at my post count, that's because every time I needed a little insight or help I was able to find exactly what I needed with the search bar, no need to clutter the board up with questions that have already been answered, twice!!! I've been lurking since about 2008 but I lost my password and couldn't recover it so I re-registered early this year.

Also, thanks to cubber, his truck inspired me so I had to bug him with a few PM's . Stole his wheels too cause I like the look.

Anyway, the story goes like this. I told my buddy I wanted a 67-72, but it had to be a swb. There's plenty of long beds around here, but that's just not my style. A week later he had a lead on an old friend of his, with a 1972 2WD CST10 short bed sitting on his property. The owners (two good old boys) putted around the farm in it up until a few years ago, till it stopped running and they parked it. They accused the starter, along with the ignition switch. Factory 307ci with a 4-speed tranny. Odometer read 47,000 miles. The truck was complete and other than rotted out cab corners the body was in great shape. They wanted $500 for it. I had it on the trailer and heading to my place before they had a chance to change their minds, lol.

Here it is last winter after I brought it home and pulled the bed off:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...nowcovered.jpg

The goal is to make a driver out of it, nothing fancy, just something I can cruise around daily with my kids. My requirements were pretty simple, I just want it to be low and run good. My kids named it Gumby after I showed them the show, (they're 7 and 8 so they didn't have a clue who Gumby was lolol) I know there's another Gumby on the forum so for the sake of argument we'll call her Grumpy; I'll take a pic of where that came from.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

From what I can see, It looks like you have a nice start. I'll follow along. :)

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Thanks BigDaddy, good to have you.

Here's where I got Grumpy from:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...C10/grumpy.jpg

Who knows how long that sticker has been there.

I have pics of when I brought it home NOT covered in a foot of snow, lol. I'll track those down.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Looks like a steal! How about some more pics?

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

I thought so too, thanks BB72! I'm pretty sure the pics from early on before tearing into it are on my old PC, in storage. I'm gonna run over there and grab it.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Wait, did I read that correct? $500? $500? For a swb fleet. $500. She's a beauty... And I hate you. I paid waaaaay more for mine and towed it home.


All kidding aside can't wait to see what she becomes!!

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Hey what's up Rob, yeah you heard right, five hundo. I'm sure them good old boys bought a TON of beer that night lolol, win/win for both parties.

I went and got my other PC out of storage, NO PICS. They must be on my laptop, that stopped working. Gotta take the hard drive in and hopefully salvage the photos, and porn haha. Anyway here's a few more that I do have with me.

Bought some Summit 16"s:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...mmitwheels.jpg

I got 16"s cause my pops had a set of 235/65/16's off his 02 caddy just collecting dust, still with good tread. Got em mounted, $10 a tire:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...resmounted.jpg

And here's a few pics before I started wiping the dust off:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...330_195735.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...330_195744.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...330_195758.jpg

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Subscribed. ....I just paid 500 for a parts truck. Man, did you luck out

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

That looks like a great start from what I see inside the cab!

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Nice! I'll be there tonight to pick it up and I'll double your money!

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

HAHA Rob at this point I hope I'd be able to get more than double what I paid for it! But I agree when I first got it home I coulda flipped it for double without doing anything to it, no doubt.

And thanks Dale, good to have you I agree.

Yeah BigDaddy it's dusty, but complete and unmolested.

More pics with new wheels and no springs, for inspiration haha. All I was doing at this point was starting to spin the wheels in my head:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../driveway1.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../driveway2.jpg

And next to my 02:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...bothtrucks.jpg

I think it would have been a better pic if I closed the hood all the way, oh well.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

If that's the view from your garage I'm jealous. Gonna be a cool driver, I'll follow along.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Sweet

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Wow, looks nice! The more I see what some of you guys find, the moreI feel like I got ripped off on my 72

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Don't be despondent - I guarantee thats wayyyyy outside the norm.

$500 is unreal.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Whats the BS on those 16" rims? I tried to look them up... 4" bs?

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Thanks Scott good to have you, your truck is beyond sweet. That was at my last house I was renting, I moved out earlier this year. That place was perfect I wish I could have bought it but it wasn't in the cards.

Hey Bill, Steve is right I got lucky for sure. I was in the right place at the right time with the right guys selling a truck. Steve your truck "short changed" is sick man, I was just reading the build thread last night.

BigDaddy yes they are 4" BS, here's a link to them:

http://www.summitracing.com/nv/parts...6873/overview/

Also, I decided at some point I don't want to mess with a 40 year old 2-barrel carb, OR a points distributor so my plan was to swap a 4-barrel intake, carb, and HEI on it. I go and pull the stock intake and look what I see:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...rtheintake.jpg

I'd say it's a pretty good bet at this point that the 47K on the odometer is legit, after running the numbers on the block and confirming this is the 307 that came in the truck in 72. SCORE!!! This engine looks damn near new!!!

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Looks like a great builder. Glad for you.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Thanks dude.

A front end pic for you guys:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...0/frontend.jpg

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

That has to be the steal of the decade. If (and it looks like it is based on the top of the motor) a 47k truck the bed is worth more than you paid for the whole thing. How is the inside of the bed? Looks like a great start.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

!!! LOL, yeah, that's more like how I sounded when I first got it. Actually, I was telling family and friends the same thing about the bed, that I could sell just that for what I paid for the truck. I will snap some pics of inside the bed today for you.

You probably wont be too thrilled with what I did........

Then I bought some goods for the air ride:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../airsupply.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...l/C10/bags.jpg

3 gallon tank: $40
Viair 444c: $140ish
Pair of cheap ass bags for the rear: $50 I think

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Im in for the ride

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Yeah buddy!!!

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Woot! Air Ride! Keep it up bud, you will have a sharp ride before you know it

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Fantastic looking truck, and for $500...what a steal! I paid WAY more than that for my most recent one and had to tow it home.

I'm in to see where Grumby goes :metal:

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

YAYA!!! Thanks guys. More pics coming.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Hey, man that truck looks great, way better start than mine.. but I would suggest that you pull the timing cover off that 307 while you've got the intake off and inspect the cam timing gear. I think most of those came with nylon 'tooth covers' on the gear, and over the years would break apart and bits of it fall off into the oil pan. Not usually an issue for the oil pickup, but it made the timing chain slack and basically ran like crap, and was possible to jump time.

I wasn't aware of this until I got into the 307 on my Chevelle wagon and an 'old timer' said it was a common occurrence on these engines.

Looking forward to your build, good luck with it.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Highly interested in what you plan on doing with the air ride. I want to bag mine and use little larry's manual valves, but not sure what bags or compressor to run or what size tank I will need. Your truck is going to look real nice sitting low on those wheels.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Airlift dominators are the best for your money and Viair compressors. As far as tank size, it all depends on how much you want to play... sorry to thread jack.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Grumby, I LIKE that! I think you just named her!

Zeke thanks for the advice. I'm far past that at this point, I would have done that had I known, but I didn't at the time. and got lucky............

hanly stay tuned, I will be posting more details soon. BigDaddy is correct on everything he just said, Dominators can be had by the pair for cheap, I will get them when I blow one of these china bags. I've had no problem with this Viair so far and I don't anticipate any. And my 3 gallon tank lifts the rear of the truck 3-4 times before it's about empty. The compressor turns on after the first lift, (150/180 switch) A 5 gallon would have been ideal I think, but I like that I was able to mount it and the compressor on one side of my frame rail. Keep in mind this is ONLY rear bags, front is static dropped.

Time to cut the frame for the notches, I used a Harbor Freight $20 grinder with a bunch of cutoff wheels:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ttingnotch.jpg

Got the notches in, drilled some holes, boy that was fun on my back, hot shavings down the neck and face:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../C10/holes.jpg

Bought 2" blocks and U-bolts from Boris/Way2lo2. It worked out to where the axle bottoms out on the notches before the bags bottom out, cool:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...sandbagsin.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...andbagsin2.jpg

Next up will be shock mounts out of 2" square tubing and a custom made panhard/tracbar machined by yours truly.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

I just combined the kids name, Gumby, and the sticker name, grumpy. It was actually a typo and I thought it was cool. :lol:

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

It's really cool!!! Grumby it is. I told the kids just now, the boy looked at me funny at first then said yeah he likes it. haha

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

^^^ Cool. Well, I hafta follow along now. :D

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Thanks for hangin out Ed!

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Great looking project! Keep the progress coming :chevy:

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Will do kind sir, thank you! Your truck is beautiful.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Very nice looking project.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Thanks Mike! I just scrolled through your truck pictures, VERY nice documentation and sweet truck.

Here's my bed for those who asked:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...al/C10/bed.jpg

That's my new radiator in there.

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

Mike, the more pictures I see of your truck...the more I'm stunned. Looks like a super acquisition.

Go Grumby :metal:

Re: $3,000 driver build
 

It's funny cause I felt the same way, when I got it. I just couldn't believe the deal I got. But as time went on, it slowly dwindled a bit and I had forgotten how good of a deal it really was. You guys are reminding me of the total SCORE I found!

I guess this is a good time to also throw out the fact that when I bought it, I was in a bad spot, and broke. I actually made the guy payments!!!!!!! LOLOL, it took me about a month to pay him off. Deal of the century? I think so.