1971 chev tractor puller
 

so on monday Dec. 17, 2012, this truck came into the scrap yard that i work at. it was driven in so i knew that meant it has to run and drive. so i fired it up and its got a healthy 350 and a good th350 with a nice dual exhaust set up. i saved it from certain death so that i can breath some new life into it. my plan is to turn it into a pulling truck to use during the summer at our local track. the body has some rust issues but nothing that cant be fixed. for $450, how could i go wrong lol. well, heres the first of what will be many pictures to come.

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-18_110051.jpg

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

In!

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

Good job saving it. Looks like a good driver.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

Really nice looking truck, especially for $450. Good golly.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

you are one lucky dog. I guess it pays to work at a bone yard.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

Keep us updated. I haven't seen any other puller truck build threads. This should be pretty cool.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

thanks guys, its gonna be more of a low dollar puller build but it will be a fun project. im gonna swap the trans out for a th400, i have a 2001 3/4 chevy disc brake rear thats gonna go under it and its gonna get a set of my sbc zoomies i ran back when i was doing demo derbies. as of right now, its still sitting on the trailer lol.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

made a little bit of progress on the chev today. i hope to have the front clip off by the end of the weekend.

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...r/DSCN2445.jpg

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

Nice progress!

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-20_131524.jpg

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-20_131546.jpg
how the motor looked when they drove it in for scrap. all i have done to the motor was put an air cleaner on it.

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-20_160647.jpg
last picture of it before i started pulling the front apart.

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-23_101321.jpg
how it sits at the moment, slowly making some progress

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

here are the tires and the rear end im going to be using. its a 2001 3/4 ton chevy rear out of another truck that came into work and the tires are off of a man lift that was brought into work as well.
http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-20_161505.jpg

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-23_113633.jpg

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

Awesome. Don't see tires like that very much on this forum!

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

i picked up a pretty mint 71-72 grill shell from a good friend of mine for free:metal:
http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-19_190712.jpg

got some delete plates made from some aluminum road signs i picked up for $10. made one for the glove box, one for the radio, ashtray, heater controls, and ignition, made one to replace the gauge cluster, and made ones to cover the holes from removing the fuse block, heater fan, and heater box
http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-21_155305.jpg

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-21_155320.jpg

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-21_155331.jpg

i am going to be doing away with the brake booster and power steering set ups (already spoken for lol) im only going to have rear brakes after the rear end swap. does anybody on here know if a single line master cylinder would provide enough pressure to stop the rear tires only?

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

Would it be street legal with only rear brakes. Not in Fl. Just asking.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

Most pulling trucks are only built for the track not street driven.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

it will never see the road. there are going to several thing that would keep it from being street legal. its going to have headers through the hood, no front brakes, no lights, and so on.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

This is just too cool.

I can't wait to see what it becomes man!

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

just a mock up picture, took the brake booster off, got the power steering gear box swapped for the manual one, bolted the headers on and just had to see how it looked with the front end on it....

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-22_180259.jpg

sorry for the crappy cell phone pic lol

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

Sweeeeet!!!:metal:

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

This build looks awesome. Keep the pics coming!

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

got some more stuff done on the truck today. got a different master cylinder bolted up, pulled the calipers off of the front too, pulled the distributor and carb, got the motor mounts unbolted, load lever bolted up, motor is ready to get pulled out next weekend. ran the casting numbers off of the motor and it turns out its a 400 and not a 350 so the plan is to put it on a stand when it comes out and freshen it up. new gaskets, give it a nice go through, check for any cracks or signs of bad things coming. all else fails, i have a good 350 that can go into it. heres a pic

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...-27_181814.jpg

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

got the motor out of the truck tonight. started cleaning up the carport a little bit and it turned into pulling the motor out lol.

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps3fa6b68e.jpg

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...psc460fdc0.jpg
the motor on the right is the one out of it and the motor on the left is the "back up" motor, one of my old demo derby motors.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

So you're going to run a relatively mild motor for pulling? Not criticizing, I'm just not familiar with pulling.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

its all good man, the 400/400 combo is only going to be until i get a good big block to run in it. a buddy of mine pulled last year with his '72 3/4 ton 4x4 that only has a 350 and it did fairly well. if it works well enough to at least move the sled i'll be happy lol.

Re: 1971 chev tractor puller
 

shifter and gas tank showed up today...
http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...psb21c021a.jpg

http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps214bb479.jpg

its not much but its an update lol