Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

So here begins the story of my great grandfathers legacy, left behind on the other side of the family for the past 40 years as a so and so driven truck on their farm. Joe (great grandpa) was a good ole boy here on the west coast living the farmers life raising his family as all others were. The family had many GM vehicles through the years leading to a sale of the more than reliable 1953 Chevy pickup they used on the farm for the much more conventional 73 c/10 cheyenne he purchased shown shortly after. Boasting better mileage, quieter cabin, and much more fishing and camping trip friendly with the added wooden frame camper shell, she was ahead of her time for the year, at least for the good ole boy enjoying his later years. Spending his weekends taking my father out to the rivers and lakes to fish or camping and being sure to stir the pot and pull over after being a block away from home and letting my father learn how to drive to their next adventure at the age of 12/13 fully capable and completely fearful while flying down the freeways on occasion. That sure did rile up grandma and great grandma more than well enough I'm sure anyone could agree. Sadly that December of 73' Joe passed on leaving behind the truck, wonderful memories, and heavy hearts.

Supposing that eventually when he turned 16 the truck would be his, my father bided his time filling in on the farm for his aunt and uncle and coveting the truck as he went, but when the time came the truck stayed and it continued on for the 41 years after arriving in the family to aide in hauling, construction work, and occasional small trips. So begins the return of the truck that started it all for my father as he now, at the experienced age of 54, fully reunites with the truck of his boyhood dreams forever more. Through years of daily wear and tear and missed maintenance days and fender benders for body shops to poorly repair the truck finally sat for near seven years of recent before we were able to attempt reviving it with the blessing of some fossil fuel, new battery, and a little "think I can" she roared to life leaving smiles all round. Boy was she rough and on her last leg though. So begins the countless sleepless night of what to do on fixing her up. :uhmk:


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Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

I love it, and thanks for sharing the link on the FB page. Wish more people did.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Cool truck!

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Thanks Ronzo I never understood why we don't see more links to all the true builds on this site. It's a shame. More to come from this truck you'll love the engine detail.

Thanks for swinging through 77k10Sikverado I appreciate it!

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Homebound she came sitting in the street for a bit before getting a free weekend to finally tear into it all, after removing the camper and moving it on to another life with another local farm truck, we dive head first into the engine bay. Ridding ourselves and getting plenty of pictures of the previous setup of vacuum lines and oil pools galore we began seeing the worst, bent pushrods, sludge to no end and disappointment. So out she goes along with countless other operating systems such as worn starter, leaking radiator, and decrepit points distributor (which I chucked in an upcoming video)
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Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Cool story, Will be following! Love the 73 front special with that color 2 tone!

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Green and white have always ran in the family whether it be by previous vehicles or last name so we can definitely dig it thanks for joining with us on our journey Hankster!

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No problem! Thank you for sharing.

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Here comes all of the cleaning.. Oh joyous hard scrubbing minutes, elbow greasin hours, and detail days worth of time. But boy is it all worth it in the end.


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Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Ive also had trailer tires do that for seemingly no good reason

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Chuckmc8 so have we but that's simply from the weight of the trailer sitting on them constantly during the time they aren't being used. We've had many travel trailers through the years and the best way to store them is to lift the whole trailer off the ground at that point. We planned on new wheels and tires for this ride and the time being anyway.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

:metal:nice truck body looks in really good shape

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Very clean indeed, aside from the repaired damage to the passenger side bed and cab corner she's fairly straight, no big dings though it has the Normal battery rot in the fender cup rom the other side of the family leaving it in the tray and the acid seeping out. Nothing a bit of body work and fab can't fix. Here's a shot of the inside of the bed which is flawless from my great uncle leaving exact size plywood on the floor. Thanks for checking it out Wrecked1982

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Nice truck and great story. That engine looks like my first engine did, "Pennzoil". LOL Can't wait to see how it comes out.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

The other side of the family were firm believers in "tractor mechanics can fix it all" and "never change your engine oil!" :haha: but I believe you are right sure looks like a pen soil job to me as well. Thanks for checking it out mattcrp1

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Nice truck!

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Looking good. I'm in

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I'm in. this should be another good build.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Lsx408- appreciate it brotha!

Shawno72- welcome to the square side :haha:

Palf70step- glad to see you joined in the watch as well. She'll be a fun ride.

Got a ton to update still and even a huge step forward this Saturday to include through this week. Shall be fun for now and then more wait for parts. I'll try to keep it as interesting as possible for everyone but we all know builds hit speed bumps haha.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

That bed looks amazing!

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That truck is gorgeous, I'm beyond jealous. Great story too.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Nice truck. Are you keeping the camper top?

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Probably the cleanest metal beds I've ever seen from these old trucks. We were stoked.

83swb
That truck is gorgeous, I'm beyond jealous. Great story too.

We thank you so much for checking it out. We're just so happy to have her back on the right side of the family to get taken care of and a bit spoiled ;)

Hart_Rod
Nice truck. Are you keeping the camper top?

Much appreciated brother, unfortunately the camper is outside of our plans so it moved on from the truck after 40 solid years of service. Probably a main reason why the bed was so cherry.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Great story so far and the trucks looks really good and should make for a super nice finished truck.

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Wow, I've never seen such a dirty ratted out engine come out of such a beautifully preserved truck!!! Amazing! At least you're handling it the right way by pulling it all out and going to seal her up all good n tight. Love the story too!

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

I'm honored to hear that aggie91, I've watched your builds from afar for quite a few years now thank you for your support on the forum!

We knew she would be rough internally just because that side never took care of their vehicles but we been amazed at how much was actually "rebuilt" or swapped. To list a few.. Rodded radiator, new trans (color on torque convertor isn't factory), gobs literally oozing out of timing chain cover so we figure it started running rough and had a few too many backfires (bent pushrods) so they attempted resolving the issue but we're far too behind the 8-ball to diagnose it properly.

We had a spare SBC 350 in the wings so we just decided it's easier to swap with one we know that's decent rather than jumping head into one with obvious problems. It's certainly one of those true pioneer stories and we just hope that he's smiling at seeing his truck being truly taken Care of like he always did.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Good work friend! Did you have much trouble on the exhaust manifold and flange studs/bolts? Was contemplating pulling mine for a refresh but worried about breaking them off and having to spend more than I want right now.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Fortunately I didn't have any trouble at all, I think I knocked on all the wood in my house and rubbed every horseshoe at my buddies farm for the luck on that, I'm glad it wasn't a bear like most are. Best to soak it in some good PB Blaster over night and just go slow.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Welcome to the new parts lineup! Dontcha just love fresh clean parts along with a new longblock to mock everything up? We certainly do, introducing the next 350 on the line from within our back burner she'll be brought to life as a stock rebuild with very mild upgrades. needless to say we would need to start completely over adding the very proven Edelbrock performer intake and using a spacer plate to help with any chance of boiling fuel, rebuilding the original Quadrajet locally as we have never messed with one in all honesty so we had that built outside of the garage by a good friend, upgrading to a modern HEI setup with new cap and rotor (another in stock item like the intake) finding a non cracked driver exhaust manifold from the graveyard locally, ridding ourselves of the original a/c components such as hard line, compressor, condenser to include fresh new pieces shown such as the waterpump, power steering pump, and fuel pump. New starter, battery and radiator added in as the list grew more and more from our down the street oreillys (which have been extremely helpful as they know is fairly well from multiple truck projects) and our local Motor parts store with the occasional summit order. She will be a mainly stock rebuild with a few advancements to help it along as a daily driven vehicle. Shot the new block with a can of orange engine enamel to freshen her up and finished off the valve covers to match.

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Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Looking good my man.

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LOT of steps forward being made today as im catching you all up closer and closer to our current driver as I will be out in our friends shop today completely tearing into a secret side project getting ourselves ready for the major overhaul this build will take on at a later date but always remember measure twice, hammer your finger once, add a bunch to the swear jar and move along! Will grab photos along the way so no one is left out of course! Enjoy your Saturday and Sunday fellow truckers! :metal:
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Mock up was complete shortly after in the evenings after work such as wire routing and getting everything bolted right and letting gaskets set the proper length of time. I almost wanted to just roll her inside and set her as a coffee table after she came out looking so clean! Gotta love a stock appearing engine for nostalgia purposes.

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

that is a wicked clean engine!

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Yes!!

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That looks great!

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Very nice!!

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

Much appreciated guys! We love to hear your feedback and enjoy moving forward everyday bringing our (great) grandpas Legacy back to life the right way. Writing up the next update as I type this so yall should have some sunday reading material :uhmk:

Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

SHE BREATHES ONCE AGAIN! Alright so who's ready for a startup video!! First one shows the break in and boy aside from the leaky brass fitting on the Quadrajet (that I never touched myself during the rebuild of everything else, that we simply had to tighten a tick) she popped off just the way everyone wants one too. Few pump and primed properly as well as a correct motor break in and preparation crests a very smooth process. The second video shows the trueness of a stock rebuild and a very silky smooth running sewing machine essentially. But don't doubt her she rolls down the road just fine!

On a side not I really enjoy the mock up time I had been allowed during this build as I could set my parts as needed and find if I preferred them one way or another especially the run of the Sparkplug wires, I know they are an update with the wire loom runs but I feel they blend well and organize them in just the right way for this engine. I must say I'm very proud of the way this look became what it did.

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Re: Great Grandpa's Legacy reborn
 

That motor looks amazing! Awesome work man!

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Thanks brother!

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Dang! Clean stuff bud.