'79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

ive lurked for a while and decided to take this oppertunity to do my intro and post some pictures of one of my current projects. it will be a slow build, buying stuff when i can afford to. this will be more or less a restoration with some mild customizing but not much. just enough to make a cool reliable daily driver again.

2 years ago i was pulled over by one of our citys "finest" and she decided that it wasnt suitable for the road and did me the favour of giving the truck a notice of inspection, wich meant i could no longer drive it on the streets with out putting it through a vehicle inspection. i was lazy and had other projects so i parked it beside the house, sold the motor and seat and it rusted into the ground.
recently i bought a rusty '80 short box stepside and got the 73-87 chevy truck bug back. i sold the step side, bought a parts truck and started tearing down my ol truck.
heres some pictures:
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01265.jpg
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01221.jpg
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01738.jpg
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01737.jpg
80 stepside
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01676.jpg
parts truck
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01740.jpg
quick fix to a stripped ball joint
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01749.jpg
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01750.jpg

Re: '79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

:welcome2: to the Board nice story good looking Project to

Re: '79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

awesome story man! cant wait for updates

Re: '79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

Keep the pics and progress coming...:metal:

Re: '79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

cant wait to see this one!

Re: '79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

Thanks all,
Good thing my parts truck has a good floor because my '79 would be perfect for Freddie Flintstone! Not just the floors are gone but the cab mounts under the floor. Im supposeing thats how my windsheild kept cracking. Good thing the parts truck floors are mint!
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01751.jpg
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01752.jpg

Got the parts truck ready for the scrapper today, just gotta pull the lower control arms off.
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01753.jpg
http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/o...9/DSC01754.jpg

Now that ive decided to use the parts truck cab ive noticed that there are differences between my '79 and the '83.
I plan on useing the '83 cab and the '79 front end. To do that i cut the hood support sheet metal from the cowl of the '79 cab as well as the wiper pivot mounts as a template for mounting the '79 wipers in the '83 cab. All that because the hoods are different! I wont be sending the parts truck off to the scrapper till i get the '83 cab mounted to the '79 chassis incase there are more unsuspecting differences.
Anybody know if the '83 cab is a direct bolt up to the '79 chassis?

Re: '79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

as far as i know they will bolt right up. check the lmc catalog and see if the mounts are a different part # because for some reason i remember that the mounts are different.

Re: '79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

looking good

Re: '79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

thanks, the rubber mounts are noticeably different. What i shouldve done before i put the '79 cab on the '83 parts truck frame was measure the body mount spacing and compare. :smoke: i think ill quickly through the '83 cab on my short box frame and see if everything lines up.

Re: '79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

it'll line up but you will need the 81-87 mounts though. IIRC... your making me think!:lol:

Re: '79 gmc swb story, build & intro
 

your right about the cab mounts. i put the '83 cab on the '79 frame with the '79 rubber mounts. they made the cab sit about a 1/2" higher compared to the body line on the box. later tonight ill switch out the '79 rubber mounts for the '83 and hopefully my body lines will line up!