I'm fairly content with where I had gotten with that car, so about two months ago I started getting the itch for another project. I've also picked up a 68' K20 and a '69 C2500 in this stretch of time. Before ripping more stuff apart though, I told myself that I need to work on and finish this truck first. I got to thinking about how much money and time I'm probably going to have into this thing. I know that I'm probably going to have to buy new bedsides for this truck, so I may as well buy short box bedsides and build what I really want. So the search for a swb frame commenced and after a couple of weeks of searching and finding nothing remotely close I found a parts lwb truck with trailing arms. This thing was probably eventually going to end up at the crusher so I feel I don't feel too bad shortening this frame as it gave it some purpose. As a bonus, I can keep my original frame intact if I ever want to turn it back into a lwb. A deal was struck and I had a very straight '71 frame and rear end out of a 67' for $250.
The front suspension crossmember and associated parts are from my original '72.
A week ago I was getting some parts at the local wrecking yard where I worked in my high school years, where I had bought the 5.7 Vortec mentioned before. They said that that they had just gotten a 5.3 in with 18,000 miles. The price was too good to resist so I found my power plant and the 6L80 that it was mated to.
The direction that I want to head with this truck is similar to what I had envisioned ten years ago. I'm going with a modern powertrain. I'm about 80% set on a 4/6 ECE drop. I was always dead set on bagging this truck, but it's not quite in the budget right now. I want to keep the original color combo, and put the full trim back on, stock interior, and a nice set of wheels.
The first frame picture was taken Aug 6. I have been working diligently on weeknights and weekends the past month and a half to get to the second to last picture taken last weekend with all of the pieces sandblasted and painted. I've gotten more done in that time period than I have in the last ten years. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going. My first question, any body know where I can track down an upper control arm stud besides the LMC offerings?