1980 Scottsdale "Runnin' Lo II"

[bikeman59]

Howdy everyone. This is Vince. I recently joined this site and it's great to see so many like-minded Chevy truck enthusiasts. I've been a Chevy truck fan for years, owned several. My last one was an '83 swb, lowered. I showed it for a few years in the NW, did pretty well. I'll try to find & post a pic. It was called "Runnin' Lo". I really liked that truck and hated to see it go. That was about 10 years ago.

Due to the way life goes sometimes, I now find myself unmarried and broke. But, I'm a happy camper and now ready for another truck project. Through some swapping and trading, I recently picked a 1980 Scottsdale 1/2 ton swb. Below are some pics. It's got some good things and some bad things, but nothing that can't be fixed.

I plan on taking this project through 3 phases over the next few years. It's not a daily driver, so I don't have to rush. I'll do the work as time and $ allows. The truck came with a fairly fresh rebuilt 350, an Edelbrock Performer intake, Edelbrock 650 carb and a K&N filter. It actually runs very well. The body is very straight and pretty solid. There is some rust around the back wheel wells, but nothing that can't be patched. The inside of the cab is pretty crappy, but it can all be worked with.

Phase 1: Here's what I've done so far.
Removed all the glued on molding and glue (messy job), removed the badges, gutted the enterior, mounted the custom truck/van seat frame to a pair of stock bench seat brackets (so now the whole bench slides back/forth AND each bucket will slide back/forth independently), removed and sold the rear bumper, pulled off all the front trim and grill, removed the stock exhaust and installed a pair of Hedmand headers.

On the to-do list: I've already got an upgraded Comp cam kit and have a flip kit for the rear on order. I will be picking up a gasket kit and stage 2 shift kit for the T350. I'm pulling the motor/trans out this weekend to start the cam/trans project. I will power wash the whole truck and engine bay (I think the truck sat for several years due to the amount of mold in the strangest places) and detail the engine bay. I'll also detail/paint the engine/trans. Once the motor/trans are back in, I'll do the flip kit in the back and cut 2 coils in the front - not the best way to drop it, but that's whats in the budget right now. I'll then get some wheels/tires - I want some plain black steelies, 295/50 15's in the back and 245/60 15's in the front, with 4.5 "bac space (I'm pretty sure this will all tuck). After that is exhaust (just glass packs for now), then I'll start on the interior.

At this point, I'll take any suggestions that any of you have regarding my plans. I welcome your input and knowledge.

[bikeman59]

Here's some more pics: inside gutted, bumper gone, me relaxing, my other half Shelley getting the glue off the trim areas, the grill area stripped and the headers installed.

[bikeman59]

Here's the header pic.

[bikeman59]

I finally found a pic of my old truck. Probably will look rather small on this site, but here it is. That is one of 2 vehicles that I regret ever selling.

[boatpuller]

yeh, i see the similarity. you have good taste in trucks. lol

[THE "10" SILVERADO]

Someone went crazy with the red paint.

Are you planning on putting in the square headlights? I think that'd be cool.

[bikeman59]

Ya, I agree - way too much red. I can't quite figure out the paint process on this truck. The black spray in bed liner has red over spray on it, like the truck was originally a different color and was painted red after the bed was done. But, from every place I look, it all looks red. Maybe it was resprayed after the liner was put in, but neither the liner nor the paint was done very well.

I do like the look of the square headlights, but for this phase I'm going to stick with the round ones. The whole grill area will be black, so I think some round blue headlights will look great.

[bk2life]

turn your pass side valve cover around.. edelbrock is upside down..

j/k nice truck. good plans for it. im sure those headers helped the motor breath some

[bikeman59]

Ya, I saw that was upside down. I think the guys who installed this motor were blind! I pulled the motor/trans today and was pretty surprised what a crappy job they had done on the install. Luckily they didn't build the engine, so it seems to be fine. I'll now get it ready for it's new cam, shift kit, etc. Pics to follow.

And yes, the headers did make a big difference. I'm sure my neighbors would like me to put some exhaust on those headers some day!

[bikeman59]

Well, got some more work done this week and weekend. First, started scratching up all the shiny stuff from the front so I can give it a nice semi-gloss black finish.

[bikeman59]

Then, the folks were here for the weekend, so my Pops and I spent Friday getting the engine ready to pull. We got up Saturday to sideways rain and snow, so we pushed the truck into the garage. I couple buddies came over and we pulled the motor and trans.

Now I'm ready to start doing the engine bay clean up/paint, install the new cam, shift kit, etc.

I also got my brackets for the flip in the back. Once the motor is back in, I'll start the drop process.

[bikeman59]

Got some work done today. Setup a stand for the tranny, did a quick mock-up on some bolt on parts for the engine and got my garage back to normal. Also picked up some bucket seats - we'll see if I can get them to work. The pics turned out like crap, but I'll post a couple. Will try to take some more later.

[bikeman59]

Here's the pics.

[bikeman59]

Well, time for a little update. The bucket seats came out of a 2003 Jetta. They were full power and heat. I didn’t want any of that stuff, so I stripped them down and created some brackets to mount my sliders to.

I then mounted the seats to the bench slider bracket and got them installed. They look pretty good, except the whole setup is too tall. I’ll now re-do the brackets (again) which will drop the seats about 1.5”.

[bikeman59]

I’ve power washed the whole outside of the truck once and most of the frame and engine bay at least 3 times. It’s really starting to look pretty clean, I just need some warm/dry weather to paint the engine bay. Unfortunately, the couple of times I was ready to do that, the weather wasn’t – snow!

[bikeman59]

I did a little parts chasing last weekend. Got a tilt column and great set of wheels/tires.

Here's the before and after pics of the new shoes. Man, I’ve got to get that thing lowered!!!

So today I decided to swap out the steering column and woke up to snow again. We’ll see if this afternoon is any better. I’ve got the new cam, gasket kit and shift kit for the tranny, maybe I’ll mess around with that today. More later……

[luifer76]

Nice looking truck man.....

[luifer76]

i like the new seats too they look very nice.

[bikeman59]

Originally Posted by luifer76

i like the new seats too they look very nice.

Thanks man. I appreciate it. Slow and steady at this point and it should be a runner by March. Can't wait to light up those new tires!

[Bomp]

How low ya gonna drop that ride?

[68Timber]

Those seats look good. Nice truck!

[bikeman59]

Originally Posted by Bomp

How low ya gonna drop that ride?

I'm going to drop it 4" in the front and 5" in the back. I may take the back a little lower, but I'll have to see how it looks. I want it to be level.

[bikeman59]

Originally Posted by BRUISER

Those seats look good. Nice truck!

Thanks. A little more work and they'll be ready to go.

[moregrip]

looks awesome brother! I like the "all hands on deck" approach!!!

[bikeman59]

OK, it's been a while, so time for some new pics. I've not made big progress, but got some things done. Here's some fresh pics of the motor. Finally got it all together today.