1974 GMC C1500 Stepside long bed rebuild

[t5noel]

Got this truck last year for $700. I am putting a stock 350 and a 350 tranny from Summit racing. I want a vehicle I can use, not a show piece.

[rusty76]

Good looking truck. Any other plans for it?

[t5noel]

I have redone the brakes, replaced the bushings in the control arms, and upper and lower ball joints. I will fix the rust in the rockers panels and paint it, and get the seat refurbished. More to come.

[t5noel]

I put a serpentine belt system from a 1999 Suburban on the engine. It was a little tricky because the bolt holes for the passenger side bracket did not line up. A friend welded me a bracket that attached from the front intake bolt to the front manifold bolt. He built it to hold the alternator exactly where it was meant to be.

I put an edelbrock intake on it with a qjet carburetor.

[t5noel]

The process is slow, two steps forward one step back. I added water to the radiator and discovered I had the wrong water pump. It was a gusher. The older 350s have an extra hole on the passenger side. The 99 water pump from the serpentine system did not. So I changed the water pump out for a 94 water pump. All is well.

The next step was getting power to the distributor. There are lots of help on this site that provided me an answer. The 74 had a points system on it. The power line from the firewall has a resistor that maintains the voltage at 9V. I replaced the wire from the outside block and got the 12V I needed. She started and sounded pretty good!
http://youtu.be/E9s_GtqMY8E

Next step, get the brakes bled properly. Again there is plenty of good advice here. All I need is the time. Thanks to all the inputs by the members.

[Sodell]

You don't see many LWB stepsides on the road. Nice truck and that engine looks pretty slick...