Here's my story
:
My truck was originally a farm truck from 1970 until 1978, when my Grandpaw bought it. It had a 283 in it with the original TH350 transmission. I don't know what happened to the stock 350, but I wish I had it though. The 283 was OK with him, until it started losing oil pressure. So he rebuilt a 350 that was from a 70 or 72 truck and put that in, I need to check the casting #'s to figure out the year. Then around 1981 he put a TH400 transmission in it from a '67 Caprice because the old th350 crapped out, go figure. He drove that truck until 1996 when my Dad bought him a light blue/white 1983 Chevy 1/2 ton Silverado. So the old '70 got parked in a field until September of '03, when I started working on it. I wanted to drive it because I remember riding in it with him when I was younger, and sometimes my Dad would borrow it to haul firewood and stuff in. My Grandpaw's been a mechanic for over 40 years and still does work on his own vehicles.
Anyway, the truck was and still is pretty rusty, as you can see by reading my user name.
Other than the cab being rusty, everything else is in pretty good shape with just surface rust. My Mom hates it. "that's nothing but junk, it doesn't even work" "oh yeah??????" (get in and crank it up with no muffler
) Me and my Dad have done a lot of work on it since day 1:
new radiator
new heavy duty clutch fan
new intake/gasket
new valve cover gaskets
new plugs, ACDelco R45TS(had R44's)
new rotor
changed trans fluid/pan gasket/filter and installed drain plug
new front/rear seals on transmission
new carrier bearing
changed rear end grease and rear cover gasket
changed engine oil/filter
That's pretty much all the engine/driveline work we did. My Dad has a 327 that we could rebuild for my truck but it doesn't have as much HP as the 350 my Grandpaw rebuilt. The 327 has around 375HP and the 350 in the truck is running around 410-420HP with no external mods. Right now we're getting ready to get it inspected and go buy some new license plates. After we get it inspected it's gonna get some new tires.
I have newer 8 lug rims and hubcaps from a '80 Chevy 3/4 ton truck on it that I got from the junkyard. One tire went flat so I had to use the original spare tire. I think it's original because it's the Goodyear nylon cord type with the sawtooth tread. Yeah, it's a split rim, but I ain't afraid of it. Unless I have to air it up.
The split rim was in the shed at my Grandparents house, and when I took it out I checked how much air was in it and the gauge showed 25PSI! That's pretty weird, because it's been sitting in that shed since 1990 is what my Grandpaw told me. Can't wait to get the truck on the road. Legally.
