The Hawaiian Blue 1978 GMC.

[daddyjeep]

What is the plan for the 8 ball?

[HunterRotten]

Originally Posted by Zook75

WOW you guys are doing this truck the right way.. nice.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

What is the plan for the 8 ball?

Haha, I figured someone would point out the 8 ball when I made that post. I'm not sure how it made it's way into the pic. Those boxes are on the pool table. We have an old 8 ball that's been drilled to go on a shifter somewhere though..

[HunterRotten]

HUNTER'S 1978 GMC C15 SIERRA BUILD THREAD

A few days after those rods got in I "forced" a free morning open and steered my dad and I over to the machine shop for another round of machining. We got the block honed and we also go the rods numbered and magnafluxed during this visit.

We have one more trip to do still where we get the cam bearings in and the bottom end balanced. I am planning on using the flywheel I got for the small block on the big block, but SB is internal balance and the BB is external. I bought a external weight kit for it, found here. (Part # 560222 from McLeod)

[HunterRotten]

HUNTER'S 1978 GMC C15 SIERRA BUILD THREAD

The following weekend, I was ready to get the block off the ground and on the stand. I'm pretty cheap if you haven't noticed yet. I like my money and I like to hunt for the bottom dollar deals. We have an engine stand that really didn't like to roll and was really floppy with the small block, I convinced my dad to weld it up, add a brace, and attach some larger more heavy duty casters. I now have my "4x4" engine stand ready for service.

And of course immediately after that was done we picked up the bare block and put it on the stand. I wanted to paint it and I wasn't set on a color nor did I want to wait. GM blue isn't easy to come by and I have about 7 cans of Hawaiian/Medium Blue mixed up (from Sherwin Williams) in the garage.. soo body color it is. Kind of looks like ford blue but I'm ok with that. I finished up the can of high heat primer from when I previously painted the small block.

Kind of a big difference from what it was when I got my hands on it in the first place!

[HunterRotten]

HUNTER'S 1978 GMC C15 SIERRA BUILD THREAD

Back to fuel lines! I bought fuel lines from inline tube because I thought it would be easier but some thought was still required. This picture sums up what we decided we needed to do.

The fuel line installation was pretty straight forward, just used adele clamps to mount them up to the truck the same way we did the stainless brake lines in the past. They are rubbing against the engine mount but we pushed them in as much as we could and added some of that felt backed tape. The crossmember behind the rear cab mounts is something I quickly bought from off the forums and once again it was a California part that really didn't need any paint. After installation we were waiting on the arrival of the rubber lines, gmachinz's dual tank wiring harness, and the oetiker clamps.

[HunterRotten]

HUNTER'S 1978 GMC C15 SIERRA BUILD THREAD

While we waited for the fuel parts to arrive I was looking for things to keep busy. Some time ago we had come across a private yard that was REALLY overgrown and not organized in the slightest. It went like this; You give him a couple dollars and he tours you through his dad's land first, and then his. The grass and briars are about chest high and I made the mistake the first time by wearing shorts.

We went here a few times for all kinds of small parts, glass, etc. The last trip in we found this new truck he hadn't showed us before and he probably forgot about himself. It was a GMC Royal Sierra and it had a broken grille like mine. The first two pictures are my original grille which is only missing one piece with no cracks, and the last picture is the one I got from the yard immediately after pulling it out.

Basically we broke a good piece off of this abused donor and made it match the best we could before using plastic adhesive.

[HunterRotten]

HUNTER'S 1978 GMC C15 SIERRA BUILD THREAD

I'm going to apologize now if the last few posts have seemed inconclusive or lacking in content but I am really excited to share the paint on my cab! It looks GREAT and I really like how the raptor liner came out on the underside.