1970 GMC C15 with a few items.

[grendel]

My father bought this truck new in 1970, to use as our shop truck. He started a business in 1968 doing auto restoration with my uncle and a few Navy buddies. When he retired from the Navy in 1972, he went full tilt boogie with the business. By 1978, he had a bunch of cars out there. Please note, he did classic European cars. This truck was the only American made item we worked on, as it was constantly getting dented and beat on by shop workers and the like.
My Uncle died in 1984 and my father decided it was time to retire the shop truck my uncle loved so much and we restored it. My father DD'd it for a while and we re-did the truck again in 1992.

Fast forward to 1997 and my father passed away after battling a lot of health issues at the too young age of 62. My brother and I inherited the business, all the cars and of course, this truck. It was a bad year that year, I had career issues and my brother got divorced. His ex-wife took everything, so my Brother took over the GMC as a DD. It was pristine and all stock, with drums front and rear, 3 on the tree with a decent running 350. Black with red interior.

My brother and I don't really get along... so fast forward to 2007. I got a call from my brother, asking me permission to sell the truck. For the record, I owned it... but it cost me 2K to get it back, as he rebuilt the motor before sticking it in a field for 3 years. Yep, rockers, floor, cab corners and the windshield frame was toast... and someone hit the bed with a bull dozer moving snow.

Sorry for the book so far, but you all needed history.

Now, I have the truck, I love it and it's in shambles. My father would re-do it back to stock. Me, I can't leave anything stock, at all.

Do y'all want more?

[Spiffav8]

Do y'all want more?

Well yeah... Duh. lol

[grendel]

So, my friends tell me I have vehicle ADD. This I cannot deny: I went through so many changes in this build over the last four years, it's not funny.

We started by stripping the truck to the bones: Rear got a parallel four link with a watt's link to keep it centered (it's had three sets of links since!) on air ride, controlled by Ride Tech's Pro3-E.

The goal was to be fast, handle well and still be a truck. Intent was not to lay frame and still be able to carry a load.

I bought a motor for it, a 383 gen 1 based motor that I intended to (and bought turbos for) that should have been right around 770-800hp, but right on the ragged edge of the motor's max capability.

we also plated the stock frame... and there's a lot more history to go. I will fast forward to the current build, which is a wee bit different on the next posting. I will do that in a bit, as I have to go pick up a 1970 K5 body we're setting up on a complete C5 chassis... two different C5's ;)

[grendel]

We stripped the front off, re-drilled holes to move the suspsension forward and centered in the wheel wells at a much lower ride height.

We decided the steering needed to be a rack, so I bought a 91 Mustang "fast" rack and went to town with a set of eBay special DSE tubular control arms...

and used the plasma table to cut new bag plates for the front, as the DSE arms had 3" dropped plates:

Add bags, some sort of connector to the steering arms and not shabby... so we thought:

Around that time I also realized my HP goal (800rwhp) was right on the ragged edge of the block that I had and I understood why my friend John was selling off all his old SBC and BBC stuff. Including the 383 I had. So I found a stroked out 6.0l (408) and added some goodies to it:

The plan was to add the twin turbos to the 408 and go to town with the help of more knowledgeable folks.
Add a 4L80E, some tubing, a custom fuel cell with 3 Walbro fuel pumps with twin pick ups each and now we have a chassis.

and something just didn't look right.

[grendel]

hmn, problems with the board code. I thought I'd have the pics inline with my text.

So, as a I said, something just didnt look right... a bunch of numbers crunched told us what our eyeballs were saying was true... it was a truck suspension, it would handle like a truck.

Enter phase two... this is after some paint. Oh and we didn't center the rear axle in the wheel well, as GM didn't either. The lowered right height didn't help much either.


I talked with Nathan Porter, of Porterbuilt. I had been watching his tech happen on a board (that banned me for linking 4x4 tech) and he impressed me with the math of his suspension. So, yep, pull the entire front clip off, cut out the boxing plates and re-work a bunch of stuff.


Oh and since the motor's out, a measly forged 408 isn't enough, as I lost the turbo/EFI guru I had, so might as well do a GMPP 427 LSX (True LSX) with a whipple blower oh and a 2" cog belt drive... but the cog belt drive didn't work that well.

From a specs perspective, this is where the truck is. 427 blown LSX, TCI 6 speed in a 4080E case, 12B rear with parallel 4 link and watts. It did get new shoes and new rubber... oh and 14" Baer brakes.

Ok, so maybe a wee bit more to catch up.

[Rick D]

Cool project, I just love the old C10's!!

[Spiffav8]

Great transformation! I to wouldn't mind having one in my garage.

[grendel]

But wait, that's not all!

:)

Thanks gents.

By now, I was sick of the craigslist wheels. The 90's called, they wanted their American Racing rims back. I bought them as rollers. Enter in some big billets... which due to my idiot supplier took 14 months to get. I bought Billet Specialties Vintecs and put nice rubber on em.

I also spent about 111 hours with miles of wire, shrink wrap, flex loom, soldier and a lot of cigars and wine.

Yes, I am a Patriots fan. Danny Woodhead was still with us back then.

[grendel]

So, since this has turned into my pseudo build thread, where we are now.

Fixing a previous body shop's issues. Ever think to yourself: "Self, we should this our self, because something's just not right"?

Yeah, I sent my father's truck out for paint.

What I found when I tried to adjust a gap and the rocker fell off, was the typical rob Peter to pay Paul paint tactics. Promise the moon, wait a year, deliver Uranus in 3 weeks after while trying to bill as if you worked on it longer.

Yes, they installed the 68 trim using the braile method... yes, I have multiple holes in my NOS bed sides, that I pulled out of the boxes they lived in for 40 years. Yes, they welded the bed together 3/4" higher on the passenger side. Yes, they used panel adhesive with it mixed wrong. I also had more fish eyes than a pool of carp.


Some pics for you.

[grendel]

Since it was at my shop, I decided it was worth finishing right. Took it right down to bare metal, as the other shop let their primer get wet and the bed rusted underneath the porous, non sealed surface.

I also decided to build my center console that houses more Auto Meter gauges.... and I wanted them to look like the belonged.

We also re-routed and tied down a bunch of temporary plumbing.

[grendel]

It also looks like I may be able to fit more rubber in back now :)

In between paint prisons, both self inflicted, I did get to drive it. We raced. We found out that the cog belt drive could rip the alternator right off the truck when the blower kicked in. We found out that Whipple wouldn't support the 18psi of boost we were making with the cog drive at all and we really found out why.

So I talked with Mike at Whipple and Randy at Concept One, and I became a dealer for both. They are awesome.

This is also what we came up with:

[waynieZ]

Wow quite the adventure. It figures of all the trucks to happen to, its the most important one to you. I'm glad to see you got it back in your hands where it will be safe. It must be quite the ride with that power in there.
Subscribed!

[grendel]

Thanks Wayne.

Spent a bit of time working on it. Got the bed almost ready for paint and then on to final assembly. Also got the hood welded up (more bad glue and short cuts). Got it in paint, now working to wet sand and buff. Looks good, 6 coats of clear going on.

Look, no more trim installation by a blind guy!

[grendel]

I got the hood on, radiator support cut - filled in an painted, fenders buffed and on, along with the inner fenders done.


Had to cut the radiator support to clear the filler panels I made, that cover the top of the radiator support and make the air flow through the intercooler air exchanger.


Bed got painted today.

[ccracin]

Bad A$$ man! Love it!

[waynieZ]

Nice! I love seeing a big blower sitting on top like that. Did you make up the hoses or are they from a kit?

[grendel]

Nice! I love seeing a big blower sitting on top like that. Did you make up the hoses or are they from a kit?

Which hoses? Most are "kit-like"

Radiator plumbing is mostly pre-made aluminum bends with some silicone couplers thrown in. I plan to replace the hose clamps with the Gates shrink to fit clamps. The other plumbing, including the AC stuff is all AN that I assembled. I used the right rated hose for the high pressure lines, etc.

I also thought you might like to see the close off panels I made. I am probably going to re-do the hood latch.

One of the things that we haven't talked about: Interior. I worked on it a bit yesterday. There's more than 3 cow's worth of black, premium, chromium dyed leather for this truck.

I also made a mistake and bought Fesler built door and kick panels that took way too much time to fit and made me swap out the factory AC in the dash, as they would not clear the factory duct work. There was nothing in the instructions or on their web site about this. It's one of the reasons the truck went back to paint and started that cycle. I had to install billet flush mount louvers to clear the door panel stick out.
I also spent forever waiting for them to build items that "were in stock" when I bought them. That would be the arm rests and door handles.

All that said, with a lot more engineering to fit a factory cab and door set up, I like them in the truck. Next time, I will pay the extra 200 for the Marquez panels.

Since I was modding the AC set up, I decided to extend the dash pad all the way to the windshield and get rid of the very ugly plastic defroster vents that you can't redirect. Add more billet vents.

As for seats, I wanted something with good lateral support. I found a nice OEM seat that has air bladders and internal controls to pump and move the support around as needed. It uses a gyroscope and computer to inflate or deflate as needed. I plan to cut down the head rest so it doesn't stick through the rear window as much. Everyone should have AMG seats in their truck :) - I can even hide the seat control module under the seat base.

Finally, since I loved the striped mono color carpet in my 911, I went with more fine German engineering and bought Porsche wool carpet to go over the 6 boxes of sound deadner and temp management we laid down.

Oh and I got to use the Momo wheel my father loved so much. He never put it in a car, but wanted it in a Ferrari we never got to do together.

You can also see a customer's car peeking through the windows of the truck. It's been here for 2 years. Almost done!

[grendel]

This is the part about painting I hate the most... all the sanding. I am lucky that we have a guy that loves it. So he's sanding, wet sanding and buffing all of it. He also sands in between every coat. He's also told me this is the last black paint job he does. He's 78, I think he can say that.

That said, I am pleased. Third paint job on this, not a single ripple, fish eye or defect... even on the underside of the truck. The last paint job was too thick and would crack on the drop of a hat.

The paint looks like very deep glass... and it's the right thickness.

[waynieZ]

That's a lot of work! I sanded my Z28 with 400 back in the 70's and thought that was a lot of work but this definitely takes the cake. But well worth it.

[waynieZ]

[QUOTE= Some assembly required :)[/QUOTE]

But still more fun then assembling a kids toy at Christmas.

[grendel]

That's a lot of work! I sanded my Z28 with 400 back in the 70's and thought that was a lot of work but this definitely takes the cake. But well worth it.

He's going to 2000.... yep, 2K grit. It's basically a brown paper bag. I feel like I am on Spinal Tap... it goes to 11 man!

[grendel]

So, while the Camaro broke my heart, hiding rust under the paint, the truck is making me happier... granted, my shaved cowl cracked all to heck, but I may go with a carbon fiber shaved one. I got the grill on, the rest of the black cut and buffed and it's shiny!

5.75" LED headights are mounted, but I have to go in an clean up the rear cooling fin cuts...was not my best work there.

[ccracin]

So, while the Camaro broke my heart, hiding rust under the paint, the truck is making me happier... granted, my shaved cowl cracked all to heck, but I may go with a carbon fiber shaved one. I got the grill on, the rest of the black cut and buffed and it's shiny!

5.75" LED headights are mounted, but I have to go in an clean up the rear cooling fin cuts...was not my best work there.

:ttiwop:

No pics, didn't happen! Throw us truck guys a bone here! PLEASE!

[grendel]

:ttiwop:

No pics, didn't happen! Throw us truck guys a bone here! PLEASE!

Sorry, had a bad moment... look up.

[ccracin]

Sorry, had a bad moment... look up.

AHHHHH, That's better! That is looking tough! Nice work!

[waynieZ]

:ttiwop:

No pics, didn't happen! Throw us truck guys a bone here! PLEASE!

I'm going to one up you guy's We need a video of it running so we can hear that Bad Boy!

[grendel]

And the body work is mostly done... need to finish buffing the cowl and install it.

[WSSix]

Looks great! I think it would look better without the front bumperettes though

[grendel]

Looks great! I think it would look better without the front bumperettes though

Lots of folks say that. My Dad ordered them on the truck, they are staying.

[grendel]

and dropping it off to have the bed rhino lined... my Dad did it, so will I.

[waynieZ]

It looks good all toghter.

[Spiffav8]

That sucker is sweeet!

[grendel]

So, now that most of the body work is done, it's time for the finishing touches. A few yards of Porsche black wool carpet, the center console, finishing wiring and oh, 3 cow's worth of premium black chromium dyed black leather.

[waynieZ]

Head liner looks sweet. Interior is coming together nice.

[grendel]

Interior is mostly finished, just have to cut down the head rests, make some filler panels/caps, install ducting, fix wiring and detail the snot out of it.

Oh and install 2800w of sound.

Oh and finish the body

oh and a bunch of other stuff...


Is it sad that I am looking at a 69 Nova project next, in trade for a CJ7 I built? I already have a lot of parts for it, too.

[waynieZ]

The interior looks great. Those seats look comfortable.

[grendel]

Merry Christmas, everyone.

[grendel]

Over the last couple of months I've kept at this, while waiting for various projects.

The interior is mostly finished, so we're doing the car stereo. Every ride needs a bit of sound, so this got Morel speakers, McIntosh amps and some more leather with billet. More to polish, too.


While working on it, I was reminded why I really just need to do things myself. Here's some pics for y'all.

[waynieZ]

They look good, nice job.

[grendel]

As I wait on other projects, I got to finalize this one a bit more. Down to the little nitty gritty things... all the fab's done.

[waynieZ]

It looks great JJ.

[Evan Iroc-Z]

Great looking interior!

[Vince@Meanstreets]

very nice work john. what is that button right above the sub?

[grendel]

very nice work john. what is that button right above the sub?

Hyperdrive. :)

No, it's an access port to bolt the sub box into the frame work. The box has a channel on the bottom to mount it.

[no go nova]

Just went thru this thread this is the baddest 67-72 GMC good job your pops would be proud.

[T_Raven]

Very nice progress so far

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Very cool project, great history, and I enjoy the humorous tone of the read. Keep it coming!

[FaBrycation]

Lookin good!

[grendel]

Thanks gents. It's nice to have a project finished.

Well, as finished as one gets with the technology on hand.

Then they last about 10 years and technology does something else you need to have.

I raced this summer with this truck. Showed it a bit too. We did ok with it :)

[Ben@SpeedTech]

It's a sweet ride, I'll bet it was a lot of fun.

10 years, that long? Seems for me it's every 2-3, right about the time I have saved up enough to buy the technology that, well, just got replaced. Lol!

Good luck with it in the future, seat time is a good thing.

[Northeast Rod Run]

Real nice build. I've got a '71 I'm working on and it's just at the beginning of it's "put back together" stage

[grendel]

Real nice build. I've got a '71 I'm working on and it's just at the beginning of it's "put back together" stage

It's always fun... I am working on a 73 Camaro, that's in re-work phase.

[Northeast Rod Run]

It's always fun... I am working on a 73 Camaro, that's in re-work phase.
Ha! I've got my 69 Camaro that's waiting to "re-worked" for the third time, when the truck is finished. It's a big block car, that has a full Hotchkis TVS suspension and 4 wheel disc brakes waiting to go underneath it

[grendel]

Well, after trying to bring this out of hibernation, I think I am ripping the RFID starter system out. Not sure why I ever went keyless, but this is not firing up the motor.

So I need a nice billet ignition switch.

[grendel]

So, after driving a bit, not a fan of the blower through the hood.

Thinking LS9, that will fit below a cowl hood.