1978 chevy 1500 stepside - - Page 3

ChevyPower · April 17th, 2008, 05:15 PM

Sounds great, can't wait to see it done. I purchased a 86 chevy shortbox 4x4 about a month ago and have been modifying it since than. I'am getting anticy myself, i can't wait to go and try it and see how it performs off road.

Could you take lots of pics of the boxed section of frame that you are doing, so i have something to refer to when i do mine?

smalltowncowboy · April 17th, 2008, 06:43 PM

yah no problem.

orderd some more yesterday, high clearance ORD crossmember. also talked to trevor at WFO, we decided that there just isn't room to run the crossover and highseer, and not being a rock crawler I didn't really need hysteer.

so I orderd crossover and since I have the ORD crossmember I didn't need the bent draglink which saved me like 50 bucks.

and for shitty news the guy I was getting the TPI 454 from lost his job and is selling it out from under me. nice when you find out about it from his craigslist ad huh.

Badbowty75 · April 18th, 2008, 02:21 AM

This might be a good time to go buy the April 08 car craft mag. They took a gen 3 5.3l LM7 junk yard motor and put a GM perfomance parts single plane intake, an MSD LS1/LS6 controller, a 750 cfm carb, 1 3/4 headers, comp cams thumper cam and made 433hp and 380 ftlbs of torque. They also did 2 other tests with with different heads and managed to get it up to 460 hp and 400 ftlbs of torque. Total high investment investment was about 5 grand the lowest investment was about $2800 and the highest redline they got was almost 7k. This is an awsome article. I think my next engine might be something along these lines. If nothing else its a good read and gets you thinking about the possibilties.

smalltowncowboy · April 18th, 2008, 02:27 AM

yah I just spent about $2300 on the truck. I still have the 454 that I took out of it, ill just seal gaskets back up and drop her back in once I work on the frame and steering.

smalltowncowboy · April 21st, 2008, 11:08 PM

this week is delivery week for UPS.

today i got my WFO crossover steering and my shipment from amsoil which has (besides my 10qts of oil) my dual oil filteration and relocation kit.

still this week i need my new carb for the CJ6, dual beadlocks, and my ORD high clearance cross member.

smalltowncowboy · April 24th, 2008, 10:37 AM

ok most of e things i have received for the truck that has been built out of steel has came to me with grime and soot on it. i just received my ORD high clearance crossmember yesterday and this things showed up damn clean. it was nice to be able to see all the welds cleaned up.

ChevyPower · May 6th, 2008, 10:23 PM

Any new pics to post up? How's the injured knee doing and are you able to get any wrenching time in?

smalltowncowboy · May 6th, 2008, 10:55 PM

yah i was actually getting ready to post some pics up tonight. it looks almost like im going backwards on this build lol.

i had to jack the cab up in order to get to the bell housing bolts. ive never had this issue before on any other rigs.

then i was able to get the engine out, not sure if you can see it but the PO had 2 bolts in the top of the motor mounts and shitty welded the bottom of the mounts.

pulled the springs out and the steering box

and holy previous owner Batman id like to meet who welded on this frame and kick em in the jimmy. look at this stuff, they welded everything.

really like their triple pass weld (side by side)

and the dog shit welds (i havnt even figured out how to fix this yet, ill start by grinding)

started drilling out the rivets for the 52" springs swap and cross over steering.

smalltowncowboy · May 6th, 2008, 10:58 PM

also when the engine goes back in it will be getting this amsoil dual filter kit for the oil filter

smalltowncowboy · June 28th, 2008, 03:45 PM

ok so i have kinda been working on it a little but dont really have any updates. hauled the 454 to ellensburg and dropped it off. cleaned the shop up. picked up some 2x4 lumber and caster wheels, im going to build a frame box to set the cab on and then can roll it around the shop, pull the bed off, and rear axle/suspension. then the frame is getting cut up and hauled to the scrap yard.

then i have to do a spring over axle ( soa ) on a co-workers scout 2. that will give me some extra money for more parts.

after the 4th im picking up a complete 350TBI engine, harness, and ecm out of a 90 blazer. the engine has 2 bad rings and a bad wrist pin, picking it up for $150. i already have a 90 blazer fuel tank to go with it.

so right now its just gathering parts, working massive overtime, trying to make it to the shop, and i might be getting a new job that will mean more time in the shop (hopefully)