An abandoned '78 GMC gets another shot.....
03-08-2016, 06:04 PM
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An abandoned '78 GMC gets another shot.....
Hi guys.... use to frequent here back in 11 and 12 when I had an NBS.... those days..... I was mostly into NBS trucks, however I started a project that never got off the ground and ended up in the junkyard. With a regal GS as a daily driver now, I found myself not only missing having a truck, but being in situations where I really needed one... the quest began.
I'll be honest, the last thing I ever pictured myself owning was a square. I always had a hard on for the 67-72's (I do now own a 72... that's another tale for another time). Around here, those are few and far between, and you can expect to pay a small fortune for a write off.
A friend of mine knew I was looking for a good work truck. He told me about a 78 gmc he had sitting on his parents farm. The price was right, $400.
I didn't even go look at it before buying it. I seen a couple pictures, couldn't be that bad right?
Seeing it in person, it was very evident this truck had been sitting for many, many years. My friend didn't know much of the history, however he did know it had been sitting for at least 7 years. It was left there when the mothers boyfriend left and didn't take the truck. Last tag on the plate was 2001, and it had a 2001 eskimos grey cup champs sticker on the back window. Safe to say it had been a while since it seen the highway, let alone drove down a driveway... None the less, I aired up the 15 year old tires, topped up the engine with used motor oil, filled up the tank which ended up leaking, and got her running.
It ran really good, surprisingly anyway. The hood wouldn't stay latched, had to use a few bungee's to hold it down. Realized I leaked all my gas out and sputtered to a stop... Got some more fuel and put it in the other tank which didn't leak.... Did make it home without much trouble after that.
So I got it home, now the problems. Hood won't latch, gas tank leaks, exhaust is a write off, no passenger side window, tires are about to explode, interior is a mess... NO lights, NOT ONE, worked. To be honest... I almost for a minute had regretted the purchase.
But like all things mechanical, you start to bond a bit with some work.
After tracing wires, fixing rotten patches, and a good scrub, this was starting to feel like a nice truck. It looked like hell, but it ran good and drove straight... what more good a guy ask for.
This being a work truck... cheap is the name of the game. I didn't want to dedicate the funds at the time to a nice paint job. What's the next best thing? bed liner!!!
Time to address the exhaust.... had some spare tubing and flowmasters sitting around... why not....
Found some cheap 31's and nice gmc center caps to put on it.
The truck stayed in this condition since July, fast forward to now I have put over 10,000 KM's on it without a problem. Looking deeper into, I found out it's actually a heavy half, and came factory with AC and the 454. The 454 and ac were long gone, replaced with a 305. However... the TH400 remained.
I had a 2002 silverado that was modded heavily... I parted it out mostly, but still had a ton of LS parts laying around. I also sold the rear diff, which part of the deal involved a low ish mile 5.3L. Now the ideas starting coming to mind.....
It's all downhill from here... traded some stuff for go fast parts for the 5.3. Camshaft, flat tops, 799 heads, ls6 intake....
My make shift garage... works for now..... shop one day.
pretty......
Out she comes!!!
Driveshaft is out, going to replacing the u joints and steady bearing as they are pretty wiped. Managed to removed most of the stuff holding the tranny in, pulled the converter and didn't get 1 drop on the floor! Couldn't believe it.... most builds aren't complete without an atf bloodbath.
I also wire brushed the front end as best I can... man, what a mess! Painted it with some rust paint for now... We'll see how it goes, I am going with the "I'll fix it next winter" attitude on the rusty looking control arms lol.
This is as far as I have gotten. I will update as I make progress.
I'll be honest, the last thing I ever pictured myself owning was a square. I always had a hard on for the 67-72's (I do now own a 72... that's another tale for another time). Around here, those are few and far between, and you can expect to pay a small fortune for a write off.
A friend of mine knew I was looking for a good work truck. He told me about a 78 gmc he had sitting on his parents farm. The price was right, $400.
I didn't even go look at it before buying it. I seen a couple pictures, couldn't be that bad right?
Seeing it in person, it was very evident this truck had been sitting for many, many years. My friend didn't know much of the history, however he did know it had been sitting for at least 7 years. It was left there when the mothers boyfriend left and didn't take the truck. Last tag on the plate was 2001, and it had a 2001 eskimos grey cup champs sticker on the back window. Safe to say it had been a while since it seen the highway, let alone drove down a driveway... None the less, I aired up the 15 year old tires, topped up the engine with used motor oil, filled up the tank which ended up leaking, and got her running.
It ran really good, surprisingly anyway. The hood wouldn't stay latched, had to use a few bungee's to hold it down. Realized I leaked all my gas out and sputtered to a stop... Got some more fuel and put it in the other tank which didn't leak.... Did make it home without much trouble after that.
So I got it home, now the problems. Hood won't latch, gas tank leaks, exhaust is a write off, no passenger side window, tires are about to explode, interior is a mess... NO lights, NOT ONE, worked. To be honest... I almost for a minute had regretted the purchase.
But like all things mechanical, you start to bond a bit with some work.
After tracing wires, fixing rotten patches, and a good scrub, this was starting to feel like a nice truck. It looked like hell, but it ran good and drove straight... what more good a guy ask for.
This being a work truck... cheap is the name of the game. I didn't want to dedicate the funds at the time to a nice paint job. What's the next best thing? bed liner!!!
Time to address the exhaust.... had some spare tubing and flowmasters sitting around... why not....
Found some cheap 31's and nice gmc center caps to put on it.
The truck stayed in this condition since July, fast forward to now I have put over 10,000 KM's on it without a problem. Looking deeper into, I found out it's actually a heavy half, and came factory with AC and the 454. The 454 and ac were long gone, replaced with a 305. However... the TH400 remained.
I had a 2002 silverado that was modded heavily... I parted it out mostly, but still had a ton of LS parts laying around. I also sold the rear diff, which part of the deal involved a low ish mile 5.3L. Now the ideas starting coming to mind.....
It's all downhill from here... traded some stuff for go fast parts for the 5.3. Camshaft, flat tops, 799 heads, ls6 intake....
My make shift garage... works for now..... shop one day.
pretty......
Out she comes!!!
Driveshaft is out, going to replacing the u joints and steady bearing as they are pretty wiped. Managed to removed most of the stuff holding the tranny in, pulled the converter and didn't get 1 drop on the floor! Couldn't believe it.... most builds aren't complete without an atf bloodbath.
I also wire brushed the front end as best I can... man, what a mess! Painted it with some rust paint for now... We'll see how it goes, I am going with the "I'll fix it next winter" attitude on the rusty looking control arms lol.
This is as far as I have gotten. I will update as I make progress.
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