Here is my daily driver project, 1985 silverado 3/4 ton RCLB. Bought it for $800.00. I've had it for about 2-3 months now

The truck is immaculate inside, never seen one in this good of condition. STill has all the smog stuff underneath the hood, it was a california truck. The outside is very straight, needs a rear bumper and has a dent, other than that no real rust, I'll prolly get it painted after its done. Its going to be my side truck when my 2001 is down (building an LS1 for it now).

It has dual fuel tanks, cold A/C. It was a camper king, made to haul those bigass campers. Got 4.11's and a turbo 400. The 350 motor that came out of it shows to be a crate engine, 95-00 vortec roller cam one piece rear main seal yada yada yada. Well it didnt have a roller cam in it.

The kid I bought it from said he bought it from a dealer like 6 years ago for like 6 grand. Had a new motor. Well, I guess he never changed his oil cause the reason I bought the truck so cheap was it had spun a bearing. All the bearings look horrible, its no wonder. I had to have the crank ground down cause it was warped, so that and new bearings cost me $200. Getting two new rods from my dad. The other day I bought brand new flat top pistons for it (one of the skirts was broken on one), and new rings. Today I bought a new oil pump, fuel pump and water pump. I ordered the cam bearings and carb rebuild kit also. Still need to do a valve job on the heads, and have to buy a gasket kit. All the rods have a date of '00, so this is a newer motor, but he mustve treated it real bad.

Anyways I just thought I'd start a project thread on it to document progress. I hope to have it going in a few months and registed for driving, and then I'll really start throwing money into my LS1 for my '01.

Heres the link to the LS1 build thread https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...d.php?t=462787

today I'm am soaking everything in mean green and scrubbing it, getting ready to put this thing back together when all my stuff gets in.

Anyways on to the pics.









The spun bearings

 

looks like a fun project. I have an 85 3/4 ton /3 spd that doesn't look nearly as nice as yours but runs strong! much like yours under the hood with all of the smog equip still intact

 

Thanks bro. pulled it out from under the shed today, got pics of some parts...

 

Damn thats a solid truck! I love that body style, 85-87 had awesome dashes.

Ive had 4 of these trucks.

Good luck with your project, its a cool one!

Also dig the factory high capacity air cleaner, thats cool

 

That will make a hell of a work truck. They are simple, rugged and just plain reliable. About the only real issues with the ’73 thru ’87 model trucks was the ease in the way the frame develops cracks. The fuel tank switches tend to die as well, but that’s no big deal. I like it; sure looks like you got a pretty solid truck on your hands once you get the motor lined out.

On a side note, damn those smog manifolds are ugly!

 

Got some progess. Changed the studs from my old water pump to the new....picked up a very nice aluminum intake off my dad and swapped over all the vaccum fittings and various plugs, distributor bracket....removed the old seals from the front and rear covers, cleaned them up, cleaned valve covers, oil pan, windage tray, went and bought some scotch brite sanding discs for my drill and cleaned the gasket surfaces on the heads. They are clean enough to not need a valve job.

cleaned pushrods and lifters, coated them with oil and put them away, did the same for the main caps and timing chain, cleaned gasket surfaces on block. Got the block in the back of the truck and its going to the machine shop tomorrow. Going to have them check and hone the cylinders, remove old cam bearings and install new, also having them boil the block and clean it up for me.

I just dropped off the lS1 and LS1 crank friday at the machine shop, but im going to pick them up while they do the work to this 350, then Ill drop it back off and let them work on the LS1.

My dad also gave me the two rods I was missing from another motor, as soon as my new flat top pistons come in Ill drop off all the rods and new pistons, and have them remove the old and install the new pistons on the rods for me.

These are the things I have left to do:

1. Have block boiled, honed, and new cam bearings installed.
2. Have new pistons installed on old rods.
3. pick up carb rebuild kit and rebuild it.
4. Buy gasket set.
5. Buy new spark plugs, wires, and distributor cap.
6. Decided to do away with the smog stuff, so Im going with a set of cheap headers to eliminate the smog manifolds. like $140 bucks....
7. make a small plate and gasket to cover EGR holes on intake.
8. swap pickup tube from old oil pump to the new one.
9. buy all the various belts I will need.
10. Buy a 1" riser space plate for the carb from the local speedshop....like $35 bucks, lil extra something to help out....
11. Thinkin of replacing the old radiator lines.....
12. Buy all the oil and fluids i will need...

And whatever else I can think of. Sounds like a lot but I hope to have this motor back together and in the truck in less than two months! It will all depend on how quick the machine shop is on working my block over....

 

Dropped the block off today, gonna check the cylinders where the messed up rod bearings were and make sure it doenst have to be bored. Also gonna hone and boil the block. I got my new pistons and rings in from summit today, hopefully the block wont be bored and I can keep them. Need to swap the old rods onto the new pistons.
A few pics.. of miscellaneous stuff.

 

Still waiting on word of whether the block will need to be bored, if not I'll be dropping off my old rods and pistons and having my guy swap my new pistons on, said $40 is all he'd charge to do that, which I thought is totally worth it!

 

should put an ls motor in the 85. would be a nice Daily driver.

 

Thought about puttin my 5.3 in it out of my silver truck when I drop my LS1 in but probably not. I love everything about the older trucks, including the gas guzzling carb'd 350's.