"Lt. Dan" - 1989 C1500 Regular Cab SWB NASCAR tribute and Autocross Build

[BubbaGump]

I did some more research and I think I may go with the Nitto NT555R in 275/60R15. It's marketed as a drag radial, but in looking online, several people report running them in autocross with good results. They seem to hit a nice medium for everything I want: i can run them on the street (this truck won't see a ton of street use), I can autocross with them, and I could also go drag racing with them, which I may also do some of. So, not amazing in any particular category, but pretty good in them all. I can handle that.

The Toyos look good. I may end up running those when I hit stage two or three of my build and really crank up the perfromance level. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[Supercharged111]

I will say that I have also run the NT05 on my Z06. It is very similar to the NT55, so much so that I don't understand why the 2 coexist. Either one is a ******* joke of a drag radial, and the NT05's performance overall was very meh. I failed to best the 300 treadwear tires that preceded them, but they did suck more in colder temperatures.

 

[BubbaGump]

Scored a pair of seats today for the truck. They are some kind of military vehicle seats (We have a military depot nearby that rebuilds all kinds of APCs, tanks, and humvees, so this kind of stuff is pretty common around here). The cool thing is that they have integrated 5 point harnesses with quick release. Got the pair for $75. Only drawback is that they are pretty heavy, probably 80lbs apiece. They'll work for now.

You must be registered for see images attach

The kid I bought them from had them in his OBS truck, and he said that the mounting holes lined up. We'll see...

You must be registered for see images attach

I know I'll have to put reinforcement plates in the floor since the floor will be taking the whole force of me and the seat in the event of a crash. With regular belts, the seat bolts only have to keep the seat in place. With these seats it will be more like the NBS trucks with their integrated belts.

 

[Supercharged111]

Must not have come out of a humvee. Every one of those seats I've seen has been trashed.

 

[BubbaGump]

Didn't get a chance to do a whole lot to the truck this weekend, but I did manage to start cleaning out the interior. There was some interesting stuff in there, like a couple of big rolls of 55 gallon trash bags. There was also a very nasty looking butcher knife, a golf 9 iron, and several bottles of grass fertilizer. Either somebody was killing people and getting rid of the bodies or lots of different people from different departments at the school used the truck.

Pretty much cleaned out and seat removed. I couldn't find a single hole or cut in the original rubber floor.

You must be registered for see images attach

I even found all the pieces to the jack kit and the original owners manual and folder.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Then I went on and pulled out the dash. It was a real pain in the rear. Lots of tiny little trim screws.

You must be registered for see images attach

For driveability purposes I think I'm going to keep a functioning heater and defroster, but I don't care about the A.C. I wonder if the heater-only climate system box is smaller than this a.c. box. Might do some looking in the junkyards in the future.

That's all I had time for this weekend. I'll probably pull the front clip off next so I can have plenty of room to do the front drop and motor swap.

 

[7thdarkangel]

the heat only boxes are a lot smaller. You will end up with a bigger glove box. Too bad you aren't closer. I'm removing my heat only and putting ac into my truck.

 

[BubbaGump]

the heat only boxes are a lot smaller. You will end up with a bigger glove box. Too bad you aren't closer. I'm removing my heat only and putting ac into my truck.

I wish you were closer. I haven't been having any luck finding a heat only box. It gets so hot down here that AC came virtually standard on every vehicle after 1980. I've actually never seen a GMT400 heat-only truck. I may have to do one of those campy little cigarette lighter defrosters and hope I don't need it.

 

[Mater03]

my 96 is the first one i have ever seen with heat only and i live in michigan i was completely weirded out by it

 

[BubbaGump]

Had a couple of hours today to work on the truck. Finished gutting the interior.

You must be registered for see images attach

I will probably pull out that firewall insulation. I just got a copy of the newest version of the SCCA CAM-T rules and it did mention having a stock appearing interior, so I'll have to put most of the dash shell back in. I picked it up; once I cut it and take out all the unnecessary stuff it shouldn't be much heavier than an aluminum one.

I also pulled off the hood and the front clip. This will make pulling the engine and trans WAY easier, and also rebuilding and lowering the front suspension. It was a bit of a pain in the rear to get it off by myself, but I managed.

You must be registered for see images attach

And then I started stripping the wiring harness out of the truck. I'm either going to pare it down to the bare essentials or maybe just rewire it with one of those 12 circuit universal kits.

You must be registered for see images attach

I don't know if it's a common thing on these trucks, but if you look really close in the picture above, you can see that the front hard brake line was touching the exhaust manifold for a good six inches of its length. Could be a reason (in addition to the garbage RWAL brake system) that the brakes are bad on these trucks. Could be boiling the brake fluid.

 

[Supercharged111]

Not the reason, just another reason.