1990 OBS shortbed - Project DirtyRed

[DirtyRed 90]

Wassup everybody. I just joined the forum. I recently inherited my grandfather's 90 shortbed. He was the original owner. Passed away in 94, but my grandma always took pretty good care of it. She finally got to a point where she couldn't keep up with it anymore so sold it to me for a buck. The truck is as far as I know completely original other than the mag wheels. Anyway, I'm glad I've finally got this baby home and I'm looking forward to working on it. Here's a picture of it as I got it, virtually the way he left it with a few more miles; around 180k on the original 5.7L

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I haven't had it long, but I've started the cosmetic journey. Pulled the side skirts and bed rails, took off the toolbox, and I'm about to pull all the moulding off. I've got headlights, tail lights, and new side mirrors on the way and the next big step will be the stance, rims/tires.

Been reading a lot in the forum about drop kits and I think I'm gonna go with the Belltech 3/4 kit with the street performance shocks. I like the old SS Crager mags, but 15s are not my style so I'm stepping up to 20 or 22 on the rim, depends on how it sits with the drop kit, and how much fender clearance I have left. Looking at some US mags that would look real clean.

Eventually I'll do front and rear sway bars and upgrade the brakes to rotors on all 4s and I hope to drop an LS in within a few short years, but it runs good so I'm all about the look right now.

Would love to get any feeback from anyone whos done these types of mods. If anyone has any dos and dont's, especially suspension and tires, I would love to hear what you think. Gonna try to make my Papa proud.

 

[1ton-o-fun]

Welcome aboard! Nice truck! Nice Grandma, too! Glad she's keeping his truck in the family!

 

[DonYukon]

Welcome to the forum nice truck for a buck

 

[618 Syndicate]

Looks like that truck already has drop shackles at least, it seems to sit level. You may want to put some 20's or 22"s on it as it sits, it may look better than you think!
Cooll truck, awesome story.

 

[sewlow]

Welcome!
The truck looks to be lowered already.
Are the axle tubes above or below the springs?
Maybe it's just the way it's parked, but the rear tires look to be tucked up into the wheel wells a tad further than my ole '97 @ 2/4 on 15's.

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[DirtyRed 90]

Looks like that truck already has drop shackles at least, it seems to sit level. You may want to put some 20's or 22"s on it as it sits, it may look better than you think!
Cooll truck, awesome story.

I thought about starting with the wheels initially, but I was afraid that if I dropped it after, I'd be stuck with having to make the wheels fit a drop if it's too low. I wanna maintain performance as much as possible, but gotta have that street stance..

 

[DirtyRed 90]

Welcome!
The truck looks to be lowered already.
Are the axle tubes above or below the springs?
Maybe it's just the way it's parked, but the rear tires look to be tucked up into the wheel wells a tad further than my ole '97 @ 2/4 on 15's.

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You and @618 Syndicate both hit on exactly what I was marinating on last night after I made my post. I was watching a powernation video about lowering a 90 and I was like hmmm, his 3/4 still sittin up in the back some. My truck looks more level than other. I always assumed it was a package thing when he bought it.

I was reading a post you had somewhere about how factory was 4+1 springs and I thought, I really don't think I have 5... Sure 'nough. Looks like Papa had some style presence to set that rear end down a little further than factory, although, I'm not sure this was the right call.

Looks like he took out 2 leafs.

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[sewlow]

Yea, there should be more leaves than that.

 

[DirtyRed 90]

Yea, there should be more leaves than that.

Well... should I replace the leaves and then do the drop kit, or just leave it and maybe add a couple drop shackles and a couple spindles?

 

[sewlow]

I removed just the overload spring on mine one time. One of the worst things I did to it suspension-wise.
No progression to the spring rate. Start to play & get to pushing hard in the twisties & it would blow through the travel & the axle tubes would be bangin' on the bump-stops.
You could replace whatever ones are missing, but it's easier to just replace the hole spring pack. Either a wrecker set or new, which from what I understand, aren't all the expensive.
I've always worked on vehicles with the idea of getting it to be running & driving correctly before beginning any modifications.
That way you'll have a known baseline.
If any mod does create a prob, you'll know what created it, instead of questioning whether or not any issue was pre-existing before modifying, & the modification just made the problem more pronounced.
Get it right first. Then...mod the hell out of it!