Build log of a truck I'm going to refer to as the 90'

[Barcdawg]

Hey so I'm new here. I finally created account here but in all actuality I've been stalking the forums for the better part of a year and a half. I've got alot to cover to bring this thread up to April 3rd 2021. Before one journey begins a previous journey must end. For me this was a 2000 isuzu trooper which I had modified from high-school (small lift roof basket, rear bumper, tires, snorkel, exhaust,) I had grown tired of it breaking and a unreliable source of parts. So it had to part ways.
I had mentioned to my grandfather. How it would be nice to find a gmt400 chassis truck. As he had a 88 on a squarebody chassis. (I had only ever seen pictures. Il link a image to this post and continue on the next post.

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[Barcdawg]

He had suggested against the idea of finding a gmt400 as they were plauged with rust issues in nova scotia and finding a good one would be a challenge. One day he mentioned to me his sisters husband's son had one a RCSB 4x4 z71. There son had it built probably back in the early to mid 2000s and he has drove it to alberta to work out there. So eventually he brought it back home and between this 2nd cousin of mine and my great uncle. They had plans to rebuild it for my cousins son. I belive he is younger then me. But he had no interest. So me and my grandfather went to check it out. And this begins the story of this build I don't have a insane amount of photos but il try my best. July 12th 2019 I went to look at this truck that had been off the road since 2010. Someday il get a picture of what it looked like when it was on the road but it was only a bare chassis when I went to look at it. Ended up striking a deal on what was there. Cab, front fenders. Doors 350, hm290 14bolt semi floater.chassis

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[HotWheelsBurban]

Welcome to the forum, looks like you have quite the project! This is the place to come for 400 series information though.

 

[Barcdawg]

First thing first was to bring parts home brought the frame and mostly everything the cab orginal to that frame is still there. Anyway after bringing the frame home first thing to do was to start wire wheeling the frame down and applying DOM-16 its like a Canadian por15. One day while at work. My grandfather gave me a call. One of the local garages the owner had a 90? Maybe 91ish gmt400 which he parted out to build a squarebody grampie struck a deal with him for the cab and then called to tell me I bought it and it's gonna cost this much. Thanks for the warning gramps lol. Attached are a picture of the k1500 frame when I brought it home and the truck that the fella at the shop down the road parted out. 572 bbc 871 blower th400 I was too late to buy the box aswell but I got the cab and front clip.

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[Barcdawg]

Two of the biggest issues with the frame was all the rear crossmembers were out of the frame for like 10 years and If I remember right 2 of the cab mount/rad support mounts the hole was a larger od then spec. Due to rust. Now I don't know about you guys but I wasn't going to start cutting these mounts off and finding new ones to hopefully weld back in straight and level. Especially considering the holes were the only portion of the mounts that had been rusted. I went to a hardware store and bought six washers with a ID size the same as the hole for the cab mounts. Welded them in grinded them to the contour of the mount and boom. I had a 3/16ths inch body lift installed.

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By the time I had the frame pretty much 100% painted.

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it was time to go pick up the cab from this shop. Actually got the frame ramp trucked there and we used the garages tractor to lift the cab on.

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Just figured out the thumbnail thing so this should make posts longer now!
With the and front clip on it was time to bring the old gal home.
Once it was home the first two things I had to do was put the sweet grill in it. The aluminum z71 skid plate in the front and mock some cab lights on the roof

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My tires that used to be on the trooper had found there way onto the 90 and and this point I was thinking wow this things gonna make one sweet truck. But first I had to get rid of the aftermarket sport mirrors.( which I could sell if anyone was interested I still Have them).

 

[Barcdawg]

Next on my list was the wheels when they were on the trooper they were a light silver with blue around the outside. That's not going to work on a red interior truck. So I had them repainted a darker silver and red accents. I also finished painting the cross members that were off the truck and put them on. The hi lift jack was required to spread the frame rails.

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Winter is now getting closer as Oct 7th 2019 I test fitted the front bumper that I had cut up to mount flush mount leds

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Within the next few days I had the rear bumper on painted the inside of the bumper black.

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This photo shows the wheels and the rear bumper in one photo. There's still all kinds of key components I'm missing at this point In time.
Over the winter of 2019 I had found a box and added like 3 leafs to the rear spring pack

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The box was in pretty good shape. Rust wise. Few dents though. I also scored a diesel fuel tank which was perfect for my plans for the truck. But don't worry I'm not putting a diesel in it.
I took two sets of rear leafs and made one out of them for this truck. I didn't want my truck to look like all them other gmt400s that sagged with a trailer on. New bushings u bolts ( the ones on it were super rusty typically from what I've read though) centerbolts too. Neversiezed all these components especially the shackle bolts as all of them were frozen in the bushings.Il end this post off with a picture of it once I brought it out of the garage with the added leafs installed.

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February 22nd 2020

 

[Barcdawg]

Next step was the box of the truck. I did the easy stuff first sanding and painting the bed floor underneath and above. mixed trimclad. (I believe you Americans call it rustoelum) and acrylic enamel hardner and brushed it on. The bed floor has a Duraliner in it and underneath will be undercoated once the build is done. The hardner was a amazing addition to the trimclad it was dry to the touch In hours and I even think it helped the paint flow out on the floor

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Now come a big chunk of time that I don't have great photo documentation. I installed wheel arch trim. Fixed most of the dents as best as I could with I had installed the fuel tank with a new o ring and sending unit lock. Started running a 3/8ths aluminum fuel line
Another big part is me saving up money for some expensive parts and looking for parts that are hard to come by.

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Found out ac Delco was the only supplier for backing plates for these trucks. Bought 2 new ones. Basically everything for the drum breaks except the drums themselves. Often wonder if a disc brake swap would've been cheaper. Installed new axle seals while I was in there
I ordered wheel cylinders for a 1 ton dually and I'm going to order front calipers for the 2500hd/3500. I have hydroboost on the cab so I should be fine.
Nows as good a time as ever to mention the interior. theres a few things that I'm changing in the interior I've been slowly collecting the parts to do it.
I had to find a Silverado steering wheel (leather wrapped) and the rest center chevy horn button. Because the wheel in the truck wasn't mu style. Neither is the gauge cluster but il talk more on that in a bit.

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The gauges where the oem radio would've been are ok and same with the bigass tach but the gauge cluster and steering wheel had to go.

While In a local junkyard I noticed a truck had a consle for behind the seat that held the jack and stuff. I grabbed that and maybe paid like 26$ for "odd trim pieces" or something but I'm missing the lid picture shown.

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The truck has a lovely silverado trim bench seat. But I really wanted low back buckets and a console.
Thanks to what I've read on the forum the seat Mounts are different from a regular cab to a extended,crew,suburb,blazer.
So I patiently waited for a set to come for sale on Facebook marketplace. Ended up finding a fella parting a regular cab truck out that had a set only problems were the seats were cheyanne trim or w/t and there was a few tears but at the price I paid I bought it for the console and the seat brackets

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I had a rear seat out of a Silverado ext cab and I stripped the fabric off it along with the fabric on the buckets. Hopefully a upholstery shop can make me some Silverado buckets out of the fabric.

 

[454cid]

I ordered wheel cylinders for a 1 ton dually and I'm going to order front calipers for the 2500hd/3500. I have hydroboost on the cab so I should be fine.

Will the larger cylinders even fit right with the lighter duty brakes? I bought, but have not yet installed, the DRW cylinders for my truck, but I'm just going from JB8 SRW to JB8 DRW brakes, where most of the parts are the same any way..... same hardware, same shoes.

 

[Barcdawg]

Will the larger cylinders even fit right with the lighter duty brakes? I bought, but have not yet installed, the DRW cylinders for my truck, but I'm just going from JB8 SRW to JB8 DRW brakes, where most of the parts are the same any way..... same hardware, same shoes.

I did test fit them right quick one day. And the bolt spacing to mount them and the rods that fit through the dust that connect to the piston fit fine. I think the only difference is the ID bore of the wheel cylinder.

 

[Barcdawg]

Been meaning to make another update but have been busy. I noticed there's a separate section for off road builds. Although the truck is 4x4 and will have mud tires. I'm not going to call it a offroad build because If I was designing a gmt400 for offroad. I wouldn't be using the half ton ifs and a Hm290. The goal for the build is to have a nice 4x4 street truck. I have given up the idea of getting the Scottsdale seats reupholstered. And am going to use two 40 seats from 60/40 trucks a friend of mine junked one so I have the 40 seat mounted on my regular cab rails. And I'm in the process of trading my bench for a 60/40s from another fella.. I'm sure someone has made a post already on drilling the holes needed to mount the seats so I'm not gonna make a write up on that.

One thing you can send to me is a thread of someone cutting a hole in the floor of a 2wd cab for the 4x4 shifter.

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Originally I had a set of firestone destination mt2s 265/70r17s on the truck with some procomp 17" wheels
I had sold them and have managed to find a set of 32x10.5r15 tsl's on Facebook. I had a set of gm rally wheels that I sandblasted and painted polymetal grey (mazda color) and bought some new center caps. Still need to order new trim rings.

I guess I should also mention I have installed the sport style trim with the red accents. Bought it pre cut for the truck. Expensive but looks really good.
Here's one of the most recent pictures of the truck

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Since I'm building the truck as a z71 I had bought. The z71 bilstein 4600s. The front shocks were fully extended when putting them on but I assume that's because the front suspension isn't loaded with the weight of the engine. Since I added a few leafs to the rear spring pack I counted the number on a 3/4 ton and one ton to see how many they had and I can't remember right now but my 90 has the same as one of them. And rockauto said that the 3/4s and 1 tons share the same part # for the shocks. So I bought bilsteins for the rear as a 3/4 ton truck.

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