98Murray
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I registered awhile back and have been lurking for awhile, what a great site! I have already bookmarked at least a couple dozen threads haha. I'm Matt and I'm from Ennis Texas (30 mins. south of Dallas. Tons of GMT-400 trucks around here, we currently have 3 here. Also we have about 6 squarebodys, the GM trucks are fairly popular for us. I wont share them all here but I will talk about my current and most favorite project.
1997 Chevy Cheyenne 3500. Vortec 5.7, NV4500 5 speed, 2WD, dually, 123k miles.
A little history. My grandfather bought this truck brand new in 1997 and put it to work at his business, a cabinet and molding shop. It was paired with a nice 20ft gooseneck flatbed and was worked, HARD! The reason that bumper is bent is from pushing a forklift when it broke down. They were really rough to it up there. It stayed there until 2001, my grandfather bought a new Superduty and sent his old DD ('95 F350) up to the shop to take the place of the Chevy. Reason was because the F350 was a crew cab diesel which worked better up there than a regular cab gasser. So now the Chevy was out here on the farm being used as a farm truck and also my older brother's high school truck. In 2002 it was involved in a minor accident that messed up the drivers side of the bed and also had very slight damage to the bottom corner of the cab which was fixed and repainted (just the repaired area, not the entire truck) Instead of fixing the original bed which would have been quite costly my grandfather went with an even more costly fix, a brand new CM skirted flatbed. The flatbed is so wide that the original mirrors could not hardly see around it so my brother (who was DD it at the time) bought some aftermarket towing mirrors and put on it along with an exhaust upgrade. True duals with gutted cats and 18" glasspacks with 5" tips. Shes loud! In 2005 she was parked due to a number of issues, mainly the fuel pump quit and my brother just got a new truck so this one was not needed. It sat until 2010 when my brother got bored and put a new fuel pump on it which got it running but it ran poorly, no power. He took it to a certified mechanic who did a compression test on it and determined that cylinder 7 is dead, likely cause is bad rings. The truck has overheated quite badly in the past, drivers side exhaust manifold has a few decent cracks and the passenger side likely has some. It has sat untouched since 2010 until here recently when I drug it out of the pasture and up to the house. I really like this truck, I always have, and my current DD (2000 Dodge 1500) is OK but not good enough for my needs, I am tired of driving something boring and would rather drive my dream truck. Also a very cool fact (too me anyway) is that me and this truck are exactly the same age. In the glovebox there was a piece of paper that had noted the truck was delivered to the dealer on September 9th 1997, now I don't know how long it takes for a new vehicle to go from assembly line to dealer lot but I don't think its that long. I was born September 2nd 1997 so me and this ol truck are basically exactly the same age give or take a few days. Won't ever know the true answer though, I don't believe there is a way to see what day your truck was made but anyway I just thought it was kinda neat. So that is the quite lengthy history on this ol truck, sorry if it bores yall I just think it's kinda neat how I know exactly how this truck has spent it's life.
So now onto the plans. Like stated above the current engine needs rings on cylinder 7. Well I could rebuild it or buy a used one and throw in it but I wanna do it once and not have to worry about it for a nice long time so I am looking at buying a new GM crate engine, also that 3 year/100,000 mile warranty is a good reason to go new. Tons of other new engine parts but I will not list them all off, nothing exciting as I am sticking with factory but I will be replacing a bunch of the old and worn out original parts. Along with the new engine it will be getting a rebuilt front end. 2WD trucks are so nice and simple. This front end is wore smooth out. Going with new loaded A-arms top and bottom, new Polyurethane swap bay bushings, new tie rod ends and pitman arm. The brakes will be rebuilt as well, front and rear plus a new master cylinder (another reason it was originally parked in 2005). New tires and a windshield and she should be legal enough to drive in public.
Thats the simple and quick plans, other future plans include getting it repainted and keeping the factory blue/teal color. Also a 2" rise cowl hood, 90-93 front grille with billet inserts and clear lenses (those orange factory ones stick out like a sore thumb), LED lights to replace all the standard bulbs, Line-X bedliner on the top of the bed and on the side rails, sliding rear window, all new audio with two 10" sub+amp, window tint, chrome 5 spoke 16" wheels (not sure the name of style but they are made by Alcoa), Kodiak/Topkick style exterior door handles, and probably the most exciting plans would be a 2/4 lower with bags on the rear for carrying loads. She will be a highway queen so I want her to be a little lower than she is now but I want to be able to keep the factory size 245/75-16 tires
Thats the plans. Not much has happened yet, been doing heavy research and studying before I tear into it. First thing on the list to buy is a factory service manual, $200 for the set is a hard bullet to bite right now but it will come soon. Work on it will be slow but I will post updates as I work on it. For now here are a few photos. Shes ugly I know but I still love it.
The other day I threw on the rest of the simulators. They are aftermarket ones but they cover the crummy looking steel wheels.
A couple of it parked next to another GMT-400 of ours. That one is a 1991 GMC SL Sierra ext cab short bed. Has a 4.3 V6 and 5 speed manual trans, 2WD. She has 383K miles and runs and drives like a new one. Really fun to drive too, good on gas as well, it's my stepdad's DD.
Last one, just showing off the lights lol.
If you made it this far and actually read everything I salute and thank you!! Lol looking back this is quite a long thread, hope I didn't bore yall too much!
1997 Chevy Cheyenne 3500. Vortec 5.7, NV4500 5 speed, 2WD, dually, 123k miles.
A little history. My grandfather bought this truck brand new in 1997 and put it to work at his business, a cabinet and molding shop. It was paired with a nice 20ft gooseneck flatbed and was worked, HARD! The reason that bumper is bent is from pushing a forklift when it broke down. They were really rough to it up there. It stayed there until 2001, my grandfather bought a new Superduty and sent his old DD ('95 F350) up to the shop to take the place of the Chevy. Reason was because the F350 was a crew cab diesel which worked better up there than a regular cab gasser. So now the Chevy was out here on the farm being used as a farm truck and also my older brother's high school truck. In 2002 it was involved in a minor accident that messed up the drivers side of the bed and also had very slight damage to the bottom corner of the cab which was fixed and repainted (just the repaired area, not the entire truck) Instead of fixing the original bed which would have been quite costly my grandfather went with an even more costly fix, a brand new CM skirted flatbed. The flatbed is so wide that the original mirrors could not hardly see around it so my brother (who was DD it at the time) bought some aftermarket towing mirrors and put on it along with an exhaust upgrade. True duals with gutted cats and 18" glasspacks with 5" tips. Shes loud! In 2005 she was parked due to a number of issues, mainly the fuel pump quit and my brother just got a new truck so this one was not needed. It sat until 2010 when my brother got bored and put a new fuel pump on it which got it running but it ran poorly, no power. He took it to a certified mechanic who did a compression test on it and determined that cylinder 7 is dead, likely cause is bad rings. The truck has overheated quite badly in the past, drivers side exhaust manifold has a few decent cracks and the passenger side likely has some. It has sat untouched since 2010 until here recently when I drug it out of the pasture and up to the house. I really like this truck, I always have, and my current DD (2000 Dodge 1500) is OK but not good enough for my needs, I am tired of driving something boring and would rather drive my dream truck. Also a very cool fact (too me anyway) is that me and this truck are exactly the same age. In the glovebox there was a piece of paper that had noted the truck was delivered to the dealer on September 9th 1997, now I don't know how long it takes for a new vehicle to go from assembly line to dealer lot but I don't think its that long. I was born September 2nd 1997 so me and this ol truck are basically exactly the same age give or take a few days. Won't ever know the true answer though, I don't believe there is a way to see what day your truck was made but anyway I just thought it was kinda neat. So that is the quite lengthy history on this ol truck, sorry if it bores yall I just think it's kinda neat how I know exactly how this truck has spent it's life.
So now onto the plans. Like stated above the current engine needs rings on cylinder 7. Well I could rebuild it or buy a used one and throw in it but I wanna do it once and not have to worry about it for a nice long time so I am looking at buying a new GM crate engine, also that 3 year/100,000 mile warranty is a good reason to go new. Tons of other new engine parts but I will not list them all off, nothing exciting as I am sticking with factory but I will be replacing a bunch of the old and worn out original parts. Along with the new engine it will be getting a rebuilt front end. 2WD trucks are so nice and simple. This front end is wore smooth out. Going with new loaded A-arms top and bottom, new Polyurethane swap bay bushings, new tie rod ends and pitman arm. The brakes will be rebuilt as well, front and rear plus a new master cylinder (another reason it was originally parked in 2005). New tires and a windshield and she should be legal enough to drive in public.
Thats the simple and quick plans, other future plans include getting it repainted and keeping the factory blue/teal color. Also a 2" rise cowl hood, 90-93 front grille with billet inserts and clear lenses (those orange factory ones stick out like a sore thumb), LED lights to replace all the standard bulbs, Line-X bedliner on the top of the bed and on the side rails, sliding rear window, all new audio with two 10" sub+amp, window tint, chrome 5 spoke 16" wheels (not sure the name of style but they are made by Alcoa), Kodiak/Topkick style exterior door handles, and probably the most exciting plans would be a 2/4 lower with bags on the rear for carrying loads. She will be a highway queen so I want her to be a little lower than she is now but I want to be able to keep the factory size 245/75-16 tires
Thats the plans. Not much has happened yet, been doing heavy research and studying before I tear into it. First thing on the list to buy is a factory service manual, $200 for the set is a hard bullet to bite right now but it will come soon. Work on it will be slow but I will post updates as I work on it. For now here are a few photos. Shes ugly I know but I still love it.
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The other day I threw on the rest of the simulators. They are aftermarket ones but they cover the crummy looking steel wheels.
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A couple of it parked next to another GMT-400 of ours. That one is a 1991 GMC SL Sierra ext cab short bed. Has a 4.3 V6 and 5 speed manual trans, 2WD. She has 383K miles and runs and drives like a new one. Really fun to drive too, good on gas as well, it's my stepdad's DD.
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Last one, just showing off the lights lol.
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If you made it this far and actually read everything I salute and thank you!! Lol looking back this is quite a long thread, hope I didn't bore yall too much!
