My 1991 GMC C2500 to K2500 Build

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Carter2500

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Hi guys, I am a big time follower of the gmt400 page and have seen many of these 8 lug truck been built up by guys I really admire such as Josh Scott (j7scott23) and Dave (88GMCtruck) so now I'm gonna do my own and I hope you all will enjoy this build. So a little background of the truck, its a 1991 GMC C2500 Ext. Cab Long bed with a 350TBI and a 4L80 trans. It is an ex-veterinarian truck that was purchased new by my uncle in 1991 and he retired it in 1999 for it to be sitting for 19 years until my 15 year old self thought it would be fun to get it going again. I approached him with this idea and he said it's yours if you get it out of that barn. So of course I did just that.

Here is a piture of the truck first pulled out of the barn.
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I did all of the necessary things to get the old 350 motor running which was fun at the time, but now that I have started to drive it every day I am coming to find out it is a gas hog and isn't practical for daily driving with the stupid high gas prices right now. The engine is tired from the long and hard days of being a 90's work truck and my uncle is known for less than amazing maintenance. So being the motor is in need of either a replacement or rebuild, why not just take it a few steps further and make it the truck I would be proud to drive every day.

This is a current picture of the truck pulling our 16ft stock trailer.
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Carter2500

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With all that being said, my dream truck is a 88-94 GMC K2500 Ext. Cab Shorty 6.5 auto which is exactly what I plan to do here. The first victim to the build is this 1998 Chevy K2500 that has a very nice frame and a body that is not so much.

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This truck has some good parts, a 454 that I am probably gonna tear into (claimed to have a knock), a 4x4 4L80 with t.case, and the 14bolt FF rear end with 3.73. All of the body parts are for sale as I don't need them and the bed is rough enough I don't think it will be logical to do all the body work on it.

So I have a cab, frame, axles, and transmission. All that is missing now is the motor and bed. The motor choice is essentially thought to be a decent puller, but more so for fuel efficiency as I will be daily driving about 60-80 miles a day just for work. No big power mods, just a clean and smooth running 6.5.
 

Carter2500

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A little update on the project, I got the parts truck stripped down to a rolling chassis with the motor/trans/driveline still intact. Will be cleaning the frame up very very well this winter to be ready for the new body to be put back on it as well as the carb'd 350. No longer doing a 6.5 diesel swap due to the amount of work it would take to have that and not really being worth it in the end to me. Here is a few pics of what happened this past weekend. Also got the junk bed sold for some sweet new motor parts and a hood!
 

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stutaeng

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A little update on the project, I got the parts truck stripped down to a rolling chassis with the motor/trans/driveline still intact. Will be cleaning the frame up very very well this winter to be ready for the new body to be put back on it as well as the carb'd 350. No longer doing a 6.5 diesel swap due to the amount of work it would take to have that and not really being worth it in the end to me. Here is a few pics of what happened this past weekend. Also got the junk bed sold for some sweet new motor parts and a hood!
Nice! So you are swapping the frame, trans/transfer case, etc. to get the 4x4?
 

GoToGuy

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So you tossed the 6.5 idea, and what happened about the 454? I would have tried to keep that over the 350 just for extra towing torque.
 
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