NightRunner
Resident Junkman
I wanted to make a build thread to document my progress on my newest build, a "totaled" 1991 Chevrolet C1500. I scooped it up for a smooth $900 from an insurance auction and should be taking delivery within the next couple of days. Here's a quick picture of it:
So the plans are as follows:
1. Remove all front end parts. The damage appears to only be cosmetic. From what I can tell, there's no frame damage so this should make having the "salvage" title turned to a "rebuilt" title with ease. Texas allows for you to rebuild your vehicle and document the progress, and as long as it passes all the inspections it'll be returned to a "rebuilt" title status. Personally I could care less about the status of the title, I don't plan to sell it anytime soon since this is my third full size and I plan to put a lot of work into it. Once I get the entire front end apart I'll be able to fully gauge out the extent of the damage, but for now it's looking like buying all these parts new:
- Radiator Core Support
- Front bumper with new brackets
- Fenders
- Grille
- Headlights
- Hood (Probably going to buy a 2" Cowl Hood right off the bat)
2. Other cosmetic repairs. I'm going to remove the old ranch hand style side steps and rear bumper. It has an aftermarket aluminum bumper on the rear that's just bulky and ugly IMO. Plan is to buy a rear roll pan, and fill in the holes that the side steps might leave. Not too sure how it's secured right now so I'll figure that out once removal starts. The cab also needs attention as there is a slight fold right beside the driver's side door. Should be able to have the dent pulled out and smoothed a bit. No paint plans within the near future, but I'm also not looking to make this thing a show truck or beauty queen.
3. Drop kit and new LED rear lights. I'm going to purchase DJM2351-3/4 which is a 3" front, 4" rear drop using coil springs up front and shackles in the rear. I'm not too worried about ride quality as this truck probably won't see much extended drive time. Maybe the occasional 90 minute trip to visit family. But I have a 2017 Mazda 3 to daily if I need the creature comforts of an easy ride. The rear tail lights and third brake light will be replaced with an aftermarket LED setup. No eBay chrome tails for me.
4. Interior focus. The interior of the truck is in immaculate condition. Whoever owned this truck before me took care of it and looked after it. But there's a few updates that need to be made. For starters, I'm going to install an aftermarket stereo in it so I'll have some music. My old 93 Silverado that I owned 2.5 years ago didn't have a radio, and the 1985 1/2 square body with a 454 I owned before that was too loud to hear the radio most of the time, so this should be a welcome change. I'll also be pairing the radio change with a speaker change out. Just some half decent 4x6 speakers will do me well, I don't need $100 speakers everywhere. Also plan to replace the old halogen interior light with LMC's white LED clear lens setup. Just the small things.
5. Aftermarket gauges. I plan to run aftermarket gauges for water temp and oil pressure, as I've had a bad history with GM's stock sensors going out on me, or the cluster not reading it correctly. When it comes to my vehicle, I like to know the logistics of everything happening within the powertrain at the glance of an eye so this is also an ease of mind thing. I found a set of Stewart Warner electric gauges to use, so I'll most likely run them in the amp delete pocket by the cluster so they're easy to glance over and check. This will also be lit by clean white LEDs, and hopefully the cluster will as well when I figure out what bulbs they take and how much of a PITA it'll be to replace them. Not looking to run a full aftermarket gauge setup as it starts to get a little pricey when it's all said and done. Will also run a Stinger volt gauge under the gauges in one of the blank button spots so it's easily monitored.
6. Performance 350. Even though the truck has 205k miles on it, I still plan to squeeze a little performance out of the engine. The truck itself is a 1991, which to my understanding has the 4L60 non electric transmission. This should prove easy to swap over to a carb'd setup as I'm not the biggest fan of the TBI setup from the factory, nor do I like messing with PCM/ECU stuff. I like old school and ease of tuning, so carb'd is the way to go for me. Performance wise, here's the loadout I'm looking at:
- Summit Dual Plane Intake Manifold
- Holley 4160 Adjustable Float Carburetor (600CFM)
- Holley Carb Kickdown Brackets for TV cable
- Holley Return Style Fuel Pressure Regulator w/ Fuel Pressure Gauge
- Re-purposed TBI fuel lines (set up to retain stock fuel return setup) w/ inline fuel filter
- Summit K1103 Cam and Lifter kit (possibly doing a different setup with COMP Cams, still exploring options)
- COMP Cams Magnum Double Roller Timing Sets
- HEI distributor
- Moroso Spark Plug Wires
- Hedman Long Tube Street Headers
- B&M Transkit
- Motive Gear Full Spool
- Taurus E-Fan setup
- Electric Water Pump Setup (still researching, lots of info from the V8 S10 guys on this)
The reason I'm putting performance last is because I want to get everything else on this truck dialed in and ready to go. If/when the 350 does finally give up, or the transmission gives out, or the rear end explodes (who knows?!), I'll be ready to rebuild with an even better setup. I'd love to have the 350 bored over for a 355, and to have the old set of heads in my shed reworked a bit and installed in the future but if it ain't broke, don't fix it right?
This is going to be a bit of a slow build, which not much progress happening over the months. However, I'll update the thread with small bits and pieces of information when it happens. However, I'm really excited to get back into the full size game and have another 350 truck to mess with again. My old 93 didn't get the love it deserved due to medical issues, so this is my second chance at it. Can't wait to share my progress, thoughts and ideas with you guys in the coming months/years!
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So the plans are as follows:
1. Remove all front end parts. The damage appears to only be cosmetic. From what I can tell, there's no frame damage so this should make having the "salvage" title turned to a "rebuilt" title with ease. Texas allows for you to rebuild your vehicle and document the progress, and as long as it passes all the inspections it'll be returned to a "rebuilt" title status. Personally I could care less about the status of the title, I don't plan to sell it anytime soon since this is my third full size and I plan to put a lot of work into it. Once I get the entire front end apart I'll be able to fully gauge out the extent of the damage, but for now it's looking like buying all these parts new:
- Radiator Core Support
- Front bumper with new brackets
- Fenders
- Grille
- Headlights
- Hood (Probably going to buy a 2" Cowl Hood right off the bat)
2. Other cosmetic repairs. I'm going to remove the old ranch hand style side steps and rear bumper. It has an aftermarket aluminum bumper on the rear that's just bulky and ugly IMO. Plan is to buy a rear roll pan, and fill in the holes that the side steps might leave. Not too sure how it's secured right now so I'll figure that out once removal starts. The cab also needs attention as there is a slight fold right beside the driver's side door. Should be able to have the dent pulled out and smoothed a bit. No paint plans within the near future, but I'm also not looking to make this thing a show truck or beauty queen.
3. Drop kit and new LED rear lights. I'm going to purchase DJM2351-3/4 which is a 3" front, 4" rear drop using coil springs up front and shackles in the rear. I'm not too worried about ride quality as this truck probably won't see much extended drive time. Maybe the occasional 90 minute trip to visit family. But I have a 2017 Mazda 3 to daily if I need the creature comforts of an easy ride. The rear tail lights and third brake light will be replaced with an aftermarket LED setup. No eBay chrome tails for me.
4. Interior focus. The interior of the truck is in immaculate condition. Whoever owned this truck before me took care of it and looked after it. But there's a few updates that need to be made. For starters, I'm going to install an aftermarket stereo in it so I'll have some music. My old 93 Silverado that I owned 2.5 years ago didn't have a radio, and the 1985 1/2 square body with a 454 I owned before that was too loud to hear the radio most of the time, so this should be a welcome change. I'll also be pairing the radio change with a speaker change out. Just some half decent 4x6 speakers will do me well, I don't need $100 speakers everywhere. Also plan to replace the old halogen interior light with LMC's white LED clear lens setup. Just the small things.
5. Aftermarket gauges. I plan to run aftermarket gauges for water temp and oil pressure, as I've had a bad history with GM's stock sensors going out on me, or the cluster not reading it correctly. When it comes to my vehicle, I like to know the logistics of everything happening within the powertrain at the glance of an eye so this is also an ease of mind thing. I found a set of Stewart Warner electric gauges to use, so I'll most likely run them in the amp delete pocket by the cluster so they're easy to glance over and check. This will also be lit by clean white LEDs, and hopefully the cluster will as well when I figure out what bulbs they take and how much of a PITA it'll be to replace them. Not looking to run a full aftermarket gauge setup as it starts to get a little pricey when it's all said and done. Will also run a Stinger volt gauge under the gauges in one of the blank button spots so it's easily monitored.
6. Performance 350. Even though the truck has 205k miles on it, I still plan to squeeze a little performance out of the engine. The truck itself is a 1991, which to my understanding has the 4L60 non electric transmission. This should prove easy to swap over to a carb'd setup as I'm not the biggest fan of the TBI setup from the factory, nor do I like messing with PCM/ECU stuff. I like old school and ease of tuning, so carb'd is the way to go for me. Performance wise, here's the loadout I'm looking at:
- Summit Dual Plane Intake Manifold
- Holley 4160 Adjustable Float Carburetor (600CFM)
- Holley Carb Kickdown Brackets for TV cable
- Holley Return Style Fuel Pressure Regulator w/ Fuel Pressure Gauge
- Re-purposed TBI fuel lines (set up to retain stock fuel return setup) w/ inline fuel filter
- Summit K1103 Cam and Lifter kit (possibly doing a different setup with COMP Cams, still exploring options)
- COMP Cams Magnum Double Roller Timing Sets
- HEI distributor
- Moroso Spark Plug Wires
- Hedman Long Tube Street Headers
- B&M Transkit
- Motive Gear Full Spool
- Taurus E-Fan setup
- Electric Water Pump Setup (still researching, lots of info from the V8 S10 guys on this)
The reason I'm putting performance last is because I want to get everything else on this truck dialed in and ready to go. If/when the 350 does finally give up, or the transmission gives out, or the rear end explodes (who knows?!), I'll be ready to rebuild with an even better setup. I'd love to have the 350 bored over for a 355, and to have the old set of heads in my shed reworked a bit and installed in the future but if it ain't broke, don't fix it right?
This is going to be a bit of a slow build, which not much progress happening over the months. However, I'll update the thread with small bits and pieces of information when it happens. However, I'm really excited to get back into the full size game and have another 350 truck to mess with again. My old 93 didn't get the love it deserved due to medical issues, so this is my second chance at it. Can't wait to share my progress, thoughts and ideas with you guys in the coming months/years!
