[Conundrum]

Figured I would start a build thread, and maybe just maybe it would help to motivate me to get out to the garage and get busy more often. Kind of bad timing I know with winter coming soon but it's worth a shot anyway.

So i'm starting with a 74 GMC long bed that had a bump setup on the bed when I got it

My dad and I removed it

And it sat for awhile and I started to gather some more parts. I picked up a short bed from a guy in texas, and some steel 20" dodge spare wheels (that I was going to have changed to from the dodge 5X5.5" bolt pattern to the GM 5X5") but I traded those to a friend of mine for a set of the same wheels that had been powder coated a medium metallic gray, redrilled rotors for the front and adapters for the rear.


I was originally going for an old school kind of look but slightly modern, was even going to run the GMC hubcaps when I found 2 more. I was going to drop it real low or bag it, but my ideas have changed "slightly" but i'll get to that. I had a 350/700R4 out of an 86 suburban that I had picked up for parts off another friend. I actually traded that engine and trans to a guy for the pontiac engine and trans that I am now going to use. I picked up some drop spindles for a good price a few months back, but no real work had gotten done til about a month ago when I started cutting up a stock front crossmember for 1.5" of drop.


I am working on it during my breaks and lunches at work so my progress isn't quite as fast as I would like, but I have access to all the tools needed there.

My change of plans actually came from the ideas I had put together for my 74 Chevy project, which due to this truck those have also changed a little but that's another story.

I am wanting to build a truck that I think may have been, had people been into trucks in the same way back in the early 70s (which was a few years before I was born) that some of us are now. I want to do what I think GM or a dealership/tuner may have done, much like the Silverado SS or a Joe Gibbs chevy truck, Dodge Ram SRT10, Ford Lightning or what everelse may come to mind. I know that dodge had the little red express in the late 70s, but that was a dodge. My thing is what if GMC and Pontiac had teamed up and built a truck, or a couple guys at a dealership had the crazy idea to team a Pontiac engine with a GMC pickup. I came to this in part because my first car was a 78 Firebird with the 400/350 combo, and I loved that car even with it's rust holes and few small missing parts. I have regretted selling it since the day I sold it.

I figure that either scenario that may have possibly built this truck, they would have borrowed quite a few parts from the Pontiac bin. Being my first car was a Firebird, I will be borrowing mostly from Firebird/Trans Ams.

This will be a very slow moving thread, but I hope to stick with it.

[Conundrum]

Got the crossmember welded up and have started cleaning it up to be powder coated black. I don't neccessarily think that this would have been a mod that would have been done in the early/mid 70s, I think the truck would have stayed at stock level but i'm throwing in a little bit of my own style at it much like people do to there rides.

This will make the front 1.5" lower.

I don't plan to build this on 70s tech, there will be some new tricks to it but i'm planning for most of them to be tastefully hidden. Some may jump out like a slap in the face, like the much lower ride height.

[Conundrum]

Got my crossmember powder coated yesterday, thought I would share.

[3 Chiefs]

This is something I have thought about doing myself. I'm not sure which years they had them, but you could get a Pontiac engine in a GMC truck. I think it woud be cool to draw up a few different versions of a Pontiac split grill in place of the GMC grill. Maybe someone can Photoshop a few pictures. I actually wanted to remove all the GMC badging and replace it with the Pontiac name. Wouldn't a big white PONTIAC decal across the tailgate look cool? I'll be watching this thread.

Paul

[Ollie]

The Pontiac engine was installed in GMC trucks from 1955 to 1959

[Conundrum]

Originally Posted by 3 Chiefs

This is something I have thought about doing myself. I'm not sure which years they had them, but you could get a Pontiac engine in a GMC truck. I think it woud be cool to draw up a few different versions of a Pontiac split grill in place of the GMC grill. Maybe someone can Photoshop a few pictures. I actually wanted to remove all the GMC badging and replace it with the Pontiac name. Wouldn't a big white PONTIAC decal across the tailgate look cool? I'll be watching this thread.

Paul

I had thought about doing something like that for the grille also, I found a couple grilles on ebay for I think a 73 bird that were going cheap and had thought about picking them up to get the look right. Now that it's starting to get cooler here in KS I may get around to sketching my vision.

Originally Posted by Ollie

The Pontiac engine was installed in GMC trucks from 1955 to 1959

I was thinking it was the 50s

[Conundrum]

Haven't gotten much done lately, except for cleaning the blazer gas tank crossmembers up and having them powder coated. And buying some parts to connect my steering column up to the box once the front suspension mods are done. I have mostly been trying to find some more parts to help me create this thing. Seems everything I find is 100s of miles away, seems to me that most pontiac fans are in the northeast & west. I was looking around on craigslist today and found an ad for a car with a 455 for sale for $500 obo, sadly after black friday I am once again broke.

But I hope to have my frame shortened and the suspension mods all done by the end of december. Then start working on getting the engine in the truck, but I think I may have my mind set on a manual trans now instead of the auto, which will set me back a little. Finding a bell housing I can afford may not be the easiest thing to do, i've got some extra 73-87 chevy/gmc truck parts listed locally so I can possibly get the cash or trade for the stuff i'm looking for.

I will post more pics as I get some actual work done.

[3 Chiefs]

Maybe we have some much better photoshoppers on this forum. Sorry, I was just playing around.

Paul

[Conundrum]

Yeah it looks a little odd.
Maybe if it included the chrome trim around the grille and the headlights, something like an endura bumper in a way with the same basic style grille as the 71-2 GTOs, one piece and painted to match.

[mike nixon]

Originally Posted by 3 Chiefs

Attachment 226584


Maybe we have some much better photoshoppers on this forum. Sorry, I was just playing around.

Paul

No offense but that's a good way to ugly up one of the best looking trucks of that era.

The GMC grille in the 73/4's is good looking as it is. I'd look more at changing badging and interior than modding the exterior much if it were mine.

it's your project, your vision, your goal tho.

[Conundrum]

Originally Posted by mike nixon

No offense but that's a good way to ugly up one of the best looking trucks of that era.

The GMC grille in the 73/4's is good looking as it is. I'd look more at changing badging and interior than modding the exterior much if it were mine.

it's your project, your vision, your goal tho.

I agree, the 73/4 GMC grille is definitely the best looking one in my opinion. But it never hurts to check out other ideas, and i'll most likely keep my grille but I will need to find another one, mine has a piece missing where the hood release is.

[Conundrum]

Haven't got much done lately. I'm currently trying to pick up a saginaw 4spd and bellhousing that came out of a 74 GTO. And I think i'm going to use my current 400 in my crew cab dually project and find a pre 76 400 or maybe a 455 for this one, just will have to wait til I can free up some extra $$.

[Conundrum]

Well I never heard back from the guy on the 4spd, so I guess i'm back to most likely using the 200-4R I have unless I happen across a 4spd before that time comes.

But it's warming up so I should be able to make some progress on this project soon.

[Conundrum]

I finally made some more progress, haven't gotten to installing the engine yet but I feel it's a good update to my thread.......

Marked....

Cut....

Welded back together....

Was even able to put the bed back on to see how I did, thanks to the help of a friend....

With no engine and the stock suspension, you can tell it really needs to be lowered....


Well that's all for now, I hope to have another good update in about 2 weeks. We shall see how it goes....

[Conundrum]

Wow, i've done some work since i've been on here last....

OK, I removed the front clip to Z the frame....



I then cut the frame off....



And then started to reassembly, I moved the frame up 2" and forward 1"....




I then removed the stock front suspension to install my sectioned crossmember and drop spindles, figured while I was at it I would go ahead and chop 1" off the coils for a total of 8" of drop....




Through one of my good fenders on to see where I was at with no weight on the front end....


Then I got the engine just sitting in there, and took another pic of the stance....



I do have the rear dropped now, but I have to find some U-bolts that are the right length and i'm going to be swapping the rear axle soon so i'll wait to share any pics or details on that. I did see that I have some work to do to my motor mounts to get them to work.

[Conundrum]

Done some more work.

Figured out how to use the stock motor mounts without modifying them....




Also got a rearend from a 95 caprice cop car with disc brakes and got it put in on top of the leaf springs....




I also learned that 4wd leaf springs have less of an arch to them, so I used some I had for some extra drop. Probably around 2" of drop, i'm not 100% sure yet because it's currently resting on the bumpstops. 4wd leafs are under the 2wd leafs....



My frame horns are dropped now....



And I set a few parts on and took a few pics. Also discovered a few things to do to get some of the parts to work in their new homes that I need to get to before it gets to cold....

[pontiacjeff]

very cool truck project. shoulda done a dually!

[Conundrum]

Thanks.

Haha, yeah I thought of that and I still can, i've got a crew cab dually too.

[Conundrum]

It's not much, but I did something.

Cut the 2 pieces off the frame for radiator/support clearance and seen I also have to clearance the radiator support to clear the steering box as well....





Luckily this radiator support isn't much good so it'll allow me to get the clearance I need and then I can figure out how to do my good one so it looks good.

Got another center cap on....


Also got some more pics of the truck....



I think it may be the angle, but I really like the second pic of the truck.

[CINNAMON111]

ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO I DROPPED A 400 PONTIAC INTO MY FULL SIZED '73 CHEV, CREW CAB. BUT, OF COURSE, I DID MINE DIFFERENT THAN IS SHOWN IN THIS SERIES OF PIX. NO, I'M NOT SAYING MY ROUGHT WAS BETER - JUST DIFFERENT.
I STARTED WITH THE 400-PONTIAC ENGINE AND T-400 TRANSMISSION BOLTED TOGETHER AND BOLTED SOLID AT THE EXISTING TRANSMISSION CROSS MEMBER. THE COMPLETE ASSEMBLY WAS STILL HANGING (AT THE FRONT) FROM THE CHERRY PICKER. I WAS THEN ABLE TO ADJUST THE ENGINE SLIGHTLY IF NEED BE. I THEN DRILLED A 3/8 THICK PIECE OF PLATE STEEL TO MATCH THE 3 CHEVY-FRAME BOLT HOLES, BOLTED THE PLATE TO THE FRAME. I LOWERED THE ENGINE AND MARKED / DRILLED THE RUBBER PONTIAC ENGINE MOUNT HOLES. SINCH THE PONTIAC ENGINE MOUNTS / HOLES WERE LOCATED AFT OF THE CHEV FRAME CROSS MEMBER, EVERY THING CLEARED INCLUDING THE GTO HEADERS.