From Piece to Beast

[redneckjeep87]

The build name is compliments of Bret(Marvilusone)

For starters here is what I'm working with...

~75 Gmc Jimmy
~Reman 350
~TH350/203
~12bolt rear and d44 front with 4.10's
~4 inches of lift (superlift springs up front, blocks in rear)
~36x12.50x15 Buckshot Mudders Grooved and Siped
I have had this truck for around 6 years, where it has been on and off the road. I bought it while i was in high school and at the time all of my friends and I ran mud. I was bitten by the RockBug several years ago and havnt really had anything dedicated to it. This build is going to be a multipurpose rig for a mixture of light crawling, camping, towing, etc.

Here are the parts that have been accumulated for the build as of now....

~93 350 shortblock and serpentine setup from a 3/4 ton conversion van including pwr steering(setup to run hydroboost) higher amp alternator etc
~87 heads redone with new valves etc
~RV cam
~new rockers/pushrods/lifters
~Holley Projection stand alone tbi fuel injection
~dynomax headers wrapped
~TH350 with stage 3 b&m shift kit and 2800stall TCI converter
~twinstick parttime 203
~14bff rear 4.10's will be welded
~8 lug outers for the d44 front
~hydroboost setup from said 3/4ton conversion van
~front f250 leafsprings and shackles(not sure if gonna use or not)
~camaro cable shifter(somewhere around here)

I think thats all the parts for the moment that i can think of.

Several things i am going to do in addition will be....

~replacing the stock steering shaft with a shaft out of an xj
~replacing the column shifter with a cable shifter built into an ammo can
~ deleting the factory ac components(will be for sale if anyone is interested
~histeer/crossover(already have flattops from factory)
~shackle flip to eliminate blocks in rear
~relocate rear leaves to front
~put 63 chev's or the f250's out back
~build some nasty bumpers
~sliders
....more to come as i cant think about all this at once....
This should be a fairly quick build from stage to stage. The stages will be drivetrain first, then axleswap etc, then suspension finetuning etc. The first stage will need to be completed by august 15 so that i can take the gf to the beach in it since i opened my mouth and promised her it would be done in time....she has not been to the beach in 8 or 9 years and never to the OBX.
I will be updating this frequently to show progress...forgive me as the pictures are being taken with a camera phone (nextel i580).
The first couple updates will be quick as Bret and I have been working on it for about a week or so on his days off....thank god for a friend with a driveway and shop haha
I hope to hear some feedback from everyone on here, and hopefully hear about tips and tricks with chevy's/gmc's. Hope yall enjoy the build!

 

[redneckjeep87]

WOOOO PICTURES

Here is how she sat in the backyard for awhile with 33x12.50x15 tsl's

Here she is with 36's....hood off for access to engine and finally got the door that URE claimed off

Pulling the tranny/tcase...thank god for tranny tunnel covers!

Pulling the motor

thats all for now

 

[redneckjeep87]

The engine ready to be tore down in Bret's shop

 

[redneckjeep87]

Original motor had a warped head after several blown headgaskets and at the time just didnt have the money to fix it etc etc.....it sat for awhile before it was messed with agian....heres what it looked like inside.....

cylinder walls are ....one of the pistons on the other side was "cracked" at least until we scraped it and realized it was a high water mark........oh well, this one will sit in my parts room until i have the money to stroke it

Heres one of the new 350

I also went and picked up some head bolts tonight....hopefully we'll have the new one together and ready to roll in a couple days

 

[Bullardbs]

looking good

 

[Spence]

oh well, this one will sit in my parts room until i have the money to stroke it

don't you mean to call it your bedroom?


whenever this is done, im going to need to you come fix my pile so i can wheel.

 

[drkelly]

Sounds like a good plan. The only flaw I see is the gearing. You are not going to like wheeling in rocks with 4.10 axle gears, 36" tires, and 2:1 low range TC gearing. I'd plan for a 203/205doubler down the road. You might consider running a 208/241 for the low range(2.72:1) in the mean time to save money, even though they aren't the strongest TC's.

 

[redneckjeep87]

Sounds like a good plan. The only flaw I see is the gearing. You are not going to like wheeling in rocks with 4.10 axle gears, 36" tires, and 2:1 low range TC gearing. I'd plan for a 203/205doubler down the road. You might consider running a 208/241 for the low range(2.72:1) in the mean time to save money, even though they aren't the strongest TC's.

yea been planning a doubler down the road once i get the money to do it...i also have a crawler that will get started once everything is finished with this and my lowrider........208/241 huh? how much money could be saved? never thought about that as an option.

Adam of course ill help your crippled ass fix your rig....lookin forward to it

 

[drkelly]

208/241 huh? how much money could be saved? never thought about that as an option.

I'm just saying a 208/241 would be a lot cheaper than a doubler if you wanted to go that route just to get better low range while saving up for the doubler. Usually a 208/241 can be picked up for $100-200. You could also buy a clocking ring for it to get better belly clearance. You are going to need to build a stout skid plate for it though. They are cast aluminum TC's and can't take a hit on a rock. The cheapest doubler kit I am aware of is almost $700 (with new shaft), and you still have to buy the 205 which would cost you another $200+, so I was just throwing that option out there for you. Many years back my buddy wheeled a Blazer with a 350/350 combo and 203 case. He had 4.10 axle gears, and 35" tires. He did not like the low range/crawl ratio of that setup for rock crawling.

 

[Spence]

Tabb, he meant a 241 or a 208, not both.

 

[marvilusone]

Tabb, he meant a 241 or a 208, not both.

I just read through this and I was just getting ready to tell him the same thing. I can just see him now getting all excited about a 208/241 doubler for $200.

 

[drkelly]

Yeh! Sorry for the confusion.

 

[redneckjeep87]

well, the two people that really know me called me out on that one lol! yea i definitly thought there was some doubler i had never heard about floating around......oh well...would it really be worth the cash to do it tho? would the difference between 2:1 and 2.71:1 really be worth the trouble???

 

[redneckjeep87]

well, tonight bret and i got the block cleaned and prepped to put he heads on, got he new cam in along with the new lifters. I forgot to take my gasket set down there with me so didnt get much done other than that. Tomorrow ill be going to get timing cover gasket, oilpan gasket, and swap out my stock replacement rockers for some 1.6 ratio rockers. I didnt think to take any pictures either......i did pull all the factory A/C components the other day, and ill sell them if anyone needs it.

 

[redneckjeep87]

Went to Oreillys today and got the gaskets i needed, also tried to swap my oem replacement rockers for a set of 1.6ratio and they said that they could not get them. If the manager,who happens to be a friend of mine, wasnt on vacation i probably could have got them there but......ended up on the phone with summit for a while, went thru 3 different people and found out the cheapest i could get them for was 188.95...screw that. I ended up ordering a set off of ebay for 104 shipped. They are 1.6 ratio 4340 heat treated steel self aligning roller rockers
Finally got down to brets and ended up fighting old oem gasket off of the waterpump and timing cover.....got the heads on and snugged, not torqued yet, got the timing chain and sprockets on, timing cover installed, and put the water pump on it.
I found out that i didnt have an intake for the centerbolt heads im using, it was for the old style. We will be going to pullapart in winston on wed to get a intake, and an oil cooler....that is unless i find someone on here with an intake for it.
I think thats about it for the update tonight....heres a couple pics....the intake in the 2nd pic is not the correct one...its just on there to keep out dust.

^nice and clean!!

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

are you going to go FI while at it?

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f10/center-bolt-heads-old-intake-297224/

 

[redneckjeep87]

yep ive got a used holley projection tbi setup...i just have to find the wiring diagram for it somewhere.....ive known about drilling the old style intake, just not really sure if i want to do it or not

 

[redneckjeep87]

well wednesday night ended up in a cleaning spree around bret's house/shop but we did get some stuff done....got the heads torqued down, put the pushrods in, stuck the intake on there to find out how much we needed to drill the 4 centermost holes, and stuck the tbi setup on there to see what it looked like. I got my new rockers in the mail today thanks to the UPS guy, i was outside and heard him coming and met him at the end of the driveway i was so excited lol. I opened up the box and MAN they smell good...manufactured on may 10 by PRW industries. I also picked up some upper ball joints for the jimmy yesterday.
Heres some pics

^from the shop door

^gotta close up that damn egr hole

 

[redneckjeep87]

Well, the rockers have been soaking, cant hurt for longer than 30 min it just keeps em safe, got an egr blockoff plate made, dual alternator setup made, and trashed an intake. We tried using just a drillbit and wallowing out the holes but that didnt work so we trashed that one. I thankfully had another intake(non egr YAY) and we figured out a good way to do it, but we have to go to lowes today as they were not open last night at 12 lol. I got a couple pieces painted woohoo like thats a big deal.
Today we have alot planned, finishing intake, getting the motor buttoned up FINALLY, slappin the tranny on it, draggin the truck up to the carwash and cleaning it, block off plates on the firewall, cleaning the engine/tranny/tcase....so wish us luck....oh and the windshield has to go in but that wont be today. I will post pictures later

 

[redneckjeep87]

^bret weldin up the egr blockoff...that we are now not using

^drilling on the first intake

^the supervisor lol

^Dynomax headers wrapped up

^serpentine setup with dual alternators

Today we picked up the bits that are going to be used for boring the intake bolt holes, started on that, we got the windshield out, and the old motor mounts out. I fabbed some covers for the holes in the firewall where we took out the heater/ac unit, we removed the swaybar, and drug it up to the carwash and gave it a decent cleaning. Its definitly not spotless, but at least we're not going to get covered in grease now. All in all really didnt get alot of major things done, thought we would get alot more but it was HOT! Oh well every bit is a step in the right direction!

 

[redneckjeep87]

Ended up ditching the 2nd intake....we went to pulapart this morning and picked up an aluminum tbi intake....also picked up a dual fan setup out of a lincoln mark vIII. Spend the day doin little things here and there, cleaned up the engine bay some, mounted the hydroboost setup,sprayed some black in the engine bay and the dash, made yet another egr blockoff plate, and put the engine together. Spend ALOT of the day cleaning parts, i think i used 5 big cans of brake cleaner. Put a new rotor and accel cap on the dizzy, picked up some accel plugs, a new detent cable...and had to replace a freeze plug. Im getting real anxious the closer we get to getting this thing done! ill stop rambling heres some pics

 

[redneckjeep87]

Got the motor/trans/tcase dropped in last night...had to let the air out of the tires and do some pulling/stepping on the tailshaft to get it to go. It finally decided to swing in when the secondary alternator broke off, it was hung up on the engine hoist. My gf and it just about had a disagreement as it came about a foot from her face. The fabbed brackets did not break it was the cast aluminum stock bracket that let loose.
I went to put the tranny mount in and realized i did not have the crossmember as it was still on the old tranny, and the tranny mount i got from one of the ignorant f*%kers at the parts house was 2wd instead of 4x4....oh well....heres some pics

 

[Spence]

Tabb, gonna bump this for you. I'm glad to see that you'[re doing this build right. That engine is way too clean for you!! And do you plan on replacing the passenger door? Huge waste of sheetmetal, if so.

get this mess done, ive been buying parts for mine, I'm gonna start building soon.

 

[redneckjeep87]

I have a new pass door for it, would have to cut the top section off for it to fit(what they did from the factory anyways)...i think im going to run this door as it was really my first wheelin oops....at least anything other than mud that is lol. as soon as i get this fixed im ready to give you a hand on yours. How is the healing process?