project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

Project orange crush

here's my 76 c20 crewcab 350,4 speed 3+3 that i picked up in February from the 2nd owner. Plans for it are shortbed conversion, 4/6 drop, keeping it 8 lug, completely redo the interior, paint/body work, auto swap and later down the road ls swap,overdrive. This will most likely be a slow progress build over the next couple of years. here's how it looked as I bought it

Re: project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

Interior was in pretty bad shape but all complete and other than a battery splitter unmolested underhood.

Re: project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

So fast foward here a few months I started to buff the orange paint to see if it would shine and sure enough there's still some life left in it. I still have the roof,white and bottom to do but the upper orange is mostly buffed out.

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It now has HD wheels and fairly new tires. And the quadrajet took a dump so i rebuilt an old carter 625 carb I had and topped it off with a cheap edlebrock aircleaner.

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Pics

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Since the interior needed major work I picked up a better dash pad and dash mat. Painted all the door panels and headliner trim. Bought new window cranks, picked up some nice seat belts and had the seats Reupholstered.

Re: project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

Nice work and truck

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Looking good. What did u use to clean/paint the interior? Color? I need to do mine soon.

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those seats look great.

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I used dish soap and a scotch brite pad to clean the door panels and trim. Then just rattle can valspar paint from lowes. I can get a pic of the can and color for you later.

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Thanks

Re: project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

Thankyou

Re: project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

Nice looking rig, nice job on what you have done so far. Will you be adding AC especially for the Old Pueblo. With the way it looks I would keep it stock since their are not to many running around like that. But just my opinion.
Keep posting!!!!

Re: project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

Yes ac is definitely on the list of things to do. I'm not looking foward to 110+ days on leather seats and no ac. I just haven't made up my mind on whether or not I want to peice together a factory system or just buy the vintage air kit. From what I've researched the vintage air kits flow alot more air than the factory systems can anyone confirm this? Thanks

Re: project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

Nice truck and great looking seats.

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Got the dash pad,dash mat and bezal all back in this weekend. Also had it on the lift checking things out and changing the oil. I didnt do much this weekend but it's getting there. Hopefully within the next week or two I'll start the shortbed conversion

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Well yesterday I dove into the tear down. I sold my longbed to a friend who sells at some of the major swapmeets back east. Pulled the bumper and saddle tanks and got it ready to measure.

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Few pics of it without the bed. And got the frame cleaned of all the dirt and rust in the front.

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Next i cut the rivit heads off that held the tailpipe support bracket and got that out of the way. Then we got the frame stripped to bare metal. So we could lay out our measurements.

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I've read just about all the threads online that I could find. After alot of speculation on measuring 6" back from the rear cab mount it put the line right on the rear edge of the front bed bolt hole so we decided to mark 7" back and start there.then we measured 14" back and layed out our lines. We did a z cut method with 7" on each side of the z and a 4" height on each as the frames 8" tall. We used 3 cutting methods started out with the plasma cutter until the tip burnt out and being late at night and no replacement we decided to finish with a 41/2" cutoff wheel and a sawzall. Gotta thank one of my best friends ed port for setting time aside in his busy schedule to let me use his shop as well as help me out with this project.

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And with the z cut we set the frame back together and called it a night. There's a little clean up work to do before we weld it back together and we're going to fish plate the inside of the frame. More photos to come later on today stay tuned.

Re: project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

And with the z cut we set the frame back together and called it a night. There's a little clean up work to do before we weld it back together and we're going to fish plate the inside of the frame. More photos to come later on today stay tuned.

Re: project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

Wow looking good looks like you did dive in head first. Great job on it so far going to be an awesome truck to cruise in when you get it all done and put back together.

Re: project orange crush 76 crewcab build
 

Cool project! I had a chance to purchase a clean 2wd cclb 3 months ago for 2k. Factory 454 with TH400 and AC. I kick myself for not buying it, especially after seeing yours. Nice work!

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So after a long weekend and many late nights I'll start with were I left off. We came in Saturday morning to realize we only cut 7" out of the frame duh. So then we marked another 7" which ended up giving us a straight cut at 14" and not a z cut. So in all the confusion we decided to z cut another 3.5" thinking our centerline would stay the same. Long story short I ended up cutting all the rivits out of the spring hangers,shock mounts and brake line bracket and rolling the axle back 3.5 inches. It created another day and a half of work for me but lesson learned. If you never make mistakes how will you ever learn from them right? So with that said I know have a crewcab shortbed with a 150.5 wheel base.

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So instead of 14" I ended up cutting out 17.5 inches total leaving us with a smaller z cut and area to work with. But here's the frame welded up and the diamond fish plates my buddy free handed on his plasma cutter. There roughly 5x7 and fill in the space left nicely.

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Here's the first test fit of the bed at 147.5" wheelbase obviously when I realized what we did wrong.

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I snapped this pic for you bagged guys who like to lay frame. This is the factory 4 speed granny crossmember plenty of room for 3" exhaust to route under and still tuck up above the frame. I plan on trying to use this same crossmember when I do the 700r4 swap.

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So with the rivets knocked out and the rearend moved back out of the way I stripped the frame to bare metal so I could lay out my measurements and start drilling.

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With the new set of holes drilled and the bare metal spots primed with some green acid etch primer I reassembled the rear suspension. I also drilled out all of the spring hangers and frame holes to 7/16th and used grade 8 hardware with steel lock nuts. The factory rivets were just bigger than 3/8 but smaller than 7/16

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So with alot of different ways of doing this you read alot about cutting 6" behind the cab mount. On my truck 6" put us right on the first set of bed bolt holes and was too close for our comfort so with plenty of frame material we marked 7" behind and started there. You'll also see a silver x in the middle of the crossmember exactly 10.5 " back. That's the factory measurement on the shortbed and we're you would need to drill the 2nd set of bed bolt holes. But because of our mistake my 2nd set of bed bolt holess is the silver line just behind the 2 factory crossmember rivet holes. Also when we had the bed test fitted I believed that the bed crossmember was sitting on the first rivit so I removed them but only the rear rivit would need to have been removed. As the bed crossmember fits fine now. And the last pic shows the 2 x's of were my new bed bolt holes would need to be drilled.

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This is the same pic as above but you'll notice the rear crossmember is now we're my bed bolt holes need to be. I cut the rivet heads in the way to prepare to move the crossmember back there's already a set of identical holes in the frame so moving the crossmember back will be easy. I also plan on installing a blazer ,suburban tank so the crossmember will stay for the moment

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So with all the frame work done and rear suspension done we bolted the bed on and rolled it outside.

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With my driveshaft getting cut down and rebalanced we towed it home. What better way to test your welds then with a frame twist right???!

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Stress test lol

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I also forgot to mention the rear frame issue. Alot of people say cut exactly 6? Well there's not alot back there to begin with and a few people who have actually finished there builds will beg to differ. On my truck initial measurements I was going to cut 3" and test fit. But because of the 17.5 total that I cut out of the front I didn't have to trim anything off the back. Here's the pics of the rear of the frame. Fits perfect

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No trimming required on my truck although I may have to drill new bumper bracket holes.

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I still have to drill new holes for my brake hose bracket,e brake brackets. Shorten and reattach my e brake cables, install my saddle tank and im not looking foward to drilling the new holes for that. We already shortened and reflaired the brake line sorry no pics of that. As I finish those I'll take pics and post them.

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So to recap for future reference and or for any one who is looking to do the shortbed conversion. You measure 7" from the back of the cab mount then mark and cut your 14" whether you straight cut,45° slant Cut or z cut. There should be 10.5 inches from center to center of the first and 2nd set of bed bolt holes. take a minimum of 3" off the back and measure check your fitment. The shortened wheel base should now be 150.5" for a crewcab shortbed if done right your 1st set of bed bolts should drop right in. Your 2nd set will be drilled through the crossmember. The 3rd set of bolts should drop right in and lastly drilling your 4th set of bolt holes.

Our mistake in measurements ended up making my install one of a kind and not the ideal truck to copy from unless you like creating more work and moving the axle back. But the process is still the same I had the opportunity to use my friends shop and we used his lift to support the truck while we cut it but everything we did could be done at home with Jack stands and shims etc. Out of the 3 methods of cutting plasma,cut off wheel and sawzall the sawzall in fact gave us the cleanest smallest cutting gap without having to grind slag from the plasma off.

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So with all that out of the way now I move on with the rest of the truck. I bought a tailgate molding trim off ebay and had a new 1 peice rear glass and new gasket installed yesterday. The new glass really changes the look of the cab.