Rusty76 and his '76
 

I decided that I would finally start a build thread for my old pick it up. I've been saying I'm going to start one any given day, well today it is the day. My truck is a '76 Chevy Silverado 1/2 ton shortbed fleetside pickup. I've had it for about 18 years or so. I've owned a bunch of vehicles while having this truck but never considered selling it. Well that's not true I did one time think about it but changed my mind quickly.....lol.

A little history......My uncle bought this truck in the early 80s during his first marriage. It had a 350 4bbl in it at that time. He drove it daily and used it daily. It was in pretty good shape at the time. He was really proud of it. It was and still is one of the coolest trucks I'd ever seen at that age.

After the first marriage went astray my uncle sold the truck to my mother for one dollar so he wouldn't loose it. He was an alcoholic. My mom drove it for several years and it stayed in her name till I got it in '97.

During this time the truck changed hands from my mother back to my uncle for his second marriage. He drove it a bunch and used it like a truck. The 350started smoking and giving trouble so the hunt was on for a new engine. My uncle met a man with a '72 Impala that he was going to make into a demolition derby car and he wanted to sell the motor in it. He told my uncle it was a 350. My uncle bought the motor and brought it to my moms house. We put it in the garage and my uncle inlisted the help of my other uncle to help him change it. I was 14 at the time this happened. My other uncle didn't show so my uncle and myself changed engines in our three wall shack with a come along and lots of work. We started on Saturday morning and by late Sunday afternoon it was running.

It ran real good and he let my mother drive it to the church which was about two miles from the house. We took off down our street towards the church. She ran like a champ. On the way back my uncle told my mom, put your foot in it. It threw us to our backs and off we were.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Once we got the truck back together it sat in the driveway for about a week to button up some details. Late one afternoon we were working on it trying to fix a starter problem. Our neighbor Jr. had came over to see what we were doing. My uncle was under the truck messing with the starter. He told me to start it and I did. Next thing I knew the truck was on fire..... The hot wire had laid across the manifold and melted. Started arcing and caused the fire. My uncle yelled, "Disconnect the battery!" My neighbor disconnected the battery and my uncle proceeded to put out all the little ground fires that were carrying on. Never seen so many little fires in one spot.

At the time of replacing the engine in the truck our state had changed emission laws and our county was one of the few at the time were it had to be smog tested. There was no smog equipment on the truck. There wasn't a cat, pump or anything. It even had points on it and not a HEI. This truck was an odd bird.

My uncle unknowingly took the truck down to the garage to get it inspected and they laughed at him and told him what he needed to do to get it inspected.
Well 300 bucks later it had a cat, pump and all the necessary stuff to make it pass smog only one problem though, the engine that was thought to be a 350 was actually a 400. This would lead to numerous problems along the way..

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

After the second marriage went south again. Drinking will kill a marriage fellas. My uncle moved down the street from my mom. He was single again. At the time I just started a new job and had just a little bit of money saved up. My uncle wanted to get rid of the truck. He was in need of something that got better gas mileage. Me being young and dumb I bought it from him. He told me I'd probably sell it and that it wouldn't last long. Well how many years later? I bought the truck, put it in my name and drove the wheels off of it. Ever since I bought this truck I've always had a truck. I'm not much of a car guy and to be honest I'm not much a motorcycle guy either. I bought this truck to drive and fix up. I made a few changes but not many. I really wanted to have a hot rod pickup actually. But things changed....

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

So in 2004 I parked the truck. He was getting old and gas prices were going through the roof. I need something myself that got better gas mileage as well. Plus the 400 started smoking pretty bad even though it ran like a singer sewing machine. I never really had any big problems out the truck other than typical stuff really. I enjoyed driving my truck a lot. It was very fast and would surprise a lot of people.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

So what are the plans for my old truck you ask? Well I've got ten million. But honestly this is were it is at. In two years I'll be 40. Small fry to some but for me and the truck that will be something. My dream, bucket list is to drive my truck to the beach for my 40th birthday. It's not a super huge dream like going to Alaska but for me it means something. So my plans are like this....

First phase will be getting it back on the road. This means putting a engine in it. Going through the worn out suspension and brakes. Replacing lots of worn out parts and just getting it road worthy. This will be the time when I lower it as well. I plan on a static drop. More than likely a 4/6 drop. I want it low but not so low I can't drive it to work. I don't need a carport queen. I'll fix what matters most. Update the things that will make it drive and run better than before. I want it to be safe and fun. I'm keeping it pretty basic.

The second phase will be most of the body work and other odds and ends. Time will tell what I do here. I might bag it. I might just drive the wheels off of it and say screw it. Either way I'm going to have fun. I hope to hit a bunch of shows and cruise ins with my old pick it up.

I plan on my truck being a little different and have several cool ideas for it as well. So if you like an old truck and just want to read an average joe build this will be it. Note: This is going to be a rather slow build. So be patient with me. I'm not restoring this thing I'm going to be enjoying this thing.... Have fun.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

So you may be asking yourself why do we need an engine? Well there isn't one. My friend and I pulled the engine five years ago and tore it completely apart. Thought I was going to build it. But I let it sit torn apart in friends garage thirty miles from my home. I lost my gumption. So right at the moment I'm not sure if I will rebuild the 400 or go another route. Either way I'm going to do something. Rather I stick a 4.3 in it, an inline six or another
V8.

I should say this I plan on this truck being pretty basic. There won't be a ton of chrome or billet. It'll be more paint (spray can) detail than anything. I hope to keep this within a certain budget. I don't do credit so if I don't have it to get it I probably won't get it. Paycheck to paycheck with a simple build plan. I'll have my plans more ironed out soon.

There will more stories on the trucks history, because it's had a really interesting history. It's all apart of the ride.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Cool, looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Thanks hope to get going soon.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

It's about time! Alex and I can't do ALL the work!!

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Seeing that you have one of the best threads on the board (your budget thread-I'm broke like everyone else) I am really interested in seeing what you do with this.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Oh man you guys are killing me here. Setting the bar high an all. I am going to do my best. I hope some day my truck will world renowned like kustombrads you know, lol. Till then he'll be basic. Thanks for the kind words.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Thanks for compliment! It means a lot to a little fella like me.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Looks like a pretty solid truck rusty....looking forward to your build! Always enjoy hearing the stories behind it all too.

I like the plan you have for it. I vote inline 6 for the motor choice.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

I've been back and forth on the inline. I love the simplicities of them but I like a V8 too. Who knows. I'll probably end up going with the 400. It comes down to my budget as well. I'm ironing that out right now. Yeah she looks solid but he's rusty for sure. Will you be going to the Autofair? I want to go this year really bad. I don't know that I will get to go or not. Thanks for checking in.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Good luck with your build! I'd recommend going with the 400. I've been pretty pleased with mine.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

I hear ya on the budget. I'd go with whatever I had that was readily available for as cheap as possible!

I will be at the Autofair Friday-Saturday. I was literally going to ask if you were going as well when I saw you had replied. We will be in the green field, row AAG space 34. Not driving my 66 up this year though. I'll PM you my phone number just in case you go. Would love to meet up and chat!

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Did it have a manual trans in it at some point? It looks like it has a manual trans brake pedal.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Funny you ask that. I've wondered the same thing for years. It has manual brakes. Don't know if that has anything to do with it. I'll be diging deeper.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

You see two great minds....lol.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

So for years I've been studying different squares that I like. Ones that inspire me just a bit. This truck in particular has really inspired me with its' stance and look. The truck belongs to bigblock73 on here or used to. There's a build for it and it is really worth your time to just look over it. It isn't very long but the pics make it worth your while. It is listed in my other thread as well.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

This is another truck that I absolutely love. The stance works and wheels look right. Unless you've been living under a rock I'm sure you've seen it before on here. One of the best square builds ever. It was put together by Tx Firefighter. There's so many trucks on here that I like and I don't just stop with '73-'87 trucks either. Man so many....

As you can see so far I like the beater look. And pretty much that'll be how my ole truck is going to look. I can't see a frame off restoration for this truck. Just a nice clean up and build. We'll see.....

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

I've been super busy here lately and haven't had a whole lot of time to do much of anything at all. Rain for one solid week last week and put a damper on things and then this week it was catch up....but coming soon some updates. Stay tuned.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Well, here's to drier weather.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

Thanks.

Re: Rusty76 and his '76
 

I've been busy with work here lately and other family things to be able to get anything done. Hopefully this week I'll get something done. We will see.....Told you it was going to be a slow build.