I took the plunge, sold my car, and decided to buy what I thought was a turn key trail ready truck...but the more I look, the more things I find that need to be adressed. :S
Truck specs:
1980 chev 1/2 ton 4X4 (obviously)
350/np205
"old school" D44, no manual hubs, "old school locker" (yaaaa I have no idea...)
14bolt 10.5" FF with limted limited slip or posi (both diffs have 4.10's)
6" suspension lift
39.5" x 18" boggers (front pair are 16.5" rims, rear are 15" rims)
I was told that the front shocks were toast and were tossed but he said any Rancho 5000 type shock for a 6" lift should work...but Rancho doesn't offer a 6" lift shock, so I don't know what to do and the parts stock is asking me for a part number.......
Will any brand of 6" lift shock work or do I need the specific brand to match the rest of the installed lift? If so, how cna I tell what brand of lift I have?
(I know very little about lift kits)
He said there is also a modified pair of rear shackles (they have a 1/4" piece of steal use as a brace) for a shackle flip to get rid of the blocks in the back and it'll help with the pinion angle.
However, I've never installed/removed a shackle before...
Do I lift the rear end, use jackstands on the frame, let the rear diff hang, punch the rivets out after removing the heads and simply bolt these other shackles...? or is there more that needs to be done so I'm not catching a leaf sping in the teeth or pulling my hair out after hours of stuggling?
Will I have to shorten my driveshaft if the pinion is moved up and forwad slightly?
Do I need to flip the front at the same time?
Finding a local (northern Alberta) chev/gm Dana60 front diff on Kijiji is getting me no-where.
The only one I found is $2400 and doesn't want to seperate the pair.
He's spent 3K into the rear diff and 2k into the front. New everything, locked, cocked and and ready to wheel.
Is there anything else I can use that's strong enough while keeping my cost as low as possible?
Lastly, the stock 350 seems very under powered for the larger tires (barely enough power to stay in third on the backroads) so I'm going to install the 99 vortec 454 I have into this truck as with this cam:
http://www.competitionproducts.com/G...roductinfo/M1/
When I contacted the company about the cam, they recommended I go with a set of 454HO-502 valvesprings.
However, I read on another forum:
"Be aware that you will need two sets (16 total pieces) of valve rotator eliminator shims; and that you may need MINOR grinding on the intake guide-to-spring seat radius in order to get the shims to drop all the way into the spring pockets.
The grinding of the valve guides is SO INCREDIBLY MINOR that a sixth-grader with adult supervision could do it.
Either way, it's going to be TOTALLY OBVIOUS. One set of guides (the exhausts???) is pressed into the head casting. There is NO problem getting the rotator eliminators to fully seat, because there is no radius at the bottom of the guide where it meets the spring pocket--the material of the head is actually scalloped away. The other guides are a machined part of the head casting, and two guides on each of my heads (as in--NOT all of them!) needed to be touched with a Dremel to remove a burr preventing the rotator from fully seating in the spring pocket. If the rotator FULLY seats--you don't need to grind."
Sadly, I have no idea what he meens...both terminology and description.
Can someone break this down for me into lame-man's terms?
Pics with some lables would really help me understand so I'm not screwing up a perfectly good set of heads.
And yes, I'm a total chicken for not diving into this stuff and learning the hard way!
Thanks for your help