HUNTER'S 1978 GMC C15 SIERRA BUILD THREAD
After we cleaned up the rear end and got the flip kit and all the new suspension stuff installed we were ready to turn the truck around and get started on the front end.
We actually knocked it out so fast I forgot to take too many photos.. here is what we had started with.
Pretty straight forward, I'm sure a lot of guys on here have seen something similar and probably even worse. Parts started flying off pretty quickly and I kept drooling over the shiny new stuff. Being able to toss away the old stuff is something I wish I could do more often as I have had my fair share of sanding, cleaning, degreasing, priming, and painting.
The old stuff came off surprisingly easy. My dad has always said that this truck is surprisingly "rust free" (not sure if he's been proved wrong yet or not..) and a lot of the bolts come off like they were tightened yesterday.
The shiny stuff went on pretty quick and I was really excited. We quickly got the new tubular control arms, springs, spindles, and everything else bolted up to the truck. The steering took a bit longer than anticipated but we got it done with some wall-eyed alignment.
Once it was all on there and I tightened up the wheels, I had the honors of lowering the truck down for the first time. As I said previously I don't have much of a history with cars (I was 18) let alone any tools. I gave the jack too much movement and Blue dropped down and ate the jack.
My dad and I were pretty surprised at how low it actually was. I was super excited but just amazed at how different it looked. I later decided this was too low due to the angle on the control arms but WOW! It looked stupid and I was proud!
...Was proud, that feeling didn't last too long. Remember those long tube headers? On the first test drive they were on the ground.. like, really on the ground.
Essentially bottomed out on the headers and spun the tires on the driveway.. and on the way back onto the driveway we bottomed out the new control arms. Have to do the "Honda Crawl" over any bumps.
Apart from that, open headers were awesome! I had never driven anything with no exhaust, let alone a small block Chevy.
Had our neighbor help awkwardly waddle the bed back ontop of the frame and Blue was looking really good. I really liked how it turned out. The truck looked mean and had a great stance.