New Guy 84 Ex Cab Project

[Dolemite]

Here's my bucket. 84 ext cab Tahoe. 2.8/auto. I jokingly call this thing the CraigsliS10 because literally everything has come from craigs or other local classifieds. I picked up the truck in September of 06 for $600... got pulled over twice driving the 15ish miles back home. It's nothin pretty to look at, and it wouldn't pull a greased dick out of a lard bucket, but I'd never had any trouble from it. Started every time, ran cool, and got me where I was going. After about a year the 2.8 decided that it liked me better as a pedestrian, so out it came. In it's place, a junkyard fresh Camaro 3.4. I drove that little truck all over. Missouri to lubbock, lubbock to waco, the lil guy did it.

I've always wanted an S10, and after finally getting mine I had no idea where to start. Sooooo many ideas for it, but it seemed everything needed to be done before anything else could be done. You know what I'm talkin about... About a 6 mos after I got it, I decided to lower it. Rather than spend a lot of money, I hacked it with 3" blocks in back and heated coils up front (GASP!). I wanted to make sure I liked it being low before I dropped money to do it right.

Last summer a deal pretty much fell in my lap to get this thing some better motivation. A friend of mine wanted something that was better on fuel than his bigass ford van, so I set out scouring Craigslist. Couple days and a few dozen picture texts, and an 85 longbed with a blown(up) 350/th350 was delivered to his driveway. He got my 3.4/700r, and I got the v8 goodies. I've been tinkering here n there with my truck, and now that I have everything I need I can get back to it.

I've tossed the heater box and patched those holes, cleaned up the framerails and suspension, and gutted the interior (red, BLEH!). The dash received a center channel speaker on top, as well as the hole where the climate controls once lived. It now has a shiny coat of black and is back in the truck. Eventually the whole interior will be black with carbon fiber inserts (painted to look like CF, anyway) but that's for another day. Here's a link to what I've accomplished thus far. Thanks for lookin, and I look forward to hearing what yall have to say. Don't be shy, I can take it.

http://photobucket.com/84Bucket

[85Monster]

Truck looks good, but you should move the pictures here:P

[Dolemite]

Let's get some pics up, eh?

The day I brought it home.


Stereo install that evening


Rust free bed & hood


New shoes & a 3/3(ish) drop

[Dolemite]

Initiate teardown sequence


Error 404: wimpy V6 not found


After some quality time w/ the wire wheel


Scored for super cheap:

[Dolemite]

Slow day at work, repainted inner fenders


My truck IS my engine stand. Got the rails cleaned up a bit...


Firewall patches made & installed


Firewall dolled up and brake booster/master back in

[Dolemite]

Center channel has been added in both the top of the dash and in the spot where the climate controls once lived. Fresh coat of krylon. Didn't wanna put a lot of expensive materials into it yet, wanna make sure I like it. Yanno.


Dash inserts painted up


Dash inserts with converted a/c vents


Closeup

[Dolemite]

Stealth tweets covered (old tshirt material) and installed.


Gettin there!


That's it for now. I've got the dash pretty much back together now. Motor is apart and should be getting picked up in the morning. The bores are really clean, so it'll probably just get a good douching and a deglaze/hone. Thanks for lookin!

[85Monster]

I can tell already this is going to be a good build. Keep it up man

[Dolemite]

Welp, I got a bit done today. My buddies from the machine shop came by to check out what I've got engine-wise and what all needs done.

Last weekend I scored an early 4bolt 350 (minus heads) for $100 plus a Fosgate P3 12" (that I got for free a few years ago). Cylinders have great looking virgin bores that will only need a bit of honing, and found out the crank is steel (yay!). So off the 4bolt went to get cleaned up and ready to build. We went over my heads, and all they need is something to bolt them onto, so I commenced cleaning them up. I then sprayed some aluminum engine paint on them. I LOVE the way aluminum heads (as opposed to engine color) look! Maybe one day I'll be able to afford some nice aluminum heads, but for now, these will do just fine. I blasted the once gold Holley intake, and shot a bit of aluminum on there too, for good measure. It'll be getting clearcoat maybe tomorrow.

After all was said and done, I just HAD to do a quick mockup to see how everything will come together. I built model cars avidly until about 2 years ago, and I have a habit of treating the level of detail in my 1:1 motors as I do my 1:25 ones. I'm really looking forward to getting this thing together. This is my first v8 S-truck, but the bug has bitten hard, and I'm already planning more!

Quick teaser...

Yay-ee-YAAYY!


Thanks for lookin, comments/criticism always welcome!

[TN-Noma]

Sweet project man, love the ex cabs, and the old school interior is cool as well.

[littledevil4802]

looks good. what are your future plans for it. bag, more static, street/strip truck?

[Dolemite]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Immediate plans are just to get it back together and driveable. It's a pain in the ass hauling my toolbox or compressor in the back seat of the saturn, and it's kinda fail. Lol.

When I first got the truck the plan was to stuff a smallblock in it and lower it. Clean up the body and paint it... still undecided on color, leaning towards black. Eventually I'd like to rip it completely apart and go nuts. Custom frame, bags, all that stuff. I've been lurking around this site for about a year now, and have seen a lot of everyone's work. I've gotten sooo many ideas from what I've seen on this forum that I'll almost HAVE to build 3 or 4 of these trucks to try everything I'm curious about.

The next big step for this truck will be the suspension. Upper and lower control arms, springs, spindles... You know. I'd like to get my hands on some zq8 gear, namely swaybars. There's a 9' ford in the plans out back. My dad has had this thing sitting behind his shop for as long as I can remember, and he told me the other day that if I wanted it, I could come load it up. It's a 4.11 open diff from a 70something pickup. So I'll get a crash course on narrowing and rebuilding a rearend.

Everything is pretty much determined by my provisions here at the house, and right now I haven't got much. As I replace my compressor with something better and as I acquire a welder, things should start to get fun. Cheers!

[Dolemite]

Man, tough crowd...

Picked up some 3" belltechs this morning from forum member blackedout26 (thanks bro!), got em installed as soon as I got home. Then I decided to put the dummy block in the truck and mock everything up to check clearances, stance, etc. Looks like everything fits nicely with plenty of wiggle room (although I may massage the firewall a wee bit in the dizzy area so I can slide the motor back a lil more). I'm hoping to have some better updates soon, keep checkin back!

[Dolemite]

**echo**