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OLD BLUE Build Thread - 71 Chevy

200K views 493 replies 116 participants last post by  oober 
#1 ·
Well, this is the build thread for my new truck.

I TRADED THIS:

Crazyblaze Build Thread

The CraZyBlaZe was pretty much topped out unless I tore it totally apart again to go full buggy. To go wheeling anywhere near KC it is at least a 1.5 hour tow. Most of my friends had gotten out of wheeling/camping or moved away so it just wasn't as fun as it used to be.


One last hug :(




FOR THIS (plus some extra parts):







Specs copied from his sale thread:
1971 Chevy short bed. nice truck but needs some paint and little body work to be super nice. Runs strong, motor and tranny have maybe 300 miles on it.

Dana 44 front, open 4.10
14 bolt ff rear, open 4.10
Turbo 400 custom built for motor and truck from phoenix transmission
Np 205
37"x14" iroks 99% tread
16x10 imitation welds

Engine started life as a 2 bolt 454. now solid roller 496
Bored .060" with torque plate
Decked
line honed
milodon splayed billet maincaps installed
Eagle 4340 forged 4.25 stroker crank
Eagle 4340 forged h-beams 6.385"
SRP forged pistons .230 dome 10.6 to 1 comp. ratio
File fit moly rings
King race bearings
Fully balanced to less than a gram
Milodon hv/hp oil pump
arp main and head studs
Howards solid roller cam and lifters 285/290, Lift .660/.675
Pro comp 320cc rectangle port aluminum heads
Fel pro mls head gasket
Stainless steal roller rockers
gear drive
heavy wall comp cams pushrods
edelbrock vic jr 454r intake
Pro form 950 race carb
Dynoed 565 hp @ 5500 585 ft/lb@ 4500
Made over 550 ft/lb from 3000 up
Hooker competition headers, dual 3" with flowmasters







If you look closely in the bed of the truck above, he included a complete chevy DRW D60. Also included was a full hydroboost unit.
 
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#5 ·
So that brings us to tonight, when we finally got home from Denver where we traded.

Pulled it off the trailer and took the wife for a ride around the block. The truck starts OKish but honestly runs like shit; hissing, popping, and backfiring throughout the whole ride around the neighborhood. You can tell deep down at it's heart it is a race quality engine, but everything that surrounds/connects to it pretty much needs redone. On a side note the tranny works well and shifts firmly, though it is missing the torque converter shroud.

Well, after getting back home I quickly discovered what I had gotten myself into. I didn't get a pic of the two spark plug wires that were burnt through, but I will let the pics do the talking.













 
#7 ·




This is the one that scares me :eek:




Don't get me wrong, I am not dumb. I knew what I was getting into, but DAMN this is going to be a lot of work :D

I want this to be a DO IT ALL vehicle. Reliable daily driver, drive down the highway, take it to mud drags, go to the dunes, and kill some mustangs (If I don't win the race I will just have to lock the hubs and run over them :flipoff2:)
 
#190 ·
To quote my post from back in February, I am still planning on heading the same direction.


I want this to be a DO IT ALL vehicle. Reliable daily driver, drive down the highway, take it to mud drags, go to the dunes, and kill some mustangs (If I don't win the race I will just have to lock the hubs and run over them :flipoff2:)
I plan to have some fun with the H1 tires while they are on there :smokin:


Old vid from the H1 tires on the blazer:



Goals:
Finish H1 beadlocks
Tune/tinker with the engine
Finish D60 locker install and rebuild
Buy 2wd box/high steer
Put locker in rear 14
203/205 doubler
Do 52" spring swap up front and 63" leafs in the rear
Traction bar
Airbumps
Cage
Win :grinpimp:


Maybe those goals are a bit ambitious, but I can dream right :flipoff2:

To be honest, I don't really have a plan. I just like building stuff. I wouldn't be opposed to light wheeling either (as much as the carb can handle with some mods)
 
#9 · (Edited)
That under dash pic looks like my 72. I love it when PO think they know how to re wire. I have pulled at least 200' of junk wires out of my blazer, and its still fucked up.:shaking:

WTF is the copper line going to the fender for?

And are you going to get the factory air working? It's expensive in these old trucks, but worth it.
 
#10 ·
Couple more pics:




Issues:
Engine needs tuning and all new spark plug wires
None of the dash lights work
The turn signals have a mind of their own
The brakes suck
The steering wheel can move 1/4 turn without doing anything
all of the doors/door handles are essentially non-operational
The radio doesn't work (not that it matters, you wouldn't hear it over the engine :smokin:)
The seat is only bolted down on one side :confused:
There are enough electrical gremlins to keep me busy for years :shaking:
It's LOUD!!!!! Kinda cool at first, but for it to be multipurpose, it is doing to have to be tamed significantly.


The initial plans:
Get the engine running right
Clean it, top to bottom (this will make a HUGE difference in itself)
Fix all of the door handles so I can freaking get in and out like a normal person without reaching through the window.
Disk brake the 14 bolt
Drive it.....a lot.....

Later Plans:
...I don't want to give away all my secrets :evil:


It will be a pretty slow build on a small budget and not a lot of time after life,work, and my masters. I will be building everything myself when possible/feasible.
 
#11 ·
Sucks to see you traded the blazer off i loved the build. But i also to understand how it can suck not having buddys to wheel with and having a long haul to wheel. But this thing looks sweet. My dad and i are doing a similar build for my mom, its a 73 long bed and it will be used more like what you plan to use the 71 for, daily driver street truck with lots of hp:flipoff2:. Looking foward to updates.
 
#13 ·
The new owner of crazyblaze must be laughing right now! Get his wiring cleaned up and his motor running right and you've got a good start.

I was into that as well from PO, so I ripped it all out and am gonna try to do a nice clean wire job on my own without a kit or stock harness. Gonna be hard and I alot of work but hopefully will pay off. I am interested to see how you tackle your wiring. Yes and I will buy a quiality fire extinguisher for the first test drive:flipoff2:
 
#16 ·
Nice truck. I'll be following this for sure. I'm building something similiar.
I showed pics of the crazyblaze to a buddy with a blue DD blazer and told him thats how he should build it. Sad to see it go.
I'm in a similiar boat. Sold my 82 K10 on 38s 6 years ago after the close wheeling stopped and friends all quit. I bought a 72 last summer. It was originally a 2wd 72 C10 longbed custom deluxe. I bought it with 44/60 350/350/203 3.73s. The PO bought it with 44/60 400sb/465/205 4.56s. Its a mess under the dash.

Definitely not pirate, but there's some info over here.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/index.php
 
#25 ·
Wow :smokin: You shouldn't have shown me that link.....

wow, i just spied the cut off pedal. what a mo-ron!!! those things just unbolt, cant take more that 5 mins to take it out, why the f--k cut it!! :shaking: i think i'd seriously yard that engine back out and go back over it, awfull expensive piece of iron if he put as much care into it as he did the rest of the truck. i got confidence in you though to put everything right.
My gut feeling is that the engine was built by the machinist, since he had an engine dyno done. It would be a huge task to take that thing out and rebuild it....
 
#20 · (Edited)
well, at least it's a good start, clean body, looks like the guy that you traded it took couldn't fix a sandwich, let alone a truck. so this is to him if he sees this thread--- :flipoff2: . who in the hell spends that much on a lower end, block and heads and doesn't even get plug wire holders for those $80+ dollar wires. lets not even get started on the bungie cord battery hold down, the water cooler tubing used as trans cooler piping and the frankenstien wiring. well at least it looks like it ended up with the right owner who will make her purr again. keep us updated. :smokin:


edit: oh yeah, and that thing needs a third pedal.
 
#26 ·
For your information i make a excellant rueben!:flipoff2:

And i file fit the rings, stretched the rod bolts, and measured and set all the clearances of the engine. oh and assembled it. So yeah, i built it. But i did have the machine shop (Topend Performance) do the machine work and dyno it. And i got the dyno sheet for you too now. It is corrected numbers though, i was wrong when i said they were uncorrected.

Basically its a race engine attatched to a classic chevy truck. I didnt do the body work, wiring or cutting off clutch pedals. I bought the truck and put the engine tranny and transfer case in it with big plans of fixing the rest of it.

I look forward to seeing it finished
 
#21 ·
hahahaha, I'll take fall for the bungie :laughing:

There was nothing on it to begin with. I was afraid it would fall into the engine bay on the tow home.

I bought some new 90* plug ends and two heat shields on my way home from work tonight. I know it is not technically the correct way to do it, but I am not going to spend 80 bux on another set of wires right now. I just want to get it running good so I can go piss the neighbors off some more :evil:

If you look closely in the under-dash picture, it looks like the third pedal used to be there, somebody just cut it off with a sawzall.

Once I get the new plug wire ends on and get'er runnin I will have to take a video. This thing is stupid loud :grinpimp:
 
#22 ·
wow, i just spied the cut off pedal. what a mo-ron!!! those things just unbolt, cant take more that 5 mins to take it out, why the f--k cut it!! :shaking: i think i'd seriously yard that engine back out and go back over it, awfull expensive piece of iron if he put as much care into it as he did the rest of the truck. i got confidence in you though to put everything right.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Well, I got some time to work on it yesterday and fixed a lot of problems.

1. There was 1 ground wire from the alternator bracket to the battery. It now has 3. Frame to Engine, Engine to Batt, and Body to Batt.

2. The thumb handle on the drivers door handle was missing. I ran down to LMC Truck since it is 10 minutes away :)smokin:) and bought a whole new handle kit for 30 bux.

3. I put clips on all of the window cranks and inner door handles so they don't fall off every time I close the door (35cents each)

4. Got the radio working. There was a separate wire going from the radio to the battery that was laying in the fender. All I did was hook it up.

5. Installed a quick disconnect on my battery. This way it wont burn to the ground in the driveway and take my house with it.......

Put new windshield wipers on. Normally I wouldn't include a picture of something this mundane but I was impressed.




Took the seat out after removing the 1 bolt that was holding it in :eek:


After power washing it


 
#28 ·
The radio is partially functional now. Everything works until you turn it up over 1/3 volume then the amp cuts out. Wonder if this has something to do with the custom ground wire :confused:



Bonus wires:




I need some help from you guys with the carb. It currently has a Proform 950 on it with no choke or provision for a choke. I haven't tried THAT hard, but it has been 30's-40's out lately and this thing refuses to start.

Has this carb on it: http://www.proformparts.com/product...50_CFM_b_MECHANICAL_SECONDARY/category_id/181

So my question is, I want to put a "more normal" carb on this thing so it will freakin start without a team of people. I have been looking at street avenger 870's. Would this one work well, or is there something that would be more suited to my application like a truck avenger. Problem is the biggest truck avenger is a 770 CFM if I remember correctly.

This carb: http://www.holley.com/data/types/pictures/SA_IntoZOOM.jpg
 
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