78 GMC caballero (elky love)

[the ghoul]

Sorry, just found this forum so here is a project mid stream.
I traded off my 59 edsel for one of my dream cars this 78 caballero.
Never see some one say that eh?
Basically the deal is all growing up my dad had an 80 elcamino (v6 bench black exterior tan interior)
When I was 14 I was given it to start wrenching on with the intent that it was to be my first car. 2 years later my mom thought it was a death trap sold it and bought an 85 cutlass for me... naturally I wasn't happy and never got these cars out of my system.
So this is how she came to me, 4 bolt main 350, 650 cfm carb, long tube headers, roller rockers, metric trans, real nasty intirror, seemingly good looking exterior. The sticker on the rear bumper is a Hawaii rode registration, and from the lack of lower quarter rot and the abundance of door jamb rot/ rear upper box rot (around where a bed cover would be) I believe it spent a good deal of its life there.



I have since swapped out the drivers door for a solid one, replaced the window seals, door hinge bushings, installed a dash cap, stripped and repainted the interior plastics, painted the carpet (not ideal but will work for now), pulled the engine and went thru it with new bearings gaskets arp rod bolts and just generally cleaning and painting everything, relocated the battery to the smugglers cubby, swapped out the cluster for a 120mph monte unit, converted it all to LED, swapped to a quick ratio 2ed gen F body steering box with a jeep steering shaft.



after doing all this and getting her back into running and rolling condition I decided if I am to do this I will do it right.
I just put in an order for energysuspension poly bushing set as well as poly body mounts, floor shifter, upper and lower balljoints, new passengers front floor pan (last owner cut it out and riveted in flat metal), sourced out some stock patch panels (passengers door hinge mount area, passengers and drivers rear door jamb striker areas, and upper bed (under rear window)), and just today I snagged from the local junk yard a monte SS floor shift column, and 2001 blazer 2wd front knuckles/hubs/calipers/rotors.

The game plan is to pull the body off the frame
box the frame
cut and Z the frame (going to bag it down the road)
narrow rear rails
naturally install all the poly bits and rebuilt blazer larger front brakes
repair the body rust
tub the bed and fab rear end tunnel
basic body prep and paint
also clean up all the wire harness mess and tuck as much as possible for a clean engine bay
so basically a lot of everything!!

 

[the ghoul]

very productive weekend.
acquired upper and lower balljoints, energy suspension master kit, passengers side floor pan, TCI shifter, all the break rebuild stuff for the blazer calipers, and a cap. Also got all the blazer break components shot blasted and POR15ed

 

[YaoGuaiCutlass]

Looks good my friend You gonna stay blue with that beauty?

 

[the ghoul]

Thank you!
The wife wants me to stick with that blue or black (like my old mans was)
I want to paint it the same blue/green chamelion my 98 firebird was
We are probably going to end up going a deep graphite metallic... The blue isnt bad but given all the work Im going to be putting into it, its just a sort of BLAH option to me. I dont think my body work is up to the challange of going black..
I still really have no idea what is going to happen with it, but lucky for me I have alot of time before I have to make that call!

 

[YaoGuaiCutlass]

Thank you!
The wife wants me to stick with that blue or black (like my old mans was)
I want to paint it the same blue/green chamelion my 98 firebird was
We are probably going to end up going a deep graphite metallic... The blue isnt bad but given all the work Im going to be putting into it, its just a sort of BLAH option to me. I dont think my body work is up to the challange of going black..
I still really have no idea what is going to happen with it, but lucky for me I have alot of time before I have to make that call!

All we got is time brother :wink: I like the graphite metallic Idea. I am personally favoring flat or glass black for my 86 Cutlass with green racing stripes down the middle.

 

[the ghoul]

I have always thought the combination of flat black and gloss green looks great. I was at a show and some one had a led sled that was flat black with gloss green flames on it and it looked stunning!

I got to working on the brake bits more... lesson learned...
I was able to get most of the 01 blazer front brakes rebuilt except for the dust boots in the calipers. Typically the caliper castings have a ridge that the outer boot slips into and in some cases a spring clip that helps hold it into place. Well, apparently GM decided to go with a press-in style dust boot. I tried just about every dirty trick I know (socket and hammer, washer about the right diameter and a press, warm up caliper in over ect) and it only resulted in 4 mangled dust boots and no successful installs . I don’t know if the issue was cheap parts out of tolerance or lack of tolerance/patents on my part, either way, not a success...
So, my tip on rebuilding the calipers for this swap is don’t! You are much better off taking your junk yard calipers to autozone and using them for a $30 core deposit, professionally rebuilt ones only run $40 each after core..
That aside the caliper hardware kit by dorman was spot on, the slide pin boots took a bit of skill but using a 13/16 deep well socket to hammer them on did the trick. The guide bushings inside the bore took a little playing with to get the old ones out but a little brake cleaner and an angled dental pick did the trick. After I get the new calipers I will be dressing them with new blazer rubber brake lines, crush washers and banjo bolts (they were cheap enough just to replace them).

 

[the ghoul]

Made the 2:30 drive to visit a forum friend currently cutting up his second parts Camino.
I was able to acquire from him (for less money than I invested in gas)
-full non-ac heater system including the hard to find intake screen, glove box and vent cables/pulls
-the last of the patch metal I need (under heater box, drivers rear 1/4 window "drip tray")
-hood latch, latch plate, cable and pull
-tailgate
-better a pillar, rear lower window plastic, and bet retractor kick panels
-plastic lower cover for smugglers hatch (didn't even know I was missing that!)
-uncut radio bezel
I am quickly running out of excuses to not work on her!!

 

[the ghoul]

Just realized that I have only succeeded in turning this project car into a storage unit thus far!

so I finally got off my butt, cleaned up the garage and got a good bit of work done

ran into a surprise, I guess that energy suspension sticker in the back window wasn't BS

Tomorrow I will shot blast the upper and lower control arms at work and cut some plates to box them in.

 

[the ghoul]

Hover car conversion compleeted

As well as getting most of the suspension stuff shot blasted and the blocking plates fabricated

tonight I will get the last upper and lower controle arm shot-blasted, press out the rest of the old busings, and press in the new lower ball joints. If Im still motivated by that point I will weld in the plates to box the rear upper and lower controle arms in and por15 all the parts...

 

[Longroof79]

Man, you are motivated...that's what I like to see.. :lol:
Just remember before boxing the rear lower control arms, weld in spacers for your swaybar. A few pieces of pipe or thick walled conduit will do. That's what I did to mine.

Keep up the good work and progress.