My new square

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thacheetah11

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Alabama
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Jason
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
Classic Sierra
Engine Size
350
Been lookin for a squarebody for a long time and finally found this one... This 84 k10 was bought for $3,000. All original and in good shape... I was wondering what would be the first thing I should do? Any suggestions are welcome! Hope this picture helps...
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74 Shortbed

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Very nice truck, I'd just do a full service on it and drive/enjoy it..
 

Fastereddie

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Eddie
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1983
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K10
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383
I'd get rid of the ford behind it. Lol :sorry:
Maybe source some factory center caps. Truck looks great:cheers:
 

Old77

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good lookin truck!
 

HotRodPC

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454 - Turbo 400 - 3.73
Nice Truck, you did good. Any plans for it? Lift Kit or bigger shoes? Axle or Gear upgrade?
 

Camar068

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K10/LM7 5.3/4L60e/np208/3.73/32"
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10 yrs Air Force
Nice looking truck. I'm a steering guy since the one I bought had a bunch of issues.

-make sure ur draglink is flat (if it looks old, rebuild it for cheap via rock auto parts....don't have a tie rod tool.....get one locally as they are only about $10)
-look for cracks in the frame where the steering box bolts up (the frame likes to flex on these) This is an IMPORTANT ONE!!!
-check your rag joint for slop. If you've got it read up on the Jeep steering shaft mod....it's cheap, easy and helps a lot (I bought the shaft for ~$12, the rebuild kit for the rag joint was about $10, the shaft is better. Keep your shaft for the next guy if sell it).
-look at a headlight harness if you feel your headlights are dim (~$35)
-change diff. fluid (cheap/easy)....paint the cover while you got it off
-spring bushings mine was a pain but that was before someone posted a video of the quick way (search for it)
-check balljoints, ujoints (shaft and front axle), tierods
-complete grounding, there was a post on this specific subject (bad grounds will haunt you)
-shocks
-doors hard to shut? adjust or add pex to the post

Long list, but a few things that I will check or do to any new square I buy. Every bit of it I've learned from these guys on here. Hopefully the next will be a crewcab or a suburban. And if I'm really lucky it will have and NP205/6 bolt transfer case in it!
 

thacheetah11

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Jason
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1986
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Classic Sierra
Engine Size
350
Well, I'm new at this old truck thing. I'm VERY GREEN at restoring/mechanical work. So far my plans are...

1. Service Entire drivetrain.
2. Get everything working straight. (Power locks, wipers, etc)

After that, honestly have no clue. This truck is so good looking, it makes me want to keep it original? I had visions of buying one and putting bigger tires and a small lift.

Also, this is a California vehicle that somehow made it to Alabama... Should I get rid of the emissions part of the truck? I'd like for it to sound better.

One more thing, I'll post more pictures tomorrow when it's daylight. And that wasn't my Ford! That was the previous owners! Haha

And I have one center cap, he said the other was stolen so he took that one off. I'll have to find another. :(


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Camar068

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10 yrs Air Force
part of Alabama? I grew up in the 80's in Troy/Brundidge area.

Only thing that might not be easy to take back to original in the above list I gave was the grounding. Been a while since I read through it, but if anything it could save some headaches down the road. All the other stuff is add/remove stuff.

As for emissions, I think you'll get more power out of it, but I'll let the pro's chime in.

If it's got a quadrajet on it, you may want to find out who the super pro is at rebuilding them and have it rebuilt and then tune it yourself. Or do it all yourself. There's a lot of power and gas savings in that carb if you know what your doing and have patience. I have neither so I didn't get very far....too many projects.

Actually, if you have the time, it would be a good thing to learn. I can only fathom the feeling you get from tuning one perfect. Read around the web and you'll see what I mean.
 

HotRodPC

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Engine Size
454 - Turbo 400 - 3.73
Well, I'm new at this old truck thing. I'm VERY GREEN at restoring/mechanical work. So far my plans are...

1. Service Entire drivetrain.
2. Get everything working straight. (Power locks, wipers, etc)

After that, honestly have no clue. This truck is so good looking, it makes me want to keep it original? I had visions of buying one and putting bigger tires and a small lift.

Also, this is a California vehicle that somehow made it to Alabama... Should I get rid of the emissions part of the truck? I'd like for it to sound better.

One more thing, I'll post more pictures tomorrow when it's daylight. And that wasn't my Ford! That was the previous owners! Haha

And I have one center cap, he said the other was stolen so he took that one off. I'll have to find another. :(


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Have you figured out yet? We don't miss much !!! A picture really is worth a 1000 words on this forum. I'm with you though, the truck looks to good to ******. So long as you're not butchering it, a small lift, wheels and tires are able to always go back to OEM so it doesn't take to much away from the "Stock OEM Original" value.
 

thacheetah11

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Alabama
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Jason
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
Classic Sierra
Engine Size
350
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joecal

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LaGrange Highlands,IL
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Joe
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
C10 stepside
Engine Size
305ci
Nice looking truck, the center caps are easy to find, ebay,lmc,classicparts.com,etc. I would leave the emissions alone, mine were taken off before I bought it and I think it hurt the gas mileage and it didn't make the engine run any better. Mine's an 86 so the carburetor has a solenoid on it, so when I had it professionally rebuilt they disabled that. Congrats and good luck with it.
 

thacheetah11

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Location
Alabama
First Name
Jason
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
Classic Sierra
Engine Size
350
Well, I really have no plan. I know I want to shore up everything under the hood first.

2. New exhaust. If you guys can help with this area, I would be very appreciative. I want it to sound good while ideling but I don't want to wake up an entire city block if I want to kick it...

3. Freshen up the interior... New carpet and fix some of the convenience items like my power locks and slow Windows. Also want to get my cruise control working....

4. Lastly, I want bigger tires and a ver small lift. There is a two tone long bed k10 somewhere on this site that awesome... If I find it, I'll link it here.

Last thing is a obvious paint job.

I'm probably missing something.. Thanks for the replies everyone!


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Ashton84W

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Location
Georgia
First Name
Ashton
Truck Year
1985
Truck Model
K10
Engine Size
350
Nice looking truck. I'm a steering guy since the one I bought had a bunch of issues.

-make sure ur draglink is flat (if it looks old, rebuild it for cheap via rock auto parts....don't have a tie rod tool.....get one locally as they are only about $10)
-look for cracks in the frame where the steering box bolts up (the frame likes to flex on these) This is an IMPORTANT ONE!!!
-check your rag joint for slop. If you've got it read up on the Jeep steering shaft mod....it's cheap, easy and helps a lot (I bought the shaft for ~$12, the rebuild kit for the rag joint was about $10, the shaft is better. Keep your shaft for the next guy if sell it).
-look at a headlight harness if you feel your headlights are dim (~$35)
-change diff. fluid (cheap/easy)....paint the cover while you got it off
-spring bushings mine was a pain but that was before someone posted a video of the quick way (search for it)
-check balljoints, ujoints (shaft and front axle), tierods
-complete grounding, there was a post on this specific subject (bad grounds will haunt you)
-shocks
-doors hard to shut? adjust or add pex to the post

Long list, but a few things that I will check or do to any new square I buy. Every bit of it I've learned from these guys on here. Hopefully the next will be a crewcab or a suburban. And if I'm really lucky it will have and NP205/6 bolt transfer case in it!
I tried looking up the groundings bc I could use some help with those to. It didn't work. Could you be a little more specific please.
 

Georgeb

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Wisconsin
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George
Truck Year
2003
Truck Model
K10 Burb Z71
Engine Size
5.3
Start here.
http://www.gmsquarebody.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12293&highlight=Ground
 

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