Hello Everyone,

I am not a huge poster, but I am definitely a long time lurker, today I have a few questions that the search button couldn't anwser. In the last 5 years my father and I have acquired 4 '79's, 2 are mine, 2 are his. We decided to chose '79 aftered dropping several thousand dollars into a '75 with mildy pumped 390, 37's and all of those kind of goodies that go along with mudding. We want to try something different; neither of use have enough money for a Lighting, but we think we can build a pretty decent street pickup out of the 4 rigs we have. However, I like the idea of it being 4wd, no monster tires, just a I met a guy once at a carshow who had a souped 1/2 ton shortbox (It wasn't really a half ton, but started out as one) that would light all 4 up and accelerate like a raped ape. Has anyone had any expierience with this? We have a 429 (shooting for 550 ponies) in process and a couple C6's that I contemplating...But for the cost of rebuild, Summit has the TCI C6 for 815 to my door...so thats a good possibility also. Really, I want to know if any has tried it, and what running gear, gears, transfer case they are using, so I know where to spend my money. Ultimately I want this pickup to turn out alot like (sp?) mcglaughin131's red smoothness..that thing is sick and something to shoot for.

Please drop me a line if you have any ideas,

Thank you,

James Russell
Moscow, ID

 

It can be done, that's for certain. But what you need to do is make sure you beef up your drivetrain big time. Axle upgrades are a must if you're going to be putting that kind of power to pavement. Depending on what you have or what's available down there for cheap you'd probably be best to go to a D70/D60 combo. Lockers of some sort would be a definite plus if you want to make sure you're getting proper traction so you can make that thing fly. I would also make sure you're using an NP205 for your transfer case. The chains on the 203's can tend to stretch or break when you get into higher HP. Gears will ultimately depend on the tire size you choose. Any ideas there yet?

Btw, if you get a chance drop by and join the NW forum here at FTE.

 

Check with the 385 series engine forum for engine questions. You might want to look at a 460 and a supercharger system for street sleeper operation.

 

Ivan,

Had no idea you were in Spokane, I have read multiple posts of yours. Where in Spokane do you live? I race nitro trucks (little ones) in Spokane about 5 times a year.
I am thinking like 3.73 gears to give a decent top speed, but not so high to have the low end suffer? Where do you buy parts from in Spokane? I have seemingly got pretty lucky at Spaudling, seems like everything I go up looking for they have in some shape or form. What year did the 205 transfer case come out of? I know physically the early seventies transfers cases were heavier, don't know if it was a technology issue or what, but definitely weigh more than my '79 T-Case. What do you think about the TCI C6..they say it should hold up to 450 HP, but there has to be some additional things you can beef to make it stronger.

Let me know,

James R.

 

I'm on the south hill, just off of Freya.

You'll probably want something more like 4.10's but this is really going to depend on tire size more than anything. Have you given though to what you want on there? I always thought 35's made a pretty good looking street tire for a 4x4. Big enough to look mean but not so big as to cause a lot of hassle. To an extent it will also depend on how you plan to use the truck. If it's not going to see much highway use then you can gear a little bit higher for more speed off the line.

The only difference between the early 70's 205 cases and the 78/79's is that the early models were "divorced", seperated from the tranny with a driveshaft in between. The later cases were connected directly to the tranny. Their weight is almost identical, roughly 150 pounds. The 203 cases are a bit heavier, I'd say closer to 180.

TCI trannies seem to be pretty decent but I'd definitely shoot for something rated for more horse as it sounds like your engine will be approaching that in no time. You can buy better clutches and all that mess to make the tranny hold up to more HP but if you're going to do that then there's no point in buying a new TCI. You may as well get a high HP rebuild kit and do up one of your own. One thing that's really important is to make sure you have a torque convertor that's built to handle what you're doing. This seems to be a big problem for people. They'll get the tranny built up but the torque convertor balloons out because it can't handle their engine.

I don't know if you've been to Pull & Save but they're right next door to Spauldings. It's a self pull yard and you can get stuff for CHEAP if you check them often. Quite a few of us Spokane guys go out there regularly and scout the place for parts.

 

James,
First of all, thanks for the compliments. I appreciate it. Hopefully within a week, I'll have a slew of new pics up, including corbeau seats, my dash with auto meter gauges, engine pics, blah, blah, blah.
Anyways, I believe as far as the TCI tranny goes, that is what I installed, unfortunately, I haven't tried it yet, but I believe they only list them for two wheel drives, for a four wheel drive I believe you have to remove all the internal pieces out of a two wheel drive casing and install into the four wheel drive's casing.(I could be wrong?) or you might just be better off rebuilding one of yours to your specs.
I would probably shoot for 3.73 gears depending on what tire set up you have.
Most important thing is to plan EVERYTHING out or you'll become overwhelmed fast! It can be downright scary when you get to a point where everything you need is expensive. It might be more easily achievable sticking to 425-450 horse and 500 ft-lbs torque..It will be more than enough power (I can't believe i just said that) And you'll end up with a very streetable truck, just remember, don't over carb or over cam......
Good luck
James

 

It won't actually be as complicated as that. If you use a divorced transfer case you use a regular 2wd tailhousing on the C6. If you use a married T-case all you need to do is pull the tailshaft housing off and then the tranny to T-case adapter will bolt right up. One thing to look for though is the length of the output shaft. They came with 2 different lengths so you need to match the output shaft to the length of your adapter. Other than that it's plug and play.

 

Yo,

Mclaughlin31-No Problem man, you have a put a ton of work into that pickup and it shows. I am going to hold off on painting it until it mostly finished, but for the most part I like the way your's is turning out. I not going as far to shave my glove box, but the drip rails are definitely leaving, and maybe the emblems on the outside. I want to see how your dash turned out, I have some Ultra Lites in the mail, changing it all over to electric gauges for some precision action. As far as planning, I am doing most of the interior work first..stuff that I can go inside to work on, (our shop is 2 hours away on some land we own). For the last 1 and a half years, I have just been stockpiling stuff, Cab Rubber, Stereo equipment, Carpet...stuff like that that can wait, but needs to bought a little at time to shun away mass purchasing. If I get on it, I will throw you a picture of some custom panels that i made out of hardboard, velour and aluminium. I absolutely hate the way that those freaking door panel clips break, so I tapped some aluminium rod, glued them to the panels along with tapping the doors to keep everything snug, not to mention the chrome bolts look cool too. I guess it also helps that we have 4 of these rigs, and can take the best of each to make stuff work and keep body work hours down. Anyways man, sorry for the book and let me know when you get those pics.

Ivan-

What kind of stuff have you scored out of that pull and save? One of my buddies gets stuff from their a lot, but I have never really asked him what he gets..Where did you pick up the axles for your rig? How much did you pay for them? None of our pickups have very nice boxes, and I need good axles from somewhere, but Its hard to find any 3/4 tons with the 60-70 combo....seems like the only thing I can spot are those E350 vans. Do you have any good reasources for tranny pumping info? What year of transfer case is in your pickup?

I really appreciate all the help,

Thanx,

James Russell

 

My transfer case and front axle were original in my truck. Normally the F250s' come with a D44 but this was a SnoFighter. I pulled the D70 from an E350 at Pull & Save. Don't remember the exact price but it was under $100 after tax, I know that. If you can find one of those there's nothing wrong with it. All you have to do it narrow the spring perches which is easy enough. What you might do is keep an eye out for an F350 that's being parted out so you can get the D60/D70 combo.

I don't have any good sources for info on tranny's and I'm not an expert on autos. I've just dinked around with mine a little bit. I plan to buy one from Jackson Racing back east this summer. The tranny I'm getting is built for 900HP with transbrake and runs about $1700. I figured I'd rather just pay someone who knows their stuff than experiment with it myself.

 

Talk around with your local tranny shops. My buddys motor home runs a 460 with a c-6. I am thinking they built it for him for the price of about 6-700 bucks, but they also gauranteed that. A c-6 is suppose to be a pretty durable tranny from its begining, so finding a builder to help you out should not be all that hard.
Ryan