1985 GMC Classic

Hey everybody, I've been searching the web a while looking for a good hotrod/classics community to get into and get recommendations and such on things I can do to better my truck. I have a black 1985 GMC 1500 Classic shortbed, 350 V8, True Duals exaust (Flowmaster tips), bed rails, chrome fixtures (door handles, mirrors, ect....), great exterior and interior condition. I hope to get pics up of it soon as I just got the truck not to long ago. I plan on getting the windows tinted, billet grill, engine dress up, and im looking for insite on what more to do for a show look and also engine performance, any tips will be greatly appreciated

~Josh


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I have an 86' chevy silverado, its basically the same thing as your truck. Its all over my project journal if you want to see it. Are you going for the stock look of the truck or more of a custom truck kinda feel like mine? If your going for the custom, you could get a roll pan to replace your back bumper, and a nice set of rims. For performance wise, Is this a stock engine and how many miles are on it? If its the original engine and has alot of miles on it, you might be better off building another engine for it and swapping them out. If its in good condition, then you could put in a different camshaft, better ignition, headers, intake manifold. They are some real cool trucks, and fun as hell to drive.

Brad

Well......the original 305 that was in it is gone haha Ive got a 350 in it and its got 36,000 miles on it and it runs great so im leaving that in it. The roll pan for the back bumper, I thought about that but I just got new matching front and back bumpers for the truck that I like alot so I will probably leave it as is. I forgot to mention rims earlier and but ive got the gunmetal rims that match the look of the truck well so.......Im not sure other than the billet grill what else I can do to make the exterior but the truck looks like it needs something, ill get pics up soon, thanx for the info and im lookin up the engine performance tips u gave me and nice truck btw

Another thing you could do for performance is put better gears in rear end. These trucks mostly came with 2.73 gears and some had 3.08. Changing it out to about a 3.50 up to 3.73 would be a good performance upgrade. For the exterior I had another idea come to mind. If your gonna do some body work, you could put on different side mirrors. Like ones from a 91 suburban would bolt right up to your truck, but then you have a couple of holes to fill in. Maybe you could get a cowl hood, If you look in LMCtruck they have several different style cowl hoods. Its just a few ideas.

On my truck I built a dash out of sheet metal and I welded in a roll pan and cut out the roll pan to tuck my exhaust tips through. I dont know if theres any pics of the roll pan in my photo gallery but there are some of the dash and Ill post some of the roll pan when the body work on the box is done.

Wide tires IMO really set these truck off (front and rear). A visor looks good. Dark tint (your suggestion) on the windows look great with the black body paint. The cowl hood is always good. Tonneau cover looks good. And all depends on how far you want to go, shaved door handles look good. Clean and paint the frame (if not already done) this helps make the truck look lower. On my 1985 Chevy full size I filled the post holes in the bed rails. It all depends on the look YOUR after. With the tint be careful of the law, here in Michigan we can only go so dark.

Steve

A colors matching hardcover.

Have you dont any modifications to the hood (cowl? scoop(s)?). Whats the ride height?

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there is a forum for just our bodystyle of trucks, it is 67-72chevytrucks.com

Cool thanks 82, I just registered on their I put your name as a referer since I saw a few of your posts, hope you don't mind.


Brad

i don't mind it