XM1027 - CUCV Crew Cab Build

Starting new thread here after highjacking another thread.

Plan in broad strokes: Take civilian 1985 Chevy Crew Cab Dually, and "militarize" it.

Timeline: 9-months or less, need extra seats for growing family - will be a daily driver.

Major work to be done:

• Engine swap - Cummins 5.9L 6BT
• Drive-train swap (2WD to 4WD)
• 24Volt conversion (I prefer this voltage anyway...)
• Mechanical gauge swap-out (point being to eliminate as much of the original GM harness and cluster-shucks as possible)
• Replace most GM hardware and fixtures with M-Series parts (lights, switches, etc...)
• Better interior than GM managed in M vehicles (or any vehicle they offered that decade).
• Exterior Paint (Type-2 686A, 33446 Desert Tan CARC - a good base for anything else I would do)

Work will be completed with "quiet" as a project keyword.

Additional work considered:

• PTO Generator <s>480Y/277 with step-down transformer to</s> 208Y/120V 60Hz @ 48kW (3x 30Amp/3-phase L21-30R, 3x 20Amp/1-phase 5-20R)
• Full communications suite
• "CarPuter"
• Decent stereo
• Ring mount? (probably not)
• Solar cells on roof?
• Bed-Ball mount, and hitch for 5th-wheel (like B&W turn-over hitch)?

Will add pictures, videos, and updates as this moves forward. My background: design and planning proficiency = High, technical proficiency = High, mechanical proficiency = High, electrical proficiency = High, motivation = High.

Recovery - picking up truck base tomorrow.



Chassis is 1.5-ton dually (3+3 Camper edition), 454 V8, 3-speed auto, flatbed (but I get the original bed in the deal), has a few spots of minor rust from the initial survey, but it's fairly clean (so-cal). As I understand, it was used as a work truck for the last decade or so - so now it's time to give it a spa break and a new soul...

Cool plans, will be a great truck when you get it done.

I will follow along. I am thinking of a crew cab dualley m1010. I have both trucks and parts. I just need money and time. LOL.

I'd like to see how this turns out, too!

Recovery went well - long day with lots of driving, much thanks to my friend Josh and his dog Austin for the ride.

First stop was a visit to the guy that has the drive train. Cummins engine looks pretty good and runs great despite the roll-over the donor had (cab and bed took the brunt - engine will be torn down anyway, just to be sure) - only issue is the transmission has a cracked tail-housing (for which he wants to provide a spare). Engine is complete with all accessories, including radiator and intercooler. He's even throwing in the crossmembers the whole drive train was attached to and the parts of the frame rails those riveted to. Axles are in good shape, had an opportunity to get a Dana 80 instead of a Dana 70 rear, but I can't find enough rebuild gear to make that worth my while - I don't want to end up with a "custom" or "rare" axle set - this will be a daily driver so it needs to be serviceable.

$2500 for the engine/radiator/intercooler/turbo/downpipe, transmission, replacement transmission tail housing, married NP205 transfer case, front Dana 60 axle with dually spaced spindles, Dana 70 rear dually axle (the axles are a matched set, full disc brakes already!!).


Then we popped down to Clovis from Hayward to get the truck (180 miles for the interested). I hadn't done the initial survey of the truck, my dad did while he was down in that area. The pictures of the rust spots didn't do it justice, those rust spots are surface orange as best (hard rubbing with finger cleaned it up). It just looks like the person that painted the truck last time was in a rush and it didn't bond in some places (but the primer and base layers were in great shape). steering a brakes were good, and the engine ran great - despite being advised to push the gas pedal a few times before cranking, it just fired up in the first second without any molestation. Electrical was nearly 85% turn signals, brake lights, and headlights/marker lights all worked great individually, but in combination they had issues (with headlights on turn signals would illuminate but not flash). Also the gauges had a ground issue that was intermittent but caused the temp gauge to show 240*F right at turn over (which I knew was BS, because I had just touched that cold block a minute before...). 7.3L V8 pulled solid up the hills even with the three speed - while I normally drive a 5-speed stick, it took me a while to get the balls to push the right foot harder to make it go faster, but it responded like a well tempered thoroughbred. At about San Jose, I tried to switch tanks (passenger to driver's tank) and it wouldn't switch - so I have 20Gallons of 91 octane I'll probably never get to use which is stuck in there. There was a length of 4x4 pressure treated lumber keeping the driver's seat from reclining, that was a surprise and was like sitting with a log shoved in my back during the drive - the rest of the interior has had it, so I won't feel bad tearing it all out, even though it looks like someone cared about the truck when they did the interior. All-in-all, not much of anything in the way of surprises, which was great for a 30 year old truck! (and a GM over 100K)

Funny thing was trying the wipers to see if I could get the window washer to clean the filthy windows before I got gas the first time - I touched the stalk, and they tuned on... then they wouldn't turn off. Figured out if I pulsed the "mist" position at a certain point, the wipers would stop (go figure, turn them on to turn them off).

$2600 for the truck plus the original bed, with current SMOG and registration good until next July. Made it all the way home from Clovis to north of Santa Clara with just 25gallons of fuel (about 7.24MPG...). Found out someone had put an RV in my storage stall when I got there - so its in a temporary dock for the next few days...

I'm beat - that's enough of this project for the weekend . So far I'm in $5225, but I have the major parts. Now I need to clean them up and do some rebuilding, then get to assembly.

I'm glad I don't have anything with a 454 under the hood as a daily driver!!

Figured I'd post a few more pictures of "before". Had a moment on the way home from work while there was daylight - peeled off the old vinyl logo (took about an hour for both sides).

Front:


Passenger outside:


plus the inside original bed where the tailgate is...

Interior is shot...

Front row:



Rear Row, with driver's seat support log:



Better shot of the headliner - it's done...:

Engine compartment:



Alternate angle:



Came with nice aftermarket aluminum radiator:



Original jack (rest of accessories are in the side box):



Leaking hydroboost brake master cylinder (will need to be rebuilt):



And a bonus hidden bottle of brake fluid in the passenger fender...

And finally, the first iota of anything happening - no more door decals

Your attachments are not working bummer!

They were there last night... Guess the system didn't like the size. I'll push them up to Photobucket and re-link them.

Okay, uploaded my pix to Photobucket and linked them. Let me know if you can't see them and I'll talk to the admin... I also hit the light rust spots with rust converter, which I'll paint tomorrow.

Top of passenger fender before:


After:



Roof before:


After:




And this is the awesome C.R. Lawrence split rear window - I will retain this in the final product, but I'm going to replace the glass (I don't like their tint... have it on my other truck).



I should also mention the last owner had it set up for non-even loads, with an on-board air system. Parts of this I will retain. Here's the rear air-bags (manual control from the cab):




And the compressor and air tank behind the original trailer hitch receiver (they welded the new one to this...) - there's also a hose outlet:

Good news about the interior, is that the military CUCV series was pretty spartan. The seats, center console, overhead console, that crappy-looking headliner, you can rip all that out and replace with a couple bench seats from M1008 parts trucks that lots of the guys here have. I'd breathe a sigh of relief about the headliner, I did one with a friend years ago and I will never volunteer for that job again. If I were you, I couldn't wait to rip that headliner out!

I can't wait , but sadly I have to. I have limited time during the week to work on this (job first, then play), and my weekend time is "sparse" since I have my 2-year-old all day (wife works). This weekend, the project is to recover the drive train, which will be fun with a half ton Toyota mini-pickup...

I have been talking to GSS because I will probably put in 5 new MRAP seats (2 front, 3 rear) space permitting, but first I have to get the drive train and suspension in and the truck painted, then comes the decorations .

-Tim

.

Painted the fender...



and roof...


This paint is just to keep the rust from setting back in while I do the rest of the work.


Also picked up the replacement drive train. Dana 60 front (has kingpins, so that's awesome), Dana 70 is not disc brake as originally expected (fine, about $500 to convert), engine transmission and NP205 transfer case.


Now the fun really begins...

Do I need to come babysit so you can finish this?

I'll make sure the progress continues Thanks though.

I'm going to separate the transmission from the transfer case and engine this weekend so I can get rid of it, and will give a whack at cleaning up the two axles a bit so I can photograph them better.

Still need to find a 3/4 ton radiator core support, I'll look at LMC too for that.