'71 Sweptline Lowrider

This is a truck I picked up almost two years ago, progress has been slow. I have a '71 Demon that I was finishing up, now that it is done I should get more time to work on the Swepty.
I haven't taken a ton of pics but here's some of what I've done so far.

When I brought it home 2 winters ago.




Trying to keep the cost down after the expensive Demon resto I decided to re-use the first set of wheels/tires I had on the Demon. I think the Pro-street rat rod lowrider looks pretty good


When I received the truck there was no suspension, just 2x4s keeping it up off the frame. The frame is out of an '87 caprice.



First thing I tackled was the front end. Removed the upper & lower A-arms, replaced all bushings and ball joints. I welded in plates to the lowers for the Slam Specialties re7 Bags to mount to.
Also trimmed the upper spring cups to provide clearance for collapsed bag.




Once the front end was finished up I got going on the rear. Pulled it out, replacing all bushings as well and welded on pirches for the rear bags, which are also SS re7. Gave the diff a gear oil change, it has hiway gears and I want much lower with the 29" tall rear tires but wasn't going to spend money on this baby 10 bolt chev that only has a 7.5" ring gear. Moser builds a drop in housing to fit a 9" Ford, I will do that later with some 3.91s or 4.10s.




Once the rear end was back under the truck I got to work on the plumbing the tank, lines, etc. I'm using a 5gal aluminum tank, and so far only a single compressor, definitely buying another one since that is too slow. I am running an older Airride system called Easystreet. It works ok, has 4 corner control, 1 button ride height, 1 button for full up or full down. I picked it up used and cheap.


Next was tackling the drive train. Minus the machine work the Motor/Trans combo were built by me. The motor is a 340 with eddie heads, a mild cam and about 10:1 compression. It should be peppy but have nice cruising manners. I already built a screamer in the Demon, at 605HP it rocks, but not good for long cruises which this truck is intended for. I think I will be lucky to get 400 horses from this motor, but high 3s is fine. The transmission is a built 904, upgraded bands & clutches and clutch springs, manual valvebody,,,,I like shifting my autos and hate messing with kickdown linkage. The convertor is a 3800stall.
Heres a pic of the 340 out in front of the Demon.

Fabbed up some motor mounts and here it is in the truck, surprisingly the rear trans crossmember was about perfect, I needed to reduce the height of the mount on the trans  by about half and that worked good.




Heres some pics of when I was testing out the suspension
Full drop

Full up

Driving height

Tipped left

Tipped right


These are pretty much all the pics I already had loaded up to image shack. When I get a chance I will upload so more and post em up.
Thanks for looking
Cheers

good write up so far, that color fits the truck well. so the caprice frame was done when you bought it?

Yep, the previous owner shortened the box to fit the frame, that part he did pretty well. He was a sh!t welder and I ground out and redid a lot of his work. I like the color as well, rattle can moss green. This was suppose to be a father/son project but my soon to be 16yr old got a job and girlfriend so ole dad is left alone to work on it. I bet I find him sniffing around for the keys when its done lol. The cheap paint job is perfect for a project with the kid, no worries about scratching it etc.

girlfriends come and go as your son will find out. and dad will still be there welcoming the father son moments

i agree that color works. i am looking forward to your progress

cool truck. what's next?

it is a cool truck. you've got that thing sittin' right

sweet ride Rod. interesting chassis choice.

good golly i love the low rider

Paul wrote:cool truck. what's next?

Next I will be ripping all the wiring out and using a painless or similar to start from scratch, its a wiring nightmare right now, so starting fresh will be good. Then buy a fuel cell, pump & regulator  and start plumbing lines. After that will be sheet metal in the bed bottom and cab floors. Then engine accessories, rad etc and fire it up. Hopefully in early summer. Not sure how much will get done this winter, might have to wait for breakup to get enough free time.

RidnLow wrote:it is a cool truck. you've got that thing sittin' right

Thanks

Highwayman wrote:sweet ride Rod. interesting chassis choice.

I bought it that way, definitely interesting, wouldn't have thought to do that. Seems like it should work ok.

froy wrote:good golly i love the low rider

Thanks, I used to ignore them mostly, but this one is growing on me. Always fun to learn something new.

I now have a couple weeks off from work. Time to get some work done on the Slammin Swepty. I decide to re-do the previous owners pathetic attempt at a truck bed. I should have it finished up tomorrow.
This first pic is of the previous owners beauty job of using chipboard and carrage bolts for the bed,,,,wtf!


Used 20 gauge steel for bottom of bed.


A few days ago I put the hood on for the 1st time. Still needs some tweeking.






20 gallon fuel cell


Getting there. Next to remove air tank and valves that are mocked up to finish front of bed.

ain't that some s##t chipboard. some people just shouldn't be left alone. looks like its in the right hands now good work

it's in good hands rod nice work

Thanks guys. I'll update some more in a few days.

Front end shot

Shot of the March Serpentine pulleys/brackets for some engine bling for the 340

The box is getting there

each time i see this it's looking better and better .

Thanks Rich, Merry Christmas!

Rodzilla wrote:Thanks Rich, Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Rod

Been awhile since I have updated here. Basically since my last post I finished the metal work in the box and have moved on to putting the floor in the cab. Previous owner was nice enough to put minimal frame work under the cab and top it off with cheap as sh!t plywood. There is being cheap, and then there's this guy. I think I spent $200 in metal to do everything, not sure why anyone would do what he did. Anyway heres the pics of the latest progress of the cab floor and dash. Doesn't look like much but it was quite time consuming.

lot of work there. looks good

Some more updates since my last post. Welded some more bracing into the front end and added some angle iron to mount the rad to, got it, trans cooler and the fan installed. The rad & fan combo were recycled from my Demon build, they couldn't quite keep the 605HP stroker motor cooled, but I'm thinking should do the trick for the mild 340.
Got a few other odds and ends together, including a set of Klein train horns for sh!ts and giggles. They advertise them as "train" horns, I thought more like big rig. I tested on 70psi and that was friggin loud, can take them up to 100psi, with the regulator I have off my air tank. Although they can handle 150psi.
No pics, but I sprayed the bottom of the truck with undercoating to keep the rust away. I've started plumbing the fuel system, and after I will be onto the wiring, and exhaust. About the only difficult thing ahead of me is going to be getting my door glass in and functional, it will be last on my list. Also need a drive shaft built yet.

Heres a couple newer pics

nice job Rod. those horns oughta wake someone up LOL

New update...Just been plucking away at things like I got A.D.D. Doing a little of this, little of that. Started working on fuel lines, wiring, and getting rest of motor bits together. Got the headlights and park lights hooked up with a big thanks to a friend, who sent me the headlight retainers and park light buckets.

any progress?

Been back at work, so not a lot. I got all the fuel lines, regulator and carb installed. All with -8AN hose and fittings. Also plumbed the trans cooler lines with -6AN stuff. Got a driveshaft made last week, 1330 slip yolk, and out back is a crossover u-joint from 1330 to what ever the 8.5" chev rear is (junk). Later the rear housing will be swapped to Moser fabbed 9" and geared lower, 4.10 most likely. Current rear is 2.74 or maybe even higher, with the 29" tall rear tires acceleration will be crap, but hiway rpms will be nice. Just going to head out to the garage right now and start on some wiring,,,,or stare at it for awhile and wish I didn't have to...lol. It won't be so bad, almost same kit I used on my Demon.