How to build a 427 Chevy truck

Chevy trucks go a long ways back in history well in this century anyways and seem to be the truck of desire for most collectors old and young.

Now the truck you select is entirely up to you if you’re not too concerned about collectable high values at the auction block great you’re on your way to building a 427 Chevy truck. Now many folks have different tastes and design ideas for high tech expensive hot rods and everybody has an opinion on what you need to use to make it work always wanting the best and most expensive goodies to put under the hood well that all fine and dandy but this is not one of those times,

In fact this design is based off my own personal truck I built in 2005 that won 2 major car shows first place. Well enough said about that what I’m trying to get at is I took an old junk yard dog and transformed it on a budget to show winning quality now I’m not going to get into exact specifics on the build as it would be extremely to long of a topic but I am going to give you the basic of how it came together and what I used.

First you need a 1976 Chevy Scottsdale short box pickup truck try to find one with a 400 big block or 454 simply because these truck are equipped to handle the heavy weight of the larger motor, now if you cannot find one simply buy a 350 small block model you will have to buy a aftermarket front end kit to beef up the springs and such to handle the load or find a complete front handling setup from a older big block truck and replace it, this is why you should spend extra time finding the right truck it took me 2 years.

Ok I wanted big power on the highways not race power but big Cadillac power of the 70’s on Volkswagen gas economy your probably thinking yea right well don’t laugh just yet simply because the end result get around 18 to 20 miles per gallon.

This truck was base on a extreme car show I watched many of you know Jessie James the famed extreme car builder and his TV series well there you have it I wanted my own extreme machine.

Ok next you need to find a 1979-80 hi output industrial 427 block with the small vales known as a td block or tall deck, try to find one completely rebuild it should not cost more than 1,500.00 as it a pretty common used block I bought mine for 1,100.00 complete pan to manifold, ok the first thing you need to do is go on the hunt through every aftermarket book you have as you need a complete pulley system water pump fan radiator ,manifold and carburetor and a extendable distributor trust me you in for a serious hunt as these items are not easy to come by for the industrial 427 as I found out the hard way , ok first off the only radiator that will work correctly is a be cool system they are designed perfect to bolt right in plain and simple now for the pulleys and water pump I went through about 10 each before I came across a setup that worked 454 427 car is your best bet now you can shop these new but I got mine from about 20 visits to a local junk yard scouting old Chevy’s now for these hoses I would use a good quality flex hose as you will never find a correct hose to fit the motor you have to make them same for the belt measure till it fits, ok now for the power steering this is your biggest challenge as you have to build your own mounting bracket if you don’t know how any good machine shop or metal fabricator can make this for you around 200.00 as that’s what it cost me, be sure to use a laser to align the pulleys when installing them with a fabricated power steering bracket as it may squeal allot if you don’t trust me I looked for weeks for a pre made they just are not out there yet.

Now you most likely wondering about the motor and transmission how will it fit?

Well it doesn’t fit quite right so you have to make a few minor changes to the way it mounts up first the motor mounts need to be changed to a aftermarket mount that’s about 2 inches taller than stock or the motor will sit on the frame and bend your oil pan over time rubbing a nice hole in it, not good at all so raise the motor.

Now there is a trick to get this monster of a engine in the truck as it won’t just drop in first mount a turbo 350 to the beast it gives it a whole lot of pep oh yeah.

Ok you will need a good small sledge and now you’re going to smash in the trans well on the body look at it like a clock you need to smash in the 2 o’clock through 4 o’clock area about 3 inches deep so the block will slide in as the heads hold things up for you and it will not go in at all till you do this unless you want to remove the heads first creating more work it’s your choice the motor sits in so tight you won’t even see the damage ok once you got the motor and tranny in everything bolts up as normal for a old Chevy same for the wiring very simple stuff ok now as for your exhaust I would suggest junking it as this motor need to breath it a big boy pulling allot of torque it could pull your home right off the foundation straight out of the box with a 2 barrels carburetor on it in one of the factory work trucks it came from but now you’re putting this beast on simple steroids without pumping big cash into it ok I used v force mufflers with 2 ¾ pipe do not use headers cast iron works out best for this setup unless you plan to add big valve heads I did not, ok now the drive line you will need about 300.00 to have your shaft shortened you will need to drop off the truck with the shop and tow it home after, as the driveline will prove to be too tight after adding this motor also use a high quality u join setup as you’re going to have big torque , ok you got all that done rear end leave alone limited slip is ok posy is funner but cost way to much and really is not needed.

You will need to have the vacuum adjusted on the transmission ok now for the manifold edlebrock makes a manifold for the 427 td motor I bought the 4 barrel air gap and placed a 850 cfm carb to match from the company as for the distributor a sliding shaft is required what I mean is it must be extendable for the taller engine a 427 td or 454 should work I suggest calling before buying online to match your build, you will need to run a electric fuel pump from the rear that pushes not pulling with larger fuel lines think dump truck if you’re smart you will buy a 50 gal tank for the bed as the 25 gallon tank is to small for this set up and if you’re a lead foot you will find out why reel fast as gas station will be like home.

Now ever thing about this truck I did myself from start to finish except some of the fabrication work I had my mother sew up my seat cover and the carpet I got from a construction site as it was leftovers most of the interior was in great shape so I left it alone as for body and paint the body was near perfect and the paint I did myself after build a spray booth out of heavy plastic and rebar wire as for sanding that’s what beer and buddies are for you’ll be amazed how easy it goes with 10 or 12 sets of hands all at once.

Well a few tips about this truck first thing you should do if you can afford it is buy a cross drill dick brake set up like the corvettes use as you will find it hard to stop at high speed with factory drums, second ad a simple roll bar and harness , third I learned recently this set up does not like to corner at high speed to heavy in the front end so do some front end mods to beef it up to handle better .

Also be careful if you jump on it in the rain or you just might find yourself running sideways down the road, also add some weight to the back end somehow,

Ok I built this truck for cruising the highways not racing it was set up to out run the rice burners and crout mobiles and it will certainly make them want their money back for that tin can they over paid for I know as I have out ran every speed demon I can up on here in California as everybody here thinks there Mario well what they don’t know is I grew up on speed racer J well the only car to out run me so far (69 nova and a new 2009 hemi 500hp srt) well he flew past me on the road like it was on fire or something anyway if you want that kind of power to where you almost need wings ass a set of world product heads known as merlin and the beast will breath fire out the pipes you might want to change your rear end to match.

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