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Old May 12th, 2013, 02:38 PM
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jbgroby jbgroby is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Lacombe, LA.
Truck: 1960 8' fleetside
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Default Jake Groby UPDATED 1960 GMC build with Photos

Hi Guys and Gals,

It's taken awhile BUT I moved all my picture from webshots to Photo Bucket
(2 weeks of work), but there are done. Becasue I can't edit the current build threat (replace picture links) I have to start another one - so I'm going to cut and paste the words with the links in this thread.

I'm copying this build thread from the 47-72 chevy site. The pictures won link just yet will address thsi soom I promice.


TRUCK: 1960 GMc with a 305V-6 3 speed trans, 3.93 rear axle, fornt torsion bar suspention. For now, the photo in the links won't work, webshots switched over to Smile and I' have not put them in Photo Bucket.

In January 2000 I found the first GMC I was to restore in New Orleans, LA. The idea was to have it ready for my son for his senior year. That did not happen because the truck I bought was a basket case. The cab was shot. However, the bed, frame, engine and transmission were in decent condition we decided to keep it and look for another cab and doors. The disassembly began as you can see.

This was the first time I had ever tried to do a project this big. Let alone fool with an engine. Being adopted and a single parent (mom) household, car were just not my thing. A friend Bill who found the truck for me also was into old cars and gave me a ton of pointers of what to do, where to save money and what not to waste my time on.

Many of these pictures were upload in Webshots and the originals were lost to Hurricane Katrina, so I feel lucky to have the ones I saved, when possible I’ll load photos from my CPU. I’ll also post the link to the entire album. I figure this might save server space on the club site.

These pictures show her one day one January 2000.

As you can see the truck was used for plumbing work in the New Orleans area. The custom made tool and parts bins in the bed were a work of art. The owner Ashton Chargois had built these in 1960 and they were still going strong. It took me and my son 2 days to dismantle and the boxes and piping. I have no idea how he managed to put the piping in the bed. Each end was threaded in opposite, as I unscrewed one end, it tighten the other side. I had to take a Saws-All to remove the pipes

We dug right in and starter tearing her apart, saving and numbering the zip-lock bags with the bolts and stuff we took off. In a notebook, we recorded the date and numbers of the bags so we could REMEMBER what the **** the nuts and bolts came off of YEARS later Everybody know what I’m talking about right? The first thing I noticed was the design of the engine which was like no other engine I’d ever saw before. The location of the plugs was the first indication I had that this was a weird engine. Little did I know that it was on the rare side and IT would start my love affair with the V-6.

The Engine

Before I get into the nuts oand bolts of the build and because the engine is the hearts of ANY truck, I ‘ll take a moment to explain why this engine is so radical and different. ( I would have said better, but all that does is start fights)

The 305 V-6 was the brain child of GMC engineers. In January of 1959 GMC decided to design a new truck, with a new type of engine. This was Detroit’s first V-6 and was hailed as a major engineering breakthrough with advances in metallurgy and design; they had developed the first of its kind, a 60 degree V-6 block with 12 degree off-set cylinder bank (narrower which created less friction/drag on the up-stoke). This is the only engine ever to be designed like this. The position of the sparkplugs (inside of the heads, plugs run cooler) and the design of the pistons (3 compression and 1 oil ring). Additionally, 92% of the cylinders are surrounded by water, which eliminated hot spots, the water pump moves 135 gpm. The camshaft sits in a bath of motor oil and is lubricated as soon as it's started. Cam lobes dip into a built-in reservoir of oil as the camshaft rotates, preventing cam and valve scuffing - a major reason why this engine gives long, dependable service.

(The following information is Courtesy of the 60-66 GMC page owned created by Jolly Goodfellow)

With thermostat open, only half the water goes to the radiator, the other half returns to the pump through a by-pass. This results in excellent cooling ability. There is less than four degrees variation in water temperature throughout the engine. This checks the possibility of hot spots. Here's cooling efficiency that is not matched by any other comparable size engine. Life of pistons, valves, valve guides and spark plugs in much greater, and the possibility of head-cracking is held safely in check.

Wires are short & designed to remain trouble-free. Instead of looping around & over the cylinder banks, they're neatly nested between the banks.

Identical left & right exhaust manifolds of special alloy iron & highly resistant to cracking & warping by extreme temperature changes. Large individual ports for each cylinder & short, large diameter passages permit more complete scavenging of exhaust gases. Result is better fuel economy, longer life, & better performance.

Short Intake Manifold with individual ports for each cylinder are a special feature of this engine. Individual ports permit faster intake & more uniform distribution of fuel-air mixture to each cylinder. Because manifolds are short & have a minimum of bends & curves, too rich or too lean fuel mixtures, usually found in longer in-line or V-8 engines are completely eliminated. This results in much better fuel economy, cleaner, more complete combustion & greater engine efficiency.

New, long-reach spark plugs have greater surface area in contact with cooling passages. These cooler running plugs stay cleaner so they last longer. Spark plugs, located inside the "V", away from hot exhaust manifolds, run cooler, have much shorter wires, & are easy to service.

Smooth, precision-machined combustion chamber minimizes carbon deposits, hot spots & pre-ignition. & there is uniform combustion in all 6 cylinders for smoothest engine operation. 6 equally-spaced head bolts surround each cylinder to reduce bore distortion, & guarantee gasket sealing for long engine service.

Valves operate efficiently at any engine temperature, The hardened steel rocker arm shaft is held firmly in place by 5 aluminum brackets. As valves warm up & expand, brackets expand too, assuring proper valve clearance under all operating temperatures. The engine runs quieter with fewer valve adjustments needed, valve life is extended. Brackets at both ends of the shaft, & one bracket between each set of rockers arms holds shaft deflection in check.

V-6 roller timing chains are double-strand, for double durability. They're quit, & positive in action, models 401 & up have a three-gear train.
Compared with other engines of equal displacement, V-6's have the largest exhaust valves of all to keep back pressure low, efficiency high.
Tough, Silchrome XB-steel exhaust valves, hard-faced with Ni-Chrome--plus long-life valve seat inserts.

Self-locking adjusting screws s-t-r-e-t-c-h the time between valve adjustments -- & then lighten the work; it's a simple & inexpensive one wrench job.

Ok Back on track. And to the Engine tear down

These pictures show what it took and looked like to tear the engine down. The back patio was a mess for about 2 months, my wife was having fits and I have to keep everything clean. After the engine was removed we took it to a local shop to have it dipped and de-greased.



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After we got the engine back from the shop then it was time to sandblast, prime and paint. These picture show the work involved over 2 days. The yard where I was sandblasting was Mr. Bill’s place in New Orleans east. His compressor is a heavy duty Leroy industrial road compressor mated to a 1,500gallon air tank. At 125 psi, you can blast for over a 45 minutes before needing to kick on the compressor, Compared to him, we are all amateurs and fly weight hobbyists!


It took over 68 bags of sand, and 16 hours to blast EVERYTHING on the frame and suspension. All work proudly done me and I was really getting into the job. We used a engine hoist on a sheet of plywood to flip the frame over when done.

This pictures show a VERY UNSAFE PRATICE PAINTING WITH OUT A MASK. I’ve learned a lot. However, the way Bill tough me to paint rims was perfect.




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