Squarebody Adventures

One man's adventures of rebuilding a 1987 GMC R1500 Longbed

Index

General Information

1987 GMC Sierra Classic R1500
305 TBI Engine
700R4 Transmission

My Square body Love

My love for the GM square body trucks started when I was a little kid. My grandpa had a 1976 Chevrolet C-10 Custom Deluxe. I loved riding in that truck. My grandpa was a contractor and a brick mason so that truck went through some stuff in it’s life. When he got rid of the truck it still had the original engine, transmission, and rear end in the truck. I have great memories of riding in my Grandpa’s truck and helping him work on it. He held on to that truck until I think some time in the late-90s or early 2000s.

When I was around 17, probably around 1997 time, I was looking for a new vehicle since I had wrecked the Ford Stationwagon I had as my first vehicle. I still miss that vehicle as well. My stepdad’s dad had a used car lot in Virginia. One weekend we went up there for me to look at vehicles because I had a little bit of money saved up. I looked at a few cars. Nothing really peaked my eye other than a couple old Crown Vic police cars but I knew that would be dangerous to my wallet as a 17 year old kid. Over in the corner there was a blue 1986 C-10 Custom Deluxe with a work rack on it. I asked him what was the story on the truck over there. He said it was for sale but they hadn’t really put it out on the lot as they were kind of keeping it around to haul stuff with. If I liked it he would sell it to me. I took it for a test ride. I immediately fell in love with the truck. It brought back memories of riding in my Grandpa’s truck along with made me feel like I was some what like the person I looked up to.

I purchased the truck. I think he sold the truck to me for $3,000. This was a buy-here pay-here car lot so I think I paid $600 down and then was to pay $100 a month for 24-months. I was a working kid and didn’t like owing people money so I might have paid the truck off in a years time. I know the last $100 payment my parents made for me so they could give me the title at my birthday party or high school graduation party.

That truck had a 305 engine with a TH400 transmission. I would do burnouts in that thing. Back then I could get a set of size 235 tires for $100 and it might cost $20 to get them mounted and balanced at this service station by my house. I drove that truck back and forth from North Carolina to Florida multiple times. Around the year 2000 I blew the engine in the truck and had to junk it because I couldn’t leave it on base leaking oil everywhere and I was leaving the next day for a TDY to Las Vegas.

The Story

I purchased the truck in April of 2022. I was originally told that it had the original 305 TBI engine. The truck had three owners with the second owner assuming the vehicle. The original owner purchased the truck and used it as a daily truck for many years. Eventually the truck became a farm truck and was used from time to time. At some point the driver’s door was wrecked and replaced with a door from the junk yard. When the original owner died his Son was given ownership of the vehicle. The Son held on to it for a few months but finally decided to sell it as he had no use for it. The Son sold the vehicle to the person I purchased the truck from. The third owner drove the truck from upstate South Carolina to Summerville, SC. They had planned to pull the truck apart and it become the third owners daily drive but he found a 2500 diesel 4x4 squarebody so he decided to sell the truck.

I found the truck on Facebook Marketplace maybe 30 minutes after it was posted. I test drove the truck and decided to make an offer on the truck for $3500. Once I got the truck home and start looking through it the gremlins started to come out. I replaced the usually stuff when you get a very old vehicle. Oil, oil filter, fuel filter, belts, distributor cap, and distributor rotor. The truck also had a check engine light on since it’s the first year with OBD1. The only code was a 21 for Throttle Position Sensor. I decide change the throttle position sensor, rebuild the TBI, and replace the idle air control valve.

After everything I replaced I still had some random gremlins with keeping the truck running or running rough. I found and fixed multiple broken wires or twisted together wires. On August 30th, 2022 the truck broke down on me while my daughters and I were out for a drive. I had the truck towed home. I worked on the truck for a few months testing stuff and shooting wires but I never could get it to run again. After pressure from the HOA for my truck being parked on the curb I had a tow truck company put the vehicle in the garage. It’s sat in there since. I’ve slowly worked on stuff.

http://www.73-87.com

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