My old 73 GMC, PIC

This was my first truck, a 73 GMC 4x4 1500 custom delux. 350 engine and TH 350 tranny, I loved that truck. That is my IH 37 baler on the right, and a Howse 6' brush hog on the left. The shed wont fit my 346 Deere baler. But that IH is gotta go, THIS SRPING.! I really gotta pull it out to the auction come March. Hey guys, do I hear $400 to go, your on the wrong side of $1000
works the best! lol j

whats wrong with the truck that you dont still use it?

Thats a good old truck. I have a 69 1500 myself. It's in the shop at the moment getting some body work on it, and then a paint job. It was about ready to fall apart, the main reason it is being done is to stop rust or at least slow it down a little.

A brake line blew in 1998, I put a new line in but could never get a hard pedal. Bleed the heck out of it but nothing. I dident have time to mess with it so I put it in this shed,,, Saying I would look at it in the spring. That was 12 years ago! I dont know what Im gonna do with it.

get it out and fix it thats a good old truck and its made much better than the new ones are, you can actually fix it yourself[ what a novel concept] cant do that with the new ones, i have a 83 myself and will not trade it or sell it , reliability wise i feel if i did i would be trading down if i bought a new one , power seats and electric cup holders dont make it a good truck american iron and simple and well built do , ps, you probably have the brake proporsioning valve stuck one way or the other from the bleeding process, just center it and go again, [ might have more problems after sitting 12 years, wish i had it but were 3000 miles apart

Looks like a chevy I had 1973 custom delux orcher yellow and white crome mirrors and bumpers with air. Mine was a 1/2 ton with 2.73 axel ratio and I could hit 70 mph on the speedo before I let of of the brake. My friend had a Z 28 camero 4speed and it would keep right up with him. I wish I had it back

That was the color Orcha, Nobody I knew liked that color, I liked it because it was different, and kinda rare around here anyway.

On my 72 c20 pickup, R&R the entire brake system.
Never could get a hard pedal.
Long story short...it was the power booster.

HTH..good luck...don t. ....

I say fix it, if you have children it can be their first truck, that would be great!!

(quoted from post at 23:29:51 02/06/10) Looks like a chevy I had 1973 custom delux orcher yellow and white crome mirrors and bumpers with air. Mine was a 1/2 ton with 2.73 axel ratio and I could hit 70 mph on the speedo before I let of of the brake. My friend had a Z 28 camero 4speed and it would keep right up with him. I wish I had it back

Click to expand...

What kind of engine did this high geared PU possess that could keep up with a Z28?

back in the early smog motor '80's, pickups , some of which were still exempt, could easily beat a smog choked z28 camero, i beat one myself, the car was a '81, i beat him by about 2 car lengths, i was driving a '83 454 dually chevy 1 ton

I couldn't get brakes either, looked around for leaks, finally pulled rear drums and a wheel cylinder was blown. I guess between the mud, water and dusty road it was keeping the leak washed off or hidden. Still didn't have brakes. Rear drums slid on with what appeared to be minimal clearance, but as a last resort just started adjusting rear brakes out and finally got brakes.

(quoted from post at 09:03:34 02/07/10) back in the early smog motor '80's, pickups , some of which were still exempt, could easily beat a smog choked z28 camero, i beat one myself, the car was a '81, i beat him by about 2 car lengths, i was driving a '83 454 dually chevy 1 ton

Click to expand...

I'll bet you weren't running 2.73 rear gears. Good thing you weren't racing an early model Z28.

As you probably know all things equal engine/trans wise it's hard for a PU to outrun a car because of aerodynamics.

Yep Didnt remember the color name right but I Knew it was close . Mine just had a 350 with big four barrel carb. I had a smog pump but that came off and dual wore out cherry bombs with the timing advanced a little But It had lots and lots of power I always thought that was one of the last good 350 made.

I used to car-pool with a friend that bought his 1973 Chevy 1/2 ton, brand-new. 1/2 ton, 350 engine with 4 barrel Quadrajet, four speed manual, and full-time 4WD. We drove 50 miles a day, back and forth to the John Deere dealership. When it was my turn, I drove either my 64 Chevelle SS (with a 283 and Muncie 4 sp) or my 69 Dodge W200 Powerwagon with a 318,4WD and 4.88 axles).

Back to my point - about the 73 Chevy. It was very fast. In fact, one of the strongest 350 powered trucks I ever drove. The local dealer he bought it from said the same. He (the dealer) said none others that he sold were like that and nobody seemed to know why it had so much power.

After the Chevy had 150K miles on it, and still ran great (engine and full time 4WD system) - we both got the bright idea to "soup up" both our trucks and make them more fuel efficient at the same time. So, for his 73 Chevy 350 and my 69 Dodge 318, we bought and installed headers, high compression pistons, Crane RV camshafts and lifters, matching aluminum dual-plane intake manifolds, and Holley carbs. He also converted his Chevy to part-time 4WD. What was the end result? Neither truck ran as good as before. The Chevy still got 9 - 10 MPG and my Dodge got 7 - 8 MPG. My Dodge, by the way has 4.88 axle ratios and I still use it as a farm truck.

It still remains a mystery why that 73 350 ran so good when it was factory-stock. I've got a 79 with full-time 4WD and a 350 and it does not have near the power that 73 had.

your right there in my younger days i owned a '68 z-28, now that was fast, no pickup would ever touch that car, little else either, but by the time my friends ;81 hit the road, the gov had clamped the smog stuff on and detuned the engines during the mid 70's to the begining of the '80's the camaro went from special editions pushing 400 hp, down to 180 and the things just wouldnt run, kind of embarrasing lol the pickup trucks above 8500 gvw were still exempt and were actualls as quick or quicker than most of the choked down cars of the day , in 84 the much awaited new corvette came out as well as the new camaro and set things right

Yep, this truck has the 350cid with the quad jet 4 barrel carb. Im not kidding, I would just touch the key and that engine would start right up, it has points and I guess every thing was set right, dwell, gap,ect I mean a 1/2 turn of the starter and it fired up. I did put a manual choke on it thought. I also have a 77 sb 400 which dosent start that fast, I put the hei in that one.

JDemaris
I know what you're saying. Back in my youth my nephew had a '56 Ford with 292(I thought it might be a 312) cid with 3 speed on column that would blow the doors off a Chevy 327. He finally blew up engine and my brother installed a new Ford 292 short block. It still ran just as strong.

neighbor back home had one of those but with the big 6 cyld. engine. That thing would pull arond the farm even though not 4x4. Never saw a spec of salt but the thing completely rusted away. at about 10-12 years. His 75 grain truck never saw salt and was kept inside and its cab was rotten too. So I'm surprised you have one that old in NY. I'd keep it and fix it up if it were mine. I'd look at all new brake system nose to tail if you had problems and couldn't get it worked out.