I purchased a 1978 Scottsdale P/U that I am restoring. However, the purpose of this vehicle is not for show, or hot rod performance.It is strictly for Towing a Camper for long road trips. Most of the talk on this site is about muscle, speed and finesse. Can anyone help me with deciding on a motor, Tranny, and rear end build ideas that will focus on pulling powerand longevity? As I will be doing long road trips fuel economy is a factor. The truck has a 350 small block, and a TH350 4x4 Tranny. I prefer to stay with a small block for fuel economy reasons, but may not be apposed to go with alarger small block like a 383 stroker. This truck from the factory had lots of optional configurations from big blocks to small blocks, and either a TH350 or a TH400. I Would love to here some seasoned chevy veterans weight in on this.

 

Need to know the weight of the camper.

 

Camper is not purchased yet, but it will be no more than 6500 lbs. Probably closer to 5500. Looking for a 20 foot. Most of those models weight in around 4500-5500.

 

In an effort to be more specific the one model I am particularly interested in is a grey wolf travel trailer that weights 5757 lbs. not a fifth wheel of goose neck.

 

 

Scottsdale package is a K-10.

 

I guess the most important question is, what is your budget for the drivetrain?

A stock k10 can probably handle 6,000 lbs. Although if you have 3:07 gears I would recommend a upgrade. A properly built th350 trans is plenty strong. You mentioned it was 4x4.If you upgrade to a th400 be advised that the front input on your current transfer case will not match up.
Of course you could upgrade to a 4l80, 14 bolt rear, endless possibilities depending on what you want to spend.

 

I won't say that money is no object, but I do want to restore this truck, and have it last for a while. Not opposed to spending a little money to get the job done right. Couple questions. 1. What modifications besides the kick down assembly and moving the cross member would be required to get the front drive shaft to match up? will this mean a new transfer case?
2. What is involved in changing the gear ratio. Would I be swapping the whole rear axel and diff or just changing out the gears in the existing diff housing? 3. Any thoughts on the motor? 350 or bigger small block?

 

A th400 is 2.5" longer than a th350. Can't really say how it's going to affect your drivelines. Since you may be swapping to a different transfer case as well, the transfer case will further affect driveline length. You may be going from a bolt on yoke to slip yoke in the rear.
Personally I would take the th350 to a good trans shop and tell them to build it for towing.
You can just change the gears in the diffs. No need to swap everything unless you have a ten bolt rear and want something stronger.
I don't see why a stock 350 wouldn't meet your needs. Heck I've had 350's in 2 ton trucks.

 

What are your thoughts on rebuilding the TH350. I have never rebuilt a tranny, but it seems that the TH350 is the easiest to rebuild from what I am reading.