Vannin' Community and Forums Forums General Discussion Readers Rides 1976 G10 shorty

Hi folks, I wanted to share my newest acquisition. One owner 1976 Chevy shorty - 350 V8 w/ aftermarket A/C and cruise. No power steering, nor power brakes, and runs like a champ.
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Looks sharp! Did you buy it locally?

It's been an Ohio van it's whole life - the seller brought it to me over here in Northwest Indiana.

Nice Van

Very nice. Congrats man.

Sweet van.. very nice

Very nice. You’re gonna have a great summer with that rig.

Wow; so clean. Lucky man. The top pic; is that your 1st van ?

Thankya sir. Yeah the black one is my '74 G10 shorty. I have a '79 and a '81 Chevy shorties too.

Spring cannot come soon enough!

Quite the collection of Chevy Shorties

It certainly is. Nice van Man! '76 was a good year for the 350 SBC
Welcome to the Site!
I feel so much better now. Thanks!

My insurance agent said She's going to drop by and drop of my new insurance booklet. I told her She can't miss it, just to look for the Van museum...

Long live the Smallblock Chevy!!!

Sweet!

Cool find

Rain > Snow - I'm enjoying this mild Midwest winter.
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Some way cool Chevy vans, Man! Nice shorty you have.

I should probably go ahead and mount my winter tires to keep the mild winter steak going. But we really need at least a lot more rain. A LOT More rain. Down here in the Dirt. LOL! Happy New Year!

Curiosity, what is different about the 76 LS9 over the other years?

GM/Chevy guy for 50 years.

My work had bought 2 new Chevy C10 LB work trucks. Both 350's. a 1976, and a new 1977 when I started doing service. The '76 was a straight up Beast. My '77 was smooth and tame by comparison. Night and Day difference.

So. Lets talk Chevy V8 engines!
Chevy truck/van motors can be sourced from Detroit, or Tonawanda New York. I think they built the SBC there in NY too. I know Chevy built BBC motors came from both plants in the Vans. Beginning in 1990. Are they better engines? Tonawanda seems to believe so, as per their BBC valve cover badging. As per Chevy SS 454 pickup.

Canadian built BBC Vans, 1st digit VIn # 2. Big Block 7.4/454 motors came from Tonawanda. IDK if all the other SBC Canadian built units had Tonawanda motors.






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Same rear diff? Everything else the same? i know that my 79 with the 3.75 rear and 31's feels much stronger than my '76 Shorty with the 3.08 and a 27" Tire, even with the extra weight of the G30 Standard over the G10 Short. I dont know if its due to the gear since the tire diameter difference should make up for a lot of that.


I don't believe Tonawanda ever built Gen 1 Small blocks, but I could be wrong. One would think that we all would know for sure if they did, because the Tonawanda employees were proud and badged all their engines back then. Haha. Some folks swore by the Tonawanda built BBC. I think they claimed there was a higher nickel content or something in them. I dont remember exactly. I had a TRonawanda built BBC that was goiing to go in my 67 Impala before somebody decided to pull in front of me.


I was just curious if you knew something different about the 76, since I have one and they are all the same anemic LS9 and I am not aware of any head port changes or cam profile changes or anything like that.

I do cause I have 2 of them.... have been told the motors were port N polished

I get 14.25 to 14.5 mpg on a 454