Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Trying to free up space in my shop so I can move the truck in. So I painted a set of ralleys and mounted some used TA radials to make it a roller. Then adapted a squarebody seat into it. Baby steps.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

installed a 1 1/2" shorter steering column and lowered the seat 2" with aftermarket brackets. Much more comfortable to me.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Tonight I replaced the bearings and races. Got the bearings packed and the brake rotors installed. Installed the calipers and pads and new brake hoses.
I still need to bleed the brakes, grease ball joints and tie rods and install cotter pins. But I had to put the tires on and see if it sat different with new springs. I put 1” lower springs and removed a 1” spring spacer up front. There was 8” between tire and fender and now there is 6”, math never fails. Lol. I plan to replace the 27” tires with 31” tires, so that will get it down to a 4” gap.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Finished the exhaust on the truck.
I'm not a welder, but it shouldn't fall off anyways...

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

novax522, nice work, but your upper a-arms are on the wrong sides. It's a common mistake.

Good luck, Rg

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Wow, you are right! Glad you pointed that out before I tried to drive it. I’ll add that to the list of things to do. 2 steps forward and 1 step back. 😂

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Been there and sometimes still do it! Good luck, Rg

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

I got the upper A arms on the correct sides tonight. Thanks again RG! Glad you caught that. I’m going to try to use this as a good excuse to buy another c10. That way if I have one tore apart, I can use the other one as a reference. Lol. Probably won’t work, but worth a try.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Great job, that looks much better. The alignment shop would have found it, but it would have cost you!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

"what did you do?.... sadly, nothing on the trucks in quite some time. Maybe once all of this certainteed siding and Rockwool insulation is installed on the house, then it will be back to trucks.
How many do you spot?

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Possibly 3 maybe?

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Is that a reddish Stepside buried forward of the 2-tone Orange/White cab on the left?

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Got all the tie rods, ball joints, idler, and pitman nuts snugged and cotter pins installed. Got everything greased. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it took a while.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

finally found a great 1157 LED bulb that is bright, fits and performs...and reasonably inexpensive. Amazon has them in stock at their fulfillment centers so shipping is fast.

My comparison pic doesn't represent the performance perfectly, as photographing a bright light source is very challenging and it blows out the image.

Backstory: I didn't want to swap out the OE lens with one of those printed circuit board type lenses to get some brightness to the back. So over the past year, I have gone thru and tested numerous 1157 LEDs with little success. Many bulbs will not even mount in the socket as they bottom out before you can twist it to get it secured. Others were nearly hyperbright and had not brightness differentiation when you hit the brake pedal. The last ones I had, where the Sylvania 1157s that anyone can purcahse at any autopart store. These worked, but were dim in the standard "on" position, in fact dimmer than incandescent.

In short, if you want to be seen from behind when you hit that brake pedal, and still have better than OEM brightness when just cruising, these are the ones! We'll see how long they last!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Took the Bomber for one last spin today before the snow hits and the salt gets laid down.
It's almost unheard of in Connecticut for it to be this late in the season with no snow yet, so luckily I was able to enjoy driving it for this long till spring.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Great looking pickup

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Started on the rear brakes today. Got one side done, also need to make new rear brake lines.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Got the driver side brakes done and both sides adjusted. Took before and after pictures.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Started on the rear brake line. There was nothing wrong with the existing brake line, other than it looked like crap. I had some leftover brake line material from when I redid the brakes on my elCamino. It is a copper/tin alloy. No rusting and super easy to bend. Got one side done tonight.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

^ I like that NiCopp line. I'm considering replacing the 54 year old line on my truck with it, just for general principles.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Got the rear brake line built and connected for both sides. Need to bleed all the brakes still. But, I had to put the wheels on and put the truck back on the ground and see how it looks with the new front and rear springs.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Cleaned the shop out enough to get the 70 inside for the first time. Swapped beds to one in somewhat better shape.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Gutted a cheap $20 Amazon tachometer and stuck it in the gauge cluster.

Heck I don't even care if it's going to work, I have a 3:08 rear, automatic transmission, and I drive like a little old lady.

But it's blue and it matches my stereo face so I'm being stylish these days. :cool:

...come on you guys, where are the complements?
This forum needs a like button. :mad:

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

This is the closest thing to a like button ":metal:" . Looks good to me.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Why thank you for the complement 3757chevy, I appreciate that. :cool:
I have blue LED dash lights coming today and I'll see if I'm going to like those.
Putting those in before I reinstall the cluster because I've realized I don't like a brake pedal sticking in my neck. :lol:

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Thanks for the info. I ordered in a set and got them for 10.99, I put them in my '68 Burb but have no pictures.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Tonight I went out and got several cans of self etching primer and several cans of dupli color silver wheel paint. Got the truck back on jack stands, and the wheels off and loaded. I’m gonna get them dismounted tomorrow.
We’re supposed to get another round of winter storms in Iowa starting tonight. Hoping I can get to Goodyear and get them dismounted so I have something to work on for a few days.
The wheels are a little ratty. Im gonna glass bead the wheels, then primer and paint them. Throw some 3” trim rings on and should look way better.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

I went with a little darker metallic Grey on my ralleys. Nothing like paying $12 for a can of spray paint. Bidenomics

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

No kidding on the paint! I got several cans of self etching primer, a can of clear, and a couple cans of dupli color silver. It was $75, yikes. It will all get used eventually, but that’s ridiculous. Hell, I remember when it was 99 cents a can.

Got the tires dismounted and started bead blasting a wheel. It’s coming out great, but gonna take a while. I’m bringing my ear buds tomorrow so I can listen to some podcasts to kill the time.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Those wheels should look pretty good when you're finished.
One time I painted some Nova ralleys with some of that chrome paint and they looked really nice...for about 2 months before they dulled down.
I guess maybe I should have put a clear coat on them.

When I bought my truck almost 29 years ago, the seller said it was originally an OD green Bell Telephone work truck before he had it painted blue.
I believe him now. :lol:

ETA: I couldn't find any touch-up paint that matched this particular color blue on the internet so I had a custom rattle can made up, it was close to $50 as I recall.
You can bet I'll use that stuff sparingly!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

A little paint for my cylinder head after getting it back from the machine shop. Had larger valves installed & a little port work done.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

That looks kinda like Bahama blue they used on VWs

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

I’ve never really looked at an inline 6 head before. The intake port divider wall is recessed a ways.
I see the head bolt comes down that spot as well.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

It's not really a divider. It's just a bolt boss that runs through the middle of the port. The area behind it is open.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

I wouldn't mind finding something a little cheaper that matches, it's 2188 medium blue and I couldn't locate anything on the net but I suck with computers anyway so maybe I just didn't know where to look.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Cool, so each intake port is shared by 2 cylinders? I’ll have to check out an inline 6 head next time I see one. Interesting!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Got the glass beading done today. It took quite a while, but I’m happy with how clean they came out.
I painted the backside of the wheels black. I’ll let that dry tonight, then tomorrow I will spray the front with self etching primer and Dulpli color silver wheel paint.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

That's an L6 Head. What size valves did you get?
Not going the full monty Lump Port route, I see. I'm on the fence about trying it on the next build.
[Thinking about '63 MY 292. The cranks of that year are highly featherable.]

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Ain't nothing better than a 292. Get yourself one. You'll fall in love.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

I went with 1.84 and 1.6 valves. After reading Leo Santucci's book(2nd edition) quite a bit I came to the conclusion that for a street driven truck this is going to be the best solution. Just a couple quotes from the book. Pg 107 "the head-bolt boss in the middle of the intake ports should be shaped like a wing, but left in place." And Pg 117 "for pure street use and mileage, a 1.80 diameter intake valve is best. The exhaust is 1.60 diameter in either case."
I think you already have the book. If not buy it, read it several times over the next year, then make your decisions. Lol