Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Nice work, HO455...I have never had the rear chrome strip and carpet out of the Beach-Burban before, but your post made me run outside and pull it up just to see what you were talking about! Interesting bolts...smooth flat heads, right? Mine still have original paint covering them and although the nut and excess shank hanging down are rusty, they look as if penetrating oil would spin them off in one piece. My plywood looks to be in real good shape, so hopefully I won't have to find out if that's true or not! Thanks for the education...I refer to your build thread quite often.
Woody

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Looking good. I don't have that kind of patience any longer lol. As I said before no rush on this end at all take all the time needed. I was just glad to find something remotely close.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Thank you for your support and encouragement. You are lucky that you have good wood. :lol:
Mine has a bunch of holes drilled in it and the edges in the front are getting pretty bad. I would like to get it replaced before the summer ends but we'll see.
My Burban doesn't have any chrome strips holding the carpet. The SPID doesn't list any carpeting or mats so that may be why.
And the worth fact for the day is: I believe that the actual name for that style of bolt is "Plow Head" bolt.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Plow Head...sounds like an insult a rancher would sling at a farmer! Yes, it is nice having "good wood"...not so good when yours has a bunch of holes drilled in it...ouch! :pty: As my last name is Wood, I've heard a slew of jokes...the most frequently used one was when I walked into the locker room at the station, everyone would greet me with "morning Wood"! Funny stuff!!! The chrome strip I have clamps down the rear edge of the carpet directly over the row of "plow head bolts"...now I used it in a sentence!
Woody

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I got the latest gadget installed! A wide band air/fuel guage made by Innovate. First photo shows the O2 sensors ready for installation after calibration. The instructions were obviously written by someone who is very knowledgeable about the product and assumes everyone knows what they know. So there are gaps in the instructions nothing too terrible but it is definitely not a step by step guide to installation.
This thread by Gregski covers the same guage I purchased.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=713728

The second photo shows it up and running. My initial feelings are good. It seems to be consistent with its readings. It shows my idle ratio to be about 13.4 at start up and within a minute it is at 12.3. When it is idling hot the ratio is 11.8 at the richest. These numbers aren't steady (steady enough not to cause concern) but what my mind is averaging them to be. Obviously I need to lean the idle circuit out but I'm letting things be for now until I get a good handle on how it reacts over time.
Once the truck is driving around in high gear the ratio is between 14.3 and 15.8. With it getting leaner as the truck speeds up leading me to believe that the primary side jetting is good but the power piston spring is too soft. I haven't really had any chance to see what the secondary side is doing. The accelerator pump action also seems to be lean, but as this is my first time with a permanently installed A/F meter I may find that I am wrong about that.
More to follow.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Wow they look great! I used flat head phillips bolts and they look like crap!

Paul

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I thank you sir. We will see how well they actually work.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Today I started the rear floor replacement. (Actually I started gathering stuff to do this months ago) I wanted to get this done before fall and the rains began again. Not only are there quite a few holes from past accessories but the wood has passed its expiration date, as the photos show. Working alone I started at 11:00 am and quit at 7:30 pm. I got almost all the bolts removed or they are no longer holding the plywood. The exceptions were the two body mount bolts that go through the wood and the 4 bolts that bolt the air tank to the bottom of the floor.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

There are 5 different kinds of fasteners (Not counting some of the odd ones that the truck has collected over the years) used to hold the wood down. (Photo 1) Bolts #2 & 3 are used to bolt the spare tire wheel well in.
In addition GM used two kinds of nuts on the bottom, a regular hex style requiring a 1/2" wrench to remove and square stove bolt style nuts that require a 7/16" 8 point socket for removal.
Bolt #4 is used around the perimeter of the wood and is the most numerous. I don't have a count yet but, I will get a complete list posted.
Bolt #1 is used to fasten the wood to the underside support channels that run from one side of the truck to the other. They don't connect to the frame. These are a carriage style bolt with a large flat head. These bolts are counter sunk below the level of the floor and have a little metal insert under the head of the bolt with a square hole to match the square under the head of bolt. (See photos 2 & 3) I do not know if the metal inserts with the square hole are available so I am hoping that I can reuse all of them.
Bolt #5 is used to secure the floor across the back. (Last photos) They go through a light guage angle with stamped countersunk holes with square holes. These bolts are called Plow Head bolts and as far as I know they are not available in the size used on our Burban.

There are 12 of the #1 bolt.
There are 7 of the #2 bolt ( I think, I can't read my handwriting. Dhoo!)
There are 6 of the #3 bolt
There are 39 or 40 of the #4 bolt. Mine had 39 but there was a punched hole in the driver's side wheel well that appears to never had a bolt installed.
There are 6 of the #5 bolt.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

More photos of the angle piece that goes across the back. Unfortunately mine is in less than optimal condition, so I will have to figure something out. Replace or possibly repair it. As of yet I have been unable to remove any of the bolts through it. But i m hoping that soaking in penetrating oil overnight will solve that issue.

About 2/3's of the bolts loosened and then spun in the square hole. This meant I had to hold them on top and turn them from below. After trying several different ideas I ended up grabbing the head from the top with a pair of Vice Grips. I then used a sheet rock style screw to screw the Vice Grips to the floor to keep them from spinning. (Photo #3) Having a helper would have made this much easier and faster. I also found that using an impact on the nut would cause the bolt to slip out of the Vice Grip, but using a ratchet instead allowed me to either unscrew the nut or twist the bolt in two.
I kind of cheated on the rear support channel bolts as the air compressor and tank are in the way. I used a hole saw to cut the wood around the bolt away so I can remove the rest of the wood and then deal with those bolts from above. I used a wood jig to hold the hole saw in place as I removed the pilot bit from the hole saw so it wouldn't hit the bolt. (Photo #4)
I started by removing the spare tire well. The most difficult part of this was making sure that I didn't strip any of the captured nuts. (Photo #5 the bolts through the circular side of the wheel well go to the hidden nuts) These nuts are not accessible short of cutting a hole in the quarter panel. I loosened them a half turn then shot them with penetrating oil then turned them back in to get oil through to the nut. A slow process but no nuts were stripped. :metal: The six Phillips head screws were particularly a pain as the head stripped out on three of them. The one in the bottom with no access to the nut was the last one I did and was expecting a real fight to get it out but it seemed like it was crossthreaded when it was installed and it fell out after a 1/2 turn. Hopefully it won't come back and haunt me later.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Easiest way I have found for removing the bolts is to just drill the heads off and punch them thru. They mostly want to spin and tear up the metal anyway when trying to remove the nuts. I have been able to save a lot of metal repairs to wheel tub flanges and to the front and rear metal connections. It is difficult to get to a few of the spare tire bolt heads but can be done.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Also helps to get underneath with a wire brush or wheel and clean threads off. Getting plywood out is a multi person job. Do yourself a favor and get some marine grade plywood for the new one

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Actually I did that on the bolts across the front. Thank you for pointing that out.
The ones on the sides the wood was so degraded that I could pry the head of the bolt up 3/16 to 1/4" and clamp it with the Vice Grip. So I would set five bolts up (Thats how many pairs of Vice Grips I have :lol:) and then jump underneath and twist them or the nut off.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

That was part of last months preparations. I gave the bolts a shot of penetrating oil and a week later hit them with a wire wheel and another round of oil. I did a round of oil last Thursday hoping that enough oil would make things just fall off. :lol:
I have two sheets of Gator Board I got off Craig's List for the new floor. It is Douglas Fir marine plywood that has a resin non-skid coating on both sides. It is commonly used on docks and ramps.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

After removing the air tank and the body mount bolts it was time to get the old wood out. The little piece in front passenger side corner only took a push and it fell right out. Then I screwed two wood blocks to the remaining big piece. (Photo #1). This allowed me to take the persuader and bump the wood towards the passenger side. (Photo #2) It all went fine until I came up against the rear tire. Curse those wide tires. :lol: Fortunately I had plenty of travel in the suspension and was able to jack the truck high enough so the plywood would slide over above the tire. Otherwise I would have had to remove the wheel.
The next step was to raise the drivers side up so the piece would then slide out of the back. Those GM engineers didn't leave a lot of extra room to get the floor out. The wood just fits at an angle through the back door/ hatch.
I wonder at what stage in the assembly process the wood was installed at the factory. It is hard to believe there was any cost savings for GM by using wood instead of a metal pan.
OK back on track. I used some wood clamps in the extend configuration (instead of compression) to push the wood upwards on the drivers side. (Photo #3) with them holding the wood I slowly wriggled the piece out the back, resetting the clamps a couple of times as I came out. As 04lsGTO said having friends would have made this much simpler. Finally success (Photo #4).

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Wow! Nice work and fantastic write up!!! Your abs must have really gotten a work out going back and forth so many times. Very creative idea though fastening the vice grips down.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Here are the three under the wood supports. (Photos #1 & #2) Actually the front one isn't really a support but it has the cage nuts for the rear seat and its seat belts. I am guessing that a Burban that came with the third row seat would have a different version of this and possibly one for the third seat too. The seats have been in and out of the WMB so many times over the years all threads in the cage nuts are stripped.
The two 2 bolt hole plates in the back support are where the upper part of the body mount bushings contact.
I failed to get pictures but I was able to get the bolts out of the rear top plate without damaging it. I had to heat them with my Map gas torch and then grab the bolt with a pair if Vice Grips. While wiggling the bolt with a the pliers I tapped the end with a ball pein hammer.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

This thread is one of the reasons that I sometimes think it would be better to have all of our trucks grouped in one area instead of split up. Sure there is some burb specific stuff you are doing, but overall this is just a really good build thread with a ton of great ideas and fixes. Things that everyone, no matter what they are building would benefit from.

Blazers was an area I seldom looked at until I picked up a SWB K10 truck project. My thinking was they would have a similar overall look because the wheel base was so close. There was so much stuff there that pertains to all of our trucks, I wish I would have dug in earlier

Thanks for a very good build thread. You are doing a great job!

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I tend to wonder if it was to help deaden sound since a lot of these did not get any other treatments on top of it.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

If it had 3rd row seating this is what the underbody support would look like. It is the same as the one on the Blazers


.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Geeze I dunno why it just hit me ... I had to drive down to Portland several days in a row this week. I should have contacted you to check out your Burb!!!

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

"Originally Posted by HO455 View Post
I wonder at what stage in the assembly process the wood was installed at the factory. It is hard to believe there was any cost savings for GM by using wood instead of a metal pan.
(Photo #4)."

While under the truck I started thinking that maybe they had to use wood to fulfill a contract obligation to a woodworking union. But sound deading is a good idea. It certainly is loud without any wood. And I haven't even left the driveway. :lol:

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Thank you very much.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I assume it would be somewhere in the area of the rear axle?

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

That would of been cool. Except this week would have not been the best. Not only am I doing this, but my better half had her hip replaced last week and I'm also doing all the cooking, cleaning, toting, and fetching too. This paper hanger needs an extra arm.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

yes it falls in directly behind the other cross member
it is in the far left of this pic, not what i am pointing at

.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

That makes sense. The support piece just aft of that one is different than mine is. Mine is flipped over with the flange edges down instead of up. Are other ones the same? I'm assuming your pointing at a seat belt attachment point.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I have not had the opportunity to dismantle any 67' burbs so yours might be different but all of the 68-72 ones I have dismantled have been the same style I have shown. Here are a couple more pics. The far forward one you have for the middle seat is actually welded to the step down on the ones I have pulled.

.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Interesting stuff. I wonder if there was some kind of issue with the second row staying in place in an accident and the cure was welding the plate to the step.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

OK now back to our regularly scheduled repairs. After the removal of the wood yesterday and a bit of clean up I began the suspension part of the project.
The factory track bar needed to be replaced due to the usual issues involving lowering. I purchased an Super Track Bar from Early Chevy last winter and I can't think of a better time to install it. First off I jacked the truck up and put it on jack stands. The stands were placed under the trailing arms as the rear end would have to moved around to install the components. I had hit the U bolts with penetrating oil the night before to help get things off easier. Never the less I broke out the 1/2" bad boy impact to hurry things along. Good thing I did, as three of the four nuts fought a bit, but one of them flat out laughed at my 600 ft impact wrench. Time to get serious and apply some heat with the Mapp gas torch. A couple minutes of heat and bingo the last one spun right off. Tapping the U-bolts was went easy on one side but one bolt took some more oil and a bigger hammer before it moved. I'm pretty sure that the rear end was replaced with a junk yard special when they converted to five lug wheels. The track bar mount on the axle is damaged (Photo #1) and I can see no evidence that it hit any where on this truck.
The Super Track bar is a longer bar that comes with a new mount for the passenger side. This mount is sandwiched between the top of the trailing arm and bottom of the axle mounting pad. ( Photo #2) There is a spacer for the driver's side to make things sit the same. (Photo #3 See green arrow) As you can see in the photos the kit also provides new U-bolts. Now the fun begins. Torquing the nuts to the 225 ft lbs required. I knew there was a reason I had the torque wrench calibration check last winter. Man I remember years back torquing dozens of head bolts to 200+ pounds in a day. Now doing 4 bolts almost about did me in. I must have gotten old. :lol:
The only niggling item about the kit is there are too many threads sticking out of the nuts on the U-bolts. (Sorry I didn't get a photo but will try to tomorrow.) After a couple if hundred miles when the retorquing has been completed I will jump under the rear and cut them shorter.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Truckin' right along!

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Rolled out today to finish the installation of the track bar before it starts to rain. Basically the alignment of the axle side to side in the frame was all that was left to do so I felt confident I could beat the Weatherman's prediction.
First step was to set the ride height and once that was achieved on both sides. I measured the frame and found the center line and marked it on the cross member. (Photo #1). And to allow me to measure directly to the top of the rim on each side i clamped a straght edge to the cross member. Then I had to rig away to move the chassis side to side to get the axle centered and then hold it where I wanted it until the track bar was bolted in position.
To get in the ballpark I used a Come-a-Long rigged from the trailing arm on the passenger side to the frame rail on the driver's side. (Photo #2 at the bottom) ( 3/4" was the smallest increment the Come-a-Long would let me make. They not really known for their accuracy :lol:).
Then for fine adjustment I wedged a small bottle jack on the driver's side and pushed the axle over to center. (Photo #3). The bottle jack worked very well for this, allowing me to make 1/16" adjustments. Once the axle is centered the track bar now has to be lined up to the mount on the trailing arm.
The adjustment is made on the passenger side end of the track bar. You have to turn the end out and try to eye ball the hole in the bushing with the hole in the mounting bracket. The bushing fits snugly and is hard to get into position I so lubed the sides of the mount with some anti-seize and things went much easier. It took 3 tries for me to get the bushing adjustment right so the bolt would slide right through. Then when I released the bottle jack it looked like things moved quite a bit as the bushings deflected. But a quick remeasure of the axle showed only 1/16" of deflection well within the standards for this vehicle.
I then checked the tire to wheel well measurements. (Photos #4 & 5) There definitely is a difference when measuring from the outside. Probably some body deflection from fifty years of abuse. I know the rear of the frame is tweaked and currently one set of body mounts are not installed. It was about a 3/16" to 1/4" difference from side to side.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Couple more photos of the track rod installed. It looks like I need to clean up some anti-seize.
Since the promised rain had not yet arrived I spent the rest of the afternoon playing with these. (Last photo)
And it never did rain!!!

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Thank you Joe! Its allways go to hear from my southern neighbor.
I have to admit I only got to do the five at a time once. Most of the rest were 2's and 3's. But it still saved wear and tear on the Carharts.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

After a relaxing afternoon wire wheeling the surfaces the wood bolts to I have a clear picture of the rust that is living in the WMB. The photos pretty much speak for themselves. I need to come up with a plan to deal with this.
One of these is not like the others. (Photo #3) PO fabricated mount for the rear paneling. (Photo #4). It doesn't look as if my Burban left the factory with the rear side panels as none of the paneling mounts/brackets match the trucks paint color. Or maybe someone wanted more noise and removed them. :lol:
In addition to the new track bar (It's a Super one!). I want to relocate the shocks to a more vertical position. This will require removing the factory mounts that are riveted to the cross member. First step for me is hitting the rivets with a disk grinder to make a flat spot so I can center punch a countersink for the pilot drill. This keeps the bit on center so I don't damage the hole. After the pilot (1/8") was drilled I used two step up bits (1/4" and 7/16") to drill the heads of the rivet down to the level of the cross member. Then a punch with a good hammer drives the rivet out without damage to the holes. I should mention I like to drill the pilot hole down past the bottom of the cross member. I feel this allows the rivet to collapse some as I drive it out. (Last photo). I didn't use the big chisel shown in the photo. I just like showing my big chisel off.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Last winter I made these shock mounts to relocate the shocks. (Photo #1)
I would like to thank member Lakeroadster for the thread on them.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=451200

They are not done yet. (No holes) When I mocked them up and I found that the notch where the shock mounting ring goes needs to be deeper to maintain clearance between the shock and the axle. I will lose a bit of vertical but it's better than having to dent the shock to install it. :lol:
One of the benefits of the air ride suspension is it is very easy to travel the suspension to check these things out. During the clearance checks with the bags aired out I measured from the lower shock bolt to where the new upper mount hole will be to get compressed shock length. The stock shocks are to long. My new measurement is 12.25 inches. I believe the factory shocks are 14 inches.
After several hours of research I have located what I think will be a good replacement shock. 1963 through 1973 Jeep Wagoner rear shocks are 11.25 compressed and 17.75 extended. Plus they are from a comparable vehicle. That would give me one inch of room for the bumpstop to compress before the shock bottomed out internally. Peace of mind for me as I'm pretty sure that once the wood and the second row seats and the spare tire are installed the bumpstop will compress more than it did today.
Jeep CJ5's and 7's front shocks would be a slightly longer shock with a 11.6 compressed and 18.1 extended length, but they would be valved for the heavier front end. They maybe a good choice if I find the Wagoner shocks to soft.
As a side note there are some differences in shock lengths for specific vehicle applications between different manufacturers. Especially in the aftermarket upgrade shocks. Rancho shocks in particular I found have compressed lengths that are longer by at least an inch than what the OE shocks are listed as.
As much as I would like to bolt the shocks in from above before the floor gets installed it is probably a good idea to wait and see what the compressed height will be with everything installed. At this point in life I'm pretty much out of coupons. :lol:

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I got the upper shock mounts finished today. In order to keep the shock from hitting the axle at maximum extension I had to deepen the notch a lot more than I expected to. (Photo #1) It was about an additional 1/2" to make sure there would be no problems down the road.
With the notches finished I drilled the mounting holes and bolted the mounts to the cross member so I could then determine where to drill the holes for the shock bolt.
This involved mocking up the shock in postion. To make sure I had enough clearance between the axle and shock body I put a 3/16" magnet on the side of the shock for a spacer. (Photo #2 at end of green line.) (The photo shows the magnet not perfectly centered which is a result of the photo I took during the actual process was too blurry to use, so I when I went back to get another photo I was too concerned about trying to get a clear photo I didn't notice the magnet was off center until now. Dhoo!)
I made a black mark on the white shock bumper disk to represent the center of the hole in the shock's bushing. (Photo #3) Once everything looked to be in the correct position I made the silver mark on the mount to represent the center line of the shock bolt. (Photo #3 again)
Then it was unbolt the mounts and clamp them in the drill vice. I used a washer of the same diameter of the rubber bushing in the shock. I put the very bottom edge of the bushing even with the mount and then laid the washer on the mount to mimic the bushing's position. With the hole in the washer centered on the silver mark. (Photo #4) A small magnet held the washer in place while I marked the hole. Then it was center punch the hole and drill a pilot hole and then a 1/2" hole in both sides from the one pilot hole. (I Cheated and used a drill press.)
The last photo shows the difference in the two mounting locations.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

During the breaks in the rain I got parts cleaned up and some of them painted. And I finished up the bolts for the back angle piece when it was raining. (If you're watching Richard I should get them shipped tomorrow.) I dropped the back angle piece at a sheet metal shop to have them bend me up some so I can try to replicate my rusty one. I was hoping they could do the countersunk spots (Photo#2) but was told they couldn't. Looks like it will turn into another project of it's own.

I picked up new fasteners at Winks Hardware. I didn't think I would have any luck finding the little inserts with the points to catch the wood and a square hole for the carriage bolts. They are used for the bolts going through the 3 support pieces. (Photo #3 shows the originals and photo #4 shows the new one with an old one for comparison. They did have some but they are definitely larger. Which will mean drilling a larger hole. I will try to reuse as many of the old ones as possible but, I think about 1/3 of them are too rusted.
I also noticed a discrepancy in my bolt count. I believe that said there were 11 of the wide headed carriage bolts (bolt #1 in the photo). But having looked at things closer I believe there should be 12 of them. The bolt in question was in a particularly rotten spot and the head looked smaller due to it wasting away from rust. I will edit the earlier post if it will let me.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I spent several hours today making a pair of dies to countersink the holes in my new rear angle. I think the photos are pretty self explanatory. Basically a male and a female with a dowel pin to guide them. The idea is to drill a hole in the angle and then put the angle between the dies and them force them together with a press. I did get 2 spare angles made just in case things don't work as expected.