Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

besides the newly dented passenger fender that's the only panel that needs attention. ow difficult was it to fit?

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Evil- my cab (obtained up the road from you in Espanola, NM) had passenger damage to the toeboard, passenger inner fender and outer cowl panel. I replaced everything in there. The inner brace between the 2 panels was reproduction part and needed the most reworking. The outer cowl panel didn't need a whole lot of work, it was mainly the whole repair process in general. The cab was in much better shape than others I have seen.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

alright. I have been ignoring my truck for a couple of weeks in order to give it time to think about what it did. I was forced to address it tonight as it was parked under the attic and I was given orders by the boss to get the Christmas stuff down. new fuel filter, new needle & seat and it fired right up. this time (seems to change every time I start the thing) the fuel pressure was a tad low. I adjusted it and let it run on the high idle circuit for about 5 minutes then dropped it to the normal idle for another 5 minutes. I continually watched the sight windows and the pressure gauge. everything seemed fine. backed it out of the garage and let it idle for about 30 minutes while I was in the attic ( had my partner in crime check the pressure gauge every couple of minutes). the truck idled with perfect pressure and float levels for about 40 minutes total before I pulled it back in. I'm sad to say that the truck idling correctly without flooding and pulling in & out of the garage is a total win. I'm pretty happy in a pathetic kind of way. I guess we have to revel in the little victories.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Got my new calendar from "The Filling Station" in Lebanon, Oregon today. They put a picture of my truck on the May month. First time for me. Feels good.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Sounds like I need to make a trip over there tomorrow!

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I patched over the butchered steering column hole in my firewall, then cut a new properly-sized hole for my homemade column. Drilled the column shaft to accept a u-joint (using aircraft grade hardware) and mocked up the connection to the rack with a wooden dowel to get measurements. Ordered an appropriate length double D tonight. Tomorrow I'll fabricate a lower bracket to secure the bottom of the column.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

What engine are you running, just wondered how close the shaft will be to the exhaust when completed.
Mudman.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Very astute observation. With an SBC, rams horn exhaust manifold did indeed conflict with the steering shaft. I switched to a rear dump manifold, giving me more than an inch of clearance. And yes, it's all been mocked up and test-fitted already.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

That steering column has to be secured at the firewall. How did you secure it?

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Ah, my own words come back to haunt me, lol: "Tomorrow I'll fabricate a lower bracket to secure the bottom of the column."
I painted the column today, so I didn't get around to making the lower mount as I'd promised in my first post. Maybe tomorrow.
The plan is to do a plate/tube/bolt, something like this:

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

fired it up and pulled it out of of the garage to make room for some garage projects. pulled it back in when I was done.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Well at least you got the fluids circulated. Try to park it in a slightly different location so your tires don't get flat-spotted from sitting.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

my plan for this week is short. I need to move my fuel line away from the header and adjust the rear float. I'm dropping my dented front fender off at the shop today to be fixed.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Getting ready to start my No Limit X-member kit!

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

What manifold did you go with? I have block hugger headers and they interfere with the steering shaft.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Unfortunately not nearly as efficient or attractive as your block huggers:

Casting # 14007400
267-305-350
1980 Century, Grand Prix, LeMans 305
1980 Chevrolet passenger
267-305-350
1980 Malibu, Monte Carlo, Sprint 267-305
1980-81 Regal 305
1981 Camaro 267-305-350
1981 Chevrolet passenger, Malibu, Pontiac, Sprint 267-305
1981 Firebird 305
1981 LeMans 267
1982 Buick, Malibu, Monte Carlo, Olds, Pontiac, Regal, Sprint 267
1982 Chevrolet passenger 267-305
1982-86 Cutlass, Malibu, Monte Carlo, Pontiac, Regal, Sprint 305
1983-86 Grand Prix 305

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

took my dented out of round fender to the shop. now I don't know if any of you have had to have any body work done on your trucks but no shop wants to touch old metal anymore. took forever to find a guy. the insurance estimated 6 hours work. I told them they were wrong. the body shop said 12hours. I called the assessor and had him call the shop directly. my brother is in town for the holidays and we are going to get into the garage and find out what my fuel issue is. hes a great mechanic and builder so I have high hopes. hes also my best friend and nothing is better then wrenching with a good friend.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Cleaned out the all the dirt so i can soon install the wire harness and cleaned up the tach gauge.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

my brother and I did get into the garage and made miracles happen. took about 20 minutes and my brother noticed that the truck started and idled great but as soon as it was warm had all kinds of fuel issues. went super lean. ive been saying that's what it did but couldn't figure it out. we tried to adjust the choke and it was STUCK! we had to use a flat blade screw driver to pop it off. once that was done we were able to get it right and it made a huge difference. then we rest all of the mixture screws and for kicks checked the timing. the timing seemed fine to me but he moved it a degree or two and wouldn't you know it made all the difference. my stumble is gone, my self adjusting float levels are gone, my STUMBLE is GONE! I have done all of the adjustments before but I would have never thought about this being a choke issue. I hadn't even considered it. we took the truck out for a quick drive and it was smooth as silk. we are gonna beat on it over the next couple of days to see if it requires any further adjustment. telling you guys there is nothing like wrenching with your best friend.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Heck yeah! That's awesome to hear. Now for a longer drive to shake out all the bolts that weren't tightened :lol:

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

we plan to have it out for several longer harder drives over the next three days. I will of course keep you all posted. I'm stoked about it man!!

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Tis the season for miracle's even for a truck.:five:
Mudman.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Finally got my McGaughy's drop spindles on. Liking how it dropped it back down to sea level! Funny - I was lowering it off the jack stands and actually got the floor jack stuck under the crossmember. Luckily, Santa brought me a new low profile jack! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Cheers, Jim

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Looks good

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I see you installed new lowering coils. It usually takes 100 miles or so for a set of new coils to settle, in my experience as much as 2-3 inches. Combined with the drop spindles, after driving your truck may end up lower than you want!

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I needed to move the truck out of the garage so i could work on my motorcycle and have room to set up the propane heater. the truck started great even in the 10 degree weather. pulled it out of the garage and let it idle for about 10 minutes. when i was done i fired it back up and it pulled back in as happy as it could be. those few adjustments made it a whole new truck,

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

20 some years ago we had a really cold winter in town, hit -25. The only rig I could get running was my truck with a 283 rochester 2gc, all the modern cars iced up the fuel systems. I had to take my wifes Mazda to a friends commercial heated warehouse to thaw out.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

cold at -25 hey, has been -30 her in the Great white north for almost 2 weeks, wishing for an early spring and wishing...and.
Mudman.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

going down to -35 tomorrow night:mm:http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/i...ilies/mmmm.gif

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Finished up on the firewall. Used some textured spray paint to hide some if the minor imperfections, not perfect but pretty good for a ~64 year old truck.

And we are getting a blistering 50 degrees today... above 0...

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Had to tear the 5hp compressor pump apart and attempt to fix it... after 30 years a screw came out of the inlet flapper valve!

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

its 7 degrees. i pulled the truck out of the garage so i could work on something else. it was running so well i decided to take it around the block. i worked on my car for a while and then took the truck a couple of miles up the street to put gas in it. it was an impromptu 5 mile trip that was very fun. i found a REALLY nice original dash for sale on craigslist. i sent the guy a text but haven't heard back yet. the truck is running well. not 100% but its very close and I'm really happy about that. now its time to get inside the truck and start getting all the interior systems working. I'm excited about this part. I'm trying to formulate a plan.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

It was -17 F this morning, I just bumped the heat up so I can go out and get some more work done. Here's part of yesterday's accomplishments, Fatmat floor liner installed on the firewall and front floor area...

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I was just looking at this liner. you installed this over the fatman sound/vibration material? I'm very concerned with insulation/sound barrier in my truck. what was your opinion of this product? is it worth adding a liner over the deadener? how many sqft of the sound deadener does it take to cover our cabs? I'm not sure how to figure that out.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Fatmat has a calculator on their website, with a few basic measurements you can get close. Going from the firewall pinch weld to the first floor rib required 2 pieces with a little left over.

I already had the regular fatmat in place on the floor, rear cab wall, doors and kick panels. It made a big difference in how solid the cab seemed and reduced road noise. Like you, I'm concerned about cab noise levels, I won't know if it's worth it until I actually drive the truck again. As part of my truck renovation I put regular fatmat up to the very top of the firewall, before I learned about the floor liner. I'm confident adding the floor liner will really help with interior noise. Here's a unscientific 10 second video that illustrates why...

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

a friend and i were talking about it and he said he added about 250lbs of sound deadener to his last build and that it was worth it. I'm excited to be getting to the interior work.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

so this is fun. I pulled the truck out of the garage last night to work on a project. no issues at all. when I was done I started it back easily but got in a hurry and didn't let it warm up at all b4 I tried pulling it into the garage (its 3 here) and I killed it. it wouldn't start back. acted like the battery was completely dead. had to be up at 4am so I left it half way out of the driveway and now I'm trying to get a quick charge on the battery so I can get it back into the garage and unblock my driveway. so that's my luck

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Installed clutch/transmission and updated wiring schematics. Good times!

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I finally got fed up with trying to work lying on my back underneath my AD panel truck and determined to lift the body off the frame. I've never worked with a body this massive before, so was fairly intimidated. I'm just working in a home garage with no access to a lift or room for a gantry crane. Then I discovered "Slide-out Stabilizers" for supporting RV slide-outs. Theoretically they're good for 5000 lbs apiece, plus I also welded larger plates on the bases for better stability. I put one under each corner and effortlessly cranked them up. Mine are good for up to 48" but I only needed about 31" to roll my chassis out.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

changed brake master and adjust hand brake.