Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

You are correct...working on that now...trying to find one that I can replace the oil fill cap with...

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Spent today doing the old fashioned splitting ,cleaning , bolting & welding of my 71's trailing arms. Have to finish welding other arm in the morning , was sweating so bad my welding helmet lense kept flooding. Just like me to start a welding project on the hottest day of the year! Lol.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Hows the acceleration after hei/carb upgrade? Any bogging/sputtering?

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Fixed my leaking th400 speedo gear housing. Put new housing o ring, gear o ring and metal slip ring. :metal:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

In my continuing saga of PO shenanigans, I've figured out the latest. The truck has a starter button attached under the steering column. I noticed yesterday how it's wired, but while I was looking, I noticed the plug to the neutral safety switch was unplugged. The back up switch was plugged in though.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...umn%20base.jpg

Some other stuff about the column make me think it isn't original. I assume if it was it would be painted the same color as everything else inside, and it's not. A couple other things, but anyways, I read a bit about the switch, and I decide to take it off, and sure enough, one half of the little tab part on the switch that holds the tab inside the column to know what position it's in, is broken off, and it's basically stuck in the lowest drive position.

So I think of it logically. Owner realizes his truck won't start, asks some bros, they say "hey, check your neutral switch" and he says, yeah, that's it, unplugs it, still doesn't work, then decides to wire up a hotwire start button (1 side direct from the battery, 1 side spliced into the purple line from the harness to the starter). Then it works! Oh but the first button somehow didn't work, even though you DRILLED A GIANT HOLE in the dash above the ignition that I'll now have to weld up at some point. Oh yeah, that switch is still there, wires just hanging down. The 2nd switch did the ticket though...

Adds another shenanigan to the list:
- 73+ bumper on a 70
- Seat track adjusters removed, so just bolted together (I'm tall so it's fine)
- Non-vented tank, non vented gas cap, no vents anywhere
- Has both a crappy Facet electric fuel pump and the mechanical pump still in the fuel line setup
- Toggle switch that powers the HEI dizzy, choke, and the electric fuel pump
- The toggle switch gets power from the resistance wire!
- Both of the normal engine to cab ground straps are not attached. One is broken, one is just not attached
- The ground wire that's supposed to go to the alternator is attached to the block (ah, I see what you did there!). I guess the alternator is grounded to the block? Sure, why not.
- No kickdown for the TH400, which isn't a huge deal, only does 3 to 1 downshifts from what I read. The vac modulator is hooked up though.
- Hotwire starter button vs replacing the neutral safety switch
- But at least with the starter button, I can wire up it up as a kick down! Somehow... I'm not really that smart...

I can't wait to see what I find next!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Farm fixes , bubba/redneck repairs , plain old bodge jobs , expect to find many more whenever you're working on low end commoners vehicles .

Sometimes downright dangerous / scary .

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

So, I finally installed my fuel pressure regulator.
I started it up, and everything was good. Then I started to play with the pressure. At first I was disappointed because it was slow to react, but after playing with it for a few minutes, I got it to level off at four and a half pounds. The throttle response now is great, as before it would flutter and hesitate (at 8-9 pounds unregulated pressure).
As far as what kind of line did I use?
I used rubber fuel injection line and the clamps designed for full lines.
The way I figured was that steel lines can leak too, at the fittings, and I've yet to have a problem with rubber in the 24 years that I've had my truck.
Now it's on to the ball joints and rear end service. More to follow......:metal:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Installed a new Trans. Temp gauge for the 700r.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Built a new clutch arm the previous owner cut it off to swap the truck to automatic i'm going with T56 6 speed so i needed a new one just to cheap to buy one lol!!!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Stock Mechanical fuel pump? Which carburator?

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Oh, I think we all have that fear. I makes my hands sweat every time I walk in the door of the DMV knowing that something will be wrong with the title. The last Blazer I went to buy the guy had not transferred the title and had been driving it for two years by swapping his Camaro plate on it when he drove it. Because of my fear of the DMV I told him I would buy the Blazer only if he would title it in his name first. He did and all went well and it did easy my fear a little at the DMV

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I got my alignment done finally, after several minor setbacks. Drives real nice, although I may have to cut down my rear bump stops so it doesn't bottom out on big bumps. The rear shocks are for lowered trucks, I installed the shock relocation brackets I got the plans from off the forum here, that and I made some custom brackets out of the lower shock attachment plates (stock ones) by welding a piece of 2" x 2" bar stock on the bottom of the stock brackets and drilled them for longer stainless steel bolts to attach the shocks. I feel that I may still have to do the C notch, but we'll take it step by step and see what works best.maybe even different shocks my help.

The other issue I was having was my alternator, I had rebuilt it with all new bearings, brushes, rectifier bridge and voltage regulator and Diode trio.
I thought I had everything exactly as it came apart, turns out, there are two insulated, and one non-insulated screws that attach the brush holder and voltage
Regulator to the case, well, I had the un insulated screw at the point where the Diode trio attaches to the brush holder (screw hole closest to the center bearing)
And it should have been the insulated screw, so I had a direct short to ground there. My uncle, who remanufactured alternators and starters for decades, caught that immediately. He has all the test and diagnostic equipment at his shop, so I took it to him to diagnose. He saved me $70 on buying a new alternator, (a case of cold beer does wonders for persuasion);)
So, got it installed last night and it's working great, ammeter works as it should!!!
Have a great weekend!!!!
Ben
:metal::metal:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Prepped, finished, notes, put away..........Prepped, finished, notes, put away. I must have spent 3 hours just revitalizing door latches.

But I'm enjoying the :chevy: out of this. I seem to consistently find things that aren't right. The beauty is there's generally a reference for why. That and I'm a lucky duck, because condition is super duper.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Gave the 72 a bath and cleaned 50#s of leaves out of the bed :metal:

http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/...psskv89x8s.jpg

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I couldn't find this thread last night....is something wrong with it?

Yesterday I spent 7 hours on the road picking up my cowl from the media blaster. I had it and a piece from my heater box cleaned up and the cowl epoxy primed.

I have the heater box part sitting in Evaporust to get rid of the flash rust....I am going to permatex it today and paint it tomorrow.

Soon (I hope) the truck will be back on the road as better than she's been since the mid-1970's!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

It was like 95 in the CA central valley today, but I was out there all day getting it done. Dropped by 68bowtie's and picked up a heater box. I really only need the last part where the defrost/floor vent, and in comparing pics, I found that the non/AC system uses that same box, so it should work perfectly. Nowhere near ready to install it, but I know I'll need defrost, and short of a complete restore of the factory AC system, or a one of the new kits, this is the solution!

Otherwise, Got my fuel pump installed, carb back on, fuel line plumbed (hardline, regulator, filter), replaced all my vac lines, pcv, breather, & grommets, rewired the bulkhead connector with a new bladed to run a normal 12G wire to the HEI, and soldered on the correct purple 12g wire to the starter (it had a blue wire spliced). Installed new battery cables, all the ground cables. Added a ground from the front pass head where the battery ground is connected down to the top bot on the engine mount. My truck has headers, and I could see no realistic way to get to the solenoid wiring without dropping the starter. Boy that was fun, getting those little spacers back in. I was also reminded how weak I am in my elderly age of 38, trying to bench press that little bastard starter back in place. Finally had to give up and use a jack to get it into place. Well, progress is progress! But it was too hot to take pictures...

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I got a little done yesterday too: I decided where to put my new windshield washer pump, after taking some advice on here about why it's not a good idea to mount it upside down. :uhmk:

I then cut out a template for the bracket I'll need to mount it on the forward part of the washer reservoir bracket.

I also called the painter to have the NOS fender and cowl top coated (sometime next week he said).

Finally I scraped off all the salt build up I could from 20 years of coolant off the water neck.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I put LED bulbs in my taillights, and resurfaced the inside to brighten them some more. Now, the only rear lights left are the backup lights. But those will have to wait till next month. I keep saying this, but next is to get into the cab an redo some things that I've been meaning to do for a while.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Found out that my 11' Silverado 1500 still had the original windshield wiper blades on them...hmmmmm...

so I changed them out to rainx blades and now they're good for another 5 years ^____^ lol

Re: Windshield Wipers
 

FWIW ;

Try some Rain-X , you'll be amazed and never need wiper blades in the rain again .

You have to apply it monthly so it builds up but it's fantastic stuff when properly used .

Re: Windshield Wipers
 

Rain-X on the windshield with Rain-X blades?? is that like googling google..?:uhmk:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

No , it isn't you actually have to $pend $5 to see , once you do you'll be hooked .

Re: Windshield Wipers
 

You live in so cal like me and giving windshield wiper advise? Lol You only use them maybe twice a year :haha: good advice tho.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Not what I DID.. but what Im DOING... is fighting the bed floor trying to get that darn thing out of there!! Its kicking my butt...

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Installed some Shiney things and painted exhaust manifolds.
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1uzjgvyn.jpg
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0ywdwjcb.jpg
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...psh4p7brnv.jpg
Before
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...psldsrgyju.jpg
After
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...psttfhrbpc.jpg
Sparkplug holders
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...pso0q9nkij.jpg