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Thanks 69cunningham. I knew you would have a good/calculated answer. What wheel/tire size went into this calculation? You may have already mentioned but which T56 magnum are you using (2.97 or 2.66) first gear ratio? Keep up the good work :metal:

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The trans has the 2.97 first gear and the tires I want to use are 285/60R17 that are 30.4". It will go 49MPH at 6000 RPM in first and it will turn 1340RPM to go 65 MPH in 6th. If I used 4.11 gears, it would go 44MPH and turn 1476RPM. I'm torn about the ratio. The lower gears might be a better choice since the truck is heavy. The numbers for a 2010 SS Camaro are 49MPH and 1497 RPM. A 2010 Corvette are 52.5MPH and 1397RPM.

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Hmm both seem like good options I think I'm partial to the 3.73 numbers though. I'd be curious to see how these compare to other LSX T56/TR6060 combos.

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Although after some research, it looks like the Holley shop truck 67 C10 which is running a LS3/tKo600 is also running a 4.11 rear. I can see how you're indecisive.

Holley truck specs and video
http://forums.holley.com/showthread....C10-Shop-Truck
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...&v=av_Sm1sZwZA

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Looking good!

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The exhaust tubing is finally all cut, fitted and tack welded together. All that I need to finish are the remaining hangers and then it will be out for final welding.

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A few parts arrived over the past few days. I give more details when they are installed.

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nice brakes. just installed a set of those myself. great build btw.

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I’ve made progress on the exhaust. The rear hangers are done. Like the other hangers, they are formed out of 3/8” SS rod. A jig was used two get accurate bends. The rod was heated cherry red with a torch to allow bending. 1/2 inch bolts were used to set the radius. Any tighter resulted in cracks.

The same Pypes rubber mounts used on the other hangers were also used here. A plate to support the mount was made out of 3/16” steel. It mounts under the bumper dress panel. The bolts holding the mount will become welded in studs so they won’t interfere with the dress panel.

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The exhaust tips are made of belled out sections of SS tubing cut at an 18 degree angle to match the bumper. Brass shim stock was used to fill any gap. The inner tubing will be cut to match the outer.

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My part of the exhaust is finished! It’s time for a real welder to make the welds pretty. Then off to ceramic coating.

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Since the exhaust is done everything can be taken apart in preparation for powder coating. There’s a little more finish grinding now that the engine and fuel tank are out. The last picture shows an easy way to remove the front cross member.

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Now that the trailing arms are out, I can remove the old bushings. Since I have Energy Suspensions polyurethane bushings I needed to leave in the bushing shells. A hole saw made quick work of the rubber.

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The frame is off to the powder coater tomorrow.

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Excellent work on the exhaust! Very nice design and well thought out. Chassis is looking good too. I bet you are excited to see her going to powder coat.

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Really nice job on the exhaust

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very nice!

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I got my exhaust back from having it TIG welded this weekend. It looks great. It will need to be fitted one more time to make sure nothing moved before sending it for coating. I’m still looking for the right shop to do it. http://www.capsbhc.com/ was highly recommended to me, but shipping to Fresno would be expensive and might possibly damage them. Any recommendations closer to Santa Rosa, CA would be appreciated.

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I’ve worked on a couple of other parts while waiting for the frame to come back from powder coating. The rear end and the steering box have been disassembled, cleaned and sand blasted. I bought a rebuild kit for the steering box. There have been problems installing it. First, the Teflon seals need to be stretched slightly to fit around the piston and control valve. They stayed too big and made it difficult to install the parts in the case. The other problem was the ball bearings in the recirculating ball rack. I thought I found all of them, there were 11 silver and 11 black. Online I’ve found reference to 24 and 26. It seems I am short a few. I have enough to fill the rack, but none for the cross over tube. I’m not sure what to do. I may end up with a new AGR box. I don’t want to have issues with my steering.

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The parts are back from powder! They look great. I also ended up buying a new AGR power steering box (204317).

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I'm pretty sure 11 and 11 on the ball bearing is correct. I did a complete overhaul on mine a while back. It was a pain to get it assembled but it works great now. I'm really happy with the steering on my truck. I did refer to (Saginaw 800 Power Steering Gear Box Part 5 ) on youtube many times while I was overhauling mine. I ended up using a piece of fuel line to keep the balls seated while I meshed the ballscrew in the assembly.

Nice progress on the truck BTW.

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I wimped out and just bought a new box. There weren't enough balls to fill the crossover and I believe I damaged the Teflon seals.

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It’s time to tear the engine apart and paint it for final (hopefully) installation. First, the balancer has to come off. It wasn’t an easy task for my Harbor Freight puller. Another reason for removing it is a shorter one is needed for my CTS-V accessories.

Removing the dirty air tube from the intake is a little tricky. There is a latch that must be pressed, then the tube easily pulls off. The pin in the picture is pointing at the latch.

After taking all the external parts off, it was time to clean, clean and clean some more. It started with lacquer thinner and a tooth brush. Then more thinner and clean cloths followed by Duplicolor ‘s Grease and Oil Remover and some compressed air to blow off the solvent. Scotch Brite was used to scuff up the smooth surfaces to give some tooth so the paint will stick. A couple more rinses with solvent made it ready for paint.

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Masking was a lot of work. I got several sizes of backer rod from Home Depot to fill various holes. Lots of tape covered the flat areas that I didn’t want painted.

I used Dupliclor ceramic primer and engine enamel in Chevy Orange paints. It looks pretty good. The masking will be removed tomorrow if the paint looks good in the light of day.

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The paint looks pretty good. The backer rod did a nice job keeping the holes free of paint. Now it’s time to put it back together. I ran into a minor problem with the Early Classics motor mounts. They needed a little grinding to clear the bolts that go into the block. This screwed up the powder coating. I guess I’ll have to send another batch of parts to the powder coating.

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Over the last few weeks, a number of small tasked have been accomplished. The harmonic balancer has been painted and installed, the pitman arm painted and installed and the water pump painted. Installation will have to wait for some bolts.

This weekend, I test fitted the rear brakes to see if the rear end housing needed any modifications before powder coating. The CPP rear disk brake lines don’t look like they will work. I wish there would have been some instructions with them. I’m leaning toward using flex hose to the frame and no hard lines on the housing.

Also, the hubs are now on the spindles. As soon as the motor mounts get powder coated and the engine is installed, the front suspension can go on.

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In preparation for the next trip to the powder coater, I’ve been searching for all the parts that need to go. Since the truck was taken apart 30 years ago and has been moved several times and stored in many different places, it is a challenge finding parts or even knowing what parts are still around. I have given away parts that weren’t supposed to be reused and thrown away others. I couldn’t find the drag link or the u-bolts that attach the lower a-arms. I tore apart my sheds and garage looking for them.

I ended up buying new u-bolts from Napa. The 650-4065 is a pair of 9/16”. The original parts are ½”. The holes in the cross member only had to be opened up slightly. Of course immediately after the parts came home, I found the original ones in a cabinet that had very few ’69 parts. Oh well.

The drag link was harder. It turned out that I had included it with a set of 71 disc brake parts I gave to a friend. It had been in one of his sheds for a couple of years.

The parts should be back from the coater in a week or two. Miller Powder Coating in Rohnert Park CA is doing these parts since they did such a nice job on the frame. Then the engine can go back into the frame.

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The bearing retainer from American Powertrain showed up today. It is required for the Hydromax hydraulic throw out bearing, but not included. I asked for it when I ordered the transmission, but it got omitted.

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project is coming along great man. brakes look good. i have the same brakes and love them. never could get my parking brake to work with the factory system on the truck. so i don't use it. not the best option but she does just fine for now.

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The last two days have been good for truck parts. The latest parts just got back from the powder coater. The most important of which is the motor mounts so the engine can go back in the chassis, hopefully for the last time. Also, a big order from Summit Racing arrived that included most of the parts to rebuild the rear end.

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Nice stash of parts and that motor looks like it was meant to go there. Sorry if I missed it. What starter are you running?

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Hey man,

Your truck is looking great. I'm in Santa Rosa if you ever need a hand.

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Man, that looks great!!

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The first time the trans was attached to the engine, I discovered that the pilot bushing was not compatible with the T56 Magnum. The large bearing sits further back so it doesn’t allow the trans to mate properly. The smaller part ( AC Delco 14061685) goes further into the crank. I swapped the new one in today.

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That motor looks great and so does all the nice new parts. Love the brake kit too.

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Thanks for all of your encouragement. It feels good to see things finally coming together, but there is a long way to go.

Last night the stock LS3 clutch went in. Today, I’ve been shimming the HydraMax hydraulic throw out bearing. It’s tricky. There are conical washers that do the spacing. Three washers set the clearance at 0.180”. The spec is 0.150 to 0.200”. I plan on using modeling clay to double check it.

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Love seeing this come together for you man. Looks great

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I got the trans and most of the front suspension on this weekend.

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The front brakes are on. They look good.

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looks real nice man