Re: Previous owner '68
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Decided to push the fender to the back burner and installed more front end parts.
I had the '85 1.25" rotors turned and installed new bearings and seals. I found a 72 power steering gearbox out in the horse shed. Not sure if it's good, so I painted and installed it. My motto is "Make it pretty, it gives you incentive to make it work". |
Re: Previous owner '68
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A couple more pics of the assembled front end, I was feeling good, until the brake caliper fiasco...
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Re: Previous owner '68
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I decided to rebuild the brake calipers I have. I know, rebuilds are cheap, but I like to learn and do so I have always rebuilt them myself. It's not that hard.
Unfortunately, when I went to install them the caliper pins would not line up on the drivers side spindle. I had heard that some of the aftermarket drop spindles have this problem but I suspect the true problem is the poor casting quality of the aftermarket calipers. The passengers side caliper I had is an original and it fit fine with room to spare. |
Re: Previous owner '68
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I decided to grind the offending caliper. I know, if I had ground the spindle area then all calipers from now on would have fit. But I have this thing about things not fitting correctly, if you don't fit, you will be ground down and made to fit. I'm not going to grind a good part to make it fit a bad part.
The second pic shows the comparison of the 2 calipers. The passengers (original GM part) casting on the right is crisper and not as bulky. The drafts from the dies are more pronounced and it fits. The drivers caliper works, now. |
Re: Previous owner '68
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Finally got the calipers installed.
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Re: Previous owner '68
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The front brake hoses are for an '85, I had to tweak them to make them fit without hitting the spindle.
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Re: Previous owner '68
Looking good!
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Re: Previous owner '68
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I hand bent some brake lines for the rearend and installed the trailing arms, springs, and rearend. No excitement, which is good.
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Re: Previous owner '68
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Finally back on all 4 wheels.
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Re: Previous owner '68
I have some of those later brake hoses I plan to use on my 67 and 68.
Those CPP lower control arms, are they 73-up, or earlier??? I am/or was planning on using 71-71 upper and lower control arms, because the shaft/bushings can be greased. Now that I'm educated on how they work, I'm not sure.. The 72 and earlier control arms do NOT pivot on rubber bushings. The caps on the upper and lower control arms screw into the control arms with external threads and the shaft screws into the inside of the caps. The bushings only capture the grease coming out of the caps, and only serve that purpose and to keep dirt and moisture out of that area. THose pickups have always rode real nice, maybe I am over thinking this... |
Re: Previous owner '68
DA68 wasn't too sure which the CPP a-arms were for, turns out they were for the earlier trucks, I had to change out the ball joints to make them work with my 73-87 spindles. They take standard press-in balljoints.
I've had 67-72 pickup and 73-87 pickups, and I can't tell the difference in ride. Some people claim they can, that the rubber bushings are smoother, but I could never tell the difference. I really don't think you can go wrong with either setup, these old chevys are great. |
Re: Previous owner '68
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Went back and forth on where to put the proportioning valve. Finally decided to put it in the squarebody location since I already had one.
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Re: Previous owner '68
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Then I went to the back and installed the adjustable track bar. I also had to remove the u-bolt nuts because someone forgot to put the shock relocator brackets in place. I blame my wife, even though she isn't doing any of the real work on this truck.
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Re: Previous owner '68
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Started installing the gas tank. I had already removed the crossmember and will deal with any interference with the bed crossmembers when I get to them.
January 6, 2024 |
Re: Previous owner '68
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The straps will be bent the WRONG way when you get a new tank (bottom strap). You need to bend them like the top one (or something reasonably close).
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Re: Previous owner '68
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An original blazer strap for reference.
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Re: Previous owner '68
Roger, the tank looks to have the straight fill neck on it, don't know if it will cause you any problems when you try to install hose, but mine caused a kink, and ended up removing neck and installing original neck
Now is the time to fix it if you want before you put gas in it Straps I got with tank didn't have J bolts so I used the original ones Nice work so far |
Re: Previous owner '68
Thanks for the heads up Jim. I do have a couple blazer fill necks I could use if I need to but I'm hoping I can work something else out since I'll be running a stepside bed. I know the blazers have a body mount right where the fill is and I won't have to worry about that.
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Re: Previous owner '68
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I took a minute to stand back with a critical eye and there were a couple things I didn't like. The first was the way the rear brake hose was mounted. Obviously it wasn't the correct one for the rearend I have, so I changed the mounting bracket. Now the hose isn't so near the shock.
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Re: Previous owner '68
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I also hated the way the gas tank straps looked. So I took them off and spot welded them so they stay flat.
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Re: Previous owner '68
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Another full shot.
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