Re: SiX-fo SuBuRbAn
 

took a little time off for the winter break, but today and yesterday , I pulled the rockers off... they were in decent shape, and I didnt really want to pull them, but I needed them off to get the correct access to weld the body back together.

I will take some pics of what I am doing next time I am out there.


>>>>> and anyone have good suggestions of which rockers to, or not to buy???
I see top banana has a pair for $66, then I saw some on ebay for $68 +$25 shipping, and then I saw some others on ebay for $140 + shipping.....

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I believe Top Banana sells Triplus. Greg is ordering from them for his cab, I believe.

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here is some progress.. rust repair on the lower door pillar, on the rh side I had to make patterns and fabricate the rusted away piece, luckily there was enough left on the left side to use as a pattern.

the inside of the rockers.. they are a little surface rusted , but not too bad, and the patch on the rh floor brace, where it was cut up with the torch.

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here is the bottom of the door pillar, this is why I had to cut the rockers off, so I could access this piece to trim it to fit and weld it in.
after I place the floor I will bolt it in ,and then weld it in. I also set it up so all the welds will be behind the rocker , so no body work needed!

the insides of the rockers are pretty surface rusty too, these are spot welded on near the door rubber, and under the sill plate is the seam from the inner/floor meeting the rocker , on this sub floor some of the spots were already broken from use, and that left a way for water to seep in, when I put the new rockers on, I will seam seal this seam.

next are the 3 templates I made to fix the rust on the rh lower door pillar, seen in the first pic of the previous post.
I use thick paper , cut it to fit, tape it together, then transfer it to a piece of sheet metal to weld in.
a lot easier to cut the paper and get it right first before using the sheet metal.

last is a pic of the brace that gm welds on subs and panels to hold the rocker to the 1/4 panel.

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putting the body back together.
It was easier to take 'em apart, one was rusted away, and the other had the 1/4s cut off.
In order to get the floor back in without pulling the wood floor out (and the cross braces, and maybe having the body collapse:lol:) I cut this little corner piece out so I could slip the floor in, I will just have to do a little more welding...

Re: SiX-fo SuBuRbAn
 

that looks good Jon
ron

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here is the pass side roof post, I was able to leave the inner post intact by drilling out the spots, so I won't have a seam to do body work on there; then I cut a section out of the front, so I can weld the inner post first, then fix the outer.

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to get the white roof posts trimmed in the right spot, I cut a portion off the top of the blue posts, and then layed them over the white, that gets me real close for the cuts, it helps to be able to cut both the doners on the long side.

my doner was a rollover, and I wasn't sure how bent the posts were,if at all, the pass side was perfect, but the driver post (from the big tree mark on the roof) was pulled in a little bit, about 3/4 inch.

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Nice work Jon ....

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here is how I was able to fix the lh post... I remembered this from an old auto body book I read 25 years ago..
what I did was cut all the spots on the post , sepperate it into the 3 pieces , and then bend it back to where it was supposed to be.

I got the posts welded together on the inner support, and then checked the windshield for fit. I used chunks of an old gasket for windshield shims.

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hereis a shot of the rh post going together, there was a bit of a gap, so I used a trick an old body guy showed me, and "sleaved" it, I cut a piece of scrap inner post , welded it to the bottom , and then jacked the cowl into place so that all my measurements lined up.

I was also glad to see that the lower rear corner pillars lined up perfectly.

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thanks, guys, got the lh post ready for mud, will have to get some more pics...

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Looking good glad to see some progress can't wait to see what it will look like when you are done with it!
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ok, here is the lh post ready for filler!

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dam that turned out great ..want come work on mine? lol

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That's some good work there merging the two trucks into one again.. Really good job..

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you got skills

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thanks guys.
ok, here is the pass side post:
this one came out a little nicer than the lh one.

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I had to relieve the firewall a little bit for the bbc valvecovers the lh side I cut a piece out, then folded it in on itself, made a patch for the top, and tapped the bottom in until it was the same shape.
the rh side didn't really need much, so I cut around 3 sides , pushed it in a bit, and then welded it back up.
I used the old cowl setting on the frame to see where I needed the room for the engine.

before I put the body on I spray bombed the firewall.

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I also salvaged the rear brake line off the 1/2 ton shortbox, (think it is an 87) and the front part of the rear brake line off of the 88 sub, I will utilize all the front brake lines and prop.valve off the 88, and then the hydrovac system off the blazer that had the engine.

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Nice work Jon, you've been busy :thumbs:

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nice work and i think i see a big block going in ?

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Amazed at your skillz.

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Nice work Jon. Very cool.

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You have been busy.!! Looks great.
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more progress... buttoning up stuff to do before the body goes on.

got the exhaust welded up.
at first I started to use the brake lines off the 64 sub, but I realized that it would be much easier to use the lines off the 80's parts trucks, used the back half off the 87 shortbed, and the front off the 88 sub. now all the fittings match up, and I don't have to buy anything. I saved most of the attachment clamps off the 80's trucks and used exsisting holes to route the line.

...same thing happened with the fuel line..after fighting with the original sub line a little bit, I took a look at my options on the parts trucks.
the original line was 5/16, and the blazer with the bbc was using a 3/8.
the original line stopped short up front to meet with the 292 6 center mount fuel pump ( I also noticed that it was kinked almost 2/3's right at the pump.. that is probably why the guy couldn't keep it running when he sold it to us...) and routed right into the new 4x4 engine x member and mount.

the 60's sub uses a 2 piece fuel line, the front 1/2 is the same as a truck, and takes 90 degree turn right under where the back of the cab would be, all gm did for the sub was create a new line for the back half, and connect the 2 with a horseshoe piece of rubber line... ( you can see a pic of the original line on post #97-page 4)..this piece ended up routing right through an exhaust hanger that I put on, and the rubber ended up real close to the exhaust.

because of all that I took a look at the blazer line, and realized that it would be a better fit, it is 3/8, and routes outside the frame rail near the dual exhaust.

Another thing I did was put an in line fuel filter in the original break in the blazer line, this compensated a little for the w.base difference and was needed because of this:

It has been our experience with 73-87 gm trucks that the fuel sock that is mounted on the fuel sending unit pickup , after years of use breaks down, and gets a kink in it.
This has happened on 6 of our 73-87 rigs.
What will happen is that the sock will kink, and cut off the fuel flow to the line, the frustrating part is that it will only happen when you put a heavy load on it, let off the gas and it opens up, it will run, then you put pressure on it and it closes up and chokes off the supply, if you don't know about it you end up spending a lot of money on the fuel system until you figure it out (the first time).. we sure did!

(I grabbed a photo of one off the net, I will try and remember to grab some pics of a few of our kinked ones next time)

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Next I have to give a huge thanks to member PAPAKENT, who had stopped by to pull a receiver hitch, and stuck around to help with putting the body on.

this time I decided lifting the whole body with 2 camper jacks on the cement was too sketchy, and used a third body lift jack at the rear to triangulate the lift... much safer.
I also ran some bolts and chain through the front 4 body mounts to lift from, mainly because the new rockers are not on yet, and there was nowhere else to lift, but this also helped out a couple things, less chance of rocker/body damage from the jacks, and it also got the bases out wide enough that they didn't interfere with the tires.

(:lol: I snuck some photos of papak. into the last shots!)

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here it is!
I left a bunch of stuff on the roof, and now I'm going to need a step ladder to retrieve it!:lol:

you will notice that the rear wheels are off a little bit, I did this on purpose for 2 reasons, 1. I didn't want to have to pay to get a driveshaft shortened:lol:, and 2. since I am replacing the lower 1/4's and wheelwells due to rust I wanted to go with the longer fleet side wheelwells, because they are bigger, and I think will fit the 33's, or 35's better than the short sub wheelwells, also because that's all I have!:lol:

Interesting note.. I measured the centerline of the 1/4 to the ground,on this (51 inches) and the centerline to the ground on my stock 63 3/4 4x4, and this sub is exactly 4 inches taller, which is the amount of lift I added to the 73-87 suspension.. I thought the 63 sat higher than that, but I guess it dosen't.

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no pics, spent the day "finding" stuff that got scattered when I took this and about 5 other trucks apart!:lol:
I got the body bolted down, which was a royal PITA in the back ; because I mounted the gas tank in the frame rails, which didn't leave any room to get a hand in there to hold the mount up and put a nut on the bolt!!!...and a spring hanger bolt on each side had to be turned around so that he nut was out, so that they wouldn't hit the mount!..still in the same spot that I couldn't get my hand.
so, about 15 minutes on 8 mounts, about 2 hours on the other 2, and another couple hours wandering around looking for parts:lol:

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Looks great Jon! Awesome work! I think the long fleet wheel openings will look nice on there.

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Great work Jon! Glad to see the body is back on. Crazy skills you have patching up those windshield pillars! Jealous here.
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killer work jon and you have done a ton of it

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thanks for the comments!
spent a couple days messing with the wiring harness.. the stock one was a warning light harness, and I put it back in.... then I did some research and found out it was completely different than a gauge harness.... so I pulled it out, and went searching in the yard for a good gauge harness, and then installed that.

putting this link in so I can set up this harness with the 73-87 bbc internally regulated alternator:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=571082

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started on the shifters:
my 64 gmc had an auto floor shifter installed on its high hump, so I decided to pirate it for this project, the transfer case shifter is out of the 87 sub.
the auto shifter turns out to be out of a 64-77 mustang :lol: (at least it is period correct!) I didn't care for the look of the housing, and the 87 4X4 selector housing is a bit plastic and bulky looking as well... so I stopped by auto zone and bought a generic 6X7 inch shift boot, they only had one, so when they restock I will get one for the 4X4 shifter too.
the 4X4 shift rod was hitting the floor brace, so I just switched it the other way...

Re: SiX-fo SuBuRbAn
 

looks much better with the boot cover

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I had to change both of the shift linkages, the 4X4 needed to be 1 inch longer, and the AT needed to be 2 inches shorter......

Got the hump and shifters all bolted down... On the 4X4 shifter added 1 more bolt to the top plate, because my floor hole was a little big on the corner.. I guess the shift gate is hardened steel, because I could not drill through it.. I had to notch it with the cut off wheel.Then I trimmed off all the old plastic boot bracketry.

Got the shift boots mounted, I might need to put a little lock collar under the boot, if they are pushed all the way down, the rubber jams up and you can't get all the gears, if they are pulled up to the spot that I have them in the pic they shift fine.

I wasn't 100% happy with how the retainer rings looked after I bent them around the contour of the floor, I might just shoot them satin black , so they don't reflect the bends as much.

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On to the brakes... I went with the hydro-vac system out of the blazer; mainly because it was already set up with the power steering pump for the bbc, and it all worked. I also like the look a little better without that big booster.

The hydro-vac unit uses two studs that come through the firewall, I just drilled out the original 60-66 threaded holes for them to go through. Then I drilled two more holes for the lower mounts.

The steering/hydro-vac pressure line will have to route through the inner fender, you can see the circle where I will have to punch a hole for it. the return line should fit in between the fenderwell and frame.

The brake rod ended up being about an inch short of the hole for the 60-66. Since the rod does not come off the hydro-vac unit I just cut the mount off the blazer brake pedal, and welded it to the 64 brake pedal.

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I think I thought about how to do the steering way more than it took to do it! Easy job.

I cut the end off the 88 sub collapsible shaft, then cut the end and about 2 inches off the 64 column, inserted it in the 88, welded it, and drilled a hole for a bolt, just to play it safe.

I had to trim the column mount to clear the brake booster, and square up a washer, but it all fit.

I was going to go through the trouble to change everything over to a white 64 standard shift (floor) column, then got to looking , and decided that I prefer the fawn 65 column and standard wheel over the white 64, or the 66, or either of the deluxe wheels.

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throttle linkage is in, was super easy, only thing I had to do was clean up the threads and drill a hole in the carb for the old style fitting.

dug through the bracket box and found a couple to support the power steering pump reservoir.

I put the fenderwell back on and did some bending, and was able to get the pressure hose for the hydro-vac unit to fit around the fenderwell instead of through it.

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welded up some holes in the dash, and fixed a couple panic stop dents along the front edge.

got the rh post filled and primed.

I ended up having to cut a portion of the lh post back out and weld a new patch in, there was a high spot -probably from the roll-over that I couldn't chase with the filler. it is straight now.