Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Looks really good man.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

I'm at the point that I need to set the engine and trans back in so I can figure out how much floor to trim. Of course, I can't set the greasy old motor back in a new frame, so I steam washed it, gave it a fresh coat of paint and started bolting on the shiny bits...

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...B2C781F647.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...23D28E574F.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...6A15E37617.jpg

Tip: electrical "rockets" make great spark plug hole plugs...

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...89DDF5431B.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...5BB731FA89.jpg

Everyone's dropping LS's in and I'm here making my sbc shiny...:)

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Did your truck originally come with a small block?

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Yes it did. I've considered going bigger but this is a solid motor and it pulls me around just fine for now. Fuel mileage isn't too bad either. :)

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

I just bought an 82 crew cab dually (200). No engine or trains, but I have a small block 350 and a turbo 400 as well as a 700r4. I have been trying to figure out a good bag selection and if the 350 would work out.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

The 350 seemed to push mine along just fine. It sucked at highway speeds, but that was the TH400. I towed my 25' boat around last summer without issue. I haven't heard good things about towing with the 700R4's, but I may drop one in just to get that overdrive.

I'm using Air Lift Dominator 2600's all the way around. It lifts the front just fine and I don't expect that the rear will weigh any more than the engine. Do yourself a favor though and run multiple tanks. 5gal was barely enough to lift the front once.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

i have dual air compressors might as well have dual tanks. Thanks for the info on the bags. I am looking forward to seeing yours up and running.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

I had a REALLY frustrating day with my pulley and bracket kit. Nearly everything required some form of clearancing, bolt holes are off center, the water pump pulley has been countersunk so far that the bolts seat well below the surface, the alternator fan hits the alternator body when bolted together, the heim joints interfere in both ends so the bolts can't be tightened, the power steering pump bracket gives very limited belt adjustment. I found that I have the wrong shaft on my power steering pump. I really expected that bolting the shiny parts on would be more fun.

A little more progress...

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...90DE3320D5.jpg

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

I got the crossmember built and tacked in place. I still need to build some filler pieces and burn the whole thing in...

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...FF35AA474B.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...0DCA5D0E5C.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...1D646E7D0E.jpg

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

That looks good.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Man that looks good and really heavy.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

The way he built it makes it look a lot heavier than it is. I love details like this. Nice work.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

So much work. I would have dimple died a piece of sheet and called it a day. Actually I probably would have been too lazy to do that and just used a sheet.

How thick of material did you use? I am trying to figure out how I want to run the cross members in my truck...

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Each section (3 of them) weighed around 10lbs. It's 3/16" with 1/8" wall tube. Like Tinydb84 said...it was a lot of work. The most time consuming part was smoothing out the welds on each hole...both sides. A carbide bit worked well, but it took time. This area is kind of where I can get artistic with the framework, so it was worth the hours that I had to dedicate to it...

Here's some progress on the fillers that I'm doing.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...0DD16EED52.jpg

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

wow this looks amazing keep it up:metal:

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Looks good buddy.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Finished burning it all in. Just need some filler and final prep before paint. I got my power steering pump issue worked out. I had to order one for a 71' Monte Carlo to get the correct main shaft for my pulley. I'll be bolting that up shortly and then dropping the engine and trans back in so I can start cutting the floor.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...B406FEB93F.jpg

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Very cool build! DblTrbl, you have some awesome fab skills. I am tagging along for the rest.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Man I forever regret the day I got rid of my 87 crew cab dually!

Sick build man, I'm loving it!

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Nice details DT. The extra time you put into making that frame look stylish is well worth it I think. Cant wait to see it painted.


Keep up the good work.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Thanks guys...

I lifted the cab off today - I should have done that months ago, but these things snowball and I've been trying to be the least intrusive as possible...clearly that hasn't worked for me so far. Haha!

I also got the engine and trans temporarily mounted in place so I can finish out the trans mount/crossmember and the carrier bearing crossmember. Then I'm on to marking and cutting the floor. At this point it's looking like I'll be tunneling the entire length of the cab for the driveshaft...what I'd give to have a slip roller at my disposal.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...C490EC8635.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...16D0A472E9.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...A9ED3EF268.jpg

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

That's looking good buddy, I wish I had the room to put my truck in my garage, but i'm about 1' and half too short.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Snowball.......ain't that a fact....

Hey maybe you could find a concrete truck chute, or the right size metal pipe to cut in half to use for your tunnel?

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

I am going to do the same, tunnel all the way back. I haven't even measured but I know the Cummins I'm using has a terribly high crank centerline.

How about sideways!

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

No sir. That would be even worse. I hate these small 2 car garages. My NBS Silverado crew cab with short bed hardly fits with the door down.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

I feel for you...it's really hard to turn my truck around inside the shop without moving other vehicles out of the way. :)

[IMG]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...116_121508.jpg[/IMG]

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Great lookin' fab work, and educational. Please continue!

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

I was able to get the carrier bearing crossmember mounted up and the drivetrain bolted together for mock-up. Preliminary cut on the floor is done. Not one inch of the driveline would have cleared the stock floor. I'm afraid that I'm going to be forced to go with buckets or do some modifications to both benches. The tunnel is going to be taller than the bottom of the seats. I may also be trimming the back wall of the cab a bit. I haven't been able to drop the whole thing down yet to see where the driveline lands.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...618051BD_1.jpg

The hood is going to be tight fit. I hadn't planned on it, but a cowl hood may be a necessity...

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...A417FD37D6.jpg

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

ps-love the boat!

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Have you thought about lowering the engine an inch or two? I got mine down 2.5 inches (its an LS though). You already got everything cut out but it may save some of the headache of messing with the seats.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Too late! :) I'll just have to make it work. If I dropped the engine any, I'd be in a bad spot for the exhaust. As it is, even with a 4" Z, my headers will be even with the bottom of the frame. Everything is super tight.

I picked up some 16g steel and I've been working on the raised tunnel. Photobucket has been down all day, so I can't post any pics on here right now. They're on Instagram though...

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

The exhaust would have been an issue for me as well. I saw some of the pics on your Instagram. Looks good

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Trying to get pictures to post since photobucket seems to be down for now with no update on when they will have it fixed... I tried Flickr but it seems to suck for hosting. Does anyone have any suggestions? Preferably one that I can use an app vs a webpage to upload and grab tags.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

This attach image thing will only let me attach one pic at a time. I need my photobucket back.

Anyway - the tunnel is for the most part, in. I can see since I dropped it back down that I'm going to have to do some additional trimming on the firewall around the bell house. I really don't want to take the dash out, but I may not have a choice with how high I need to cut.

Attachment 1490121

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

I've used imgur for a few things in the past.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

If you can find an old wheel barrel they work perfect for firewall.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

I've got sheet metal that I can form...it just needs to go up another inch. The insulation is what's killin me. That stuff is wicked flammable! I'm also trying to keep the heater. I've got an idea for a custom plenum that will clear the tire as soon as I get some gas for the tig.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

I lit my truck on fire twice with that insulation before I tore it all out.

I was able to get up on the fire wall to weld it without pulling the dash. I had the engine in at the time so I did as much as I could from the top but ultimately had to pull the engine to get some of the final welds in from the other side.

Looks good. I tired to keep mine really low so I ended up using a combo of the stock metal and patches. Yours looks much smoother.

Re: My 83' Crew Cab Dually project
 

Thanks man. I've only got an inch of clearance under the whole thing. I don't think that I could have gone any lower.

It took the better part of the day to burn it all in. I think this was probably the least enjoyable thing I've done on here yet with all the fumes and smoke...Kind of a bucket of suck. It's seam sealed and has a couple of coats of primer/sealer on it. I think I'll call that done.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...90D444C587.jpg