Well, she fits now
 

Well a little of this, a little of that and now that bad boy fits!

As some of you know, I am swapping in a 454 in place of the 307 and ran into major firewall problems.

In the end I increased the body lift a bit and as you can see made a few minor firewall mods. :rolleyes:

My plan is to at some point go in and move the engine forward so I can go back down to the 2" body lift. This combined fix gets it where the body guy can get done, I can enjoy the truck and then when I'm ready for another project I can go in and move the engine forward.

To avoid having to move the engine forward the firewall mods would have ended up being pretty severe. I really can't see how some people are able to do a 3" body lift and light massaging on the firewall, though I know they have as I have seen pics.

http://yuk0njack.com/bbproject/28bodyshopP5040011.jpg

http://www.myoldtruck.com/photopost/...opP5040007.jpg

http://www.myoldtruck.com/photopost/...opP5040009.jpg

http://www.myoldtruck.com/photopost/...opP5040010.jpg

Now you can set that timing when you're driving ;)


Joe

that looks pretty clean, how are you planning on patching the holes? it is kinda weird, because i got a 454 in mine with no body lift and i only had to bash the firewall in a few places for it to fit. keep the pics coming thanks
Ryan

I haven't worked with BBCs much, are the newer motors that much bigger than the original 402s that went in these trucks...???

Holy crap. That is some severe surgery there. I hope Doctor Boz-all was licenced in the state of KS. If not maybe you should sue for malpractice. :D

I did not envy the position you were in, I suppose a 292 was out of the question? ;)

OUCH..... Those really are some severe mods.... oh well at least the truck won't be out of commission any longer that need be.

bigvinnie, the 67-72 4wd's did not have a big block as an option.

CPNE, no sawzall here, just a good ole cut off wheel but I guess that probably does fall under Doc Boz-all territory. (At least my dash remains uncut!) With carpet this mod should not be too noticeable - unfortunately I just didn't have much in the way of options that could be done at the moment.

Ryanroo - the pieces that were cut out will be built up and outward a bit to cover the holes.

I will have to do the same thing to my '72 K5. Already test fit the 402BB and "rough" cut the needed clearance. Fits like a glove.

Wow - almost like a G-Van now :D

Plexiglass - hmmm.

Okay, j/k.

WOW!! I think I would have gone for the moving the engine forward first before having to touch the cab like that. Where you gonna put the gas pedal?


:bowtie:

I am probably going to graft in a throttle cable setup rather than the throttle rod setup that this truck had.

You may want to look at Lokar's Eliminator Floor Mount Gas Pedal
FMG-6097

This bolts to the floorboard and has a cable assmbly that mounts under floorboard. I dont think you will be able to draft any stock setup,

http://www.lokar.com/thottle_assemblies.html

:bowtie:

That reminds me of a couple holes I cut in the longhorn to fit a 455 Olds.....once you go "custom" you will never go back to stock :D best of luck,crazyL :burnout:

I didn't know that, does a 2WD truck have a different firewall to accomodate the big block?

the firewall is the same on the cabs, just the eng positioning is different for the BB 2wd trucks. 4 wd sb sits in I 6 position(for 2 wd), the factory sb (2 wd sits about 3 1/2" farther ahead than the I 6, 2 wd , or sb 4wd. the BB comes somewhere tween those two spots on the 2 wd truck. crazyL :burnout:

I'll bet it was hard to bring yourself to start cutting on that beutifull cab!!

How much body lift does it have now?

You are a very brave man! If your brakes go out, you will have a Fred Flintstone hole to use to stop.
I hope everything works out.

It's only sheetmetal. This shows you "ain't skeert" to cut one up....

Blazerman - unfortunately the body lift had to be 4" - I will be moving the engine forward so I can get the body lift back down to 2" - but that will have to wait until I have more time for another project and $$.

OT, but anybody around here running one of these setups? i have been looking at this pedal for some time now, but wasn't for sure...

hey its a good hole to spit out of or to chuck your sunflower seeds out of

I think your rig needs some 38's now. To go with that lift. Good job.

I was thinking the same thing about tires. I will have a total of 11" of lift now :eek: Will reduce that down to 9" when I move the engine forward. The 35"s will look small! Gotta save some money but at some point the 35" tires will go on the K5 and I will put something a bit bigger on this truck.

Body guy got the sheetmetal work done on the firewall. The inside is going to be hidden mostly by carpet so keep that in mind as you look at the pics. I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. I think the gas pedal is going to work well still, I was a little worried before.

http://www.myoldtruck.com/photopost/...opP6010019.jpg

http://www.myoldtruck.com/photopost/...pP60100121.jpg

Here is the inside passenger side

http://www.myoldtruck.com/photopost/...opP6010017.jpg

And outside passenger side

http://www.myoldtruck.com/photopost/...opP6010014.jpg