Back at it 5 years later (and a new house
)
This whole adventure started when my wife made the suggestion that I extend my exhaust from behind the cab to behind the rear wheels. She stated that my (then unborn) son would only be able to ride in the truck if there was no exhaust or fuel smell in the cab.... here we are 8 years later (with an 8 year old son) who has never seen the truck run, much less ridden in it. I'm back at it again and will post changes I've done overall and summarize what I've done since the last post... (spoiler: not much)
From the day I removed the old exhaust in 2012 to today, here's a list of things:
Removed/cleaned/powdercoated front crossmember
Installed Porterbuilt tube suspension (is this even a thing anymore?)
Replaced drop springs with drop spindles and new springs
Installed front disc brakes with hydroboost
Installed front rib-belt pulley setup
Installed PS pump with housing for AN fittings
Uninstalled leakly PS pump and housing
Installed external PS reservoir
Found new pulley and bracket for type 2 fittings
Installed type 2 PS pump with AN fittings
Replaced front end electrical harnesses
Ran AN lines for all PS and PB lines to route through appropriate locations
Installed aluminum radiator and shroud with electric fan
Designed/fabricated a new radiator top retainer to bring it forward 1-2 inches because of fan interference
Ran all new AN lines for transmission cooler
Installed new ramshorn exhaust manifolds
Installed header extenders
Replaced motor mounts
Replaced transmission pan
I went to mount the wheels seen in my previous post and found that the ID of the wheel was smaller than the lip on the rear drum. Off to a machine shop to remedy that problem. Got tires mounted, threw them on the truck and away we went.
I decided the race headers just weren't going to work because of space constraints. Even with "accidental" clearancing with a hammer, I just couldn't get comfortable, so I decided to go with the rams horn manifolds. The "header extenders" aren't quite making me happy with where the exhaust is going.... I think at this point I'm just going to take it somewhere for exhaust
Fuel lines are the current mission... I'm adding a tank behind the rear end, but as usual, I'm blazing my own trail with a universal tank. I'll snap some photos and post them tonight.