Knomadd '71 SWB C-10

[knomadd]

Okay, so as for updates, I removed the rear end and had it taken to get rebuilt. The shop is going to add a posi-traction unit, 3.73 gears, add a forged 1350 pinion yoke, and paint the entire housing. Parts should have arrived on Friday, or today, so I should get that back this week.

I haven't been able to do much because I've been sick with a damn cold that just wiped my energy after a very short amount of time. I'm about 90% now, so I'm hoping I can get back on it and get moving. I did manage to get my water pump heater hose fittings out and tapped for the A/C line type fittings. I'll be using the EZ Clip fittings for the heater hoses as well. Here's a pic of one A/C fitting next to the factory hose barb type fitting.

[knomadd]

Here's the pump with both fittings removed and the threads for the A/C fitting.


It's currently off the engine and drying so I can put another coat of paint on it, after washing it out to make sure I don't get any metal shavings inside the engine. That wouldn't be good!

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Great work, Duane. The photo of the gauges don't do them justice. They have a counter display of the unit like yours at Classic Parts hooked up to some kind of dummy inputs that sweep the gauges and step thru the various digital readouts. I just stand there like a kid in a candy store watching all the action.

Originally Posted by knomadd

Here's the pump with both fittings removed and the threads for the A/C fitting.


It's currently off the engine and drying so I can put another coat of paint on it, after washing it out to make sure I don't get any metal shavings inside the engine. That wouldn't be good!

That's smart . I wish I had done that on my Suburban...

[MMcMasters]

Great idea and I think I'm going to steal it if you don't mind. Did the fittings come from vintage air? Do you have a part number?

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

The DD gauge setup come with a Demo mode that puts it through it's paces, .

Looking great Duane, .

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

That's smart . I wish I had done that on my Suburban...

Thanks Rob. I wasn't going to do it, but I couldn't get the #12 hose to fit over the larger fitting and I really didn't want to run standard rubber heater hose. My other concern was when I have to replace this water pump, I'll have to do it again. "What if it happens on the road?" Well, the water pump should last me 100,000 miles or more, so it shouldn't be a problem. This will look better then a hose clamp on the end of the EZ clip hose too. I'm glad I went this route.

Originally Posted by MMcMasters

Great idea and I think I'm going to steal it if you don't mind. Did the fittings come from vintage air? Do you have a part number?

Steal away! I actually got the idea from another forum, but they used AN fittings. These fittings are from Vintage Air, part numbers are:
36033-MPA - Manifold Heater Fitting (stainless) Straight 1/2” NPT to #10 male O-ring
36032-MPA - Manifold Heater Fitting (stainless) Straight 3/8” NPT to #10 male O-ring

Here's a tip: Just hit the stainless hose barb fitting a few times from different angles to work it loose and pull them from the pump. Once that's done, the hole should be large enough for the tap. Don't waste your money on the drill bits for the 1/2" tap. You'll need to drill the smaller hole a bit deeper for the 3/8" tap to go deep enough into the water pump. It gets difficult to turn the tap, so I bolted the pump back up to the block to tap it. I did tape off both the engine and water pump before I did this though.

Oh, and make sure you don't already have the 3/8" & 1/2" NPT taps before you order more. I now have two sets.

[MMcMasters]

Steal away! I actually got the idea from another forum, but they used AN fittings. These fittings are from Vintage Air, part numbers are:
36033-MPA - Manifold Heater Fitting (stainless) Straight 1/2” NPT to #10 male O-ring
36032-MPA - Manifold Heater Fitting (stainless) Straight 3/8” NPT to #10 male O-ring

Here's a tip: Just hit the stainless hose barb fitting a few times from different angles to work it loose and pull them from the pump. Once that's done, the hole should be large enough for the tap. Don't waste your money on the drill bits for the 1/2" tap. You'll need to drill the smaller hole a bit deeper for the 3/8" tap to go deep enough into the water pump. It gets difficult to turn the tap, so I bolted the pump back up to the block to tap it. I did tape off both the engine and water pump before I did this though.

Oh, and make sure you don't already have the 3/8" & 1/2" NPT taps before you order more. I now have two sets. [/QUOTE]

Thank you very much..I was dreading using standard heater hose.

[MMcMasters]

I just thought of this possible issue. What do you do with the connections at the heater control valve?

[knomadd]

Hose clamps... You can kind of see them in the pic in this post. This was when I had my small block in there, but it will be the same thing. It's too bad you can't get the valve with threaded fittings, but this works fine.

Edit: Oh, and I'm using #12 hose for the heater lines. I bought EZ Clip fittings with #10 threaded O-ring ends and #12 hose ends. They work well and fit over the heater control valve just fine.

[MMcMasters]

Great, thanks Duane!

[knomadd]

OK, so small updates...
I got the rear end rebuilt. 3.73 Posi with a new forged 1350 pinion yoke... all painted up and ready to go in. (It's actually installed, but no pics of that yet).


I also had a machinist friend of mine cut a 2 degree angle in my drop blocks to correct my pinion angle. I had about 5.5 degrees before pulling the rear end for the rebuild (measured on a not-flat surface). This should put me near 3 degrees of angle.

I also cut the damn rivets off the track bar bracket (I HATE rivets!) so I could replace the factory bar with the Porterbuilt bar I've had for a couple years (damn, I'm not a fast paced worker!). With an air chisel, the heads came off okay, but I still couldn't get the rivet body out of the frame! Still had to drill them out.

I started installing the carpet in the cab too. Got the under carpet padding / sound deadening material laid in place to help hide some of the wiring. The carpet is laid in there, but not finished yet... no pics (I know, I know, I'm slacking).

And lastly, I got the fuel pump trim rings back and installed them and the pump in the tank.

[rincones]

Great Progress Duane. Like the fuel cell pump install

[gringoloco]

Keep chipping away, looks good!

[Vic1947]

Keep chipping away, Duane. I sympathize about the rivets. Had the same problem with some of mine. There's always a few that refuse to give up.

[mcbassin]

Very nice progress Duane! I need more info about your fuel tank setup. I am preparing to build my own tank and will need a similar pump and sender setup. Did you make that pump housing? What pump are you using? thanks

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by rincones

Great Progress Duane. Like the fuel cell pump install

Thanks Mike.

Originally Posted by gringoloco

Keep chipping away, looks good!

Thanks Chris.

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Keep chipping away, Duane. I sympathize about the rivets. Had the same problem with some of mine. There's always a few that refuse to give up.

Thanks Vic. I've decided to punish myself and remove the rivets from the trans crossmember to use just the bottom section and delete the top pieces. 6 rivets for that (3 per side). I'm also going to replace the trailing arm crossmember so I can use a 4" aluminum driveshaft, so there are 14 more rivets to remove. So far they're all fighting me and I have to drill each one out to 3/8" before they will let go of the pieces they're trying to keep together. The top ones on the trailing arm crossmember are going to be "fun".

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Very nice progress Duane! I need more info about your fuel tank setup. I am preparing to build my own tank and will need a similar pump and sender setup. Did you make that pump housing? What pump are you using? thanks

Thanks Mike.
The tank was purchased from Brothers Trucks years ago. It showed up with Performance Online stickers and instructions in it. If you go that route, buy it from Performance Online and save you the Brothers markup. It's already baffled, so it'll work well for the electric fuel pump setup. I had a friend of mine that owns a machine shop make the retaining rings.

As for the pump, it's the pump out of the van my engine & trans came from. I did originally buy a pump and regulator from Tanks Inc, but I read somewhere the pump controls the flex-fuel ability. There isn't a fuel composition sensor in the van wiring, so I don't know how else it would be able to sense how much ethanol is in the fuel if it's not in the pump. I figured I'd run the stock pump to make sure it can determine the ethanol content and adjust the mixture accordingly. I don't plan on running e-85, but it would be nice to have the ability if I ever wanted too. It's mainly to compensate for the added ethanol in the colder months & climates.

[knomadd]

On some progress notes...
I got the rear end, vent & track bar installed.


I also mocked up the radiator and core support.

I had to do some welding, grinding on the core support and cutting on the radiator. The radiator has tabs that are supposed to be in the retainers, but not one of them was in the right spot. This was the closest one, but it was in the way.

Since they aren't needed, I just cut this one off. The others won't be seen, so they'll stay where they are. There aren't locating tabs like this on the factory radiator, so it's not a big deal.

[gringoloco]

What did you use for the axle vent filter? Looks clean

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

What did you use for the axle vent filter? Looks clean

I can't take credit for it. Josh (randomco) did it on Old Olive. I asked him what he used and he sent me this link https://www.spectreperformance.com/m...lters-breather The filter is from Spectre. I just used a splice/union and a couple zip ties on the filter and it fit inside the old track bar bolt hole. I used fuel line to connect the tube in the rear end to the splice/union.

[knomadd]

I mentioned it earlier in a reply to Vic, but in case you guys don't read my replies to other comments, I've ordered a replacement trailing arm crossmember. I justified the purchase because the factory crossmember cannot take much more than the 3" driveshaft I had in it before and I want to go with a 4" aluminum shaft. That, and the plasma cutouts for the exhaust pass through is ROUGH (read: UGLY). I ordered the crossmember from Performance Online. It's a lot like the ECE crossmember, but it has multiple positions for the trailing arm mounts.

Anybody happen to know if that style of crossmember will be able to accept a 4" driveshaft?

[mcbassin]

The tank was purchased from Brothers Trucks years ago. It showed up with Performance Online stickers and instructions in it. If you go that route, buy it from Performance Online and save you the Brothers markup. It's already baffled, so it'll work well for the electric fuel pump setup. I had a friend of mine that owns a machine shop make the retaining rings.

As for the pump, it's the pump out of the van my engine & trans came from. I did originally buy a pump and regulator from Tanks Inc, but I read somewhere the pump controls the flex-fuel ability. There isn't a fuel composition sensor in the van wiring, so I don't know how else it would be able to sense how much ethanol is in the fuel if it's not in the pump.

Thanks for the info Duane. I am going to weld up my own tank with baffles in it. I was wondering if you used a stock pump "cartridge" with the sender and all? I can make the flange and gasket no problem. I will hit you up more when I get closer. Thanks again.

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

I was wondering if you used a stock pump "cartridge" with the sender and all?

Yep... I had to cut down the "stand offs" and springs, but otherwise it collapsed into the tank just fine. Here's what it looked like right out of the van.


The green piece is the o-ring gasket. The dark port is the fuel rail feed, the small white port is a vent, the large white is from the charcoal canister. The white parts are from the best I can determine. Since I'm not using the charcoal canister or the evap system, these will be blocked off. My tank has a roll over vent in it already.

[knomadd]

My crossmemeber showed up yesterday. I had to go get some dental work done yesterday so I didn't get anything done on the truck. My jaw is sore this morning, like they bruised me with that needle.

The top of the crossmember is pinched, like they didn't use a jig to make it a smooth, wide curve as their pictures show on the website. I may need to cut the top and reshape it (sorry no pics, yet). Other than that, it looks like a nice piece. I think it's zinc coated or something because it appears like a shiny silver color, but not like a powder coating. It'll get painted anyway, but at least it's not raw steel.

[knomadd]

Time to update... I did progress a little more. I got the core support body worked and sent to paint. Hopefully I'll get that back soon, or maybe after I get back from vacation.


I've also got the old crossmember out


...and the new one painted

This is a POL unit, which came with hardware. The instructions do not say anything about drilling, but the bolts that are supposed to hold the crossmember in are definitely too large to put into the stock rivet holes. I'll have to drill them out for the 1/2" bolts. I even tried buying 7/16" hardware, but it was still too big. The 3/8" hardware they sent for the trailing arm mounts are a bit too loose to use in the stock crossmember rivet holes, so I'll have to drill the holes larger anyway.

[knomadd]

Lastly, I installed the Dakota Digital air management pressure sensors in the valve block (and the tank). I'll have to relocate the computer since it was originally mounted where the sensors are, but I'm slowly getting closer.

[OKGMC4]

I love the diff vent idea. I'll have to steal the idea.. that you stole. I don't think that cross member will take a 4 inch shaft. Mine wouldn't fit if it were any bigger at 3.5". I mean, it clears, but I'm 99 percent sure another 1/2" might rub. And that's on a static 6" drop spring, not bags.

And on the fuel tank...I did almost exactly the same thing on my 56. I bought an aluminum tank and my father in law made rings to mount a vortec pump. Truck has run flawless for years BUT when the tank is full fuel seeps out of the cork gasket he told me would work. Never caused issues but you can sure smell when I fill up. Hopefully you are using a proper rubber or O ring seal of some kind so you don't suffer the issue I've dealt with.