Brent's '72 Custom/10 SWB stepside build

[brossow]

Originally Posted by sixnine

Wow! I just discovered this build and I must say I think this might be one of the best-documented and well-written project threads I've ever read. Keep it up! I'm working on a Camaro right now, but have a '72 stepside that I hope to start on next spring.

I would like to ask, how exactly did you tie in the new sub-panel to your existing panel? We just moved into a new house and I need to run a 220v circuit to my garage for my compressor.

I've ran 220v circuits before,for this very same compressor, but I've always had the fortune of working with 150 or 200 amp panels that had plenty of room for new circuits. The house we live in now only has a 100amp panel and it is packed full with no room to add another 220v circuit. Since I will be purchasing a welder when I start work on my '72, I would like to go ahead and add a sub-panel like you have done so that I can expand as necessary. Would it be possible for you to take a picture of your sub-panel connections in the existing panel? I'll sign a waiver if it'll make you feel more comfortable.

Wow -- thanks for the compliment!

Now, I'm no electrical expert as you can probably tell. I was lucky enough to have room on the main panel for another circuit, so I just added a two-pole 60A breaker and ran 4ga wire from the 60A breaker (plus one from the neutral bar) to the main lugs on the panel in the garage. If your main panel is full, I'm not sure what the best solution is. (Well, the best solution is buying a bigger main panel; see below.) I could make something up, like setting up two sub-panels, one in the garage and one right next to the main panel. Pull a few (at least four) adjacent single-pole circuits from the main panel and put them into the new sub-panel near the main instead, then use the open slots to run two new circuits, one to each sub-panel. No idea if that would be legal or even cost-effective compared with replacing the whole panel, but seems like it would work.

Having said that, you might consider replacing the 100A panel with something bigger, then using the old panel as your sub-panel in the garage. If you're going to be buying a new panel anyway, might as well spend more and get a bigger one for the main. That'll give you a lot more flexibility in the future, make a neater installation, and might be just as cost-effective as buying two sub-panels per my crazy idea above.

DISCLAIMER FOR THE ABOVE: I'm an idiot and nothing I say about electricity should be taken seriously.

If you still want pics, let me know. I still haven't put the cover back on the main so it'd be a snap.

[brossow]

Got the K-member back from the shop this morning and painted most of it this afternoon. Will finish the other side tomorrow when the paint has dried.

[brossow]

Finally got my garage wired for the oven today and tried my hand at powdercoating some stuff. Did the pair of spindles and they came out pretty good (they were rough sand cast to start with and I did absolutely no smoothing or filling so I didn't expect much; the pic below is after the first coat -- they got two coats apiece) as well as some tie rod sleeves that turned out beautifully. Can't wait to try some more stuff -- have to look around for something to coat!

FedEx dropped off a package from Eastwood this morning, so I was also able to finish painting the K-member (wanted to use spray Chassis Black on the top; did the bottom with a brush) as well.

Now I have to go back out and try to cram all the stuff back into the garage that I took out to make room for the stove. That's gonna be fun. I think my Fiero's new rims and tires are going to the basement instead of back in the garage.

[msgross]

cool, let me know when you're at full production and i'll ship more parts to you to get done!

[bryanschevyparts]

brent are you p coating on the side ?pm me your prices thanks

[brossow]

You can probably guess what I spent the day doing. It occurred to me today that one of the many great things about being divorced is that I can commandeer a cookie sheet for garage work and there's no one to b*tch at me about doing so.

Pic 1 is of the U-bolts for the leaf springs. Pic 2 is of the parts that holds the springs to the axle. (Does it have a name?) I had already blasted, primed, and painted those pieces with Chassis Black (several coats, and did a darn good job, too!) but decided to strip them again and powdercoat instead. It took forever to get that paint off!

Pic 3 is of the CPP front shock reinforcing brackets. They got a bit gouged up when I was marking the holes to drill in the frame and I decided to strip them and powdercoat them in platinum to match the other front suspension stuff. Why? Because I could.

Pic 4 is of the drop spindles, finally completed to my satisfaction. They've got four coats now after a couple intentional coats and two touch-up passes.

Pic 5 is my best piece yet -- it's the brake pedal assembly and it turned out PERFECT! I forgot to powdercoat one piece so I can't reassemble it yet, but I'll post more pics when I do.

Sorry about the poor lighting in some of the pics. Worked until well past dark tonight.

[brossow]

Originally Posted by msgross

cool, let me know when you're at full production and i'll ship more parts to you to get done!

Originally Posted by bryanschevyparts

brent are you p coating on the side ?pm me your prices thanks

I really hadn't thought much about doing it for other people -- just started doing this for my own project -- but if you let me know what you need done I'll think about it and let you know if I can do it and we can figure out a price. Just can't do anything that won't fit in a standard-size oven. PM me with what you want done and we can go from there.

[Riveted1]

Looks like fun! I need to get me one of those setups. And a bigger garage.... LOL

[brossow]

Originally Posted by Riveted1

Looks like fun! I need to get me one of those setups. And a bigger garage.... LOL

Tell me about it! I'm doing this in an 18x18 garage. Ouch....

[brossow]

More to show off! Got the brake pedal assembly put back together this morning. Made a quick run to pick up a stainless bolt and a new brake light switch so it would be as good as possible before eventually being reinstalled. Darn happy with how it turned out, to say the least.

Then I tried my hand at the chrome powdercoat. Considering I wasn't working with pristine parts, the chrome stuff came out AWESOME, just as shiny as actual chrome. Unfortunately, when I followed it up with clear, it lost some of its luster. Not sure if that's because of something I did (temp too high? too much powder?) or if it's just the nature of the clear coat. The unassembled pics of the master cylinder are prior to the clear coat; the assembled pic is with it. I think you can see the difference -- kinda went from chrome to silver, but I can live with it. I'll have to do some experimenting with the chrome/clear to see if I can improve.

Last pic is the washer reservoir bracket in chrome and clear, plus the retainers for the MC cap. One more pic will follow in a separate post (reached the limit of 5 here).

[brossow]

Decided to do the emergency brake cable retainers in chrome for no reason other than that I already had the chrome stuff set up and I didn't want to have to clean it all to switch back to black. They turned out pretty nice, even with the clear coat.

Not a bad way to spend a Monday after calling in sick. LOL!

[Blue'72]

Nice detail!!!

[brossow]

Originally Posted by Blue'72

Nice detail!!!

Thanks! I'm actually now thinking about selling the MC/booster setup. I still need a prop valve and brackets, which is gonna run me at least $120-130 plus shipping. For $229 right now on eBay CPP has a complete booster / MC / bracket / prop valve / line kit for $229 ($329 on their website). I'd have to redo the powdercoating on the new MC but I don't mind.

Anyone interested in the stuff? MC as pictured above plus reman booster still in the box.

UPDATE: Setup is now for sale here.

Brent

[brossow]

Got a little bit done today. Still waiting for the tubular LCAs to arrive (UPS says 10/7) so decided it was time to get the K-member bolted back on. Managed to get that done with only four (yes, FOUR) trips back and forth to two different stores for hardware. The gas cost me more than the bolts! Good thing it's not that far. While up front, I decided to set the CPP tubular motor mounts in place to see how they would work. Looks good! They're not bolted in permanently, just finger-tight.

Also stripped and powdercoated the front backing plates. Had previously coated them with Rust Converter and Rust Encapsulator, but that was before I had my blasting cabinet and powdercoating setup. I think they turned out rather nice.

[brossow]

Did some more PCing today. The prop valve was so beautiful once it was blasted and cleaned on the wire wheel that I simply gave it a coat of clear and I'm REALLY happy with the result. The pics don't do it justice.

Also did the prop valve bracket in chrome, along with the old MC cover and retainer. The old cover was very pitted but I figured what the heck. I'm not going to be using it but maybe someone else would like it for a daily driver. Chrome stuff turned out nice, at least considering what was underneath the powdercoat (rather pitted metal).

[brossow]

Took the day off work today and got a little bit more done. Kinda killing time waiting for the LCAs, which are supposed to be here tomorrow.

Did the headlight buckets first and they turned out spectacular -- just as good as the brake pedal assembly.

Then I started in on the hood hinges. Got one hinge completely stripped and ready to powdercoat and got both springs coated. I've purchased (years ago) a couple sets of powdercoated hood hinges for my other trucks and was very disappointed in how the springs were done -- rust in between the coils and peeling powdercoating -- because the springs were apparently completely compressed when they were prepped and coated. I wasn't about to do that kind of shoddy work on my own parts, so I media blasted the springs while they were still on the hinges (and therefore slightly spread out). Then to get the powdercoat everywhere, including between the coils, I built a little spreader out of a couple bolts and a nut, just a quarter-inch or so longer than the compressed spring. I used a grinding wheel to slot the heads on the bolts so the spring wouldn't slip off, then stuck the assembly inside the spring, seated one end on one of the hooks, then used my god-like strength to pull the spring far enough apart that it would slip over the other slotted bolt head. That kept a slight gap between the coils, which not only ensured complete coverage but also made it a LOT easier to make sure the inside of the spring got completely coated as well. After the first coat was done and had cooled, I removed the spreader and added a second coat to cover the spots that were covered by the bolt heads on the first pass.

Hope this info helps someone else do a quality job on their hood springs, even for painting if not powdercoating. There are probably better ways to do it, but I made this one up based on my frustration of paying for other people's sub-par work.

Hope to finish prepping the other hinge tomorrow but may not jump right into powdercoating them. Have to think about how to approach it, since I can't disassemble them like I did the brake stuff and there are moving parts with tight clearances. Gonna take at least two coats, possibly more. No perfect solution short of disassembly, I'm sure.

[brossow]

Switched ISPs on Monday and have been battling with the ensuing cluster**** ever since. Wanted TV, phone and Internet all on one bill -- switched to the cable company for phone and Internet on Monday and it was down by Tuesday. Had it repaired Wednesday and it was down again Wednesday evening. Had it repaired Thursday and it was down again within hours. Finally today they looked at the main line coming off the pole to the house and discovered it was literally falling apart. Was essentially without phone and Internet at home since Tuesday and blew 2.5 days of vacation time because of the mess. Grrr.....

Anyway, the LCAs showed up Tuesday, but it was my older son's birthday and I didn't have a ball joint press anyway, so they sat in the box until yesterday evening. Got them installed tonight and temporarily hung the drop spindles in place to see how things were going to look. (And no, the LCAs weren't bolted in tightly in the pic below.) I'm quite happy with how things are turning out up front! Unfortunately, stupid me forgot that I needed springs to go between the control arms so I ordered a 1" drop set yesterday and will have to work on other stuff until they arrive. Need to get the power steering stuff cleaned up and ready to go, so it won't be totally wasted time.

Also pulled the rearend back out from under the truck and gave it the coat of Chassis Black that had been forgotten. Oops! Looks great now and tomorrow it'll get bolted in for good.

That's about it for now. TGIF!

[Alan's Classic]

I just stumbled across your build. You are doing a fantastic job.

[Riveted1]

Lookin great! Keep it up.

[brossow]

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

I just stumbled across your build. You are doing a fantastic job.

Originally Posted by Riveted1

Lookin great! Keep it up.

Thanks, guys! I'm learning a helluva lot as I go along and hopefully helping someone else learn from my successes and failures by posting in this thread.

[brossow]

Last night I worked until after dark and got the freshly painted rearend back under the truck and bolted in place for good using the hardware I previously powdercoated. Need to borrow a 15/16" deep socket from my dad to finish tightening the nuts but otherwise it should be ready to go.

Got the front sway bar installed today (and I know I'll have to remove it at least partially in a few days when the front springs get here). Then it started raining and I had to give up for the day. Typical weekend. Had to chisel out a couple more rivets for the mounts and then do some touchup paint work, but I'm really happy with the way the stuff turned out. I used the shorter brackets I bought separately for this purpose -- they're for trucks that are lowered. Really fought with the sway bar installation until I realized that it worked a LOT better to have the A-arms raised into a more "natural" position. (Some of you reading this are saying "DUH!!" right now I'm sure.)

Hope to get the power steering box cleaned up tomorrow and ready to bolt on. Really need to bite the bullet and order brake lines but I keep putting it off. One of these days.... That's something I can work on over the winter if necessary; right now I just need to get wheels on it so I can roll it into the garage again.

[brossow]

Had a lot happen since I last posted. Found out at a routine annual review last Tuesday morning that I was unemployed effective immediately. Ouch. Thank goodness I had a ton of vacation time accrued that will be paid out. So the job hunt has begun!

In the meantime, some stuff I had already paid for arrived. Got the 1" lowering springs (courtesy of this board) delivered yesterday and installed today. Brake booster brackets and another tilt column were also delivered, as was a complete Dakota Digital dash setup that included a bunch of stuff I wasn't expecting, such as a complete billet dash and glovebox door overlay. The invoice included with the set was for well over $1000; my cost was less than half that. Never expected to win the auction with that low bid but I'll put it to good use.

So the purchasing will be put on hold until permanent employment is secured. If anyone needs some powdercoating done, drop me a line as I could use the money and I think I do pretty nice work.

My younger son helped me with the spring install today and I got a good pic of him in action. I found out that doing this type of work without any weight on the front end creates an additional challenge. Had to remove the bump stops on the UCAs and I don't expect to be able to reconnect the sway bar until I can get the engine set in place. (I suppose I could try a spring compressor, but it's not worth the effort at this point.)

Pics follow....

[msgross]

sorry to hear the bad news... but maybe it will turn into good news when you land the new job... Things happen for a reason you know...

I'll gather some pieces up for PC and you can let me know the prices. I'll do my hinges and brake booster brackets... maybe a hood latch as well...

[brossow]

Originally Posted by msgross

I'll gather some pieces up for PC and you can let me know the prices. I'll do my hinges and brake booster brackets... maybe a hood latch as well...

Sounds good! PM me to let me know when you're ready and I'll give you my address and we'll figure out a price. I'll want to know what needs to be done prior to PC -- media blasting, degreasing, etc. I'm sure we can come up with something we both agree on and you'll be happy with the result.

[68chevy68]

Looking really good!!! I hope to go all tubular up front one day.