'72 GMC long/fleet in Ottawa area

[McDeezl]

I bought this as a core for my build about two years back and finally started on it this winter. I was waiting for my new garage to be near complete enough to be decently set up and simply having the time.

As you can see it is essentially one of those "lift up the ashtray and slide a new truck under it" projects!! It had about 40 years of being well pickled in salt and it shows. Original thoughts were that the body was all pretty much scrap but should be enough there to build up a rolling chassis at least - wrong! Even the frame was rotted beyond repair in a few critical and well hidden areas - oh well. There will be a few odds and ends that I can make use of such as the rear end and parts of the front end, etc. but the rest will be pieced and purchased separately - thank god for Bill's Truck Shop in Oshawa!

Got a frame out of a '68 3/4 ton from Bill's that is out of California and mint shape so started from that. In the process of of building up from that now using some of the old and lots of new. Plan is to have the rolling chassis built up for end of summer and ready to start doing body components in the fall.

Some details of what the plan for it is:
- 350HO (330 hp) turnkey crate engine with TH400 behind it
- Headers with crossover dual exhaust
- Keep original 3.08 diff and upgrade to Eaton posi
- Stock suspension but all new - no drop mods
- Autometer electronic gauges with carbon fiber dash bezel
- Paint-trim will change at least a dozen times before I get there but sure as hell won't be yellow!!

A few pics of the project up to this point - will try to add more from time to time as things get built up.

[bovey]

I've been dealing with Bill for 24 years. He is awesome. Nice to see someone building a long box.

Also, I may have some stuff for you as you are building a stock truck. I have a few things lying around that need a new home as my 71 GMC is going in a racier direction. Feel free to message me if interested.

[SuperC10Tex]

Welcome from Texas!! Nice to see another 4-eyed saved!!!

[McDeezl]

Tks

For every 4-eye we see about ten Chevy's out there so just makes them that much more special ... and I do love 'em!

[mooseknuckles]

cool...lets see some more...

[McDeezl]

Will do, probably around mid to end of August I hope to have rolling chassis complete. Will update photos then.
Have been away for work about 80% of the time so haven't been able to make much headway the past few months but August will be my planned therapy time!

[McDeezl]

A few more pics of where things are at for the moment. Pretty close to complete rolling chassis, a couple of brake lines to finish and the driveline to bolt up. The rear tracking arm doesn't quite match the dimension having moved to a '68 3/4 ton frame (about 3/4 inch too long bolted up) and different mounting position on the frame rail. Thinking about modifying it by cutting and welding up outer/inner tie rod ends with adjusting link to get an exact fit and advantage of having that adjustment available for varying loads and conditions later. Now have the GM Performance 350HO full turnkey crate engine sitting on the floor (330HP / 380 ft-lbs) so should get that sitting in place in the next week or two. TH400 is currently being built and should have that ready to stick in in a week or two as well.

[mooseknuckles]

lookin' good!

[McDeezl]

The GM Performance 350HO crate engine sitting on the floor waiting for attention
It's a kinda-sorta turnkey engine .... you get the basic short block and the turnkey part comes in a box behind it on the pallet
Makes it more fun that way so it's all good ... get to plink around a little bit at least with the engine. And yes, it does have the Chev stuff all over it but we won't hold that against it
For $5500 CAD complete brand new it's pretty hard to justify building the whole engine plus accessories yourself and I would have had to upgrade with a PS pump and drive mounting on the original anyways. Would have been fun to build but not exactly cost effective.
Same thing for the TH400 that is on it's way from http://www.brianswayneonline.com/
Couldn't build it anywhere near as well or for half the price that he does them and it is spec'd for this particular project.
Gettin' closer to body time which will keep me occupied for the winter
Next photos will be power train installed and complete with rolling chassis finished, hopefully in a couple of weeks.

[McDeezl]

Well Gil (the automotive brains behind the operation) and I managed to get the engine and transmission mounted up this week. Installing the accessory drives and pulleys, etc. on the front took a bit of time but went ok. Could have circumvented a good deal of unnecessary emotion and drama if we had read the instructions at the BEGINNING instead of the END! There are some guy things that just never change no matter how hard we try.
Will have to slide the transmission back again for a bit to make a slight modification to the flex plate. The torque flange plate has 7/16 holes and is beefed up to about 3/8 thick so the little 3/8 bolts and nuts that are std just ain't gonna cut it. Will enlarge the flexplate holes to 7/16 and try to find some 7/16 nuts/bolts with the GM style flat washer surface integrated to the head of the bolt/nut. Tons of those in 3/8 but not sure they exist in 7/16. Want to stay away from individual flat washers if possible. Any suggestions?

Next up is headers and exhaust. Would appreciate any suggestions for which way to go, Sanderson, Hedman, etc. Don't need to go with ceramic coated or anything like that, this isn't exactly wild power and performance we're talking about here. Looking for a nice clean fit for the headers and a bit of heat rejection management.

[McDeezl]

Been a while since last update.
The chassis is now complete and rolled out into storage (Tempo winter vehicle garage) to bring the body sections in to the garage to work on.
The chassis before we rolled it out ...

Got the exhaust system completed, Sanderson CC17 headers with 2.5" Flowmaster system and Super 44 mufflers. Added braided flex couplings while fabbing the head pipes for a bit of insurance - the rubber mounts with the Flowmaster kit are so solid you could jack the truck up on the exhaust system and nothing would move!


Finally got the brake lines completed after a lot of messing around, pre-formed lines where half fit and half don't, a cheap flare kit that didn't make a single flare successfully (I knew better) and finally an Eastwood lever/cam tool with copper-nickel line and Eureka, didn't miss a single flare. Should have done this at the start and saved a pile of $$ and frustration. Highly recommended for anyone into this stage of things.

[McDeezl]

So now we're into body work, finally!
Got a California cab complete with doors from Bill's in Oshawa, inner fenders in great shape, new aftermarket outer fenders so have enough to complete the front half. I'll go get a California box later when we get to that stage, only so much room to store this stuff and the more congested things get the more likely it is that I'll just run over it with the backhoe plowing snow!

The cab and doors are in great shape, lots of dents but no rust. Got everything sandblasted and epoxy primed right away so real nice to work on for sure. Got myself a stud gun for pulling dents so hopefully it resembles a '72 when I'm done and not a '64! It's called learning on the fly I guess!

Priority now is to just get the cab done and pre-painted (interior, firewall, underside) so I can roll the chassis back in and mount the cab onto it. Then the fun begins doing the control stuff and wiring. Was hoping to be at that point for the winter to have the cold months inside and heated to work at that but fell behind on the schedule. Such is life!

[mooseknuckles]

lookin good!...I wish I was done my chassis. I got my cab floor from Bill's this summer, hoping to get a front clip soon..

[McDeezl]

Well after what seemed like an eternity I finally have something to update this with.
After more than a year of this love / hate relationship with the cab it is done, I'm not a body work guy but I pushed myself to do it. Couldn't count the number of times I was so close to loading it on the trailer and taking to a body shop to let them do it. I knew if I did though that I wouldn't want to drive the thing when it's done ... whenever that might be! Yes, my wife is correct .... I am a cement head at times. A body guy would find a million defects in it but I'm happy with it which is all that counts I guess. Didn't think it would come out as good as it did to be honest. Good coaching (Gil), good paint, good gun stacked the odds a bit better leaving the only excuse as the idiot doing the work - me.

[McDeezl]

So today was instant gratification day!
Years ago worked for a shop foreman who was a great old guy with the coolest funniest one liners. Would often come by and say "jeez, looks good when you put the big stuff on huh?"
Today was one of those days.
Had to McGyver my McGyver attachment for the backhoe to lift the cab and set it on the chassis. It's an old Hiab boom that I fabbed to fit where the bucket attaches on excavator boom. I used a 2x8 plank and temporary welded angle iron brackets to the top of the boom with screws from underneath into the plank. Couple pieces of carpet on the plank the protect the contact edge on the door seal flange and Bob's your uncle! That's a lot of McGyvering but hey, whatever works!
Stuck the rad support on as well ... ironically one of the very few parts from the original donor truck that gets used. Some major surgery on it but it came out ok.
So feels pretty darned good having the whole thing back in the garage where I can finally get back to sparks and bolts ... my comfort zone
Getting everything lined up and coordinated so I'll be able to spend the winter putting things back together. Picked up a complete retrofit wiring kit from American Autowire - sweet! Gonna get an aftermarket complete AC kit with the flat bulkhead plate at the firewall and a complete Autometer dash. Most of the rest of it is sitting ready to go. Will get the inner and outer fenders painted and ready to install before winter gets here so I don't have to try and do that in January. Have new outers and inners (used in good shape) are epoxy primed ready to prep. Got plenty of heat in the garage but still, this is Canada and January ain't the time of year to be starting that stuff in your home garage.
Final paint is going to be the stock two-tone orange-white scheme. What's on there now is 524 hugger orange.

[68Gold/white]

I don't let anyone work on my stuff, unless it's some extreme odd deal, like balancing a crankshaft.

Look'n very good in the neighborhood!

[mooseknuckles]

lookin' good! great job on the paint.

[McDeezl]

Thanks!
Patience is not a virtue I have a lot of so it feels good to have come out the other side with a decent result. Wasn't so sure that was going to be the case

[McDeezl]

Things are moving ahead slow but sure.
Main thing is it is now running, everything good, no leaks, engine-tranny-diff-rad-PS
All working and rolling nicely.
Installed a Russell / Aeroquip fuel inlet to carb - a few adventures in plumbing but came out ok.
Bigger adventures in plumbing with the lower rad hose - not the first and certainly not the last to go through this issue with the 350 SB and the turnkey crate stuff didn't help with the challenge. The aluminum front housing for the accessory drives makes clearance coming off the water pump super tight. Ended up using two identical hoses, cut the sections from each to make it fit with a straight section of steel pipe in between to get the angles right. Spent hours going through threads on here seeing what other guys did to get around that.
Love the sound of the exhaust, came out better than I had hoped - Sanderson headers with Flowmaster dual 44's .... neighbours are going to love me now - not!!
Got the cab floor completed with Buzzmat insulation ... didn't feel like paying mega $$ for Dynamat for essentially the same thing and local shop had it in stock for a reasonable price.
Gas tank is in and fully connected running fuel to the pump. Not sure what I'll do yet with the EEC ports and fuel return which I no longer have with this setup. Don't plan on putting the charcoal canister back in either. Could just plug them and make up a vented cap I guess.
Next up ... steering column (new aftermarket tilt), bleed brakes, throttle cable and pedal linkage. Still waiting for a few small parts on backorder from Bill's and I can tackle those. Gotta paint the outer fenders before snow flies here but the innners are done now with matte black, same as rad support.

[McDeezl]

A bit more progress to update.
Inner and outer fenders mounted loose - will shim and align a bit later with cab and rad support mounts.
Steering column is in and all connected, works nicely.
Transmission shift is complete using universal rod and linkage kit, highly recommended retrofit solution for those not religious about stock solution. Had a bit of an issue removing the original link on the selector shaft, snapped the end off trying to remove the nut. Had to replace the shaft so drop the pan, etc. Not that big a deal but a bit of a pain nonetheless. It all moves and shifts beautifully now with the aftermarket linkage kit from the column thru down to the shaft and transmission internal.
Brakes are bled and working so at this point engine is running well, transmission shifting from the column, brakes all up and functioning.

[McDeezl]

So next up ...
Throttle pedal and cable is in but need a bit of hardware to complete at the carb. Have to source a ball stud for the linkage to fit the socket on the cable and a spring clip retainer that slides over the socket end on the cable. The ball studs are easy enough to find but that spring clip retainer not so much. Also need a retainer bracket off the carb mount that the rubber grommet on the throttle cable slides into - will probably fab one up with adjustment on it so it all aligns properly.
Also have to install an offset oil filter adapter to move the filter in closer tight to the oil pan. They have those for exact situations like this where the filter is less than 1/2" from the exhaust header and in my case right up against the collector pipe.
Then on to wiring and controls. The American Autowire kit is ready to go in, getting a Grant Collector's model steering wheel for Xmas (she asked what I wanted so!!!), will order the aftermarket dash shortly and most of the rest I have here ready to go. Have been away most weeks thru the fall for work but will have a few weeks over the holidays to get a good run at working on things and moving ahead.

[McDeezl]

Things are moving along at a snail's pace but at least moving.
The AAW Classic Update wiring kit is mostly in. What a dream to work with!
I got an order of Flextral F6 braided split loom as well to keep things as clean as possible. Makes a nice finish and simplifies things.
Received the dash and gauges from Classic Dash with Autometer Pro-Comp gauges. Was able to get the speedo in km/hr which is a bonus for living up here in Canada. Got the matte black dash and thought about painting it but think I'll leave it as is. Interior of cab will all be orange / black so this fits well.
Received the new steering wheel as well from Grant - took two months on backorder but worth the wait. Still working out some mounting issues with that aligning the spline hub 3-bolt locator to the 5-bolt mount for the Signature series wheel. Getting the turn signal return cams aligned with all of that seems to be one or the other - either the wheel is aligned correct or the turn signal cams are but not both. We'll see what Grant comes back with but will probably require some ingenuity to make it fit correctly.
So aside from that it now starts/stops with the ignition switch (instead of my jump switch), alternator charging, all running well and no leaks. Just about time to sit a pail upside down in the cab for a seat and take her for a tour around the yard to see how she rolls around. Will wait until the snow and ice clears out though I think.

[McDeezl]

Forgot to mention what the solution ended up as for the throttle cable and linkage. Messed around with stock cables for too long and ended up getting a Lokar stainless braided cable and linkage assy - perfect!
So that's Lokar for the throttle, Lokar for the transmission shift linkage and won't even bother messing with stock stuff for the park brake cable assy .... just go with Lokar again. Checked on the stock park brake cables and there are about 20 different versions depending on year, 1/2 or 3/4, etc. Seeing as I have a '68 3/4 ton frame with a '72 1/2 ton cab on top, 350 sbc turnkey crate, etc I can't be bothered guessing at that .... Lokar.

[McDeezl]

Staying grounded
A bit of overkill maybe but you can't have too many grounds and I don't plan on chasing any gremlins with bad grounds down the road.
Used 1 gauge and 4 gauge welding cable with crimped / soldered / heat shrinked terminals
- Battery to block and block to frame - 1 ga
- Both frame rails to welded studs on underside of rad support (2) - 1 ga
- Both frame rails to underside of cab (2) - 4 ga
And just for looks ... the stock braided straps back of head to cab - whatever

[Petie724x4]

Where abouts in the Ottawa area are you? Great looking project.