Knomadd '71 SWB C-10

[jmking9]

Looks good! I got tired of waiting for the pads to wear the coating that Wilwood puts on their rotors. So I took the wheels off, put a scotch brite rolock disc on a die grinder, and took it off
Once you get on the road, I'd like to know if you seem to get a LOT of brake dust from the Wilwood pads. I'm getting quite a bit.

[original-71]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Thanks! I just used rattle can black. Semi Gloss rustoleum to be exact. (edit: it was actually an engine paint... Duplicolor I think) I'll scuff off some of the pad area just to keep it from clogging the new pads, but I wanted to make sure it's coated everywhere the pad doesn't touch.

I've heard that you can just leave it and let the pads scrape it off, but I'm still not convinced it won't cause any problems for the pads.

you can leave it alone the pads will scrape it off no worries just did mine on my 87 came right off after a couple stops, your brakes look great by the way

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by jmking9

Looks good! I got tired of waiting for the pads to wear the coating that Wilwood puts on their rotors. So I took the wheels off, put a scotch brite rolock disc on a die grinder, and took it off
Once you get on the road, I'd like to know if you seem to get a LOT of brake dust from the Wilwood pads. I'm getting quite a bit.

I'll report back... had a small step back this morning... I'll explain below.

Originally Posted by original-71

you can leave it alone the pads will scrape it off no worries just did mine on my 87 came right off after a couple stops, your brakes look great by the way

Thanks Hector, that's good to know. I guess I'll just leave it then.

So last night I got the gear oil in the rearend and bench bled the master cylinder. I put it on the truck and hooked up the lines, but since it was pitch black outside and no helper, I cleaned up and called it a night.

This morning when I was about to leave for work, I noticed a big puddle under the front of the truck, concentrated in the middle, but also the passenger side of the cross member. I had to have forgotten to tighten one of the brake line fittings, or I have a bad flare because it was brake fluid. Thankfully I didn't bleed the whole system or completely fill the MC, so it wasn't a ton of fluid, but it looked like about 8 ounces... still a large amount. I guess I'll be tightening all of my fittings this evening.

[knomadd]

I finally got the brakes ready to go... or so I think. Still need to bed them in and double check for leaks. I did have a couple leaks from fittings that weren't tight enough. Apparently the stainless tube is very tough so you need to really crank down on the fittings to get it to seal. Once that was done, I used my Phoenix Systems brake bleeder to vacuum bleed them as best I could. Finished up with a standard two man bleed with help from my wife.

Here's the master cylinder and prop valve...


and another of the engine from the front.



And the calipers peaking though the junky wheels... rear:

Front:


I also ran new 3/8" air line from the front bags to the rear, in preparation for the Accuair system. Had it layed out for a bit (cowl is off so I could realign the front fender... once loose it just relaxed back into place.)



As a test, I ran it around the neighborhood (after verifying it held in place in my driveway) and the new brakes seem to be working great.

[GAc10boy]

Nice work! Looks great.

[Advanced Design]

Looks really good. How do the brakes compare to before?

[rincones]

Nice stance.

[71Sleeper]

Looks good from where I'm sitting. I like the stance.

[mcbassin]

Nice progress Duane! Looks great

[knomadd]

Thanks guys! The brakes seem to be an improvement. Still working on some things and haven't fully bed in the brakes yet, so I'm sure they'll get better. Need to dial in the rear adjustment too.

I removed the damaged grille and bumper this weekend to see what the extent of the damage was. It doesn't look like it dented the fender after all. Can't feel anything either. It did chip the paint, and there's a lot of it...




While I had it apart, and the wife was out of town for a couple days, I pulled it in the garage so I could get to work on the passenger side air tank splash shield. Here's the before (sorry it's blurry, cell phone pics are hit and miss... this one missed and I didn't notice until now).


Here's what I bent up.


Installed.


This splash shield uses the three wheel tub bolts from the top, and the one fender brace bolt on the bottom. The brace is gone since the tank is in the way, so this will give a tiny bit of strength back to it.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work on the shield. What happened to the bumper and grille?

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work on the shield. What happened to the bumper and grille?

I don't want to talk about it... post 462 on page 19.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=462

[GAc10boy]

Really dig that tank shield. Very nice touch.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by knomadd

I don't want to talk about it... post 462 on page 19.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=462

Ugh...I don't either. Sorry I missed that.

Again, nice job on the shield!

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by GAc10boy

Really dig that tank shield. Very nice touch.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Ugh...I don't either. Sorry I missed that.

Again, nice job on the shield!

Thanks guys! Hopefully it will keep the compressors from getting filthy. I know they'll still get dirty, but I wanted to try and keep as much water and road grime off them as I can.

I was going to try and make something like the rear splash shield (the curved piece that protects the bedside behind the tire) but the tank wasn't having it since it already claimed that space for itself.

[mcbassin]

Looking good Duane!

[knomadd]

Thanks Mike!

Well, I did make some progress this weekend. I got the new grille and bumper on. Notice that I painted the headlight surround on this one. I think I like it better than all chrome.



I also replaced the standard bolts with stainless allen head bolts for the core support and radiator covers.


You can see in this pic, there isn't much damage, just chipped paint, that I simply concealed with color to draw less attention to it. I'll fix it right one day, when I'm ready to repaint the truck.


I then spent some time replacing my spark plug wires... again. Here's why:

This is the Accel Extreme 9000 Ceramic plug wires I'm now using. This is my third set of plug wires in 3 years. Hopefully these will last longer.


And finally, I installed the 6x9 cab corner speaker brackets and my 6x9 speakers. Finally! Been sitting on these for over a year now.

[Mikem_72]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Thanks Mike!

Well, I did make some progress this weekend. I got the new grille and bumper on. Notice that I painted the headlight surround on this one. I think I like it better than all chrome.



I also replaced the standard bolts with stainless allen head bolts for the core support and radiator covers.


You can see in this pic, there isn't much damage, just chipped paint, that I simply concealed with color to draw less attention to it. I'll fix it right one day, when I'm ready to repaint the truck.


I then spent some time replacing my spark plug wires... again. Here's why:

This is the Accel Extreme 9000 Ceramic plug wires I'm now using. This is my third set of plug wires in 3 years. Hopefully these will last longer.


And finally, I installed the 6x9 cab corner speaker brackets and my 6x9 speakers. Finally! Been sitting on these for over a year now.

Those plugs are cool I need to invest in some, I've already burned through my new #7 plug. Did you make those speaker mounts?

[71Sleeper]

I agree the black trim looks way better. Defines the headlights.

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by 71Sleeper

I agree the black trim looks way better. Defines the headlights.

Thanks. I'm happy I did it.

Originally Posted by Mikem_72

Those plugs are cool I need to invest in some, I've already burned through my new #7 plug. Did you make those speaker mounts?

Mike, I didn't make the mounts. I bought them from a member here. Here's a link: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=476976

[knomadd]

I test fit the hood. It fits as well, if not better than the old hood. Considering the old hood has some issues, I'm not surprised. It doesn't have those perfect gaps you see on show vehicles, but it's no worse than what's on it now, so I'm going with it. After the air management is on and operational, I'm going to start bodywork for a respray. It won't be a full strip and repaint, but enough to fix some obvious areas and make it a bit nicer. She'll still be parked outside after all. I'm going to see if I can still paint and bodywork after 13 years...


I did get the Accuair stuff mounted on a sheet of 16 ga. steel.


I've started to mount it under the bed, but I still have all the wires and air lines to run. My goal is to have it functional before Thanksgiving. I have an anniversary trip in two weekends and work is keeping me very busy, so hopefully it's not too ambitious.

[Harpie]

Hood looks good, I was impressed how mine fit as well. It was not perfect but close enough.

[sduckworth13]

Looking good Duane, what brand is your hood. I'd like to get one with the cowl, but I've always heard they fit terrible.

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by Harpie

Hood looks good, I was impressed how mine fit as well. It was not perfect but close enough.

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

Looking good Duane, what brand is your hood. I'd like to get one with the cowl, but I've always heard they fit terrible.

Thanks guys, I bought the hood from Nsane Hot Rodz. I'm not sure what the brand is since I don't have pictures of the original packaging, but I do remember DeWayne told me he was so confident in the product that if I wasn't happy with the fit, I could return it for a full refund. That was good enough for me to order it. I'm sure if I was looking for perfect show car gaps, it wasn't going to work straight out of the box, but it definitely works for what I have right now.

[knomadd]

On another note, nothing picture worthy, but I did manage to get the wires all routed and mounted/zip-tied out of the way for the Accuair system. It started to rain Friday night / Saturday morning, so no work was done this weekend. I wish I had a shop to work in.