What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter

[72c20customcamper]

Cleaned up the transmission cross member and engine perches not to often do you come across a 57 year old vehicle where the frame parts look like new . I scratched the paint getting the goo off still going to scuff and paint them though

[Extended Power]

Made a wood grain pattern using my old stock instrument panel.
They are not the same as an aftermarket instrument panel.
I will make another one at some point. (When it bothers me enough...)

[WHYBYNU]

Well after 18+ years my Flowmaster 50's mufflers finally needed to be replaced. One of the internal baffles broke free and rattled like crazy. So new ones got installed today. Let's see if they last 18 years.

[cj847]

I decided to dress up my center caps. I am 6 lug 2wd and have rally wheel center caps on some kind of old modular wheels. The previous owner had covered the 4x4 with a piece of black ABS that looked OK. I shopped online and a set of stickers that would fill the entire dia were $40 and a long wait. Then I remembered my son-in-law has a 3D printer. This is what I came up with. One pic is the wheels currently on the truck. The other is some Rally wheels that I have painted white and plan to install soon.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by Extended Power

Made a wood grain pattern using my old stock instrument panel.
They are not the same as an aftermarket instrument panel.
I will make another one at some point. (When it bothers me enough...)

Nice look.

[zicc1835]

Originally Posted by RodnRudy

I "winterized" Old Red today. Replaced the "mags" with the ralleys and while I had the rear wheels off I replaced the brake shoes and painted the new drums I bought at Auto Zone. I've never liked the drums I got at NAPA, they were not concentric, and causing a pesky vibration. I'll finish buttoning her up tomorrow after the paint on the drums is dry and take her for a test drive.

If I may ask what’s your plan with the mags ?

[72c20customcamper]

Crossmember painted up today . And I got tired of working around the front clip just makes life so much easier with it off

[Jiggers72-GMC]

Great work Mark, that's gonna be so nice ........ looks like your project has snowballed

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by Jiggers72-GMC

Great work Mark, that's gonna be so nice ........ looks like your project has snowballed

Not really I knew what needed to be done as I went down the same rd last year with the 72 . Would have been a little easier and less expensive had I just bought a 350 but what fun is that

[awryexperiment]

I decided that I'd had enough of passing-out behind the wheel and that constant ticking noise that drove me nuts.

Driver's side was quite a bit more cracked than I realized. Passenger side had one rounded bolt and one rounded nut, so I decided to grind off what was left of the bolts and try to extract the bolts from the head after the manifold is removed.

[zicc1835]

Originally Posted by awryexperiment

I decided that I'd had enough of passing-out behind the wheel and that constant ticking noise that drove me nuts.

Driver's side was quite a bit more cracked than I realized. Passenger side had one rounded bolt and one rounded nut, so I decided to grind off what was left of the bolts and try to extract the bolts from the head after the manifold is removed.

Attachment 2430154

Attachment 2430155

good luck getting them out soak & then heat

[Cooter!]

Put a different set of wheels on just to play around These truck use a MAX front-space (wheel/tire combo face down measured from the floor to the WMS) of 6.75" front and 6.25" rear. They will tuck and turn completely at full suspension compression. If you did drop spindles that will be even less because they make your front track width wider.

Bassett Inertia Advantage 15X9 3"BS 265/15-15 and 15x10 3BS (should have got 4"BS to tuck better), 295/50-15




I like these Rallys I have too but time for a change and they needed a 1.5" front and 1" rear spacer to look right.
17x8" 245/45-17, 17x9" 255/50-17.

[ivory68]

I installed a new heater box and heater core (brass/copper). I didn't realize that the plumbing was backwards (for over 35 years!), as previous owner had done a fiberglass repair to the cracked housing. I used a set of LS conversion heater hoses. I really liked the 90 degree bends that came with them. The routing looks so much cleaner.

[3757chevy]

Originally Posted by ivory68

I installed a new heater box and heater core (brass/copper). I didn't realize that the pumbing was backwards (for over 35 years!), as previous owner had done a fiberglass repair to the cracked housing. I used a set of LS conversion heater hoses. I really liked the 90 degree bends that came with them. The routing looks so much cleaner.

Looks good!

[lil hoodlum]

Originally Posted by ivory68

I installed a new heater box and heater core (brass/copper). I didn't realize that the plumbing was backwards (for over 35 years!), as previous owner had done a fiberglass repair to the cracked housing. I used a set of LS conversion heater hoses. I really liked the 90 degree bends that came with them. The routing looks so much cleaner.

Nice looking engine bay!

[zicc1835]

Originally Posted by ivory68

I installed a new heater box and heater core (brass/copper). I didn't realize that the plumbing was backwards (for over 35 years!), as previous owner had done a fiberglass repair to the cracked housing. I used a set of LS conversion heater hoses. I really liked the 90 degree bends that came with them. The routing looks so much cleaner.

Very nice

[67swb72klb]

Put these filler panels in last week and a new alternator the bearings were getting angry...

[Steeveedee]

Nice panels! I want to do this, but they aren't (supposedly) made for AC trucks. If I still had access to a brake, I'd bend my own. Just need reliefs for the AC stuff.

[ohboy321]

Today I finished my disk brake upgrade project by installing a steering wheel I restored 5 years ago. I could not have completed the project without parts and information I got from this forum. My drum brakes worked okay, but the disk brakes are much better.

[72c20customcamper]

Some progress hopefully have it done for C10 meet in Nashville in oct . If not I’m sure I’ll be able to take it to the C10 Fall Revival mid October.

[68isgreat]

I finally got my newly 350 tbi crate motor running right. I've spent the last couple weeks pulling my hair out as it stalled and died when I put it in gear, and ran rough during acceleration. I finally got it all fixed but man, what a pain! The fuel pump relay wasn't getting power, so I ended up tracing all the wiring from the new ecm harness I routed through the cab, which meant taking the cab partly off to check for shorts or broken wires. Nothing. Then I checked the fuel pump with a jumper, and it worked good. Then my neighbor suggested pulling the pump anyway, and it turns out the wires were barely connected to the terminals inside the tank. Good grief! Now it doesn't stall. It was still running rough however, which was two things: My temp exhaust had leaks which was messing with the air/fuel ratio, and on a whim, I took off the 1" throttle body spacer I had installed, and that smoothed it right out. The computer didn't like that spacer! So word to the wise, if you're doing a tbi conversion, keep it more or less stock, and make sure all wires are tight, and your exhaust system is tight as well. Now it runs great! Got the doors and fenders painted, and working on the bed next. Almost done!

[Speedracer39]

First time out of the garage in 2 years.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by ohboy321

Today I finished my disk brake upgrade project by installing a steering wheel I restored 5 years ago. I could not have completed the project without parts and information I got from this forum. My drum brakes worked okay, but the disk brakes are much better.

That is a really nice Wheel restoration.

[SRU1436]

Originally Posted by ohboy321

Today I finished my disk brake upgrade project by installing a steering wheel I restored 5 years ago. I could not have completed the project without parts and information I got from this forum. My drum brakes worked okay, but the disk brakes are much better.

Looks good, who makes the distribution block?

[ohboy321]

Originally Posted by SRU1436

Looks good, who makes the distribution block?

I went with The Right Stuff proportioning valve: https://rpui.com/-Repair-Parts-71-72...isc-Drum-PVK41

Braking tests so far including hard stops are going well. Once the new parts are broken in I will try locking them up to see how that goes.