My 83 needs a little TLC

[TwinTurbo]

Hi all, been quite a while since I last posted here.

I've been driving my truck hard for a couple of years and it hasn't done it a lot of good. For a while I used it for a daily driver because my DD was wrecked and I didn't want to drive any of my other cars (the ones that were not in pieces)

Last year I got a nasty rain water leak somewhere from the cowl area, right above the fuse box so I parked it, waiting for when I had time to figure out what was going on. I also blew 2nd gear out of the TH400, must be the clutches because when I put it in 2 manually it works (bands)

Here's what the truck looked like... shame I can't drive it right now. It was always a lot of fun.






This is probably the culprit...all that white crap. I have some minor bubbling of the paint on the bottom of the front fenders. Caused by a blocked drain hole and fender rolling...



Anyway...time to check out what's up. After pulling all of the interior out I could see daylight around the fuse box. Not good! Time to pull the brake booster, and sure enough..there was the ugly. 2 panels seperated and rust coming from in between. Probably cracked sealant from the brake booster and the wiper motor deflecting the firewall.

I cut out the offending piece and found what I expected to find.. rust holes



\

Time to cut out all the nasty and weld in a fresh patch. The section I cut out was beyond repair so I fabbed a new panel for that too.





I ground the welds a little smooth (this can't be seen anyway) and liberally applied corrosion protection and seam sealer.

Welded on the fabbed new front patch panel



halfway there



almost there



done




Now, everything else looks like a big mess. So, only thing to do is tear it all apart.
I took the front section out, repaired a bunch of nasty bubba welding repairs and misc. brackets baked on by an idiot with a stick welder.






Old crap that came out (and some fresh powdercoated stuff in there)



I don't have a pic of the freshly coated rad frame, bracketry, lamp buckets and what not. (will this weekend)


So, what to do about the engine. It needed more oomph for sure and I have a lot of spare stuff from my camaros/trans ams and other projects. The decision was quickly made. I am installing a 3rd Gen F body serpentine system. This will take care of the annoying power steering belt whine. I only had 1 belt because I remove the other belt (no AC/smog pump) It's also a clean looking setup. I had it powdercoated matte black and the bolts are all gold zinc plated. The heads I also had lying around. Some TFS G1 Twisted Wedge heads. No one seems to like them, I do. I have 3 sets and only 1 set gave me guide wear issues because I was stupid enough not to use crane gold rockers and go with the recommended .010 longer push rod. A checker tool is a must with these to set them up properly.

I also have a complete HotRodLane/Street & Performance Multiport MPFI system lying around, it has a complete standalone harness w/ fuse box and a weatherpack ECM. Then I found my spare Procharger P600 bracket...and a P600 head unit Not a hard choice to make (can tune ECU myself, have the stuff..been there done that on 3rd gen camaro and GTA)

Initially I thought about running a Vortech carb enclosure..but EFI it will now be. I can run a 700R4 on it too without resorting to lockup kit (never worked to my liking on other cars)





... nah



...yay!





I have a Procharger FMIC for it but also have 2 smaller ones from a later F body. Have not decided which to run yet. I did remove the blanking plate from the rad shroud just in case. They are excellent holes to run piping through.

So...that's it for now...