1968 GMC - Ol' Blue

[MDPotter]

Finally got the fuel tank figured out. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Tanks Inc setup is okay, but not nearly as cool and easy as the Boyd tank. This is a 16 gallon universal tank and I had to trim the bottom flange of the passenger side frame rail for it to clear. I also had to assemble the pump and the sender. I ended up using two pieces of unistrut to create a surface for the tank to have something to push up against on the top. I used the straps that came with it and used the same rear hole in the rear crossmember for the unistrut and the strap and then drilled holes in the bottom flange of the front crossmember and used some long bolts. This way I can take it out fairly easy if I need to. I also put some rubber between the straps and the unistrut and the tank.

Fuel system is all plumbed in as well. I mounted the regulator/filter on the front side of the crossmember and routed everything as tight and out of the way as I could. I really struggled with the first couple fittings I put together before I saw a tip to use a heat gun to heat up the end of the hose prior to pushing it on the fitting and that saved me a couple hours of struggle. I knew to oil the fitting and the hose end, but the heat was key. You can buy a $300 tool that puts these ends together, but not worth it for me. I'm taking a gamble on the Russell Twist Lok hose and fittings and hoping not to have any fuel odor. If I do, it's not the end of the world if I have to redo it. I just have to finish plumbing in the fuel tank vent now.

[MDPotter]

The biggest achievement of the weekend was the exhaust. I bought a 2.5" builders kit from Summit (natural finish) and used less than half of it. The Summit tubing was thicker than the Speed Engineering downpipes actually. It's a pretty simple routing - a 135 degree bend off the downpipe and then a straight run through the crossmember and into the black widow Venom 250 mufflers. The hangers I bought were intended for a system with more overhead clearance, but I installed them in a cantilever fashion. I left one half of the v-band clamp on the exits of the mufflers so I can finish up the tailpipes once the bed is on.

I used stainless wire on my mig welder with the same Argon/CO2 gas I've been using on mild steel and the welds came out fine. Maybe a little more spatter than with the correct gas, but just fine for exhaust on a driver. I had some silver engine paint leftover so I sprayed the welds for good measure. Also welded in an extra O2 bung for potential future wideband tuning.

My missing wheel cylinder link is supposed to show up today so I can finish up my rear drum rebuild and put the rear end back together tomorrow night. I'm on schedule to set the cab, doors, fenders, and grille this weekend!

[1971Stepside]

Looking good...can't wait to see her all together.

[TA_C10]

Moving right along man. Straight pipes I see. What you got planned for the tails?

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Moving right along man. Straight pipes I see. What you got planned for the tails?

Yes, I am very motivated. I think I will run the pipes over the axle and out the back behind the tires since I have plenty of tubing and bends left.

[MDPotter]

Had a great day Saturday. We set the cab, doors, fenders, inner fenders, and grille. Then we installed the Honda door weatherstripping, dash pad, some sound deadening on the back of the cab, front brake cable, wiper motor, and mocked up the seats. The factory sheet metal comes together quite well and while the body gaps aren't perfect, they were far from perfect from the factory. I was happy that the cab mounts that I picked out ended up putting the cab in the right spot so everything to the front lined up. I only ended up putting one shim on each side for the fenders. To be honest, the front end (specifically the grille/splash shield) went together easier than it came apart. It's so much easier to reassemble a truck when there isn't 10 years between tear down and assembly!

The front end doesn't seem to be any lower than it was prior to cutting 1/2 a coil off. But maybe it will settle a little bit once I start driving it. And I may end up doing a drop spindle one day anyway.

Now onto interior and wiring!

[MDPotter]

[MDPotter]

And for TA, some details on the seats. When I picked up the seats, I took both sides of the connector off the Escalade so I could have a plug and play setup. These seats are power with memory and heat, but I think I can only use the power function because a BCM is required for the heat and memory. No big deal though since I was planning on manual seats initially. I hooked up the big orange and black to a battery and confirmed that all of the movement functions work and to help in test fitting. I saw in sprint's build that he lined up the mounting holes with the front rib of the floor and I did the same thing and it's good reference point. From there, I centered the driver seat on the steering column and there is plenty of room for adjustment and a great amount of legroom. I haven't decided what I want to do for a console yet. We put the same vintage seats in my dad's 64 with a 08-13 center folding console (since they're much less creaky than the 99-06 folding consoles) but I'm not sure that I have enough width between the seats for it. I may end up building something anyway because I need to mount by bulky Gen 3 PCM and TAC module down there. I had the passenger seat all the way to the edge of the rib and I might be an inch or two short of being able to install a 08-13 console.

I forgot to take a picture with them in place.

[1971Stepside]

Looks great! I love the color in the sun.

[TA_C10]

Very nice, love it man, it's coming together nicely! And thanks for the info on the seats, I would really like to get rid of my bench seat and will use your notes when I do. Those seats are sweet

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by 1971Stepside

Looks great! I love the color in the sun.

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Very nice, love it man, it's coming together nicely! And thanks for the info on the seats, I would really like to get rid of my bench seat and will use your notes when I do. Those seats are sweet

Thanks guys. I'll post a picture when I have the seats installed, but it will be a couple months probably. Don't want the seats in the way before I'm done with the interior. I would roll it outside for a good picture in the sun, but it would be hard to push it back in.

[cornerstone]

Today I was waiting at a stoplight and a Voodoo Blue Tundra pulled along side me, I was crowing my neck to get a good look at it. I was thinking how good your truck must look in person. These pictures you just posted confirm it!

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Today I was waiting at a stoplight and a Voodoo Blue Tundra pulled along side me, I was crowing my neck to get a good look at it. I was thinking how good your truck must look in person. These pictures you just posted confirm it!

Thanks man. I'm pretty happy with it and can't wait until I have all the parts in blue and out in the sun.

[MDPotter]

I got a few small things done this weekend.

I got the LS harness through the transmission tunnel which was a challenge but I got it done.

My carpet showed up, but was for a low tunnel as I suspected it would be so I have to return that and get the right one.

I also set the wiring fuse panel and wired up most of the main power in the engine bay. I used bolts to attach to the firewall instead of the supplied fasteners (basically wood screws) for a more solid attachment.

I also got the hydroboost and lines mocked up. I have a couple of the lines at NAPA right now to be modified to work. I made a new backing plate to attach the hydroboost to the firewall. I cut the clevis off the hydroboost pushrod and cut the OEM pushrod off at the threads and it should give me a good adjustment range. I've seen guys thread one pushrod or the other, but it was a lot easier to just cut the ends off both pushrods and weld the two together.

[sprint_9]

Thats a nice upgrade to the bulkhead bolts. I remember that being an area I wasnt overly impressed with on mine.

[Jason Banks]

Did you use some kind of grommet where the wires come through the hump?

I want to do the same thing. I'm behind you and TA. I have Most of the metalwork done to my cab. Still need to weld on the rockers. I had to do outer floors, cab corners, cab supports, etc...It was 8 patch panels per side. With a sprinkling of other patches on the floor. My floor also had most of the welds broken at the front like yours. I say now...it would have been easier to do a whole floor, but much more money.

[MDPotter]

I have one, just haven't installed it yet. My engine came with the harness that goes from the TAC module to the gas pedal and it had a grommet on it which was huge for such a small bundle of wire. So I cut the middle out of it and also cut it in one spot so I could get it in place after pulling the wires through the hump. It turned out to be the perfect diameter after cutting the middle out.

And yes, if the floor was cheaper, I may have gone for it. The only mistake I made was not paying close enough attention in mocking up my driver side outer rocker. The inner floor section ended up further outboard than it should have, so the inner lip of the outer rocker and that ridge in the outer floor come pretty close and it made it hard to install weatherstrip and I'll probably have to trim the sill plate to make it lay down. Hopefully yours came out better than mine!

[Jason Banks]

Did you use some kind of grommet where the wires come through the hump?

I want to do the same thing. I'm behind you and TA. I have Most of the metalwork done to my cab. Still need to weld on the rockers. I had to do outer floors, cab corners, cab supports, etc...It was 8 patch panels per side. With a sprinkling of other patches on the floor. My floor also had most of the welds broken at the front like yours. I say now...it would have been easier to do a whole floor, but much more money.

[Jason Banks]

I screwed up the outer floor on the drivers side even though it was the second one I did.

I ended up with the other floor too far in where the rocker and cab corner wouldn't meet up to it.

I discovered it early and was able to cut it out, but had to add a thin 1/8 - 1/2 inch tapered strip of metal back in. Which meant I had to do twice much welding and grinding.

Do you have a part number for the grommet you are going to use? I haven't really looked for one yet. I was hoping I could cut a 'notch' in the back edge of the hump, so the hump could be removed/installed with the wiring still in place.

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by Jason Banks

I screwed up the outer floor on the drivers side even though it was the second one I did.

I ended up with the other floor too far in where the rocker and cab corner wouldn't meet up to it.

I discovered it early and was able to cut it out, but had to add a thin 1/8 - 1/2 inch tapered strip of metal back in. Which meant I had to do twice much welding and grinding.

Do you have a part number for the grommet you are going to use? I haven't really looked for one yet. I was hoping I could cut a 'notch' in the back edge of the hump, so the hump could be removed/installed with the wiring still in place.

I don't know the part number and the internet wasn't very helpful. I know it's a 2.5" diameter hole though because it's the same diameter as the holes I drilled on both sides of the dash for the Vintage Air vents. It was a little bit of a struggle to get the LS trunkline through that hole. I actually had to depin the TAC module plug to get those wires through because that connector was too big. But I was able to work both PCM connectors through (one at a time) with the wires on. If I had to do it again, I would recommend leaving all the wires depinned from all connectors and pulling them through, then repinning.

Here's a picture of the harness that connects the throttle pedal to the TAC module - you can see the grommet on it.

[MDPotter]

I've been messing with power steering/hydroboost lines for the past couple weeks and waiting for parts - more on the hydro lines soon.

I only had a few hours this weekend to work on it but that was enough to get the instrument cluster assembled and wired up. It was a pleasant surprise when the gauges showed up just in time for the weekend and that the minor gauges (temp, oil, volts, fuel) just plugged into the major gauges (speed & tach). I should have taken a picture of the back of the cluster, but it was pretty easy. What I like about New Vintage is that you don't have another box to connect everything to, it all goes to (2) pigtails which plug into the back of the gauges. I mated those wires up with the (2) gauge cluster disconnects on the American Autowire harness so it's pretty clean.

Also got the brake lines finished. From looking at the donor vehicle and my research, the front port goes to the rear brakes and the rear port goes to the front brakes. This is the Astro hydroboost/master cylinder/prop valve. The donor vehicle was disc/drum so I'm hoping it works. The brake line that goes to the rear brakes threaded right in, but I had to get a reducer bushing for the front brake lines. I didn't cut or reflare anything on these lines, just made minor bends to clear everything and line up with the prop valve.

I should get my replacement carpet tomorrow so I can put that in.

[TA_C10]

Nice work man!

.

[MDPotter]

The correct carpet showed up yesterday and I got it installed. This will make interior work much more comfortable.

[MDPotter]

They do, but I'm planning on building speaker boxes that attach to the gas tank mounting holes so I left it open. A lot like sprint's! I'll just have a slim 10" sub on each side with a 1000W amp I've had laying around in the console. I don't want to shake the truck apart, but I want equal feel side to side and the speakers alone driven by the deck have essentially no bass.

[1971Stepside]

I'm planning the same thing for subs. Interested to see what/how you build your box.