What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II

[midniteblues]

Congrats nate im sure its been a long time coming.

Finished smoothing and painting set of rams for my k.
What a dirty job that iron dust is nasty stuff.
I still gotta terminate the wires at the cap and get a new clutch but besides that the 400ci is ready to drop in.
now to get the truck ready for it...scrape clean and paint another dirty job.

I don't think I'll be reusing this brake line banjo bolt...looks like it's trying to set me up for a bad evening.

Also made a oil primer out of a old distributor. I was thinking of mounting a extra oil pressure Guage to it.

[saskman02]

Originally Posted by midniteblues

Congrats nate im sure its been a long time coming.

Finished smoothing and painting set of rams for my k.
What a dirty job that iron dust is nasty stuff.
I still gotta terminate the wires at the cap and get a new clutch but besides that the 400ci is ready to drop in.
now to get the truck ready for it...scrape clean and paint another dirty job.

I don't think I'll be reusing this brake line banjo bolt...looks like it's trying to set me up for a bad evening.

Also made a oil primer out of a old distributor. I was thinking of mounting a extra oil pressure Guage to it.

Motor is looking really good, those parts cleaned up real nice! What are you using to keep the four plug wires away from the exhaust manifold where the wires come off the cap and make the turn to the plugs? I just noticed mine were almost resting on the manifold and would like to get some space between the wires and the manifold.

[VWNate1]

Thanx Blues ~ 32 years of eating you know what..... .

Gotta get my truck road worthy again .

Your engine really looks sharp ~ I'm sure many here would enjoy seeing the details up close and personal along with descriptions ~ I too am fanatical about how I dress engines and assemble things , I'm no painted but I really enjoy the details .

Did you wire brush those manifolds or what ? they're aftermarket or you ground them smooth ? .

NAPA sells them brandy new , Chinese I *think* .

[midniteblues]

[QUOTE=VWNate1;7597243]Thanx Blues ~ 32 years of eating you know what..... and after all those meals I still wouldn't say your full of $hit.

Did you wire brush those manifolds or what ? they're aftermarket or you ground them smooth ? .

In my first pic I included the tools I used to smooth them.

These are oe manifolds i have a few layin around so i figured i could ruin a set.
Grinding disc first then a lil' burr work, flap disc, roloc sanding disc and finally roloc scotch Brite discs to finish them out.
I also used a few of these other "wheels/discs" but I don't know the name of them...like a rough hard scotch brite.

And before all that I drilled and tapped for all the new studs.

Saskman, I used all the looms/dressings off the oe 307 that was in the truck. See pics of the rear looms. I had to drill and tap bolt holes for them also.
I don't like how the 4 front wires are routed behind the motor mount. I would have to cut the wire or loosen the motor mount to get them back out. Hence the reason I didn't terminate them yet.

This is a low mileage 400 from a box van that was used for storage and rotted into the ground.

I had to drill and tap the block for the z bar ball stud.
I did both holes aligned with a oe ball stud bracket so it's like every other sbc out there.

Smoothed all the casting lines on the block heads and water pump.

Slightly polished the distributor base.
Port matched intake.
Usually I would smooth out the edges on all the brackets but I had most of these painted up way before hand so I didnt.



Here's a few more pics.

[88Stanger]

Originally Posted by Fat Lip Fab

Dimpled my door panels over the weekend.

that is a cool idea!

[Rich69shortfleet]

Installing some HEI tune up parts when I get home from work. I've replaced everything on this HEI except for the coil, so I might as well replace that too....

[74baggedbug]

Got the call from the chrome shop that the grill is ready for my truck.. No more polishing my grill

[BugzC10]

Originally Posted by 74baggedbug

Got the call from the chrome shop that the grill is ready for my truck.. No more polishing my grill

That's sweet...that must of cost a chunk of change. Was it cheaper than having it professionally polished? I inquired about polishing mine polished and they wanted $600 bucks....so I passed and cleaned up myself, but it still looks so so.

[74baggedbug]

Originally Posted by BugzC10

That's sweet...that must of cost a chunk of change. Was it cheaper than having it professionally polished? I inquired about polishing mine polished and they wanted $600 bucks....so I passed and cleaned up myself, but it still looks so so.

It was $800 to chrome it and with a lifetime warranty.. Most shops would only give me the tail light warranty when it came to chroming a aluminum grill

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

rsgt..........Don't know what color that is, but I'd be excited too.

[palallin]

Well, my truck woke up on the wrong side of the bed and ran crappy all day. Felt and sounded like it was running on maybe 6 cylinders or less. Exhaust smelled of less-than-fully-burnt gas.

So, when I got home from work, I started pulling things apart to see what was amiss. I noticed that the hose on the breather line from the air cleaner to the valve cover was separated from the steel elbow, so I pulled the cleaner off and then tried to pull the fitting out of the valve cover. It pulled the top half of the grommet off with it, so I had to pull the valve cover to fish the bottom pieces of the grommet out of the baffle. (I discovered in the process that I need new valve cover gaskets, but that's a project for another day.) I need to get a new grommet, obviously.

Then I pulled the distributer cap off (HEI). The center contact is burned, and the 8 wire contacts are pretty nasty, too. The center contact and the rotating contact on the rotor are also in bad shape. PITButt getting the cap off so close to the firewall.

So the next step is to buy a new cap and rotor. I don't know how much a coil is, but I think I might get one of those, too. These parts have bee there at least since 2003, maybe longer.

I am hopeful that this will cure the problem, but, even if it doesn't, it needed to happen anyway.

[palallin]

Midniteblues: THAT is a pretty Mouse!

[midniteblues]

Originally Posted by palallin

Midniteblues: THAT is a pretty Mouse!

Thanks man ....sometimes I try to do good.

[mike16]

bought a cap rotor plugs some fuel line and an air filter..... oh.... and added another qt of oil

[VWNate1]

Wow that grille looks great ! .

I bought a GM Heritage grille , no way the body man could make it fit back on went the old one .

I don't think those headers were ' ruined ' .

If you're not going to use the choke stove you'll have to put a brass plug in the hole so it doesn't puff soot all over your lovely engine .

My truck is mostly stock but I searched until I found some long oil and ATF dipsticks from a G Series van , now I don't have to reach in at all to check my oil and tranny .

[Rich69shortfleet]

Was going to order some Digi-Tails LED taillights but their website if FUBAR.

[SoCoC10]

Nothi'n like fresh carpet.

[VWNate1]

Nice carpet ! .

I'm thinking of using green carpet to match the paint....

[dmjlambert]

You guys are way ahead of me. Today I flapped what was left of the rotten carpet out of the way and pried the rust-locked connector loose from the old decrepit high/low beam switch as it fell apart in my hands. Worked loose the screws, cleaned them up, and put in a brand new switch. I love it! Works great! My first use of a #3 phillips screwdriver in a long time.

[firedemon]

tried to sand blast the bed today didn't work out going to have to try some chemical first . like the look of the flat black though

[66clow]

Finally got the truck road worthy. First fill up, got it weighed so I can get my tags, needed in California, first wash, and made the hour and half ride home yeah!

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Pulled my retract seat belts. They sure cleaned up nicely. Other than one faint scratch in a boot ("pictured" on right) the boots are like new. The interior on these trucks were sure made well. Cloth seats excluded, IMO.

[70STOVEBOLT]

Not today, but I forgot to post when I did this. Fabbed a bracket for my fuel psi regulator.
Gotta remove it for paint yet...

[OregonNed]

Originally Posted by 70STOVEBOLT

Not today, but I forgot to post when I did this. Fabbed a bracket for my fuel psi regulator.
Gotta remove it for paint yet...

That looks great! I want to find a regulator for my carb- may I ask what you went with? Thank you
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[Rich69shortfleet]

Bought LED taillights, side markers and front park/turn lamps.