New Member - 72 Jimmy: Project Knuckledragger mountain commuter

[vtblazer]

Originally Posted by snowblind

Here are some pics of the rocker areas. I'm no expert but it looks like there might be something missing... The PO had some leaky, rusty "saddle tanks" and I'm guessing that the frame/body supports were cut to fit them.

Does anyone have any photos of what a healthy Jimmy rocker area looks like?

Hate to break it to you but that tub is in need of some fairly involved repairs.

What does the door hinge area look like?

Pic of the pass. outer rocker area:




Torsion boxes:

[vtblazer]

This pic makes it look like the body is sagging in the middle, I wish it was just the picture but I'm thinking all those years without the torsion boxes have taken their toll.

[Tom Vogel]

In other news my mechanic got it to pass emissions but he had to tune it on the dyno to just barely pass. I might be looking into fuel injection when inspection comes around next year...

Matt;
Which county are you in? We have seriously been wanting to move up that way, but being from Ca. where these things are smog exempt, I am worried about smogging mine (there isnt a C.A.R.B. legal part on my Jimmy). Its kind of a bummer because Ill bet it would show numbers that were better than stock original... it just would in no way pass the visual.
Thanks,
Tom
ps... my son lives in Syracuse.

[snowblind]

I'm in Salt Lake County. I think Salt Lake and Davis County require smog and I think all counties require safety. Not sure if any other counties require safety. There are minimal "visual" inspections to pass and then a run on the dyno. No need for CARB stickers or anything like that. If it passes the emissions sniffer you pretty much pass.

They are tougher on more modern cars. I have been denied for not having a charcoal canister on a 91 Toyota but my '72 has no EGR or canister or anything like that and passed fine due to the "age requirements". On the smog test my truck blew 1200ppm and is allowed up to 3000ppm of NO. Our 08 VW passat blew 2ppm!


Matt

Originally Posted by Tom Vogel

In other news my mechanic got it to pass emissions but he had to tune it on the dyno to just barely pass. I might be looking into fuel injection when inspection comes around next year...

Matt;
Which county are you in? We have seriously been wanting to move up that way, but being from Ca. where these things are smog exempt, I am worried about smogging mine (there isnt a C.A.R.B. legal part on my Jimmy). Its kind of a bummer because Ill bet it would show numbers that were better than stock original... it just would in no way pass the visual.
Thanks,
Tom
ps... my son lives in Syracuse.

[NTR72GMC]

Originally Posted by snowblind

That's my Maaco. For panels I just bought some inner and outer rockers and two bed patch panels from a board member that are originally from Classic Industries. For the remaining parts I was thinking Paul's GMC.

Cool I was just wondering that maaco likes to use a lot of cheap crappy made in Taiwan parts ( I know because I use to sell them ).

[snowblind]

Originally Posted by vtblazer

Hate to break it to you but that tub is in need of some fairly involved repairs.

What does the door hinge area look like?

I sort of planned for it but it's still a little disappointing. The last pic you embedded shows me perfectly what's missing - pretty much the whole "rocker box" as paulsgmc likes to call them...
and all the other stuff has been either corroded or cut. I think I'll need inner/outer rockers, front cab supports, rear cab floor supports, rocker box reinforcement assembly plates and rocker box end caps on both sides.

There is actually very little corrosion other than directly around the old saddle tanks. The only reason the outer rockers and rear 1/4 has rust is due to mud and dirt packed around the tanks.


Matt

[snowblind]

Originally Posted by vtblazer

This pic makes it look like the body is sagging in the middle, I wish it was just the picture but I'm thinking all those years without the torsion boxes have taken their toll.

For sure the old girl is sagging a little but I'm hoping that a lot of that is due to HEAVILY corroded body mounts. The driver's side is pretty much non existent!

Matt

[vtblazer]

Sounds like your onto everything.

Time to start up another thread maybe...

[snowblind]

Originally Posted by vtblazer

Sounds like your onto everything.

LOL. Not by a loooong shot! And I appreciate the tips. If my repair ends up any where near as nice as some of yours I'll be happy.


Matt

[vtblazer]

Originally Posted by snowblind

LOL. Not by a loooong shot! And I appreciate the tips. If my repair ends up any where near as nice as some of yours I'll be happy.


Matt

Thanks for that, we're here to help where we can.

[snowblind]

A friend had some Bilsteins laying around from an old 77 4x4 that he no longer owns so I grabbed them from him. The fronts fit fine but the rears won't as the mounts are different. (I suppose many of you knew this already)

Anyways... up front the Billys replaced some very old coil-overs and the change in ride quality and control is HUGE. Even with the old shocks in the back there is a major improvement in handling and bumps are much less harsh and minus all the po-going afterwards.

Part number for the front is F4-B46-0923-HO - This is one of their "heavy duty" shocks, yellow with a smooth blue boot and with slightly more aggressive compression valving than some of their other models.

I won't know for sure exactly how I like these front shocks until I get the new springs but if I keep them then for the rears it looks like I will be going with either Bilstein 4600s or 5100s as not much else fits.


Best regards,
Matt Crawley

[truckster]

Originally Posted by snowblind

I'm in Salt Lake County. I think Salt Lake and Davis County require smog and I think all counties require safety. Not sure if any other counties require safety. There are minimal "visual" inspections to pass and then a run on the dyno. No need for CARB stickers or anything like that. If it passes the emissions sniffer you pretty much pass.

Matt

Weber and Utah Counties also require emissions tests. Statewide anything over eight years old requires an annual safety inspection as well.

[chevy truck crazy]

Good looking blaze I think I saw that one on ksl before. Nice to see others reppin Utah good luck on you build keep us posted how it comes.

[snowblind]

I scored a pair of these on ebay. Seller said they came from a 2002 Chevy Silverado but I think these seats are the same throughout the Chevy/GMC truck/SUV range. I went with these due to the shoulder belt being included in the seat.

They have the full package of power adjustment options and hopefully heaters also but I don't know for sure on the heaters yet. Color is called "shale" and depending on the light looks everything from light beige to medium gray.



Here's a photo of the wiring connector for the passenger seat. I'm guessing the main power and ground are the big orange and black wires. I'm hoping that the other slightly smaller orange and blue/black wires power the seat heaters. Have any of you guys worked with these seats? I'll ask around in the "interiors" forum also.




Matt Crawley

[snowblind]

I test fit the driver's seat today at lunch. Whoever said these were "bolt-in" may have been exaggerating a little... I can't see how I could use any of factory holes without fabricating some adapter tabs/brackets.

Because every adjustment on these seats is power I can't even check seating position until I get them wired up. I'll put power to them tonight and try and move them into a position that will make the mounting easier.

I'm not sure how I'll mount the passenger seat. It doesn't look like it has any way to tilt forward so I may adapt it to work with some of the original forward tilt hardware. After I get the driver's mounted hopefully I'll have a clearer picture.


Matt

[Big J]

I have 05 Silverado front seats and was able to use 1 factory hole on each side. I think, lol. I'll have to go back and look. They did fit nice though. As for the passenger side mine slid far enough forward for someone to crawl in the back. I'm not riding back there so I wasn't too worried about it, lol.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by snowblind

I test fit the driver's seat today at lunch. Whoever said these were "bolt-in" may have been exaggerating a little...

After you drill some holes, they bolt right in!

I'm watching this one because my Jimmy is in about the same condition or worse underneath. If you want to get rid of the leaf springs you are replacing, PM me. Was the top of the windshield frame in good shape?

[snowblind]

I did some more work on the driver's seat last night.

I'm a medium/large guy (6'1/215) so priorities for mounting the seats are decent leg room and a fairly low seat bottom so that my head doesn't stick above the windshield when the top is off. The leg room is determined by how far the seat will go back and the seat bottom height by how close to the floor you get the seat. Unfortunately when mounting these seats to a 72 Jimmy the two requirements are at odds with each other.

To get the seats lower you either need to modify the floor or modify the seat brackets. My seats currently have 1.5" of extra height below the rails courtesy of some mounting feet/brackets that I think I can get rid of. I'll need to check the seat operation first but hopefully they will work with a smaller/no mounting foot. I think that dropping the seats a bit is key to a decent look when the top is off.

For legroom... as the seat nears the end of it's rearward travel it extends past the back of the seat mounting brackets and bangs into the bottom of the rear bulkead. This problem is compounded by the shape of the seat rails, the little bulge at the bottom of the bulkhead and the fact that the side of the seat with the least room sticks out 4-6" further than the other due to the power tilt motors. To fix this you need to either raise the seat mounting (giving the rail more room to travel) or trim the seat rails. Since I don't want to go any higher I'll be trimming the rails.

I plan on making my own little brackets to adapt the new seat rails to the existing mounting holes in the floor and the take some steps to reinforce the floor for the added weight of the seats and lack of additional seat belt anchors.

FYI - the seats weigh roughly 80-100lbs each.


Matt

[snowblind]

Originally Posted by Big J

I have 05 Silverado front seats and was able to use 1 factory hole on each side. I think, lol. I'll have to go back and look. They did fit nice though. As for the passenger side mine slid far enough forward for someone to crawl in the back. I'm not riding back there so I wasn't too worried about it, lol.

Are your seats heated? If so let me know what color wires you have sticking out of the bottom of the passenger seat.

Good idea about the passenger seat slide forward. These seats seem to have a lot of forward adjustment and I won't need to mount the passenger seat as far back as the driver so hopefully there will be room.


Matt

[snowblind]

I put in a block heater yesterday. It's one of the "circulation tank" types and I bought it at Napa for around $60. Here's a link.

Installation is a bit of a pain. Step one is to remove one of the the lower coolant drain from the block. These are small, flat, allen headed screw in plugs down low on the block. There is one on either side. Both my plugs had liberal engine paint on them and were pretty tough to get out. I stripped the passenger sit plug using hand tools so I broke out the compressor for the second one. Even then then I had to crank the regulator up to 105psi and bang away for 30 seconds before the plug finally came out.

Here's where the plug used to be. Now it has the adapter and the hose there.


With this design of heater the inlet of the heater tank must be lower than the drain that is feeding it. This is easy off the lower rad hose but gets tougher when your drawing coolant off the bottom of the block. There aren't many options for mounting this low but I think mine turned out pretty slick. I have the tank located in the fender well, mounted on the outside of the frame rails with the coolant hoses going through the rgg rails and fenders. There are no mounting bolts or straps or plates. Just the pressure from the hoses and some strategically placed pieces of old rubber.

From the front you can see the drain, hose, frame rail and then the bottom of the tank heater.


End of drain hose from block/mounting system.


Hose "mount"


Mounted with the top outlet going through an enlarged hole in the inner fender.


The system worked very well this morning. The weather isn't "cold" yet but it will be soon. My heater is a 1500 watt unit so it has no problem boiling the coolant. Circulation is excellent except for the heater box. The instructions called for returning heated coolant to the top hose of the heater but this allows a cold pocket of cold water to remain in the core. Hopefully I can return through the bottom hose without problems as this should flow through the heater.


Matt

[snowblind]

Been busy cutting rust out of the bed. More updates coming soon.

I'm also busy trying to get my heated seats to work. Here's a link to another thread about that. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=370574


Matt

[DURRTY]

nice one, that top hatch looks pretty good too.

I bought mine to fix up as i drove it and i ended up putting about an entire mile on it before I got the idea to take it down to the frame...

[snowblind]

What up Durrty? Happy USMC birthday the other day.

I checked out your build threads and that's some pretty great work. My Jimmy's going to need a bunch of rocker and floor work next spring so I'ld love to get together and talk shop someday about your experiences.


Matt

Originally Posted by DURRTY

nice one, that top hatch looks pretty good too.

I bought mine to fix up as i drove it and i ended up putting about an entire mile on it before I got the idea to take it down to the frame...

[snowblind]

I did the body mounts last weekend. I went with poly mounts because they were readily available. GMCpauls said the rubber kits were back ordered until December.

All of the factory bolts except for the rad mounts were spot welded at the heads. I think this is normal and it wasn't too tough to grind the welds down but still a PITA if you don't have the right tools.

The instructions said to do the mounts one side at a time but I wanted to paint the mounts before installing so I jacked everything up at once. I just spanned the area where rocker boxes should be with wood and then jacked it up. Here's what a Jimmy looks like with a 33" titres, 3" spring lift and 6" body lift.





Here's some PITA photos. The first is what happens when you bottom out a lot when towing... The second one shows how much undercoating is on parts of the frame.





After I got all the old stuff removed I spent a few hours stripping undercoating and then I painted. Eventually I'll get the whole frame painted but for now I just did the mounting points and immediate vicinity. I used KBS coatings Rust Seal paint. It's a 3 step process like POR-15 that I heard a lot of good things about. I'm happy with the results so far.





I'll get some photos of the mounts installed soon.


Matt

[DURRTY]

I was thinking the same, I also may have some pieces and parts that you might want. If i can help out just ask i am not an expert like some guys around here but I learned allot here and A WHOLE lot on the drivers side LOL the passenger side has gone smooth and much faster. Leave the top on if possible until you get the floor and rocker area torn apart and done. Even if it is bad now it will make it worse taking it off, that is one thing I would change about mine. I took the top off and then tool the tub off the frame and that was the wrong thing to do. Live and learn though...