Truck update

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by Stephen717

That's pretty funny. And I should mention that I work at our family business and my boss is my cousin. He's definitely jealous cause he didn't do half the work on his car. He got our uncle to do the body work and paint, had a machine shop build the motor several times and his wife buys him new parts when he could refurbish the old ones. I got the seats out of it cause he wanted to go to a pro touring look and put racing seats and 5 point harnesses in the car. The entire time I've been working on my truck he's had nothing positive to say about it. It's always been why don't you take it to someone to have it wired (I work with wiring every day). Figuring out my carburetor all I heard was why don't you just buy a new one instead of wasting your money rebuilding that one. I heard the same old thing about the tune up I did, the oil change, the new gas tank I installed, the throttle linkage (which I installed wrong but it works and looks good so I don't care) I am most likely going to tell him I'm using the welder one day even though I've never gotten the chance to weld before and I'm going to weld up my exhaust cause every time I ask if he'll help me all I here is why don't you just take it to the exhaust shop. This truck is a learning experience for me. I'm learning everything I've ever wanted to learn mechanic wise on it and putting to use all the knowledge I've learned from tutorial videos and Chilton's manuals and this very forum. Later this summer I am planning on doing the prep work on the body and laying down the primer on it myself to get the feel of doing body work and painting. Then I'm having our uncle paint it since he's done it for over 30 years but I'm supplying all the paint. Before he clears it I want to put our shop logo on the doors and have coach lines done in gold leaf and outlined in silver leaf. My father has been wanting to practice building for years so I told him to do it and make it look like it was done back in the 30's or 40's. I am getting the new glass installed professionally and having it tinted professionally so I won't mess it up. And I'm having the Gen 6 big block out of my totalled work truck looked over by a machine shop I trust but I'm building it myself. I am doing as much as I can to this truck myself to make it mine. By the time I'm done I want to be able to roll up to any of my friends houses or to any car show and have the pride to say I did that myself. That said I know it will be a lot of work but I'm willing to take that challenge cause I see it as a fun one. And unlike everyone who says I can't do it or take it to someone professional I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sorry for the rant. But I can't stand when people get jealous and say I can't do it.

Great story! Good for you on learning all this stuff and actually doing it! I know that you are going to be mighty satisfied with the results.

[Stephen717]

Thanks. I know it's a lot of work but I will be so happy to see the finished product when she's done

[Stephen717]

So two great things have happened today. I got the choke linkage working on my truck... Again. And I found a frame. It is what looks like a 70 or 71 frame with a 350 and turbo 400, the turbo 400 I'd be selling but if the 350 turns over there's a possibility my truck might get an upgrade from the inline 6 before I even get it street legal. Not that the inline 6 is getting scrapped. I've had this vision of a nostalgia hot rod for awhile now. A 1933 Chevrolet & window coupe with the 250 in it. I am going to keep the 3 speed in my truck rather than the automatic until I can afford the 4 speed I want. It is a c20 frame though with what looks to be a 10 bolt rear, can't really tell from the picture I received. Does anyone know what size gears came in this rear and how to tell if it's a posi or limited slip without jacking it up? Any help would be great.

Thanks

[NewBayColony]

Originally Posted by Stephen717

So two great things have happened today. I got the choke linkage working on my truck... Again. And I found a frame. It is what looks like a 70 or 71 frame with a 350 and turbo 400, the turbo 400 I'd be selling but if the 350 turns over there's a possibility my truck might get an upgrade from the inline 6 before I even get it street legal. Not that the inline 6 is getting scrapped. I've had this vision of a nostalgia hot rod for awhile now. A 1933 Chevrolet & window coupe with the 250 in it. I am going to keep the 3 speed in my truck rather than the automatic until I can afford the 4 speed I want. It is a c20 frame though with what looks to be a 10 bolt rear, can't really tell from the picture I received. Does anyone know what size gears came in this rear and how to tell if it's a posi or limited slip without jacking it up? Any help would be great.

Thanks

Here is a good link to what most likely is your diff. : http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=159671
HO52's are most common in these 20 series trucks. I haven't found any definitive way to check it out without jacking it and counting rotations and doing the usual posi check. If you put HO52 in the search section of the forum and check the 67-72 trucks.com, you'll get more links.

[Stephen717]

Thanks for the info

[Stephen717]

I met one of the coolest people who surprisingly isn't on the forum. I let him know about it cause he's making a really cool 68 crew cab with a functional 4th door. I got the frame. It's on the trailer and we're headed back with it now. Needless to say I'm ecstatic. I don't think the 350 is good but I'll check it out later and I'm selling the turbo 350 or 400 automatic that's behind it. The main question now is do I stick with the rear that's currently in the frame or do I switch to a 14 bolt. Decisions decisions, let me know what y'all would do. I'll post pics later

[Stephen717]

Had to stop for gas and to check the straps. Here's a quick pic.

[Stephen717]

Update time. The frame is coming along nicely. I'm currently in the process of sending and priming the frame to get it ready for paint. Then stainless brake lines and new shocks and front tie rods. I ordered the new radiator support mounts today from lmc and am waiting on those to arrive so I can weld them in place. Then I am going to take the 14 bolt out of my fathers old truck and run it while I rebuild the Eaton rear that came with the frame. I have to pick up the bed I bought sometime early next week and I have to order the tire rods and stainless brake lines yet. I also have to order patch panels for my cab corners and a polyurethane bushing set. Then it's body and motor swap. Most likely putting a t5 transmission behind the 250 for better gas mileage and driveability. Plus better cruising speeds on the highway since I drive the highway to work everyday. I have to get all new brakes front and rear and I need to get a master cylinder and brake booster since the new frame has disk fronts. I'll finally have power brakes. WOO! I have the big block ready to pull out of my fathers old truck but it's going to be a slow build on my part to make sure it's done right the first time. I am also putting a slightly bigger cam in the l6 just for better sound and a little bit better performance. Might put a small 2 barrel to replace the single barrel. Once the body is on though I can work on sanding and priming it so my uncle can paint everything at the same time while the truck is apart. I'm also going out to the junkyard next weekend for the seat brackets I need to mount my Camaro bucket seats. Then my bench will make a nice shop seat. I am building a custom console and doing all the interior work (other than reupholstering the seats from black to white) myself. The only other thing I can think that I'd like to order other than LED headlights and taillights would be a new high flow radiator that's big enough for the big block so when I swap motors I already have a sufficient cooling system. I'm pretty sure that's all for now. Will try to be better about keeping y'all updated.

[Stephen717]

So I am the epitome of it's been awhile. I haven't done much, been slowly working on my 3/4 ton frame and found a nice set of American Racing wheels that I will slowly be saving up for. The 454 idea was scrapped and a 383 is going in its place. The Muncie 4 speed was swapped to a Tremec 5 speed. I am still going with an Eaton tru-trac 4.10 rear but the internals for the Eaton ho-72 are going to be swapped to internals from a 14 bolt. I have been unsuccessful in finding the bucket seat brackets for my Camaro buckets in the junkyard and will most likely have to find a repro set or make a set for my truck. I did find out that I can get a Detroit 8V-71 blower for $100 and an intake adapter to run a V series blower on a standard blower intake for $150. which means the 454 will now go into a track car with said blower and twin turbos from a 7.3 power stroke. I bought stainless brake lines front to rear and the rear lines are on a 4-6 week back order. I purchased new shocks, front brake rotors and calipers, cab bushings, motor mounts, cab corners, and an antenna. I also bought an Offenhauser tri power intake with 3 Rochester carbs on top. I'm pretty sure that's all that's currently been done. If I think of anything else I'll let y'all know.

[Steeveedee]

WOW, somebody has been busy.

[Stephen717]

Thanks but I wish I could've been busy swapping frames this whole time. Can't do that until the rear brake stuff gets here but until then I can sand on her in the evenings and get her sprayed with Eastwood's rusr encapsulated

[Stephen717]

So we had a relatively slow day at the shop. One up fit a radar cable install and a Kussmaul battery charger replacement. So I ended up messing around with my truck and didn't expect to do much. While I was out there I figured out where to mount the vintage looking fog lights I procured off a tanker when we up fit the lights on it, I cleaned up all the wiring in the dash (and I will let you know now that although I do wiring for a living I can promise you the wiring job isn't nearly as clean as some people can do), And I discovered I need a new circuit board for the back of my gauges. I also poured PB blaster in the trucks original horn and it now works so it's slowly becoming more and more legal. I am still waiting on rear brake lines and need to save up to buy the disc brake conversion kit for the ho-72. Figured the best time to do that is while I'm dealing with a bare frame. I also walked around a junkyard and quickly realized I will have an easier time ordering seat brackets than I will trying to crawl under a van to unbolt the seat pans from one of those. I need to throw a charger on the battery as I don't drive it enough to keep the battery charged but when shes running the 250 runs smooth so I wont have any problems with throwing that back in the truck while I'm building the 383. I'm pretty sure that's all that I've done as of now. I will try to be more active here.

[Stephen717]

I've been busy. All I had for work was a rear cargo partition to install so I finished sanding my frame and my boss shot it with Eastwood's rust encapsulator. Now I need new tie rods and I'm going to be replacing quite a few bushings. I'm also going to leave the back brakes as drums as I know the truck will perform just fine like that. I want to have the truck painted in the fall/winter (while it's still warm enough to do) and legal by spring 2020. I will then focus more on the bigger 383 for the truck. That's all for now

[Stephen717]

I've been busy, the frame is painted, in the shop, on jack stands, and has new shocks. I'm in the process of redoing the front brake lines, rotors, calipers, new bearings and dust caps, and motor mounts. Then I'll jack the back up and redo the rear brakes. I also still need to order a complete bushing kit for the front end (excluding the body bushings) and eventually I need to get tires and wheels. I found a guy who does sand blasting though and am going to have him do the sandblasting on the trucks body and will start in on the body work after that.

[Stephen717]

More pics

[LockDoc]

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Looking good. That's usually the messy part. Progress is progress....

LockDoc

[Stephen717]

Thanks. I'll be ordering more parts over the weekend. I've got 2 weeks to work on it while my boss is on vacation but when he gets back we have another vehicle to build so work on the truck will slow down a little bit

[Stephen717]

Hi all, long time no post. I got the radiator supports welded on and welded the motor mount where there was an unnecessary hole in it. Then I got busy with life. Was saving for rear brakes and was working up on a ladder when the ladder kicked out and I rode it to the ground. So I've been ooc since Halloween with a broken ankle, medical bills, and trips to Morgantown WV which is a 3 hour drive for me. The frame has been sitting with no rear brakes and thus no rear tires, the motor is still sitting on the old frame, and someone stopped to look at the truck thinking that my cab was in better shape. It was not. Work is starting to ramp back up so hopefully I'll be able to pay these medical bills off after the holidays and can get back to work on the truck.

[LockDoc]

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Sounds like you have had a tough go of it lately. Glad to see you are on the mend and back on the project. Keep us updated....

LockDoc

[Steeveedee]

That all sucks. Feel better soon!

[Stephen717]

Thanks for the replies. I'll keep y'all updated as the project progresses

[Stephen717]

I finally found rear brakes. A guy did a swap to rear discs and sold me everything I needed to upgrade from the stock brakes on the Eaton rear to the 13" drums from the 14 bolt rear. I picked up some paint and a wire wheel and the drums are looking mighty fine if I do say so, tomorrow I'll be tearing down the shoes and hardware from the backing plates, getting the heavy rust off of them, and reassembling everything with new wheel cylinders and hardware. Then I just have to wait on the wheel studs to arrive to bolt everything onto the truck. The only thing I don't have are the self adjusters as I'm hoping these ones will clean up. If not then they're only $11 and change on rockauto. I'm also going to hold off on replacing the shoes cause I'm pretty sure that they have a little over half life left and I'm short on money. That's all for now. I'll post more pics when everything is back together on the axle (except for the drums) soon

[Stephen717]

Also my ankles feeling great, I go back on the 23rd for my 10 week post op checkup and if all is good then I should be starting physical therapy.

[Barnfind46]

Good to hear! I got side tracked with my progress because my wife had quad bypass and a stroke. I took four months off to take care of her. She is doing much better and now she tells me to get out there and have fun. Some times stuff happens.

[special-K]

I'm sorry to see you got hurt and set back on things. It's hard enough when things are going right. At least you'll be able to get going soon, it sounds like.