Heavy Chevy -- the penny pinchers rebuild

[SCOTI]

Gotta love momentum!

[panhandler62]

I just waiting for the trailing arms and panhard bar from Nate then I will have all the big ticket items I need for the suspension. I'll need some little stuff (tie rod ends, ball joints, bushings, etc. but that stuff is easy to hide in the grocery budget.) I was originaly going to re-use the stock trailing arms but the more I looked at them the more I wasn't real happy about the rust in them.

Got my $40 ebay intake manifold in yesterday too. I have a pic on the camera at home -- I'll post that later.

The biggest roadblock I'm looking at right now is getting tat last cross member and the rotted out frame stiffeners off the frame so I can install the c-notches and decide if I need more stiffening plates in that area or not.

[panhandler62]

Well... the weather got nice again so I got back into it.

This is the left side. The notch plates are bolt-ons but they don't *really* fit, so I'm weldig the bugggers. I had to remove a lot of material that was compromised so I'm going to have to add a new stiffener anyway.

Sorry to offend with my row-o-buggers (as opposed to stack-o-dimes) beads, but I'm learning as I go. Haven't welded since HS.

[panhandler62]

Here is a lovely picture ... I had to remove a lot of rot. I'm going to be doing some re-enforcing once I put the c-notch plate on.

[panhandler62]

Working on the right side..... hopefully my welding skills will improve by the time I get to sheet metal! lol

[panhandler62]

Next I'll get the left side then do something about making some backing plates to shore up the insides.

[srr]

Nice work so far!

[panhandler62]

Ran out of welding wire again... have to pick more up this weekend. I also need to get some plate so I can box in the frame around the c-notch. I had to remove a lot of frame to get rid of all the rust so I thinkk it needs a bit of re-enforcement.

[panhandler62]

Phew...... ok... got this part done... I'll start working on getting the trailing arm cross-member out tomorrow. I already cut the heads off the 6 rivets on the bottom but I think the 4 on top might be.. err... amusing.

I have a new cross-member from Nathan Porter so I may hack this one to bits if that makes it easier to get out. lol

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by panhandler62

I have a new cross-member from Nathan Porter so I may hack this one to bits if that makes it easier to get out. lol

Would definitely be easier.

[ripdog28]

We must have had the same training for welding. Yours look just like my own do.

[panhandler62]

When I said this thing was coming out in peices I wasn't kidding! lol

The best news though... I have now removed the LAST RIVET I should throw a party or something! lol

[panhandler62]

This peice from Porterbuild (Nathan rocks!) is going to look and work a lot better than the original c.member.

[srr]

Great work! I love threads like this.
I'm a retired Navy HTC and welding instructor so may I suggest some welding tips?
1, Slow down! Do a dry run before you pull the trigger to see if you can complete the entire bead without moving around.
2, Watch the puddle NOT the arc, maintain your 10 degree lead angle and your 3/8" distance from your work. Your molten puddle should be as round as possible but not piling up. Use two hands until you get really good.

[panhandler62]

Mocking some things up here. Trying to decide if I want/need to add a plate to cover the portion of the airbag that will extend past the frame. The bolts in the top of the airbag are pretty much centered in the heavy, re-enforced plate of the c-notch.

[panhandler62]

Originally Posted by srr

Great work! I love threads like this.
I'm a retired Navy HTC and welding instructor so may I suggest some welding tips?
1, Slow down! Do a dry run before you pull the trigger to see if you can complete the entire bead without moving around.
2, Watch the puddle NOT the arc, maintain your 10 degree lead angle and your 3/8" distance from your work. Your molten puddle should be as round as possible but not piling up. Use two hands until you get really good.

Thanks.... every bit helps. I haven't used a welder since HS (never mind how long ago that was! lol) ... so I'm learning as I go.

[SCOTI]

Any reason why you didn't bolt it in w/quality GRADE-8 hardware & then weld the perimeter? Not being 100% in the welding category does not afford margain for error in a 'critical control' point.

[panhandler62]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Any reason why you didn't bolt it in w/quality GRADE-8 hardware & then weld the perimeter? Not being 100% in the welding category does not afford margain for error in a 'critical control' point.

I have all the bolts that came with htem. I'm going to drill the holes and use them. I'm just scattered in my approach.

[panhandler62]

Got the Track arm mount back on the frame... man -- drilling through the c-notch plates is killing me. I'm going to go get better drill bits! Hope to get the bags mounted today and then, this weekend, my boy and I will get the rear-end in shape so that can go back in.

edit: Change of plan. The more I looke over the situation the more I saw all kinds of irratations arrising with the idea of mounting the bags directly to the frame. I'm going to get some brackets to simplify this bit.

[highperf4x4]

Subscribed

[panhandler62]

It doesn't look like a weekend's worth of work, but with all the rain... it will do. lol

Installed a new pinion seal and cleaned and painted the pinion cover and yoke. I was hoping to have the third member done by now, but weather and stuff keeps coming up.

:P

Oh well.. give me something to kep me busy this weekend and I'm still waiting for the upper bad blanks to show up so I can't get the rear completely fitted and installed yet anyway.

[panhandler62]

I didn't want to mount the bags directly to the frame and I couldn't find a ready made part that seemed to work here so I called Mat at ***************** and he suggested I just make something.

I got a couple single-port blanks and made 2 of these to mount the top of the bags:

[panhandler62]

Since I had a cutting wheel on my grinder I went ahead and hacked the stock panhard bar mount off.

As the pool under the snout of the rear-end attests; I obviously didn't get the nut on the pinion tight enough... oh well.. put that back on the list... lol

[ibad57]

Im in the progress on mine where you are i seen these brakets on here some where but couldn't find supplyer they were called bag hat look as though they would simflyfy things but pryer to mounting c notch i layed out the three holes needed on the notch and drilled holes before mounting notch.
It was much easyer on drill press than on frame working upside down.
I too had only rust to mount bag to before.
I think jeff at CPP should sell the notches with air bag hole's
I just found your build thread guess at this point penny pinching don't always work. Keep up the good work

[panhandler62]

I got them all in place now. Nothing is tight yet.. I need to take a bunch of measurements first and make sure the geometry is right, but it's sure nice to see it moving forward after being a lawn ornament for so long. I think those are front upper cups for an S-10. They probably work just fine in this application though.

I rather enjoyed making my own and in making them rectangular they won't be as likely to collect rain and what-not. I should have left more side clearance though because the nuts to hold the bags in place were very close to the sides.

I'll be working on that rear end next.. get it leakeless, re-lubed, new brakes and clean 'er up and paint 'er nice.

If things go well I'll be burning my fingers patching the cab before fall.