The Brown Truck

[AZ66GMC]

Look'n good keep plug'n along and you'll be done in no time

What fuel tank are you running? I need to get my tank out of the back of the seat... Are you putting a fuel door in your bedside?

Keep up the good work


Tony

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by AZ66GMC

Look'n good keep plug'n along and you'll be done in no time

What fuel tank are you running? I need to get my tank out of the back of the seat... Are you putting a fuel door in your bedside?

Keep up the good work


Tony

Thanks for the motivation! My main frustrations are with the guy painting my truck. I know he does good work, and he is very fair on his price, but he doesn't prioritize jobs like mine at all. He can make a lot more money doing insurance work, and then he'll work on mine when things get slow. I'm really trying to be understanding, because it can be so hard to find someone you can trust to do body work. I just need to be patient, and he'll get it done eventually. I have a pretty tight budget, so I don't have a lot of options.

Anyway, my tank came from Dave Boyd with Boyd Welding. He's a board vendor who sells a tank custom designed for the 67-72 trucks. I ordered one when he was doing a group buy last spring, and got free shipping and a sending unit. The tank fits really well, but I did have to relocate the rear crossmember on my frame to get it to fit. Dave can also work with you on custom designing a tank to your exact specs. I highly recommend his work. Here is a link to the tank I have: http://www.boydwelding.com/category/...ts/67-72-truck

Years ago I picked up a billet aluminum fuel door to put in the bedside, but I'm having second thoughts at this point. I'm thinking of setting the filler up to fill inside the bed just behind the wheel well. I like the idea of doing a fill through the bed floor, but don't want to lose the ability to haul stuff. If I fill it on the inside like I want to, I think I can have the best of both worlds, but we'll see.

[AZ66GMC]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

Thanks for the motivation! My main frustrations are with the guy painting my truck. I know he does good work, and he is very fair on his price, but he doesn't prioritize jobs like mine at all. He can make a lot more money doing insurance work, and then he'll work on mine when things get slow. I'm really trying to be understanding, because it can be so hard to find someone you can trust to do body work. I just need to be patient, and he'll get it done eventually. I have a pretty tight budget, so I don't have a lot of options.

Anyway, my tank came from Dave Boyd with Boyd Welding. He's a board vendor who sells a tank custom designed for the 67-72 trucks. I ordered one when he was doing a group buy last spring, and got free shipping and a sending unit. The tank fits really well, but I did have to relocate the rear crossmember on my frame to get it to fit. Dave can also work with you on custom designing a tank to your exact specs. I highly recommend his work. Here is a link to the tank I have: http://www.boydwelding.com/category/...ts/67-72-truck

Years ago I picked up a billet aluminum fuel door to put in the bedside, but I'm having second thoughts at this point. I'm thinking of setting the filler up to fill inside the bed just behind the wheel well. I like the idea of doing a fill through the bed floor, but don't want to lose the ability to haul stuff. If I fill it on the inside like I want to, I think I can have the best of both worlds, but we'll see.

Thanks for the info on the tank. I like his work and they look like they are worth the extra coin. So, that tank is for a 67-72 and it bolts up after removing the crossmember? I looked on his site and I don't see anything for the 60-66.

I hear ya on the patiently waiting on the paint. I have a few friends that work at body shops and the money makers are the insurance jobs. They primarily focus on those jobs as well. My buddy has a 66 Chevelle SS factory 396/4-speed that he has been working on the body for almost a year... His wife said she will divorce him if she can't drive the car by her birthday in July... He is planning to take a two week vacation next month to get is finished up


Like they say, good things come to those that are patient. I'm sure he'll do a great job and you'll be happy when it's all done I would just stop in every now and then to check on progress and hopefully that will motivate him to find more spare time



Tony

[SFTorange]

Thanks Tony,

I'll have to take a couple of pics of the crossmember I moved. Long ago, I pulled out the spare tire crossmember. The one I moved is the very rear crossmember on the frame. I ground down the rivets on one side and simply pushed it back about 1/2" and bolted it up with grade 8 bolts to get the tank to fit. The second crossmember from the rear installed at an angle, which caused the tank to hit the rear crossmember.

Dave Boyd doesn't really do much work specifically with these trucks. He custom built the 67-72 tank for someone, and they liked it so much that he decided to start producing them for sale. When I asked if they would fit the '60-66, he said that he didn't know. I looked at the measurements, and they were almost exactly what I needed.

He doesn't charge that much more to custom build a tank to your specs either, so that may be a good option for some folks. The jury is still out on whether I can get my side fill to work correctly. I had trouble in the past with the Blazer tank I had getting it to fill quickly. The problem is that there is a really long horizontal run that the gas has to travel down. It was not draining properly, and took forever to fill before. I hope that the way I set this one up is better. If you aren't worried about having the filler in the bed, I think I would recommend going that route for ease of use.

[AZ66GMC]

Ya, the bed fill would not be a problem for me as long as I don't need fuel when I have the bed loaded... I never thought about the slow filling of fuel on the side fill as you mentioned. Make sense...

I've seen some hinged floor boards that look cool. I'm sure that I could probably fab something similar if I put some thought to it.

I took out my spare tire and hanger last weekend to take measurements for a tank. I have a longbed, so I have plenty of room.



Tony

[SFTorange]

Besides researching Suburbans, I managed to get a couple of things done this weekend. I installed my starter, fuel pump, and TV Made Easy setup. The TV setup was pretty easy to install; I had to drop the pan and install a new spring in the TV system, install the new cable, and set up the carb linkage.



AZ66GMC, here is a pic of the rear crossmember I moved. I only had to move it about 3/4" back on the passenger side.

[SFTorange]

Tonight I pulled the chassis up onto a trailer so I can take it to the exhaust shop later this week. Little things like this can be a lot of work when you're by yourself.


I figure it's about time I posted a picture of "man's best friend" or in my case "woman's best friend". My wife would never let me get away with using the term "shop dog". Our golden, River, is her baby.

Attachment 707502

[SFTorange]

Spent the whole evening fixing the wiring on the trailer. Seems like it's a never ending battle with trailer lights.

[SFTorange]

Well, I took the truck down to get my old exhaust adjusted to fit up with the engine moved forward. I ended coming home with this.






Now how'd that happen!?!?! Well, it turned out that my old mufflers were installed backward by the guy who built my old system, and I didn't feel like paying to have a 10 year old set of mufflers reinstalled, so I had them build a new setup. I had them use aluminized tubing that will stay relatively nice looking. I never liked how my old exhaust was routed, and I'm really happy with how the new setup turned out. Yet another thing that came in WAY over budget, but that's the way things go.

[198plus]

Looks great !!!!

[SFTorange]

I don't have anything picture worthy to post, but I did get a few things done this weekend. I may have spent more time staring at the truck than actually working on it!

I installed a new outer tie rod and got the steering all buttoned up. The exhaust guy said that something looked funny with my steering linkage, but I can't seem to find anything wrong, and you never really know if someone knows what they're talking about. I have made a lot of modifications to the front end, but I've kept track of it all and haven't done anything that hasn't been documented to work. The power steering conversion is supposed to work fine for both C10 and C20, and I used Early Classic's 3/4 to 1/2 ton conversion spindles. The new spindles are supposed to utilize the 3/4 ton ball joints and tie rods.

The only thing that seemed odd to me was that the alignment was off when I put everything back together. Are the tie rods supposed to be the same length on both sides? The passenger side is now a bit longer than the driver's side.

I guess I"ll find if everything is ok when I take the truck in to get aligned.

[AZ66GMC]

Look'n good

Thanks for the pics on the tank. I ordered my tank from Dave yesterday on the group buy. Great deal!



Tony

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by AZ66GMC

Look'n good

Thanks for the pics on the tank. I ordered my tank from Dave yesterday on the group buy. Great deal!

Tony

I'm glad to hear it! I think you'll be very happy with Dave's product, and you can't beat the price. Adjusting the rear crossmember is really no big deal. Plus it's really nice to get the tank out of the cab! Mine started leaking just before I pulled it out, what a mess.

[SFTorange]

Progress!!!

SBW



To:

BBW!



There's still some trimming left to do in the back of the cab, and a few more spot welds, but my body man said overall it was a pretty smooth and easy job. It took about 5 hours, he said. I'm really lucky I found this guy, because he is willing to do the job how I want it at a price I can afford. He has the cab on a rotisserie, and hopefully will continue to make progress in the next couple of weeks.

[Alan's Classic]

Awesome!!

[Orangetonicclicc]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

More progress today. Disc brakes and 1 1/4" front sway bar with polyurethane bushings.

Can you point me in the right direction to installing my brake kit. never did it before. little overwhelmed, Very bad directions!!

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by 198plus

Looks great !!!!

Thanks! I've enjoyed watching your build progress!

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

Awesome!!

Thanks Alan. I was just reading about your side fill tank today. I like how your cover turned out. I'm planning on doing the same thing.

Originally Posted by Orangetonicclicc

Can you point me in the right direction to installing my brake kit. never did it before. little overwhelmed, Very bad directions!!

I'm sure everyone woud be happy to help walk you through it. Where are you at with your install? I'll try my best to get you startrd on the right foot. They definitely make assumptions that everyone knows how to install brakes when they write instructions.

[Orangetonicclicc]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

Thanks! I've enjoyed watching your build progress!



Thanks Alan. I was just reading about your side fill tank today. I like how your cover turned out. I'm planning on doing the same thing.


I'm sure everyone woud be happy to help walk you through it. Where are you at with your install? I'll try my best to get you startrd on the right foot. They definitely make assumptions that everyone knows how to install brakes when they write instructions.

I'm at the very beginning. It still has all the components from the original stock set-up bolted together. The guy that I purchased the truck from had already changed the tie rod and ball joints out. (I think... waiting to hear back from him, looks to new to be old) I'm needing to change the coil spring, convert to drop spindles and so on.

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

Thanks Alan. I was just reading about your side fill tank today. I like how your cover turned out. I'm planning on doing the same thing.

Since I'm still kind of new to fabbing stuff it turned out pretty good. I would just try to figure out a better way to weld it than have a seam weld inside a 90* bend. I'm talking about where I welded it to the inner bed panel. I have a couple ideas, but I'm past that point now. One is making another 90* bend creating a flange to get the weld out of the corner. It's all good in theory.

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

Since I'm still kind of new to fabbing stuff it turned out pretty good. I would just try to figure out a better way to weld it than have a seam weld inside a 90* bend. I'm talking about where I welded it to the inner bed panel. I have a couple ideas, but I'm past that point now. One is making another 90* bend creating a flange to get the weld out of the corner. It's all good in theory.

Good idea. I'll keep that in mind when I design mine. I'll be sure to pick your brain as I get closer to that step. By the way, it was neat to see that you have family in Montana. I've gotten to meet Jon over in Missoula a couple of times. I live on the other side of the state now, but grew up near Missoula. You'll definitely have to come up during the summer sometime.

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by Orangetonicclicc

I'm at the very beginning. It still has all the components from the original stock set-up bolted together. The guy that I purchased the truck from had already changed the tie rod and ball joints out. (I think... waiting to hear back from him, looks to new to be old) I'm needing to change the coil spring, convert to drop spindles and so on.

Here are a couple of things to get you started. CPP has some good info on their site: http://www.classicperform.com/discdrop.htm

Here is a thread with some videos that show how to remove coil springs.
http://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vboa...d.php?t=338491

The main steps to get the spindles and coils off are: (I adapted this from another thread on the forum)

1) Jack up truck and support it on the frame rails with jack stands.

2) Place jack under lower control arm and jack up so spring pressure is supported by jack.

3) Loosen castle nut on LOWER ball joint - but do NOT remove it completely.

4) Hit the spindle on the lower ball joint boss with fairly large hammer to loosen the seated ball joint.

5) Once ball joint "pops" you can remove castle nut.

6) Slowly lower floor jack under lower control arm to gradually let pressure OFF spring.

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

Good idea. I'll keep that in mind when I design mine. I'll be sure to pick your brain as I get closer to that step. By the way, it was neat to see that you have family in Montana. I've gotten to meet Jon over in Missoula a couple of times. I live on the other side of the state now, but grew up near Missoula. You'll definitely have to come up during the summer sometime.

Feel free to ask if you have a question. I'll do my best to help.

I love it up in MT, my wife is the one that is from there. It's been 2 years since our last visit. You might already know but I met Jon and Josh while I was there. It was during Christmas. Would love to come up there in the summer. I was stationed in Great Falls during the summer for 90 days. We keep discussing moving there, but I've got so much crap. My truck needs to be done first.

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

Feel free to ask if you have a question. I'll do my best to help.

I love it up in MT, my wife is the one that is from there. It's been 2 years since our last visit. You might already know but I met Jon and Josh while I was there. It was during Christmas. Would love to come up there in the summer. I was stationed in Great Falls during the summer for 90 days. We keep discussing moving there, but I've got so much crap. My truck needs to be done first.

It's funny how many things build up on the to-do list for after the truck is done. I've got quite a few big ones. It sure is a small world.

I've been looking at the fuel filler setup on the suburban, and it works really well. I might have to see if I can find one at the junkyard and mate the whole setup to my truck for a period correct look. The Sub just has a rounded indention that gives extra clearance for the fuel filler hose.

[structures]

BBW... sweet!

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by structures

BBW... sweet!

Thanks! I never thought I'd see it happen!