86 chevy crew cab 12 valve swap

[84chevyguyid]

Got the bed set on yesterday during lunch and got it fastened on tonight. My dad likes to come out and help if he can so he was the loader operator! Sure is nice to have equipment to do things like this with, makes the job go pretty smooth.

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice! How close are you to a first start or drive! By the way, have a Merry Christmas!

[84chevyguyid]

Merry Christmas to you too Ryan! Its back to work again. Now I need to swap the cab and fenders to go with the bed, and some nicer wheels

[84chevyguyid]

Finally got a little snow to go play in.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice, keep that stuff for me.

[84chevyguyid]

Started getting the heater/ac pieces cleaned up so I can put the new cores in and get the assembly in the truck. The weather has been really mild here the past two weeks and I could see bare dunes from the highway (15 miles away) so I loaded up last sat and went to the dunes. Still too much snow but getting close.

[Vintage Windmills]

What rims are on your blazer? 8 Lugger?

[84chevyguyid]

Yup, I took the 4.10 axles out of the pickup above and stuck in the blazer. Then I can have good heavy tires so I dont have to worry too much about flats off roading. I stuck 3.73 geard axles in the pickup with a full floater rear axle.

[COS399]

Any updates?

[84chevyguyid]

Sadly no update on the crew cab. Been busy trying to turn this.

[84chevyguyid]

Into this for my dad.

[84chevyguyid]

This was his first new tractor, he bought it in 66 or 67, he cant quite remember. Trying to finish it up so he can play with it while he is still able.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work and good on you! That was a lot of work I'm sure. I've only painted a couple tractors and it was so much fun each time. Haha

[COS399]

Nice. Hope all is well with him. I'm sure he is proud of you.

[84chevyguyid]

"I've only painted a couple tractors and it was so much fun each time. Haha"
At least this one is small and doesnt have a cab to deal with. Got some paint sprayed on it, still have to hook up the light wires and get the hood decals on. I am having trouble finding the right decals, the ones I got are about 7 inches shorter than the hood so I think they will look a little goofy.
Made a little progress on the pickup, and more issues. The hydroboost sits almost on a fuel fitting on the filter assembly, if I remember right I think the screen assembly can be rotated so maybe I can turn it enough to get it to clear. The master cylinder doesnt clear the charge tube so I will have to take the school bus elbow off and use a dodge pickup one and redo the pipe from the cooler to the cast elbow. More progress, more issues....

[COS399]

Looking good. On my 88 Ken had to use a different intake charge tube when he installed my intercooler to avoid contact with the brake master cylinder as well.

[84chevyguyid]

Hope everybody had a good, safe 4th of July! Havent got to spend much time on the pickup but I'm trying to keep my thread from fading away. I was at a car show on Fathers Day weekend and visited with some of my old corvette buddies. I have noticed the last year that their website has been shut down and they told me that the member who used to take care of it moved on from the club. My oldest son just finished school for web design so I asked him what it takes to do a web site for the club and he says its not hard just takes some time. He helped me a little and I found a good tutorial on youtube and so I spent a few long nights putting together a web site for the club. It is a lot of fun to do! I have a few things on the different pages and am still waiting for more info from the club to put on it but I think the hard part is done. Check it out and tell me what you think.
http://corvettesofsoutheastidaho.com/
Was planning on getting a bunch done on the pickup the next few weeks but my 4850 John Deere tractor decided it needed my attention. I have had it for almost 10 years and havent had to do much of anything with it but now I get to overhaul the motor in it the next few weeks. I was driving it down the road and it started to lug down and seize. Still had good oil pressure but I am thinking it spun a bearing which probably means a double split to get the crank out

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work on the site! I couldn't be in a corvette club. They'd hang me. Haha That stinks to hear about your tractor. That will be a fair bit of work too!

[Truck Guy99]

Haven't heard from you in a while. Any updates?

[84chevyguyid]

I been tinkering with it a little, got the heater/ac stuff mostly in, got pedals, emergency brake pedal and steering column in. looking at the best way to hook the shift linkage to the allison. Slow but sure....

[84chevyguyid]

Messed around with the shifter this afternoon and got it working! I couldnt decide between going linkage or a cable, trans is set up for a cable but column is set up for linkage. A friend gave me a bag of parts that says lokar shifter linkage kit and it had an arm that fits the shift shaft on a gm 700, 4L60, ect trans so I pulled the stock allison arm and what do you know, that piece fits the shaft so I pulled the yoke off an old 700 trans I have and it went right on to the ally. Then I wondered how the cross shaft from the frame to the trans might line up. Took the frame bracket off the top frame rail and stuck it on the top side of the bottom frame rail and it lined up pretty good so couple of holes later its bolted on. Then the rod had to be lengthened about 12 inches to reach it and it looks like it will work just fine, shifts great. One more item checked off the list.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work!

[84chevyguyid]

Spent a little more time on the pickup and got a few more things done. Got the throttle cable hooked up, still need to finish up the bracket but I think I will wait till I get it running and make sure it works ok. Got all the hoses replaced on the fuel tanks and plumbed a pump in from the driver side tank to the passenger side tank so I can transfer fuel across. I mostly plan on running on the passenger side tank and use the driver side tank for reserve. Finished plumbing in the steering/hydrobooster, should be ready to put oil in. I been trying to figure out how to hook up some kind of a liquid to liquid trans cooler for a long time. I got a finned cooler that I mounted in front of the charge cooler and the guy from Derale says it should work but I always felt like it would be way too small. I have the big cooler from the bus but never could figure out a way to use it. I finally found a way to use it and got it mounted and the trans lines plumbed to it and am waiting for a few hoses and mandrel tubing to get here and I can get the radiator hoses plumbed to it. It has a big flat plate cooler inside it and if its big enough to work with a non locking 545 in a school bus it should do great with my 1000 allison. Here are a few pics.

[84chevyguyid]

After I get the cooler plumbed in the next project is getting a little Webasto heater plumbed in then the cooling system should be ready to fill. I am thinking about mounting it under the battery tray on the passenger side, keeping it as low as possible. Here is a pic with an ether can for a size comparison, also a few engine compartment pics.

[COS399]

Coming along nice. I'm glad somebody is getting some work done.