Project "Variable Priority" '71 FS/SB

[DjS71]

Sweet Christ, it's been a long time. Still not on the road but getting close. Had a second child, which you would think cuts your time in 1/2 again, but its more like 1/4. Little dude sure is cute though.

Took the bed off to work on rebuilding the rear with new bushings, 4in drop springs, 1 in drop block and shocks. Put the bed back on, then found a 3.73 rear end that i need to install still along with nolimit's panhard bar and shock re-locators. I guess I'll get to that when i flip the truck around in the garage to finish the fuel system.

Pulled the front clip off to better install the Engine/Trans. This is pretty much how it sits at the moment. Front clip in the bed, a few more parts back on.


Rebuilt the front suspension with new bushings, 1in drop springs, 2.5in drop spindles and fresh calipers & Discs, and shocks

Got the engine wired up, just need to blow apart and clean/grease the auto column, and run front half of the fuel lines before I put the front clip back on.

Wound up with Carshop adapter plates, CPP sheet metal engine stands & trans crossmember. With that combo I able to use the factory CTSV dipstick and the donor truck's 4l80E dipstick, so that was a nice discovery. Works well with the DT Headers, the mid length ones, i forget the part number... but the O2 sensor on the pass side is perilously close to the frame, the starter wires need some creative tucking and on the driver side the shift linkage I cobbled together made a little bit of room for the exhaust.

The shift linkage was from a late 70's Chevy truck, plus the rod from the lokar kit and one handy dandy piece of uni-strut.



After the clip is back on I have to make trans cooler lines, i had originally planned to do AN line, but I find myself wishing i had kept the factory trans cooler lines as they seem to tuck up the cleanest and would likely work with my radiator. We'll see what happens.

While i wait for driveway space (friend brought home someone else's ****show of a 510 wagon that we can't get running right to save our lives.) I think i'll work on getting the Dakota Digital VHX Gauges wired up and find a place for the PCM under the dash.

Still need to check driveshaft angles and measure for a new driveshaft.

Honestly if I had 3 or 4 days uninterrupted I could probably turn the key, which kind of terrifies me at this point, 3 years later.

If you made it to the end of this rambling recap, the first round is on me