Working Man's Burbon

[HO455]

More to come on the dome light project. I installed the last of the swap meet finds today. Since the WMB has no jack and I am not lucky enough to drive around without one I picked up this jack with a bolt on mount and the handle up for eight bucks. The jack was pretty stiff at first but I sprayed some white grease inside, clamped it in a vice and ran it up and down a bunch of times and it now works as it should. It didn't fit in the stock location without a bunch of modification so I went under the hood with it, where it fit like a glove against the fender well. Maybe sometday I can locate a factory one and replace this one. Until then I'm ready.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by HO455

Got the second row window sets installed! The support modification worked well on installation so now we'll see what the long run brings. It is hard to see in the photos but the seals no longer sag into the unsupported area. I did use a tip forwarded by the master "LockDoc" saying put some petroleum jelly on the frame to allow the seal to slide into place easier. Worked like a champ. I made sure all the tracks and rollers were lubed up with garage door lube. The windows now roll down and they work like they are new when going up too!
Soaking the seals in the soapy water (Dawn) really helped with cleaning the old paint/over spray off of the seals.

Thanks again to Richard and Mel.

Quick question, does it matter what order the door glass or the divider goes in? I'm getting ready to do this and don't want to break anything, .

[HO455]

If I recall correctly I had the glass in the lower part of the track on the front of the door. Then the divider went in at an angle and it was fitted onto the glass and I installed the top screw. Then I think I pushed the glass up so the regulator could be coaxed into the glass channel and the door skin and put the bottom divider screws in. Or something along those lines.

[HO455]

Moved forward on the interior lights. When I removed the last remaining headliner piece I found the unused factory wiring above. Using the existing plug I soldered new wires to it and ran them forward above the mirror, back to above the hatch, and down the A pillar to under the dash. I had three under counter LED lights left over from a kitchen project, which used 120 VAC to 12VDC power supplies. An earlier test of the lights on a car battery proved they would work without the power supplies. I laid out the mounting of the lights, putting one above the mirror, above the rear hatch, and over the third door. With the door switches already wired it was pretty simple to hook up. Orange is 12 volt positve and the white is hooked to the door switches which ground out when a door is opened. Along with this I pulled the headlight switch and installed an additional lead in one of the empty slots of the plug (The orange wire next to the green wire) so I could install a chime (Think doorbell not buzzer) that will sound when the door is open and the lights are on. The chime came from Radio Shack. The headlight switch supplies 12+ when the switch is in the park light and headlight positions and the 12 neg comes through the door switch.

[HO455]

I also installed some foil backed bubble wrap in between the stiffening ribs. This may or may not help keep it cooler or warmer, but it definitely made the WMB quieter. But not in the way your thinking.
To install the wrap I used a Gel formula contact cement. I had never used it before but I am now a big fan of it. NO runs, NO strings, NO over spray, and so easy to spread evenly. It is the best. I had no problems with it making a mess. Doing one section at a time I spread the cement with a 3" disposable brush. It was easy to lightly touch the wrap to the roof and if i needed to reposition it it was no problem. Then I just pressed it down well when it was in position.
Now to the noise reduction part. As I applied the cement to the one of the central parts I found the roof would drum with just the strokes of the brush, and if you just tapped it with your pinky you could really get a loud druming sound. The sheet metal on the roof was so weak in that area I am sure that just driving down the road would be enough to make it drum constantly. I guess something must have dropped on the roof at some point that was soft like snow and stretched the sheet metal. I stopped applying the cement and I put a strip of Bequiet mat across the section, but that didn't solve the problem. I ended up cutting the mat and gluing (with heavy seam sealer) a metal stiffener across the section from rib to rib. This solved most of the druming. I had a short section of the metal left so I glued it next to the first one and the drumming was cured. I would have never noticed this if I had not been brushing cement on the inside. I never noticed it when I was sanding the top prior to painting. So in a round about way this has made the WMB much quieter.

[Hart_Rod]

Nice job on the insulation! Here's a couple poor pictures of the new rear quarter window seals.

[HO455]

Thanks Hart_Rod. It's good to see you will finally be able to close all your windows. That should help keep things cleaner inside.
I had a little time today so I knocked out a couple of quick things. First was new vent flapper seals. The old ones were pretty much nonexistent. I went all out and got the $4.00 repops. Pretty simple job. Just open the vent half way then lift the flapper in the duct and the bottom pin will come up enough to allow the flapper to go into the duct and drop downwards so the upper pin will come out of its hole. At this point I removed the clip that holds the control lever and pulled the lever free. The flapper consists of two plates with a foam rubber gasket sandwiched between the two plates. The plates are fastened to each other with 9 rivets. Drill the rivets out and use a putty knife to separate the plates without bending them. I ran the plates through the blaster and painted them prior to reassembly. Then center the gasket on the inner plate. I pushed a straight pick through the plate and the gasket in the hole closest to the center, then lined up the outer plate on the pick. ( I used pop rivets to reassemble the plates.) I clamped the two halves together and removed the pick. Inserting a pop rivet in that hole to make sure nothing slipped, I used the pick to punch a second hole and then installed a pop rivet there. Going back to the first rivet I installed it. Then I punched the gasket and installed the other seven rivets. The only problem I had was that twice when the rivet snapped free the tool jumped and the broken off end of the rivet scratched the new paint. (Once on each side of course) I recommend using something to cover the flapper when doing this. Maybe some cardboard with a 1/2" hole in it for the tool to pass through. That way you won't have to repaint yours like I did.
The second project for the day was to paint and install the emblem on the grille. And looking at the photo it seems I need to wash the WMB.

[HO455]

A month or so ago I noticed that my headlight and compressor relays were getting wet when it rained. I had thought I could find some sort of rubber or weather stripping to sheild them. Then I found an old tail gate cap in the scrap bin that was almost perfect. After a trip through the blaster to remove the rust and cheap chrome. I driiled a couple of holes to mount it and a slot to clear the factory positive post and then some paint. I used a clear sealant between it and the inner fender to make it water tight. It looks as if it will do the trick. Only time and rain will tell.
Plus it guards that positive post from accidental grounding.

[Average Joe]

Yet another good mod.

Just wanted to say thanks again for all the info you have posted and pics detailing your reserection of the WMB! Good stuff especially for an average joe like myself.

[HO455]

Thank you Joe! I do appreciate your replys. I'm sure I could do a better job of documentation as I start off okay but forget to stop and get photos along the way then suddenly I'm done. Like today's posting.

I got some used upper control arms to rebuild and then replace the existing ones. (Lots of thanks to Chevy Metal in Vancouver WA as he gave me them for free!) The idea being the truck wouldn't be up on jacks in the shop immobile for the two days it would take to clean up, rebuild, and reinstall them. The new ones were pretty clean and already had the ball joints replaced, so no drilling the old rivets out. After stripping the ball joints and bushings off the arms I blasted and painted them.
As a side note. I did not know what spindles the WMB had on it other than they were 1 1/4" discs. After much searching of the forum and other places on the interweb trying to look up the casting numbers to no avail, I ended up recognizing one of the numbers as a casting date. Using that it appeared that they were 1972 spindles although one side was a late year 72. So I got a pair of 72 spindles hoping that both sides were the same. (Not a lot of faith in the PO at this point). So after I removed the old uppers. I cleaned the spindle tapers and test fitted each ball joint in its spindle. I did this by putting a light coat of anti-seize on the ball joint taper and inserting into the spindle taper. Then twist the joint back and forth making sure it is fully seated. Pull the ball joint out carefully so as not to touch the sides of the spindles taper. Then I examined the ball joint and the taper in the spindle looking for evenly distributed anti-seize. A shiny spot would show a high spot and an area with a build up of anti-seize would be a low area. If the joints were the wrong ones I would of had only been touching on one end or the other of the taper not a smooth even layer of anti-seize the full depth of the ball joints taper. Which fortunately for me is what I saw. Sorry no photos but I did have anti-seize all over my hands and I am sure I don't need it all over my tablet. (Anti-seize the gift that keeps on giving! If any of you have worked with pranksters you know what I'm talking about)
After that it was just clean the alignment shims, reinstall them the way they came out and tighten the nuts up to torque. 70 ft lbs if memory serves me for the shafts and the bushing caps to 90 ft lbs. Although I didn't find a spec on the bolts that hold the ball joint on I went with the general spec for a 3/8" NF grade eight bolt of 45 ft lbs. After that i greased them up. Just enough grease until you see the boot start to move. I greased the bushings as I installed them on the bench. Then after torqued the bushings I clamped the shaft in a vice and rotated the arm around the shaft as I greased it to ensure grease got everywhere inside. Then one last shot after installation. After the first hundred miles I will go back and check the torque of everything and put another shot of grease in everything.
I forgot a add a big thank you to lolife99 for his Drum to disc thread. It is most informative on suspension parts and the break down for what years cross over.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=444823

[HO455]

Picked up a pair of bumpers today. Fairly straight factory 67-68 ones with the bumper guards. The coolest part is the pair of original Oregon "Suburban" plates are on them. The uncool part is the gomer who took them off with a torch melted the lower holes on the rear plate and to top it off he broke both of the original dealer frames from Wentworth Chevrolet here in Portland. I almost walked away from the deal. But at this point I am glad I didn't. I can get the plates restored and just cover the lower holes with different frames. I also got some headliner parts (which also got broken during removal) and a factory jack and its hold down.

Well a post script to this post my buddy informed me that the plates are not the correct ones for a 67. They would be blue background with yellow letters not yellow with blue letters. Bummer!

[HO455]

I have been working on modifying my lower control arms so the bags don't rub on them and maybe I can cut the lower bag mounts down some. I also want to make better bumpstops and get some steering stops while I'm at it. The PO removed both of them. The first photos shows the control arm and the white circle on it is the area that rubs the bag. You can also see where the bumpstop is touching the bag. I got a second pair of lowers and after doing a basic clean and blast job. My first step was to layout the circle and then try to imagengineer a plan to obtain everything I wanted. I used a plastic lid to fill the hole in the spring pocket and then using a machinist compass I scribed circles to match the one in the photos. The scribed circle is hard to see in the photo, but it shows that the stock bumpstop mount and steering stop is in the way.

[HO455]

In the lead up to starting this I did a fair amount of research about how others had done this and found some examples to consider. The upper one provided lots of room and I assume the plate on the bottom goes all the way across the arm giving it a nice smooth bottom so it won't be able to catch on something. But I wasn't completely comfortable with the amount of rigidity left in the arm. Especially on the inner edge between the bushings. Just my own paranoia. The second method was certainty the easier and you could run the lower plate full width to get a smooth bottom. I liked the second but was unable to obtain the correct size tubing at a reasonable cost. Minimum length was 10.5 feet of eight inch schedule 40 pipe. I was able to get 30" of eight inch square tubing for $34 dollars and I was sure I could make that work. After trying every way I could I was just unable to use the square tube I purchased in the vertically like the second photo. So it was going to be a version of the upper photo I would go with.

[HO455]

Now my plan is to split the square tubing in half so I have two pieces of channel with four inch sides. I cut the tubing to length and then split it. Then I laid out the cuts I wanted to do on the arm. I cut the channel to fit the arm before I did any cutting on the arm. That allowed me to mark the arm so the channel will fit tight. After marking I drilled some 3/32" holes from the bottom to mark where the channel was and then used them to make accurate marks on the top so I could cut from the top. I did deviate from the original marks a bit as I decided to make the shock side parallel to the side of the arm and not at a 90* which would have made things more complicated. Once all was laided out I cut the center out of the arm and finished fitting the channel in. Removing the flat bar stiffening for the shock was a pain as I didn't want to damage the arm.

[HO455]

I trimmed about half of the steering stop away and all of the bumpstop was removed. Then once the channel was the trimmed to fit I tack welded it on the corners and then completed welding it by an alternating pattern of welds in an effort to keep from warping the arm. Once that was done I made the inside wall pieces and welded them in the same way. Since I no longer would be able to get to the bottom side of the sway bar mount bolts I needed to find a way to bolt the mount down. Taking a piece of 2" flat bar I drilled it for the same pattern as the mounts then installed 3/8" by one inch bolts in the holes. Welding the heads to the plate secured them. I then marked the arm and cut holes for the bolt heads to recess into the arm. In an effort to gain more clearance between the end of the sway bar and the air bags I moved the location of the sway bar end mounts about 3/8" towards the front of the truck. The last pieces to make were end plates for the steering stops. After they were welded out I went over the each arm with a flapper wheel to clean up the spatter and slag. Also I ground off the old spot welds from the bumpstop. Now I have a nice flat surface to work with when I fabricate new bumpstops.
It has been a couple of years since I have done this much stick welding and it shows. (Not the prettiest welds I have ever laid down) I should have of spent a day practicing my skills before hand.
Using the old spring pockets I marked the center of the old springs so I can install the locator rings in the new pockets. Which I will do after the arms are installed so I can adjust the rings location if necessary. I went with 3/4" high rings to locate the bottom of each bag. There seems to be some concern that bolting the bag down on the bottom can cause damage to the bag if the arm travels to far. Which I don't see happening but the rings are as simple to install as drilling the bottom for bolts. I think I have gotten every thing I wanted for the arms but time will tell. One down side of the smooth bottom I see is I no longer have the spring pocket to center a floor jack securely. That may or may not be an issue we will see. One thing is for sure is the arms weigh more than they used to.

[notchbackgta]

Originally Posted by HO455

First was new vent flapper seals. The old ones were pretty much nonexistent. I went all out and got the $4.00 repops. Pretty simple job.

Since you just did this, I have been wondering, what size are the rivets?

[HO455]

I'm pretty sure I used 1/8" by 1/4" long. I didn't actually measure them I just picked the size that fit from the big box of rivets. I do remember it took 9 per side.

[notchbackgta]

OK, thanks. I don't have them and will have to buy them. I guess I'll take it out and double check before I order

[HO455]

The saga continues. I pulled the passenger side lower control arm off this morning planning on having it swapped out by the end of the day. Oh such are the plans of mice and men. The lower ball joint had more than 3/8 of vertical slop in it so the pickle fork method failed. I ended up using a Port-a-Power with a socket to protect the upper ball joint nut pushing the end of the ball joint down and then beating on two pickle forks before the joint popped apart. If the Mapp gas torch hadn't jumped off the work bench last week that would have been part of the solution too. When removing the front U-bolt from the shaft I was concerned that it was not tight. After removing the shaft it was apparent that the shaft had been moving around, as the shaft was not indexed correctly. The shaft's index rivet on the cross member was halfway out of the pilot hole. (See photo 1) The rivet was deformed (see photo 2) and as a result when I put my new shaft in position it was able to slide back and forth a 1/4". I knew how to fix this problem thanks to Chevyrestoguy's "My Caster Mod" thread. I ran to the hardware store and purchased two 1 inch long 1/2" socket head cap screws I had to drill the rivet out as well as the shaft saddle to accommodate the new 1/2" index bolt. I went with the 1/2" size as the head of the fastener matched the 3/4" index hole I machined in the shaft. Photo 3.
As part of the steering rebuild I decided that more caster was a good thing. After trolling lots of threads I decided to machine new index holes in the lower shafts as described in this thread by Chevyrestoguy. There will be more on that later.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=501241
I ended up with 3/4" index's instead of the stock 11/16" as only had a 3/4" end mill and a 6/19" drill bit to chose from. (It is hard form me to justify the cost of an odd size end mill for two holes.). The long run it worked out well as the cap screws fit perfectly in the indexes. If someone one else needs to do this they will have to grind the head smaller or try to locate a different style of fastener.
The lower control arm showed damage from hitting something (last photo) which may have been the reason the shaft was out of position. Several people on the forum have talked about changing the shaft U-bolts from the stock 67-72 size to the larger 9/16" 73 and later U-bolts. I had already purchased new ones from Napa and after seeing this I hope they will help prevent this problem in the future. The new bolts do require you to drill the holes in the saddles and cross member larger.

[04ls1gto]

Nice fix, why not tack weld the bolt to cross shaft then just install and you won't have to worry about locating properly.

[Average Joe]

Nice work!

Im curious about your driving impressions after performing the castor mod. Keep us posted.

[HO455]

Thank you gentlemen. I will post a review of the driving experience.

04ls1gto
Re: Working Man's Burbon
"Nice fix, why not tack weld the bolt to cross shaft then just install and you won't have to worry about locating properly."

At the time it just didn't cross my mind. I am sure that it would work. The only down side to that would be if I decide the new index hole is too far and I need to go back more towards the stock location. From all I have read about this modification it isn't an exact science.

Thanks again everyone. I cannot believe that this thread has had over 15,000 views.

[HO455]

The idea behind the caster modification is to take the factory caster setting of 0* and change it to a more appropriate setting of 5-7 degree. The new setting will work better with modern radial tires and make freeway driving nicer. The basic idea is to move the lower ball joint forward in relationship to the upper ball joint. I measured some old shafts an determined the index was 3" from the end of the shaft originally. (Photo 1) Replacement shafts seem to have differences in index location. My new shafts had the index hole about 1/16" closer to the end of the shaft which is the opposite direction I wanted to go. I put the new index holes at 3 3/4" from the end of the shaft with the new hole 180* from the hole the shafts came with. (Photo 2) This moves the lower ball joint 3/4" closer to the front of the truck. I used a 3/4" end mill to make the initial cut about 1/4" deep and then used a 9/16 drill bit to finish the hole. I had never actually seen the indexing rivet and didn't know how tall it was. The index holes I made were actually too large for the factory rivets and would have been too loose and I would have had to replace the rivets anyway. I had measured the old and new holes (Photo 3&4) and went with the closest size I had. I will get the proper size from the drivers side when I get it apart and post it. I think that there is a fair difference in the size of the index rivet and the hole in the shaft in a factory set up.

[HO455]

The follow up to the previous post. The factory index holes measured 11/16" (photo 1) and the Moogs were 23/32" (photo 2). The index rivets were 19/32" in diameter (photo 3). That means with the replacement shafts there is 1/8" of slop forward and back. After I had it assembled I had to remove the passenger side shaft in order to grind the cap screw down a 1/16" as it was holding the shaft away from the saddle. I did the same to the other side before assembling.
A couple of things I noticed when doing this. One is as the lower control arm moves forward it changes how the brake hoses flex and I had to tweek the brackets on the cross member to keep the hoses from rubbing when the wheels are hard over. In addition I had to move my sway bar frame mounts forward 3/4" to keep the ends of the factory sway bar from rubbing on the airbags.

[HO455]

Now that both lower arms were in place and torqued down (with the exception of the lower ball joints). I now had to see how the air bags were going to line up. It was poor at best, so I pulled the upper plates, removed the bags, reinstalled the plates with two bolts, set the bag in place and jacked the lower arm to ride height. I then centered the bag in the lower control arm pocket between the sides of the pocket. Once that was done I drew a circle on the upper plate and lower control arm showing where it now needed to be. (Love silver Sharpies). Then the plate came back out to be redrilled and the bag mounted. Before putting that assembly back in the cross member I lined up the lower cup centering rings in the lower control arm pockets and welded them into position. (Photo 2)
My before photos of the bags didn't turn out to be usable (too much coffee I guess). But here photo 1 shows the final location. You can see how close the sway bar is to the bag as it hasn't been moved forward yet.
It is a tight fit with the SS7 bags but they claim to keep their shape. I have ordered a set of them for the rear so I will have one bag for all four corners. And plenty of load capacity. One of the rears is showing some separation of the rubber on the very top.