My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”

[chewychevy67]

Cornerstone, just curious what you did here in the red circle? I know there are supposed to be 2 holes for the steering column clamp. I only see 1. Just curious how you plan for this area to clamp the column and look smooth?

[Kronald_70GMC]

And here we have it folks. One symmetrical section from side to side. Well other than the lower piece that I still have to do. Then after that, only 10 or so more holes to fill in.

[TA_C10]

Looks great!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Looks great!

Thanks. Hoping to be back out later tonight working on the lower area.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

Cornerstone, just curious what you did here in the red circle? I know there are supposed to be 2 holes for the steering column clamp. I only see 1. Just curious how you plan for this area to clamp the column and look smooth?

Inside that red circle is just another example why we are better as a group. Moments after I read your comment there was a drill bit inside that red circle, removing a mistake! Nice catch chewychevy67! Might anyone know what tap size I now need to run through the threads previously filled with bondo?

I'm sure glad I didn't weld it up!

Sorry for the hijack Kyle...

[cornerstone]

Looks great Kyle! I'm scratchin' my head trying to figure out how that was done... Care to share anymore pictures?

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Looks great Kyle! I'm scratchin' my head trying to figure out how that was done... Care to share anymore pictures?

Haha I dont have many of the process but I can post another that might help. I was too caught up in the work and forgot to take pictures. Basically I just cut out the area to be raised, pounded it flat on my anvil, marked the edge at 1/4" then I just put it into my bench vise and tipped it over to match the existing. From there is was just a matter of tack..........tack............tack........ect and then grindddddddddddddd.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

Haha I dont have many of the process but I can post another that might help. I was too caught up in the work and forgot to take pictures. Basically I just cut out the area to be raised, pounded it flat on my anvil, marked the edge at 1/4" then I just put it into my bench vise and tipped it over to match the existing. From there is was just a matter of tack..........tack............tack........ect and then grindddddddddddddd.

Ahhhh!! Now its clear. Thanks.

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

I've got the center of the firewall all buttoned up now except for the accelerator pedal mounting nuts. I need to come up with a plan for getting rid of those but I figure I better get the pedal first. Being that this is a 72 cab and my truck is a 70, the pedal is diffrent but luckily enough my dad thinks he's got a pedal for me. Just have to go over there and see if we can find it lol.

Looking good.

About your Accelerator mounting nuts.
For Rigidity purposes,
I would suggest ,
Put a piece of cardboard over them to make a template.
Mark the location of the holes.
You could even use the pedal mounting pad.
Make a triangle plate to your Specifications.
1/2" to 3/4" thick (Bolts in plate /holes in plate )
Then you can weld that plate inside the floor.
Grind your weld nuts off once your sure of your located.

Just a suggestion

Great work I like the symmetry of the Fire-wall









.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

Looking good.

About your Accelerator mounting nuts.
For Rigidity purposes,
I would suggest ,
Put a piece of cardboard over them to make a template.
Mark the location of the holes.
You could even use the pedal mounting pad.
Make a triangle plate to your Specifications.
1/2" to 3/4" thick (Bolts in plate /holes in plate )
Then you can weld that plate inside the floor.
Grind your weld nuts off once your sure of your located.

Just a suggestion

Great work I like the symmetry of the




.

That's a great idea! Thanks.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Now that I'm done with all my firewall work except for the park brake mount and accelerator mount, I figure I better show what the whole thing looks like. So I've moved some things around in my super messy garage (which I will clean when it warms up a bit more) and got the cab turned so I had enough room to take a proper picture. I really like how its turned out. Little bit of filler down the road and it will be better than new.

[chewychevy67]

That looks nice

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

That looks nice

Thanks! I like it, worth the month it took me.

[Kronald_70GMC]

One more piece of the puzzle wrapped up tonight. Although we never found the complete accelerator pedal at my dad's, we did find the mounting base which is all I needed for the time being. I took a piece of 1/4" flat steel I had and cut it down to be just slightly smaller than the pedal base itself. Then I drilled the three holes for the mounting studs. After I had that figured out, I drilled about 3/4 of the depth of the plate with progressively larger drill bits so that I had a place for the weld to sit. Then I cut off the heads from some bolts for the studs which I tac welded into the holes. I did not fully weld at this point because i did not want the heat from my welds to pull the studs out of alignment. So I put the studs into the original captive nuts in the firewall and then welded it home. From there it was just some grinding to remove the captive nuts and spot welding the plate into position using the original holes! Sorry for the long winded explanation but I forgot to take enough pictures to show how I actually did it. Here are the few I did take.

[TA_C10]

Nice work I like that a lot better than stock. So I assume your going back with stock pedal and a cable TB?

.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Nice work I like that a lot better than stock. So I assume your going back with stock pedal and a cable TB?

.

Yes I am going to stick with the stock pedal setup as I am still going to be carbureted at least until I can afford an efi setup but I'm still going to be old style with a 396.

[Kronald_70GMC]

I think that about wraps up the sheet metal work on the outside of the firewall. Tonight I got the E-Brake all figured out. What i ended up doing was I cut the studs out of the E-Brake so that i could reverse them and have everything except obviously the cable on the inside. Then I used an idea that I read about somewhere on this forum but I cant remember where. Thanks to whomever had posted it, I cut the two mounting holes so that they would be slotted, this allowed me to still be able to install the thing. After that, I made up another plate out of some thicker gauge metal than the firewall. I did not trust just welding the studs directly to the firewall. It probably would have been fine but I didn't want to take any chances. So after I had the plate all made up, it was just a matter of plug welding it into position.

[cornerstone]

It is amazing what a guy will go through to have a clean firewall! More nice work man. You better watch out or your gonna have a trailer queen on your hands.

What kind of hooch is this???

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

It is amazing what a guy will go through to have a clean firewall! More nice work man. You better watch out or your gonna have a trailer queen on your hands.

What kind of hooch is this???

Haha thanks. That is a great western beer called original 16. Good stuff

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

It is amazing what a guy will go through to have a clean firewall! More nice work man. You better watch out or your gonna have a trailer queen on your hands.

What kind of hooch is this???

It's wet, what do you care

[Kronald_70GMC]

Now that my firewall is done for the time being, I have been working at getting my cowl panel back on. Alot of the spot welds I drilled out went a little deep so I had to weld them up. I also got the paint stripped off the inner cowl so that I can re paint before installing the cowl. Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do with the pull vents in the kick panels. I think I'm going to delete them as I will not need them with the vintage air. My only concern is that I have heard of other guys having issues with getting fresh air. I was thinking about having some sort of opening in the delete plates I plan to make just so a little bit of air can flow through.

[Kronald_70GMC]

I also have been working on welding up the seams in the corners of the windshield opening. It's crazy how diffrent these are from one side to the other. The lower drivers side and upper passenger side took far more work to get them right than the other two. I guess that's what you get when all the work is done by people instead of robots. I forgot to take a picture of the other top side but you get the idea.

[cornerstone]

Now that's not only a sexy upgrade, but a smart one too! I'll bet you've totally improved your chances in having a leak free cab.

What king of tool are you using to clean up your welds?

Love the way you store your wrenches... gotta steal that one too.

[TA_C10]

I'm keeping my kick panel vents for that same reason. I don't want to have issues, and sometimes it's beneficial to have fresh air come in.

Windshield looks great. I should have done that one too since it's going to be my DD and I'm a little worried about windshield leaks.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Now that's not only a sexy upgrade, but a smart one too! I'll bet you've totally improved your chances in having a leak free cab.

What king of tool are you using to clean up your welds?

Love the way you store your wrenches... gotta steal that one too.

Well thanks for the compliments. I have a small arsenal of tools to clean up my welds. My main one is a 90° air grinder with a Roloc disc attachment. I use 50 grit 3" discs. Then I also have a straight air grinder with a 3" grinding wheel for when I'm working in a concave curve. And for those super tricky areas, I have a die grinder with a 1/2" round file head (not sure what it's actually called) I can get some pictures if you would like.