Omodified's 1970 SWB Custom/10

[omodified]

So, Christmas is over and it's time for some truck upgrades. Here is what was on my Christmas wish list...

1. New brakes on all four corners. All new adjusters and springs, wheel cylinders, brake hoses, new shoes and drums.

2. 3 inch front drop springs, upper and lower ball joints, upper and lower control arm shaft seals, tie rod ends and adjuster sleeves, and a new idler arm.

3. POR15 Metal Mask to coat all of the new bare metal parts.

4. POR15 Factory Manifold Gray to coat the old rusty exhaust manifolds.

[omodified]

So I like how nothing ever goes as planned. I took the cap off the master cylinder and the first thing I noticed was that the front reservoir was only half full. That was understandable because I am quite sure that I have a few bad wheel cylinders. The second thing I noticed was that the fluid was a creamy, rusty color. So, I used a syringe to pump all of the fluid from each reservoir. That left me a big mess in the bottom. Thick, nasty, rusty goo. I went ahead and removed the master cylinder so it would be easier to clean. After cleaning it, I got to thinking about how much of this gunk is probably in the whole system. So, since they are cheap enough, I will just go ahead and pick up a new master cylinder.

[omodified]

Went to O'Reilly Auto Parts and picked up a remanufactured master cylinder. I will add this to the pile of POR15 parts.

[omodified]

Since I removed the master cylinder, I couldn't help but notice how terrible the power booster and it's bracket looked. I went ahead and removed them as well. Since I am already planning to take some other things to work for media blasting, I might as well add these to this stack.

[omodified]

When I removed the power booster bracket and the brake pedal push rod, I noticed that the push rod boot that attaches to the firewall was severely rotted. The power booster pushrod boot was junk too. So we drove over to Dave's Truck Parts in Conover, NC to see if he could help. He had the firewall boot, but we had to order the power booster boot from Classic Parts of America.

[omodified]

I took inner fenders out today so I could wrestle with the exhaust manifolds. They came off surprisingly easy. I thought for sure I was going to break a bolt. Once I got them off, I realized that there are four plugs in each manifold presumably for the old smog stuff. The plugs on the right manifold came out very easily because they were all brass. Just when I thought I was home free, I discovered that three of the plugs in the left manifold were steel and they were FROZEN. This was a job for...



This CRC product has never let me down before, so I felt pretty confident. After spraying and soaking for about 30 minutes, I got the first two out with no problems (well, a little help from the vise-grips). The third one was impossible. I ended up ruining the head of the plug so much that there was nothing left to grab. So, I ground the plug flush with the manifold. My plan was to drill it out and then tap the threads. As, soon as I started to drill it, the plug shattered and all the pieces fell out, exposing the original threads in the manifold. To my surprise, the threads were unharmed. I got super lucky there!!! Time to media blast these guys.

[omodified]

I media blasted all of the parts in my stack today. No problems to report, just good looking bare metal. Time to start coating tomorrow hopefully.

[omodified]

So, I decided to do a test area for the POR15 Metal Mask today. The nice new steering box we installed back on page one wasn't looking so new anymore. It was starting to rust on the surface and I always did regret not painting it before we installed it. So, it was the prime candidate. We scuffed it with scotchbrite and then washed it down with acetone. Two coats of POR15 later and, presto!!!

[RaceAGMC]

Great build neighbor. We're pretty close. We should meet up and talk 70's. If you ever need a hand let me know. Btw. If you ever really want to polish up that trim, remove it, spray it with easy off oven cleaner, it takes all the old anodizing off, then you can polish it up to a mirror shine.

[omodified]

Today, I got some painting done on the power booster/bracket and brake distribution block. I am pretty happy with it. I can't wait to see it all put back together.

[omodified]

Today, I got all the parts lined up for two coats of Metal Mask. After one coat...



Here is the finished product. They all turned out looking awesome!!!

[omodified]

Ok, so this is one of the posts I have been waiting to make for a long time. Today, the time has come to coat the exhaust manifolds. I researched for days about how exactly to use the POR15 Manifold Gray coating effectively. There were definitely conflicting instructions all over the web. So, I called the manufacturer. They were very nice to speak with and were very helpful. They told me exactly what I needed to do based on what I had already done to this point.

First, using our brand new Kenmore four burner grill, I heated the manifolds up to 400 degrees to get rid of any moisture that might still be in the metal. My wife was excited to christen the grill with this application...not! Once they reached 400 degrees, I turned the grill off and the lid remained shut so the manifolds wouldn't rapid cool.

Next, using rubber gloves, I washed the manifolds down with acetone. POR15 recommends some other product that they sell to wash them down with, but that is to neutralize rust. Since I didn't have any rust, acetone worked just fine to remove any oils or residue that I may have gotten on them since I media blasted them.

Next, I made sure the garage was at a steady 70 degrees and began dabbing my first coat on with a foam brush. Once the first coat was on, I allowed it to dry for two hours and then applied the final coat. I will be letting the final coat dry for twenty-four hours. Then, they recommend baking each manifold at 400 degrees again and then letting them cool slowly again. This is so the coating will harden and resist heat in the future. Here is what they look like after the second coat. They look phenomenal. I can't wait to install them!!!

[fastnotch89]

Looks good, nice work

[omodified]

The power booster boot came in today, so I installed it and reassembled everything. Once I got it back together, I remounted to the firewall with stainless hardware and connected the rod to the pedal. It looks great. I can't wait to hang the master cylinder.

[omodified]

I want to give and update on the exhaust manifolds. A few days have gone by now since they were treated and baked. They have darkened up quite a bit and they look even better now. Here is one waiting to be installed.

[omodified]

Had some time on my hands today, so we decided to start taking apart the front steering and suspension. Everything came apart really quick. Since I have new ball joints to install, I wasn't afraid to use the pickle fork to break everything loose.



The first thing I noticed when I got the left front apart, was the spring. Here is the reason I am replacing all this stuff in the first place!!! This is what a cheap lowering job looks like...



Everything is off. The amount of grease is ridiculous. Every joint was wayyyy over greased and of course the boots were bad. Time for a clean up!!!



While the suspension was off, I thought it would be a good time to flush the front brake lines. I got some real nasty stuff out of there, but they are all clean now.

[omodified]

Today, I wanted to get the shafts out of the upper and lower control arms. They all came out fairly easy. However, I noticed that one of the bushings had quite a bit of slop inside the lower. Once I got it apart, I realize that there were no threads left inside the arm. The bushing just slid in and out. I immediately got on the board here to see what was available...slim pickens. I PMed two board members that have taken care of me in the past, t korinek and tll70. Before they could get back to me, I found one local. I do want to say thanks to these two anyways, because they did get back to me quickly and would have been able to help me as usual. It was nice to save on shipping though because that would have been pretty expensive. The new arm is off a 1971, but since we are replacing the ball joint it will work just fine for us.

[omodified]

I spent some time today cleaning up the threads on each of the upper and lower control arms. We tried to remove each bushing by hand (ratchet) because I know these threads can be sensitive. However, they were locked down pretty good, so we ended up having to use an impact. The threads were all in poor shape. Even the new arm needed some work. I wish there were taps available for these holes but I'm sure they would be very pricey. So, I used a dremel and did the best I could to refresh each thread. After two hours of careful and tedious work, all of the holes were good enough the run a bushing in by hand, with anti-seize of course. I even confirmed that I could torque them to 160 foot pounds with no problem.

[omodified]

I wanted to take all of the steering and suspension parts to work today so I could media blast them. Before I could, I had to make a stop at the car wash. The grease and dirt buildup on these parts was crazy. I used a half gallon of super clean, two wire brushes and about $4.00 in quarters. An hour and a half later, I had some really clean parts. Time to head to work.

Before I started blasting, I took a few minutes to research what I will need to do about bump stops for the lower control arms. I know that with the heated coil springs, it rested on the left front stop just sitting there. So, I assumed I would have to at least cut them down, if not buy something shorter. I scoured the internet and this forum and couldn't find many answers. Most of what I found pertained to bagged trucks. I did find one post here that led me to a comment posted by member lolife99. I know Keith has been following my build thread and sort of suggested that I needed to lower my truck correctly. I also remembered his signature contained cool the write-ups on brake conversions, so I was sure he knows his way around these trucks. So, I PMed Keith and asked him for the details of what I should do. Thanks to Keith for getting back to me almost immediately! Keith recommended cutting off the tower for the bump stop while making sure to leave the steering stop intact. He sent me this link http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=416186 to a previous thread where he discussed this very topic. Inside, there were some great pictures for reference. I'm not sure how I missed this thread in my quest, but I am thankful for Keith's help and other members like him. This kind of support is what makes this place so great. Here is one of the lower control arms after the modification and a good cleaning...

[omodified]

More clean parts ready for finishing...

[omodified]

It's pretty cold today, but not cold enough to stop me from coating some more parts with the POR15 Metal Mask. I cranked up the propane heater, got the garage to about 70 degrees and busted out the foam brush. Here we are after two coats...

[lolife99]

Great job on the lower a-arms bumpstop removal .
Did you trim the "gutters" on either side of the ball joint area also?

[omodified]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Great job on the lower a-arms bumpstop removal .
Did you trim the "gutters" on either side of the ball joint area also?

I decided to not trim the gutters for two reasons. One, there was a guy on that thread that said his lower failed and he crashed after he trimmed his. Two, I don't plan on switching to five lug so I won't have a clearance issue with my current wheels. Should I be trimming them anyways? I'm sure the guy that crashed trimmed too much or something.

[lolife99]

I trim them so I can use a 15"wheel with a max of 4" backspace.
I normally do it on the truck, so I can check the fit,... and just trim the minimum.
I use a thin cut-off wheel and then clean up and radius everything with a flap disc on a grinder.
You can't go in there with a torch.

5-lug 15x6.5 and 15x8 truck ralleys need it.(4" bs)
15x7's dont. (3-5/8" bs)

6-lug 15x8 rally's don't need it, (3-5/8" bs) ,... but the rare 6-lug 15x7's do. (4" bs)

You could plate the bottom if you really want to.
I've been doing this since 1986, without issue.

[omodified]

So I researched for a few days how I want to go about finishing my suspension parts. I decided to use another POR15 product called Chassis Black...



I had some left over foam brushes so I hung the parts and gave it a try. I noticed right away that this coating is much thinner than the other POR15 products I have used. This makes sense because they said it is suppose to be self leveling. However, shortly after I applied it, it started to puddle. So, I tried to dab it with the brush to spread it out. That cause hundreds of tiny air bubbles. So, I resorted to using a bristled paint brush. Once it dried, I noticed there were serious brush strokes in the finish. NOT COOL! This is not going to do. Fortunately, I limited myself to painting one part after I started to encounter problems. So, I'll media blast this stuff off tomorrow and start over.