"Crewcab Jake" the 84 to 74 conversion

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Greenlee

I doubt you would ever want to change back. These are way better than the stock gauges. The stock setup is not all that confidence inspiring with that flimsy printed circuit. Mine was delaminating in spots. I was kind of surprised everything worked when I put it back together. If you have any more pictures of the instal, post them up! I noticed in the instructions there was a control box and rocker panel switch and I’m cuorious how y’all mounted that stuff.

I don't see me ever going backwards with this install either. I'm the "just in case" kind of guy though. I have built several GM clusters and love them in general. The Dakota Digital RTX cluster just blows them away for performing and aesthetics.

If you look closely to the far left in the dash opening you can see where we mounted the Dakota Digital control module. We had to relocate a factory ground terminal down lower to make room. We fabricated a flat bracket for the module to attach to because there is not enough flat surface area.

[N2TRUX]

This morning I switched gears and worked on another project that I had put aside. A couple of weeks back I had bought conversion U joints to mate the larger 14 bolt drive shaft to the 10 bolt yoke.
I have never had problems pressing in U joints with a socket and hammer, until now. It fought me till I broke one of the needle bearings and the cap seized half way in.
I finally had time to take it to the driveline shop and get the pros to install them. Crisis resolved and driveshaft is now in place.
The housing was filled with premium gear oil and the project was done.

[N2TRUX]

The rear is done for the most part. I still need to bleed the brakes and mount the small cross brace that the brake line will be secured on. Now I can get back in the cab.

I had noted that the Tamco Epoxy primer goes on thick but tends to lay down with a bit of texture. I mixed it 4:1:1 adding 1 part reducer to help it lay down better. It helped but I still needed to block it flat.

I wet sanded the flat surfaces and scuffed the upper half to ensure good adhesion. Once everything was prepped I wiped the entire surface with cleaner.

[Greenlee]

Looks good. Nice work!

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Greenlee

Looks good. Nice work!

Thank you sir.

[N2TRUX]

My plan for today was to get the dash painted and cleared. It quickly turned another direction though.

Chris came over and we pulled the seat followed by the carpet. With the natty old carpet removed we decided to keep going. Chris got the padding out while I worked on some rust issues.

I rarely see rust on the drivers floor, but this one had it. Fortunately it wasnt very deep so I was able to remove the majority with a wire wheel followed by surfacing with a flapper disc.
With the rust cleaned up I treated the metal with Rust-mort followed by a coat of primer. As an added measure I painted the primer satin black. Eventually it will be skinned with sound deadner but this will keep it sealed till then.

[N2TRUX]

With all of the sources for dust removed and the interior completely blown out I'm hoping for the dash paint to come out smooth. We decided there weren't enough hours left in the day to get the dash sprayed, so we turned our focus on another area that needed attention

[N2TRUX]

Chris said every time I posted pics of the rear area all he could see were the crusty gas tanks. We decided to spend the rest of the day dropping the tanks and cleaning the frame.
This truck was not originally a dual tank truck, but a second tank was added when the short bed conversion was done.
Fortunately the second tank was never connected. I suspected it might be contaminated and I was correct . An internal inspection revel a 1/4 tank of coagulated rusty jelly. The spare tank is headed for a dumpster

[N2TRUX]

I'm thankful that not only was the primary tank clean inside, it was an 87 version with the internal baffles that will be perfect when I install a fuel injection system.

Chris drained the fuel and set about cleaning the grunge from the tank while a worked on the cross brace and the frame rails.

[N2TRUX]

Last night the weather got to me a little. I felt like I was getting sick so I decided to rest. I put a coat of satin black on the bottom of the tank and called it quits.

Tonight I had to make up for it. I picked up supplies and got back in the groove.

Its easier to paint the gas tank in sections. The top half was done so tonight I masked it off and sprayed the bottom half.

[N2TRUX]

Between coats on the gas tank I worked on the frame and cross brace. I decided that single bolt originally holding the brace on through a slotted hole did nothing to make the brace a structural component.

I enlarged the original hole and added a second one down lower. When I test fit it, there was no flex in the bar. It may be over kill, but I want to increase the rigidity of the frame to compensate for any flex the C notch might have brought with it.

[N2TRUX]

I had to work late tonight so my shop time was limited. Chris had started cleaning the tank mounting brackets. I spent a while finishing up what he started. I dressed the edges with a flapper disc and wire wheeled the rust spots.
Once it was all sanded and wiped clean I loaded on a couple coats of filler primer.

[N2TRUX]

While the primer cures I started dressing the fuel lines. After cleaning on them a bit I decided to set them aside. I realized these are single tank lines and I plan to run dual tanks. I'll get back to them after I determine what I need for the additional tank.

[N2TRUX]

After the primer dried on the tank brackets I sprayed the inside with color. I went with my go to accent color and laid down some VHT Hi Temp Cast Iron. I'll do the outside in the morning.

[Hankster]

Looks awesome! Keep it up.

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Hankster

Looks awesome! Keep it up.

Trudging along slow but steady.

[N2TRUX]

This morning after I loaded my truck with supplies for the day I painted the outside of the tank brackets. Gave the inside a touch up coat and blasted them with a couple of wet coats to ensure good coverage

[N2TRUX]

I got my order in from Summit Racing today. I bought several miscellaneous parts for upcoming projects.
Included in the order was a Spectra sending unit. Since we had the tank out it just made good sense to change it out.

[N2TRUX]

Since that shiny gas tank needs a nice clean place to stay I got to work on the frame. Eventually the entire frame will get stripped, but for now I'm doing it section at a time. I focused on section that will be covered by the gas tank tonight. The factory sprayed undercoating on the bottom of the cab and a good portion of the frame.

[N2TRUX]

I used a wire cup on my 4" grinder to strip all the undercoating away. With that gone I sanded the surface rust and hit the remains with Scotch Brite.
After a clean up with brake cleaner I shot a couple of coats of satin black. It's still wet in the pic. It will have the same sheen as the rest once dried

[Hankster]

Can't wait to see this thing finished.

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

After the primer dried on the tank brackets I sprayed the inside with color. I went with my go to accent color and laid down some VHT Hi Temp Cast Iron. I'll do the outside in the morning.

I would have sworn the attached pictures on this post above are different from yesterday when I looked at this thread...

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by aggie91

I would have sworn the attached pictures on this post above are different from yesterday when I looked at this thread...

Good eye Karl. I usually post at night while watching TV with my family. If the pics are rotated I fix them the next morning on my desktop. Sometimes I add or change sequence to make things flow better

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Hankster

Can't wait to see this thing finished.

I concur

[N2TRUX]

As hard as I tried, I just couldn't stop. I had planned to clean the frame and floor pan under the area covered by the gas tank. After seeing how it looked cleaned up I had to go further.