ClusterTruck; because that’s what it is

[clay68c10]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Thanks for all of the detail you've put into your thread. Especially your rust repair and approach to that were helpful. Here in the PNW, we don't always have to deal with that, but I have a truck that will eventually probably need it. It's cool that you got Angus Young to help you out, I was surprised to see that

He's really quite the builder/fabricator, as well as a great player!

[clay68c10]

For any of you guys with paint stripping in your future:
That HF stripping tool is on sale now for $99 if you're a member of their inside track club.

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

For any of you guys with paint stripping in your future:
That HF stripping tool is on sale now for $99 if you're a member of their inside track club.

Thanks for the heads up on the SCT!

[clay68c10]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

Thanks for the heads up on the SCT!

Happy to help someone save a buck.

[clay68c10]

Let’s talk about interior door bottom patches.
There’s a few places to get them from, and I’ve heard that they need work.
Mine came from Summit, and it definitely needed some “fitting”.
Maybe other ones are better, I don’t know.
Here’s the before and after shots

[clay68c10]

I’ll call these next ones “beat to fit” or “man my hands are tired”

The procedure I used is explained in the next post.

[clay68c10]

There was a lot learned during this patching.
If the contours don’t match, do a little pre beating to get it sorta close. The curved bodyline at the bottom that you see when the door is shut was a good example. I actually flattened it out some because it just wasn’t in the right place.
You won’t get too far though. The whole piece wants to start moving around without any support.
This is when you get the gaps close and just start welding the parts that do match up. It may only be 2 tacks worth, but that’s ok. You just need a starting point.
Ideally this needs to be high points so you can hammer them down to match the existing contours. You can’t really get in behind them, so hammering down is the only option.


The red line is the spot I hammered fairly flat. I welded the high spot and then used a dulled chisel to make the shape. As the contour was getting close, I added tacks until it was right. So beat as needed, tack, beat some more, tack, etc.
This pic was taken just before I welded up the Y area on the left and the top of the curve on the right. It only took a couple more taps the get the deep part of the V right and then it got tacked up too.

[SCOTI]

Nice work overcoming the poor 'starting point' of a panel. These things matter when it's done.

[clay68c10]

Thanks. It was a lot of work. My bodywork buddy Dave led me thru it. I really wasn’t sure what to do.
One other thing he told me was how to not damage the door skin. Cut off the bent over flange. Do not try to un-flange it. Come in straight at it with a cut off wheel. Then it just gets welded back on after.

[clay68c10]

Here’s another area I had to use the beat down technique.
I hammered down the circled area and welded it to the door skin flange. Then I used the dull chisel to push the corner down (arrows) to the line where the new corner would end up. The old corner straightened out as I put pressure in the new corner. I tacked along the vertical seam on the left as the metal got parallel.
The drilled hole is so I can rosette weld to mimic the spot weld that ties into the door reinforcement.
I had to do a similar corner method on the hinge side. It’s like the patch isn’t tall enough on the bottom but it is towards the hinge. That part needed the corner to be pushed in to sharpen it. I also tacked it at the skin side and filled in tacks as it shaped up.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Excellent work sir! I was having the same problems with my panels. Keep up the great work!

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

Thanks. It was a lot of work. My bodywork buddy Dave led me thru it. I really wasn’t sure what to do.
One other thing he told me was how to not damage the door skin. Cut off the bent over flange. Do not try to un-flange it. Come in straight at it with a cut off wheel. Then it just gets welded back on after.

I actually wondered about that.

[clay68c10]

Thanks fellas. I figured this info might help someone else who doesn’t have anyone to ask.
It was nice having Dave’s advice. This was very different from my cab repairs.

[clay68c10]

Happy New Years!
Time for some cam bearings (actually did this last week)
These are really pretty easy to install. The window for indexing the oil passage is pretty big.
The passage is drilled along the side of the bearing bore. Like the vertical part of the letter P.
I used the Summit install tool. I would definitely recommend it. It’s less than a lot of shops charge to do the job.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-900131

You can double check the install by shining light thru the oil gallery from the main side and viewing the bearing side and also shining light thru the cam bearing oil hole and viewing it from the main side.

[bertvert72]

I love your build . Wish I could have built with my father. Something your kids will always remember. I bought my truck when I was fifteen. Had a friend give me a model of a 72 c10 and fell in love with the body lines when I was 12 . And told myself I was going to have one. It was my first car. And I still have it . I'm 53 now. My daughter has already claimed it. First picture I'm 15 when I bought it. And the other one is after I found a short wheel base frame and changed it. Still a work in progress. Love these trucks.

[Chevys4life]

Great work and thanks for sharing your welding tricks.

[clay68c10]

Originally Posted by bertvert72

I love your build . Wish I could have built with my father. Something your kids will always remember. I bought my truck when I was fifteen. Had a friend give me a model of a 72 c10 and fell in love with the body lines when I was 12 . And told myself I was going to have one. It was my first car. And I still have it . I'm 53 now. My daughter has already claimed it. First picture I'm 15 when I bought it. And the other one is after I found a short wheel base frame and changed it. Still a work in progress. Love these trucks.

I remember your build thread from a while back. Nice work.
I definitely envy your starting point.

Originally Posted by Chevys4life

Great work and thanks for sharing your welding tricks.

Thanks. Lots of those things aren’t intuitive, and I’m happy to pass on the knowledge I’ve obtained from others and figured out myself.

[clay68c10]

Meanwhile, back at the house…
Time to figure out the fuel filler plumbing. Which requires reassembly of the bed for the first time in a few years.
Again, motivational to see this partly assembled.
Hopefully the ride height comes down some more with all the parts back on. We shall see.

[clay68c10]

There’s a fair distance between the tank neck and the filler. Also there’s 2 crossmembers thru that area since it’s a cut down long bed floor.
Initially I planned on an S shape with 2 tubing 90s. The more i thought about it, a straight shot seemed like the best way to go. Having a slow fill isn’t fun and the S might give me a backup.
I ordered an assortment of hose and tubing from that big online place named after a big river in Brazil. I would have liked to go with the fuel neck site, but they didn’t have much in stock. Also the other place has easy returns. I knew I would need to send something back as I got it figured out.

[clay68c10]

The tank neck is 1.75” and the filler is 1.5”. I decided to run thru the crossmember with 1.5” for a smaller hole.
There was a 1.75” elbow that fit well and got me pointed in the right direction to the filler. It’s about 30deg.
The part is Spectra Premium FNH006 Fuel Tank Filler Neck Hose. It’s for a GM application, but don’t remember which.
From there it took a reducer, a section of straight hose, a section of straight tube, and a 90deg to get there.

[clay68c10]

I cut out a big section of the extra crossmember and offset cut a couple of windows thru the keeper crossmember to run the line. This was all done with the bedside off since it gave much greater access, especially tucked into the corner of the garage. I’ll smooth the edges after the floor is removed again. No sense doing that on my back if I don’t have to.
Here’s some pics of the final product.

[clay68c10]

The next step will be to add the vent line. I have some ideas but need to lift the bed and measure the vent tube on the sender. Yeah, I should have done that before the floor went on…..

[raggedjim]

Nice job documenting your work. I like the way you solve problems. Being able to move heavy things by myself is a must for me!

Good luck, Rg

[clay68c10]

So, the vent is 5/8

[clay68c10]

The instructions for the Tremec TKO state that you need to check the bell housing centering with a dial indicator. The spec is .005” max. There’s a couple of videos out there on how to do it. It’s not too hard to do.

My biggest surprise was how much the torque specs and pan alignment DO matter, significantly.

Also, clean the mating surfaces and the dowels with a wire brush. Add some grease or antisieze to the dowels. It’s clean enough if you can put the bell housing on and off with ease, and it goes flush to the block with minimal hand pressure.

The first time I measured, I just hand tightened the bell housing down and didn’t install the pan. My measurements were .005” out.
Next I eyeballed the pan alignment, hand tightened it, added the 2 bell to pan bolts and tried again. .009”!!!

FYI: The GM manual says to align the pan by using a straight edge on the rear of the block. I figured the bell housing would be a great straight edge.

Then I loosened the pan and bell housing, and lightly snugged the bell housing bolts. Then I lightly clamped the bell and pan together at the 2 bolt holes to align the pan. Then torqued the bell, and then torqued the clamped pan (center out like a Cyl head). Then I added the 2 bell to pan bolts and torqued them.
Now the measurement was .001”
Torques and procedures matter!