TA_C10: Stage 1

[MDPotter]

Beautiful work man. I'll be happy if mine comes out half that nice.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Looks real nice man! Good work

[SCOTI]

Only suggestion I would add to your job well done is when building the exhaust mounts for a SS system, I would try to keep the F-to-R (length of the system) tubing moveable vs. having it fixed.

I built my mounts/hangers so that the exhaust has the ability to stretch in length because it can/will @ it's hottest locations. I hard mount hanger brackets to the frame & let the exhaust support bushings float @ the pipe so that there's no pressure on items that can't float. Your set-up where the exhaust routes through the x-member looks like they're fixed to the structure:

[SCOTI]

This is how I set-up mine so the exhaust tubing can move fore/aft as it grows w/the heat:

In the 1st pic, the white line is the hard-mounted hanger bracket attached to the frame. There is a SS bolt that attaches to it w/the head cut off so it's just a stud (red line). The isolation bushing is attached to the exhaust tubing. As the exhaust grows/stretches in length, that bushing can move on the stud as needed.

The 2nd pic is similar in function but reversed for the need. The isolation bushing is bolted to the x-member & the tubing support hanger welded to the exhaust goes through it & has the ability to move fore/aft.

It prob isn't a big deal, but it can put stress on thinner/weak areas of the remainder of the system & cause stress/flex cracking. Something to keep an eye on & to consider on your next build.

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

This is how I set-up mine so the exhaust tubing can move fore/aft as it grows w/the heat:

In the 1st pic, the white line is the hard-mounted hanger bracket attached to the frame. There is a SS bolt that attaches to it w/the head cut off so it's just a stud (red line). The isolation bushing is attached to the exhaust tubing. As the exhaust grows/stretches in length, that bushing can move on the stud as needed.

The 2nd pic is similar in function but reversed for the need. The isolation bushing is bolted to the x-member & the tubing support hanger welded to the exhaust goes through it & has the ability to move fore/aft.

It prob isn't a big deal, but it can put stress on thinner/weak areas of the remainder of the system & cause stress/flex cracking. Something to keep an eye on & to consider on your next build.

Thanks Scoti that makes perfect sense. Those static hangers have rubber bushings but no real movement. I got the idea from gringoloco so maybe I should pass that back to him as well....

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Thanks Scoti that makes perfect sense. Those static hangers have rubber bushings but no real movement. I got the idea from gringoloco so maybe I should pass that back to him as well....

It's quite possible the rubber will allow enough movement if it were to happen.

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

It's quite possible the rubber will allow enough movement if it were to happen.

Here are those hangars your looking at. Maybe I will back off the bolt a little bit to make sure they aren't sandwiched too much so they have more movement. They have lock nuts on them.

[siggyfreud]

Aren't you also using flex pipe somewhere in the system? Not sure if that's this build or another, but that flex will allow a little push/pull too if you are.

[Scurry67]

Man I'm really impressed you're doing your own exhaust. It looks like quite the undertaking. Looking really good though! After going through all that, would you do it again or take it to a shop?

Looking forward to more pics!

[TA_C10]

Thanks guys. I love the constructive criticism for sure, helps me strive a little harder the next thing I do. And appreciate the kind words. Yep I would totally do another exhaust because now I would do it different and faster. It took my first try to figure it out

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Thanks guys. I love the constructive criticism for sure, helps me strive a little harder the next thing I do. And appreciate the kind words. Yep I would totally do another exhaust because now I would do it different and faster. It took my first try to figure it out

This is Hot Rodding 101. Learn by doing. Yes, you can't do it w/everything because of budget related concerns but some costs are getting outrageous for the return.

A buddy got a true dual exhaust from the 2" manifolds to 2.5" exhaust pipe. They used a 2.25 cut of tube & welded it to the 2" tube. Then, they topped that w/another piece of 2.5" tubing. It looked like a christmas tree of tubing & weld. Tubing, mufflers, tips out to the bumper was almost $450 😳 .

I did his full SS exhaust for less than $400. No christmas trees included & it polished out beautifully.

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

This is Hot Rodding 101. Learn by doing. Yes, you can't do it w/everything because of budget related concerns but some costs are getting outrageous for the return.

A buddy got a true dual exhaust from the 2" manifolds to 2.5" exhaust pipe. They used a 2.25 cut of tube & welded it to the 2" tube. Then, they topped that w/another piece of 2.5" tubing. It looked like a christmas tree of tubing & weld. Tubing, mufflers, tips out to the bumper was almost $450 �� .

I did his full SS exhaust for less than $400. No christmas trees included & it polished out beautifully.

I hear that SCOTI!! I'm driving a little yota tacoma 96 till my 70 is finished. A/C went out. Tired of working on it so put it to the shop, first call was $340 for lower line replace. Second call after got it all back together was an additional $470 for condenser leaking. I said you can kiss my @$$. I could have done this whole job myself for $250 and that includes vacuum and refill system with oil/r-134a.... Guy should have found all the leaks before they tried to charge me more labor for a second day of work when he could have condensed it all into one job... So looks like I will be replacing a condenser and expansion valve soon. ON ANOTHER TRUCK THAT ISN'T MY C10..... My wife is now numb to all this.... I basically have a second job without a second paycheck lol.

[TA_C10]

So i replaced my old core support with a new one. This weekend I cut the old one up to put in trash. And inside the box rail at bottom, I don't know how this even got in there but it's been there for some years, I found this old wrench peeking out at me I may frame this sucker along with a couple other finds and hang it in the shop when I finally get that project underway...

[SCOTI]

But the 10mm socket wasn't in there?

[dec010974]

Awesome

[cornerstone]

What?! A solid week and NO UPDATES?!!!

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

What?! A solid week and NO UPDATES?!!!

I'm still motived, no worries in that department. It's just that body work takes forever..... I'm about to paint this cab and drop it on the frame so stay tuned.

[MDPotter]

It looks like most or all of your pictures aren't showing up again! I was going to examine your exhaust pictures closely as I'm nearing that phase.

[TA_C10]

That's not good, I see something had failed on my Google pics which means I would have to individually go back and fix every picture.... This is not cool.

[TA_C10]

Wow guys, I don't know what to do. My whole thread is broken. Every picture I posted is now an invalid link. I don't know how this happened but it will be almost impossible for me to go back and figure out what pics went where. A years worth is too much for me to remember. I am at a loss....

.

[sprint_9]

They are working for me today. In the future I would attach directly to your post, I got hosed over by photobucket in mine.

No I guess just this page is working I went back to page 14 and no go, that sucks.

[TA_C10]

Yeah I am going back and fixing them one at a time. I can't let it die. Going to do my best I guess.

[SCOTI]

I save my pics to my computer & just let the site host them vs some pic sharing site. Might be more involved but my pics are always here.

[cornerstone]

Have you made any more progress?

[TA_C10]

Update - The cab is painted.

Yeah cornerstone, i'm making progress. I haven't posted because I don't know what to do about my thread. I went back trying to fix all my pics but they keep breaking. If I have to upload all the pics for the past year that will be insane.... I am at a loss man.....

But here is my progress. Hopefully these pics will stay long enough for you to see them...


So a while back I had epoxy primed the cab. Then I shot 3 coats of high build primer. I had already sanded and painted the firewall and inside of cab the final color but turned out my regulater was way off so air pressure was too high and the paint was basically dry before it hit the cab.

So I bought a new digital regulator for the gun and it worked great. Set it for 16psi and went to town. I block sanded the whole cab. Then I fixed more dents I found with some filler. Then I shot epoxy over the bare metal spots i sanded. Then 3 more layers of high build. Sanded again. All was good so I reduced my black high build primer and shot 1 coat as my sealer. Then I shot my single stage metallic and I am officially done painting cab. This paint was so easy to shoot after I got the air pressure right. And I love it!

Hot Rod Flatz - TCP Global - Gun Metal Gray - Metallic












Here I am spraying 1 coat of epoxy to cover any bare metal i sanded down to.





High build primer here.






I bought a second gallon of HRF paint, so I needed to mix the 2 gallons together to make sure the color is consistent throughout the entire truck. I used a 2 gallon bucket to mix, then I proportioned 3 separate cups for my 3 coats of color, then poured the rest back into the original 1 gallon cans for storing for rest of truck later.











And here it is all painted