Boppa's old yeller truck

[Low Elco]

Thanks Vic, I had 2 buddies call me about the CC article on the same day. It's all academic, we pulled the driveshaft and left the motor off and pulled it up to 65 on a strap, still vibrated. We bought an ECE adj. track bar, but we're within 1/16" side/side post lowering, so I dunno. Shocks are literally the last thing on the back of the truck to replace, so I'll improve the angle of the dangle and try that. Thanks guys!

[Low Elco]

Hey Vic, New page! Hey Vic! Didn't see! Hey Vic! Double Post!

[Vic1947]

Hey, if it's worth saying, it's worth saying twice ...twice. BTW, I failed to mention the truck looks absolutely great after all your work. Wouldn't change a thing if it were me. I like 'em lowered just to the point of being unusable.

[Low Elco]

Man after my own heart! I have a reputation for "beer can" trucks. If you take a Bud Light can and lay it on its side, if the crossmember just touches it, that's about right.

[Vic1947]

Me too! I know this is just supposed to be for '67-'72 trucks, but maybe no one will mind if I sneak in of a couple of past projects. The one with graphics was a 4/6 drop, the one with grey stripes was a 3/4 drop. Nothing like the amazing "below ground" drops you see these days on the forum, but representative of what you saw in the late '80's to early '90's. Both were daily drivers.

[Low Elco]

Man, that's tight! Especially the second one. Ill have to try to put some of mine up.

[kingsolver72]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

jus shakin the bush over here, boss!

I was doing some catch up reading on Old Yeller.
I think ole Luke here has some rabbit in him.

Vic those are some clean trucks!
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[litew8]

Don't make me come down there and fix it

[Low Elco]

Got the tube as per the relocate thread picked up today (thanks Stacy!). Did house stuff and hung out with The Kid tonight. Maybe later this week I'll get off my dead butt and fab 'em up.
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[jlsanborn]

Same here man. Didn't do jack on Sunday. Sitting at the bar watching the worst game of the season tonight. I did get that eBay bell housing today tho!
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[Low Elco]

Ha, neither did I. I think it was national take a day off from the shop day! Congrats on the BH! Time to make that Muncie pay!

[boynton]

looking forward to your vibration issue resolution. Mine has a little noise, but not terrible. My dad (older wiser and more experienced than I) thinks my problem is in the rear-end. We shall see. Since you have already swapped yours, I'll wait to see what your solution is and start there...

Nice build BTW. I did not do my own paint work, so major props there!!!

[bigguy69]

I was reading that some of those greaseable u joints give trouble. It was better to get non-greaseable kind. Said that could cause vibration. I hope you get it figured out soon!
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[nlped]

To completely change the subject...Is the fuel gauge working properly with the Blazer/Jeep tank mod?

Truck looks amazing btw!

[sduckworth13]

Take it to Yancy, I hear that guy is amazing.

[Xeen]

This might seem silly but pull your rear drums and take them down and put them on a high resolution wheel ballancing machine and see if they really are ballanced.

[Low Elco]

Ok sooo... it's been a little quiet, but I haven't gone away. Quite the opposite in fact, it's a bit of a saga. Grab a beverage and get all comfy. When we last saw our intrepid crew, we had lowered the truck and were in prep to do the shock relo.

Well, we did that, and lowered the truck another half inch in the rear while I was at it. Found that the drawing in the above link doesn't have an OAL, but 8" seems to be ok. The 60-66 holes are in a different spot, use your particular old bracket to set your hole spacing. Not a deal breaker, but you should know. It REALLY stands the shocks up, and the recommended shock from the link fits right up. Found that we did actually have a bad rear shock in the process, no push-out. Also installed the ECE adjustable track bar, although we really didn't seem to need it. Truck rides much better, but it didn't fix the vibe. (Hah! Like you thought it would.) Ok, the work in the rear did make it much better, though, but not gone. So, I ordered up the shocks from the thread for the front and installed them, taking a LONG look at the front end in the process. All seems well, even after the long bar trick, but I found some sketchy looking bushings in the passenger lower a-arm, so that's later this week. Seemed to help some, but yes, it still vibes, but a bit better. Instead of your whole body, it's just your lower legs, and not as bad, and you can feel it in the wheel some now.

So, at this point, I'm tired of lying under this truck on a cold floor. Truck has been INHALING gas, and I found a vacuum leak on the intake. Come to find out, the choke tube on an edelbrock intake is NOT machined on the mating surface, just drilled and tapped. And the hi-temp gasket under it was FRIED. So, big 'ol turbo leak all this time. Plus, there's a sandwich between the carb and manifold and the BTO cable mount plate. Come to find out, only about a 1/16" of engagement between the gasket and manifold surface. Probably easily sucked in, huh? SOOOO..... Got out the 2 new gaskets and the Ultra copper RTV. Slathered up the choke tube and gasket, and kinda smeared up the edges of the stack under the carb and made sure the bottom one was stuck down good. Reset everything, and tightened up the TV cable to the trans a bit for a harder shift.

HOLY SCHNIKIES! I got my money's worth! (Finally! Something! Anything!) Idles a bunch better, and damn, does this thing run now! It really needs a posi, a crack of the throttle in the first 2 gears just lights up the one wheel peel. Gets to 90-ish in a big hurry.

So, the Kid and I went for a ride to get dinner, and every time I hit the brakes, we hear a BANG like someone hit the bottom of the cab with a hammer. So yesterday, I jacked it up and had Neighbor Jay brake it while I watched. We now have a leak in the Driver's axle seal. Yes, in the axle we just installed. I have the axle seals and bushings in hand, and will have to pull the front A-arms this week and get them to the machine shop. I know, but for $40, I'm not screwing with it. Also, lower bushings- $7.99 house brand, $32.99 Moog. Per side! Bought the house brand, the first ones lasted 40 years.

On the personal note, Boppa got to do another Angioplasty on the 27th, all went well. We got another rescue dog, a puppy this time, a lab mix mutt. We're off to New Years hockey in 3" of snow tonight, we get to sit on the bench during practice and skate with the team after, so the wife's stoked.

This brings this deal to a full year since we started in earnest, and I wanted to say thanks to everyone that's offered help and support and advice and compliments through this deal. Hope I can be as much help to all of you with yours. Hope everyone (including me) gets their stuff on the road this coming year and it's all you hoped it'd be! You bet your azz there's pics!-

New Vs. Old-


Yep, the holes are a bit off.


Dead shock- this one had been compressed about 20 min. Nada.


New Stance


Chevy Lean seems to have settled itself out.

[Low Elco]

A couple more pics-

The obligatory Quiktrip shot-I like the stance!


I had no idea what to do for Boppa for Christmas, but I was inspired by HGS-Notes, so I remembered that Boppa's Mailbox that I custom flamed for him got baseball batted by some idiot kid a couple years ago, so he needed a fresh one. And I still had all the emblems we shaved off Yeller, and the basecoat that was left. So, I tarted him up a new one. He liked it!


Also, I refuse to be outdone by Bomp, JS, and Murph, so heere's my own Dumb Video! Mom was gone to the store, so we got to crank it up and have fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=T5rhlxSDCGg

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by nlped

To completely change the subject...Is the fuel gauge working properly with the Blazer/Jeep tank mod?

Truck looks amazing btw!

Yep, had to seriously rework the arm though.

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by bigguy69

I was reading that some of those greaseable u joints give trouble. It was better to get non-greaseable kind. Said that could cause vibration. I hope you get it figured out soon!
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I've had 'em both ways and not had trouble. We've isolated past that, but I've probably marginally messed that up with the lowering.

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

Take it to Yancy, I hear that guy is amazing.

He's pretty good, I've known about him from clear back in the day. I looked at the Torino he used to street race just before he did for our first cars. I wound up with a Cutlass. We've been to 2 street rod shops and a trans shop.

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by Xeen

This might seem silly but pull your rear drums and take them down and put them on a high resolution wheel ballancing machine and see if they really are ballanced.

You know, I had that thought, but I got good drums in the deal with the new rear and had them turned, so different drums too. Still the same, and at the same speed. I'm thinking there's some thing to the A-arm bushings.

[Low Elco]

Hey, 1,000 posts!

[Vic1947]

Mailbox looks great, Chip ...and the truck ain't half bad either! Too bad the shocks didn't completely cure the vibe but hey, some improvement is better than none. Time to lunge for the next straw. Happy New Year to you and the family. Glad to hear Boppa's tuneup went well.

[jlsanborn]

I knew it wouldn't be too long before this thread was hot again

Truck looks great man! This is a good-ol shake down and once you've gotten it buttoned it's going to be as good as ANY Chevrolet you see cruising to the hockey game. Only makes sense to look up front at this point. I suppose its encouraging to find a jiggle up there. You're almost full circle now!

Appreciate the video! You're a pro with the credits and all that jazz like Bomp! I made a couple on my phone but couldn't gettem up to the Tube like usual??? Got Wifey a new camera for xmas so I'll try that.

LOVE the mailbox!!! You turned "can't think of nuthin" into "PERFECT gift" man!