TA_C10: Stage 1

[MDPotter]

I have the same plug in the back of my intake manifold, I was wondering what that was. I'm just leaving mine plugged since I have hydroboost.

It's exciting to see our interiors coming together!

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by Scurry67

Man you're getting some stuff done! You'll be on the road before you know it. How'd the sandblasting go? Nice work!

Sandblaster drops off everything today. We had a cold spell come through so I am probably going to wait till Saturday to epoxy everything. But if the weather cooperates I might do it tomorrow.

Originally Posted by MDPotter

I have the same plug in the back of my intake manifold, I was wondering what that was. I'm just leaving mine plugged since I have hydroboost.

It's exciting to see our interiors coming together!

For sure, and it's cool to have so many guys at the same stage so you can see what each other is running into.

[TA_C10]

Just found out it appears the steering coupler on the rag joint is a different diameter depending on power steering gear vs manual steering gear..... I had a manual steering gear before. Now that I went power, the coupler doesn't seem to fit.... Rebuilt that for nothing...

[SCOTI]

Just do the Jeep XJ shaft swap/upgrade.

[siggyfreud]

Damn man you're in a roll lately! Coming together nicely! Did you get your new harness in yet? Interested to see what the bulk head connector looks like.

[TA_C10]

Scoti thanks, I will look into that upgrade. Siggy thanks man, I am sending back the deluxe universal I got and getting the full classic update harness. Brothers is hooking me up with this. Shipping it off tomorrow.

Blaster brought back everything tonight, it all looks great, hardly any body filler found on everything. Bed, doors, fenders, etc. So tomorrow I'm going to be painting everything with epoxy. Big day. Then over the weekend I'm going to try and get some body work done filling holes in doors and minor dent repair on fenders. I might have time to sand my hood and epoxy that too. It's been sitting bare metal now for six months or longer. I sprayed it with that dry coat stuff and it really did a great job keeping it from rusting.

[MDPotter]

You can always count on your truck to surprise you. But that's good to know on the steering since I had manual gear before.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Scoti thanks, I will look into that upgrade. Siggy thanks man, I am sending back the deluxe universal I got and getting the full classic update harness. Brothers is hooking me up with this. Shipping it off tomorrow.

Blaster brought back everything tonight, it all looks great, hardly any body filler found on everything. Bed, doors, fenders, etc. So tomorrow I'm going to be painting everything with epoxy. Big day. Then over the weekend I'm going to try and get some body work done filling holes in doors and minor dent repair on fenders. I might have time to sand my hood and epoxy that too. It's been sitting bare metal now for six months or longer. I sprayed it with that dry coat stuff and it really did a great job keeping it from rusting.

If you haven't already seen this....
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=505196

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

You can always count on your truck to surprise you. But that's good to know on the steering since I had manual gear before.

That's the truth....

Originally Posted by SCOTI

If you haven't already seen this....
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=505196

This is a great write-up / information Scoti, thanks for this. I may do this in the future. I ordered the proper rag joint for power steering gear. It was less than $50 so it should just bolt right in. But I like the idea of the upgrade so if this rag joint is less than desirable over time I will use this.

[TA_C10]

I had to build some racks to hang parts for paint today. Hoping to get all the parts in epoxy tomorrow. Bed, grill, fenders, cowl, hood, hood hinges, rear wheel tubs, rear fender splash guards, and the LS alternator and power steering bracket.

[1971Stepside]

It's amazing how much work goes into being able to do the work sometimes. I'm hoping to epoxy my bed on Monday evening.

[cornerstone]

Excellent idea for temporary racks!

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by 1971Stepside

It's amazing how much work goes into being able to do the work sometimes. I'm hoping to epoxy my bed on Monday evening.

Isn't that the truth... I took Friday off work so all day Friday I built the racks, then I hung as many parts as they would hold, and only got around to cleaning them before I had to turn around and put everything back in the garage for Saturday. I spend most of my time unpacking, cleaning up, and repacking the garage...

Did you take your bed apart? Can't remember. My bed ended up being in pretty dang good shape rust wise. Very little pitting.

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Excellent idea for temporary racks!

Thanks man, I just threw these together on a whim. Two 16ft two by's, four 8 footers, and a spool of 12awg wire. Cost like $25 in wood and the wire was $12 ish I think. I already had the 2.5" drywall screws so I only spent I wanted a short rack but should have just made 2 talls. The short rack I cut the 8ft down to 6ft. When I hung the big long bed sides only 1 for per rack so the short rack hung a little low so it was kinda difficult to get the paint gun underneath. But I made it.


Today is day three, still not done. I have the bed rails and doors left to spray. Glad I took Friday off jeez.... I'm hurtin boys, I'm living on Advil today and probably next two days...

[TA_C10]

Well everything has epoxy now... Been a long 3 days. A couple of parts even got a little color

Pics for your viewing pleasure.

[MDPotter]

Nice work on those stands. I remember how sore I was after my big day of painting haha.

[1971Stepside]

Did you take your bed apart? Can't remember.

I did. Took it to the booth yesterday. Hope to be able to shoot primer tonight.

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

Nice work on those stands. I remember how sore I was after my big day of painting haha.

Thanks man, and yeah, still a little sore but it's worth it.

Originally Posted by 1971Stepside

I did. Took it to the booth yesterday. Hope to be able to shoot primer tonight.

It's crazy to see how bad my cab was, but the bed in such good shape. I got to looking at my front fenders though, and the top of them have small holes and the seam where they come together inside top looks pretty eaten up. Not bad enough for average eye to notice from outside but if I go cutting and patching, they are probably gonna be tough to weld and need major work... I really don't want to buy new fenders, I hear nightmares about them not fitting...

.

[TA_C10]

Update - Steering Shaft / Rag Joint Complete

Got the steering shaft installed. New rag joint came in. The new rag joint was a larger diameter as you can see in the photos below. It still took some manipulating however, had to use a little persuasion to get it started then it slid right on. I lined up the section in the joint that was smoothed(no teeth) with the flat end on the steering gear shaft.

Then of coarse after I got the shaft installed, I noticed I forgot the retaining collar for the top part of shaft, so i had to take it back off again and beat the shaft off the steering column with a big rubber mallet...

Then I finished the shaft and slid the steering column back down where it needed to be and noticed it got scratched/chipped by the firewall collar rubbing on it while i was doing all this work... Whatever. Easy fix but dang it.....


Old joint



New joint

[cornerstone]

Killer progress man.

[MDPotter]

Where did you get that shift indicator? That will match my 4L80E perfect.

I just ordered a new rag joint and my rebuilt van conversion column is on order and I'm hoping it all goes together.

[TA_C10]

70shortfleet built the column for me. I asked for the indicator. It's also been shorten 2" for my height, tilt, and he shipped with cruise control turn signal. He does great work.

[TA_C10]

Update - Brakes

This thing can now stop on it's own! I fought leaks for 2 days. But it was all my fault really. But there was a union that was ruined because of the line flare, it wasn't even so when it made it's impression inside the union it was angled and didn't seal.

I had to re-bend both of the SS lines going from frame to prop valve. Actually wasn't as bad as I though. They aren't perfect but they will do. I was able to straighten the lines completely and then start over using a large socket to make my pigtail coils.

Check out post 395 to see the before pics of the SS brake lines before I re-bent them.





I ended up cutting the flares off both sides of this union. I got a compression union from local hardware store to replace. It sealed perfectly and I think the compression union was a better choice anyways.





This guy, the crush washers that came with the kit didn't have thick enough washers. Only one thick washer... So the passenger side sealed just fine. The driver side ended up leaking like crazy so I doubled up the washers on the caliper side. Sealing just find now. I don't think your supposed to double them up but it's all I had.

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

70shortfleet built the column for me. I asked for the indicator. It's also been shorten 2" for my height, tilt, and he shipped with cruise control turn signal. He does great work.

He's doing mine as well. I'll ask him if we can do the same indicator.

[MDPotter]

I remember having the same issues on my dad's stainless lines. Almost every fitting had a leak, but eventually we got them sealed up by loosening, tightening, loosening, tightening, and tightening more than we thought necessary. We had the most trouble with the banjo bolts but eventually got them to seal up. I'm nervous about a couple of my flares that I made on mine. I guess we'll see what happens.

Stainless looks a lot nicer than mild steel!

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

I remember having the same issues on my dad's stainless lines. Almost every fitting had a leak, but eventually we got them sealed up by loosening, tightening, loosening, tightening, and tightening more than we thought necessary. We had the most trouble with the banjo bolts but eventually got them to seal up. I'm nervous about a couple of my flares that I made on mine. I guess we'll see what happens.

Stainless looks a lot nicer than mild steel!

Yeah I agree the SS is nice. So if you have flare issues, I highly recommend the compression style fittings instead, they work so much easier and to me the seal better. They are just a one time use kind of thing is the issue I guess but really, you could just buy the little compression sleeves if you ever needed to break them open in the future, get them on amazon super cheap.

I fought like 5 different leaks in the system. Felt like SS was the wrong way to go at that point but then I found out I just didn't tighten 3 of them. Then the one union that I had to replace, it wasn't bad after I thought about the compression sleeves. And the caliper banjo crush washers were an easy fix too, just had to go to store to get correct stuff.

I bought a $30 pneumatic brake bleeder kit from HF that is really cool. Bottle sits on MC, open the valve, it keeps the fluid full for you. Then you go to each wheel like normal and the air hose creates vacuum and pulls the fluid and air out for you pretty quick. I like it

EDIT: I forgot to mention also that I just dropped off my tailgate, one of the front fenders, and drivers bed side for metal repairs. Fender has rust holes and few other small things to fix, bed side has a big dent/crease from the bumper hitting it at some point in its life, and the tailgate needs a new outer skin, it wasn't worth fixing. I am running out of time and need help so I decided to let a local guy fix these for me. I still have some work to do on the other pieces but this is the big stuff and he can do a better job while I put the rest of truck together.

.