My Rotten 65

[Psycho75]

"Looking Real GOOD!!!! It's nice to see your son helping you, a little garage time go's a long way. "

I agree even if I didn't think so when I was his age.

"Wow man sweet start. Looking real good"
"Nice job, looks good and steering wheel is killer. "

Thanks guys I appreciate it.

"Nice build and welcome to the forum.
You do nice work and like the steering wheel.
I just finished my trans tunnel.
Subscribed. "

Thanks also and yeah I saw that wheel and had to have it I tend to drift towards the industrial theme. With any luck I will get all the metal work done someday then "Bare Metal" the whole exterior minus grill bumpers and trim.

[chevyrestoguy]

Thanks for the kind words. I have yet to hook up my ebrake yet. My truck was originally equipped with an SM420, and as you know, the e-brake set-up is a completely different animal. I'm going to have to put on my thinking cap and figure out how to make it all work. Somewhere in the cable system, I'm going to have to put an interface where the cable from the handle connects to the left and right brake cables. On the factory automatic trans equipped trucks, this interface is part of the trans crossmember. I built my trans crossmember using a modified 1970 Camaro TH350 crossmember, so I have no provisions at all for an e-brake interface. My rear end came out of a 1979 Suburban, and the factory e-brake cables are too short to make it to the trans crossmember. I'm going to have to find either a longer primary cable and move the pivot back to where the stock 1979 cables will work, or try to find longer rear cables and leave the pivot adjacent to the trans crossmember. Or....I could get an aftermarket set-up that has the brake rotor and tiny caliper that connects to the yoke of the rear end and just have a really long cable that uses the stock handle.

Decisions, decisions....

[Low Elco]

'71 style setup? '71 cables down the trailing arms, and a crossover cable to the main? Can you adapt a '71 style kick pedal to activate it?

[Low Elco]

Sorry, jumped in on pg. 2! I like the truck too! Nice work!

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

'71 style setup? '71 cables down the trailing arms, and a crossover cable to the main? Can you adapt a '71 style kick pedal to activate it?

I like that idea.....
I would like to use the '71 style set-up and still use the factory 60-66 handle. I have always thought that the 60-66 handle looked funky, but I think if I used the 67-72 style ebrake pedal, I would lose the fresh air vent on the driver's side(?).

[forestb]

where did you get this

[Psycho75]

Originally Posted by forestb

where did you get this

I got it at a local speed shop. But they sell them at Summit about $80. Its a 3/4in. by 3/4in. non splined ujoint. I drilled both threw the joint and the shaft then used lock tite on the threads.

Low Elco Re: My Rotten 65

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry, jumped in on pg. 2! I like the truck too! Nice work!

Low Elco Re: My Rotten 65

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'71 style setup? '71 cables down the trailing arms, and a crossover cable to the main? Can you adapt a '71 style kick pedal to activate it?

I thought about that too but we will have to see. I may remove it for now since I am running an auto and usually park on the street out front I shouldn't need it soon. The problem is finding a donor for the 67-72 style. I may not even worry about it for about a year until I get ready to convert to discs all the way around. Jut wanted to ask what kind of solutions people using an after market cross member are using or if I have to fab something.

As far as the ebrake handle, I kind of dig it. Its well one of those quirky things that I hadn't seen in a vehicle before. I have a stomp pedal on my 96. I saw once a guy converted his ebrake handle to be his auto trans shifter.

[Psycho75]

ok, so today I decided I needed to build a new battery tray. The stock one would have been functional as it only had a little rust but I didn't like the fact that there was no battery hold down and the battery is pretty exposed to moisture. I bought a $10 Napa poly battery box that had a strap down lid. So after I measured out the bottom of the battery box I started cutting some of the 1/8in plate I have laying around for fab projects.



Then I got out the plasma, haven't been able to play with this because my welding table has been covered in truck parts.



Used a piece of square tubing with some flat stock welded to the bottom, drilled for the inner fender mount and started welding








I should have spent a little more time dialing in the welder but I was running out of time for the day and ended up rushing a bit. Its a little rough but it will hold.

[Psycho75]

Tomorrow I will try to prime, paint and mount the battery and hook up the terminals.

[TJ's Chevy]

Very nice! Please post a video of it running when you are done! Thanks for sharing and keep us posted.

[Psycho75]

Ok here are the pics of the painted and installed box.


and with the box installed

[Psycho75]

I put all of the fluids in it decided I would get my throttle sorted out.



I also got my overflow tank installed.



Here are my headlight relays mounted on the core support behind the tank

[Psycho75]

Ok now that concludes the progress portion of todays posting, now on to the CON-GRESS portion I guess. After hooking all of my electrical up I got in to turn the key to the on position and I got nothing. I tried turning on the dome light (headlights not installed yet) and nothing. I disconnected the battery for fear that I may have shorted it somehow. Now even though I work with electronics everyday I have to say the wiring for this truck gave me the most trouble. I did lots of searching on this site and others what I had to do to the trucks wiring. That being said I would love to have input from the guys that know.

Ok to start the truck had been converted to HEI before I got it.


Sadly this is the best pic I have of the hook up as I was too excited to be tearing it down.



Here is one of the wiring coming out of the passenger side of the firewall along with

[Psycho75]

So I guess what I am looking for is information maybe even modified wiring diagrams from others who have both converted to HEI and are running a CS style alternator (converted due to the 90-94 serpentine system). Any and all inputs and links are appreciated. I had to take a break to get ready for work tonight so any help you guys can give would be awesome.

[Psycho75]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

Very nice! Please post a video of it running when you are done! Thanks for sharing and keep us posted.

Will do man once I get there

[19666Trucker]

http://www.2heeldrive.com/Chevrolet/...index.html.old
i used this i know it for 67 but i found the color where the same in my 66 c20

[Psycho75]

Thanks man its a slow night at work SO I will definitely have time to check it out, appreciate it.

[Psycho75]

Started working on the exhaust system. I am running 2.5in. tubing out both headers. I haven't decided if I am going to run an H-pipe or not because I still want to hook up my e-brake. Also I found out that with a training arm rear suspension there isn't a lot of room to go through the cross member. I think I am going to run the exhaust on the outside of the frame rails for convenience atm. Plus the since the headers already dump out lower than the frame rails I see no point in trying to tuck the exhaust back up. Pictures to come once its complete.

Also had to rebuild the high pressure PS line as the core wasn't fully seated in the ferrule and was leaking PS fluid all over the front suspension.

[Psycho75]

Well I guess its time for some updates, as much as I wanted to fire it up right away, friends encouraged me to finish the exhaust first or it was going to be a loud 15-20 minutes for the cam break in. Which I personally was fine with but then I was reminded that the neighbors may not dig it as much as me so I started on the exhaust. The long tube headers dumped out about 3.5in. below the frame and rather than running close to the e-brake cables I decided to go outside the frame rails then tuck the mufflers up into the bedsides. I figured I was already below the frame and I am not intending for this truck to lay frame so why not.





Here is a shot from the topside of my nonexistent bed floor



The mufflers were on it from the previous owner. They are flowmaster 40s I believe and they sounded pretty good with the 283 in there so since they weren't cancerous I wire-wheeled them and recycled. The idea was for the exhaust to dump out outward toward the rear tire.

[Psycho75]

OK so as far as the wiring I may not be out of the woods yet but I figured out what I did wrong. I went back to the wiring diagram I did with the CS alternator rewire and found I didn't run the output wire from the back of the alternator lug to the horn relay. So when I did ohm checks to verify connectivity I was getting the resistance of the entire alternator. Anyways that so far is good though somewhere in my horn wiring I have a short to ground. So as soon as I hooked up the battery I had the horn blaring. I think its in the column as the previous owner told me he had issues.

Ok next I started working on my E-brake brackets. I can't use all of the original cross member because my ECE trans cross member is in that spot. So I decided I would make an adjustable drop member for the E-brake. It will hang about the same distance as the exhaust so shouldn't be a clearance issue and will bolt to the trans cross member.





Not that I wanted to point this out but better me than to get called out on it. Yes the first time I welded the brackets on I welded them in backwards. If I had done the tack then test fit method as I intended I would have caught it. But like so many fails before I was feeling overconfident and fully welded it. The next pic shows after I had cut, squared it up and rewelded it. Next is to make the tabs and cut the bolt slots to make it adjustable.



Pics to come when I get it done.

[Ta2Don]

Just ran across your build. Very nice so far! Subscribed!!!
aboard!!!

[gulfcoast66]

Good Looking Build!!! I'm digging the Serp. Bracket color.....
Posted via Mobile Device

[Psycho75]

Thanks man I figured I am not into polished billet (or their prices)so this is a good way to dress up my $30 stock brackets?

[bama63]

nice work!

[Psycho75]

Originally Posted by bama63

nice work!

Thanks man appreciate it.

OK, so the first fire up brought up some issues that I guess were better to be discovered early than later. I found my electric choke which I wired to the "unfused" node on the fuse panel is in fact hot all the time and not an ignition hot source. I read it somewhere that is was and maybe its supposed to be, but on my truck it isn't(finding this to be the case with lots of things). So the morning after the first fire up and cam break in the battery was dead. At the same time found out my voltage guage was wired in incorrectly. That was my fault I took a guess and thought I tied into a good source for both battery voltage and charge voltage it was also always hot. I therefore tied both in with the ignition hot going to power the gauges. Maybe this is not the preferred method but both seem to work fine now. it also allowed me to clean up the cluster wiring a little bit.



Next I found some oil leaks after the break in on the ground behind the engine. I am hoping these were valve cover only. I had run cork valve cover gaskets and to my fault also didn't tighten them too much. After I discovered the leak I started reading up on other methods and though the NASCAR method of running no gasket and RTV instead I felt if I should want to check valves later this could be a problem. I went with the rubber ones with the layer of metal in the middle and since I am running load spreaders on the covers cranked the **** out of them. One of the threads I was reading on a hot rod forum talked about how the cork ones shrink up a bit after they are heated.



But it did allow me to verify that even with my tight clearance on the covers I could still get them off. I had to fix a throttle linkage problem I had created but I guess it was a good time to find it. I couldn't get the throttle to drop below 1200RPM. had to space the linkage out a quarter inch. I had to work tonight but I am hoping to get the timing dialed in at lunch and then I can put the face back on this baby. At 5' 10" I have to stand on the front frame rails in order to reach the distributor to time it. Sorry but for that reason I have to give it up to the blue oval guys on that one. Anyways made strides with my parking brake mounts and hope to have that installed tomorrow.