67 GMC Lift thread

[Mr-Jack]

sorry no updates...parts are at the house now. still have to finish the final coats of paint on the shackles and top plates, and the brake lines got here yesterday...FINALLY. But i'm on 12 hour shifts, and haven't had time to work on it yet...more to come

[Mr-Jack]

So been pretty hectic lately with work and house getting built, and my pregnant wife, but today i managed to open get the truck on all 4's...got the rear end all set up. everything is tightened down, and looks good sitting underneath the new 35's...thinking i should've gone 36/7's but I'll run with these until it's time to get new ones...or until i get3/4 ton axles under it.

Brake lines tested every ounce of my patience today...I ordered a complete kit with an adjustable proportioning valve. the only lines out of the box that i could use were the axle tube lines, (which i had to totally re-bend to get them to fit) and the rear main supply line that runs down the right frame rail...and that was it. I pulled all the other lines out of the truck to try and match them up to the new ones, and none of them came close...i'm not too happy with Inline Tube...spend 200 bucks on brake lines that are supposed to be pre bent and ready to install, and over half their product is unuseable. I guess i'll have some spare line at least for some repairs if i need it down the road.

But overall, i'm just happy it's finally lifted. I didn't get any pictures cause the shop lights just wouldn't do it justice. but i think it turned out pretty good. I'll wash it this week and throw some pictures up.

[Mr-Jack]

Got home from work and took a couple of pictures...then thought i'd try and diagnose my funky engine problem...but i'll post some pictures first.




wanted to pull the truck out into the pasture and take a few, but haven't bled my brakes yet, and don't wanna roll into one of my horses, so that will have to wait.

Ok...so if anyone can help me diagnose my fuel problem...i'd appreciate it.

I think it's just not getting enough fuel...so i ran a hose from my supply line to my jerry can and turned the truck over...(the fuel was getting sucked out of the jerry can, not gravity fed like the stock tank, so if that's gonna be an issue with the fuel, i'll re attack the test with a 2 liter bottle and try again.

I noticed the line from the tank to the hardline in the frame rail (10" or so rubber line) was old as hell, and very plyable, so i replaced that with a new line. (I don't know if the pump would try to pull suction too much and colapse the line cutting off the fuel supply, so i just eliminated that factor with new line.

I then restarted the truck and seemed like the truck was still sputtering. then looking at the motor i saw that the belt was a little loose, so i tightened that, but it didn't affect the performance. I took the air cleaner off started it back up...still sputtered. played with the choke and didn't really change much. sprayed some deep creep around the base of the carb and intake manifold, no increase in rpm at all.

At this point i'm leaning towards one of the following:
-clogged dirty hard line
-clogged dirty filter
-bad fuel pump
-carb needs to be rebuilt
-or i did the jerry can test wrong and i need to reaccomplish it and this time do a gravity feed test to the fuel supply line

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Mr-Jack]

Well...finally got her running and pulled out to take a few pictures...been super busy today or i would have washed her up before i took a few, but these will have to do for now








And I don't know if this will work or not, but here's a little video.

[mud.man.rj]

Likin the 67, nice amount of lift, worked out good with tire size.

[mknittle]

Looks good! Reminds me of the 67 chevy I had

[RINC]

That there is one sexy truck !

[Mr-Jack]

Thanks fellas...I have a lot of work left to go, but until my house closes, the only work i'll be doing is under the hood to get her running right to drive it down the road...then it's getting torn to pieces for the body frame and engine work

[Mr-Jack]

Tore down the engine yesterday and replaced the head gaskets, today i'm finishing up the carb work and flushing the coolant then i'll see if my smoke problem is fixed. Might have done all this to find out that i might have to tear down again but at least i'll know that the motor is in pretty good shape. Here are some pics of the tear down before cleaning and NDI inspection.

fusty water as soon as i pulled the upper hose off the thermostat housing

diaphram is still in good working order, you can also see someone's jb weld repair on the intake manifold. guess i'll be replacing this manifold on down the road

right bank intake side of the head

and the left

before pulling the head...push rods look to be straight and in good repair...rolled them all out and no woble, so i'll be reinstalling them


cleaned the intake out

bunch of galleys were plugged with rust, some almost all the way closed off. not a lot, but some coolant passed through into the cylinders, but looks like i caught it before any damage was done to the pistons and cylinders. smooth surfaces and no scratches.





some signs of hardened water on the pistons, but got most of it off. all the valves seat well, so they'll stay like this til i get time to do a total rebuild.


I want to get the block and heads decked eventually. and totally rebuild it and get it machined, but that'll be some time after i move to the new house. but i'll post up after i crank it over

[mud.man.rj]

Still looks not too bad, sure plugged the water jackets though, but heads look alright. Cross your fingers.

[Mr-Jack]

yeah...not too bad, just gotta see how it goes. I cleaned a lot of crap out of those jackets. some were completely closed up. did a flush today, and i'll be starting her up tomorrow...with the exhaust hooked up this time....fired it up without the exhaust pipes hooked up to the headers, and sounded like a drag car LOL

[mud.man.rj]

That is how I break in every engine I build, love open headers, 20 minutes at a time, neighbours are cool here too, lucky for me, haha.

[Mr-Jack]

I just gotta make sure it's quiet enough to make sure i adjusted the valve lash right

[mud.man.rj]

I adjust my valves first one at a time before I run an engine and don't really ever have to go back to reset them. Same as my timing, I set it exactly where it should be like 10 degrees and start it break it in then check timing with a vacumn guage to see if it is right with balancer because they slip on the rubber ring on the GM's.

[Mr-Jack]

hrmm...what's the best way to adjust the valves without running the engine with the intake on? just take each cylinder to TDC? and tighten til the rod stops spinning in your fingers then another half turn?

[Mr-Jack]

Well...not a lot to report lately...been to the dr a couple of times cause my wife was in "false" labor, so been holding back on tearing too much into the truck.

I did however manage to get the lifter tick out. Adjusted the valves while running.

Then after that, I wanted to trouble shoot my starting problem...My truck started, but it took some encouraging. I was getting sick of it. So I pulled the starter and saw this:

So I went and bought a new solenoid...well, I've about had it with O'reilly's Autoparts lately. I give them the description of my truck and a part number and I pick my part up on my way home from work, and it's differant. I live 15 minute drive to town, so I was inclined to make it work. Rebuilt the solenoid using bits and pieces. I couldn't use the cap cause it was a 1/2" taller than the old one. so I sealed the cap and used some adel clamps to keep it tight (this is only a temporary fix until i get a new magnet style mini starter.)

After that, I thought about replacing the battery cables...I wanted something with a bit more nuts...so i found some old welding cables I had and used them for my positive and negative battery cables...2/0 gauge. Man these are beef cake too...had to cut them with a cutoff wheel.



Installed some quick release terminals on the battery. I love these things...makes connecting and disconnecting a snap, and puts less stress on the posts cause you don't have constantly be wrenching on them. I like to disconnect the battery when it's not in use...not necessarily theft deterrant, but for saving batteries incase i have an unexpected draw.

And here the starter sits snugly in it's home. I'm sure you've all seen one, but looks good with 2/0 gauge wire on it This thing fired up like it was scared awake LOL. Love the simple upgrades.


Jack

[68SWB4x4]

Brought back a lot of memories of installing my lift! Those damn rivets man! Lifting a 67/68 seems to always be tricky

[mud.man.rj]

Man that poor starter solonoid is just cooking being that close to the header, mini starter time, or will be soon.

[Mr-Jack]

Originally Posted by 68SWB4x4

Brought back a lot of memories of installing my lift! Those damn rivets man! Lifting a 67/68 seems to always be tricky

yeah I hammered most off by hand before I drove to the tool store and got me a nice IR air hammer. Never again LOL.

Yeah I need a mini starter for sure.

[Mr-Jack]

what plugs are everyone using on their 350sbc? I like iridiums for my LS motors, but wondering what y'all are using on these older trucks.

Thanks,

Jack

[vectorit]

I have been using AC R45 for many years

[mud.man.rj]

I use an NGK platinum, have for about 15 years, was AC before that.