My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble

[rgunlock]

Originally, I'd planned to get a muffler shop to do this job, but once the cab was off I figured if I can manage to weld together sheet metal, how hard can an exhaust be? Got some MagnaFlow 13215 XL Turbo Satin Stainless 2.25" mufflers and a Flowtech 52525FLT manifold back 2.25" dual exhaust kit from Summit Racing. About $245 for the setup, which I imagine is a good deal less than a muffler shop would have charged. The last bend is just clamped on for now until I get the bed back on and can set the height and cut for length to add tips.

[rgunlock]

And some finishing up on the fuel system. Finally found some fuel filler hose with the right diameter and 90 degree bend from Classic Industries (PN G2663). These weren't cheap, but I wasn't having much luck finding a universal hose that would work. It was also a pain to find the little breather caps that are on the gas tanks, diffs, tranny and tcase. Having trouble finding the receipt for those to record in this thread, but I'll look a little harder if anyone is interested.

[rgunlock]

And finally, hooking it all up. I re-used the hard lines mounted to the frame. The truck came with some manual gas tank selector valve mounted in the cab floor, so I didn't know where the original electric valve was supposed to go. I just made my own mounting plate and bolted it to the crossmember for the rear cab mounts. I wanted inline fuel filters between the tanks and selector valve, so spent a couple hours in a couple of part stores opening about 50 boxes to find a couple that came with mounting brackets. Found 1 each in 2 stores, but not exactly matching. They'll do for now. I hope all this works when I finally get a chance to try to fire the engine up again!

[MTCK]

I'm not sure I'd do the swap if I didn't need to to clear my shocks. My mechanical linkage always worked great. You will have a few hundred bucks in it when all said and done if you replace the master/slave and line.
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[bilfman]

I love this build. You are doing a great job. Fish will tremble once again!!

[rgunlock]

Thanks for checking back in and for the advice Marcus. The guy who rebuilt my SM465 showed me that the input shaft was pretty badly worn and I'm thinking my clutch problems were the throwout bearing not moving smoothly on it. I don't really expect that once this restore is done, the truck will really be done so I'm sure I'll have opportunities to change things if I stick with the manual setup for now.

I appreciate the encouragement bilfman! It will still be a while before the fish are trembling as I still have all the bodywork and paint left. Then of course, I have to figure out how to rewire the truck and get the interior of the cab back together - that one has me worried!

[mjensen]

That's looking real nice!

[rgunlock]

I haven't found a media blast company close by, so I decided to get my own pressure blaster. Says it is not meant for sand blasting, but got used with sand anyway. I will say that sand is abrasive enough that I've already had 2 blowouts in the media hose, and worn away a couple of tips just blasting my cab.

[boynton]

I was hoping to see that cab all welded up and back on the truck
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[rgunlock]

Nah, I'm not quite as young as you are and don't put the kind of hours you did into your resto I am working on it though. Knew I had a problem with the inner rocker on the passenger side behind the floor brace. Finally, after about 25 spot welds drilled out I found the extent of the problem. Also, the kick panel feeds into this corner and the lower inch of it is pretty rusted out. Trying to figure out how to cut this apart for repair without damaging the rocker, which go-figure, is pretty solid. Momma T's got me putting in raised vegetable beds with irrigation, so that is cutting into my truck time

[quadzero]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

......if anyone knows where to recycle foam peanuts let me know. I have about 30+ cubic feet of them in the boxes the inner fenders shipped in!

This is an amazing project. You sure came a long way from just wanting to get it inspected and putting it on the road. The frame and engine look like a million bucks. I like you patience for attacking all that rusted metal too. Sorry I can't help you with the foam but it made me laugh. Keep up the awesome work.

[boynton]

Tell momma T you'll be able to haul a lot more dirt with a completed truck you have a lot more work to tackle than I did. I know it will take a bit more time. Can't wait to see it cruising dow the road.
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[rgunlock]

Thanks for the compliments quadzero! Yes, this project took a whole unexpected turn, but I consider this a practice project and decided I'm willing to tackle some things I would avoid if I were looking to end up with a perfect truck.

I'm ready to be driving it as well boynton. Perhaps you need to make more frequent trips to Houston to help out Doesn't look like your project gave you any practice at all on rust repair, and you barely scratched the surface helping me with my core support

[boynton]

Haha you are right, I didn't get any practice with patching. I would love to come help, I'm just trying to find the time. You are going a great job though!!
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[78gmc1]

The builds coming along nice the frame and everything cleaned up good

[rgunlock]

Well, not a lot of progress to report for the last couple weeks on the truck. Spent a couple weekends building, plumbing and filling these vegetable beds. Did finish cutting out the cancer on the passenger side kick panel and floor. Placed an order for patch panels because there were more contours than I expected to find.

Decided to patch a relatively small area in the rear floor area where the patch panels I ordered aren't going to reach. Was going pretty well until right at the end when I burned out a big hole (typical for me). I'll probably cut all that back out and re-patch a larger area. Aren't you supposed to get better with practice???

[mjensen]

Are you done yet?

[rgunlock]

Not hardly!! I did get around to cutting out a bit more floor and kick panel so the patch panels will be easier to fit today after yard work. Tomorrow is truck day, so hope to get at least one side of the floor done. Pics tomorrow evening (I hope)

[steelhorse]

Great job so far. Keep up the hard work and it will be done before you know it.

[rgunlock]

Thanks for checking my build Steelhorse. A year or two probably will be "before you know it" the way time flys at my age I've been making some slow progress, but with the heat, yardwork and other summer activities my build seems to have slowed to a crawl. Oh, and the mosquitoes come out just as soon as it cools down enough in the evening that you feel like working outside.

I've decided I'm done with metal work on the floor. Did the driver side a bit different (cheated) and just cut the patch to overlap the hole 3/4 inch. Plug welded around the edge and down the braces. Once I seam seal it, I hope it works out as well as the other side that I butt welded.

Now I'm working on the driver cab corner (for the second time). This LMC patch panel seems to be coming up a bit short of making the corner. Haven't figured out what tool will help me reshape that curve without screwing up the patch.

[Bomp]

Making progress is always good to see.
On the "filling the gap" I've used a "copper spoon" from Harbor Freight Tools, under $10,
Hold it against the back side of the gap, weld a little hear and there to fill the gap. Weld won't stick to the copper.
Good work keep it up.

[mjensen]

Good to see progress! That patch looks hella short from the picture. It looks to me like your going to have to cut the patch to add more material.

[rgunlock]

Yep, the picture isn't exaggerating. I'd guess that the best place to slice to widen the patch is right on the face of it, top to bottom so that it maintains the line going down the corner of the cab. That's going to really put my welding and grinding skills to the test since it will be right out there for the world to see.

BTW Mike, good to see that you got yours back to a roller. Reassembly should be quick from there and you'll be back to body work before you know it.

[Hoods69BadBowTie]

Whoa what a build. Don't you just love how they all start simple and turn into never ending projects or never done haha Looking good so far. I don't think I would have the patience for all the patch work. It's going to be so sweet when its all done though!

[rgunlock]

Thanks for checking in on my build Hoods. I decided to repair my existing cab because I needed the practice welding in patches. In reality, I might have saved myself a lot of time and frustration just finding a better cab to use. So far, practice isn't making me anywhere near perfect, but its possible for something to be both frustrating and fun at the same time, right