1965 Stepside, The LST Challenge

[aggie91]

After getting the floor cleaned up, I needed to do some rust repair to the floor so I can drive it on the street without getting wet or cold from the holes in the floor...

So, since I don't have the time right now to do a proper patch and replace job, I thought of other ways to take care of the problem. Here is my solution. Korbin has challenged me to not be so detailed and do it the full blown expensive way (which I would normally do because of my OCD ways) but instead do it more the way of Matt Hapel's Sloppy Mechanics style...

So, here it is, Sloppy Style Rust Repair:

Before:


After:


It my be a bit getto, but I think it will work for now...

[Low Elco]

To cover your bare metal fast, AZ sells a rust-oleum etching primer that works great! I use it a lot on bare repaired surfaces. best part, dry in like 10 min.

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

To cover your bare metal fast, AZ sells a rust-oleum etching primer that works great! I use it a lot on bare repaired surfaces. best part, dry in like 10 min.

Yeah, I probably should do that...

[aggie91]

I think I made good progress this weekend. I got the last brake line made up and installed, got the M/C painted, bench bled, and mounted to the firewall and brake pedal. System is now ready to bleed.




Also got the heater box mounted to the firewall, the plug for the rear light harness install, and the gas pedal linkage at the firewall install.


Must have installed the gas pedal linkage after I took that picture...sorry about that...

Added a little reflective insulation to the inside of the firewall. Just need to finish up the wiring for the heater and the hoses to the dash vents.




Finished the day by putting the seat back in the cab. Looks like I need to lower it a bit, but will live with it for now. I can still squeeze my fat a$$ between the seat and steering wheel.



__________________

[aggie91]

Progress has been slow the last few days. Mostly just wiring stuff for the truck and not much else.

I got the wires for the engine harness under the dash repaired for now. Not really the best way, but it will work good for now until the time comes to replace the wires all the way back to the fuse block. Sorry about the bad picture, best I could get it under the dash.


I made a new wire to add to the plug for the main harness next to the Master Cylinder. This will give me a 12V+ Key hot wire in the main harness that runs along the inner fender up to the core support. This will be for the PCM turn on, I will mount the PCM on that side. One end to the Fuse Block to a Key Hot terminal, the other end into an open cavity in the plug on the firewall.


For the connector to that plug, I made up all new wires for those circuits. This is crimped (not my best work), but before I soldered them to the terminal.


Here is how it looks connected to the firewall plug. The wires are: RED - 12V+ Battery to the fuse block; Lt. Green - High Beam Circuit; Tan - Low Beam Circuit; Black - Horn Signal from Horn Button to Relay; Black/White Stripe - Gen Light on Dash, connects to terminal on Alternator.


Lastly, I started on the engine harness wires. The wires are: Lt Green - Temperature Sensor; Dk Green - Temperature Sensor (I have the dash lights, not gauges); Dk BLue - Oil Pressure Sensor; Purple - Starter

[Low Elco]

Looks good, very tidy!

[aggie91]

Well another week has past and still no engine for this project. I continued to work on parts of the truck that don't require the engine and trans to be available.

I worked on getting the front clip mocked up and started the front wiring and PCM placement. I used some Riv-Nuts to mount the PCM and to anchor the wire harness to the inner fenderwells. I was able to borrow a pneumatic riv-nut tool from work, and boy is that that way to put them in! Here are some pics of what has been done. The last one is how I walked out of the shop last night.





This week I will get the brakes bleed, the taillights mounted, the tailgate mounted, mount the fuel tank and get the wheels mounted up. If I do one item a night that will get me to next weekend...

[aggie91]

LOL, I can't wait either. This version was to get it running/driving for LST. That is now 16 days away...

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by aggie91

LOL, I can't wait either. This version was to get it running/driving for LST. That is now 16 days away...

Big bite right there. I'm crossing my fingers for 'ya though!

[aggie91]

Feels like no body is watching, at least not commenting, but I will still keep posting.

I finished up the 2 wires that needed extending and got them in braided loom. Planned out the routing, but waiting on some parts that should show up today to finish that section.

Moved on to mounting the gas tank. I am using the tank from a 2004 1500HD and will use the pump and the mounting straps. I cut down the filler neck hose, but I still need to work on that part of the install. I have it where I can live with it for now so that I can meet my goal of LST. Did not have enough of the correct hardware to finish up the mounting, but the fab part is done. I had a couple of extra short bed cross braces that I could use on the underside of the floor to improve the strength of the mounts. The cool thing is the 2 holes for the bolts for the bed trips lined up with where I needed to drill holes for the fuel tank straps. I going to use 5/16" diameter hardware to mount it all, so I did not even have to make the holes larger in the cross braces. I will get a picture underneath once its all mounted up.

[DakotaKid]

please do keep posting. I am following this! great build!

[Paul Y]

I'm watching from the side lines. Please continue.

P.

[66Project]

Were all watching. Nothing to comment on other than to say good job and keep on keeping on.

[doublebeetx]

You know we're lurking out here. Keep up the good work !

[aggie91]

Weekend progress was pretty good even though my time was limited more than I had hoped. Korbin brought a block, oil pan, and two heads over. That gave me something to work on. So, Owen and I mated it up to the transmission and worked on getting it mocked up. Got it in and the mounts all tacked up in a position that I like. after getting that in, I added the heads, intake and headers. Crap, the driver's header hits the frame stand...

So, I move on to the wire routing and connector repairs. Got the wires where I like them, so now I need to splice in the injector harnesses that I made up since this OEM harness was missing those. Its all laid out how I want it, but I don't have enough of the loom that I want to use. I will pick up about 3 feet of it today for the injector harnesses so that maybe I can finish those up today. I think that for time constraints, I will leave the rest out of loom for now to get to LST.

Here are pics from this weekend. Mostly after I got all the work done, no in progress shots..








While I worked on the wiring, Owen wire wheel the core support and got a coat of satin black paint on it. Turned out good for what he started with. I really should replace it, its kinda beat up, but it works for now.

Here is a link to the loom I am using on this. The first on is a expandable sleeve that is not split. I use this one on the wires that I have to terminate at least one end of the wires. I can slide it over before terminating and looks better in my opinion. The second on is the same look, but has a split and an overlap that allows it the be put on bundles of wires that already exist.

While I worked on the wiring, Owen wire wheel the core support and got a coat of satin black paint on it. Turned out good for what he started with. I really should replace it, its kinda beat up, but it works for now.

Here is a link to the loom I am using on this. The first on is a expandable sleeve that is not split. I use this one on the wires that I have to terminate at least one end of the wires. I can slide it over before terminating and looks better in my opinion. The second on is the same look, but has a split and an overlap that allows it the be put on bundles of wires that already exist.

TechFlex 1/2" Braided Cable Sleeve

TechFlex 1-1/4" Split Braided Cable Sleeve


It comes in many sizes, so far for the first type, I have used 3/8" and 3/4". For the split stuff, I will need a bit of 1-1/4", 3/4", 1/2", and 3/8 or 1/4" stuff. It gets a bit expensive when you have to buy 10' and only need 3' of it...Amazon seems to have the best pricing if you have a Prime account.

[Low Elco]

Keep it up! Looks good!

[65Gregg]

I've never seen a wooden crankshaft keep marking things off the list.

[Bagged63KneeKnocker]

Sounds like a good plan.after my truck gets on the road id like to get an ls in there. Nice that ur kids like to get involved and having a supportive wife is great!

[aggie91]

The one in that pic is the stock style sending unit for the stock dash with lights, no gauges. The "adapter" is the OE Oil Pressure Sender with the top cut off and the guts removed, then drilled and tapped for 1/8" NPT. There are plenty of adapters on the market, but I had the means to make this one out of parts I had.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Ah, cool! I did a similar thing on my Land Rover a few years back and it worked great! Thanks for the tip

[aggie91]

BTW, sorry my shop is a wreck, I have not done a good job with house keeping these last two weeks. I'll be glad to have the truck mobile under its own power so that I can move it in and out to get this mess cleaned up after LST.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Looking good, bud! Looking forward to the morning update tomorrow

[Low Elco]

Keep 'er rollin'!

[The1960APE]

Looking good! I love the LS swapped trucks!

[doublebeetx]

Karl , will y'all be parking the truck in the area C10 club Texas is marking off ?