The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build

[silvereagle07]

Nice work. I just saw a similar truck here on Craigslist this morning. The contrast color looks good too.
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[Stoney]

I just noticed...no A/C

[Tx Firefighter]

Yes sir. Big block 4 speed and pretty much nothing else. It doesn't even have a dome light. Rubber floor mat and manual windows and locks, just a stripped down company truck that was originally bought and ordered by the electric company.
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[Primered_69]

So when ar you going to do some Balcksmith Work on it? Ayers Garage in Metal Script...break out the forge and anvil

[Tx Firefighter]

I've got a long way to go Michael. I still haven't touched the interior or suspension. The first priority though is to find a bell housing. This one is cracked about half way around with pieces missing out of it. Don't know how the trans hasn't fallen out of this thing yet.
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[68Timber]

I like your approach to the truck, subbed. Prices on SM465 bell housings swing high and low, you shouldn't have much trouble finding one in the $50 to $75 range.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by BRUISER

I like your approach to the truck, subbed. Prices on SM465 bell housings swing high and low, you shouldn't have much trouble finding one in the $50 to $75 range.

Lord I wish. I'm seeing 250 average price. Remember I have the hydraulic bellhousing....

If I'm on crack, set me straight. I'd love to pay 75 for one.

[68Timber]

Ah, chit. I didn't realize you had the later 465 w/hydraulic clutch. The retrofitters drive the price up on those. If I see one at a decent price I'll PM you.

[Tx Firefighter]

Please do. I'd sure appreciate it.

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Lord I wish. I'm seeing 250 average price. Remember I have the hydraulic bellhousing....

If I'm on crack, set me straight. I'd love to pay 75 for one.

I may have one. if i do, its yours. ill let you know.

Ryan

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by ryanroo

I may have one. if i do, its yours. ill let you know.

Ryan

If you do have one, I'd be happy to buy it from you. This one is bad, real bad. It's actually cracked about 2/3 of the way around. There is one hole that I can stick my thumb through.

[Tx Firefighter]

I had mentioned the exhaust part of this truck had been painful. What I meant was that it took a larger chunk of money than I'd hoped for.

I knew right up front that the exhaust was beat and would need replacing. It had giant sections rusted out, a crappy muffler and one of those old restrictive catalytic converters.

The cat



Rusted out round canister type of muffler



The rest





So I cut all of that junk off obviously to start with. I figured I'd go ahead and pull the manifolds off and do some work on them too so I'd have a nice system front to back. The truck previously had smog pump fittings on the left manifold which had been cut off short and welded closed. I knew I wanted to fix that more proper and also replace all of the studs.



Here is where it gets painful.

Previously welded ears on the passenger side manifold.



Driver's side manifold had previously cracked basically in half and been welded by someone. The welds were cracked right through again already.



So, off to Rock Auto. I ordered new Dorman manifolds. It pains me to say, they are made in China. But, they fit real well and are significantly thicker in a lot of areas than the original GM ones were.







The factory Y pipe was in plenty good enough shape so I just cleaned it up and reused it. These big block Y pipes are much nicer than small block ones are. They have a decent transition like a "Y" and not a "T" like so many factory ones were.

Now, here's the rub about where I live. I don't have to pass an emissions test for my yearly inspection, but I have to pass a visual test for the equipment being in place (regardless of how well it does or doesn't work). So, I need a catalytic converter to use in my new exhaust.

So, since I like improved fuel mileage and performance, I found a place on the internets that sells a real "hi flow" converter and they're cheap too, so I ordered one in 3 inch size.



It looks like a catalytic converter...



But inside it's a bit different than most converters...



Also got a nice big Magnaflow in 3 inch size from Summit, a stick of 3 inch tubing and a band clamp.



Magnaflow is still doing it right.





I only tack welded that rear piece of pipe in place as you can see. I figure in the future if I ever go to a muffler shop to have tail pipe(s) hung under this truck, they can just knock that tack weld off and have a good place to slide the new pipe into the rear of the muffler to work with.



I got a couple of clamps and hangers from the parts store and the final product is super strong and hung nicely.





So, all said and done I have new manifolds into a refurbished factory Y pipe then into a single 3 inch system. Damn it sounds good too. The catalytic converter shaped device obviously doesn't change the sound any so I got the true 3 inch Magnflow sound. Very raspy and not a drone like Flowmasters or other chambered mufflers.

[maxxxy]

Tx Firefighter I've been on the site a couple of years now, not to mention the year lurking as a guest, and I've seen your posts in various random threads. I've always wondered about your avatar. It wasn't until last night that I realized what it is. I think it's hilarious!
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[Stoney]

I've always wondered, and still haven't figured it out.

[THE "10" SILVERADO]

Originally Posted by Stoney

I've always wondered, and still haven't figured it out.

This might help you out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A939QRRSNV4. It's Lawrence from Office Space.

[Tx Firefighter]

Slow progress report here.

The seat in the truck was beat and beyond attempting to repair so I put an 88-94 seat in it. I'm not proud of the fact that the truck has a blue interior with a now grey seat, but it was just sitting in my shop and it's a whole lot nicer and more comfortable than the old original one is. That was a quick easy project to make the drive quality a lot nicer.





I'll do an entire interior project all at one time shortly. It's getting to be real winter here and I need this thing up and going to haul hay with right now. I am collecting interior parts for it already though.

[Greenlee]

Nice work as usual! This is going to be a real nice truck.
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[Jonboy]

Kevin,
I have a driver qualty and carpet and some charcoal seatbelts if you need them.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

Kevin,
I have a driver qualty and carpet and some charcoal seatbelts if you need them.

Really ? I had planned on swapping to a grey interior on this thing anyway. I have a new rubber floor mat (its a work truck) but if you'd like to PM me a price on the seatbelts I might surely be interested in them.
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[68panelman]

This is a very cool build.

[68Timber]

That style bench is my favorite. For a work truck, you sure are doing a clean build.

[Tx Firefighter]

The great news is that it looks like I'll be getting a set of useable grey seatbelts from Jonboy the kick off my interior phase of the project.

In other news, I got a free core support this morning.

My truck currently has the single headlight setup...



But I personally much prefer the dual light setup on these trucks...



The support is very solid and the price was free but I'll still need to get some new headlights, headlight bezels, and turn signals. I think my current grille will fit this new setup until I can find a cheap billet grille or one of the deluxe (Hillbilly Deluxe ?) ones with the pretty body colored center panel and stainless trim.

I have a short stack of truck money coming later this week so I should be able to get the lights and headlight bezels I need to do this swap. In the meantime, I'll sandblast the core support and get it powdercoated and start rounding up the supplies to build a new 4 headlight harness with relay mod. I'll need some green and tan wire (if I remember my GM colors correctly), some loom, loom clips and a few other little things for doing this. I have a pair of relays with a nice bracket that I salvaged out of a parts car years ago. Good Bosch German relays at that.

[Dieselholic92]

Nice build so far!

[Tx Firefighter]

Progress hasn't stalled but during the holiday season, the money tree seems to grow so much slower than other times of the year.

So, in the mean time, I've been plugging away on inexpensive stuff.

Got the core support all restored. I just sandblasted it and painted it. I usually powdercoat them but due to logistics with my work flow in the shop I just hung it from the rafters and shot it with paint.



I did powdercoat all of the smaller pieces in high gloss black to contrast against the semi gloss core support. All new headlight adjusters and screws too.





I also stopped by Certifit yesterday and picked up new headlight doors and turn signal assemblies. Now I'm waiting on the next influx of truck money to buy a set of new halogen headlights and a billet grille. I really like the OEM Chevy grilles, but I don't have one and to piece together, and doing so with all of the center moldings, bowtie and such would way surpass the price of a billet one.

[OutlawDrifter]

great project so far! i've been keeping my eye out for a good dually to put in front of my wife's racecar....the 85 f150 she has been using needs to be retired.