Project 'Calico' 72 swb

[franky69c10]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

looking good!

Posted via Mobile Device

[Twisted78SS]

Man does time fly... Not much time on the shop lately, but I have managed to get most of the front suspension together and got the bucket seats this week. Pics to follow. As soon as I clear out a bay, the frame can go in the shop and some assembly get started..

[VA72C10]

looking forward to the pics!!!

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

looking forward to the pics!!!

Me too

[Twisted78SS]

My son who turns 16 in Feb. was expecting me to have it together and running before he gets his license, I want that as well, but in order to do that I have told him most of the body work and paint will of course not be done by then. He is fine with that so we are really looking to push hard and make some major forward progress. At this point I think I have most everything to get it up and going.

I did surprise him and get an Accuair system for him minus the compressors and tank which I had already. How lucky can he get.. He's even got new air bags, lines, fittings, etc...

[Twisted78SS]

Some pics. Finally..

Seats



Blazer tank


No, that is not his Speed Warning dash in the background.. That's mine!

And some of his Accuair goodies!

[Twisted78SS]

Man it takes no time at all or so it feels, to have months go by with little or no real progress.. Well, this past weekend we actually touched the frame!.. Even better, it was moved into the shop amid the current mess of swap meet parts and setup on jack stands. I turned the bot loose with the grinder and he began the task of removing rivets.




Next up is reversing the shock mounts, trimming and cutting for the C-Notches, and drilling the mounting holes for the air bags.

[mcbassin]

Looks like some progress. I have just gone through the whole frame on my build. Just about to have a rolling chassis. Hang in there it takes patients.

[Twisted78SS]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, I know what you mean. It's not that we haven't been busy in the shop, just finishing up other projects and rear end re-builds to make some room. I need to spend a day just cleaning and getting parts back where they belong before I get a real mess going. I'll keep the pics coming as we move along.

[Twisted78SS]

We got a bit more done over the weekend. Started by cleaning some extra sheetmetal and assorted stuff from the shop to give us more space to work. We put the top on one of my Blazers which got it out of the weather finally, then we started to assemble the front suspension and cut the c-notches in.




I also found this short video my son took when we moved the 78 out of the shop. He was trying out his new iPhone, and didn't realize the rotated view at the time I guess..

This was obviously before the rest of the trim, bumpers etc... made it back on the truck, but it runs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqGYRdIuXpU&feature...

[Twisted78SS]

A little more progress today, The mock up continues, but I also found I am short one upper a-arm cross shaft. Hmmm.. I thought sure I had them both. I'll continue as soon as I get one tomorrow.

Started by adding the CPP trailing arm cross member. I wanted to double check the c-notch alignment when its aired out.


Then I grabbed an axle and trailing arms to mock in place


I also added the trans cross member and turned my attention to the front.

Once I had the front cross member in place, I began to put some suspension components on. That's when I found I was short the upper control arm cross shaft. Since it was getting late, I stopped for the night. I still need to finish the lower a-arm cross shaft install on one side before i move to the other.

[Twisted78SS]

Continuing the frame work.







Well, guess i was asleep at the wheel when I ordered my upper ball joints, I got the 71-72, not the 73 up needed for my dropped spindle.
Here are a couple of shots that gave will clue you in..

[Twisted78SS]

New ball joints are done, but I hit another major snag!
Take a look and guess what this is.

I scrubbed the area to get a better look, so most of the paint and some underlying primer came off. But this looks a catastrophic failure to me. I have nobody to blame but me, it is obvious I left water in the block without coolant added. If you notice the cylinder walls, you'll see this was a fresh motor ( 2 or 3 hours tops). How could I have been so brain dead. Needless to say this will be a setback.

[mcbassin]

Hey,sorry to hear about the cracked block. I have seen this before a few times myself. Too bad your not closer I have a few small blocks laying around in my shop I would make a real good deal on.

[fastcam1]

Any progress? It was looking really good
Posted via Mobile Device

[Twisted78SS]

Well, if anyone would have told me just how crazy busy this year was going to be, I would have said no way in hell. But here we are on Christmas day and I see it has been some time since I posted last. Progress has been slow to say the least, but a little now and then. I will say that my son has been learning along the way which is a good thing, as I need to get what little time I have working on my Blazer project. Anyway, we did manage to build him am motor, it's a full roller 350 with with a comp XR276HR 224/230 502/510 cam, and Edelbrock 60899 heads.




Also, we got to talking about what we were going to do for an interior color option and some audio ideas, he began to think more about a buddy bucket instead of truck buckets and a console. I surprised him this morning with a good solid rebuild-able buddy bucket knowing full well his buckets would eventually end up in my project...




I also started on a complete rebuild of his 12bolt, that is going well, but slow as time is pretty scarce. Well, maybe this week since I am off I can split some time from other honey do's to get a few hours in the shop..

We decided on another small change to, he wants a bit more of a clean firewall, so we will install a small mojave heater in place of the factory one so we can clean up the engine compartment a bit more. Well, not much but there it is..

[prostreetc10]

man i wish i had the time and room to do a frame off restore on my truck. realy love the clean look of all the newly painted parts. great job.

[Twisted78SS]

She's a roller! (Sorry for the cell phone pics and dusty frame)


I added blocks as well.


The front A-Arm is about 4 3/4 off the ground when aired out.


Routing the front air line through the cross member


See what's missing still...?


For the moment that's about it, still buried at work and little time to hit the shop. I'm going to drop the engine/trans in so I can work on placement of exhaust, air tanks controller etc... Plus I need to notch the rear cross brace to clear the front of the 12 bolt, and so on...

[VA72C10]

Looking good! Nice progress!

[Twisted78SS]

Well, as the weather is beginning to change, it may well be that some shop time is coming. Moved the cab into the shop and could not resist setting some sheet metal in place just to get a look see. The 295/50/15 on those 8 inch rallye wheels might not cut it on the front, we will have to see.
Work on the cab is underway and will be the first portion of bodywork to get done. At the same time, I have the rear axle almost done, full rebuild with 3.73 and a posi. We will be running a 2004r to gain back some mileage and freeway manners.



and guess who is getting excited and wanting his truck done yesterday!!

[67ctener]

Looks good any updates?

[low&slow]

Sorry if I missed it some where, but do you have info on what set up for bags you have on the front? Also in the last picture, is that aired out all the way in the front?

[Twisted78SS]

Yeah well,

We all know life gets in the way, but we have been making progress on and off.

Got the a few things underway,

Rear fuel tank
Firewall mod
Rear axle rebuild and disc brake conversion

More I'm sure, but let's get a few pics up..

Did some mock up with the 8in. Rallye's just to see.. Not sure that's going to work once aired out or even at ride height.
The got started on the cab

[Twisted78SS]

More

Disc brake conversion

[Twisted78SS]

Originally Posted by low&slow

Sorry if I missed it some where, but do you have info on what set up for bags you have on the front? Also in the last picture, is that aired out all the way in the front?

Hey,
In the front I'm using bag plates on both the upper and lower. I know that may not let it goes as low as no plate on the bottom, but it also keeps the bag locked in place rather than allowing any movement just sitting in the lower cup.

In that picture, it was aired out.. But what i did not know when I took that shot, It was not actually sitting as low as it goes.. I had the stock shocks on and they were not letting it go down the rest of the way as they were bottomed out.