Meet Ginger.

[jimmydean]

Sweet, good to hear there are more than a few of us around here.

I looked at a few over the last few weeks, but this one just spoke to me.

<edit>kalirodding, I was born and raised in Turlock. I had a similar upbringing, so my build will have some west side influence.

[irish1966]

Hope you checked the rad to make sure she had anti-freeze in her before the cold spell here? lol

[jimmydean]

I didn't check the ratio, but it had something other than just water in it. Might have been pond scum.

<edit> Speaking from experience? lol

[bubba327]

You guys dont get freezing temps too often??
It was 12* here this morning. I was checking every thing on the place the night before . Got diesel additive in the tractors and trucks fuel tanks. Thank goodness for block heaters, frost free water hydrants , and stock tank heaters for the livestock.
Remembered the 4 wheelers around midnight . I had forgotten to check the radiators on them , so I got up and threw a horse blanket and a tarp over them and put a trouble light under them to keep things warm just in case...

Oh yeah keep the batteries charged, a dead battery will freeze.
good times....... I see why old folks go south..
My father in law jokes - he has gone far enough south when folks wonder about the block heater cord hanging out of he grille.....

[irish1966]

Originally Posted by jimmydean

I didn't check the ratio, but it had something other than just water in it. Might have been pond scum.

<edit> Speaking from experience? lol

Not speaking from first had experience, but I did spend most of yesterday changing the rad in a tahoe that decided to give up the ghost and it was a cold day for that job, especially seen as it was outside where we did it. I knew it was cold coz I was screwing in the fan shroud screws and although I could see my hands working I couldn't even feel the screw in my fingers. lol

Another friend had his explorer waterpump completely freeze and when he started it destroyed the belt in a matter of seconds. That one needed a storage heater and a blanket to thaw out. I was lucky with all of mine this time, but I will be promptly getting a working tester for the ratio checks in future.

[irish1966]

Originally Posted by bubba327

You guys dont get freezing temps too often??
It was 12* here this morning. I was checking every thing on the place the night before . Got diesel additive in the tractors and trucks fuel tanks. Thank goodness for block heaters, frost free water hydrants , and stock tank heaters for the livestock.
Remembered the 4 wheelers around midnight . I had forgotten to check the radiators on them , so I got up and threw a horse blanket and a tarp over them and put a trouble light under them to keep things warm just in case...

Oh yeah keep the batteries charged, a dead battery will freeze.
good times....... I see why old folks go south..
My father in law jokes - he has gone far enough south when folks wonder about the block heater cord hanging out of he grille.....

Not too often. It was about 20ish yesterday and 18 when I was headed to work this morning. For us, that's a bit chilly. LOL

[jimmydean]

It's still damn cold. I had to drive over the river to pick up m front end after work. I need to clean out my heater.

'73 crossmember and brake booster/mc for $100 with the stock wheels and hubcaps. I am a happy bastard.

[jimmydean]

So I pulled the crossmember apart and removed the bump stops from the lowers, then took a wire brush to it to see how well it will clean up.

Before


After


Ordered some Energy Suspension control arm bushings and new ball joints. Should have everything sandblasted and powdercoated next weekend I hope. Still looking for a matching rear axle.

[jimmydean]

My heater wasn't blowing and made an awful noise, so I pulled it apart and cleaned out the crap. Not sure if this is normal, but the sound was the center spinning free from the fan. I noticed the aluminium center spun with the shaft but the fan didn't. So I cleaned uo the fan and ran a bead of JB Weld to hold the fan in place.

Cleaned and repainted the box and now it looks funny because the rest of the engine looks like hell.

[jimmydean]

The control arms look better.

[chevyman95]

What is the advantage to the 73 crossmember over the 60-66 version? I have an old 77 parts truck I might raid if its a noticeable improvement.

Nice project btw, never cared for longbeds except this bodystyle

[jimmydean]

There are a few advantages. I could be wrong on some of this, but here is what I found out:

The C20 lower control arm mounts to the crossmember differently, so to use the C10 73+ arm, I needed the whole crossmember. In my case, I won't be using the crossmember at all, but buying the whole thing was cheap.

The obvious change is from 3/4 ton to 1/2 ton, but I went '73 for the disc brakes and the updated (and cheaper) ball joints. I am only using the control arms and spindles and will mount them to the Dropmember along with the Mustang II rack setup.

Based on the disc brake upgrade guide, it seems like the control arms are basically the same with only changes to the ball joints. Run the right ball joint for the right year spindle and your set. If you swap the spindles, you will also need the tie rods from the donor, too. Unless you run the tie rod end conversions stuff, but I would just grab everything to keep it simple.

[bubba327]

Looking good!! check out the FAQ section , we did a whole big section on the front cross-member change a while back http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=disc+brakeout. Might save you some time in gathering parts.
You might add your knowledge and experience to the sticky thread about the installation of the rack for the others to follow in the future . I cannot remember anybody posting about a rack install.......

[jimmydean]

The rack is part of the dropmember kit.


<edit> Not mine, but close.

[irish1966]

Lookin good man. Damn this cold wet weather. Roll on spring.

[hollywood763]

nice work! looking forward to seeing your progress on this beauty.

[jimmydean]

This weekend will be spent trying to make sense of these wires. I installed a thermostat this weekend trying to get some heat, and now my heater fan doesn't blow. I suspect a ground because before I did the thermostat, my blinkers didn't blink.

So now the truck runs nice at the proper temp. I just need to get the fan to blow. I love old trucks. Because when somethings wrong, there is actually a good chance I can fix it.

[irish1966]

Originally Posted by jimmydean

This weekend will be spent trying to make sense of these wires. I installed a thermostat this weekend trying to get some heat, and now my heater fan doesn't blow. I suspect a ground because before I did the thermostat, my blinkers didn't blink.

So now the truck runs nice at the proper temp. I just need to get the fan to blow. I love old trucks. Because when somethings wrong, there is actually a good chance I can fix it.

Man, I spent from 8pm until 12am last night trying to get the rear taillights to blink. I eventually gave up and went to bed. I have to go home after another 12hr shift and re-run all of the ground wires and see if I can get it to work. I am so close to having a nice litle SWB driver, yet so far. LOL. Yours is def starting to take shape.

I did manage to get all my heater stuff sorted though, so if you need me to look at something gimme a shout. Gotta love these ol trucks.

[jimmydean]

Where is the heater motor grounded? Is the power lead supposed to be flexible? It worked last week and I am getting power to the fan motor, but it doesn't turn on.

I didn't get a chance to run wires with the rain. I did get my kick panels glassed and sanded, but I need to decide on fabric for the interior before I cover them. I pointed my 6.5" mid back an up a little. The magnet fits into the hole for the vent and there is plenty of clearance for my high beam switch.

After I finish sanding, I'll get some pics of them uncovered and in place.

[irish1966]

Originally Posted by jimmydean

Where is the heater motor grounded? Is the power lead supposed to be flexible? It worked last week and I am getting power to the fan motor, but it doesn't turn on.

I didn't get a chance to run wires with the rain. I did get my kick panels glassed and sanded, but I need to decide on fabric for the interior before I cover them. I pointed my 6.5" mid back an up a little. The magnet fits into the hole for the vent and there is plenty of clearance for my high beam switch.

After I finish sanding, I'll get some pics of them uncovered and in place.

It grounds to the heater box which grounds to the firewall. If I'm not mistaken. Try running a grnd from the firewall to one of the mounting screws.
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[jimmydean]

Still need a little cleanup, but I got tired of sanding.



I will wait to see what seats I get before I commit to an interior color. But the dash, kicks, doors, and rear will all be the same color and material.

[irish1966]

Nice work man. Any updates on the front end?

[jimmydean]

I am putting together an interim suspension. It turns out someone previous to me cut the front springs (it seems). A co-worker asked if my front was lowered and I didn't think it was until I actually looked, lol.

Notice his '65 is sitting the same height as mine in the front.


So I took a look at my suspension sitting in the driveway, notice my 1" travel to bump stop.


Either my springs were cut, or they are very saggy. So I ordered bags, brackets, and shocks and will swap out the coils for bags, mount up the new shocks and will keep it on the road for now. I might put everything into the '73 crossmember and do the front swap for now, not sure.

I am picking out my interior materials today and hope to have them next week. So now I need my seats and my tank so I can gut the interior and get to work. Then it's dropmember time.

Hey Dave, if you find a 5 lug 3.07 rear axle, let me know. I saw a few on CL, but one guy wants $275 for a '72 spring rear.

[irish1966]

did u try this guy?

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/pts/2141574556.html

[irish1966]

will this work?

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/pts/2140164406.html

oh wait, that'd be 6 lug right?