Halfbreed - GMC Z71 + IH Extd Cab

[67ChevyRedneck]

The new wheels look killer!

[fryer1979]

It has been quite a while since I last read through all the progress. She sure is coming along quite nicely, very nice work and progress Sparkydog!

[sparkydog]

Originally Posted by tecky11

your truck looks great. cant believe it almost looks factory. great job

Originally Posted by JRANGER

wow thats just awesome

Thanks Tecky and JRanger!

Originally Posted by JRANGER

http://www.egauges.com/vdo_ind.asp?T...SLF&PN=WH60SLF

http://www.egauges.com/vdo_mult.asp?...Series=Genesis

Originally Posted by FrankieD

How about these they look pretty slick

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/RBP-SS476/?rtype=10

Thanks for the gauge suggestions guys!

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

Those look good on there, I like it!

I'm thinking you need a second color thrown in there somewhere...

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Hey Sparkydog, the truck looks awesome! Those new wheels look great on it too! Keep at it man!

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

The new wheels look killer!

Originally Posted by fryer1979

It has been quite a while since I last read through all the progress. She sure is coming along quite nicely, very nice work and progress Sparkydog!

Thanks a lot for reading my build guys!

[tecky11]

when does it got in for the final coat of paint?

[sparkydog]

This past Friday I met the guy who is making this MGB+Corvette car:

http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,7581

Even though I thought the car looked cool just from the pictures on his blog - it was nothing compared to the real deal. The proportions of the body are really nice.

Some of the basic specs are:
1966 MGB donor body sliced down the middle and widened 11"

Engine: 1995 Camaro Z28 LT1 with Advanced Induction ported heads and cam (230/234 .576 lift), 10.9:1 compression, Comp Cams roller rockers, 54 mm throttle body and 30 lb injectors. LATEST CHANGE - adding a Vortech supercharger (8 psi) water/alcohol injection and 60 lb injectors

Cooling: 19" x 31" two row Griffin aluminum radiator with dual fan unit from 4th gen Camaro

Exhaust: Block hugger headers with 2 1/2" pipes joining into a 3" pipe behind the transmission. Flowmaster 50 series muffler mounted crosswise at the rear of the car (different than pictures show)

Transmission: T56 6 speed from the Camaro
Rear Axle: C4 Corvette Posi with 3.73 posi
Front Susp.: C4 Corvette with QA1 coilovers
Rear Susp.: C4 Corvette with QA1 coilovers

Brakes:
(master) Wilwood balance bar setup
(front) 13" C4 Corvette rotors and calipers
(rear) 12" C4 Corvette rotors and calipers

Wheels/Tires: 17 x 9 1/2" front, 17 x 11 rear Corvette ZR1 wheels.

[NONHOG]

sparkydog, been watching Jim's build on other forums. Pretty cool!
Would that not be awesome to have him as a neighbor?

[mcbassin]

Your truck gets nicer every time I check in. Good progress!

[sparkydog]

Originally Posted by tecky11

when does it got in for the final coat of paint?

Ehhhhh... If I were you I wouldn't hold my breath for final paint!

Originally Posted by NONHOG

sparkydog, been watching Jim's build on other forums. Pretty cool!
Would that not be awesome to have him as a neighbor?

Yes - he has a much nicer shop than I do and a whole lot of cool tools. Not to mention he certainly has "Balls and a Sawzall." However he does not have an upside down boat bow hanging from his ceiling (but I do!)

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Your truck gets nicer every time I check in. Good progress!

Thanks very much for following my build!

[sparkydog]

There I was... minding my own business a couple of weeks ago and I decided to clean out my s*** shed. This is a shed full of leftover parts from the build. The next thing I know I am staring at the 96 GMC front bumper and wondering what it would look like up next to Halfbreed.

[sparkydog]

One thing led to another. Fast forward to this week and I had cut up the original GM bumper enough to learn what I needed to do to get it to fit. Then I went to the wrecking yard and got another GM bumper without the trim strip.

These next pics are my all-time best McGuyver. I needed to put a little bit of persuasion on the donor bumper while I coaxed a slight wow out of it. So two cars, a boogie board and some tie-down straps became my driveway frame stretcher.

[sparkydog]

Then it was on to cutting, fit and tack welding. In the first pic you can see the 1st bumper in the background. I cut some sections out of it to help me clamp up the correct curve on the new bumper. Those are the backer plates in the 2nd pic.

And then my first of many fit checks.

[6772owner]

Cool, cant wait to see it mounted up!

[JRANGER]

wow nice work on the bumper

[1985-GMC]

That's pretty darn cool, I like it!

[FrankieD]

Nice

[NONHOG]

Wasn't too sure at first.

It works! I like it!

[jb1016]

Very nice. McGyver wishes he could've thought of that!

[6772owner]

Looks awesome, great work!

[sparkydog]

A couple of small items.

Thanks to Jeff on the Binder Planet forum I was able to get a glass lens for my backup light and put the lenses and rings back on after 2 years.

Then I figured out how to adapt the sun visors out of the GM into the truck. I had to cut and paste the mounting bosses because the IH cab ceiling is a little narrower and more rounded than the GM cab. As usual my welds are ugly but functional.

[Mr Pops]

Looks amazing! I love it

[sparkydog]

I extended the ends of the bumper tips so they would blend with the line of the wheel opening better. I also welded up 6 holes that were in the bumper. Then I ran out of flapper wheels.

[6772owner]

That looks awesome, I like how it ties in the bumper/fender/wheel opening!

[FrankieD]

Did you get your gauges yet" If not check this site .

http://www.streetrodhq.com/dept/Car/...Glove_Box.html

[sparkydog]

While the front bumper seemed to be an easy choice the rear bumper seems more complicated. The shape of the rear end of the IH truck is awkward (what else is new) and there were a number of bumper shapes that I felt would not work given the contour (or lack of one) of the sides of the truck. So I started wandering around the junk yard on Sat morning. I wanted something that was as wide or wider than the truck so that I would not have to buy another bumper to extend it. I wanted a step style bumper. I wanted it to be flush with the sides and not wrap around. I wanted it to have a top that would extend into the recess under the tailgate of the IH body.

Eventually I bought this Fwurd bumper from a late '80's truck and brought it home to play with. I tried real hard to convince myself to get something that matched up with the front bumper but in the end my functional side won out over my artistic side.

There wasn't much trimming involved to get it to tuck up correctly to the body and now I just have to fab some spacer blocks in order to be able to bolt it up to the frame rails, pass through the cutouts in the IH body and mate up with the F*** bumper brackets.

[sparkydog]

I also put some more work into cleaning off my weld lines on the front bumper. Getting smoother but still some work to do.

I have also put some time into how I am going to solve my many firewall and cowl issues. This is a shot of the beginning of a removable section for my firewall that will allow me to assemble the wiper components.