My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble

[rgunlock]

Originally Posted by boynton

I thought you had a manual? Do you still run a neutral safety switch on the column?

I am running a manual. Maybe its not actually called a neutral safety switch, but there is a switch that attaches to the clutch pedal that I'm pretty sure will prevent starting if you haven't pressed in the pedal. I had a heck of a time finding a replacement for this which is why I ended up with an old NOS switch from ebay.

[cmabolt]

Hey Rick. I bet that's your issue. My 72 Did not have one installed with my manual. It did come with wiring on the AAW kit, but I bypassed. You could also use this NSW wiring to add a security feature like switch or something obscurely located. This would ensure the truck is immobile unless you get in and flip the hidden switch. I also thought about putting a keyed switch somewhere that is accessible on the outside of the truck, but would allow you to essentially kill the truck when your away from it.

For now, I'm sure just starting and driving would be good.
Chris

[rgunlock]

If the switch turns out to be bad, I'll definitely just bypass for the time being. I'd guess to bypass I just need to run a jumper between the 2 sides of the NSS connector on my AAW kit.

That's a good idea about using it as a kill switch. I do have an external kill switch set up, but if 1 is good 2 must be better

[cmabolt]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

If the switch turns out to be bad, I'll definitely just bypass for the time being. I'd guess to bypass I just need to run a jumper between the 2 sides of the NSS connector on my AAW kit.

That's a good idea about using it as a kill switch. I do have an external kill switch set up, but if 1 is good 2 must be better

Yup, just run a connector between the two sides. Worked fine.

[rgunlock]

Turns out that the neutral safety switch was OK. Problem was that pushing in the clutch pedal shoved a bunch of unsecured wiring back, pulling the connector off the switch Truck starts fine with the key once I rearranged some of the wiring rats nest under the dash. I've still got to run AC ducts and do some insulating up under there so I'd been holding off cleaning that up. Also received the electric choke I'd ordered from quadrajetparts.com, but turns out the AAW kit doesn't include the correct 'L' connector, so had to order one and that project will be on hold til it shows up.

Also spent a bunch of time troubleshooting my backup lamps. Started at the switch in the SM465 and worked my way back. Should have started at the back - the bulb sockets that came with the AAW harness are pretty worthless. One of those deals where a) they don't want to hold into the taillight housing very well, and b) the bulb has to be in exactly the right spot to work. Flick the bulb a bit and it goes out. Ended up cutting those sockets out and using my original ones. Works fine now

Got my kids to help and was able to get the hood mounted. Also learned how to unlatch the hood without damaging anything if the interior hood release handle doesn't work. Of course, it helps if you pull the "hood release" handle rather than the e-brake release I think the new rubber bumpers along the top edge of the fenders is holding the hood a little high. Hope that will settle a little over time. Also mounted the rest of the mouldings, so other than a little fiddling the exterior is DONE!!!

Dang it's tough to find a good looking repro grille for these GMCs! Found one at Brothers that looks like the one already on my truck - in chrome rather than gray, silver or black that all the regular shops have. $90 sounded ok, so ordered but its on back-order with no estimate of when they'll have it.

Enjoy the SuperBowl, and the time with family & friends even if you're like me and could care less about either team.

[MTCK]

That looks amazing!!!

[7dee2]

Looks great Rick! What a game, jeez louweez!

[rgunlock]

Originally Posted by MTCK

That looks amazing!!!

Originally Posted by 7dee2

Looks great Rick! What a game, jeez louweez!

Thanks! It's beginning to feel like its all been worth the effort

[boynton]

Fantastic

[swamp rat]

More than worth the effort, its beautiful!

[Greenlee]

The truck looks awesome!

[rgunlock]

Originally Posted by boynton

Fantastic

Originally Posted by swamp rat

More than worth the effort, its beautiful!

Originally Posted by Greenlee

The truck looks awesome!

Thank you! Truck made it out of the shop, down the street, around the cul-de-saq and back on its own power this weekend. Twice actually. Pulling back into the drive when I spot my wife standing there glaring at me - how dare I make the maiden voyage without taking her along? So she climbs in the passenger side, takes a seat on the floor since I didn't have a second concrete block in there for a passenger and up and down the street we go

So the truck did ok. Doesn't want to stay running on its own until it gets fully warmed up. Couldn't get it to shift into 1st. Guess my stick rebuild needs a little tweeking. Brakes worked fine, but I didn't try any hard stops or from any real speed. Steering feels odd, no resistance at all to help hold the wheel centered, but that may just be something I have to get used to again. Also the front end is just eye-ball aligned for now. Clutch pedal feels like it has about 1 foot of travel - need to figure out whether adjustment is needed. But she runs and drives!!!

[7dee2]

Very Kool!

[cmabolt]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

Thank you! Truck made it out of the shop, down the street, around the cul-de-saq and back on its own power this weekend. Twice actually. Pulling back into the drive when I spot my wife standing there glaring at me - how dare I make the maiden voyage without taking her along? So she climbs in the passenger side, takes a seat on the floor since I didn't have a second concrete block in there for a passenger and up and down the street we go

So the truck did ok. Doesn't want to stay running on its own until it gets fully warmed up. Couldn't get it to shift into 1st. Guess my stick rebuild needs a little tweeking. Brakes worked fine, but I didn't try any hard stops or from any real speed. Steering feels odd, no resistance at all to help hold the wheel centered, but that may just be something I have to get used to again. Also the front end is just eye-ball aligned for now. Clutch pedal feels like it has about 1 foot of travel - need to figure out whether adjustment is needed. But she runs and drives!!!

Congrats! Congrats! Congrats! Rick. Huge milestone. I got the same response from my little lady. I had to do the, "backing out of the garage," ritual a second time so she could take video and start posting stuff all over god knows where... of it's unveiling. Just as I had to chase down several gremlins, it seems to come with the territory. No way in hell to remember every adjustment, every bolt to tighten, etc., etc.

Enjoy....sounds like she's almost road worthy.
Chris

[MTCK]

Congrats that is too cool! All the quirks sound exactly like my 77 K10 with a SM465 pre fuel injection. Post fuel injection it all stayed the same except you can get in it and go on a cold start hahaha.

[Brettgun]

It's looking awesome Rick. You are so close, your first road trip is in sight!

-Brett

[boynton]

It's a great day!

[rgunlock]

Originally Posted by 7dee2

Very Kool!

Thanks Brett!

Originally Posted by cmabolt

Congrats! Congrats! Congrats! Rick. Huge milestone. I got the same response from my little lady. I had to do the, "backing out of the garage," ritual a second time so she could take video and start posting stuff all over god knows where... of it's unveiling. Just as I had to chase down several gremlins, it seems to come with the territory. No way in hell to remember every adjustment, every bolt to tighten, etc., etc.

Enjoy....sounds like she's almost road worthy.
Chris

Thank you Chris! The challenge now will be to get to work on the gremlins when I'd really rather be working on the interior.

Originally Posted by MTCK

Congrats that is too cool! All the quirks sound exactly like my 77 K10 with a SM465 pre fuel injection. Post fuel injection it all stayed the same except you can get in it and go on a cold start hahaha.

Thanks Marcus! I should be able to do better with the Q-Jet, but it obviously needs more tuning.

Originally Posted by Brettgun

It's looking awesome Rick. You are so close, your first road trip is in sight!

-Brett

Thanks Brett! Cool that I got your first post. Glad you've been watching, but likely to still be a while before I'm confident enough to make a road trip to NC - maybe after a few shorter ones

Originally Posted by boynton

It's a great day!

Yes, it was - thanks!

I've already decided that the concrete block is NOT going to provide a reasonable level of comfort for longer trips, so I've already torn down the old bench. I've got upholstery and new foam, but it looks like I'll also need some new springs.

BTW, what are the odds that I'd be responding to 3 Brett's in 1 post?

[rgunlock]

Kind of late getting my update posted, but nothing terribly interesting. Not interesting can be very time consuming though! Spent several hours on a creeper under the truck cleaning up all the wiring for the taillight and fuel harnesses. Final routing now that I know the circuits work, cutting and re-splicing to length, getting the wires into conduit and securing to frame, etc. Hard to get good pics under there, so just a token. Also started connecting everything up for the stereo head unit connection. Got some work to do here still.

[quadzero]

Fantastic work, I can use these as references for the future when I get this far along. Perhaps I missed it from an earlier post but what did you coat the transmission cover plate with? Keep up with the great non-interesting progress!

[rgunlock]

Thanks for checking in quadzero.

What you see on the transmission hump and the rest of the cab floor is U-Pol Raptor Liner. I'll go over the top of that with whatever sound deadener and heat insulation I come up with - still researching that.

[cochino12]

just started following along, looking good!!!

[rgunlock]

Thanks Adam! Only progress on small things last couple of weeks. I'm still trying to decide what products I want to use for insulation and sound deadening. Also, a few months ago I bought foam and upholstery to redo my bench. Come to find out, I've apparently got an 81-87 bench which is not the same as 73-80, so I'm on the hunt for a new bench.

I have done some work shimming the bed and working on getting better fit and alignment on my trim. Repainted the GMC in the tailgate band - came out much better this time.

Also working on the stereo. Ended up getting classiccarstereos.com USA-630 so I needed to fix my radio opening. This was kind of a PIA and isn't too pretty but I think it will work. I'll have to do some paint touchup inside now. I didn't realize that the opening for the heat/ac stuck out beyond the dash bezel so far. I guess subconsciously I thought I had that much space when grinding and masking for primer - oops!

Also mounted my corner speakers in brackets I got from member BigBlock73. I've made all the connections for the stereo harness, but the head unit isn't powering on so I'll be troubleshooting that this afternoon.

[quadzero]

Really looking forward to the finished dash. Are you going to run amps as well?

[7dee2]

Very nice!