My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble

[rgunlock]

Originally, I'd planned to get a muffler shop to do this job, but once the cab was off I figured if I can manage to weld together sheet metal, how hard can an exhaust be? Got some MagnaFlow 13215 XL Turbo Satin Stainless 2.25" mufflers and a Flowtech 52525FLT manifold back 2.25" dual exhaust kit from Summit Racing. About $245 for the setup, which I imagine is a good deal less than a muffler shop would have charged. The last bend is just clamped on for now until I get the bed back on and can set the height and cut for length to add tips.

[rgunlock]

And some finishing up on the fuel system. Finally found some fuel filler hose with the right diameter and 90 degree bend from Classic Industries (PN G2663). These weren't cheap, but I wasn't having much luck finding a universal hose that would work. It was also a pain to find the little breather caps that are on the gas tanks, diffs, tranny and tcase. Having trouble finding the receipt for those to record in this thread, but I'll look a little harder if anyone is interested.

[rgunlock]

And finally, hooking it all up. I re-used the hard lines mounted to the frame. The truck came with some manual gas tank selector valve mounted in the cab floor, so I didn't know where the original electric valve was supposed to go. I just made my own mounting plate and bolted it to the crossmember for the rear cab mounts. I wanted inline fuel filters between the tanks and selector valve, so spent a couple hours in a couple of part stores opening about 50 boxes to find a couple that came with mounting brackets. Found 1 each in 2 stores, but not exactly matching. They'll do for now. I hope all this works when I finally get a chance to try to fire the engine up again!

[MTCK]

I'm not sure I'd do the swap if I didn't need to to clear my shocks. My mechanical linkage always worked great. You will have a few hundred bucks in it when all said and done if you replace the master/slave and line.
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[bilfman]

I love this build. You are doing a great job. Fish will tremble once again!!

[rgunlock]

Thanks for checking back in and for the advice Marcus. The guy who rebuilt my SM465 showed me that the input shaft was pretty badly worn and I'm thinking my clutch problems were the throwout bearing not moving smoothly on it. I don't really expect that once this restore is done, the truck will really be done so I'm sure I'll have opportunities to change things if I stick with the manual setup for now.

I appreciate the encouragement bilfman! It will still be a while before the fish are trembling as I still have all the bodywork and paint left. Then of course, I have to figure out how to rewire the truck and get the interior of the cab back together - that one has me worried!

[mjensen]

That's looking real nice!

[rgunlock]

I haven't found a media blast company close by, so I decided to get my own pressure blaster. Says it is not meant for sand blasting, but got used with sand anyway. I will say that sand is abrasive enough that I've already had 2 blowouts in the media hose, and worn away a couple of tips just blasting my cab.

[rgunlock]

Here is the worst of the rust I need to deal with. Both floorboards and lower kick panels, couple spots around windshield, and in the firewall.

[rgunlock]

With this post, I'm pretty much caught up with the highlights of my build so far. I work on the truck most weekends, but only occasionally during the week, so from here out my posts will show progress more in line with the majority of builds. Plus, spring has sprung in SE Texas so yard work chores have already begun, cutting into truck time.

Up next, rust repair on the cab. Also, the transmission I had professionally rebuilt leaks like a sieve when I put gear oil in, so I need to deal with that. I'll probably fix it myself since its already installed and it looks like most of the oil is coming from the side covers.

Last picture is a little engine bling I put on last weekend. Air cleaner is bigger than I expected, but I think it will grow on me if I let it stay

[bilfman]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

With this post, I'm pretty much caught up with the highlights of my build so far. I work on the truck most weekends, but only occasionally during the week, so from here out my posts will show progress more in line with the majority of builds. Plus, spring has sprung in SE Texas so yard work chores have already begun, cutting into truck time.

Up next, rust repair on the cab. Also, the transmission I had professionally rebuilt leaks like a sieve when I put gear oil in, so I need to deal with that. I'll probably fix it myself since its already installed and it looks like most of the oil is coming from the side covers.

Last picture is a little engine bling I put on last weekend. Air cleaner is bigger than I expected, but I think it will grow on me if I let it stay

Spring has Sprung!! I am jealous. Up here in the great white north we have record snowfall and the highways were closed for hundreds of miles, this was today Officially sick of winter.

Keep up the good work, looks great! Lotsa pride going to be in that truck, it isn't a rebuild, more like a ressurection.

[ERASER5]

I always knew Texas was big, but had no idea it extened all the way to the rust belt!

[boynton]

I was hoping to see that cab all welded up and back on the truck
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[rgunlock]

Nah, I'm not quite as young as you are and don't put the kind of hours you did into your resto I am working on it though. Knew I had a problem with the inner rocker on the passenger side behind the floor brace. Finally, after about 25 spot welds drilled out I found the extent of the problem. Also, the kick panel feeds into this corner and the lower inch of it is pretty rusted out. Trying to figure out how to cut this apart for repair without damaging the rocker, which go-figure, is pretty solid. Momma T's got me putting in raised vegetable beds with irrigation, so that is cutting into my truck time

[quadzero]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

......if anyone knows where to recycle foam peanuts let me know. I have about 30+ cubic feet of them in the boxes the inner fenders shipped in!

This is an amazing project. You sure came a long way from just wanting to get it inspected and putting it on the road. The frame and engine look like a million bucks. I like you patience for attacking all that rusted metal too. Sorry I can't help you with the foam but it made me laugh. Keep up the awesome work.

[boynton]

Tell momma T you'll be able to haul a lot more dirt with a completed truck you have a lot more work to tackle than I did. I know it will take a bit more time. Can't wait to see it cruising dow the road.
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[rgunlock]

Thanks for the compliments quadzero! Yes, this project took a whole unexpected turn, but I consider this a practice project and decided I'm willing to tackle some things I would avoid if I were looking to end up with a perfect truck.

I'm ready to be driving it as well boynton. Perhaps you need to make more frequent trips to Houston to help out Doesn't look like your project gave you any practice at all on rust repair, and you barely scratched the surface helping me with my core support

[boynton]

Haha you are right, I didn't get any practice with patching. I would love to come help, I'm just trying to find the time. You are going a great job though!!
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[78gmc1]

The builds coming along nice the frame and everything cleaned up good

[rgunlock]

Well, not a lot of progress to report for the last couple weeks on the truck. Spent a couple weekends building, plumbing and filling these vegetable beds. Did finish cutting out the cancer on the passenger side kick panel and floor. Placed an order for patch panels because there were more contours than I expected to find.

Decided to patch a relatively small area in the rear floor area where the patch panels I ordered aren't going to reach. Was going pretty well until right at the end when I burned out a big hole (typical for me). I'll probably cut all that back out and re-patch a larger area. Aren't you supposed to get better with practice???

[mjensen]

Are you done yet?

[rgunlock]

Not hardly!! I did get around to cutting out a bit more floor and kick panel so the patch panels will be easier to fit today after yard work. Tomorrow is truck day, so hope to get at least one side of the floor done. Pics tomorrow evening (I hope)

[Bomp]

Read your comment on Bompensteins build. It peaked my curiosity so I moseyed on over here to take a gander.
I see patch panels in your future. You can do it. I'll be watchin'
Subscribed.

[rgunlock]

Thanks for checking in Bomp! Your crystal ball is apparently tuned in properly Spent pretty much the whole afternoon patching the passenger side kick panel. Spent about 1.5 hours just cutting and fitting the patch panel. 1st picture just has enough of it cut off to be able to lay it over the patch area. Then a couple of passes of trimming it down until it just overlapped the hole by about an inch. Since I couldn't trace the edge of the hole on the back of the patch, I traced the shape of the final patch onto the face of the kick panel. Cut that out and drilled a couple more spot welds, and had a patch that fit pretty darn well, if I say so myself Tacked it in, then took member DWCR's advice and rather than split the distance and tack again like I usually do, I started the new tacks slightly overlapping the edge of the previous tack weld. Worked much better. Ground the welds down, touched a couple of spots and grind some more. Ended up with still a few small gaps/holes, but I was afraid I'd blow them out if I tried to weld anymore. Any case, this is one of my better patches so far, and I'll figure out how to make it look better later.

By the way the cab is sitting on its back on a dolly, so these picture are actually taken from "under" the truck through the gaping hole I've cut out of the floor. I've got that patch, and it will be my next effort.

[jon75]

As you have said, welding is practice, practice, practice. It also helps that you are working with the same material so you can hone your skills. I would suspect that your welder heat setting is too high or that you are holding it too long at the end of your welds. If you don't have a lower setting, try moving a little faster at the end or you can simply use spot-weld technique to patch in small areas. Good luck!