Mikey's 77 shortbox - Greenie

[mikentosh]

...and finally made it to the cab and bed swap...

[wesmigletz]

Awesome work. I enjoy following your build. Thank you for sharing.

[ShortHaul]

Love this truck! Are you planning on having it back out to C10Intervention this year? By the way you’ve been nominated for truck of the month, and you’re currently in the lead!

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by ShortHaul

Love this truck! Are you planning on having it back out to C10Intervention this year? By the way you’ve been nominated for truck of the month, and you’re currently in the lead!

Yep, if the intervention happens then we'll be there with this one and a couple of others that we've been wrenching on the last few months.

Very cool about being nominated for ToTM! Since this build thread still hasn't caught up to current progress I'll drop a teaser photo of the current state.

[lolife99]

Sorry if you’ve already mentioned it, but what’s the specs on your wheel and tire combo?
Truck looks awesome

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Sorry if you’ve already mentioned it, but what’s the specs on your wheel and tire combo?
Truck looks awesome

Wheels are from The Wheelsmith and are their OEM replicas in "triple chrome". Prior to the chassis swap I was running:

Front: 15"x8" with 4" backspace, 245/60R15
Rear: 15"x10" with 5" backspace, 295/50R15

After the swap (like in that last picture above):

Front & Rear: 15"x10" with 5" backspace, 295/50R15

It took a lot of work (and some spacers) to get the 10s all around on this truck but I really like the "square setup on a square" look 😃

[lolife99]

I didn’t think it was possible to get a 15” wheel with a 5” backspace up front.
I had a set and they hit the control arm.
What’s the secret to making them fit?

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by lolife99

I didn’t think it was possible to get a 15” wheel with a 5” backspace up front.
I had a set and they hit the control arm.
What’s the secret to making them fit?

Yep they won't work on a stock chassis. We had to shave down the lower ball joint cup on the chopping block control arm, plus their track width is (I believe) 1.25" narrower per side, and I'm running 1/2" spacers...form over function LOL

Everything clears and there is no rubbing, but turning radius is not very good (some would say terrible).

[tinydb84]

Ive stopped by a few times during his build and I have to say his level of detail in all his builds is nothing but top notch. I honestly feel like I don't know what I am doing when I look over his work.

[rodstored-72]

Mikey, very cool build thread.... I am glad that I read through it. now you guys have to do one on the blue truck from Dino's!

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

Mikey, very cool build thread.... I am glad that I read through it. now you guys have to do one on the blue truck from Dino's!

I have a thread on the blue truck we had at Dino's, but it hasn't been updated since when we completed the Cannonball truck in 2016: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=684425

[mikentosh]

Engine bay is finally complete!

[mikentosh]

Got the factory jack and tools to fit with the modified fenders 😃

[evan]

You did too good a job! Nobody will have a clue what they're looking at.

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by evan

You did too good a job! Nobody will have a clue what they're looking at.

LOL yeah so true. There were a lot of questions from people when we had it at Dino's last weekend.

Speaking of that...a few photos from our booth at the Git Down.

[mikentosh]

I had the interior apart again to finish wiring up a hidden stereo, so I took the opportunity to add a few more factory options.

First up is the (U16) Tachometer...

[mikentosh]

...saw this ad for (K30) factory speed and cruise control in the parts section, so I took a chance on retrofitting it.

I had to design up some custom brackets to adapt the cruise servo to this motor, as the factory rear throttle/cruise bracket doesn't work with the vortec-style intake mounting. Rest of the install was pretty straight forward with the exception of having to drill a 1 5/16" hole through the freshly painted firewall haha. I also couldn't find a correct length upper speedo cable being reproduced, so I had one made up by speedometercablesusa.com, which was nice as they added the factory grommet to it so I didn't have to wrestle that afterwards...

[mikentosh]

...also finished out the front Silverado appearance with the (V22) deluxe grille.

Luckily Jeff (azpartslocators) had a set of the grille trim still, so he polished them up and sent them over. I masked them up and sprayed the centers trim black.

It's a subtle detail but I like the layered stainless/chrome look.

[cheyenne402]

I love this truck. I'm kinda odd tho, I like the straight six in it

[Corts60]

You still continue to blow me away with your details and quality. Great job on the cruise control! Where did you get your tachometer? It looks perfect.

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by Corts60

You still continue to blow me away with your details and quality. Great job on the cruise control! Where did you get your tachometer? It looks perfect.

Thanks! I ended up putting together two tach clusters mixed from OE parts and new stuff from LMC. Not sure what to do with the second one yet...perhaps for the next project 😊

[mikentosh]

Well over the holidays I had the truck back apart again to put in a new steering rack I got from Flaming River. The reasoning behind this was an attempt to get more turning angle with a longer travel rack. These 79-93 racks that Flaming River builds in-house have about one inch of additional travel over a standard Fox-body rack. They also use the better o-ring style fittings from the newer cars, and come pressure tested.

I was hoping to keep this a bolt-in swap, but the one downside to these racks IMO is they feature Flaming River's "power" connection input shaft, instead of a standard 3/4 36-spline shaft. This meant a minimum of a new lower u-joint...but once the new rack was in the truck I found there to be more interference problems with my steering shaft setup. I ended up redoing most of the steering linkage, and also clearancing the frame some more.

While I was in there I also swapped the generic power steering hoses with some new ones that I made up from Earls pressure hose and fittings. The generic ones were far too long for this application and I had concerns about stress from the severe bends to get it lined up, so the fresh hose was an added bonus.

The end result was well worth the effort, as I've regained most of the original turning radius. No more 3-point manoeuvres just to get into a parking spot. An added bonus is the new rack is significantly smoother than the reman unit that I had in prior.

[mikentosh]

The wide tire/wheel setup is subtle until you’ve got the fronts angled out.

[STOCKISH]

Looks killer!

[SCOTI]

Agreed. Nice that the steering rack change yielded increased turning ability.