Ackattack's Pro touring restoration thread

[Ackattack]

Oh, I came up with a name for my truck. Bruiser! Cause it's going to black blue and grey. I'm thinking I'm going to paint it a color called Blue Granite Metallic.

I "borrowed" a picture of a sweet looking truck to make a rendering!

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Ackattack

I got the headers off of ebay. They're stainless steel and were only $350. They look good. My only complaint is that the bolting flange is a little off, so I'll have to fix that. These are the same brand of headers I also have on my corvette. Clearance is going to be tight, but they should work. I can't tell 100% until I get the tranny in place. My biggest concern with them is clearance for the frame mounted shift linkage thing from the steering column. The headers do tuck up nicely though!

Maybe you could use one of the Lokar (or maybe it was Ididit) column shift cable set-ups to aid in the header clearance issue.

[Ackattack]

I had a 4 day weekend, so I finally able to make some good headway. My goal was to get the truck on 4 wheels. I didn't quite get there, but I'm close.

I realized that one of my hold ups was going to be powder coating some of the pieces, so I got that all ready to go, then I realized that my coating gun had broke some how (hadn't used it since I moved, and it somehow got broke in the move). Little modification, and I was back in business.

Let's see:

I got the ring and pinion installed into the rearend with the new posi unit. I reused the 4.11 gears that it originally housed, as well as the original pinion shims and carrier spacers (no shims in there). I installed all new bearings and seals. I'm using a 1350 series pinion yoke. This created a few problems. First the pinion nut that it came with was a 1 5/16" nut. So I got a new socket. Well the stupid socket wouldn't fit down into the yoke! The pinion nut that came with the bearings was basically too small. What to do? Well I went and got a big washer that fit over the pinion splines. Of course the OD was too big to fit into the yoke too.....but it was nothing a little bench grinder couldn't fix. So I then torqued the pinion nut down until I had 25in lbs of running torque (good thing I got a dial torque wrench from work ). Then I put the ring gear and diff in. Back lash was right around .008" and the pattern looked good, so hopefully it will run well. We'll see in a few years! I'm going to see about getting a new cover that has preloads for the bearing caps.

Why didn't I get the rearend all together? Well I'm putting in longer wheel studs. I got some moroso wheel studs from the local parts store. They're not an exact fit, so I'm drilling out the axles a little so they will fit. I have to use a 5/8" drill bit and my drill is acting up a little (I've used and abused it for 3 years...it's a craftsman 19.2V pretty good....but maybe it can't quite take all the abuse I throw at it). Anyways...I got one axle done and I'll finish the other axle up this week. I'll have to check on the parts number for the wheel studs if others are interested....I know it's been a topic of discussion on here.



I put the front suspension together. As I'm putting it together, I realize I installed the lower control arm shafts backwards, so I had to redo that. Then I assembled the air bags onto the plates and cups. I had to cut the lower control arm bumpstop mount off. I think I did a boo boo and cut the whole thing off, so now there isn't a steering stop. I'll ask in the suspension forum to see if I need to weld it back on...or if it's necessary. Then I put the upper a arms in. I got these cheaper ball joints from summit. I'm not impressed with them at all. I easily stripped out two of the nuts on the upper ball joint, and then when I went to tighten the castel nuts, the shafts just spun. Also, the lower one isn't the right size, since the spindle wouldn't fully seat. I had to get another lower ball joint, cause I messed up when I originally installed them, and I got a moog. Guess I'll be getting all moog now... much better quality...and I haven't even driven the thing. So the front suspension is temporarily done.





Oh yeah. For right now I used some old rotors that I had laying around. I didn't bother with the brakes either. These are temporary until I figure out what I'm doing with the front brakes.

Back to the rear.

I got the caliper hats and brackets powder coated. I'm going to get the actual caliper polished. Hope it will be a nice combo.





I finished up the welding on the other C-notch

Then I put the airbags in. I need to get longer bolts to go through the trailing arms. Also, the top of the bags aren't bolted in. I notched out the crossmember a little for the air fitting clearance. I don't really like this cause it puts the center line of each end of the bag slightly offset. What are others doing here?





So this is what it looks like now...with no air in it. Frame is about 7" off the ground.

[cstm68]

why did you weld the control arms ??

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by cstm68

why did you weld the control arms ??

huh?

[cstm68]

Originally Posted by Ackattack

got the frame painted with POR 15 today. 2 coats of the por 15, and 1 coat of chasis black. Also did the axle housing.







I also welded one side of the control arms. I was very impressed that my welder could keep up with welding continously for as long as it took me. I'll do the other side too.

this

[Ackattack]

oh....I thought you were talking about this week's progress

I welded them in hopes of making them stronger....less flex. I'm not sure how much it helped, but figure it can't hurt.

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by cstm68

this

rigidity... Stiffens up the arm a bit...
At least thats my guess.

[cstm68]

oh ok thanx

i thoght you were going all out and smoothing the suspention!!

[Ackattack]

Well I got the axles installed with the brake rotors....I used the Summit drilled and slotted ones. I did not have to have them machined like I thought I was going to have to.



Then I put the wheels on it to finally make it a roller!



that lasted for about 10 min...no longer a roller

I tore the front suspension back apart to replace the crappy ball joints. I went to put in the new moog ball joint and now the hole in the lower control arm is too big!!!! So now i don't know what I'm going to do. Probably pull a lower control arm off the parts truck...damn it...I had sand blasting!

[gringoloco]

Moog has 'Problem Solver' lower balljoints that are oversized for this exact scenario...

[68 short step]

common problem, moog has the fix tho..

[Ackattack]

No pics for today, but I got the new upper ball joints installed, and I began to get the holes drilled for the rear air bags. But again the drill is acting up. I actually think its the charger....I'll have to use my buddies, who has the same drill to see if its the battery, charger, or drill.

I also ordered a new oversized lower ball joint. Hopefully it will solve the problem.

[poncho_villa]

Well......It's been almost a month now!.....Any new progress??

[RoadDog]

Originally Posted by poncho_villa

Well......It's been almost a month now!.....Any new progress??

My question exactly... We are all curious

[Ackattack]

It's been slow. I got the rear bags mounted, I also am getting a lower control arm shipped to me. I have the week off between christmas and new years and have a list of things I want to get done.

What's been slowing me down is we finished the "bonus room" above the garage....made it into a home theater: 96" screen and 7.1 surround sound

[NONHOG]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

Moog has 'Problem Solver' lower balljoints that are oversized for this exact scenario...

I welded mine in years back , nobody said anything about "Problem solver"
Oh well the guy who bought it is the guy who told me to weld them .
He can't complain about the PO on that issue .

[Ackattack]

Well over christmas break I've made a little progress. The main work has been on my 72 GMC, so I'll just show a quick before and after

Before:



After:



On the 68, I finally got a lower control arm. DHL only took an extra week to deliver it! (little ticked about that, but what can you do) I got it taken apart, and hopefully I'll sand blast and paint it tommorrow.

I pulled the steering componenets off of my parts truck, so I need to get new tie rod ends ordered here ASAP.

I moved the "new" cab into the garage with the help of some friends:


And then proceeded to remove the drivers side rocker panel.


Looks like I'll be needing inner and outer rocker panels, cab corners, floor pan, kick panels, lower a-pillar, and cab supports (pretty much everything right??? At least on the drivers side. I assume the passenger side will be the same.

I then removed all of the crap that won't be needed, like the heating componenets, radio, wiring, etc.





So I have some work to do

[Ackattack]

Back in business!

I finally got the control arm sand blasted, repainted, and assembled. So once again I have a rolling chasis.

I also installed some of the steering linkage. I got new inner and outer tie rods, sleeves, and idler arm. I'm going to clean up and repaint the power steering gear box and see if that will work without leaking.....otherwise I'll replace it later.

I also got the whole "cab repair kit" (floor pans, kick panel, cab corner, inner and outer rockers, A-pillar, and cab supports) so now I can start chopping and welding on the cab.

[Ackattack]

I haven't posted much on here lately....been kinda slow going, though I have been working on the truck.

I shaved the drip rail along both sides of the doors, and have started along the top of the cab. It's a slow process of grinding and welding so that the sheets of metal don't seperate. I'll get some better pictures, but here is one of the progress.



I got a new pitman arm, but the pickle fork I borrowed from autozone is too small, so I guess I can't call my steering complete yet.

I installed the rear parking brake cables. I used the cables from a camaro to match the calipers. I have the intermediate cable on its way.

The brake lines are about ready to go on. I cleaned them up from the parts truck along with the little brackets that bolt them to the frame. I'll need to go get a tubing cutter and some additional tubing. I also need to figure out what I'm going to do to actually connect the lines to the rear calipers. I got the stainless steel brake lines from ECE awhile ago.

Oh, I also opened up the hole on the rear rotors so they fully seat on the axle flange.

Got the patch panels for the filler neck hole and the 3 for the heater holes welded in. I still have some clean up grinding to do on the firewall as well as fill in a lot more smaller holes. I forgot pictures of that progress though.

Then yesterday I started cutting metal out of the floor. I started with the inner rocker/cab piece. This is a real nice piece that runs from the front seam all the way to the back of the cab. I also put in the kick panel patch. Now, I still have some more floor to replace, so that's why the front of this piece looks goofy. I'm not going to have to replace the bottom of the door pillar, so why it was apart I cleaned it up and put on a coate of POR15 to protect it.

[Rokcrln]

Looks like good progress you have their! I just saw those inner rockers about 2months ago here on this site. They sure are nicer then the regular flat one that only comes to the top of the flor and stops! I tanked with Stan at ECE and he did some checking and found they call this piece the "outer floor extention" and not just the inner rocker for anyone needing them. From now on this is the only way I will be going, it just makes things that much easier. Keep the pics comming!

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by Rokcrln

Looks like good progress you have their! I just saw those inner rockers about 2months ago here on this site. They sure are nicer then the regular flat one that only comes to the top of the flor and stops! I tanked with Stan at ECE and he did some checking and found they call this piece the "outer floor extention" and not just the inner rocker for anyone needing them. From now on this is the only way I will be going, it just makes things that much easier. Keep the pics comming!

Kevin
LFD Inc.

That's some good info as I need 4 of them, .

[Ackattack]

Well, I had every intention of getting a lot of work done today. I go out to the garage, do a little cutting to get the back edge of the piece refered to above to sit down nice and flush. Then I start welding, and the welds look like crap....check the guages on the gas bottle for the MIG....0...doh! So I make a phone call, and find that one of the welding places is open on Saturdays. Meanwhile my wife is on the phone with our friends and they want to meet up to talk about going on a vacation. So we go get the gas, then meet with them and end up eating dinner with them after discussing vacations. On our way home we make a pit stop at autozone to return the pickle fork and got the correct pitman arm puller.

When I got home I pulled off the pitman arm real quick (man it was easy with the right tool).

Then I got on the internet to do some reading....I'm in the process of tuning my corvette with HPtuner...so I'm learning (will also apply the same knowledge to the 5.3L when I get it up and running...so it's a good education). So after figuring out what I was doing wrong, we made an ice cream run to test out the new tune. And now I"m back....and its 11pm......maybe tomorrow.

Oh yeah, here very shortly progress on the truck is going to slow down even more (is that possible?) I'm taking the Professional Engineers Exam in April, so I'll be spending time studying for that. Oh, and when I'm not studying, I'll be working out cause we're going to Hawaii on our vacation (see above ) Can't go to Hawaii with the extra winter padding....don't need it for warmth over there.

Hopefully I'll still be able to get a few hours of work on the truck in on the weekends as a study break.

[slammed1]

I really like your project and its progress so far. I am liking your home brew c-notch also and I built mine just like it except higher in the frame for more clearance and boxed the frame on the backside of the notch also.

After seeing all these builds and the air bagged trucks I may just have to convert my 5-8 static drop to air in due time.


I will check progress.

[Ackattack]

Picked up a 4l60e last night for $300. Not too bad. It's out of a 98 T/A with 67k miles.

So now I can finally put the engine in, modify the frame rail for cleance for the power steering pully and modify the tranny crossmember for exhaust clearance if needed.

First, I have to get me engine hoist back from a guy who I let borrow it