Project: Recycle

[SCOTI]

Still at it. Been working on solidifying the bed structure.

I have the bedside support rods sorted out. Rears are done & installed. For the fronts, I using some OBS parts. I have them mocked up in place & need to finish the modifications to get them bolted in 100%. With just the F/R 'sub-frame' arrangement I came up w/along w/the bed support rods chinched down, the bed feels very tight & that's w/o floor or tubs installed yet.

I have some help headed my way again since my buddys young-guns will be home from school for the weekend. So to get one more question answered for the 'puzzle' I swapped out the rear housing for a narrower Ford 9". Measurements say the wheel/tires will fit & have .500" clearance on the outside sidewalls once the bed is dropped onto the frame.

We'll swap the bed into place to verify the changes made over the last 2wks of work progress. Then, the bed goes back on the cart so I can finalize/finish fab work on the bed mounts, bed floor sub-frames, & the last of the stainless exhaust . . …...

[aggie91]

That "new" 9" looks familiar...

Nice progress!

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by aggie91

That "new" 9" looks familiar...

Nice progress!

Yes sir. It's been sitting on j-stands for a day or two
Thank You!

[pdxhall]

Great work. I'm liking the 9".

[SCOTI]

Thanks guys! Got everything staged & once the guys arrived we had the bed swapped onto the frame in minutes. The support rods definitely helped solidify things when grabbing the sheet metal while moving it around.

Numbers came out to what was expected & calculated. There's enough clearance @ the outer sidewall that it shouldn't rub but it's close. Ideally, I would prefer the wheel/tire farther out but that would require chopping the bedsides up more than I wanted to.

The rear bed mount holes aligned as desired. Only concern we noted was the gap between the front of the bed & the cab. It seems the gap was/is tighter @ the bottom vs. the top. I took some measurements after the guys left to see if anything stood out. The dimensions are different but that's expected since the frame is sitting @ ride height w/rake (4.5" @ front cab mount; 5" @ rear cab mount). That being said, we temporarily shimmed things so I could get an idea of what is needed & decide on a cure.....

[SCOTI]

Additional views....

[smbrouss70]

It looks great! That's a nice low ride height. Did you air it out? I'm curious how low it goes with all of your modifications.

[lolife99]

Looks good!!!

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

It looks great! That's a nice low ride height. Did you air it out? I'm curious how low it goes with all of your modifications.

It should touch the pavement under the cab similar to my Dually. I thought about playin around w/that but my friends stopped by just to help move the bed & I didn't want to keep them longer than necessary.

[TA_C10]

Subbed.

[N2TRUX]

Meticulous as ever. Looks fantastic Scoti.

[TA_C10]

Finally made it through your whole build SCOTI, lot of excellent detail and top notch work man. But you know I gotta give my fellow texan some chit haha.

Is this rust holes I see???

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Finally made it through your whole build SCOTI, lot of excellent detail and top notch work man. But you know I gotta give my fellow texan some chit haha.

Is this rust holes I see???

Yep & I'm not worried about it one bit. Pretty sure it will bother me even less once all the insulation & carpet is on top of it. It's not nor will it ever be a show truck. The only reason the interior tin was painted was to better match the interior fabrics/colors. It will likely spend the rest of it's life w/me under a roof so I'm betting whatever rust it has won't get much worse which is still a lot better than others I've owned.

[aggie91]

Just do my sloppy version of rust repair on that area and you won't getting your pad under your carpet wet if driving in the rain..

Before:


After:



For those asking what I used...Yes, that is aluminum foil tape commonly used in HVAC duct work installations...At least my feet won't get wet!...

its not a permanent fix, I am just not doing rust repair on this truck now. Only suspension and drive train because I want to drive it!

[SCOTI]

Any holes in the floor 'footing' surfaces were epoxied. The footwells were going to get sealed just like pictured (thanks aggie91). I'm not interested in removing every bit of rust the cab has. The bad stuff will be taped over to seal moisture out yet make future repairs less of a hassle should I decide to go that route. Nothing worse than having to remove a bunch of previous patch-work to start a repair.

[watahyahknow]

you need to add a layer of cardboard and then tape it again so you add some structure to it or you wear through the tape in no time

[SCOTI]

And another round of trial fitting the bed to the chassis.

After the last trial fit, I welded up the front bed mounts that were just tacked together & did some clearance work on the holes for the bolts. I also 'trued' up all of the cross-sills in relation to each other as well as side to side (for consistency). With that done, I thought I was ready to weld-up my floor/base subfames. However, I became concerned & ultimately bogged down w/the what-if's. I decided we needed one more trial fit to ensure the changes didn't mess things up somewhere I wasn't expecting.

Once my super dependable, young-gun, 'Dynamic Duo' & their pops arrived this weekend, we dropped the bed down on the frame again w/no issues. We did a string-line pull off of the trim & verified gaps were consistent side to side. I decided to leave the bed sheet-metal in place for now which will allow for some time to think, envision, & investigate the next steps.

After they left, I wanted to get a better visual of how the floor will look. Since I had the OE wood still in the shop & it's basically already cut to fit, I decided to install it for some motivation & a 'better' preview....

[SCOTI]

Next on my agenda for the floor build is accessibility. I've been debating on building the floor frame to allow top-side access for maintenance/repairs. I have been plotting out a center frame that lifts like a trunk or hood would to allow access to the fuel system, differential, exhaust, shocks, & electronics. Of course, this is not new territory as many have built center floor sections that are hinged & raise up.

I'm not building a high-end truck; but I am building a functional one. I've come up w/a basic (primitive?) hinge idea for the floor to pivot on & will likely just use prop rods over a gas strut (or current trend of air cylinders) prop to keep it propped open.

Now I'm on to the fuel system. My current tank is a modified, new, re-pop Blazer unit which would work fine for most. But, I'm 99% sure I'll be running a TBI or manifold EFI set-up (Holley Terminator or Edelbrock Pro-Flo) so I'm concerned about fuel pump survival. My NEEDs:

*I'd like to be able to drop the tank easily w/o having to remove the bed
*I want a similar size tank (not interested in a 15/16gal alum replacement)
*I want some sort of baffling & an in-tank fuel pump set-up
*I don't want to go broke on a gas tank or the fuel delivery set-up

So, I mocked up the current tank to see what direction to go.

One of the previous mods was raising the tank so that it fits within the rails & was 2" higher. That was when the build it was getting used on was going to have a steel floor. With the wood floor set-up, I'm not liking the idea of sectioning the cross-sill the amount required to raise the tank into the rails vs. under. But, this truck also has the rails raised 3" where the other build did not. So, technically, the tank is even higher now than it would have been before on the other build. This week, I'm pulling some tape & getting some dimensions to reference against pics of trucks w/factory bumpers to make sure that it doesn't hang below the bottom edge of the bumpers line of sight. Currently the bottom of the Blazer tank sits ~6.5 - 7" off the road @ ride height if bolted like factory under the rails....

[SCOTI]

Another view from the side. You can see the wood spacers holding the tank in position but it's hard to get back far enough for a good shot of the tank-bottom...

[mongocanfly]

Truck looks great Scoti

[TA_C10]

Looking good man. Here is what I did with my tank and I'm sending you this for your question of baffling and efi in blazer/burb tank. It's what I would call a middle of the road solution. Not expensive, but not cheapest method either. Little bit of fabrication.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=105

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Looking good man. Here is what I did with my tank and I'm sending you this for your question of baffling and efi in blazer/burb tank. It's what I would call a middle of the road solution. Not expensive, but not cheapest method either.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=105

Thank you sir!

[smbrouss70]

I'm planning on doing something similar as TA_C10, but using a 99-03 Silverado fuel pump module. It is tall enough for the 13" deep Blazer tanks and you can buy them at any LAPS in the country. All you need is a mounting ring to weld to the tank, like this one from VetteWorks. I made my own since it's pretty simple and saved a few bucks. GM did a good job in the engineering of their pump modules, it will keep the bucket, where the pump is, full even when the tank level is below the top of the bucket. I plan on it supplying a Corvette filter/regulator then deadheading to a Holley Sniper.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Truck looks great Scoti

Much appreciated!

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Looking good man. Here is what I did with my tank and I'm sending you this for your question of baffling and efi in blazer/burb tank. It's what I would call a middle of the road solution. Not expensive, but not cheapest method either. Little bit of fabrication.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=105

I remembered your install. Thanks for the link as a reminder & for sharing the documentation of the install for us. I made notes & even came up w/additional improvement ideas (stainless parts & additional baffling).

My concern after researching, is these retro-fit set-ups still seem to keep the pump running constant thus heating the fuel (from the heat generated by the pump constantly running @ full speed). Obviously, being submerged is going to help a lot vs an external pump. I'm still trying to figure out what (if anything) the engineers did to help compensate in newer set-ups (think pre-GEN IV LS).

I know the GEN V LS set-ups started using PWM control of the pump. This modulates/runs the pump only as hard as it needs to maintain the required pressure vs. a set/full speed. This apparently really helps extend fuel pump life while minimizing heat soak from the pump. But, the GEN V fuel modules are not cheap & require ECU control help.

I just don't want to spend $5-600 on a set-up only to have to worry about pump related issues (I like to drive my stuff a lot) & then spend more after. I know the set-up like yours CAN/does work especially when under limited conditions (staying local). But, I might want to drive out to a GitDown someday, or the 2020 Power Tour, or a bucket list trip (Bonneville), or to visit my parents in Georgia. I don't want to be stuck roadside because of a dead electric fuel pump....