Project TLOW - 1971 stepside

[Rod Run]

Nothing exciting today.

Just greased up all my fittings and added about $70 worth of fluids where needed.

Hopefully be ordering my torque converter this week, so I can finally get my tranny in. My fuel system and serpentine belts should be in by the end of the week too, so those will be next weekend's project.

I also stumbled across a pretty nice original radiator support yesterday while visiting a friend.

[Rod Run]

Serpentine set-up is all installed. Scored some e-brake brackets from another member on the forum and got all that put back together.

Missed the FedEx guy today. Came home to a note on my door that he was here and I missed him. I think that was my fuel system, so tomorrow I'm not leaving the house until after he comes by.

My biggest score today was a set of headers. I was just surfing online and found a vendor on Amazon with a $60 price savings on an open box buy. As I was emailing back and forth with him, he said the box was opened but the headers and all hardware were still in their original wrapping. He also said that they are currently having a 10% off sale on all their open box buys, so that was another $70 dollar savings.

As I was checking out, I had over $40 in rewards dollars on my amazon card, so that meant that I paid well under $600 for a set of coated stainless steel JBA headers!!

I went with JBA because I have had them on my GTO for around 5 years and they still look brand new and they fit perfectly along with having a ball flange collector. After I bought my first set of JBAs, I decided that I would never buy a set of headers without a ball flange seal again. It makes them just like a perfect factory seal.

[Rod Run]

Just a pic of how things look right now. Only because I know you guys like pictures.

[Rod Run]

Fuel system just came in. Going to testfit it, then I'll repaint the tank before final install.

[Rod Run]

Just got it all mocked up and it fits PERFECTLY

[Hankster]

Looks good! What color are you gonna paint it?

[mcbassin]

Very nice looking fuel tank!

[Rod Run]

Originally Posted by Hankster

Looks good! What color are you gonna paint it?

no 100% sure yet. I just know it's going to be on the darker side

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Very nice looking fuel tank!

Thanks. I was quite impressed with it too

[Rod Run]

Not much going on, but I did pick up my converter tonight and started prepping my tranny for paint. Decided to grind away the heavy casting seams so it will look a little smoother. No one will ever see it, but I'll know what it looks like

[Rod Run]

Picked up a quick side project for the garage today, while I'm waiting for more truck parts.

Just need to tear it down, clean it and maybe re-paint it. Then it will be re-assembly and new locks.

What to fill it with, is the big question

[Rod Run]

And cleaned and color changed to match the garage. Time to go to BJ's and get candy to fill it up

I guess im back to waiting for more truck parts to be delivered

[Rod Run]

Back onto the truck now that my candy dispenser is finished.

I painted and installed my tranny with a new torque converter, using an Energy Suspension poly mount and a CPP tubular cross member

[Rod Run]

The tranny was missing all the speedo parts and the cover. Since I will be going with a GPS speedo, I won't be needing any of that stuff, so I just turned a press-fit cover on my lathe tonight and installed it.

I also fabbed up a retaining clip (for extra piece of mind) from some scrap steel that was lying around, and redrilled and tapped the boss for a 1/4-20 bolt, to secure it in place. I just have to remove the clip and rework it, so it looks better. Right now it looks a bit hacked

[Rod Run]

Here's an engine shot with the MARCH serpentine set-up installed

[Rod Run]

started probing the cab today, to see what is lurking under two paint jobs and one thick coat of primer, before I send it out to get blasted. definitely not pretty, but sadly not unexpected either

[CURSED GEARS]

Neat stuff. Keep posting! sorry about your cab. Just finishing mine, I don't envy you. You can fix it. Mine started as a quick repair too. I was going to replace the floor, and put it all back together and drive it, but might as well get a better frame for it while its apart, right? Now its all in pieces!

You got heat in your garage? I went to Lowes a few years ago and bought a little gas heater, then had a guy plumb a gas line. (Didn't want to blow up my Home) I haven't used it yet this year, but it keeps me toasty when I do use it.

[Rod Run]

No heat in my garage, but I don't need any. My garage is attached to my house, so I don't even need to step outside. I can head out my kitchen door and into the garage while just wearing my slippers.

Even when it's in the teens outdoors, within about 20 minutes of working in the garage, I'm down to a t-shirt anyways. Then again, I'm one of those people that wears shorts and no jacket while shoveling snow

I did buy one of those element heaters last year though, that way if I'm working in the garage and my better half wants to visit me out there for a bit, she can sit on a chair in front of the heater and stay warm. LOL

[Ozzy2013]

Me too ha ha freaks everyone out im in a t shirt and they are dressed for a polar expedition !

[Rod Run]

Originally Posted by Ozzy2013

Me too ha ha freaks everyone out im in a t shirt and they are dressed for a polar expedition !

Ha!

I was out raking leaves in 40* rain today wearing shorts & t-shirt and two of my neighbors told me they had to go inside because they were getting cold just looking at me

[Rod Run]

Originally Posted by Rod Run

My biggest score today was a set of headers. I was just surfing online and found a vendor on Amazon with a $60 price savings on an open box buy. As I was emailing back and forth with him, he said the box was opened but the headers and all hardware were still in their original wrapping. He also said that they are currently having a 10% off sale on all their open box buys, so that was another $70 dollar savings.

As I was checking out, I had over $40 in rewards dollars on my amazon card, so that meant that I paid well under $600 for a set of coated stainless steel JBA headers!!

I went with JBA because I have had them on my GTO for around 5 years and they still look brand new and they fit perfectly along with having a ball flange collector. After I bought my first set of JBAs, I decided that I would never buy a set of headers without a ball flange seal again. It makes them just like a perfect factory seal.

These headers got delivered on Friday but they didn't work out (huge bummer) and I had to send them back.

Talking to JBA before I ordered them and they told me that they were the same fit as the ones for a '71, but they only differences were that the ones for a '71 had only one ball flange collector and these had two (which is why I wanted them) and that these ones were emissions compatible. That was no big deal either, because I was just going to out a fitting in the header to block off where the o2 sensor goes. What ended up being a big deal (that was previously unknown to me), was that both headers had air tubes coming off the top of them and that definitely wasn't working for me.

So now I'm back to square one and am going to wait until after Cyber Monday and see if anyone has any great sales before I purchase anymore parts for the project

[Rod Run]

Just going over some of the holiday specials out there tonight. I think I'm going to call tomorrow and find out more about this gage package right here

http://www.speedhut.com/customizer.i?clid=4042679

[Rod Run]

While I'm waiting for all my black Friday specials to be delivered, I've made a cab dolly and put my cab on it.

I'm not going to get to carried away with it right now, because I'm going to get it blasted first, but I will start welding up some of the unwanted holes in the firewall

[Rod Run]

I got the welder all setup, only to find out the welder is out of gas.

Instead I decided to dig all the seam sealer out of the roof rails. Most of this cab is in pretty bad shape, but the rails are almost perfect. That will make it a lot easier to shave the drip edges

The first pic is the driver's side rail and the second one is above the windshield

[Rod Run]

Bolted a couple more things on today.

I also started filling all the small holes in the firewall and made a bunch of templates for welding up the bigger holes later this week. No pics of that work though

[Rod Run]

Latest firewall pics