Project "Grandpa gets a transplant"

[Rusbuilt]

Lol thats a big rat

[67cheby]

great progress !

[Bhelton]

Looks like a mouse under the wiper!!

[biohazardbill]

well aired it up today and then shut down the power to see if the lines would hold the air.... i have a small leak on the right front line somewhere... wish there was an easier way to get to the front bag fittings... ah well, will diagnose when i swap the control arms out.

[biohazardbill]

Well with the weather and waiting on parts and then also waiting on parts to be powder coated havent been able to get a ton done. So what happens I buy another rig lol....



Ah well...

While waiting for stuff and weather to clear decided to tackle the gauge cluster. The original had only the 3 window cluster and I knew that would not work. Since I wanted to keep the old grandpa look decided to grab a used 7 window bezel



I wanted a RPM guage. There were kits to add it to this existing bezel however decided to go a little different route. Most people that put in aftermarket gauges replace all of them. I left the two 5" gauges alone to keep the stock appearance. This being said it retained the original glass.



Hopefully I get parts back from the powder coater today to get some more work done on the truck itself.

[bigguy69]

What size and style of gauges are you using?
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[biohazardbill]

Gauges are Autometer Pro Comp line. Small holes are 2 5/8" and middle hole is 3 3/8".

[Fattback]

Great build!!! Subscribed


Rob

[biohazardbill]

Well got my powdercoated parts back today...



Here is the starting point...

bottom of the motor crade is 3.5 inches off the deck


Got the passenger side done tonight however ran out of light for drivers side. The whole time I was hoping it would make a signifigant difference.

I didnt get any pics of the passenger side being done due to it being dark. However i fully aired out the driver's side and the tire sat 3.5 inches below the fender ( i dont have inners on at the moment). When I aired out the passenger side it is stopped by the fender so that means these a-arms will allow at least 3.5 inches of drop. The tires currently on it are too wide and I knew that going into it. So once the driver side is dont I imagine the front crossmember will be touching the ground.

[hilljob26]

that tach looks awesome in there..build is coming along nicely

[twangismythang]

Cant wait to see it with the new wheels......
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[67ctener]

I'm pretty jealous you can DRIVE to summit
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[biohazardbill]

More done this morning, that is all for today though as I have to do some real work to pay the bills.

Final stance basically, keep in mind the wheels/tires are changing.

The front is as low as I can go with this wheel/tire combo and still roll.





The rake is a little more than I would like at the moment. The tires are 29" in the pic so that will come down a bit when I change them. Thinking about using shorter bumpstops to gain a little more drop in the rear.



Hopefully will fire this bad boy up tomorrow.

[Rusbuilt]

Much better! I love seeing the crossmember less than 1 inch off the ground! Nice work sir!

[Fattback]

Looks great

My A arms are on order can't wait to get them

Rob

[67cheby]

nice, it looks great man !

[Jimbabwe]

Looks great!

[Jimbabwe]

Oh, yeah...#TeamStepside !!!

[smoknbarrels]

Awesome work!
i have the same issues, i have a c notch and the rake constantly bugs me, keep wondering if i am gonna change it later to a step notch to level it out.
Do you think the front is gonna have to come up a bit once the wheel wells are in?
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[biohazardbill]

Alright guys, havent forgot about ya...

Few things stood in the way of real progress. Looking at the rot under the battery tray I was going to just weld in a small fix, however under closer looks it was really into the radiator support mount so off to Summit again. They had core support and inner fenders in stock. Core support is in, not too much trouble. Have yet to stick in the new inner fenders.

So I have also removed any wires from the wire harness that waill not be used and figured out which wires I can use for the aftermarket gauges.

Started to put the radiator in and had some issues finding fans that would work. The radiator is a stock brand new 4 core. The fins are 2" from the center of the water pump pulley, but afterr a ton of measuring and tweaking I was able to fit two 14" fans for a total of 6000 cfm cooling...

Bad pics as they were taken at night





Another thing I had to change was the routing of the front air lines

Originally I had the air lines port through under the motor mount



However after doing an overnight leak test and finding a leak, to correct the issue I had to remove the header. Figuring if I broke down and had an issue that would be a pain
if not impossible to fix on the side of the road.

So I cut a slot in the frame and a 1" hole on the back side of the crossmember under the frame. Wrapped the air line in some 3/8 fuel line, stuck a grommet in and BAM...



Just need to secure the slack up a bit then will be done. Passenger side is done, doing the same to the driver side tomorrow then hopefully Saturday I can work on firing this up.

Wheels and tires completely done now. Will put on the fronts tomorrow too to see how they fit. Should be fine if I did my measuring correctly.

[biohazardbill]

Got the driver side line rerouted today... test fit the new wheels.

The rear is still a little high still but those are 29" tires and I am going to swap out the existing bumpstops.... maybe remove them completely.

The front i can set the crossmember on the ground howver the inner fenders put a little pressure on the tires.

[PBFAB.COM]

Looks awesome Bill! Can't wait to see it with the bed set back on it!

[Jimbabwe]

Wheels look great. What were the caps from?

[biohazardbill]

Caps are from Wheel Vintiques. I bought them when I bought the wheels.

Link to Wheel Caps

Thanks Nate/Dave whichever you are..... but you have to say it looks great since its your rear notch and control arms lol

[Rusbuilt]

Wow! Looks awesome!
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