Grandpa's 72 restoration

[rustytruck50]

Great lookin truck....kinda partial to the color combo & year, if you check my avatar lol

[72 tigger]

Nice progress- keep up the good work!

[Snake72]

Got the quadrajet rebuilt with help from Cliff's book and his rebuild kit (very very good kit). All went great except for rebushing the primary throttle shaft, mine was horribly sloppy. To do this, you need to grind off the ends of the tiny staked screws that hold the flaps on the throttle shaft in order to remove the shaft and drill out the holes to drive in new bushings. Must not have ground enough material off of one screw and the screw head twisted off. No biggie, drilled it out (amazingly straight actually) and re tapped the hole with 4-40 instead of the original 3-48 screw threads. Reassembled perfect.

Second problem, to remove the primary throttle shaft you also have to remove the secondary shaft at the same time and slide them out together due to linkages and such, at least that's how I understood it. To remove the secondary shaft you need to punch out the secondary shaft lockout pin. I tried heat, kroil, swearing, and a BFH, all to no avail. Cut the pin ends off and drilled it out too, replaced with a slightly tapered hardened pin and epoxied into place. Other than those two issues this is a very DIY job and not so terrifying, just had to go slow, take a lot of pics, and follow Cliffs book. I did have not done any fine choke or fast idle adjustments yet, will do that when mounting carb.

Hope it runs!!

[Ol Blue K20]

I just read through and I'm subscribing to watch the rest of the build.

[68Gold/white]

Just to add to your carb experience...
When grinding off the staked ends of the screws, grind them flush with the shaft. The screws break so easily, being that small...as you (and I) experienced...

The 3 carbs I have built with Cliff parts are all later model. not sure that the shafts are same.
I was able to remove pri. and sec. shafts together. You have to pull the linkage wide open to do this. and deal with that goofy sec. shaft spring. It's a doozy!!!

I had to hone the insides of the bushings with scotchbrite, mine were too tight.

That pin on the sec. shaft of RH side of carb is not really needed. It is an emergency stop in case the driver tries to achieve full throttle with choke activated...

[Snake72]

68, my bushings were tight too but didn't have to hone them. Once the pri shaft was in place the difference was night and day from before re-bushing.

I did grind the staked screws all the way to the shaft, all came out great except that one, may have been rusty?

I agree, that sec shaft pin serves little purpose besides choke lockout and a positive stop for WOT so I think my epoxied tapered pin will work fine for the application. That little screw and pin sure had me cussing like a sailor though, had to go buy a 4-40 tap and drill bit just for that tiny broken screw.

[RCbowtie69]

Looking good on your build,keep pictures coming, progress going forward & keep on truckin'

[Snake72]

Thanks for the comment, progress and pics will continue but unfortunately slowly. My father in law who was the experienced body man and engine guru helping me with this build passed away unexpectedly in November. It has been very difficult to walk into his shop and work on OUR project truck without him there. Miss him like crazy and it absolutely rips me up that he never saw the truck finished. It certainly lit a fire under my butt to get the truck done though, have boxes of parts sitting in my garage waiting to get installed. I live 2 hours away from the shop and very busy with work and young family but progress will continue. Been trying to find a way to commemorate his work into this truck, possibly engraving his name in the wood bed or something like that. If you guys have any ideas let me know.

On the plus side, should be very close to starting the truck. Need to hook up fuel lines, install tank, radiator/plumbing and wiring. I ended up buying an M&H engine harness and forward lamp harness through GMCPAULS. They were cheaper there than directly from M&H. Modified for HEI ignition and internally regulated alternator. Still need to pick up an HEI yet. Quality of the harness is fantastic

[zicc1835]

Just read thru I’m getting in the passenger seat nice work father in law will be right there with you good luck

[Snake72]

Made some progress this weekend, installed the carb, trans dapt valve covers, fan, core support, heater box, brake booster/MC, exhaust manifolds, fatmat rattletrap and mocked up the fenders. Finally starting to look like a truck again and good step forward. Exhaust is just mocked up in pics, need better plugs for the air pump and the castings are rough. Gonna smooth out and sandblast them then coat with POR high temp in cast gray. Phone died before I could get pics of fatmat and fenders hung. Going to put down frost king foam/foil insulation on top of sound deadener then ACC carpet with mass backing. Should be much quieter than stock. Seeing the fenders on the truck was a great sight!!

[Snake72]

Next step is get the MC bend bled and bleed brake system, install new M&H wiring harness, HEI, and gas tank. Getting closer to starting

[72 tigger]

very nice job on the detailing! everything looks great

[Snake72]

Thanks man, I'm going to be pretty obsessive about the details, going to try and hide the new wiring and reduce unneeded vacuum lines as well. I hate loose wires!

Here's a pic of the new manifolds with the ports for the air pump. I need to find some flush fitting brass plugs or something instead of these black ones. My originals didn't have the ports but were cracked. New ones should look nice with fresh manifold gray paint.

[Redneck Rydes]

Looks great,1 thing I suggest, get the bleed tool for the prop valve,you have to take out the brake switch and put the toll in there,will keep the valve centred when you bleed,if you don't have in there the valve moves back and forth and will think there is a leak in the system when bleeding,I found out the hard way,there are lots of topics on this.

[RedRider]

Originally Posted by Redneck Rydes

Looks great,1 thing I suggest, get the bleed tool for the prop valve,you have to take out the brake switch and put the toll in there,will keep the valve centred when you bleed,if you don't have in there the valve moves back and forth and will think there is a leak in the system when bleeding,I found out the hard way,there are lots of topics on this.

This. I’ve got the same CPP valve and am dealing with the same issues Redneck Ryder alluded to trying to bleed the brakes. Let us know how it goes.

As for the rest of the truck, it’s coming together great!

[Snake72]

Yep I have the bleed tool, was an additional option to order when I bought the booster assembly. Came with good instructions too.

[Snake72]

Here's a few before and after pics

[builtbyKane]

Wow

[Advanced Design]

Looks incredible!

[Jason7121]

Looking really nice!

[cericd]

Excellent progress!

[knomadd]

Nice work!

[Snake72]

Was able to get up to the shop this weekend, only a few hours of work but got the delco HEI installed, ran new M&H engine and front lamp harnesses, sealed the heater box with 3M strip caulk, installed radiator and fan shroud, battery box and a few other small items. Also hung the fenders quick just to look at it. Please ignore the dirty shop and empty boxes...

Can anyone tell me what the yellow, blue, green, and purple wires on the engine harness attach to? I know the pink is HEI power. Harness is great but wish each lead would be tagged for simpler installation for rookies like me

[Joesjunk]

Green is temperature sending unit
Yellow and purple are starter
Don't remember what the blue one is

[Knight72]

Great read through and awesome build so far. Condolences for losing your father in law. Keep up the good work. I'm subbed and looking forward to the finished truck