My Unexpected '66 SWB-Fleet-Restomod Project!

[pdxhall]

Beautiful work.

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

That’s pretty special mate.
Beautiful Engineering

Thanks Rian!!

Originally Posted by aggie91

Very nicely executed. Well done my friend!

I appreciate the comment Karl!

Originally Posted by Strodder

Very, very nice. Good idea.

Thanks Dennis!

Originally Posted by pdxhall

Beautiful work.

Thank you very much!
I am always trying to do something just slightly different than the norm...

[Modges'66]

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYBODY!!!
I hope that you all had a great holiday season!

I thought that I would post a few pics of "Old Blues" new hidin' spot.
I am lucky enough to have a friend that bought & renovated a space to store some of his toys, and he gave me the opportunity to rent some space. It is heated & air-conditioned, has cameras, and an alarm system, plus I have unlimited access.
As you can see, it is really crowded, so there is a downside to all of this...LOL!

[Grizz1963]

Good news Mike.

Happy New Year indeed for the Chevy, and to you and the gang.

Thank you for the offer of the steering wheel for my Blazer, hope to fit the one Ian Brown sent, today, as well as making bracketsvand fitting my new steering wheel

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Good news Mike.

Happy New Year indeed for the Chevy, and to you and the gang.

Thank you for the offer of the steering wheel for my Blazer, hope to fit the one Ian Brown sent, today, as well as making bracketsvand fitting my new steering wheel

Wow Rian, I guess that I never saw this!
Thanks so much! LOL!....We have probably messaged each other a hundred times on messenger since this!

[Modges'66]

Hello everyone!
I see that it has been quite a while since I have posted to the forum.
I am truly hoping that in this time of Covid-19 awareness, that everybody is doing well. During my period of "social distancing" I have made some recent alone-time to start taking care of some items that I have been meaning to address for a long time.
One of those items needing change being the length/position of my steering column, and how close the wheel seemed to be to my chest....
Recently I sat in another C10 that my buddy is restoring for a customer that has an aftermarket column in it, and I fell in love with the way that the position of the steering wheel felt.
Since my truck is using a newer OEM tilt column with the smart-stalk, I couldn't just purchase another column to swap it with....Everything on my column is wired-in, and being utilized. The cruise, intermittent wipers/washers, & dimmer-switch are all functional. So the decision was made to just cut 3" out of the existing column!!!
Yeah.. "Cut it off" they said. "It will be easy" they said.
So I decided to yank the column and Chop it down!
I guess it did all sound so very easy, that is until I started to dis-assemble it!!!


Things became more complicated the further that it was taken apart...


Originally I thought that I may be able to shorten it without totally dis-assembling it...Not the case.
You must pretty much take it completely apart in order to get the steering shaft & shift tube out.
If you are going to attempt this, TAKE MANY PICTURES!!


Finally down to the shift tube & outer tube...


Here is a pic of the two tubes & the shaft, all cut-off & re-welded.
If you do this modification, be sure to note the orientation of the tubes when re-welding in order to maintain the position of the ign. switch, shifter, & shift lever. They must be positioned at the same rotational angle when re-welding.


Here is a pic of the column all re-assembled, and painted. You can see where I have welded it back together in this pic, but you must really look for it when installed in the truck.
You may also want to note that the ignition switch & dimmer-switch linkages must also be shortened to match the distance taken from the column.


And finally, a pic of the column re-installed!

I know.. The wheel is upside-down in this pic. LOL!

....And the next stop is going to be Air-Conditioning!!

Stay well Everybody!!!

[realvc]

Congrats. on a great job of shortening your column.

Very nice truck too, by the way.

[joesscamaro]

Nice! Good to see updates on your truck. I always liked your build.

[pdxhall]

Great work as usual. I'm looking forward to the AC install. I've got that decision to make soon

[made2drag]

Cant wait to read this whole thread when time allows. Right up my alley

[88Stanger]

i just went through all 47 pages of build, great job!

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by realvc

Congrats. on a great job of shortening your column.

Very nice truck too, by the way.

Well, thank you stopping by to look!

Originally Posted by joesscamaro

Nice! Good to see updates on your truck. I always liked your build.

Thanks a bunch! I have been away from here for way too long!

Originally Posted by pdxhall

Great work as usual. I'm looking forward to the AC install. I've got that decision to make soon

Thanks, I have almost everything lined-up for mine. I can't believe that I waited this long to do it!

Originally Posted by made2drag

Cant wait to read this whole thread when time allows. Right up my alley

Thank you! Nice to know!

Originally Posted by 88Stanger

i just went through all 47 pages of build, great job!

Wow! That is quite the undertaking! Thanks for viewing my junk!

[Modges'66]

First of all, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter!
I also hope that everyone is doing well, and practicing their "social distancing" to the fullest.
As promised, I will be updating my thread with the installation of Air-Conditioning in the up-coming weeks. And like almost anything that I do, there will be some twists along the way.
Why keep it simple when you have the ability to make things complicated?...Even I don't know exactly how this will go!
My intentions from the start were to use the factory controls, and the compressor that is already on my motor/drive system.
Let's see where this adventure leads!!!

Installation started with removing the grill in order to install the condenser & drier and associated tubing. All of this went pretty much according to plan with the exception of the bottom set of bolts that attach the condenser to the radiator support.
Since I didn't want to remove the radiator, and I am not using a stock configuration, there was a bit of difficulty involved! LOL!
With the radiator leaned forward I was able to get bolts started, then tighten them using a gearwrench...1 click at a time.
As you can see in the photo below, the radiator is already tipped away as far as possible, and I am referring to the bolt at the very bottom of the condenser bracket

This gives a view of the passenger side...LOL!


A little bit time-consuming, and worthy of some major cursing, but I finally got them in! Next was to punch the hole for the tubes and install them and the drier.


Here is a view of the tubes ending on the passenger inner fender.


I will let you all digest this while I gather-up that photos for the next steps in this adventure....
Stay Well!!!

[Palf70Step]

Very clean looking. Glad you are doing well.

[LTZMAN]

I love the job you did on the truck, blue is my favorite color.
I dont have the patience you have, three years is my limit on a build

My next step on my 66 is the vintage air system. Can't wait
To get on the lap top to read the last post.👍👍👍

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Very clean looking. Glad you are doing well.

Thanks Bill! I hope that you are doing well also!

Originally Posted by LTZMAN

I love the job you did on the truck, blue is my favorite color.
I dont have the patience you have, three years is my limit on a build

My next step on my 66 is the vintage air system. Can't wait
To get on the lap top to read the last post.👍👍👍

Thank you for the compliment!
I am not sure that you can make a time limit on a project...Sometimes life gets in the way! LOL!

[Modges'66]

Hello Everyone!
First off, I hope that all of you, and your families are doing well!
My next plan of attack on the A/C project was to install the evaporator...the heart of the unit so to speak.
While reading the installation instructions I noticed that I needed to mount a shut-off valve to stop the heater flow when the A/C mode was in use to the inner fenderwell area...Sorry, but that wasn't gonna happen if I had anything to do with it!....Soooo, This is where I start to stray from the herd.

I decided to look for different options on where to mount this valve besides inside the engine compartment. I determined that it would be clever to cut one of the tubes just inside the firewall, and install the valve there instead.


The valve seems to fit there pretty well, and you would never know that it is there without looking for it! As you can see I have cut & spliced the other tube also. I have additional plans in mind for these tubes...


I purposely ordered my system from Vintage Air without the hose kit & compressor, having the full intensions of using the compressor that is on my engine already, and also to use all AN style heater & A/C lines.
So, I cut the ends of the heater tubes and welded on some Earl's weld-on AN fittings...



The reason that I cut the other tube was to allow for the kit supplied bulkhead plate and grommets to be inside the cab instead of outside. I also welded nuts to the inside of this plate to allow fastening from the engine compartment side.



Here is a shot of the unit ready for installation into the truck with the bulkhead plate and grommets in place.



UGH!!!
The next step was to re-drill all of the factory holes that I once welded-up during the originall build.



And finally, now that all of the holes were drilled, I was able to install the evaporator unit...with some help from a friend of course!




That is all that I have for this week!
Stay tuned, as I have other tricks planned for this adventure!!!
Stay well!!

[realvc]

First class A number one install. Can't wait to see it all finished.

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by realvc

First class A number one install. Can't wait to see it all finished.

Thank you Vince, I appreciate your comments!
It is very seldom that I do everything according to the directions, or take the easy way. Most often nothing goes according to plan either!

[Modges'66]

Hello Guys!!!
Again, I hope that everyone is doing well!
I have been working during this whole Pandemic and haven't really had the time to work on the truck like I had planned, but I made a few more advancements on the install of the vintage air.

Because of where I had positioned and mounted my PCM during my build, It made things complicated when it came to using the stock deluxe heater controls with the vintage-air cable encoders. I had flipped the heater controls upside-down from the faceplate with the ideas that I could position the cable-encoders above the controls, but it turns-out that there isn't enough room to do this...
In the pic below you can see the PCM below the heater control cable arms, and the limited space above to the bottom of the dash.


Below in this pic, you can clearly see how much space would be needed for the encoders to make this idea work.



My solution?
I decided to use cables to operate the encoders remotely!
I machined an aluminum block to hold the cable-encoders in place and also position cables to operate them.



I then purchased a universal choke cable at the tractor supply nearby to cut-up and use for parts to make this idea work!
I cut the internal cable into 3 equal lengths and started to determine how long the outer jacket would need to be... There was a lot of addition & subtraction goin'on, and also finger counting, because all of the cable bends had to be made with the outer sleeve already ON the cable.

I made the crude tool below to twist the end of the cable to fit on the heater control arms.
Once that you wrap the cable around the stud, you unscrew the nut to remove the cable, then cut off the un-wanted extra portion of cable.




The opposite end was bent to interface with the cable encoders and complete the operation.



Here is a photo of the assembly ready to install.



I don't have a photo, but the new cable encoder block was mounted to the underside of the dashboard above the glove-compartment using 3M double-face trim adhesive tape for easy access, and ease in wiring.

I will try to post more frequent with the rest of this install....
Stay Well!

[realvc]

Once again you have gone way over the top on your install of the A/C.
Real neat way to bend those cable ends too.

[mjh1965]

Outstanding work .
I love having to adapt things to make them work . I guess it comes with my job .

[mongocanfly]

Modge.. what a beautiful truck you have..!!!!
i saw your post on Marcs build and had to check out your truck..
very nice indeed and worthy of the award

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Good to see you plugging along..

[Grizz1963]

And congratulations on winning Truck of the Show yesterday Mike.