slow ride (redux)

[joedoh]

too hot today, like 99 with 70% humidity felt like being inside a hair dryer in an oven.

messed with the headlights, I had been putting it off because it didnt bother me, the lowbeams were plenty bright and never needed highs, but selling the truck means fix all the little stuff haha. now everything works, and the DRLs are a beautiful soft yellow glow in the headlamps. I didnt get a DRL picture but the highs and lows are below.





found the booster vacuum port had a crack in the plug (hydroboost now so no need) and thats what was causing the highway lack of power. fixed it and finally installed the IAT sensor. now it idles at 750 rpm (used to be 1000) and will do 70mph into a 10mph wind, before it had trouble keeping 60. holiday weekend so police out in force and I didnt get to retry the top speed but I bet it is better than before. I have a video, remember that the speedo is about 8mph off. listen to that wind!

I called it quits and will adjust the pinion and install the tag light and bed floor tomorrow.

[joedoh]

I bought a workbench with casters from a guy in a town about 40 miles away, it was great for working on the wood bed. he also had this cart/workbench and I picked it uptoday. man this thing is a MONSTER. the guy thinks it was an old army cart from the 50s. I stripped off the the table top which was just an old solid core door on one side and some plywood on the other. took about 10 minutes and lightened it about 100lbs. unfortunately, the cart itself was a mix of cast and machined aluminum. the casters are, near as I can tell, rated for 2000lbs each. all have suspension, and two have foot brakes!


should be a nice cab cart, hell a whole truck cart.
he loaded it with a frontloader with some forks and the whole drive home my wife was bellyaching about how we couldnt get it out. My daughter was flying home from AZ and so I unloaded and left without a picture but it was sheer genius, I pulled up to the culvert/land bridge at the end of my driveway, opened the tailgate, there was only about a 3 inch height difference so my 10 year old nephew and I just rolled it right out of the bed into the driveway. took about 4 minutes and we were on our way to the airport.

saved the frame for the top.

since I am a glutton for punishment, I bought this while I was there. make a nice motor cart.

[rusty76]

Such a cool truck!

[joedoh]

so... selling the truck, lots of interest and offers but none where they need to be. I think its the wheels, they are 25% of the cost of the project and as easy as it was for me to buy them its hard for other people to see the value. luckily, the shop truck vibe works well, and I think I can still realize my selling price by splitting the wheels and the truck up.
I searched high and low for some 15x7 steel wheels that take dog dish caps and have 5 on 4 3/4 bolt pattern, thats a hard thing to find since they only came on some middle years of b body GM. I found a ton of 15x5 and 15x6 from the 60s and 70s, but the 15x7 are hard to find. I went to a salvage and had them pull what they said were 7s from a caprice, and they ended up being 6s. found what had to be the last set in salvage today!

gonna put in the 4x4 axle with rear disc and locker

and run my buick caps

I will fix the pinion angle while I am changing the axle so it can roll super uber low, its ok at drive height but changes at full drop.

gonna shorten the driveshaft an inch too.

I have had a lot of offers around what I will expect after removing the wheels, so should go quick. My wifes dad died last week and he was a retired ASE master tech, spent 31 years at the same dealership, I am thinking of putting the dealer name and number on the bedsides. shop truck!

[IWanna49]

Man, I wish you were closer! I think the truck is perfect as it sits. I'm a huge fan of the newer wheels on the older trucks. Great tribute to her dad, too.

Do you have a link to your add for the truck?

[joedoh]

distance is not an issue, I have offered to deliver!

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/c...-window&cat=11

[joedoh]

I thought I took more pictures today but I guess all I did was sweat and swear.

axle out finally, only took TWENTY NINE BOLTS/NUTS.


I dropped the driveshaft off to be shortened, just 1.5 inches, it was enough to squeak at full drop. I am also adding some pinion angle with some 4 degree shims and moving the lowers back about 1/2 inch. this will allow me to cruise with 30psi instead of 60.

got the rockstars off and washed.



the 7" wide steels dont fit the front, which suits me fine, the 6" fit so it will look nice and staggered with 205/75 and 235/75 rears on the 7s.

gotta get some new bolts for the upper wishbone mount, the old ones were loosening themselves. also need some axle locator bolts, the ART ones were seized and I couldnt get them loose, so I cut them off. Maybe finish up tomorrow! tires and caps too!

saw this crossing the street in front of me.

[joedoh]

didnt get anything done today but picking up parts. found new airbar bolts and axle pin bolts, maybe stainless wont rot this time.




inland did a 4 hour turnaround on the driveshaft, shortened it 1.5 inches.


gratuitous butt shot


sold the rockstars today, so I will probably get tires on the steels tomorrow. and some RESELL RED PAINT !!1ONELEVEN for them. since red steelies are totally unique.

[joedoh]

hmm, right or left....

RIGHT!

cleaned up the 7s I got for the rear


tires were dry rotted at the bead, dangerous! so I got some new 235/75 for the rear and 215/70 for the front.
finished up the axle swap. the 4x4 axle has an extra jounce pad for some soft bumpstops in front of the axle pad. the ridetech mount didnt fit so I had to cut it off.

axle bolted right up

went back in with a little sweat and some grunting.

pinion angle looks swimming now.

when I took the tires in for some reason they put the white letters out. while they were switching them I replaced the left rear caliper line. I nicked it when I was cutting the ubolts to remove the rear end.


dont mind the mess. I need to clean my "shop". All Season Garage™ !!


The rear is lower now, I might turn the bumpstops out a little or leave it the way it is. so now it has rear discs and a locker rear.

after lunch I will bleed the brakes and charge the AC and go for a cruise! should have a lot more power now without the 31" rear tires and should cruise better with 215/235 instead of 255/285.

[mooseknuckles]

Looks good....

[joedoh]

wow rides better, has more highway power, bumps dont unsettle it, no more tramlining. speedo is only 4mph off now too. cruising in 100 degree high humidity, coolant temps never got over 200, all hail modern engines!

a few pics




ride height, better now with the shortened driveshaft







lost a hubcap, luckily it went across 4 lanes and landed on the sidewalk.


saw a 66 on the way to lunch too.

[Palf70Step]

To me it looks even better with the steels.

[joedoh]

thanks Bill, they are growing on me. I will be the first to admit I dont really get the whole red steel wheel thing, but those buick caps are just stunners. When I painted them I was letting them dry and when I was walking between the kitchen and the hallway stairs, BAM! the red just got my attention.


TODAY WAS TOO HOT

I started putting the bed wood in now that the axle install is done. Got a call about the old rearend (the 65, not mine) and he ended up buying the rallies off the white blazer while he was here. so after swapping tires around, I looked like I took a shower and went inside. the temp went to 105 in the shade, so it looked like this all day, and I am unsure if I will get back out there tonight haha.


finally opened the bag of all new hardware. I was still in college when I got this kit included with a 1963 C10 I bought


we will see what happens tomorrow morning

[rusty76]

That bed looks good.

[joedoh]

this wont look amazing to you but to the guy who has been driving this truck and using HAND SIGNALS because the right turn signal had a short in it, I am ecstatic.

it was a short in the light harness. I had previously tried replacing EVERYTHING ELSE, so I had the lighter fluid ready to start the conflagration to dance around if this 2 hour replacement didnt work. it did, so no truck bonfire.
stripped the old harness out and found the problem, an old repair on the park light that was shorting to the turn signal, the hard edge of solder had worn through the tape and through the wire next to it.

luckily I have parted so many of these I had 3 extra light harnesses to choose from.

hooked up the AC finally. have a buyer coming tomorrow at 3 and want to be sure its nice and cold for him.

installing the wood floor and I'll be damned if it didnt expand a little from the rain and now it doesnt fit.

there is supposed to be a 1/2"gap there.

1/2" over 9 boards is only roughly 1/16" expansion so woop de doo. I am going to take 3/4 an inch off the center board in the morning and maybe a 1/4 off the very outside boards too.

fixed the pressure switch that was starting to stick, fixed the lower rad hose that was just barely touching the edc belt, rerouted it to fix that problem. truck will be in the best shape ever the day it sells, just like everything I ever sell haha.

[Palf70Step]

The bed looks great. Good luck with the sale. I'll sure miss reading your updates on it once it is gone. Very cool combo you did with it.

[joedoh]

thanks man, I have had this 8 years now, driven it in various stages, its been completely redone twice and actually hauled to the scrapyard once! if that guy hadnt been so adamant about the title, it would have been "sold" for $134.

I dont think I will miss it, I am not nostalgic that way. but I will remember the fun it was to have and work on. I will for sure like the shop it builds!

[Grizz1963]

Have I mentioned that I love your truck, the photos taken in front of that old brick wall especially do it for me.

Hope my bed comes out this good when I get to it.

[joedoh]

Thanks so much grizz! I would be glad to share pointers and what I learned. everyone who says making your own bed wood is easy is absolutely right. I used just a regular table saw, no dado, no router.




sold sold sold. Jason has some plans for it, either he or I will keep updating.

did the bed floor this morning. took 3/4 inch out of the center board.


took 1/2 inch off the very sides. resealed and installed.
could have tilted the bed but hard to keep things aligned so we jacked it up and did every nut and washer crawling around like an ANIMAL.

picked up some suspended ceiling angle to finish the ends, worked perfect!









random shots for posterity





hooked up the ac and put a charge to it. hubris screwed me, or rather I screwed up because of how haughty I was. See, the lower high pressure line got misplaced. no problem, lots of s10 stuff at my place. Put on a 4.3 lower hose, took the new drier out of the box, hmm, thats strange, no lo pressure switch. oh well, must be on the compressor.

nope. turns out the 2.2 has a transducer on the high pressure lower hose that the BCM decides when to cycle the compressor. such a thing does not exist on a 4.3 lower hose. crap. jumped the relay to make sure it would cool, which it did.

the buyer understood (meaning I gave a discount equal to the cost of new parts, shop labor, and a new vacuum down/charge.


made a good deal though, and got this in the deal too.

sitting for two years, no tow needed though! a couple gallons of gas, a fresh battery and spare (hello have you seen all my s10 parts?) and a nice slow ride home.


this I think will either be another 47-55 or maybe we will do something else weird with it!

thanks for all the fish!

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I'm glad you got more than $134 for it! It would be nice to see some updates by new owner. I like the red wheels too.

Looks like you're back to where you started... with another S10.

[joedoh]

he didnt like the red wheels, so I am buying them back for the 49 we have in process. he ordered 8s and 10" vintiques powder coated purple and wide whitewall cokers. he has stripped the interior and done some purple suede on the doors and new carpet (purple, he is a k state alum). he made some redwood inserts for the custom cab stripes on the side and is making stake panels to match so he can use the bed.

Last I knew he was thinking of a 6 liter 4l60e swap, there was a 98 s10 swapped truck on craigslist and he was thinking of just swapping it in over a weekend then putting the 2.2 back in the s10 and selling it on.

I got him some new turn signal wiring and will help him install it tomorrow.

[rusty76]

Truck looks really cool and the bed is very nice.

[lower50's]

Really sweet job on the truck.

[joedoh]

he was over today so I could look at the turn signals. this thing was blowing fuses like crazy, weird fuses, like the gauge cluster fuse and the chmsl (it doesnt have one). I had just replaced the front harness and it is a bussed system so the only logical conclusion is that somewhere in the body harness (between the dash harness and the underhood bus distribution box) there was a BIG short. after a couple hours we found it, when I was tugging on the turn signal wires that went to the hood, I had accidentally rubbed the body harness on a sharp edge and grounded a few wires. lesson learned.

the short was right where I predicted it



on another note, I didnt have it long after putting on the steel wheels and finishing the bed floor, and I had fixed a couple niggly things that had bothered me too right before selling. I have big picture windows and a 200ft long driveway, when he came down the driveway with the DRLs on and the truck just an inch an a half off the ground, it took my breath away for a second. I gave it a lot of grief, as you do when you build something and are your own worst critic, but there are things about this truck that just NAILED what I was wanting, modern everything except sheetmetal. would I do another 60s chevy on a modern s10 frame? you know I would!

[joedoh]

spent friday polishing the wheels for the new owner.
they had some water spots from the quick wash I had given them and before I knew it, time had made a fool of me.




it was way easier when I fixed my cardboard freight polisher, it didnt come with a backing washer (why would it!) so I improvised.



before it would slip on the arbor when you laid into it, no more! the vibrations from the imbalance felt nice on my forearms too haha

delivered them this last weekend, from 6am wichita to tenkiller ok, dropped off wife and beeps at grandmas, then powered on through to baton rouge. delivered wheels and turned around, made it back to tenkiller by 4:30am. I took a time lapse video of the trip down.

http://vimeo.com/136653209

took this outside baton rouge, looks just like kansas


visiting grandma (wifes mom) because wifes dad passed away a few weeks ago. while I was there wifes mom told me I should have dads truck. its an 01 2500HD 4x4, the stripped model so 6 liter and no power stuffs, 4x4 lever on the floor. has an aluminum flatbed. Vic was kind of a tinkerer/mechanical modifier, and luckily I think a lot like him.

part of it was I bring back Vic's trike for his son.

the side rails are the ramps per his design, and the flatbed is actually 9.5 long to accommodate the trike. it has this boat winch assembly (also per design) and cranks up pretty easy... if you know what you are doing, which we didnt. 3 or 4 tries in the heat and I had it secured. the truck has a tow bar and they towed the whole thing behind a motorhome all over the US. here is a shot somewhere in arizona.


dropped off the trike and tagged it today, nice to have a parts runner that isnt in danger of being dismantled or sold haha