Nik's 62 build

[62stepside longbox]

Originally Posted by Classic v6 GMC's

WOW! That shroud is very nice!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Very nice work on the shroud Nik

Thanks John!

Originally Posted by realvc

Great job on the shroud.

Thanks Vince!

Originally Posted by AJCK87

Awesome job! Glad to hear your feeling better, the colds have been going around

Thanks Anthony, it's good to get back on top of things!


Today after school I finished up the exhaust from the manifold back to the muffler and fired the truck up! I used a free muffler from my buddies BMW e30 and it sounds pretty good, not too loud but a little cooler sounding than the old muffler. I located it outside of the frame rail on the drivers side and it tucks up in there very nicely. I won't be able to get pics of it until I get it up on a lift as taking them from the ground doesn't work so well. It ran great without any hiccups. I'll try to get a video of it running tomorrow for you guys. I just ordered some brake parts and they should be here next week and I can get cracking on that! Thanks for tuning in guys!

[62stepside longbox]

Here is the video of it running, everything's been good so far. http://youtu.be/qw6I4YRzHS4 . And today I picked up some nice Monroe front shocks that are brand new never been used for $40 from my local classifieds, I'll work on welding the upper shock mounts on to the frame soon.

[62stepside longbox]

I got a package in the mail today, I bought new brake and clutch pedal pads since they were only $5 and figured that the old ones were so hard and smooth if they ever get wet then they would be very slippery, not exactly what you want in a brake pedal. Here are the old ones.

[62stepside longbox]

And here are the new ones, I'm pretty satisfied with the quality and fit of them.

[Advanced Design]

Yep, big improvement and a good idea.

[TJ's Chevy]

New pedals are nice.

[65sub]

looking good Nik. New pedals are an easy safety upgrade. Smart idea

[62stepside longbox]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Yep, big improvement and a good idea.

Thanks Doug

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

New pedals are nice.

Thanks tj

Originally Posted by 65sub

looking good Nik. New pedals are an easy safety upgrade. Smart idea

Thanks Dale, my thoughts exactly. I imagine that the old smooth and hard pedals would be quite slippery when wet.

Today I got some more parts in. New brake hoses and brake pads, all I need is calipers and I can start to put the front brakes together and bleed them. I'll try to pick some up tomorrow. The list of things needed to get the truck driving is getting pretty small now. Here it is, I'm sure there's lots of other small things, but these are the bare necessities:
PARTS NEEDED:
-calipers.
-new rear ujoint (conversion joint because new rear end pinion yoke needs a wider joint with larger diameter caps).
-belt for fan, alt and ps pump.
-various bolts.
-differential cover gasket.
WORK TO BE DONE:
-make and flare lines for hydraulic clutch.
-make and flare brake lines (from proportioning block to calipers, and piece on rear axle).
-brake bleeding.
-fill rear end with gear oil.
-wire in and mount 39 Ford Taillights.
-finish up the floor rust repair on passengers side.
-weld up new front upper shock mounts (not critical, but still needs to be done along with installing the front seat bar).

[62stepside longbox]

Today I went and picked up the calipers from my local auto parts store, this weekend I'll get them bolted on and start hooking up the lines.

[62stepside longbox]

Decided I wanted to take a break from the usual boring things such as brakes so I removed the gauge pod, did a quick coat of primer and light sand and then sprayed it flat black, I decided on flat black for now since it matches with the faded fawn on the dash. It'll eventually get painted fawn when I paint the dash some time in the future. I also did a cool little modification with the radio delete plate, I put it on a small piano hindge. Here it is closed.

[62stepside longbox]

And here it is flipped open, as you can see I hid the radio behind it. I did this because I always hate seeing ugly aftermarket radios in these trucks ruining the whole look. I still need to mount the radio but here is a video showing the operation of the opening and closing delete plate: https://youtu.be/J4g6zcLk6Ao

[TJ's Chevy]

Good work man!

[Captainfab]

I like the hinged radio delete plate

[Palf70Step]

Nice work Nik!

[62stepside longbox]

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Good work man!

Thanks Tj!

Originally Posted by Captainfab

I like the hinged radio delete plate

Thanks John, so do I

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice work Nik!

Thanks bill!


Today I found a great deal on a much larger welding tank, and it came already filled with c25! This should last me a while. Also worked a little bit on brake lines.

[62stepside longbox]

I also made some progress on the gas tank filler neck, the angle of the filler tube wasn't to my liking as it landed in the middle of my bumper where I want to put a hitch. So I reshaped it with plenty of pie cuts and welding very carefully to make sure no pin holes existed. This way the filler cap is placed in the bed panel under the tailgate. I then used a piece of rubber hose to link the two together to compensate for any bed movement. The rubber hose came from a filler neck on an old ford truck in the junkyard, so I know it is rated for fuel. Changing the angle of the filler neck also ensures that I won't have gas pouring out the back when driving up a hill.

[62stepside longbox]

And here is the rear view, I still need to fill some of the old holes that were already there when I bought the truck, but it's starting to take shape.

[Palf70Step]

Very Nice. I would NOT have thought of putting the filler neck in that location.

[62stepside longbox]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Very Nice. I would NOT have thought of putting the filler neck in that location.

Thanks bill, it took a little creative thinking.

I finished up the metal work on the front bumper and bolted it on the truck, but I didn't want the bare metal to surface rust so I sprayed it with some gloss aluminum colour paint, looks pretty good for now, kinda like a poor mans Chrome . It will eventually get painted white in the future along with the grille.

[Classic v6 GMC's]

Nice idea on the radio and the truck is getting close to back together!

[TJ's Chevy]

Bumper looks nice!

[62stepside longbox]

Originally Posted by Classic v6 GMC's

Nice idea on the radio and the truck is getting close to back together!

Thanks Andy, Should be soon!

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Bumper looks nice!

Thanks tj, good to see you join the Facebook group!


Been busy lately with fishing, dirtbiking and such, but still been getting lots of little things done. I discovered that my pinion yoke is much wider and doesn't match the driveshaft yoke. So I went to the junkyard and found another 30 spline yoke that had the correct 1310 ujoint size. This one used ubolts instead of straps and bolts, but luckily I kept the ubolts from the old rear end. Other than the ujoint size, they are the exact same and will interchange. New one is the one on the right side. Unfortunately I'll need to reset the pinion bearing preload, oh well.

[62stepside longbox]

Been making lots of progress, just haven't got around to posting. I cleaned up and painted the pinion yoke and installed it, torquing the pinion nut down tight and guessing on the bearing preload, once I get it driving I'll put it up on a lift at my work and properly reset the bearing preload. I then bought a new rear ujoint and installed it along with the driveshaft. I also built upper shock mounts and welded the divers side on and installed the shock, I still need to do the passengers side. I also installed both calipers with pads and new brake hoses. I had to drill and file a hexagon shaped hole in the frame so I could bolt the brake hoses in. I have also finished all of the brake lines other than one of the lines on the rear axle. So other that once I run lines for the hydraulic clutch I will be ready to try driving it! Here is a pic of the progress made on the front brakes and shocks.

[Captainfab]

That's great Nik.......you should be cruising your truck all summer.

[62stepside longbox]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

That's great Nik.......you should be cruising your truck all summer.

Thanks John, that's the plan

Been buttoning up lots of little things recently, and I just completely finished the brake system including flaring all of the lines, but I still need to drill the hole for the brake hose on the passengers side, but I'll get to that soon. I started working on running lines for the hydraulic clutch. I made this piece to go from the master cylinder to the flex line.