Project “Learning as I Go”

[heavy71chevy]

good job so far man...looks awsome!

[my67chevytruck]

nice progress.

[JohnC]

Looks good man. It's nice to see the engine sitting in there.

[gopokes]

Thanks for the comments guys! I did get part of my real trans crossmember cut last night, I'm using a piece of extra square tubing we had from my brother's project. I need to get the bracket cut and put in place for the tranny to mount to. I'm also hoping to get all my wiring harness off so I can get it sent in to be cut down.

[jasonhall]

Where are you planning on mounting your ecm ?

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by jasonhall

Where are you planning on mounting your ecm ?

I am thinking about under the dash. Not 100% until I get the harness back to see how much slack I have. I did get the harness off tonight.

[68GMCCustom]

I wanted to do an x-pipe but don't have the space....thinking of going with an H under the tail fo the trans now.

[gopokes]

I think the h pipe is doable. I am going to try to run it over the driveshaft, I just have to make sure it doesn't get to high to hit the bottom of the cab. I was thinking of running it under the trans tail but the way I'm going to run my fuel lines, I didn't want them to be that close. I've been reading up on the h pipe and I've seen alot of people say that it doesn't have to be the same diameter pipe as the exhaust, so that might help a little. Here is the idea of what I'm going for, think I'll try it tonight.

[gopokes]

H pipe is in. Doesn't look too pretty right now, but after some grinding it should look ok, for a homemade exhaust.

[POPO1984]

Is that the lowest ride height your truck will be. if not the drive shaft may hit when you hit a dip or bump. It does look good though and I hope it works for you . If it does that just might be what I will do to mine. I have often thought of using a piece of 3 inch pipe that is oval shaped to actually be slimmer so it wont hang down below the frame so much

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by POPO1984

Is that the lowest ride height your truck will be. if not the drive shaft may hit when you hit a dip or bump. It does look good though and I hope it works for you . If it does that just might be what I will do to mine. I have often thought of using a piece of 3 inch pipe that is oval shaped to actually be slimmer so it wont hang down below the frame so much

That is about the lowest it will be at ride height, I think. It will go lower fully dumped, but my driveshaft is smaller in diameter than the piece of exhaust pipe I have sitting in there. Hopefully I don't have any issues, the oval shape pipe is a good idea. I have just been trying to use what I have laying around to save some $$. Good thing is it's just metal so if it's no good, get the grinder out. Thanks for the input, I honestly hadn't even thought about that part of the driveshaft moving. I am going to keep the two piece shaft so will the front part move?

[POPO1984]

I dont really think it will move if it is the two piece shaft since the carrier bearing will be behind it. You probably dont have anything to worry about then.

[gopokes]

I haven't made too much progress lately, been waiting on my wiring harness to get back. It came yesterday and I put it on last night. I did get my fuel lines ran, and my exhaust cleaned up a little. I can't wait to hear this thing come to life, I still need to get my fuel tank straps squared away, do a little wiring, and it should be ready to fire up. I forgot to take any pics last night but will add some this evening if I remember.

[67cheby]

where did you send your harness ? and how much do they charge?? if you dont mind me asking

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

where did you send your harness ? and how much do they charge?? if you dont mind me asking

I used Wait4me performance, they did the computer programming too. It was $360 with the return shipping. They did a pretty good job as far as I can tell so far. It's not for the people that are trying to hide every wire though, still looks fairly factory, but I'm not worried about that.

[gopokes]

I forgot, I did get my powersteering hoses hooked up too. I used the fitting out of my old powersteering pump and hooked the original hoses up, it was really easy. The exhaust pipe I used was kind of rusty so I cleaned it up and sprayed it with some high temp paint. I've never used it before so I don't know how well it will hold up, but at least it looks better for now, and when I get the body on it will be out of sight out of mind.








I did come up with a wire connector that I can't figure out where goes, anybody have any ideas?

[68GMCCustom]

Lookin good! That h-pipe looks like it will be pretty close to the cab floor. I'm guessing you plan on some sort of wrap or heatshield?

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by 68GMCCustom

Lookin good! That h-pipe looks like it will be pretty close to the cab floor. I'm guessing you plan on some sort of wrap or heatshield?

I don't have any plans yet, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that it will not hit. The more I look at it I think it will be REALLY close. I'm not terribly worried about it, it's only metal right? I did try to get under my cab the other day and do some measurments for it, but I couldn't figure it out since it is sitting so close to the ground, I couldn't get very good measurments. I guess I will cross that bridge when I get there. My brother was thinking we could just modify the floor in the cab, instead of changing the exhaust. I don't want to do that because I don't want to have to do a custom carpet.

[68GMCCustom]

hopefully it will work out...if not maybe you could flip it?

[gopokes]

So I finally got all the little things finished up so that she is ready to fire up. I wanted to make sure the thing will run before I got to much further along. So I ran to O'reileys and grabbed a toggle switch and a push button switch crank her up. I pressured up the fuel lines, checked for leaks, and then gave it a shot. IT'S ALIVE!! Fired up on the first try. I was super nervous that I was going to have issues of some sort. I think my brother was more excited than I was, which I didn't think was possible. He kind of sounds like an evil villain in the video. Now I'm jacked up to get it back together and on the streets!

[my67chevytruck]

nice progress... sounds awesome....

[67cheby]

awesome !!

[bjcaldwe]

Congrats

[VA72C10]

Great job!!!

[JohnC]

Awesome man! Your brother's laugh is hilarious!