Avoid the Concrete

[Low68]

You're welcome Swamp Rat. I am not sure if the hinges i had were factory. I would guess probably not. 3 of the 4 had plastic looking bushings in them. The fourth one had brass and a smaller diameter pin. I am pretty confident that the the fourth hinge was aftermarket. The first three were a piece of cake. Drilling out the fourth one wasn't as bad as i was expecting either.

I moved the truck onto the lift for the weekend so my dad could park his truck in the shop. I figured while i had it on there i would verify pinion angle. I also snapped a couple of pictures of the bottom of the chasis.



Lowest point on the truck is the bellhousing.

[Low68]

I talked to Ron Davis radiator and they said they are about 8 weeks out for radiator build time. So I will be a little slow to get the front metal done. While I am waiting, I will be trying to do other stuff. At the Goodguys show in Scottsdale this weekend, I picked up some front turn signals. I wanted to do something a little smaller than stock and found what I was looking for. I wasn't too sure about them, but they were only $12 a piece, so I figured I could try it and if they didn't make me happy, I would put them on the shelf. They are actually pretty bright and are going to work out well.

Today, I adjusted the brackets for the rear suspension and moved the coilover mounts on the axle outward. Then I centered the rear end and mounted the panhard bar.




Then I started working on putting in the turn signals. I marked on the grill where the light will be going and cut it out just short of the marks. I finished it up with a file. I wanted to make sure that I got it nice and straight.








I also removed the pieces in the center. The grill is going to need some straightening and I figured it would be easier if those pieces were not in to straighten everything. I am also going to smooth where the old marker lights were and where the grill emblem goes.

[Number98]

Looking good!

[bterry97gt]

After seeing your suspension and adding up the cost of just upgrading the factory stuff I went ahead and placed my order for the No Limit setup! Can't to pick it up. Keep up the good work

[Low68]

It really isn't too much more than rebuilding factory and has a lot of nice features. My buddy has the wideride kit on his and it rides nice. I am really looking forward to seeing how the whole package works together.

[bterry97gt]

I am looking forward to hearing what you think about it. The only thing that I am concerned about is being able to get low enough in the rear since I chose the factory frame rail fat bar kit. I do plan to notch and am not sure if they took that into account when designing the kit, or if it was designed to not bottom out on the factory un-notched frame rail.

I noticed that you moved the coilover brackets on the rear end outward, was this done to adjust the ride height some?

[Low68]

When I put the brackets on the first time, I just wanted to get them put on so I could get the chassis rolling. The instruction say to mount them outboard as far as possible cause it will give you better handling. Since I have a pretty good idea of where the new wheels are going to be, I moved them out. I will probably just leave those tack welded until I get the new wheels.

[Low68]

Today I started mounting the pedal assembly. I held it up in place and got an idea of where it needed to be and started taking some measurements. I started in the back and made a mounting tab and welded it on. I mounted the bracket by that tab and verified position of the pedal assembly. Everything was satisfactory, so I made a mounting tab for the front on that side and welded it on. I still need to do a mount for the other side and I am going to do one along the bottom as well. I stuck the seat and shifter in to get an idea of how it feels. The seat may need to come up a little bit, and the shifter will need some reshaping. The brake and clutch pedals are a little farther left than I would like, but I couldn't move the brake assembly to the right any further. I may end up reshaping the pedal arms to get them over to the right a bit more. I will have to see. For now, they will work.

[Low68]

Today I put on another mounting tab for the left side of the pedal assembly. I also trimmed the pedal assembly where it interfered with the steering column and mounted the upper portion of the steering column. The piece I used as a mount I had already made and was using it to clamp the column in place. It just trimmed it to fit the column a little better and welded it to the column. That's all for this weekend.

[Low68]

I had the day off today, so I started working on the lower steering column mount. Since I can't seem to leave anything alone, I decided I would make my own column mount at the firewall. I got this column from Flaming River and it originally had a column shifter on it. When I put the 5 speed in the truck, I removed all the column shift components and made a filler piece where the shifter was to clean it up.

One of the only disadvantages I can think of about putting a steering rack on one of these trucks is the steering u joint angles. My friend put one of these front suspension kits on his truck and we had a hard time getting the u joint angles to work. He had to get a really short column and have the u joint as close to the firewall as possible. With that being said, I don't feel like buying a new steering column, so I am going to shorten the column that I have.

The first thing I did was start taking apart the upper portion of the column. I removed the turn signal cam and wiring harness.




Next there was a snap ring and a spring.




There is a cap that you turn that releases the spring for the tilting mechanism on the column. I removed the cap and the spring. After that, I pulled the pivot pins out the two sides of the column. These are metric and I didn't have any metric screws. I ran into this problem last time I took it apart also. Last time I went and bought some screws, but I have no idea what I did with them, so I found some standard that got the job done. Once I got them out, I drilled them out and tapped them with a standard tap so I will never have that problem again. After the pins were out, I pulled off the outer assembly.




The steering shaft just pulls out at this point. I didn't get a photo of the steering shaft.

One of the things that I wasn't too thrilled with when I took the shift assembly out of the column was that the wire harness could sag down and touch the steering shaft inside the column. Originally, there was a tube between the outer steering column tube and the steering shaft. This inner tube would turn, but only when you shift. The wiring harness in the column would be touching that, but it shouldn't rub through the wires. I figured that I wanted to put a portion of that tube back in so that the wires would be protected from the rubbing on the steering shaft. I still had the original tube from inside the column, so I cut a piece to weld in.




The next thing I did was cut the column to length. With it bolted into the dash, I measured and cut the column so that it was 3/4" away from going through the firewall. Here is the column before cutting to length.



After it was cut to length.



Then everything sand blasted.




At this point, I took the inner tube welded it inside the column. I had welded a plate at the bottom to support the lower end of the tube. I did four good tack welds at the top. At the bottom, I drilled in from the sides and welded the plate that I put on the bottom to the outer housing on the column.




Next I took the portion of the column that I cut off and cut a slice down the middle of one side. I kept cutting and checking until I could squeeze it inside of the column.





I welded it up and ground it down. This piece will be welded to the firewall. The column will slide over it inside the cab and clamp over it.




As I mentioned, I will be clamping the column to the piece that gets welded to the firewall, so I cut some relief grooves in the column tube.




For mock up purposes only, I grabbed a hose clamp that was laying around. I will have to find something a little better to use permanently.




I didn't get any photos of this yet, but I got the column mounted back in the truck and tack welded the tube to the firewall. Tomorrow or the day after, I am going to cut a plate for inside to go around the tube that is welded to the firewall. This should help support the tube and keep the firewall from flexing too much in that area. I also didn't do a very good job cutting the hole in the firewall, so there will be a lot of filling to do around the tube on the outside of the firewall.


When I was putting the column in and playing with the tilt last week, I noticed that the column would not stay tilted down all the way. If you put any pressure up on the steering wheel, the column would snap up to the next setting. When I was disassembling the column. I noticed a piece of metal that was stuck in the grease. I inspected it a little closer and there are two jaws inside the column that are what hold the column when you use the tilt lever. Both of these jaws were missing teeth on them. I am pretty sure when I wrecked the truck, I must have hit the steering wheel and broken those teeth. I will have to see if I can get some new jaws from Flaming River.



Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

[Low68]

Did some more work on the steering column today. I don't like the floor dimmer switch very much. So I was thinking of ways to make something that would be out of the way and unnoticeable. I had a thought a couple years ago and couldn't get it figured out before I put the truck back together. My thought was to mount a small switch inside the column. To tilt the column, you pull the lever towards you. There is about a 1/4" of play where you can push the lever away from you. I decided I would try to make it so that when you push the lever away from you, it activates the high beams. To get the switch to fit, I had to do some machining on the parts inside the steering column.








I also welded up the holes from the gear indicator that used to be on the column.






The firewall was bowed in partially in the center, so I put in some bracing to keep the sheet metal flat and also give me a support for the bottom of the pedal assembly.




I got some Delrin for the lower column bushing. I will cut off a piece and turn the bushing in the lathe.

[Low68]

Parts delivery. I purchased a smaller diameter harmonic balancer and the u-joints for the steering. Needed a new balancer because I mounted the engine back and down so much that the old one I had would probably hit the rack while the engine is running. The new one is about 1.5 inches smaller diameter.

[mcbassin]

Very nice work on the under dash and column. I like all the custom machining you have going.

[Low68]

Thanks Mike!

[Low68]

I made the lower bushing for the steering column. I cut a piece of Delrin to the length I wanted, flattened up both ends and started turning it to fit. Once I got it to fit snugly into the column, I drilled out for the steering shaft. A little clean up and it is all done. I will be drilling a hole in the metal and making it so I can put a screw through the metal and the delrin to hold it in place and prevent it from turning, but I have not done so yet.










Today, I went and picked up my radiator. Ron Davis completed it quicker than they said they would. The quality on this radiator is amazing. Very happy with my purchase so far.

[nlped]

Nice radiator set-up...really like the fan shroud. I have a Ron Davis radiator going in my '68...they are nice quality. And, Heck, everything about this build has been super-nice.

[mcbassin]

Nice work on the Delrin bushing.
I'm digging that new radiator too.....work of art!

[Stickman]

I've had two RD radiators and they are awesome pieces. I would really like to come by and see your truck some time. Your Fab work is exceptional.

[Low68]

Nice radiator set-up...really like the fan shroud.

The fans and the shroud are one of the biggest reasons I bought this set up vs a cheaper unit. It seems like a lot of others put the shroud right up against the radiator and used smaller fans. Ron Davis spaces the shroud out and uses these huge fans. There should be great airflow through the whole radiator core and I think these fans combined move somewhere around 5000 cfm.


Thanks for the compliments guys!

[memphismatt]

Man! I just read this entire thread. You have some great ideas and the skills to make it happen. Great job so far! I'm along for the ride.

[Low68]

Thanks Memphismatt!

Today I played around with the gaps on the driver side a little more. I wasn't quite happy with the gap around the back edge on the driver's side. I ended up pulling the hinges off and milling out the holes a little more to get the gap that I wanted. I am planning on pulling off the door skins to get inside the door, so the final door gap will be finished later, but I wanted to get the door to close decently and get the frame of the door where I wanted it. I will also have to do quite a bit of work on the rocker panels to get them to look decent. The rockers are not straight. They curve in quite a bit at the front and bulge out in the center.

Boring door gap photos:









The grill to fender area does not fit well at all. The profile is different on both sides. The passenger side has a decent size gap as well. This will be an issue to fix further down the line.






Lastly, a shot of from the front.

[darkhorse970]

Very nice work! Can you post a full side pic so we can see the stance with the bed and fenders on?

[Low68]

I will see if I can get one today for you.

[Low68]

Here are some photos of how it sits. The back will be coming up a little from where it sits now. The front may get some adjustment as well.

[nlped]

Nice!!!!