Working Man's Burbon

[HO455]

I'm hoping someone can tell me if my glove box door, ash tray, gauge panel, and dash pad were painted this color at the factory? If so what color is it? Thanks in advance.

[HO455]

Made more progress on the four valve project. The two valve MIC panel was bolted to the dash with the heater control bolts. When I unbolted it I found that the threads in the heater had been stripped and now were through bolted, not a problem but I also noticed that the top heater control lever was broke off. (I haven't driven the WMB in the cold yet) I was able to obtain a used lever from Dan's Classic. The interesting part is that someone had already replaced the top lever with a bottom lever by flipping in and using washers to get the lever to line up. I spent a hour lubing up the cables and the flapper which seemed to be causing most of the resistance. It appears that my floor/defroster flapper holes are ovaled and may be contributing to the resistance issue. I may have to pull the heater box at some point and address this. There was a small kink in the cable right at the clip on the heater box. I was was able to work most of the kink out but couldn't put the cable back in the clip without adding significantly to the resistance. The other thing I noticed was if I tightened the screw at the flapper end of the cable down tight the resistance went up. It works better when the end can swivel. For now I have left it loose, but I'm sure that eventually the screw will fall out. Maybe locktite will prevent that. The photos show the heater controls before the repair. It may help someone with a broken lever and a spare one that's not correct repair their lever. The part number on the lever is correct for the lower lever on a non A/C control.

[HO455]

I fabbed a sheet aluminum mount for the new air bag guages (or do I spell it gages since I'm talking about installing them on a GM). I didn't want to drill holes in the dash so the plate is sandwiched between the heater controls and the dash and is held in place by the heater screws. I am happy with the how they look, with the exception that when the lights are on you can see them glowing through the white plastic gauge body and illuminating the heater box and floor. Most likely I will have to paint the gauge bodies as that just bugs me. I got the last fittings I was waiting for so now the lines for the guages are done and now I just need to jack the WMB up and set it on stands for the last part of disconnecting the old and hooking into the new. Then let the leak checking begin.
I also did the headlight relay conversion. Left the factory plugs in place just in case I had a relay failure I could unplug the relays and swap the plugs on the headlights and be back in service. I still need to figure a better connector to plug into the old headlight connectors. Currently I just have the relay coil leads plugged into the passenger side headlight connector with 1/4" male spade terminals which aren't ideal. The last photo is the relays and the circuit breakers installed. I will need to fab up some kind of shield for them.

[Average Joe]

Nice work!

[HO455]

Thanks Joe!

[HO455]

Spent the day disconnecting the old MIC valves and hooking up the new FourPlay valves. All went well as far as the installation. Once I put air to it I had several small leaks that were solved by tightening up fittings. At the end of the day I still have a leak in the driver's side rear that can't find and I ran out of leak check. So I shifted gears and installed a new windshield washer tank bracket and tank. Then tried to get the pump to work but to no avail. I tore the pump apart and found the bellows in two pieces. So it's time for a trip to the parts store. The second to last photo shows the hole the old lines went through. I think it is the clutch rod hole. I hope I can find a plug for it. The last photo is a little FourPlay fun.

[Advanced Design]

Burb is looking very good!

[HO455]

Thanks a lot. It's no where near as nice as your stuff, but someday maybe?

[Dieselwrencher]

It is looking great! I'm not sure if the grey on the bezel, ash tray, and glove box is factory. I'm guessing if it was factory, the entire bezel wouldn't have been painted. Just the inner rough portion. but that is just my guess.

[HO455]

My first impression was that someone had painted them, but the inside of the glove box is gray and it looks as if the spdi was glued on top of the gray. And thanks again for the kudos.

[Bigdav160]

I thought the '68 GMC Suburbans were gray

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Bigdav160

I thought the '68 GMC Suburbans were gray

Ignore the GMC steering wheel I installed it. I will look around for some 68 GMC's photos. Thanks.

[HO455]

The trip to the store for a rebuild kit was a bust, as the kits they had were nothing like the parts inside my pump. This led to a couple of hours of interweb searching for a rebuild kit. At this point it appears that I have the earlier style pump used in the 60-66 trucks. There seems to be no parts for these pumps. Most of the information I found has folks converting the pump to a remote style pump of some sort, or a universal replacement pump. I picked up a universal style pump, then bent up a bracket to mount it to in place of the old pump. Today's lesson is READ the directions, BEFORE making your bracket. After making the bracket I read that the pump should be mounted vertically. I had planned on the pump being horizontal. So instead of making a new bracket I comprised and put the pump at a 45* angle. I made a couple jumpers to hook up to the factory pump connector. Works like the stock pump with the exception that you have to keep the switch pushed in to keep the pump running. It has way more pressure than the original one so the water goes on the roof not on the window. I spent another two hours looking for leaks on the air bags and made some headway. The left rear now leaks about five pounds every twenty minutes now instead of a pound a minute. And the right front is about half that rate. The other two are holding good.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work. I need to get a washer pump put on my 72 some time too.

[HO455]

Our current batch of weather has reminded me how important it is to have a working windshield washer. No real progress today, just teardown in preparation of repairing more misdeads of the PO. Going through the leak detection process I went around bouncing the four corners of the WMB and noticed the left front acted like it had a bad shock. Looking closely at the shock I realized the upper shock mount is broken out of the frame. So I tore the shocks out and the remains of the upper mount. This is what happens when someone doesn't do all of the engineering on a modification. The PO put the air bags on and removed the bump stops and called it good enough. The shocks became the bump stops everytime they bottomed out internally and over time broke the mounts out of both sides of the frame. I will be putting in a raised shock of mount of some kind and new shocks. The right side was so bad it caused the shock to drop out and the lower body of the shock is damaged. I noticed the dent in the shock when I was looking at the truck initially but didn't put two and two together. Photos 1&2 show how loose the upper mount was. With the shock on the truck would move up and down about an 1 1/2" before the shock moved. Then the bolt damage and the shock damage.

[HO455]

Upgraded the cooling system. Went to the wrecking yard and looked around for a coolant recovery tank. I settled on one out of a first generation 4.3 S10. Fabbed up some brackets preped and painted them. Came home and looked a the forum and found out that 80's Monte Carlos have a tank that is much easier to install. Three bolts through the fender well and the outlet is in the correct corner. Oh well! Here is how mine came out. The last picture shows the Monte Carlo version that slowcrawl used and a link to his posting.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=728143

[3drburb]

Looking very good.
It's almost cruising time.

[HO455]

Yes it was certainly nice here this afternoon. Good thing I was underneath the WMB drilling holes for the new shock mounts. Otherwise I may have been tempted to take off on a quick spin which would have been a bad idea as there is still gravel everywhere since the snow storm. I've got two big cracks in the windshield of my S10 from flying gravel in the last two weeks. No reason to take the new paint out in that even though I really wanted to drive it to the NWDRA swap meet Sunday. Since I didn't finish the shock mounts I'll be driving the Stink10 this year. Thanks for the complement.

[Advanced Design]

Burb is looking great! I sure wouldn't want to take it out on road debris.

Too bad about the shocks and mounts.

[HO455]

Thanks AD. The shock mounts had to be done, just should of been years ago. Went to the Portland auto show today and this was all I found to take a picture of.

[HO455]

Got the front shock problem finished. Ordered raised shock mounts and got the KBY's local. Had some difficulties on the driver side finding the right location due to all holes in the frame. Every time I got it lined up one of holes would be over part of an existing hole. Tried to reuse one of the old ones but it would not line up right. Had to compromise and ended up with it hanging off the frame on the lower part. If the engine has to come out I will remove the mount so i can weld up the holes and make it right. Also had to clearance the inner fender liners which they don't tell you when you buy them. The drivers side also interferes with the speedometer cable. Looking back I think I should have built some like the Hotchkis ones and avoided the speedo cable and notching the fender liners. This job wouldn't of been possible without a 90* drill and jobber length drill bits.
During this project I noticed the airbags aren't attached to the lower control arm. This seems wrong. (If I am mistaken about this please let me know). There is a thin fender washer and a 3/8" bolt on the bottom of the bag but the washer is too small to hold the bag in place. It looks like I will have to come up with some kind of retaining plate.

[3drburb]

Do you have lower cups or a lower bag plate on your front bags? From what I can see in the picture it looks like they are just sitting in there. If that's the case you need the lower cups.
How about a better picture?

[HO455]

Of course not! The bag is just sitting in the stock spring pocket with a two inch SS washer in a two inch hole. The washer is too thin to do anything. Here is the best photo I have now. I won't be able to get any better photos for a couple of days. Man I should have of pulled the bags and put springs back in to start with. It never seems to end.
Thanks for the help.

[3drburb]

Don't get frustrated it's coming along pretty darn good.
Just check all your bags for rubbing along with the plates and or cups also make sure everything is bolted down with grade 8 bolts that is short enough to not touch your bags in full motion and install them with the nuts to the bottom, just in case it ever loosen up the bolts won't just fall out.
Look like your upper bag plate is missing bolts.
The cups and plates can be easily purchased and installed.
There is a simple how to install bags thread, look it up. Its a nice one.
Trust me, at this point you don't want springs.

[HO455]

Hi 3dr Burb, thanks for taking the time to look at this. The upper plates on the bags are welded in place. Which is frustrating as I am unable to replace the line going to the bags.