Francis the Tow Pig - 1949 GMC 250 Dually

[lower50's]

Can't have enough cow bell!!

[OutlawDrifter]

lower50's, agreed! Hoping to have said pictures late Friday or Saturday sometime.

Last night I started tidying up some other loose ends. Finished mounting the hard lines for the trans cooler and hooked up the front hoses. Started on my brackets for the running boards, the frame ends and where they bolt to the boards are ready, just need to connect them. Did some measuring and ordered an overflow tank for the radiator. Spoke with my harness guy yesterday, he was getting close, but not sure he will have it done by tomorrow, and he's out of town this weekend.

I have reached that frustrating part, hurry up and wait! Trying not to get to much put together/installed/wired, that I will end up having to take back apart!

[OutlawDrifter]

Not the pictures promised above, but some to take the bite off for awhile.

Last night was almost like the Keystone Cops had invaded my shop. I came home with parts and purpose, and spent and hour and half fixing things just so I could work. First I moved my MIG welder a little too far and the bottle fell over...no bueno. Thank god it didn't take off through the north wall of the shop! It did, however, destroy the regulator...$%*@(place preferred 4-letter obscenity here). So after some Gerry Rigging I adapted the one off of my old 220v unit. Great! Pull the trigger and 3 seconds later the spool runs out of wire....really?....this is what we're going to do tonight huh? Luckily enough I had a new 2lb roll of .030 solid core wire. I set to changing the wire and what comes out with some of the wire....the liner! At this point I spoke a few more obscenities and stared at the MIG welder that has never given me any troubles since I bought it. Panic mode strikes, "I can't be without a welder for a week, I'll never get the truck done!". Eventually I returned to state of semi-rational thought after considering a MillerMatic 210/211 purchase, disassembled the gun, and was able to get everything back in place and functioning....wow, let's hope we don't do that turn of events again.

On the bright side, I did accomplish a fair amount of stuff last night. Driveshaft is complete and in. It is filled with coolant and engine oil. The trans tunnel cover is 80% completed, and I added some more sound deadener to the interior.

I'll hopefully be picking up more cowbell after work today!

[lower50's]

That was not a good string of events to start your night off for sure. At least you got it all working again and got some stuff done.

[gigamanx]

That sounds like a rough turn of events. I've been pushing hard to get the cab to a point where it can be permanently set on the frame to start wiring the engine and interior over the winter. The garage is a disaster so I'm just waiting on a day like yours where everything goes wrong.

What I really want to know is...what does the red button do?

[OutlawDrifter]

Under the red cover is a momentary switch that will engage the starter solenoid. I'm keeping the factory style key switch, which does not have a "start" position on it. The next two holes over will hold the switches for the cruise control.

[gigamanx]

I was hoping for ejector seats, parachute, ludicrous speed, something!

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by OutlawDrifter

Not the pictures promised above, but some to take the bite off for awhile.

Last night was almost like the Keystone Cops had invaded my shop. I came home with parts and purpose, and spent and hour and half fixing things just so I could work.

been there. sending a 200 mile back pat. I swear there is someone in my garage moving stuff sometimes.

[OutlawDrifter]

Alrighty ladies and gents...as earlier announced, I present you with MORE COWBELL!

Faux wrecker bed and boards are mounted. Guy that rolled and broke the sheet, shorted me 2" overall. I asked for 84" and received 82". Too late now, no more time to wait.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. Just need to take him the dimensions for the back panel and tell him where I want the light holes. I'll probably have him break me some square wheel covers at the same time...maybe he'll cut me a deal since he shorted me on the front end...and drug it out over a month!

Harness is done, didn't have time to pick it up yesterday, so I'll be heading down tomorrow to pick it and my intake up. 13 days left. Still isn't inspected(out of state title), tagged, insured, aligned, or wired. May end up at the show with a few less credentials than necessary, and without a painted bed. Will have insurance, however!

[joedoh]

super dope! has a great look!

[Nut Case]

Got Big Cow Bell alright.

Where's the Booms ??????

Just sayin

Christopher Walkin would want the "BOOOM" as well, don't ya think


Strong work, oh think about two more cab lights on each side of the center cab light....

Keep on keepin on

Nut Case

[OutlawDrifter]

Originally Posted by joedoh

super dope! has a great look!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Nut Case

Got Big Cow Bell alright.

Where's the Booms ??????

Just sayin

Christopher Walkin would want the "BOOOM" as well, don't ya think


Strong work, oh think about two more cab lights on each side of the center cab light....

Keep on keepin on

Nut Case

Thanks! At some point I may add a boom setup, probably not anytime in the future. The cab lights will probably stay "three's a crowd". It came that way from the general, and they are still the original glass covers.

[lower50's]

That is sooo cool!! Turned out real nice. Insurance is the most important I think.

[OutlawDrifter]

Thanks lower50's!

Made some progress last night...not as much as I had intended too. My fuel rails are pretty darn close to the firewall, so I'll need two 90's instead of a 90 and a 45 like I had planned on using, so another late night parts order.

I did get the intake on, and started routing the wiring harness. More wire than I had planned on, detracts from the looks a little, but it is what it is. Still at first glance it will "look" carb'd. I've got the routing taken care of, now I'm in the process of looming everything to make it look better.

Now that I'm running wires, I wish I would have went the carb'd route with a 5 speed overdrive manual...haha, but I know the integrated cruise control and bulletproof 4L80E will be worth it!

[Advanced Design]

Looking very cool! Did you make the valve cover stickers?

[OutlawDrifter]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Looking very cool! Did you make the valve cover stickers?

Thank you! I actually found a guy on eBay who would make them with any ci and HP rating. They were very reasonable and seem to be made from very durable material.

[OutlawDrifter]

Alright boys and girls. It's running...have some minor issues to deal with, it's either coil wiring or plug wires. It's stupid low, I'm going to have to put the stock spindles back on. With all the weight on the truck it is 4" off the ground at the back of the front fender...this thing is in the weeds! Scraped coming out of the shop. Sounds amazing with the true dual exhaust and the "Smitty's"(Smithy's Mufflers). I still have to wire and install the tail lights, bit of a problem, the guy that cut the bed pieces out for me cut 4" holes for my 4" lights...that no worky. I even gave him the grommet to test fit, and it's not a hidden fact that it takes a 4.5" hole. He told me he had done this before...sigh. So now I have to free hand a 1/4" line around the hole...6 times.

Truck is getting aligned today, hope to get it tagged by Friday...that's still a maybe. Switched all of the lights over to 12v. The only one that works is the center cab light. I'm thinking I have ground issues on the other 4 lights. Do these ground through where they mount to the body? I know they have power going to them, so it's got to be a ground issue.

Have some help showing up Friday evening, might try and tackle the spindle situation...maybe, maybe not. Bed might get painted instead. Who knows, so many possibilities.

Bittersweet day, truck is almost completed and it would have been my dad's 73rd birthday. We lost him a year ago 10/17.

[youngrodder]

Looks good. I like how low it is, but then again I never think it's possible to be too low..ha ha

Marc

[joedoh]

looks amazing! I really like the bed, so much better than a raw edge at belly button height.

on the lowering, if you have drop spindles and lowering springs, the truck is not at its final ride height yet, it will settle another inch! the first one I did, a 47 gmc, the bumper was so low that it would scrape on the CROWN OF THE ROAD. I spent a lot of time fine tuning that one

[OutlawDrifter]

Originally Posted by joedoh

looks amazing! I really like the bed, so much better than a raw edge at belly button height.

on the lowering, if you have drop spindles and lowering springs, the truck is not at its final ride height yet, it will settle another inch! the first one I did, a 47 gmc, the bumper was so low that it would scrape on the CROWN OF THE ROAD. I spent a lot of time fine tuning that one

Thanks guys!

joedoh it's sitting on stock springs and a 2" drop spindle. But, that 4L80e is heavy, and who knows how many miles are on stock springs...? I'm tucking tire all the way to the wheel, still should hide a little tire with the stock spindles.

[Russell Ashley]

That turned out to be the boss. That bed is cool, looks perfect for the truck. Your engine makes me wish I had painted mine orange instead of black.

[joedoh]

I bet it was a 4cyl or 2.8 6, maybe grab some 4.3 springs?

were they easy to get back in the pockets? 4.3 springs are a mother and a half to cram back in.

[OutlawDrifter]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

That turned out to be the boss. That bed is cool, looks perfect for the truck. Your engine makes me wish I had painted mine orange instead of black.

Thanks for the kind words! I'm very pleased with the bed.

Originally Posted by joedoh

I bet it was a 4cyl or 2.8 6, maybe grab some 4.3 springs?

were they easy to get back in the pockets? 4.3 springs are a mother and a half to cram back in.

Not sure what the power train was, they weren't easy to put back in, I know that.

Francis is a reincarnated Hydra, solve one issue, two more pop up. Put the stock spindles back on tonight. Now I have plenty clearance and it still tucks tire. But my driver's valve cover is leaking and it's still running like poo. Tuner said he tuned for 28lb injectors, it has 37s, so I'm hoping that fixes the issue.

3 more days!

[lower50's]

That looks even better out side!! For your tail light holes, clamp a piece of sheet metal behind the hole and use a 4.5" hole saw. Just get the center hole centered.

[OutlawDrifter]

Originally Posted by lower50's

That looks even better out side!! For your tail light holes, clamp a piece of sheet metal behind the hole and use a 4.5" hole saw. Just get the center hole centered.

That's a great plan B, I hadn't thought of that in my 10 day sleep deprived state! Talked to the guy that cut it yesterday. He asked me to bring him a tip from my plasma cutter, and he's going to cut me a ring to clamp on and trace the "inner circle".