1967 GMC - SWB, great patina

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

Little more work and they should blend right in. I've been dreading putting the cab back on, you have a great setup for that.

I thought for a long long time about the best way to lift & place the cab without hurting myself or the cab. This worked pretty well.


As I keep scuffing the rocker and corner with scotchbrite, the layers of brown primer below are starting to show which'll help darken things. Again I hate the fake patina but hate nice shiny paint next to original / missing paint even more, so will give it the ol' college try to blend them.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Vintage Air kit arrived today.





Awesome.





I reached out with photos of the ridiculously bad packing job, destroyed box and damaged parts - they said to send a list and they’ll send replacement parts which is reputable.

Disappointing though…

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

The only thing damaged in the shipment were the duct hoses - both crushed badly and one with a hole in it. Everything else looks in tact.

I dragged the truck like roadkill to the garage under the house where it’s 70* and well lit for the wiring, which will take forever.

The workbench is set up, every piece of paper is laminated and ready to follow, the remnants of the electrical giblets are on their way (column, gauges, cruise control) and we’re ready.

Each connection will get a crimp, then solder, then heat shrink.

I installed the A/C compressor with the Kwik performance brackets that came with the Vintage Air kit. A nice setup.


The evening was spent with 2hrs of Kilmat. It’s pretty intuitive. If you try to bend it a lot, the foil cracks, then you sit on the exposed rubber which sticks to your pants which makes a mess etc.

For anyone doing this, I’d recommend having the carpet ready to go down immediately following the Kilmat. I got the 80-wt pieces, and used 20 pieces on what you see. There are 13 left to finish the firewall a bit, do the doors, and rear cab panel.

I also set the box on my boiler for a day to warm things a bit - nice and sticky.


Amazon knurled rollers worked great for $8.


I wanted the Kilmat in before bolting up the evaporator.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Kilmat

[clay68c10]

Nice work on the KilMat. Run some over the back wall of the cab also. I was amazed how much difference it made adding that last bit. Closing the doors is night and day different without the cab rear being bare.
If you put masking tape over your seams and splits you can avoid the sticky mess for as long as you need to.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

Nice work on the KilMat. Run some over the back wall of the cab also. I was amazed how much difference it made adding that last bit. Closing the doors is night and day different without the cab rear being bare.
If you put masking tape over your seams and splits you can avoid the sticky mess for as long as you need to.

Solid advice. Thank you!

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

A handful of nice things arrived this week and I finally had time to putter. The Vintage Air evaporator is together, and THANKFULLY I realized before bolting it all up solid, that the passengers kick panel vent wasn’t in, and once the evaporator is in, there’s likely not enough room to install it after.

Of course there is no gasket….so ordered gaskets and will pause on A/C until they are repaired.

I did get the firewall panel bolted up, the rest of the firewall covered in Kilmat and started some wiring.

Step 1 is grounds grounds grounds. A good one from the cab to the dash, from the cab to the frame, from the frame to the gas tank, from the cab and frame to the engine.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

I picked up (5) “elevator bolts” at the hardware store and after a little grinding, spot welded them to the inner firewall / cowl area behind the dash for ground points, to hang wiring harness from, and mount electronic giblets off. Worked slick.

At a yard sale last summer I found a wooden spool of braided ground strap and picked it up quick. With some 1/4” hole connectors soldered in place and heat-shrinked it made a fine ground strap between the dash and cab (which I’m sure are adequately grounded from assembly but I’ve chased grounds before. Can’t have enough).

Under the dash on each end I drilled a hole just smaller than the square portion of a carriage bolt and used a nut to pull it into place, firmly seating the square peg in the round hole for another solid grounding post on each side of the dash.

2 of the elevator bolts will hold the drive-by-wire TAC module, which I sorta scabbed onto my brake pedal bracket on the ‘68. Not my favorite. This will ground it and keep it out of the way for near wiring.

More to come.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

More.

The AAW harness (510333) is dropped in and starting to be run.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

The tilt column arrived, along with the Dakota Digital cruise control stalk which was fished down the column for later wiring.

No, I won’t send more leg or foot pics! =>

The Autometer Invision 12.3” dash arrived safely along with the required senders and adapter for an LS. The adapters that come with it don’t fit the M12 block.

I did drill & tap the oil filter housing cover for a 1/8” NPT fitting - the oil pressure sensor for the gauges fits in there (not pictured)

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

After much hemmin&Hawin, I put the ECU on the radiator support on the drivers side and will have the battery in its stock location on the passengers side. I’m still unsure where the fuse & relay panel will go.

Wiring is well underway and looks as expected - rats nest.

All wiring will end up under the drivers side header, hug the frame, go under the motor mount then slide up in the gap between the radiator support and engine.

Each sensor will get its own wiring loomed separately. Pictured are the run to the back of the truck that has all the lights, and the run for the drive by wire throttle body that will go to the TAC module behind the dash.

The rear run has fuel gauge wire and a larger wire I added for the fuel pump. These both pass through one grommet in the firewall I left, to feed other wires to / from the engine bay like the A/C compressor trigger, wires for the oil pressure and coolant temp to the gauges.

Next step is to attach something (??) along the main routing path to guide everything, until it all can finally be loomed together and finalized.

[raggedjim]

That looks like fun!

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

That looks like fun!

In a sick sort of way, it is. I enjoy the problem solving, thinking through how all the systems need to interact, how to install it cleanly, how to make it self-explanatory to the next person who may own it.


Before mounting the evaporator under the dash, I needed to repair the passengers vent with a new gasket. Easy peasy.

Grind down the old rivets, pull off the gasket, line up the new one and rivet away.