Rebuild...(pending a name)

[Ol Blue K20]

Looks good, patiently waiting for more pics.

[Fastandcrazy]

Progress is about to slow down real hard. I won’t be able to be as productive as I have been during the weekdays. Work starts back up again tomorrow. Anyhow, I will do my best to keep up on the progress over the weekends. I am working on trying to finish all the exterior painting. It’s starting to get warm here in North Carolina, and I’m also getting tired of having the hanging makeshift paint booth up and cluttering up the garage space. Anyhow, without further a due, here are those pics.

Before I repainted the whole cab, I had received my exhaust kit and mufflers. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I had ordered a 2.5” exhaust kit with 2.5” Flowmaster 70 series mufflers. I went with the 70 series as I want the engine tone to be quiet but noticeably different. I knew I was getting a “massive” case muffler but didn’t realize what a 28” by 10” muffler would look like till in person. Anyhow, both the exhaust kit and mufflers were sent back the next day. 3” exhaust kit and Flowmaster 50 series are on the way. I originally had 50 series mufflers on with zero clearance issues.
I am hoping to get the back-half welded up and installed before I get the bed mounted, just for ease of routing the exhaust. We shall see what happens.

I decided to give Summit Racing Paints a try. So far, I have no qualms with the color. The color is what I was looking for from the start.

I’d like to say the paint, itself, came out well. Every error and imperfection is my fault, and believe me, there are some. I am okay with it.

[Fastandcrazy]

Tape and plastic removed.

All interior pieces, except for some new screws and gaskets, are what previously came off of the truck. I will be changing the steering wheel, but since it's not a necessity right now, this one will stay.




I drilled the holes for the cargo/third brake light.


The truck rolled out to make room in the garage for painting the fenders.

[Fastandcrazy]

Here is that teaser photo from a different angle. I have started putting in the Summit brand sound deadener. I also got the wire harness semi-permanently installed. Routing the wires to where they need to go, if I find I need to pull it out to better group the wires, I will. So far, though, it's been okay.


The makeshift “paint stands” I'm using. These were not purpose-built to be paint stands. They were initially for the cab and truck bed, but I am utilizing them for paint stands.


Before…


And now the after.


I don't have a better photo than this. This is as far as I got for now before I had to start working on college homework. That texture look on the fender isn't the camera. I messed up when I sprayed the last coat, I had the spray gun distance too far. Again, not a painter.


That's as far as I got this weekend. I have no idea what I will get done this week or next weekend. I may start working on the truck bed as I won't be installing the doors for a bit. It's way easier to work inside the cab with them off. If I paint them, I don't have a good place to store them, and so I will run a risk of messing up the "glorious" paint job that I am throwing down.

Till next time.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looks good, be glad you have work to go back to.

[LT7A]

I spend most of my time on the Square side, but I ran across your build thread and read the whole thing. Quite a saga from the initial story of the truck's first build all the way through your deployments then relocation. I'm glad that you haven't given up on it. I enjoy watching your meticulousness whether it's with your garage or your truck. You definitely assimilated that trait in completeness from your dad. Keep on when you can man. This is great.

[Fastandcrazy]

Originally Posted by LT7A

I spend most of my time on the Square side, but I ran across your build thread and read the whole thing. Quite a saga from the initial story of the truck's first build all the way through your deployments then relocation. I'm glad that you haven't given up on it. I enjoy watching your meticulousness whether it's with your garage or your truck. You definitely assimilated that trait in completeness from your dad. Keep on when you can man. This is great.

Much Appreciated, I am doing the best that I can. I am hoping to have this thing running by October, before another PCS.

[Fastandcrazy]

So it's been a bit since the last time I posted. I've made some progress on a few things.

I got the back half of the exhaust done. I went with Flomaster's Pro Series. The size of the case is the main reason I chose these. I was having some major clearance issues due to the blade anti-sway bar from Hotchkis. To ensure I wouldn't be hitting anything. I removed the springs and had the axle rest on the frame's bump stops.





Muffler back is all welded together. Muffler forward I will be using a mixture of clamps and welded seams. I do have it kind of dumped right after the axle with a little bit turn towards the back of the tire. I have room, and plenty of tubing to add more if it resonates a lot.

[Fastandcrazy]

Following the exhaust, I got working on the truck bed. What's not going to be shown is wiring wheeling the underside and spraying undercoating. I just realized I never took any pics.


I spray painted the perimeter of the bed and the contact points of the bed panels with Eastwood's Encapsulator.



Bolted it all up once I got the bolt kit. Took some massaging to get it square and all the holes to line up.



I had to repair the floor in one part. The previous owner had cut out a section to put a fuel cell. A long, long, long time ago, I had purchased a repair panel. My brother did his best in repairing the section. He is not a welder. I had to order another panel and cut out his "repair."
Before



After

[Fastandcrazy]

Once all the major repairs were done, I wire wheeled the inside of the cab.





I taped off the inside of the cab and the underside, followed by wiping down the outside and getting ready for paint.

[Fastandcrazy]

Epoxy.


Paint all done.


The truck bed meets truck frame.



Truck bed mounted to frame, permanently.


I went ahead and installed the truck bed wiring harness and lights.

[Fastandcrazy]

Wiped down the bed with some degreaser.


I brushed on some Eastwood Encapsulator Plus. I went heavy with it and didn't care about runs or heavy parts, and I just wanted it to be covered entirely. I am going to be spraying the bed with U-POL Raptor Urethane Black Spray-on liner.


Dried and the truck sits waiting for the liner, should be here on Thursday. If I can get college done, I am hoping to get it sprayed by the weekend.


I started working on the brakes the set up is an MP Brakes 9" booster with AZ Pro Performance's bracket. The proportioning valve is also MP Brakes.


That's it for now. Till next time.

[Fastandcrazy]

Here are some progress pics.

Finished the truck bed


Got the truck turned around





Windshield installed


Rear window installed

[SCOTI]

Moving right along

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking good, keep it up.

[RCbowtie69]

Just check your build,looking good keep up the hard work & keep pic coming & Keep on Truckin''

[Fastandcrazy]

Thanks, Gents. I've been making a lot of progress, scattered progress but progress none the less.

[Fastandcrazy]

I was going to jump straight to where I am right now, but I decided to share the unveiling of these gems. First, this is how my engine and transmission showed up. Not sure if I mentioned it, I went ahead and saved up for the LS3/480HP and the recently released GMPP 6L80E.



The engine showed up before the transmission; you can see the engine sitting in the background on a metal engine stand I built.



Here is the LS3 in all her glory, with the Corvette water pump and harmonic balancer... they are soon removed to make room for a different accessory drive system.

[Fastandcrazy]

Before I get to the real good pictures, I thought I would share the other stuff I was tackling while waiting for the engine and transmission.

I finally got everything painted. I installed the doors, and the whole front end, just to test fit everything. Needless to say, I have a lot of body alignment to do. I would also like to say, again, the paint job is not the best. I just wanted to get everything on the outside is generally the same color. It is a metallic gray, the metal flakes, or whatever it is, settled differently on the doors. So, the doors don't match all that great when you get up close. It still meets my intent, "okay" on the outside, but a solid foundation.



I messed around with the gauges that I originally had. Gave the LEDs a test run, to see if they still work. Sure enough. I bought four new LEDs for the bottom row of smaller gauges, so all six will match the Speedo and Tach.


Before testing, I had to fix this mess.


I swapped out wires and made new ones that matched the Painless Performance diagram. I then taped everything up. I went ahead and added a new indicator light on the front of the dash, to use for my high beams, and I'm going to use the formerly high beam light for the engine light. That is not shown in any of these pics.

[Fastandcrazy]

I'm happy to say I actually got the engine in by myself with no damage to anything, not even the firewall.

First, I got everything lined up. I used two different kinds of engine slings/balancing lifts. This one, as you see, it is a Summit Racing one. It works great for the engine alone.


When I married up the engine to the transmission, there was no way to keep the couple anywhere near level. So I had to get creative. I had this engine leveler chain lift. I didn't initially use it because the chains aren't long enough and would touch the intake.


I got the two supported and leveled on the floor with my floor jack and the engine stand I built. Not recommended, but I only needed a few minutes.


I mix-matched the two lifts and was able to use the leveling function on the former chain lift.


Once I got everything figured out. It was quick to get her settled on the engine perches and the transmission mount.

[Fastandcrazy]

From when I got the engine and transmission in, to this point, is about a week. What I didn't show is I had to lift the back end of the transmission to install Dirty Dingos transmission cross-member. I originally had an ECE Transmission cross-member, but things didn't line up. I couldn't really use the cross-member without drilling the cross-member. I decided to keep with Dirty Dingo; I have Dirty Dingo engine mounts, Energy Suspension Poly-mounts, small block center bolt perches, and Dirty Dingos transmission cross-member. I also went with an Energy Suspension transmission mount. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I went with Speed Engineering's oil pan.

I removed the water pump, harmonic balancer, and spark plug wires. The accessory drive kit comes in this week. Hopefully, I will have that on this weekend. Spark plug wires are removed because I had test fitted Schoenfeld Headers, to see how they fit and how low they hang. They fit real good, and they do not hang low at all. My transmission pan is actually lower than the headers. Does anyone have this problem? The GMPP 6l80E does not come with the low profile pan, but it can be purchased; spending $200 for the pan is something I am strongly considering.


A side profile. You can see the Schoenfeld Headers in the background. I will get pics of how they fit in the future. I took them back off so I could weld on a ball and socket flange and then I am going to paint them with VHT's black paint. The black paint you see is only to protect them from rusting. It's humid here in NC, so anything bare metal get's rusty, real quick-like.


More to follow.

[SCOTI]

Investing some big bucks on the drivetrain but a solid one. They sure are tempting....

[Fastandcrazy]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Investing some big bucks on the drivetrain but a solid one. They sure are tempting....

I did. I've done everything myself to save money and invest that into the drivetrain. My idea is to have a foundation/drivetrain I can depend on and not worry about, also to have a little fun at times.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Fastandcrazy

I did. I've done everything myself to save money and invest that into the drivetrain. My idea is to have a foundation/drivetrain I can depend on and not worry about, also to have a little fun at times.

I would say 'goal achieved'.

[1971Stepside]

Way to go big!! You are going to love that set up.