66 GMC Long to Short LS Swap

[Duncan K]

I figured since the cab was already on its back it was a good time to bodywork the roof. Followed that up with the firewall, kick panels, dash, and above the windshield where I welded in the patch. Sealed up the roof and firewall with a coat of epoxy, and got the seam sealer done in the drip rail.

Learned a lot of hard lessons doing this bodywork. I have to stop being so sloppy with the filler, lots of unnecessary sanding. I am also amazed at how a panel can look so flat until you hit it with a long block and all the highs and lows show themselves.

Going to paint the interior and the firewall before I put the cab back on the chassis. Will probably shoot the roof with high build primer as well.



After waiting months my inner fenders finally arrived. I had done some rust repair on the original ones but they were going to take way too much bodywork so I treated myself to a new set.

[Braunschweiger]

They did a fine job there, the filler will never be my core competence either, I had too little or too much. Looks really good on them.

[Slammed96]

Man you're kicking ass on this thing! Makes me want to go back and redo all mine, because it's nowhere near that straight and clean.

[The Rocknrod]

Definitely some quality work.

[Duncan K]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

They did a fine job there, the filler will never be my core competence either, I had too little or too much. Looks really good on them.

Originally Posted by Slammed96

Man you're kicking ass on this thing! Makes me want to go back and redo all mine, because it's nowhere near that straight and clean.

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Definitely some quality work.

Thanks guys, its been a real battle to try not to cut corners to get this project done faster. I keep reminding myself that there is no deadline, the extra work will be worth it and show in the final product.

[Duncan K]

Got to work on the interior this week. Shot the floor with Raptor liner that was tinted to match the interior paint colour. I will be putting Kilmat and carpet down in the future but this will protect the primer in the mean time. Got a nasty surprise when I went to spray. Had the liner all mixed up in the bottle with the hardener and went to screw on my Shutz gun. Turns out a standard Shutz gun doesn't fit, you have to buy the "Raptor" gun. I got lucky and found a container that my gun fit onto and poured the liner in. It worked ok but went on really thick and globby. Went the next day and got another bottle mixed up and bought the raptor gun. It layed down much nicer the second time, the Raptor gun has a smaller diameter nozzle



Got the interior painted with single stage. I did a couple spray outs to try and figure out how much flatener to add. I thought I had it right but it could have used a little more, still has a bit of shine to it. I may end up putting another coat on with a bit more flattener added, at least on the dash.

[SkinnyG]

I found the same thing. I had the can all mixed and THEN discovered it didn't fit my Shutz gun. Same as you, I happened to have a can.

Looks good!

[Paul Y]

Just getting ready to do my cab interior, yours looks very similar to what I envisage mine will be.

Hope it turns out half as good and I will be happy!

P.

[Duncan K]

So after my last attempt on the drivers door I decided it would be easier to try and find a rust free set of doors, or at least a set that only needed minor patching. I haven't had any luck with welding skins on. With all the rust repair I have tackled on this truck I am not sure why this is proving to be so difficult. I shopped around for a few months and ended up finding a pretty good deal on a set that had solid inner bottoms, and only minor rust in the bottom corners of the skins. I thought this was going to be the end of my door problems and I would finally be able to move on. I blasted them and shot them with epoxy. I hung them on the cab only to find they didn't fit at all. Gaps were terrible, and they didn't match up to body of the cab at all. I didn't take any pics, but I would have had to do significant chopping and welding to make them fit. This was exactly what I was trying to avoid.So much for the easy fix.

I had cut the skin off the original driver door up above the handle. The reproduction door skins I bought were only usable below the upper body line because the upper body line was 3/8" too low. I had written this door off and left it outside. I bought it in and hung it with original skin, fits pretty good.

[IMG][IMG]

I put a new door bottom on it, mounted the striker on the cab and installed the door lock mechanism. With the door closed and locked in place the middle of the door edge did not line up with the cab. I made a relief cut and then welded in a filler to bring the for edge out flush. With that done I mounted the cowl extension and the fender. The door frame fit great everywhere including at the rocker. I cut the skin off the last driver door I attempted to fix and fit it to this one. I tacked it in and hammered over the corners to hold it in place. As per usual, now it fits like crap, the top pulled, and now it doesn't seem to fit at the rocker.

[IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG]

I really hate doors!!!! Not really sure what I want to do at this point. This has really killed my motivation. as much as I want to do all the work on this truck myself I might have to admit defeat on this one and hire some to fix it. Going to move on to other things and leave the doors alone for a while, again.

[Duncan K]

My wiring harness for the LS is just a birds nest of extra wire. I have the ECU mounted under the dash being the glove box. I put the cab back on the chassis and made a bracket that comes off the back of the motor and in through the firewall to the ECU. This gives me the exact location where the harness plugs in. With that done I pulled the cab off. I pulled each wire out of the plug, back through the birds nest to its source, rerouted it the way I wanted back to the plug, cut it to length and crimped a new pin on it. Just have to get some braided loom to dress it up and protect it now.

[IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG]

I think I am going to run all the power wires to a relay/fuse box under the hood

[66C10LB]

Originally Posted by

[IMG

[IMG]

I put a new door bottom on it, mounted the striker on the cab and installed the door lock mechanism. With the door closed and locked in place the middle of the door edge did not line up with the cab. I made a relief cut and then welded in a filler to bring the for edge out flush. With that done I mounted the cowl extension and the fender. The door frame fit great everywhere including at the rocker. I cut the skin off the last driver door I attempted to fix and fit it to this one. I tacked it in and hammered over the corners to hold it in place. As per usual, now it fits like crap, the top pulled, and now it doesn't seem to fit at the rocker.

[IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG]

I really hate doors!!!! Not really sure what I want to do at this point. This has really killed my motivation. as much as I want to do all the work on this truck myself I might have to admit defeat on this one and hire some to fix it. Going to move on to other things and leave the doors alone for a while, again.

I'm with you on that challenges on door skins. I failed on the drivers outer btm, gave up and went on to A-pillars which were no problem. Worked on the passenger door outer bottoms and after a lot of effort finally managed to get good fit/curvature. Now back to try the drivers door again.

[Duncan K]

I keep walking away and working on other things after every failed attempt. I have a big collection of doors now. I feel like I will have the whole truck complete and still be working on getting door skins on!

[The Rocknrod]

Now that's pretty ingenious. Should work out better than most.

[Braunschweiger]

I agree, damn clever.

[aggie91]

Great idea. I'm going to have to use that someday.

[The Rocknrod]

Ya but when your done you'll be the best door fixer upper around.

[Braunschweiger]

On my '62, I changed the entire door skin and the bottom on both doors, it's a challenge until all the gaps in the Cap fit again.

[Duncan K]

Finished up work on the LS wiring harness, All cleaned up with fresh braided loom.



Got the firewall painted



Shot the under side of the inner fenders and part of the firewall with Raptor Liner

[aggie91]

Harness and the undercoating on the inner fenders and firewall look great. Nice progress.

[Braunschweiger]

Looks great.

[Duncan K]

Its been a couple month's since I got any time to work on the truck. Managed to get in the shop for a few hours today. Felt great to make a bit of progress. I got the cab back on the chassis for hopefully the last time. Painted the inner fenders, rad support, and a bunch of other parts as well.

[SkinnyG]

I like the white hoop wheels

[Duncan K]

I got the seals installed on the inner fenders. I used stainless safety wire and bent them into staples, worked pretty well.



Got to do some final assembly with freshly painted parts. Bolted up the inner fenders, core support, and the battery tray. Installed the radiator and battery.

With the inner fenders in I now had a place to put a waterproof fuse/relay box. I wired up all the power for the motor and ecu, as well as the fan. Also built a bracket to house a fuse block on the fire wall inside the cab. It sits right on top of the Tac Module for the drive by wire.



Wired power to the ignition switch and turned the key, engine would crank but not start. Spent 2 days trouble shooting only to find out that the "acc" terminal on the ignition switch that I used to signal the main power relay loses power when you turn the key to crank the starter. Switched the signal wire over to the ignition terminal and it fired right up.

I wired up the OBD2 port so I could hook up my laptop with HPTuners to monitor oil pressure and coolant temp. I let the motor run until it hit 108 degrees celsius to confirm the ecu would trigger the fan relay. It takes a long time for it to hit 108! Fan kicked in, so all engine wiring is now complete. Still need to run some heavier ground and power cables from the battery.

[rodstored-72]

very nice!!... wiring looks really good, you indicated that you wired up the OBD2 port? I am in the process of getting mine dialed in (obd2 port) and in need of adding a 120ohm resistor... did you have to do this? if so, would you be willing to elaborate on the process (steps) that you did??...
really nice build!

[Duncan K]

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

very nice!!... wiring looks really good, you indicated that you wired up the OBD2 port? I am in the process of getting mine dialed in (obd2 port) and in need of adding a 120ohm resistor... did you have to do this? if so, would you be willing to elaborate on the process (steps) that you did??...
really nice build!

I did not have to add a resistor to mine