Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Today was a milestone, I can start building the truck. Had the frame, cross members, A/C brackets and some other powder coated for the first run. $1150, and well worth it, better than new.

Dropped the axle off for the once over too. They're setting me up with a 1-piece shaft. Guess I better order some suspension huh? Going deep into the pocket this month :lol:

Bodge Repairs
 

@Steeveedee :

I say 'dang previous owner but it's essentially the same thing.....

easily 1/2 of the repairs I did as a Journeyman mechanic involved some sort of first un - doing some ill considered bodge repair .

You're right the person doing halffast repairs is legally liable but proving who made the mess is difficult .

I mostly worked on older vehicles during my long career so I got to see more bad repairs and patches than do most .

OTOH, I learned a lot about field repairs at the same time.......

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Krylon fluorescent orange

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

:chevy: Your going to need one of these when your done :lol:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I had the truck undercoated and a paint protection applied. No waxing till death do us part! A new set of snow tires and I'm ready, cause it's coming.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

That's a beautiful Chevelle. What is that exactly some sort of "clean" room for it? Pressurized to keep dirt out or something, or just sealed?

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

:lol: No kidding, that is beautiful. Chevelle in a plastic bubble.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

It is trying not to catch LStuner disease :lol::lol:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

That Chevelle is gorgeous. If it was mine, there'd be no chance for rust behind the rear tires. That area would have a nice layer of Goodyear PolyGlas GT coating it. I started work out of high school at a Chevy dealer. I loved driving those things!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Never throw away an old dizzy, you never know when you'll need a engine oil primer. Like that time I spun the oil primer on the drill in the air and I bent the shaft. One of those times.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I drove mine to haul myself and my tools to repair the front brakes on a friend's car. It ran and sounded so damn good! I love these trucks!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I drove to work and parked where I could look at my truck out the front window.I drive 16 miles round trip for lunch 4 days a week. I enjoy the drive ,sometimes I'll even turn on some music. I love my Chevy's.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Sometimes??? :confused:

If I ain't blasting myself out of the cab, it's parked somewhere and I ain't in it! :D

No wonder you love your Chevy's, their :c2: !

Pre - Oiling Engines
 

I always use a bent up coat hanger or welding rod chucked into an old hand drill brace to pre oil engines ~ you needn't spin it fast, just long enough to register pressure on the gauge and have oil weeping out of the rocker lube holes .

The salvaged dizzy idea sounds pretty clever to me .

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Washed the frame and undercarriage.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Thanks. I love the sound of the exhaust so much, it's like music to my ears.:lol:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Getting started on some new parts. My first project truck. Sat for 20+ years. I can tell there are a few "new" parts that aren't OEM, but I think these plugs and wires are original 72. Whatcha think?

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Those plugs don't appear to have many miles and they're clean and tan so mayhap that's a good engine to bring back to life .

No worries about the broken insulator, time to get upset when the bottom threaded part remains in the cylinder head..... :waah: .

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Installed ece front sway bar and drove it.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Flared a short section of stainless brake line. Failed to flare of section of brake line. I was trying to shorten a pair of stainless lines on my rear end to work with my disc brakes. The line and/or tool did not like the small 3/16" line... 1/4" line was perfect.

Re: Pre - Oiling Engines
 

I tried tig wire but I didn't like it. The old dizzy shaft works great.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I did the same as you, but went a slightly different route.

Ground the teeth off of the gear and reduced top dia. for a 3/8" drill.

Still keeps the shaft from sliding off of the pump slot.

Haven't used it in years as the engine is still doing just fine! :D

https://i.imgur.com/U48RLyPl.jpg

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Got the pinion back in the rear with new bearings. No sleeve crush yet. Got the new carrier bearings installed and the ring gear switched over to the Eaton carrier, ready to go in. Started installing the brackets for the No Limit upper mount sway bar, and found I had a u bolt with striped threads. got to order a set. Also found my left rear brake line was almost mashed shut on the back of the axle. That must have been like that for years. But I am getting closer each day!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Got the pinion back in the rear with new bearings. No sleeve crush yet. Got the new carrier bearings installed and the ring gear switched over to the Eaton carrier, ready to go in. Started installing the brackets for the No Limit upper mount sway bar, and found I had a u bolt with striped threads. got to order a set. Also found my left rear brake line was almost mashed shut on the back of the axle. That must have been like that for years. But I am getting closer each day!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Put a few miles on the new top end, and fried the alternator.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Kind of counter productive but I sold mine today.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Replaced the heater hoses...while I was taking the wire clamp off the 5/8 inch hose, it popped out of my pliers, sailed into the driver’s side engine bay, rattled around and disappeared (that’s my conclusion after spending 30 minutes looking for it - which included taking the driver side front wheel off) :cuss:

Used hose clamps to secure the hoses on the heater core, then spent 20 minutes trying to get the metal thingie that holds the hoses together, failed, and just used a cable tie.

I hope that clamp didn’t end up somewhere that will cause me problems later....:ack:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

This was yesterday... but I welded up some of the spot weld holes, and cut some of the firewall out.. had help with cleaning!!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Finished my rear end rebuild, and installed brake adjusting holes in my rear drum backing plates.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

If it wasn't under the right front tire, keep looking. That's the kind of thing you hear a couple of weeks later going click...click...click, and have to repair a tire. Just ask me how I know this.

I spent so many hours at about that age scrubbing parts that you wouldn't believe it. We couldn't afford chemicals, so it was "just wear out the screwdriver or brush"! :lol:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Today I finished the install of an auxiliary fuel tank. It's a 31 gallon unit which gets me about 50 gallons total as I have elected to keep the tank behind the seat. Looking forward to fewer (but more expensive) stops at the gas station which can be a real inconvenience with a travel trailer in tow.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

It wasn’t under the tire - I looked about 3 times. :waah:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

What is that tank out of?.It looks great!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Wow, that looks great! Please share more details! I have that space open. Given the kind of mileage I get towing the trailer (7 MPG) maybe another tank under the bed will give me some range up roads that are far from a gas station. How do you fill it, and how do you switch it? If you only have two tanks, that would work OK, but I already have 3, so the valves might be interesting to hook up.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Guys, the tank is applicable to the Blazer. The exact model years escapes me but later 70's to later 80's I believe. It has a taper on the trailing bottom corner, assume to help with driveway approaches but the problem for me was that it then put the fill pipe aimed to the passenger side. So... I cut it off and brazed up the hole. On the driver side of the tank on the top corner there is a circular depression, that's where I put my fill tube. I used a mopar style grommet, which allows a little play/flex of the fill pipe if needed. I actually had an old Chrysler gas tank from which I cut the section that receives the grommet, and then brazed it onto the Blazer tank. This is what the stock 31 looks like:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Here are a couple pics of my tank after the previously noted modifications were made. The top of the tank is a little ugly, I got a few bucks off on it as it had a few dents and the heat from brazing didn't help any either, but I don't plan to see the top of that tank again for a long time. :lol:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Under the truck, I made a couple spacers to provide something to pull the tank up against, and also provide a little bit of gap/space for the vent line, fuel line etc. Two frame cross members were moved, never took a picture of their original location but they were riveted to the frame. I moved them outward to a point at the edges of the tank to provide a place to mount the tank straps.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

As far as switching the tanks goes, this is what took me the longest to figure out. I used a simple valve, one wire leads to it so when energized the solenoid is shifted to draw from the aux tank. When de-energized it will draw from the main tank. (behind the seat) The switch is a 'double pole, double throw' unit and as far as I can tell is pretty much made for switching between a pair of tanks like this. Got these items on ebay. Also including an image of how the wires connect to the switch. I am not by any means an electrical genius but I was able to get this working.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Last item I think there is to cover is the fill tube. I wimped out and am currently filling in the wheel well, it is a 4x4 and lifted about 4 inches so there is plenty of room, and is mostly street driven so not TOO worried about a lot of debris or dirt on the gas cap. I mounted it firmly with some muffler clamps against the bottom of the bed with carriage bolts from the bed side. Connected this to the tank with a piece of rubber fill pipe hose and that is pretty much a wrap on the project. Perhaps in the future I'll do a fancy thru the tail-light gas door or something, but for now I think I'm on the road. Planning a trip over Tioga Pass to see the colors of fall late next month.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

One other item of note, if you use a fuel pickup which is the same ohm rating as the one in your other tank, the double pole - double throw switch will route the current to your stock dash fuel gauge when connected as shown in the diagram. So, one switch to flip switches the feed from one tank to the other and also causes the gauge to indicate fuel level in the tank being drawn from. For a time, I thought I'd have to add a gauge for the aux tank and was pleased to find that isn't necessary.

Jeff