Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Of course I miss the listing when you had it for sale. Walt is a cool truck! Looking forward to the finished project.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

I did some more cleaning & prepping to get the bbc ready for Walter. Ordered a new water pump, oil pump & pickup, a bunch of gaskets and such to make me feel better about this engines “fitness”. I have a few March serpentine belt pieces that I need to figure out if they’ll work too.

I’ve got to decide if I want to spend the $ to build the wider ‘70-1/2 up rearend or use the current narrow rearend. That’ll make me decide on the trans I’ll use. The th400 out of the camper is a beast, but I also happen to have a built 700r4. I have some time to make that decision though.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

I'll ask... what are your plans for wheels, and for driving type? Are you going custom wheels or stock steel wheels (rally's or hubcaps)? If you're going custom, say anything above a 16" wheel, you'll probably want to run the narrower rear, just to get a little bit more lip on the back wheels.

As for the trans, if you plan on doing much highway driving, I'd recommend the 700R4 over the th400. Your engine will thank you with the lower cruise RPM. Plus, you can go with a higher numerical rear end ratio and the overdrive would help make that cruise speed more engine friendly. Otherwise, if you plan on racing Walt, stick with the th400, but you'll need to build it up.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

This is where I'm at too. I've ordered the 20x10 Billet Specialties Speedways which I know fit perfect with the wider rearend and a 295. But I really want to run a 315 rear tire out back and don't know if I will run into issues with outer fender clearance.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

I have both the narrow & wide housings. And, since I’ve decided to keep Walter, I’ll be using him as a cruiser, nothing else. So, I’ll go narrow rearend with 3.42’s and 700r4. He’ll be on accuair air with PB mild dropmembers front & rear and big Wilwoods all the way around. And FITech EFI...

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

I got the extra SWB frame into the shop and started getting ready for the PB Dropmembers and such. I’ll be putting the Bbc in this frame & then slap Walters sexy body onto it.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Had a chance this afternoon to work on getting some of the PBFab stuff bolted up. Front was pretty easy, but the rear is quite a bit more labor intensive. I only got one notch fitted and was officially whipped. I’ll work on it some more this week after work.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Bahhhh... I went ahead and fit the other notch (I was already filthy as hell & I didn’t want to make another huge mess grinding the frame to fit the notch) and started drilling 7/16” holes.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

I’ll blow it all back apart once I’ve done a complete assembly with fitment and such. Then I’ll paint and/or powdercoat everything.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Nice progress. You probably made the right choice getting out there and doing the other side while you were already filthy. I've had to make myself work a full day in the garage so I don't have to make a mess multiple times too. It can be exhausting, but it's worth it in the end.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Yep Duane, you are absolutely correct, I wasn’t about to create another mess like that. I will admit that I didn’t clean it up last night, but it’ll get cleaned up tonight after I drill the remaining 11 holes for the notches.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Nice progress. There are times I wish I would done the mild notch instead of the c-notch.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Yeah, I didn’t wanna lay frame. I just wanted it to sit down low when I’m riding. I’m doing a mild front dropmember too.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

So I could have a break from drilling and whammin’, I decided to check out the main & rod bearings in the 468 and found bad news. Whoever installed the tranny the last time apparently didn’t do it properly and had the crankshaft “pushed” forward in the motor. It destroyed the thrust plate and chewed up the bearings a little. I got lucky and found a good, freshly machined .010/.010 454 crankshaft for a decent price today. So, I’ll get some new bearings, clean clean clean & reassemble everything.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

While a bummer, it is good you checked!

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Yes Doug, it certainly is. That woulda been a seriously catastrophic failure.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Spent this evening drilling holes and fitting some more. Good LORD!, that was a lot of drilling! And I’d already taken this frame completely apart, so all the body rivets are already gone. Nothings tight except the rear notch. I am going to use a wide (‘70-1/2-‘72) rearend, so I blasted the case, but I have to build it out, so I can put it at ride height and then set the pinion angle and weld on the rear lower bag mount.

So tomorrow I’ll work on “reconstructing” the 468 so I can place it and the 700r4 in to get all my angles set.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

So I got the new bearings and such for the 468 last night. I spent a few hours this evening getting the crank into the motor and checking the clearances of the bearings. Got that buttoned up and “sealed” the motor, so I can scrub the block and paint it tomorrow. Then I’ll finally get it all back together. Then back on the porterbuilt chassis.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Got the bottom end all assembled and buttoned up and started cleaning up the accessories, Intake manifold, and valve covers so I can paint and such. Not a lot to “see”, but a pic to prove it.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Nothing really picture worthy, but I got the alternator taken apart, sand blasted the case & painted it (& reassembled with the serpentine fan & pulley). Also got the balancer and p/s pump cleaned up and ready to paint. I got the wrong pulley for the p/s serpentine pulley and called to get the correct one on the way.

Also ordered the posi, 3.42’s and bearings for the rearend. Gotta get it put together so I can weld on the bag mounts.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Still nothing picture worthy, but I’m moving forward. I got the water pump paints & installed. Still waiting on the p/s pulley and the correct timing marker (the aluminum timing cover isn’t very user friendly related to timing marker).

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Nice progress. That serpentine setup will look great.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Thanks! I love your camper build! Wish mine didn’t have the huge hole for the walkthrough.

I fiddled with the serpentine setup some more, but I’m still waiting on the tool to install the harmonic balancer.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Good progress...and those brackets look pretty sweet!

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Finally got the harmonic balancer installed, so I could finalize the serpentine belt setup. I think it’ll look way better than v-belts and I can’t imagine an 8-rib belt slipping on this application. :lol:

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Because I haven’t had much free time, I got a little bit more done on the motor. I’m waiting on some parts for the 700r4, so I’m going back to the chassis tomorrow.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

I spent the better part of the day working on fitting the rear bumper I bought from forum member GR8-68 a while back and fitting/ modifying the home built hidden hitch. I also had to move the PB rear crossmember back about 2-1/2” so I could fit the Boyd EFI tank between the rear one & the one at the notch. That bought me about 24 7/16” holes to drill, between the hitch, the crossmember relocation and such. I’m getting tired of drillin’ holes!

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Looks great! Glad to see those parts I sold you getting put to use!!

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Thanks man! I sold a bunch of them, but I kept the best ones :lol:

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Finished assembling the motor, got the trans cleaned up & painted, new filter, pan, seals etc. dropped the motor in the frame to check some clearances and such. Without help, I don’t want to ruin my back, so I’ll have to wait for help to install the tranny.

Anybody with a mild dropmember and BBC able to point me in the right direction as far as headers that’ll work?

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

I decided not to wait & got the transmission in place too. Now, me & my sore back are going in for the night. :lol:

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

After a bunch of tweaking and measuring, I’ve concluded that the BBC sits entirely to low in the chassis to fit any kinda manifolds or headers. It sits about an inch lower than it did in the camper chassis. The mounts seem to be for a SBC vs a BBC?

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Ruh roh

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Yep! Even the stock exhaust manifolds hit the frame and the upper PB k-member mounting points. No way this motor can stay this low in the frame. Nate's travelling, but he's emailed me a few times and says he'll help out when he gets back to the shop.

If it won't work... I'll snatch the BBC out and put the fresh SBC out of Vern into this chassis and put the BBC in Vern. The ole swap'O'Roo.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Well, I haven't heard back from Nate, but I found a post from Nate in 2007 that states, " The BBC tabs are just over 1/2" taller than the SBC tabs. So, you can run a SBC with the tabs for a BBC, but not the other way around". But then in 2014 he stated that for the Mild DM, the SBC and BBC tabs are the same...that was me that asked the question back then. I don't think that was the correct answer. So, now I know I've got SBC tabs instead of BBC. I hope to get an answer soon, so I'll continue to wait to hear back from PB.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

I finally got the rearend bag mounts welded in place and had it blasted and powdercoated.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Ever hear from Nate? The diff came out nice.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Hey Doug,

I did hear back, but don’t have a remedy yet. I’ve sent him quite a few pictures of the chassis & motor (& it’s orientation). He’s going to design/make a set of motor mount plates that'll raise the current setup about 5/8”. That should be plenty, or so I hope. But he said it’d be a week or so before he’d have time to draw them up and such.

We’ll see how it goes.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

Well, still no solid word from Nate. I’m really pretty disappointed in the lack of give-a-$h!T. I can do a lot of things but chassis/motor metal fab stuff on a planned out setup ain’t my game. But, I guess I’m going to have to figure it out.

On another note, I sold my 77 C10 so I’m going to be more focused on this build again...hopefully until the end this time. I’ve gotten the rearend housing back from powdercoat and I’ll be assembling and setting up the gears and Eaton Posi this weekend. I decided to go 3.42’s instead of 3.73’s since the BBC/700r4 should be good with a lower rpm functioning range.

Re: Walter DeWayne...Walt for short
 

No word from Nate, but I did get the rearend back from my buddy. Eaton posi and new 3.42 gears done! I did some checking & cleaning tonight, but tomorrow I’ll try like He77 to get it completely assembled.