time for some upgrades
 

so, after much humming and hawing over the long winter months, I decided that you only live once, and I'm about to pull the trigger on some updates for my 65. I know i will have serious buyers remorse, but hey, whatever right.

Modification list includes...

New headers, I only have shorties, and a 2" exhaust, so i'm getting thorley tri y headers with a full 2.5" system out to flowmasters, just because I love how the flowmasters sound.

Next on the list is a FAST ez efi system. I'm kind of a tech junkie, and i'm going for the 2.0. Yes, i understand that I don't need the 2.0 if i only have a mild build, but the little dashboard with all the engine vitals is just too cool, and i like how the throttle body looks. Plus, I really want to try to run it with the timing control.

Also, going for the Hotchkis TVS system. I'm trying really hard to justify this one to myself, but I just can't, other than i want this thing to hook up. It's fun to drive as it is, but it really struggles for traction. everything i have read about this kit says it seriously helps out with that. So along with this, probably new wheels and tires are in order as well...it has cooper cobras on it now, but i was thinking maybe something stickier??

sigh...where does it end?

the current set up is a 350 with a performer manifold, holley vacuum 650. Last spring I put a set of edelbrock e-street heads on it, along with a comp xe268 cam. I put in a 700 R4 with a 2400 stall, and rebuilt the 3.73 rear end. I wish i would have put a posi in it, although, strangely enough, it usually lights both tires up. I really wanted to put in a truetrac, but I've been thinking of putting one of those powertrax extreme traction systems in, just because i wouldn't have to take the rear out, i could just drop the spider gears, and do everything in my garage.

i also want to dynamat the floor and fire wall. I did the doors last year, and it made a huge difference.

what do you guys think?? I'm making my order here in the next couple days, i got a 10% off coupon from summit the other day, so I'm using that. I hope this all turns out, lol.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

Sounds awesome. The EFI is going to be great! I'm excited to see it come together. I could sure use a 10% off summit coupon. How did you land one?

Re: time for some upgrades
 

its a truck, and if its struggling for traction now, and you pump up the power in the motor, your kinda defeating yourself. my reccomendation is to work on it hooking up. i built a gen 1 350 with 300hp/375tq and i think it was a little much for my needs. it has a nice long flat tq curve, but im going be wastin tires.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

i was at the world of wheels, they were giving out the catalogs and they all had a 10% off sticker on them!

Re: time for some upgrades
 

that was what i had initially thought, but i did a lot of homework on it, and from what I have read, there are a lot of solutions to traction issues in these trucks. The Hotchkis TVS system is supposed to be a very well designed, very well put together system. A properly set up rear sway bar is supposed to help. From the research i have done, the torque of the motor likes to load up the left rear tire, and the sway-bar in the set up is supposed to help with that. Also the anti squat brackets help improve the geometry of the trailing arms, and put some additional bite in when you launch. I have spoke to a few guys with these systems on, and they said the difference was amazing...like night and day, the actual words they used to describe them was 'a corvette with a box'. They said with a little stickier of a tire, i will notice a major difference in off the line traction. But who knows unless you try it right?

Re: time for some upgrades
 

when you do the FAST efi please take pictures and document the install. this is my fantasy along with air ride thanks

Re: time for some upgrades
 

Before you go and buy the Hotchkiss TVS system, do a little reading and asking questions over in the 'Racing And High Performance' section here on the forum.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

CHRIS67GMC built an awesome truck using the stuff Rob from NoLimit designed. I'm not sure of the cost but if you're looking at the TVS stuff ...

Here's Chris build (he's a member on here and a dealer for NoLimit I believe)

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=521095

Rob designed all this stuff and is also a member on here. You can buy from him also.

http://www.nolimitengineering.com/

I can only drool (and dream) of using this stuff ...

Re: time for some upgrades
 

wow...that is an UNREAL truck. Makes a guy really respect someone's skill who can produce something like that. Almost makes me a little shy to post my progress, lol. Anyhow, speaking of progress, my first wave of parts have come in! The bad news...I'm stuck at work out of town for the next few weeks. Sigh...
I even ordered a set of rear discs from captain fab! I'm eager to get started!!

Re: time for some upgrades
 

The hotchkiss system will help if you plan to auto cross the truck. If you just are looking to help when you stop the gas pedal from a stop light it will not help much. All you need to do is look at the weight front and rear and see the big issue. A posi, bigger rubber and a softer compound will help the most.
Jimmy

Re: time for some upgrades
 

well, I got my first round of parts in!

So I started out by painting my valve covers.

I masked them off, and applied chapstick to the top of the ribs.


i then sprayed them with duplicolor high temp red. i popped them in the bbq to cure for three hours, and lightly buffed the ribs with an sos pad, then polished them with a dremel. I tried to remove the paint off the ribs on the first one before i baked it, and it was much harder to do a clean job. The paint wanted to tear and wrinkle, making it hard to make nice crisp lines.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

Next step...i wired in cute new turn and high beam indicator lights. I used the painless 5/16 LED's. The previous owner of the truck wired it with a painless harness, so it was fairly easy to just find the wires and route them to where they needed to go. Overall, I think it turned out great.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

next step was wiring up the electric fan. I mounted the relay up front by the battery. When I get the ez efi parts in, the computer will control the on and off of the fan, but for now, I just have it rigged to a switch on the dash. It will stay on most of the time, and off if i need to work on it.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

Looking great. I like how the valve covers turned out!

Re: time for some upgrades
 

I'm going to be installing a different set of pulleys, so I have not mounted the actual fan yet, but it will be quick and simple, just pop it in, and plug it in. Next step is the cruise control. Maybe I will be able to get at that next week. I bought the dakota digital cruise control. I figure with the EFI, an OD tranny, and cruise, It should be pretty sweet to cruise in this summer.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

thanks man! i was actually quite surprised how easy it was to do. I'm usually a bit gun shy (pun intended...get it..paint gun...he he he) when it comes to painting. but i just took my time, and it was not hard at all. I have a few little goof ups, but nothing that anybody other than me will notice.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

I agree, the valve covers turned out very nice :thumbs:

Re: time for some upgrades
 

Thanks captain! It won't be long until I put your rear disc kit on too!

Re: time for some upgrades
 

Very nice job on the valve covers.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

Quick update!

So this weekend I did a few little odds and ends. I have no good pictures yet because I had to take off and go to work out of town.

First thing...I got a new windshield wiper motor from Newport engineering. Overall, this is a very solid kit. It adds delay, low and high speeds. It was a very simple bolt in set up. Very easy to wire up. I got the switch with the kit. It was a little large and bulky, but I made it work. I had a few issues with the transmission arms. I did not have any wiper parts period. So I went to a local guy a couple hours drive away, and got the parts required. Well...KINDA. The guy forgot one part, and explained how to put them in wrong. So I got it all bolted together, and, being the smart guy that I am, checked the drivers side wiper. It was trying to wipe down instead of up. No big deal. So I switched it around, and TA DA! It wiped the way it was supposed to. So I smugly put the whole thing back together, cowl back on, wiper arms on, hopped in, and hit the switch. Remember the missing part I was talking about?? Well it was the part that made the PASSENGER SIDE wipe the right way. So my passenger side wiper tried to wipe my cowl. I guess I have to give it to the Newport motor, it has lots of balls. It did a very good job of wiping the paint off my cowl, and mangling the wiper arm. ARGH!!!! Lesson learned I guess, shame on me for not checking both sides. So I hit the road, and burned a couple hours away to get the one little part, and all the way back. Yup...8 hours of driving just to get the parts for the stupid wipers. But they work great now!!

Then I started to install the cruise control. I have an Ididt column, and I bought the Dakota digital cruise kit. It has the original style GM cruise handle. So speaking of frustration...It took forever to try to get a wire through that hole, I found it was faster to just pull the column out and do it on the bench( tail gate of my other truck actually, haha) I tried pulling all four wires through at once, but it just wouldn’t go, no matter how I had it taped up. I ended up running a wire through, then pulling fishing line through, then pulling each wire separately. It worked like a charm. I got it all bolted back in place, and that's where she sits. I still have to put the actual cruise module in yet. Next weekend, lol.

I cleaned up from the little leak that developed in the 700R4 over the winter, I think its leaking from the TV cable seal. It only does it after it sits for a while. I think it’s when the fluid drains back from out of the converter etc and the level comes up in the pan above the TV cable seal. Anyone else run into this?? Last time, it started leaking only after it sat for about a month or so. I started it up quick, so I’ll see if it’s still leaky when I get home. Man, I forgot how good the motor sounds since I put the cam in it, hahah. Just enough to have a nice little chop, but not enough to be overwhelming.

I also pulled the seat out of a 61, and took it to an upholsterer. I’m very excited about it!! I will post pictures once its done.

And of course, the EZ EFI parts that I ordered, all came in the day AFTER I left to go to work out of town for two weeks.

So that's on the agenda to get in for next weekend I am trying hard to get it all done for a show in Lethbridge on July 12-14, which is the whole reason I got an old toy in the first place. Ever since I was a kid, I remember going to the cruise nights, and wishing I had a cool ride. And now...I do!

I’m only home every other weekend, from Thursday to Monday, I work out of town the rest of the time. So I have about 12 working days to get the EZ EFI in, pull the rear end, put a the powertrax in, put Captain Fab rear disc kit in, pull the seat out, Dynamat the floor and firewall, Fix a not working fuel level sender (just a bad ground I hope), put new headers on, make a carpet for the firewall and rear cab, put the shifter boot on, Put the newly redone seat in, put my new tappet covers on, and do any other little items that I need to do. Sigh...any tips that any of you might have on the above items...let me know, haha.

I’m almost thinking I should get a finned aluminum rear diff cover and paint it to match the tappet covers?? What do you guys think? OH, do you guys use a gasket for the diff cover, or just silicone?

Re: time for some upgrades
 

Oh, and I have made the executive decision to not to pull the trigger on the suspension yet. So I may be asking some of you guys more questions about how to do that part cheaper.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

Your plans are very impressive as is your quick pace of progress.

Fyi heat lamps also work very well for cooking paint, and may allow better temperature control. I think the finned rear axle cover would look very cool (I have a chrome steel version myself). I’ve had my gears swapped twice, and both times silicone was used alone, and both times the cover leaked. The cover was pulled, cleaned up, and the best gasket I can find installed with no leakage at all. My axle is a Dana 44, not sure if they are more prone to leakage than anything else.

When it comes to deciding where to mount your cruise control module, it can go virtually anywhere. When I had cruise I mounted the module between the heater and distributor on the inside of the firewall. The instructions warn against mounting it in the cab, but all I ever noticed was a small “click” when it is turned on, and mounting it inside sure cleaned up the engine compartment.

Is there an overall picture of your truck posted somewhere? Does it look like your Avatar? Have a great week.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

so this is an overall picture of it. My brother in law and I just finished the heads and cam swap, and had one wire wrong, MAN was it back firing!! that's why he has his ears plugged, hahah.



And about the cruise control, I think I am going to mount mine somewhere like on the column or around there. I found a nice hole in the firewall for the cable to run through. I bet my exhaust will b elouder than the click anyhow right?? Isn't that how these things are supposed to work? That's why I haven't paid attention to the radio, because lets face it, I wont hear the damn thing anyhow.

Is there a rear diff gasket brand that you would recommend?? Every place I went just said to use silicone, but I'm with you on the gasket thing.

Re: time for some upgrades
 

Love the tilt hood, would be on my wish list if I could afford one LOL

Re: time for some upgrades
 

I always use a Fel Pro gasket without any silicone with no leaks. You just need to be sure your cover is good and flat and don't over tighten the bolts. I can get you a part number tomorrow.