[Second Series]

I’m having a hard time focusing on one task, so getting a bunch of little things done. I bent the seat brackets so the mounting hole is parallel to the floor, that lowered the seats a couple inches. I played around with seat placement looking at how they clear the floor access covers and spacing between the two seats. I decided the driver seat should be centered with the steering wheel, it could go out an inch to increase the gap to the other seat, but driving comfort is more important. With the seats positioned I finalized steering wheel location. I’m not satisfied with the resto shops extension on the steering shaft, so I decided to put in a longer D-shaft. I tore the steering shaft apart to see what could be done. I purchased a 2’ long 1” D-shaft, machined out a channel for a spring, cut to length, and drilled a hole. Now it’s painted black and almost ready for assembly. I’ll check the hole size before putting the pin in.
I partially assembled the front end with inner fenders and grill to fit the oil cooler radiator. I have determined how long the hoses need to be and will go to the hose shop this week. I also looked at the upper radiator hose, marked the stock radiator where it needed to be different and took it to the auto parts store. I looked through their rack and found four good candidates, the one I picked fits. Turns out it is for ’73 to ’83 chevy 4x4 lower hose P/N 7581.
I also started on the t-case shifter position. I bent the linkage in about 2” and built a cardboard bracket. I’ll crawl underneath and see how the bracket fits sometime when the ground isn’t too muddy.
With most of the fluid hoses lined up, the last one is the heater hoses. The supply comes from the rear top of the engine, originally a quick connect. I went to look, but something funny, had to get the shop light to see what was going on. O.K. the resto shop was a little too quick disconnecting it I guess because I found the hose had been disconnected and the fitting was snapped in half. I guess I won’t have the joy of breaking it myself. I had read up on this part being prone to break if you looked at it funny and was interested in replacing it with a nipple. Not surprised to find that it had broke, but surprised they neglected to mention it.