Grandpa's 72 restoration

[Snake72]

Thanks man, I browsed through your build a few days ago, looks great! Love the highlander seat cover. Sure is fun to know the history of your truck since it rolled off the lot

[ApacheIvan]

Here is an ad with your g-pa's truck with the pinstripe and camper on it

[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by Snake72

You bet it is, sweet corn stands scattered all through the county right now. There's a guy I went to high school with that makes his living on sweet corn, best in the state! My little 4 year old girl will mow down 3 in a row, true Iowa girl.

Truck progress has slowed way down, my wife and I have 4 week old twins that are taking up all my free time...and money. They're the cutest little kids, cant wait to get them working on "their" truck.

Next up is to finish engine assembly, mate to trans and set it in. Then the cab can go on and will finally look like a truck again.

Awesome! Is the 4 year old the oldest?

My Dad is in area, right now, visiting in the Vinton area.

[Snake72]

Ha my office manager is from Vinton, small world. Yes, the 4 year old is my oldest.

Anybody have experience with aftermarket bed sides? The front bed panel I can save, already have a new tailgate, but the bedsides are goners. The metal is so thin and rusted inside it's not worth patching.

Also, i'm undecided on tires. Since the truck is stock height i'm leaning towards fairly tall skinny, maybe all terrain to keep the farm truck look.

Similar to these?

[68Gold/white]

My uncle from Vinton, still lives there has 3 children. They are all older than you. Their names all start with the letter "T". Hope it's not one of them... LOL

[stikshooter]

Awesome build. I'm new to this site as well and am in the process of building my grandfathers 72. First time taking on something this in depth. I will be posting pics and asking for advice in my thread.
Really nice job so far.

[RedRider]

This is like a storybook tale you read about in magazines; I love it!

Add me to the list of people restoring their grandpa's old truck, and keep up the great work!

[Snake72]

Looking forward to watching you guys build your trucks. Without obsessively reading this forum I would be lost, so much in depth instruction on every facet of building these trucks. My father in law also has incredible talent and every tool a guy could ask for, makes things much easier...and cheaper.

I wish I didn't have to go complete body off restoration but the truck was so completely shot I had to in order to make it safe and reliable. Plus the truck deserves it, will be a family treasure.

My grandma told me that the old truck used to have wooden stake sides and she and my uncle would haul horses in the back to go riding. Unfortunately no pics of that set up. She did say she has a picture somewhere of the day it was brought home from the dealer with my 13 year old dad sitting shotgun

[Snake72]

Found a few pics on my old iphone, truck looks a lot better in pics than it is. This is in the garage at my grandmas cabin that she built on "the back 40" at the farm.

[Snake72]

A few more to peruse...

[Snake72]

A few more of the truck and a couple pics of my old FXR that I sold after we had our first daughter. Should have NEVER sold that bike, regret it all the time

[rustytruck50]

Great lookin truck....kinda partial to the color combo & year, if you check my avatar lol

[Ol Blue K20]

I just read through and I'm subscribing to watch the rest of the build.

[68Gold/white]

Just to add to your carb experience...
When grinding off the staked ends of the screws, grind them flush with the shaft. The screws break so easily, being that small...as you (and I) experienced...

The 3 carbs I have built with Cliff parts are all later model. not sure that the shafts are same.
I was able to remove pri. and sec. shafts together. You have to pull the linkage wide open to do this. and deal with that goofy sec. shaft spring. It's a doozy!!!

I had to hone the insides of the bushings with scotchbrite, mine were too tight.

That pin on the sec. shaft of RH side of carb is not really needed. It is an emergency stop in case the driver tries to achieve full throttle with choke activated...

[Snake72]

68, my bushings were tight too but didn't have to hone them. Once the pri shaft was in place the difference was night and day from before re-bushing.

I did grind the staked screws all the way to the shaft, all came out great except that one, may have been rusty?

I agree, that sec shaft pin serves little purpose besides choke lockout and a positive stop for WOT so I think my epoxied tapered pin will work fine for the application. That little screw and pin sure had me cussing like a sailor though, had to go buy a 4-40 tap and drill bit just for that tiny broken screw.

[RCbowtie69]

Looking good on your build,keep pictures coming, progress going forward & keep on truckin'

[Snake72]

Thanks for the comment, progress and pics will continue but unfortunately slowly. My father in law who was the experienced body man and engine guru helping me with this build passed away unexpectedly in November. It has been very difficult to walk into his shop and work on OUR project truck without him there. Miss him like crazy and it absolutely rips me up that he never saw the truck finished. It certainly lit a fire under my butt to get the truck done though, have boxes of parts sitting in my garage waiting to get installed. I live 2 hours away from the shop and very busy with work and young family but progress will continue. Been trying to find a way to commemorate his work into this truck, possibly engraving his name in the wood bed or something like that. If you guys have any ideas let me know.

On the plus side, should be very close to starting the truck. Need to hook up fuel lines, install tank, radiator/plumbing and wiring. I ended up buying an M&H engine harness and forward lamp harness through GMCPAULS. They were cheaper there than directly from M&H. Modified for HEI ignition and internally regulated alternator. Still need to pick up an HEI yet. Quality of the harness is fantastic

[zicc1835]

Just read thru I’m getting in the passenger seat nice work father in law will be right there with you good luck

[Snake72]

Made some progress this weekend, installed the carb, trans dapt valve covers, fan, core support, heater box, brake booster/MC, exhaust manifolds, fatmat rattletrap and mocked up the fenders. Finally starting to look like a truck again and good step forward. Exhaust is just mocked up in pics, need better plugs for the air pump and the castings are rough. Gonna smooth out and sandblast them then coat with POR high temp in cast gray. Phone died before I could get pics of fatmat and fenders hung. Going to put down frost king foam/foil insulation on top of sound deadener then ACC carpet with mass backing. Should be much quieter than stock. Seeing the fenders on the truck was a great sight!!

[Snake72]

Next step is get the MC bend bled and bleed brake system, install new M&H wiring harness, HEI, and gas tank. Getting closer to starting

[72 tigger]

very nice job on the detailing! everything looks great

[Snake72]

Thanks man, I'm going to be pretty obsessive about the details, going to try and hide the new wiring and reduce unneeded vacuum lines as well. I hate loose wires!

Here's a pic of the new manifolds with the ports for the air pump. I need to find some flush fitting brass plugs or something instead of these black ones. My originals didn't have the ports but were cracked. New ones should look nice with fresh manifold gray paint.

[Redneck Rydes]

Looks great,1 thing I suggest, get the bleed tool for the prop valve,you have to take out the brake switch and put the toll in there,will keep the valve centred when you bleed,if you don't have in there the valve moves back and forth and will think there is a leak in the system when bleeding,I found out the hard way,there are lots of topics on this.

[RedRider]

Originally Posted by Redneck Rydes

Looks great,1 thing I suggest, get the bleed tool for the prop valve,you have to take out the brake switch and put the toll in there,will keep the valve centred when you bleed,if you don't have in there the valve moves back and forth and will think there is a leak in the system when bleeding,I found out the hard way,there are lots of topics on this.

This. I’ve got the same CPP valve and am dealing with the same issues Redneck Ryder alluded to trying to bleed the brakes. Let us know how it goes.

As for the rest of the truck, it’s coming together great!

[Snake72]

Yep I have the bleed tool, was an additional option to order when I bought the booster assembly. Came with good instructions too.