Not Another Rebuild Thread....

[b2948kevin]

Great build McMurphy.

I had a lot of the same questions just a little while ago. Just note that the 4 bolt main is stronger than the 2bolt main, but most people wouldn't notice the difference unless they are hot-rodding.

I will be interested to see what you do with the drop and power steering.

Shoot me a message if you have questions about some of the stuff I have gone through. The knowledge is still fresh.

[McMurphy]

Do I need a pully puller to get that Pitman Arm off the bottom of my steering gear box?
I have soaked it in WD40 and beat the snot out of it with a BFH but not one budge on getting them seperated !!

[chevy_man5]

McMurphy, If you could take pictures from these locations from straight out, it would make drawing your truck from the front much easier. If you can take them from the same distance away (maybe off of a tripod, etc) that will help too.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by chevy_man5

McMurphy, If you could take pictures from these locations from straight out, it would make drawing your truck from the front much easier. If you can take them from the same distance away (maybe off of a tripod, etc) that will help too.

Heck... if you could just render THAT photo into a line drawing for me that would work for my needs !!!
And thanks man !

[chevy_man5]

Having the straight on pictures make it easier to be accurate. From the middle like that one is, perspective comes into play. I can give it a whirl though!

[fryer1979]

Question for ya, did you get your distributor orientation issue figured out? I know some tricks I use all the time from when I was a mechanic that are darn near fool proof....heck, they are Fryer proof, lol. I've never had one lined up wrong or fail to start on me yet (assuming parts are all good of course).

[chad64chevy]

just checking in on ya! i like the drawing, i'm wanting to see how your going to do the grille! you'll get there it just takes time, good luck!!

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

just checking in on ya! i like the drawing, i'm wanting to see how your going to do the grille! you'll get there it just takes time, good luck!!

Thanks Chad!

Sunday I got the D-side fender off, though the bottom body bolt at ~that~ corner of the cab was more stubborn than the sheet metal. The fender is off, but the bolt with its handful of twisted metal is still there. It wanted to stay more than I wanted to take it off just yet, so I let it rest. (am letting me rest too LOL)
Though I got the drum cleaned and painted, I didnt get the wheel cleaned as I ran out of time and we had dinner guests coming over. So as you see it in the pic is how it still is.

pic #1 is the P-side wheel hub, that needle scaler is fantastic on cleaning all the years of caked on gunk off these areas!
#2 is the P-side cleaned and drum painted
#3 is the P-side profile with the cleaned wheel back on it.
#4 is the D-side hub cleaned and painted

[McMurphy]

So yesterday my wife and I spent a few hours of 35* sunshine in the boneyard pulling parts. While I prepped the transmission for drop, and got the pedal yoke, and all the linkage; she was collecting the Heater box, wiper arms, and the lights. Then we got the donor rig lifted and we commenced to drop the tranny.
By the time we were done we were chilled to the bone, but happy. $150 and we walked away with all this stuff.

"We can fix it, my dad's a TV repairman, he's got an awesome set of tools!"

#1 is the complete tranny, from the pedals and yoke, linkage, to the bell housing, and clutch plate
#2 is a close up of the Hurst Indy shifter (we got the knob but the boot and boot plate were chewed up) I think with some clean and polish this alone may have reimbursed me the $150
#3 Heater box with core inside. This weekend I plan on buying a battery for the truck and testing the heater motor and a few other things. We also snagged wiper arms and wiper fluid bottle with mount bracket.
#4 is a back up light and license plate light we got off a foreign car. I am thinking the dual bulb license light will make a really cool cyclops for the back of my cab. Especially if I can link the bulbs to brakes and turn signals.... more to follow on this idea. Plus I think a center back up/trailer hook up flood light would not suck either. We shall see....
#5 is the "cyclops" light opened

[C4 Metal Werks]

What's under that primer?

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by C4 Metal Werks

What's under that primer?

I am hoping a truck! We shall soon see though. My best friend Kelly Wilson once told me to start with the engine and work your way out from there, that way you dont f**k up anything nice you've done to the outside. I think he also said getting them up and running was the harder part, so might as well get that done first.
So that is my plan.
Am shopping around for a motor to get rebuilt, buying a rebuilt, or getting a crate engine. I am thinking SBC 350 for what I have in mind for the rig.

LOL i had one of those old ford trucks you have in the picture.anyway nice work on your build

Scooter if you are talking about the red one in the first pic, that is a Fire Truck, and was the first in the "interior" for this part of Alaska. Not sure what it is waiting on, I think it was put in that yard to be restored by the Fire Department, but the funding for it evaporated and so there it sits. Nice piece of Fairbanks history rusting into the ground....

[McMurphy]

So another day at the pawn shop, and then the boneyard.
Went to the pawn for a power sawsall and found a Matco dent/pully puller. I wasnt really looking for the dent puller, but when I saw how versitile this one was I convinced myself I would need it....
Got a practically new Milwalkee Sawsall in the case too, walked out of there with the two, and $200 lighter in the wallet.

Picked up a fuel cell and skid plate from a fellow parting out a 1990 Blazer on post for $60, going back Monday for the Powersteering pump, gear box, and hoses for $50. Will need some cleaning but should work fine.

Then to the boneyard where I dropped another $200.
Got a "face" panel, not sure what the proper name is, fellow at the yard just said he thought it was part of the radiator mount. Gas pedal, door handle and window crank, a guage cluster, a tail gate that was straighter than my original, and a pair of manual remote side views from what I think was the carcass of a 72 Ranchero. I am not certain of the year, been trying to find them in Ford sites and catalogs but not much luck yet. They have the rally sport look, but have very odd cut shape to the mirror that really appeals to me. I will take some closer shots of the mirrors today.

I tried to talk a bench seat from a 72 El Camino out of the guy, but that car is mostly complete and runs "he says" and he wont part out his cars that are in that kind of condition or status.
He has a late 60s early 70s Lincoln that has the pop up headlights. I am trying to talk him out of the hardware for them. He quoted me $100 for the pair so I am going to have to mull that one over. I may just manufacture something myself for what I have in mind.

I got the extra dash cluster for a couple reasons... 1. practice of taking one out before I put my hands on mine. 2. the plastic "glass" on mine has glue from stickers or lables the Air Force put on there and I am not 100% sure I can get it all off without messing up the face. 3. instead of getting a rebuilt and customized set up off ebay, I have one now to tinker with and see if I can modify it myself, that way I have exactly what I want and where I want it. The only thing I wont be changing is the speedo, though I think will roll the Odo back just like most of you all have done.... Yay team!

Pic #1 is my fuel cell
#2 my skid plate
#3 all my bone yard stuff

[McMurphy]

Been a good weekend, got some stuff done.

Finished dismantling my front body work, and worked on getting my steering gear box off, but kinda had to set that one aside since I dont have a wench large enough for the hugeass nut on the bottom.
I have a PS pump and gear box off a 1990 Blazer I am hoping to use, am going to post a pic and hopefully some of you all can tell me what I am going to need to make this work, if that is possible and feasible...

Clutch pedal installed in cab, in cab fuel tank out and old mounting brackets cut down. Fuel tank is in pristene condition with about half gal of gas still in it. I capped it off and set it aside will post it on CL along with all my other original spare parts when I am closer to completion I guess.

Trailer hitch un-installed and came to the conclusion that in order to mount that Blazer fuel tank, it will make the job 10x easier if I disassemble my truck bed and pull all the wood deck out.
I just have to remember to include the skid plate when I am positioning the fuel tank.

Wife helped alot on Saturday, she worked some of my cradles and got them cleaned and primered.

pic #1 is the 1990 Blazer PS pump and gear box. Am I going to be able to use these? The pump came off a 350 with a serpentine set up. The Gearbox did not come with the (pitman?) arm. I will ask the guy I got it from if I can get it, if this is going to work of course...
#2 is my side view mirror with the cool cut mirror.
#3 is my cab with the clutch pedal installed, and some of my d-side rot
#4 is close up of my d-side floor rot. I am not sure how much of a patch I am going to need, nor which company makes or supplies the better patches for these trucks. I am going to need the posts, rocker, and guessing a whole d-side floor pan? Just because of the rot just under my gas pedal studs?

Any suggestions?
Gotta have an electrician come out and see if we can wire in a 220 for me so I can power up my welder, guess we are getting close to needing that soon...

As always, thanks for looking and any comments or suggestions you may have would be hugely appreicated!!

[Captainfab]

Sorry to say, but you won't be able to use that steering box on your truck. The 4wd steering boxes have a different sector shaft (output shaft) than the 2wd versions. You can not install a 2wd pitman arm onto a 4wd steering box. Also your original pitman arm is of no use in upgrading to power steering, so there is no need to remove it from the steering box.

[scooterskoolkustoms]

LOL i had one of those old ford trucks you have in the picture.anyway nice work on your build

[57truckguy]

looking at your truck.. great start.. FYI I know someone sells a flat clear for the hot rod folks.. I seen it at the local NAPA paint store I think.. Check with Eastwood they may have it also. I'm with everyone else. Hard to believe that you don't have more rust to content with... But my 57 had very little also.

[57truckguy]

Just for giggles is it possible to move the cross member forward or replace with something different to gain the four inches you are needing. I forsee a lotof problems/fun times with the four inch extension. Depends on how you look at it. LOL longer bed to comve the extension. means longer that normal bed boards and strips... just to name a couple of areas that would need attention if the frame was extended.

[57truckguy]

If you want to stay with the frame you have you could always drop in a frontend including the cross member from a later model 5 lug truck or 6 lug if you want to stay with the 6 lug look, such as a suburan and get bigger brakes and front sway bars and better sterring and only have to enlongate a couple of holes to mount the whole thing up.. The stovebolt site has a complete thread on how to do the change over... I will go and see if I can fine it if you are interested...

[57truckguy]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/forumdisplay.php?f=6 this is the link to the build

[McMurphy]

Thanks for taking a look Truckguy!
I am not going to go with a conventional truck bed on this bad boy, so the length of the wood isnt going to be much of an issue. I want to bring the bed frame back in from the cold now and set it up on there to see what I am looking at for clearance and fit so far.
Right now everything is just bolted on, I have not fired up the welder yet because when I do, I want to be sure that what I am welding is going to be there to stay and I am not at that point yet. Still putzing around with it. The longer I dink around, the more solid my ideas become and the clearer the plan of attack gets for me.

Will post pics from this weekend later, or tomorrow.

[allaboutchevelles]

McMurphy, Im the same way. Being new to this sheet metal replacement and body work I think I over annalize everything. I fit everything like 10 times and keep adjusting and thinking about it over and over. It seems to take me forever to get something just perfect where im happy to weld it in.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by allaboutchevelles

McMurphy, Im the same way. Being new to this sheet metal replacement and body work I think I over annalize everything. I fit everything like 10 times and keep adjusting and thinking about it over and over. It seems to take me forever to get something just perfect where im happy to weld it in.

Thanks Chevelles, it is good to know that there are some other look before you leap types around here.

Cool find and an interesting story. What are you going to do about the engine?? I take it its still dead?

Hey Protrash,
The original 292 threw a rod while hauling a boat from Anchorage back up to Fairbanks 9-10 years ago and has a gnarley hole in the d-side of the motor just forward of the motor mount. For my vision I am going to get a crate engine SBC 350 that I am hoping will bolt up to the transmission that I posted pics of a few weeks ago.

Later when I post pics you can see my engine bay and the transmission cross member that has been cut out. I guess someone wanted that original tranny pretty bad to whack it out of there like that.

I will be interested to see what you do with the drop and power steering.

Me too Kevin....
LOL
I lost out on a 78 Chevy pick up that I could have snagged for $700 that would have had a lot of the stuff I need. So now I am keeping my eyes peeled on CL for a donor rig.

[flips72]

just checked out your build, sweet truck love the camper first off i would like to thank you and your wife for your service in the armed forces and hope your build turns out great, stay warm and dont sweat the small things they will take care of themselves.

[williamsboys]

awesome progress, i like that that you are working with so many diff years of vehicles to get the finished product you want. good luck on the rest im tuned in.

[allaboutchevelles]

Yes you do need a pitman arm puller to get that thing off. You can do it with a crow bar and hammer plus muscle but the tool works best. The way I have checked rear end gears in the past is to mark the tire at 12 oclock and have someone turn it 1 full rotation while you count the number of times the pinion { or where the drive shaft connects to the rear end} turns. so if it turns 3 and 3/4 truns that means its a 373 gear set, or if it turns just over 3 times its probally a 308 gear set.