"The Ayatollah of Rusty Hole'a 1987 SWB 6.0 4L80E

[franky69c10]

lookn good bro
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[grayharville]

Your truck looks badass man it is such a huge transformation, I cant wait till mine is closer to being done.

[Gordonr1973]

Originally Posted by grayharville

Your truck looks badass man it is such a huge transformation, I cant wait till mine is closer to being done.

Thanks guys! My truck was a piece of s**t compared to some of these on here that you guys are able to buy rust-free!

Anyways, got the Entrophy rad bolted in. Like everyone else on here says, it is a beautiful radiator and worth the money.

I chose to have the steam port switched sides to make it a bit cleaner, will see how it looks when it's all finished.

[Gordonr1973]

Starting to plumb the tranny...

[Gordonr1973]

Put the fittings in the rad to connect to the A/N fittings in my tranny lines.

Steam lines in, rad hoses on, will buy stainless steel hose clamps for these tomorrow.

Finally put the small bracket on my fuel switch shield.

[Greenlee]

Nice work as always! It's amazing what you have done with that truck.
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[Gordonr1973]

Thanks, got some more plumbing done, as well as a new thermostat.

Will replace the green zip-ties once I find some nice clamps for these spots.

Rerouted my gas lines as well under the cross-brace rear of the cab.

No pics though for this...

[Gordonr1973]

Well, got the cab on today.

Here are some pics of the process, which I do not recommend anyone to copy!!

I tried to lift the cab on Saturday, but it flipped on it's front and onto the legs of the crane, so now there are some dents and paint repairs to do. Oh well, I needed to fix some other paint spots anyways so I may as well do it all next week.

[Gordonr1973]

A few more...

[baclay9]

OUCH man! That sucks. Everything else looks really good though.

[Zebb]

That sucks for sure. I had a similar thing happen the last time I took my cab off.
For starters I didn't use chains. I wanted to try something soft so that if it worked well I might be able to put it back on that way. I tried ratchet straps... They stretch. As soon as I moved the crane the weight shifted. Then I was at the point of no turning back now. Went up some more it got worse. I got the front corner to rest on the transmission so I felt comfortable about it hanging for the moment. Got some more ratchet straps, gave it a lift/shove to get it closer to the right weight distribution, strapped it to the crane.
Then the neighbor drives into his driveway...so I grabbed a couple of beers out of the fridge for bait and lured him over. I felt better about having an extra set of hands on it to steady it. It stayed straight coming the rest of the way. I rolled the chassis out and got it down on jack stands without wasting any time.
When it goes back on I will use the old four man lift.

[Gordonr1973]

Well, I tried wiring the motor today with the harness I bought.

Cut a hole in the firewall to push it through (which IMHO messed up all the work it took to get it smooth in the first place), then two of the connectors to the injectors pulled off.

I sautered an old connector off my old harness onto the new harness but then I saw a second one had come loose and then I said 'screw it'!

I was really careful pulling it through the firewall so it didn't get caught on anything so I'm not sure at all why this is happening...I really don't want these things to come lose somewhere when I'm driving on the highway 100 miles from home next summer.

I emailed the place I bought it from asking for directions on how to fix these connectors or for a replacement harness, hopefully will hear from them in the morning.

[hick]

Originally Posted by Zebb

That sucks for sure. I had a similar thing happen the last time I took my cab off.
For starters I didn't use chains. I wanted to try something soft so that if it worked well I might be able to put it back on that way. I tried ratchet straps... They stretch. As soon as I moved the crane the weight shifted. Then I was at the point of no turning back now. Went up some more it got worse. I got the front corner to rest on the transmission so I felt comfortable about it hanging for the moment. Got some more ratchet straps, gave it a lift/shove to get it closer to the right weight distribution, strapped it to the crane.
Then the neighbor drives into his driveway...so I grabbed a couple of beers out of the fridge for bait and lured him over. I felt better about having an extra set of hands on it to steady it. It stayed straight coming the rest of the way. I rolled the chassis out and got it down on jack stands without wasting any time.
When it goes back on I will use the old four man lift.

I'm sure you don't need to be told this, but i wish some one had told me...

Make sure the guys realize that the front is 10x heavier then the front

When i did it i ended up tilling the cab onto the motor and then it fell on its side... That one hurt...

[73gmc454]

Wow everything looks great , very neat and clean, hope ya get the wiring tuned up, I'm sure you can fix the paint you have done a great job doing it yourself,

[Gordonr1973]

Originally Posted by hick

I'm sure you don't need to be told this, but i wish some one had told me...

Make sure the guys realize that the front is 10x heavier then the front

When i did it i ended up tilling the cab onto the motor and then it fell on its side... That one hurt...

Thanks guys....yes it is way heavier in the front and to get the cab on or off safely you need to have some sort of support to lift the front of the cab.

I had built a cab lift arm for my motor crane earlier in my build, but it did not do a very good job then either of balancing that extra weight in the front.

[Gordonr1973]

Originally Posted by 73gmc454

Wow everything looks great , very neat and clean, hope ya get the wiring tuned up, I'm sure you can fix the paint you have done a great job doing it yourself,

I hope the paint will be okay to fix, I don't want to have to redo a large panel because of a stupid mistake on my part!

The wiring issue might be taken care of, I spoke with Jon today and he is FedEx'ing me some new connectors to put on my harness...I should be receiving them in about a week or two.

In the meantime I am going to do some odd jobs on the truck, then get those dents fixed up this weekend so I can shoot some new paint on Monday. By the time that dries and I get that all cleaned up, the harness connectors should be here.

Some days I'm optimistic on this build, some days I wish I would have just sucked it up and saved up to buy one already done!! ;-)

[73gmc454]

Originally Posted by Gordonr1973

Some days I'm optimistic on this build, some days I wish I would have just sucked it up and saved up to buy one already done!! ;-)

I hear ya there , I wish I would have at least started with 1 that didnt need everything but a new roof !

[Gordonr1973]

Spent some time I had this week to fix & repaint the areas I dented when the cab tipped....still need to wetsand them & buff but I can do that tomorrow.

Also sprayed my inner fenders and wiper cowl.

Put in the Raammat today...was a little short on material so will order some more.

Took a while to get it in, I bought a lino roller to use as well.

It turned out okay, It's all going to be covered anyways so I'm not too worried if the seams are perpendicular to the door ;-)

[mooseknuckles]

wow!....lookin good man...love the colour.

[noonzor]

looks great dude, nice work.

[Zebb]

Looks killer man. The inner fenders painted that color is a nice touch,

[shenk10]

truck looks amazing...paint job looks good...where did you get your air vent from on your transmission and how much Raamat did you end up using?

[renegade6]

You have done an incredible job!

The first ding in the paint is always the hardest one.

[Gordonr1973]

Originally Posted by shenk10

truck looks amazing...paint job looks good...where did you get your air vent from on your transmission and how much Raamat did you end up using?

Thanks!

Vents I searched for on ebay "anodized one way vents"

I will use about 90 square feet of Raammat in all on the truck (cab + doors), some spots will get two layers.

[Gordonr1973]

Thanks everybody for the encouraging words....I'm getting some momentum again as a few packages showed up yesterday and today.

I put on the heater box in the cab and the A/C box outside today: