Project Reno - 72 cheyenne rebuild

[cmabolt]

Thanks guys! I feel like I'm turning a corner. I'll be happy when I get the chassis done! Crash your ride is looking awesome. Paint on the Bed!!! You must be elated.
Chris

[cmabolt]

creaping along here getting the brakes nailed down. I received my skyjacker front brake hoses yesterday and they fit great. I got the 2" to 4" lift braided hoses for a 72. They also came with adapters to fit thru the frame.


I am working on the rear brakes now. I ordered the drop line from skyjacker as well, but don't have it yet. I ordered weld tabs from summit that will help the transition from the stock lines to short braided lines that go to the calipers. I'm not sure about the line sized though. Does anybody know what the line size is going into the 76 cadillac calipers? It is smaller than the existing brake line that was for drums. I think stock is 7/16 and the cadillac is 3/8 but not sure. I need to order lines and adapter that will work for this transition. Help! In the mean time I needed to fab a couple e brake brackets.

I bolted these to the back side of the caliper plates aimed at the brake brackets on the calipers.


now I just need to order custom length cables. They came in at 41.5 inches.
It's coming together, just a little slow at the moment. I should have more clutch stuff tomorrow so a lot should happen when i have all the parts.

[cmabolt]

Got some parts. I received my novac slave kit

I also finally received and installed some tunes. The shop was getting way to quiet.

Early on I ordered a kit from CPP to connect up my rear disc setup, but after getting all my rear calipers on and new lines installed realized none of the items in the kit will work. So, I will be selling all this stuff and have ordered the correct lines and e-brake cables. It's all new and has never been used. 2 e-brake cables, 2 caliper cables, rear brake lines, clips, banjo bolts.

I am now starting to look into plumbing the Fuel system and prepping the motor to go into the truck.

[cmabolt]

Well, some more parts came in. i received my stainless cables for the rear calipers as well as the e-brake cables. I am just waiting for the last rear brake hose for the drop from the hard line to the rear axle.



I also received my front steering stabilizer and Installed it.

Since I have the motor out, I replaced the oil pan gasket, valve cover gaskets and water pump gasket. Just need to finish sanding the block, paint & get'r installed.


Had a couple jobs to get done in the last few weeks, but should be back on the truck full time in June.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Nice build thread too bad the body shops took away so much time from you...

[cmabolt]

Another day, another challenge! Well it would appear that my initial exuberance
about the headers fitting might have been a bit pre-mature.

the passengers side is great. The drivers side sits so close to the bell housing that, it touches the clutch fork. So, I have ordered a couple header flanges and am going to try and space it out. if that doesn't work then i will try a different set of headers.
I painted up my ECM bracket and it's ready to go in the cab.


I also got my driveshafts in from the drivetrain guys. Front was shortened and rear was lengthened.

Today, more plumbing. Any header suggestions would be great. I realize that if i don't get these to work then i am probably looking at 3/4 length headers.

[cmabolt]

Update. Driveshafts installed


Received custom spacers for the compressor bracket and installed them.


The best news of the day. The header flange worked as a spacer. Now, hope it doesn't leak???

Got the 02 sensors installed and began fabbing brackets to run the fuel lines down the bellhousing, along the trans and to transition to the frame rails somewhere.



Oh yeah, got my ground straps as well.

and last but not least, I used a tube bender and modified my stock oil dip stick and fabbed a bracket so it will sit just outside the headers close to it's original location.

[VA72C10]

Nice clean work!

[jays68yak]

Thanks for the pics on the xmember issues. Since I was the one that designed them I will use your feedback to fix anything we can so that they are better in the future.

On the fuel filter, is that a -6 filter with the little tiny disc inside? If so I would swap it out for something else. It doesnt flow enough to keep up with the motors. Ive had several problems with them.

[cmabolt]

Originally Posted by jays68yak

Thanks for the pics on the xmember issues. Since I was the one that designed them I will use your feedback to fix anything we can so that they are better in the future.

On the fuel filter, is that a -6 filter with the little tiny disc inside? If so I would swap it out for something else. It doesnt flow enough to keep up with the motors. Ive had several problems with them.

Hey jays68yak. Thanks for checking out my build. I think you did a great job on the crossmember. It is very strong and overall a nice piece of engineering. Thank you very much as this made my install possible. Once I got the holes reamed out a bit, it went in fine. I ended up moving my engine forward 2 inches and this was a much better place for the crossmember to be and made brake lines and bump stop bolts much easier to deal with. The reason why I did this was to gain clearance between the firewall and motor. There was none. Costs of moving the motor forward are the driveshafts and a couple days fab work.

As for the fuel filter, it is a russell competition filter part number RUS-650133. It is a 40 micron filter with a stainless disc element. see pic attached of an alternate filter type. What have you used that works well?

If you need more specifics on the crossmember, shoot me a pm and I can get very detailed about my use of it.
Cheers

[cmabolt]

A good week for solving small fitment issues. Here's a pic of the headers and clearance once installed with spacer. I may need to fab a heat shield, but happy with result.

Return side of fuel system is plumbed.

decided to run hard line on supply and return side to just behind the transfer case. I will run braided line the rest of the way.


purchased the nipple that uses the rear vacuum port on the intake manifold for brake booster. Love it when it looks factory!


I needed a temperature sending unit that fit the rear port on the passengers side head. after trying several adapters, Classic instruments had exactly what I needed.


I also purchased a dust boot for the clutch fork, but the stock is not gonna work. too tight. Any ideas. I guess I may have to mock something up externally.

[mjensen]

That is looking real nice! Lines turned out great!

[sparkyben]

Awesome build man. Just adding from experience on mine. The headers will melt your clutch fork boot. and i would modify your headers to have a ball and socket joint where they bolt to the exhaust while you can easily do it. The flange to flange is a pain in the @#$ if you ever plan to really run the truck. Those gaskets fail, just sayin. Will be awesome truck though !!!

[cmabolt]

Thanks Sparkyben!! I do have to make some heat shields for a couple things. thanks for your input. Funny you should mention the flanges on the headers. That is really the only thing I didn't like about them. How did you convert. Is there a kit? Do you cut the flanges off and weld on ball and socket flanges instead.

Chris

[sparkyben]

I havent had the time and decided to keep them or go to a ram horn exhaust and be done with the headers all together. I have a slightly built original motor in my truck. I dont think there is a kit exactly, my exhaust guy said the headers have to be cut and a ball type welded on but i saw a thread a while back where a guy made it work. Search "header flange" or "leaking headers" i think it was. Mine arent bad but i buy a new gasket every couple months, exhaust tic is a huge pet peace. lol

[cmabolt]

Update time. Well, fuel plumbing is absolutely done!!! I routed the lines straight back from intake, secured them on trans and then turned them out to hard lines just behind the transfer case. I also tried to route them so as to minimize exposure to exhaust heat. Took a while, but learned a lot.


Since I am getting closer to a test fire, thought I would start looking into how I am going to get my junkyard taurus fan in front of the motor in a cost effective way. Hmmmmmmm.

After mulling it over, looking at possibilities, reading forum posts, I decided to go with an aluminum shroud. I found a nice set of posts about how to get that Taurus fan into an aluminum shroud. I first cut the circular part of the fan away from it's stock housing.

Then I ditched the original shroud. I then took a look at the core support. It was not only in bad shape where the shroud mounts to the bottom, but it was not a good flat surface for a new shroud. I cut out the bad and welded in new angle steel at the bottom.




Next I made some measurements and a template for the new shroud. After doing some reading, I decided to make the depth of the shroud 4". This way
the 2.5 inch thick fan/motor will have about 2" of space away from the radiator to make sure the fan was pulling air across the entire radiator.
I will probably vent the top of the shroud as well to dissipate standing hot air when fan is not on. I had a nice 4 core radiator and didn't have to buy one
so the extra $$ on the shroud seemed well justified.


Now, all folded up and ready for the fabricator. I contemplated buying aluminum sheet and a few angle irons to bend the aluminum, but wanted it
to be clean and nice. The fabricator can do it in a day for $200 bucks and actually had some really good ideas about reinforcing the attach points for the fan. We'll see.

[Crash_OK]

Great progress...

[bilfman]

Great build ! Kudos on tackling it yourself.
Posted via Mobile Device

[cmabolt]

Originally Posted by bilfman

Great build ! Kudos on tackling it yourself.
Posted via Mobile Device

Thanks bilfman! I appreciate it.

[birdistheword]

Sweet truck. I only wish I had the time, money, and place to do this to my 4x4.

[cmabolt]

A little more progress. Hi all. Well, picked up an aluminum top cover for my sm465. I was going to piece a new one together, but found a reconditioned one
in Texas. Not cheap! It was faily easy to install and seems to have a much shorter throw. The best part is that it moved the shifter back about 2.5 inches which puts it almost in the stock position after moving the engine forward.


I also got the core support mounted with new shroud and hoses. So, cooling system is done.


I also scuffed up the underneath of the floor in preparation for Line-X.


The cab will go to line-X and then straight to body shop for filler/paint. Next I'll move onto some heat shield around the clutch slave cylinder and then get everything setup for a test fire. I am happy about the body work finally getting done, but tentative as I have been here before.

[mjensen]

Looking fantastic!

[cmabolt]

Originally Posted by mjensen

Looking fantastic!

Thanks Mike. Appreciate it.

[cmabolt]

In the bodyshop!!!! Well actually, following the tow truck with cab to the body shop. I had the underneath of the cab sprayed with line-x so should be well protected from weather underneath. Watching that thing bounce around on the rollback was not the most comforting thing in the world. I think I'll have a neighbor take her home with a trailer for round 2.

OK, now it's actually in the body shop. Today I went by to confirm the paint color. It is still going to be Honda basque red pearl. I looked at the ppg vibrance equivalent and the basque red pearl actually has the vibrance pearl in it already. So to keep things simple and cost effective, went with the honda production color. Here's a decent pic of the color on a cobra.


Jason Aldean concert in Hershey PA. good show. I can't always be working on the truck.

Actually I need to get crackin on the bed metal work as the bodyshop said it should be about a month to get the cab back. Started laying out wiring for the fan assembly and startup.

I have a few more weeks of jobs and then back to the truck full time for a bit.

[swamp rat]

3 relays? 2 for headlights and one for? Oh wait do you have 4 headlights instead of 2?