Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Met this guy who lives two miles from me that does ceramic, powder, paint, weld, metal fab. etc. etc. His shop is behind his house with a complete set-up and no expense spared. Anyway, he sent these pics. of my manifolds.

The first pic is of the RH manifold down to metal. I found it in complete ignorance early in my education. I was convinced the RH manifold on my truck was a replacement, because the part number wasn't in sequence with the left.........At any rate, GM did make a RH manifold that was in sequence (RH 45, LH 46). Same manifold as the more common 353030, only earlier production. Better shape than my 30, so worked out anyhow......Plus they match. They get NOS manifold bolts:chevy:

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Any particular reason you sprayed the oil pan and valve covers vs. using the same brush-on por-15 engine paint? I'm guessing because the pan and covers had a smoother metal finish to begin with?

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Yep. I tried brushing the Por-15 on the pan, wasn't quite what I was looking for, too much area, and yeah it's a smoother finish.

First time out tried spraying it on bolts. Got frustrated and decided to save the gun for professionals. He's a great painter and that, tried matching the color. Different paints and application with a clear coat, doesn't exactly match but oh well. Maybe I'll do something different with the valve covers at a later date, in a state of boredom.

Sure brushes nicely on cast iron though. I got to the point all I use are small foam applicators. They're only about 1/2" or so. Finished this the other day.....

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

More ceramic. The stove was hit thick, has a very nice heavy feel.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

I rebuilt the rag joint. Doesn’t take much to get me excited, I really like my rag joint. It’s mostly original. Glad to have rebuilt as opposed a new one. The coupler and flanges were ceramic coated.

I was taking notes while trying to figure this out, realized images would be more better.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Just an update. Outside a carb and compressor rebuild, and a few other accessories. I'm nearly done pending paint prison. I'm currently installing brackets and such on the long block. Some of the "new" stuff don't fit like the old, powder coat will do that. I gave into selected NOS Wittek clamps. I just need to solve the radiator hose clamps, though I likely won't install tower clamps. Things are looking nice, I'll take some pics in a few weeks of "phase 1 of 3".

Other than that, I like trivial stuff. I took notes on how to assemble this truck, right down to the bolts, but just realized this connection (triangles) as I'm rebuilding it. Almost like it was a kit?

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Still a few components I can add yet, but for the most part "phase 1 of 3" is done.

Failed on the first valve cover gaskets. They were too thin, and I perhaps blew it expecting the body/paint guy to flatten out the valve covers. Where there's a will there's a way, I ended up flattening the surfaces yesterday. Pillows, hammers and straight edges got her done cleanly. I ordered Moroso gaskets, which are basically 4-5 X the cost. I don't mind spending $45 if it means no leaks. Hopefully they do the trick.

It's all on phase 2 now, which is body and paint, and I'm not doing much of either.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Wow that’s coming together nicely.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Some venting. Waiting for my painter to get motivated, we need to dry run the body. That said, I haven't pulled the trigger on the last bolt package yet:lol: I won't be using the same bolt twice:chevy: Haven't spent a dime on my truck in months, but today I made up for it buying an NOS RH skirt fender. Shipping cost was more than a replacement fender, but I figure WTH, I've come this far.

It's a trying time man. My mother is dying of cancer, and going quickly. She beat it to **** for 20 years, breast and lung cancer. Now lung again and pancreas, she's done. You should see my mom, she's a remarkable woman.

My stepdad has dementia badly, and fadeing fast. He's 4 years older (88) than she, and he's waiting for her to die. They're polar opposites. My mom's brain is as sharp as can be. He's a marine and physically fantastic, even after smoking cigs since he was seven. Now he's having anger issues, a transition. I saw him blow four times this week. I spend a lot of time for them. The yard was a disaster, I've pulled five c20 truck loads, and there's three more to go. Fixed/installed this and that. Steep hill and neglected, I'm kind of worn out, it's hot out there:waah:

Mother is fighting against adopting hospice. Some of that is because she's intelligent, she knows the med. insurance business as well as anyone. She doesn't want to give up either, but she knows. My brother suggests putting my stepdad in a home right now, because he went off on him at super. He actually had it coming, that's what you get when you condescend the proud with moments of confidence and cognizance. Tough conversation, but doing my diligence pending.

And looks like I get not one but two German Shepard's. Can't wait for that, my ex-wife already drops our four dogs off every work day.......Ha!. Good thing I'm retired.

Edit, after all that looks like I get one German Shepard starting tomorrow. My step-dad has been abusing him.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Wow that’s a lot! The truck will wait patiently for family needs.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Yep, thank you 68

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Sorry to hear Tony, very trying times.

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Difficult times for sure man. When I was in that situation in 2014, I'd say it was the hardest time I can remember for me. Everything you do for them now you will never regret, but you probably knew that. Remarkable moms make remarkable men... You're doing the right thing, and this is a great place to "vent".

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Thank you for kind words.

We all go through it for sure. 2011 was a real challenge, you wouldn't believe. We took a dozen or so on the chin. My son even more so, because someone swiped his very clean 80s 4-runner, and he spent 8 days in the hospital with cellulitis. No insurance and he missed the fishing boat.

To top it all off, New Years struck (2012), and soon after a guy in the road above my place was yelling into the valley. It was peculiar by itself, because the only animals yelling around here are coyotes and dogs........ I didn't know if to calm him down, offer a shoulder or have him arrested. That said it was fitting somehow, so I just stayed in the house while he continued for 10-15 minutes. His business, but it was clear 2011 was too much.

My mom's dog lives here now. Really, she says he adopted me. She's probably not wrong. He does well here, but my lab isn't happy about it. It will workout.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Hang in there Tony. I'm sorry to hear about you mom. I hope she is comfortable. Pete

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Thanks Pete.

Three guys showed up Saturday and we slapped the cab on. Then the primary body/paint guy (Josh) and I spent the next 13 hours building the truck body. Turns out my truck was broadsided on the passenger side, it bent up the pillar, lots of door bondo, and they replaced the rocker too. They did a nice job on the rocker, but we spent 4-5 hours on the RH side cab and door. It finished better than the drivers side. I suspect the original owner got rid of the truck following the accident. I say that because of the $300 paint job it had when I found it, back in 1989. It was parked on a car lot. The original owner was an old man.

The body lines are fantastic, we're ecstatic. There's just one area that might use more attention, he's bringing some contraption to do it.

IMO we improved on the original doors. He took a 2x4 and hammer to the lower front doors to blend in with the fenders and rockers. We bent the ears of the cowl panel to blend as well, it's going to be slick. Josh is real good. I could spend a month on it and still not close, but what do I know.

Next run we drop the bed, fit moldings and inner fenders. Then we get to blast it apart for paint. Three guys are going to do the paint/body. Josh's brother and a friend, they all work at the same shop. The bed is mostly done, including body color. I may actually finish this by spring 2021:lol:

Other than that the old cab mounts had what folks call shims. An 1/8" on each corner of this cab to be exact. IMO "shims" is misleading, I believe the plates are required, at least for the original mounts. They may be optional for the cushions I'm using, which are good quality, but we used plates. The replacement core support cushions are good quality too, but I needed to add a wide washer under the bottom cushion, because the cushion spilled over the supplied washer long before I hit minimum 35 ft. lbs. torque. This may be a case you just don't tighten down much, but I torqued the mounts to the common minimum settings of 35/35/70 ft. lbs. The cushions look great and we're level and square.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Oooooh. Nice progress. Looks like a fun day. Getting more great all the time.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Well my mom passed. That's a good thing, she's no longer in pain.

We're three busy boys right now. I call it therapeutic to extent. My brothers get too excited about things, you wouldn't believe. I watched one brother spin in circles complaining for many hours while "we" cleaned the garage today, which was heavy on mouse turds and hoarding. My brother is going through a lot, because my mother finally accomplished what she's desired for three plus decades. That's my brother tell his kids he has another daughter, and they finally meet. My brother has never met his daughter. She's included in the obituary, so he had no choice, and this was long past due. He has two beautiful daughters, and they look so much alike. On top of that our half sister died the day after my mom.

Word to the wise, Hospice and in-home care aren't worth a chit. In home didn't show for the interview. We thought we had things figured out, though they couldn't start for another two days. My mother passed a day earlier. Hospice showed with a hospital bed, morphine and a port-potty. During the week the RN checked on her once, a CNA gave her a bath, and they showed up to pronounce her gone. Then the RN showed up the next day and asks how my mom's doing. We recognized days before her passing it was all on us, so that's what we did.

We all go through these times, it's part of life. I figure if you can't recognize the bad it's not possible to recognize the good. Mom hasn't left any signals yet, but she will in time. I say that with great confidence.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

My condolences Tony.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Sorry for your loss Tony.

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I just read your entire build thread, excellent job. Very sorry for your loss

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Sorry for your loss.

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Thanks all, appreciate it. Some great people on this site, I feel like I know some and never met one. Come to think of it one, but he's not on the site too much.

Looking forward to that next chapter. That won't come too soon, but it will. Gonna get this truck done too. My mom really wanted to see it through, she'll catch an eye of it from above. Nobody expected THIS project. Oh sure, I'll have it done in a few years:lol:

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Sorry to hear about your mom Tony. I understand what it's like, and I agree with you about it being a blessing, no more pain. My mom passed in October 2013 after battling lung cancer for just about a year. I watched her become a shell of her former self in that time and my wife and I took care of her for most of that time. I would love it if she were still around but I felt like it was a blessing, ending the suffering. This build is incredible, and the amount of research and documentation is as well.

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Sorry for your loss sir, you know now she's in a better place.

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She is, thank you.

Boy my life right now............Ha. It happens. By brothers are battling, and the "vultures" are at bay. I've seen it before, wasn't unexpected. I get another Shepard come Tuesday, makes six dogs (WTH?) See, I probably didn't clean my floors often enough beforehand, but I can't go more than two weeks with the first Shepard, and the next sheds twice as much:lol: She's not long for this world, primarily because her hind-legs are shot. Doesn't have any teeth either, beautiful smile. She's quite a story BTW.

Course I'm working on their place, I didn't realize they were hoarders, won't bore you with the details. The Lt. Col. goes into a memory care center on Tuesday. I even spent a few hours back to center this week;) Looking forward to a lot more.

As for my build, good timing, I can't do anything without body/paint anyway. Think I'll call the guy, set up another day.

Speak of the build, I was well clueless coming into this project. Some suggest I built myself off the road. Heck I don't know, they might be right. Perhaps I may trailer the thing on occasion, but I didn't build this to show. I'll still drive it, but seems the money pit needs a truck to pull it. My 4.7 Tundra won't cut it, and forget about the dog C20.

So my mother left me a real nice Highlander, basically new. Too nice for me, I can't use it. That and all the bells and whistles these days are a bother, I stopped at A/C, though power locks are cool. Anyway, mother really left me a 5.7 Tundra I don't have yet. That will be the second (*^()^ truck I've bought for my truck:lol: What a disaster;)

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I haven't been here in a while and wasn't sub'ed so missed a lot. Sorry to hear about your mother.

I lost my mother in February. She ran strong until last Thanksgiving and her blockage got to the point her heart gave out. She was only bedridden about 4 weeks. My sis didn't want her to go to the nursing home so she took care of her the first week, but found out that was virtually impossible for one person. Her doctor, a family friend, got her into hospice, but a patient can only stay in a hospice house 7 days.

Your right, Medicare rules for hospice suck. They sent her home, and the professional in home care is terrible. We lucked out and found a group of independent caregivers to sit with her 24/7 and they were a godsend. It was expensive but Fortunately she could afford it.

I have two sisters and a brother, and we go through the estate close out with out a cross word. I am very fortunate to have siblings that get along with no vultures.

The only hiccup we had was her house. She moved in the nicest house she had ever had 7 years ago and she wouldn't let me set it up to transfer on death. I don't know why, but she was getting older and just had a thing about it. I had all her other affairs taken car of but we are just now getting that house through probate.

Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

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Didn't hijack at all, I appreciate the post. Sorry for your loss. My mother was real particular. A lot has come easy, but a lot to go yet. I spent 25 hours in her office this week, YIKES. Must be 1K pens and 4K greeting cards.

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Someone asked about cab cart plans. I looked at my old plans and noticed they could use some clarifications, so here's an improved version, I deleted the other. Sorry it's a small image. I can copy/paste from original if needed. EDIT: Forgot to mention the plans don't account for the six 4x4s I used instead of four. Taylor to your heart's content. I'd never lifted a cab before, this cart can handle a lot more, it's very heavy. That said, before working inside, better to secure the sides somehow than discover you should have.

I also built a platform to lay the cab on its back. It bolts onto the cab cart. The picture is of the frame only. With foam rubber padding the platform is level with the cab cart.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Cool deal.
That will help a lot of people.
This is a good platform design.:metal:








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Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Got some good news today, the lead on body/paint will be here on the 7th so we can finish the dry run. Wholly smokes he puts in a day's work, wore me out the last time. We have a pinch more to do on the front clip and need to fit the inner fenders. Then comes the fun, 28 molding pieces to fit. Best part is I get to see my bed for the first time, he spent a lot of time on that and he's proud of it. I haven't even seen a picture yet:lol: It's ochre waiting for white and clear coat.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Alright! Can’t wait to see the pics!

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Tribulations:

I'm real happy with the bed. It's just the first stage coat, though inside of the bed is done. The underside looks great as well. Eleven hours into it we didn’t even start the side moldings. We’re convinced they'll be easy.

I’m going to have the tailgate hinges, trunnions & spare tire carrier ceramic coated black. It will break up the Ochre some, though this will have the deluxe paint job.

We finished the dry run on the body, including the inner fenders. One of them is NOS, and it confirmed what the old one already knew, GM missed the fixed nut on the RH fender pocket. They sunk a sheet metal bolt next to it, so some welding is in order. The other fender is original and slapped on easily.

Finished the lower tailgate molding and tail bezels. We brought up the lower molding a pinch. Factory calls for the holes just .66" “TRP” (TRP?) above the bottom. We ran with 8/10" instead. As difficult as the bezels might seem, they’re not. A pickle to insert the clips into the bezel though. The bezels fit on the body like a glove. Between that and the tabs on the bezel you can see where to drill.

Trials:

I purchased a LH upper tailgate molding years ago. It has a small scratch, so I found another that came with the RH side as well, or so said the package. Some SOB put a LH piece in a RH NOS package, so I have three LH pieces and no RH pieces.....Ha ha ha ha.

And finally he missed on the tailgate handle molding. It's not quite even with the handle opening, and it's not level either. So yeah, it's a do-over, he's not happy either. I take some blame, I could have easily slowed things down, triple check. So we know what not to do. He says two hours to weld and refinish. I think he’s being generous, and I'm paying him for it. Go figure the handle is off on my C-20 as well, from factory.

Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

That looks great.
Everything looks straight as an Arrow.

What hardware kit will you use for your bed bolts?










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Re: Build that 71 402 already
 

Thanks. The bolts are original.

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Looking good. Keep the pictures coming. I love the attention to detail.

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Outstanding documentation Tony. What a board resource this build thread is. Thanks!

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OT:, showing my HOG C20 some affection. Really it's kind of essential, the rear cyclones currently on the truck are too wide (9.75") & tires are about $450 a piece. So with luck I ended up with a set of 8.25" Western Turbine cyclones. Bonus is this model can take a push through hub cap, so there are a lot of options that come cheap. I've yet to see a replacement nutted on hub cap that looks nice with these wheels. To me these are the best looking wheel you can put on most LWB. Just had them blasted:

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Wow, just read the whole thing. I am in awe of your attention to detail and documentation.

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Finally tearing down the body for paint. Some fine-tuning/prep under a dry-run.

Real trivial and probably means nothing to those handy around bodies, ever notice how the grille rubs the fender, at least on a lot of trucks? My project did before the dry run, badly on one side. With new cushions and the front clip otherwise assembled, both sides of the grille were still too close to the fender for my taste, and some of the holes didn't quite line up to attach the grille.

I suspect GM did or should have used shims to solve that, placed behind the brackets on the lower two bolts. I used just a thin washer and it solved both problems, the holes for rivets are nuts.

For what it's worth, the front of the fenders weren't shimmed before or after the dry run, and I had two sets of OEM brackets at my disposal. So I'm pretty sure the brackets should be shimmed as needed. Perhaps some brackets were made better, could tell you.

Cool tip compliments Jim, one of our cool posters. Rivet screws as opposed rivets for the grille. They take a Kep-nut, and look like they belong there. Same sheen or close the grille, better than new.

First pic is the project after the brackets were shimmed. Second is my C20. I suppose some could be contributed to body sag, but IMO it's more the brackets require shims.