Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

To my shame I have never started a thread. I've wanted to but just haven't done it. I sure have learned a ton from other guys work. I really haven't done much of anything that's truly original... it's all been done before. That's probably a poor excuse though. I'll give it a think again.;)

A good reason to do it is for others to help keep me motivated, and also to be able to show anyone that asks me about it in the future, when I am daily driving it.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

You should definatly get on it man. It is very motivating to have guys following along and watching/waiting with anticipation. You can also learn a ton of cool things. This site is an amazing collection of knowledge and skill. Plus I'd love to follow along with your progress.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Firewall update

I managed to get some grinding and a bit more welding accomplished in the last week. It was slow going as I was working a side job almost every evening over the last week. This week will hopfully see some quicker progress. I got the expansion that I had done to the engine recess ground down and complete. It will definatly be needing a coat of filler.:lol: After that was complete, I welded up a couple more holes in that area of the firewall. I have one left to fill and then I have to come up with a plan for where the accelerator pedal mounts. I want to eliminate the three captive nuts for a cleaner look. Probably just going to weld some studs to the inner firewall.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Your firewall is going to look killer all evened out like that. I notice that you got rid of the little bump that was on the top of the passenger side heater delete panel. I did that also. I do plan on "permanently borrowing" your idea on the drivers side. I've never seen that done and it's a huge improvement.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Right on man! If my ideas can improve other builds that's fantastic. Thanks for the compliments. Your firewall is so clean.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

I've got the center of the firewall all buttoned up now except for the accelerator pedal mounting nuts. I need to come up with a plan for getting rid of those but I figure I better get the pedal first. Being that this is a 72 cab and my truck is a 70, the pedal is diffrent but luckily enough my dad thinks he's got a pedal for me. Just have to go over there and see if we can find it lol. I'm also going to be attempting some more crazy ideas on the drivers side of the firewall and wanted some opinions on it. In the picture, I've drawn a line where I would like to extend my raised portion. My question is, what do you guys think I should do about the park brake mounting location. I figure I could incorporate it into my section but after all this firewall smoothing, I'm wondering if that would just look lazy leaving one cable coming through. Would it be worth my while to look into some sort of electric park brake or something if it even exists?

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Oh it exists, but be prepared to drop 500 USD. I think its called E-stop. Whether or not to go through the extra work? Well that's on you. Do you plan on showing the truck or driving the snot out of it? I plan on the latter so I'm only making changes that will satisfy my desire to have what I think is a cool truck.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

That is a good point. I am planning to show it but I'm still going to be driving the snot out of it as well. And at that price, I think I'd just be working the original park brake into my metalwork. Thanks for input. I'm glad to see that you got a thread going on your build as well.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

I would raise what you have drawn so it's symmetrical with the other side. It will look more detailed with the e brake area bumped up but i would have the threads welded on the Inside of the firewall so you can't see the bolt /nut. Just the grommet and cable viable on the outer firewall.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

I think that will be exactly the route I go with it. Clean and functional.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Cornerstone, just curious what you did here in the red circle? I know there are supposed to be 2 holes for the steering column clamp. I only see 1. Just curious how you plan for this area to clamp the column and look smooth?

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

And here we have it folks. One symmetrical section from side to side. Well other than the lower piece that I still have to do. Then after that, only 10 or so more holes to fill in. :metal:

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Looks great!

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Thanks. Hoping to be back out later tonight working on the lower area.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Inside that red circle is just another example why we are better as a group. Moments after I read your comment there was a drill bit inside that red circle, removing a mistake! Nice catch chewychevy67! Might anyone know what tap size I now need to run through the threads previously filled with bondo? :uhmk:

I'm sure glad I didn't weld it up!:lol:

Sorry for the hijack Kyle...

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Looks great Kyle! I'm scratchin' my head trying to figure out how that was done... Care to share anymore pictures?

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Haha I dont have many of the process but I can post another that might help. I was too caught up in the work and forgot to take pictures.:crazy: Basically I just cut out the area to be raised, pounded it flat on my anvil, marked the edge at 1/4" then I just put it into my bench vise and tipped it over to match the existing. From there is was just a matter of tack..........tack............tack........ect and then grindddddddddddddd.;):lol:

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Ahhhh!! Now its clear. Thanks.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Looking good.

About your Accelerator mounting nuts.
For Rigidity purposes,
I would suggest ,
Put a piece of cardboard over them to make a template.
Mark the location of the holes.
You could even use the pedal mounting pad.
Make a triangle plate to your Specifications.
1/2" to 3/4" thick (Bolts in plate /holes in plate )
Then you can weld that plate inside the floor.
Grind your weld nuts off once your sure of your located.

Just a suggestion;)

Great work I like the symmetry of the Fire-wall:metal:









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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

That's a great idea! Thanks.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Now that I'm done with all my firewall work except for the park brake mount and accelerator mount, I figure I better show what the whole thing looks like. So I've moved some things around in my super messy garage (which I will clean when it warms up a bit more:lol:) and got the cab turned so I had enough room to take a proper picture. I really like how its turned out. Little bit of filler down the road and it will be better than new.;)

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

That looks nice

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Thanks! I like it, worth the month it took me.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

One more piece of the puzzle wrapped up tonight. Although we never found the complete accelerator pedal at my dad's, we did find the mounting base which is all I needed for the time being. I took a piece of 1/4" flat steel I had and cut it down to be just slightly smaller than the pedal base itself. Then I drilled the three holes for the mounting studs. After I had that figured out, I drilled about 3/4 of the depth of the plate with progressively larger drill bits so that I had a place for the weld to sit. Then I cut off the heads from some bolts for the studs which I tac welded into the holes. I did not fully weld at this point because i did not want the heat from my welds to pull the studs out of alignment. So I put the studs into the original captive nuts in the firewall and then welded it home. From there it was just some grinding to remove the captive nuts and spot welding the plate into position using the original holes!:metal: Sorry for the long winded explanation but I forgot to take enough pictures to show how I actually did it. Here are the few I did take.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Nice work I like that a lot better than stock. So I assume your going back with stock pedal and a cable TB?

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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Yes I am going to stick with the stock pedal setup as I am still going to be carbureted at least until I can afford an efi setup but I'm still going to be old style with a 396.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

I think that about wraps up the sheet metal work on the outside of the firewall. Tonight I got the E-Brake all figured out. What i ended up doing was I cut the studs out of the E-Brake so that i could reverse them and have everything except obviously the cable on the inside.:lol: Then I used an idea that I read about somewhere on this forum but I cant remember where. Thanks to whomever had posted it, I cut the two mounting holes so that they would be slotted, this allowed me to still be able to install the thing. After that, I made up another plate out of some thicker gauge metal than the firewall. I did not trust just welding the studs directly to the firewall. It probably would have been fine but I didn't want to take any chances. So after I had the plate all made up, it was just a matter of plug welding it into position.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

It is amazing what a guy will go through to have a clean firewall! More nice work man. You better watch out or your gonna have a trailer queen on your hands. :lol:

What kind of hooch is this???

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Haha thanks. That is a great western beer called original 16. Good stuff:lol:

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

It's wet, what do you care :D

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Now that my firewall is done for the time being, I have been working at getting my cowl panel back on. Alot of the spot welds I drilled out went a little deep so I had to weld them up. I also got the paint stripped off the inner cowl so that I can re paint before installing the cowl. Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do with the pull vents in the kick panels. I think I'm going to delete them as I will not need them with the vintage air. My only concern is that I have heard of other guys having issues with getting fresh air. I was thinking about having some sort of opening in the delete plates I plan to make just so a little bit of air can flow through.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

I also have been working on welding up the seams in the corners of the windshield opening. It's crazy how diffrent these are from one side to the other. The lower drivers side and upper passenger side took far more work to get them right than the other two. I guess that's what you get when all the work is done by people instead of robots. :lol: I forgot to take a picture of the other top side but you get the idea.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Now that's not only a sexy upgrade, but a smart one too! I'll bet you've totally improved your chances in having a leak free cab. :chevy:

What king of tool are you using to clean up your welds?

Love the way you store your wrenches... gotta steal that one too.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

I'm keeping my kick panel vents for that same reason. I don't want to have issues, and sometimes it's beneficial to have fresh air come in.

Windshield looks great. I should have done that one too since it's going to be my DD and I'm a little worried about windshield leaks.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Well thanks for the compliments. I have a small arsenal of tools to clean up my welds. My main one is a 90° air grinder with a Roloc disc attachment. I use 50 grit 3" discs. Then I also have a straight air grinder with a 3" grinding wheel for when I'm working in a concave curve. And for those super tricky areas, I have a die grinder with a 1/2" round file head (not sure what it's actually called) I can get some pictures if you would like.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

I thinking that if I was to make a delete plate from the outside while I have the cowl off that had a couple of louvers in it it would probably give me enough and not be too noisy. I'm still undecided on this, I dont even know how I'd go about punching louvers.:lol:

As for the windshield, as long as you get those seams filled up nicely with some sort of seam sealer, I think you would be fine. I didn't even think to much on that, I was more motivated to have my drip rail appear seamless all the way around. I suppose it probably would be helpful in the leak department as well.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Well I guess that answer that question. I spent the morning making a die for hammering out some louvers. I think if I was to have three louvers in each side, it should be able to pull enough fresh air through for everything to remain happy. I'm hoping that it will also double as a pressure relief for closing the doors as this would allow me to remove the one in the drivers door jamb for a cleaner look.
Oh and cornerstone, I've included pics of my grinding arsenal if your interested.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

I have figured out how I'm getting my wiring into the engine bay as well. Thanks to TA C10 for linking me to a thread about these. I'm just unsure if I will need all 3 or just the two. I guess I'm going to have to order a wiring harness soon so I will know for sure.

Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

I love those louvers! Nice work. And I'm excited to see how your wiring turns out. It's gonna be sweet hidden like that :thumbs:

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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
 

Thanks man! I'm also excited to see how my wiring is gonna turn out. That would mean I'm done the cab.