Well.... damn... I didn't think that it was almost 2 years since I last posted! I guess it's time for a little "update"!
The project has been moving along and a little quicker as of late as the house renos were finally finished this last fall... leaving me poor but with all the time to start getting on the truck!
In the spring, I blasted all the frame and all sheet metal body parts with a fine crushed glass (no warpage) in a Harbour Freight truck tent with a tarp floor and everything taped off. A dozen bags of glass grit and a blaster I made almost 15 years ago and the second AD truck I've blasted with it!
Fabbed all of the body mounts in a similar style as to the S10 design and installed them on the frame and mounted in the engine.
Then started putting the sheet metal back together. I also realized I was going to have to redo the inner fenders as there was some serious rot in the front end of both of them. Was able to get replacements from my local AD "dealer"!
So, got the front end together and back in place...
And then trial fitting the parts back together on the back end...
The seat is from an F150 that I narrowed 3" to fit nicely and center on the steering column (from a 65 Impala (floor shift, key in the dash).
When I got to this phase, it was time to blow it apart again and start getting things working. So, body off and got a good chunk of the exhaust built... dual 2 1/2" 304 stainless with a crossover in the muffler (just fit best in the available space) and will be dual output that splits and exits on either side of the rear frame rails.
After this, I got the Painless harness installed for the TPI 350 and burned a chip to remove the VATS from it (will do the other emissions in the near future) and tried to get this thing to run for the first time...
Well... nope... the distributor had eaten itself and was a no go, so that was replaced and managed to get it to run. Had no cooling so that was short spurts only, but it did run. I just wanted proof that the wiring and computer worked as they should. Noting that the motor was old and tired (about 200k miles on it) and #2 cylinder had low compression, the next part... rebuild it...
And before you say it, yes, I know the alt is swung around backwards...
The reason being is that I will be building a custom bracket system to have the alt in that position and the PS pump on the opposite side with adjustments to take up the slack.
I also realized that a chev PS pump runs at about 1200 psi as that is was chev's use for the steering box. Ford rack and pinion is about 700-800 psi, so I had to replace a regulator in the pump to knock it down.
I replaced the front struts in the explorer frame with ones from an 02 Tacoma and cut the first ring off the coils which allowed me to use the top "hat" section of the explorer strut. End result, a 2.5" drop in the front end and with new camber adjustments, looks like it will work just right. Coil springs are the same thickness as the explorer ones so ride should be somewhat the same. In the rear end, I swapped in ones from a Crown Victoria, machined up an adapter plate for the underside, welded it in, ground flush and the CV springs bolted right in. Again, replaced the adjusters for camber and it lowered the back in another 2.5-3".
Then... back together again to get the running boards done...
And installed....
So, now I'm left in fabbing up new running board to box side filler panels as the box is about 2" higher than stock and then will be fabbing up the trans tunnel for the NV3500 in it as well as fabbing the brackets and system to use the old style ebrake from a 2 ton (long lever beside the trans) as I love them and definitely can make this work with the design!
Still a long ways to go, but progress is still happening and then there's keeping the funds going to pay for all the parts!
Merry Christmas to you all,
Ted.