Wampus Cat

[rvrfoot]

Did you take your hood springs off so the hood will go up higher?

[TxCajun]

Originally Posted by rvrfoot

Did you take your hood springs off so the hood will go up higher?

No, I read a suggestion elsewhere in this board that you can take out the front hinge mounting bolts on each side, loosen the rear mounting bolts, and then pivot the hood up vertical for engine/hoist access. You will need to tie the hood up, perhaps with a rope back to the cab, to hold it in this position.

Since I was working by myself, I did not want to take the hood off, and this pivoting solution worked well.

[rvrfoot]

Cool thanks i am taking my motor out next weekend.

[TxCajun]

Decided to install the front sway bar that I purchased from Performance Online when it was on sale a few months ago, part number FSBK6372. It's a 1 1/8 inch diameter bar, and the front pivots bolt directly to the underside of the frame so the bar is positioned relatively high with respect to the chassis. The parts appear to be good quality and the supplied hardware is Grade 5 bolts and nylok nuts.

One pair of bolts for the front pivots needed to go where the rivets holding the lower radiator brace to the main frame rails were located. I had not removed any of these chassis rivets before and was concerned about how hard that might be. However, I read a suggestion about using a cutoff wheel to cut an "X" in the rivet head and then knock the head off with a hammer and chisel. Tried it, and worked like a charm. A half dozen whacks with a five pound hammer and chisel, and the head was gone. The rivet can then be driven out with a punch.

After that, I just had to drill two more 3/8 holes in the frame and one in the front of each a-arm, then bolt everything up.

[TJ's Chevy]

Nice to see another truck with a 6 cyl in it. Becoming a rare breed. The sway bar will be a nice touch.

[TxCajun]

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Nice to see another truck with a 6 cyl in it. Becoming a rare breed. The sway bar will be a nice touch.

Thanks! Rare breed indeed.
I'm planning on keeping it simple with the straight six and three speed on the column; just make upgrades to brakes, suspension, and cosmetics.

[TxCajun]

The springs on the truck appeared to have perhaps been "lowered" by heating, or perhaps just sagged over the years.

I purchased 2" lowering springs for the front and 3" lowering springs for the rear.

While installing the front springs, I also replaced the upper ball joints and adjusted the manual steering box. The rest of the front suspension seems to be in good shape.

On the rear, I had to cut out the trailing arm pivot bolts, the spring capture hardware, and the one of the axle U-bolts, but I had planned to use new hardware anyway.

For the trailing arm pivot bolts, instead of using 4" long Grade 8 replacement bolts, I decided to use 5" long Grade 8 replacement bolts so that there are no threads inside the pivot bushing. I shortened the 5" bolts by about 5/8" so that about only 2 to 3 threads extend past the nut. I also replaced the bushings with poly bushings.