N00b with a 72 c20

[JointTech]

got the tranny back yesterday. During the week I got the TC cover, dipstick, drive shafts, and shift linkage painted.


I also put every nut and bolt through my wirewheel to clean out the threads. The ones that were to beat up I replaced with new grade 8.

I climbed under today and cleaned off the cross member, wiped down the speedo cable and the wires so it wont be to much of a greasy mess when I go to install it.

I found the kickdown (transmission control switch) cable was cut through the sheath so I cut and spliced it.

I got a new kickdown switch from the chevy dealer and installed it today.

My tranny mount was broken. None of the parts places had one but they did have this poly performace one that looks like it will work just fine except my bolts for some reason are to long. I dont really understand why because the OE mount looks like its about the same width and I dont rememeber having 50 washers on it when I took it off.



You can also see one of the burnt clutches. I took one with me out of the big box of stuff they took out of the tranny before rebuilding.

I got some SUV jackstands this week and made my diy tranny lift a little taller. I was almost to short to lift it enough when i took it out.

Tomorrow my buddy is going to come up and help me put it in. I was going to do it myself today but to be honest I dont think I can get it out of my car by myself. I dont have a lift of any kind. And even a block and tackle wouldnt work because of my hatchback.

[JointTech]

Got the new transmission in and drove around the parking lot. seemed to shift ok so looks like i did it right. took 11 and half quarts of fluid and I think its still a little low. It was getting dark and i was tired so didnt take it on the road. No leaks. All the bolts went back in...
I ended up taking the hump off so I could see better to line up the holes. Breaking that seam sealer free was a real pain but now that its off theres one more thing I can scrape and paint!!
Hopefully my engine and transmission woes are over and its on to brakes. Got the wilwoods. Need to pickup rotors and a new MC/powerbooster.

[JointTech]

I replaced the turn signal switch today. Not easy but it wasnt to bad.
Need to get a new bearing for the steering column sometime.






sortof got the horn working by leaving the center cap which had no springs off. now I can press the horn doughnut and it works. hehe.

[JointTech]

was just looking through the service manual for some other stuff and stumbled on the correct term for that bad bearing.
34. Steering Shaft Upper Bearing section 9-12 of the service manual.
the plastic thing is the
40. Plastic Thrust Washer

[JointTech]

Front brakes got a facelift this weekend.
installed wilwood D-52's, new CPP Master cylinder/Booster/Proportioning valve, drilled slotted rotors, and stainless steel brake lines.

painted the hub part that shows through the wheel with some VHT flat black.



Looking nice!!

Got a little stumped on the new caliper. The D-52s are dual piston. The old ones are single piston.
The old pads had a clip on the back to hold them into the piston and keep the inner pad from falling out.


new pads didnt have a clip or any way to hold the pad from falling out. got pissed and yelled and called scotts and wilwood. no answer. Googled. nothing.

Finally I held them in by hand and realized the caliper bolts actually hold the pad from falling down. Doh!!


The new stainless lines gave me a bit of a stump for a minute as well.
Theres a hex shaped clip that holds the brake line where it joins to the hardline.


A clip goes on the back of that and holds the line in place.

The adapter I got with the lines didnt quite fit until I ground down one of the edges.


Also for the drivers side I had to go to pep boys and get an 3/16 - 1/4 adapter.
The size of the line is different for some reason. Thankfully they had one.

Bench bled the M/C.
Note to self. if the porp valve is attached you need to run the recirc lines out of the valve and not out of the side fo the M/C. when fluid started pouring out the valve I realized what I did.



installed and buttoned up.

Bled the fronts and the backs but the brakes still feel spongy. Going to try to adjust the brake pedal a little and rebleed the rears. It was getting close to margarita-thirty.

[JointTech]

Did the rear brakes. shoes, cylinders, hardware kit. blasted and painted the other parts.
Tightened up the ebrake.

[JointTech]

You have to pull the rear axles to remove the drum/hub to do the brakes. some more pics of that so i didnt get lost.









Fixed the shift indicator. Got a new CPP shift linkage. Had to only give it a slight bend to bend to fit. Well that and many hours of trying and trying different angles. it was a real pita but i finally got it.

looks like its on to suspention next.

[JointTech]

since I had the hump out I decided to paint it before putting it back in. its so hot and loud without it!!
I used por-15 on the bottom side.
Selfetching primer and then highbuild primer on the top. Just testing out the highbuild. (its not sprayon coverup thats for sure.)
I took the hump to bare metal so needed to cover it until I als liner the interior. they said to just prime it for now and then scuff and line when ready.

I painted my bolts hammered black.
The por-15 is kind of a nightmare. it has to be used fast. I used a crappy brush and went to thick and it shows... It does seem to self level well. so well if what you are doing is slanted the paint runs. Ill use a sponge brush next time i think.

Ive decided on a color scheme.
all chassis parts and anything on the underside I can get to will be por-15.
Anything in the engine and any bolts/nuts will be Hammered black.
anything on the interior will be either Grey Al's liner or Grey Hammered

[JointTech]

also got a new jack ill show off nothing special but its rebuildable, 3ton, and goes to 5"-23"

[JointTech]

next up is front suspension.
heres the part list of Moog stuff. plus some ac delco springs. couldnt find a moog spring number .

I also need to add shims and shocks and bushings for the sway bar.
Tie Rod End Adjusting Sleeve
MOOG Part # ES2004S
Front
$8.65

Tie Rod End
MOOG Part # ES409RT Problem Solver
Front Outer; Incl. powdered-metal gusher bearing to allow grease to penetrate bearing surfaces
$14.77

MOOG Part # ES409LT Problem Solver
Front Inner; Incl. powdered-metal gusher bearing to allow grease to penetrate bearing surfaces
$14.97

Idler Arm
MOOG Part # K6096T Problem Solver
Front; Incl. powdered-metal gusher bearing to allow grease to penetrate bearing surfaces
$22.79

Ball Joint
MOOG Part # K6122 Problem Solver
Front Upper; Incl. powdered-metal gusher bearing to allow grease to penetrate bearing surfaces
$30.79

MOOG Part # K6129T Problem Solver
Front Lower; Incl. powdered-metal gusher bearing to allow grease to penetrate bearing surfaces
$33.79

Pitman Arm
MOOG Part # K6131 Problem Solver
Front; Power steering; Incl. powdered-metal gusher bearing to allow grease to penetrate bearing surfaces
$48.79

Control Arm Shaft Kit
MOOG Part # K6147 Control Arm Shaft Problem Solver
Front Lower
$26.79
MOOG Part # K6135 Control Arm Shaft
Front Upper; Standard Design
$24.89

Coil Spring
ACDELCO Part # 45H3075 {#88913836} Sold In Pairs
SPRING SET,RR -; HEAVY DUTY, VARIABLE RATE

[JointTech]

i dont like not being able to edit my posts...
anyway I think this is all the stuff I need except the shims which I think ill be able to use the old ones anyway. Ill just sandblast and paint them.

I havent been able to find complete control arms that arent made in china. moog and raybestos dont seem to list them so I went with the replacement arms instead. If anybody has a lead on full UCA/LCA prefereably with the balljoint already installed let me know.

I also need the bumpers for the control arms. I dont want to reuse the old ones. LMC was backordered so I checked brothers. Brothers has them but shipping is almost as much as the part so I think ill just go out there. its only about 30 minutes from me.

[JointTech]

put the high hump back in today. Its soooo much quieter in the cab now. You dont hear every tick and groan of the engine and tranny.
I used some wetherstrip stuff I got at home depot a while ago for another project. Seemed to work fine and will be removeable when im ready for real paint and seamsealer.


I shot the area on the floor where the old sealer was with some primer just to keep the baremetal from rusting.


fit back in place with my shiny bolts.

[JointTech]

new toys. everything except the shocks are made in usa. at least thats what the box says. no stamps of origin on any of the parts i noticed.
I makred the boxes so hopefully i dont get confused during install.



everything unboxed to get ready for cleaning and paint.


Springs are shiny and painted already.


I didnt pay list but it was more than rockauto. I dont mind on this one. gives some cash to local business and with suspension stuff I didnt want to mess with shipping etc.


while amazoning i accidentally bought the cheapest POS tach i could find. $30. I just want to know if the engine is going to blow up.


now to get on removing the old stuff!!

[JointTech]

got a little behind painting the new stuff with por-15 but it all came out pretty nice and shiny. I got discouraged on taking everything apart and instead went to buffalo wild wings and got hammered and watched the UFC fight. feel terrible today.
I did get a bunch of pics of the old stuff to help me remember where everything goes back in.
Unfortunately going to have to grind off the ball joint rivets..











Some shots of the new stuff all painted


I did manage to get the swaybar out and clean and paint it. I sandblasted the brackets and painted them as well. they were pretty crusty. I also took the other inner fender out so I have a clear view from the top of both sides of the suspension.


so the new plan of attack after lieing under the truck hemming and hawing and pondering how im going to do this in a parking lot:
friday: put the whole front end on jack stands. I was going to try to do one side at a time. but after looking at it I want to take the center link out and paint it so I might as well take out everything.
Including the rotors I just put on... And the calipers I need to find a way to tie them up out of the way.
start taking everything apart. I think if I get lucky I can have it apart friday. If not Ill plan on half day saturday as well.
saturday: finish disassembly. scrape, blast, wirewheel the centerlink, upper and lower control arms and anything else that comes out and has to go back in. POR-15 them.
sunday: put it back together at least well enough to move it back into a parking place, but hopefully complete it.
monday or tuesday: have it aligned.

[JointTech]

put the tach in today. zip ties in all their glory. Need to find an easy spot to tie in to the cluster lights.

[JointTech]

took 45 minutes to put all the zirc fittings in the new suspension stuff. Went ahead and got that out of the way.
getting all my work done so I can take friday off and get this suspension ripped out.

[JointTech]

Safety first!



Kind of crusty under there.







Guess I had a broken spring in there!!!



It got dark before I got any more pics but I ended up getting almost everything out without a whole lot of problems.

Tommorrow ill get more pics and get to cleaning and painting everything I took out thats not getting replaced. And finish up removing the few last things.

Going well so far, not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Started badly. I thought it was going to be an omen but Im not superstitious... Dang battery was dead when I went out. I hooked back up the new tach and electric choke the other day and must have chosen a constant hot line instead of switched... doh!! long jump before it would start but it fired! after that everything was pretty smooth.

back tomorrow with more details.

[Low Elco]

Good luck today!

[JointTech]

im a little behind. it took an acto of god to get those top balljoints out of the control arms. Lowers came right out with the press from autozone.
beat, heat, drill, air hammer, big hammer, chisel. It sucked but they finally came out. Probably spent a good hour on each one.





Also my air compressor really sucks. sand blasting is 3 minutes on 5 minutes off. Compressor was getting hot enough to cook eggs on.

Put in the new steering box. Could not get a new rag joint which sucks but Ill order one and replace it asap.
I wanted to do the steering gear now so I didnt have to pull the pitman arm off the old or later on have to pull it off again to change gear boxes.

stuff ready to be blasted. I used my big angle grinder with a gnarley wire wheel to take off the big stuff. Huge nasty grimy mess in the shop now.




so tomorrow more blasting... Then paint. Im on the fence about POR-15 since im short on time and its kind of a pain to put on so I may just hit all this stuff with hammered black rustomleum. well see what happens tomorrow.
I doubt I get it put back together tomorrow so hoepfully the property managers dont harrass me on monday.

[Low Elco]

good progress!

[JointTech]

Many hours of scraping and blasting.



I would have gone and bought a new compressor today but my electrician couldnt get over to run me a 220 for it so I just slogged through 2minutes on 5 minutes off with mine.

Never showed off my new vice. But god look at the mess on my floor. I hope to not do any more suspension work for a long time. its crazy how stuck on that dirt and grime is.


Put it all back together tomorrow. Only a day behind schedule

[JointTech]

man that was a nightmare. Started friday around 1 and just finished.


so ready to get away I didnt even get a picture of all the tierods and drag link installed.

If you have a place to do it and can go off and on when you feel like it I might try this again. Ill never do it in a parking lot waiting for the property managers to harrass me though.

The upper ball joints were a real nightmare. banged, cut, heated, air chisel and beat it some more before they finally came out of the control arms. Bottoms weren't bad at all with the rented press.

My compressor sucks so it was a minute hear and a minute there blasting all the spindles and control arms. took forever.

any hoo I still have to take it to the alignment shop because it turns farther to the right than the left and it drags a wheel on a tight turn. just from driving in the parking lot its 100x more responsive and stable now though. feels like a new truck.

I put in a new steering gear box as well.

[JointTech]

Got a new rearview mirror from amazon. I think its a little small for my taste in actual use; but it looks cool. I wanted to let the glue set for a day before messing with the adjustment to much.

[JointTech]

Stupid rear view fell off the window. Maybe a glass mount was a bad idea in the california sun. Ill try some different glue and leave the tab on the window for a day before actually hanging the mirror on it next time. I cleaned the window really well before gluing but....

I got a Dorman 31015 Steering coupler (rag joint). Went to swap it out and it doesnt fit. grumble. Fortunately I suspected this would be a pain and had already ordered a Dorman 31011 which should be here monday. If that one doesnt fit im screwed and out of ideas.

just some random rag joint pictures to help me put it back together when the correct part comes.









There is a groan in the steering that is bugging me but its not constant. I think its coming from the column itself but its hard to track down by myself. Project for this weekend I think.

[JointTech]

replaced that upper shock mount today.
well it wasnt hard but it was kind of scary. The gas tank is a saddle tank on that side. And theres lots of sparks.
started here:


cut that sucker off with the cutoff tool:


Double security with goggles and face shield cause im a wuss. I was blind after that picture for a few minutes. flash doh!!


Drilled it out with a step bit. I really should have ground that down but I was just waiting for the gas tank to explode and the shock fit without twisting...


keep away the rust


Done. Only took me 4 hours. Im really slow...





truck feels nice and stable now!