$3,000 driver build

[Mikeeal33]

YAYA!!! Thanks guys. More pics coming.

[Zeke's Garage]

Hey, man that truck looks great, way better start than mine.. but I would suggest that you pull the timing cover off that 307 while you've got the intake off and inspect the cam timing gear. I think most of those came with nylon 'tooth covers' on the gear, and over the years would break apart and bits of it fall off into the oil pan. Not usually an issue for the oil pickup, but it made the timing chain slack and basically ran like crap, and was possible to jump time.

I wasn't aware of this until I got into the 307 on my Chevelle wagon and an 'old timer' said it was a common occurrence on these engines.

Looking forward to your build, good luck with it.

[hanly2]

Highly interested in what you plan on doing with the air ride. I want to bag mine and use little larry's manual valves, but not sure what bags or compressor to run or what size tank I will need. Your truck is going to look real nice sitting low on those wheels.

[BigDaddyV]

Airlift dominators are the best for your money and Viair compressors. As far as tank size, it all depends on how much you want to play... sorry to thread jack.

[Mikeeal33]

Originally Posted by nlped

I'm in to see where Grumby goes

Grumby, I LIKE that! I think you just named her!

Zeke thanks for the advice. I'm far past that at this point, I would have done that had I known, but I didn't at the time. and got lucky............

hanly stay tuned, I will be posting more details soon. BigDaddy is correct on everything he just said, Dominators can be had by the pair for cheap, I will get them when I blow one of these china bags. I've had no problem with this Viair so far and I don't anticipate any. And my 3 gallon tank lifts the rear of the truck 3-4 times before it's about empty. The compressor turns on after the first lift, (150/180 switch) A 5 gallon would have been ideal I think, but I like that I was able to mount it and the compressor on one side of my frame rail. Keep in mind this is ONLY rear bags, front is static dropped.

Time to cut the frame for the notches, I used a Harbor Freight $20 grinder with a bunch of cutoff wheels:



Got the notches in, drilled some holes, boy that was fun on my back, hot shavings down the neck and face:



Bought 2" blocks and U-bolts from Boris/Way2lo2. It worked out to where the axle bottoms out on the notches before the bags bottom out, cool:




Next up will be shock mounts out of 2" square tubing and a custom made panhard/tracbar machined by yours truly.

[nlped]

Originally Posted by Mikeeal33

Grumby, I LIKE that! I think you just named her

I just combined the kids name, Gumby, and the sticker name, grumpy. It was actually a typo and I thought it was cool.

[Mikeeal33]

It's really cool!!! Grumby it is. I told the kids just now, the boy looked at me funny at first then said yeah he likes it. haha

[nlped]

^^^ Cool. Well, I hafta follow along now.

[Mikeeal33]

Thanks for hangin out Ed!

[70LonghornCST]

Great looking project! Keep the progress coming

[Mikeeal33]

Will do kind sir, thank you! Your truck is beautiful.

[mcbassin]

Very nice looking project.

[Mikeeal33]

Thanks Mike! I just scrolled through your truck pictures, VERY nice documentation and sweet truck.

Here's my bed for those who asked:



That's my new radiator in there.

[nlped]

Mike, the more pictures I see of your truck...the more I'm stunned. Looks like a super acquisition.

Go Grumby

[Mikeeal33]

It's funny cause I felt the same way, when I got it. I just couldn't believe the deal I got. But as time went on, it slowly dwindled a bit and I had forgotten how good of a deal it really was. You guys are reminding me of the total SCORE I found!

I guess this is a good time to also throw out the fact that when I bought it, I was in a bad spot, and broke. I actually made the guy payments!!!!!!! LOLOL, it took me about a month to pay him off. Deal of the century? I think so.

[BigDaddyV]

That just makes you appreciate it even more bud! I am truely excited to see what all you do to it and how it turns out. Its nice sometimes to remember the small things that lead upto the great things in our lives. You have a really nice truck and I'm sure it will be sweet.

[Mikeeal33]

It sure does! I of all people forget sometimes, get caught up in the daily BS and all that. No doubt.

Once my HEI showed up I pulled the stock points distributor and cap. I think I figured out why the previous owners couldn't get it to run:

[BigDaddyV]

ROFLMAO!
nice, those wires were toast!

[Mikeeal33]

Beyond toast hahaha. I couldn't believe it when I seen them completely severed through like that. WTF.

[Mikeeal33]

Ok back to the rear suspension.

I made upper rear shock mounts out of 2" x 2" square tubing. It was around $12 at the local steel yard, then just cut out and drilled according to this thread:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=451200

As you can see, I took a bunch more stock out of mine but I like the end result:




Even without a mill, I would have been able to do the same thing with a cutoff wheel and a vise. ALSO NOTE: that in my personal experience those numbers for the mounting holes were a couple hundred thousandths off, I just measured my stock ones first and drilled accordingly.

For the lower mount, I used shock studs normally used for the front uppers. These right here:

https://westernchassisinc.com/images...ud%2056000.jpg

They come with stock replacement fronts for our trucks. I just had to re-drill the 1/2" holes in the lower stock mount to 5/8" and cinched them down. Here's the new shocks mounted. I like the angle more better now:




After going through this list:

http://www.monroe.com/assets/downloa...ifications.pdf

I found the correct ends, and collapsed and extended lengths for my particular setup. They ended up being Monroe 5893's for an 84-87 Vette:

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...0077&ppt=C0035

$22 each and in stock at my local parts store.

[BigDaddyV]

Very nice work! I used the same bolt set-up on my 72 before I blew her apart. PB all the way now... well soon.

[Mikeeal33]

I like the work you did on yours originally. The shock relocators looked real nice painted up. I haven't gotten all the way through your build thread yet so I don't even know where you're currently at with it, but I'll say one thing you sure know how to spruce up an interior real quick like!

[Oldtruckfanatic]

Im digging those uppers. I might need to build a set for the 72. I cant wait to see the panhard. I have been building my own for static drops but my bag builds are going to need longer ones. I havent decided how to do that and make them look the way I want them to yet.

[Mikeeal33]

Hey Tim STAY TUNED, I think I have just the thing you're looking for.

[Mikeeal33]

Here's the nub I used to proof out the program I wrote to drill, bore, then single point the ends of the new tracbar. It's a 5/8x18 pitch, about 1.5" deep:



I used 7/8" round bronze. It's actually aluminum nickle bronze 624. Fairly hard and very rigid, pretty easy to machine too. And two heim joints:



I used the factory mount on the drivers side:



And for the passenger side, another small piece of that 2x2 square tubing drilled and cut:



Drill two holes through the arm:



It fits right inside the trailing arm:







The last picture is fully aired out, it's not perfectly level but I think it's close enough.