My 72 Build

[tucktuck]

Well, the wife is out of town this week so I decided to tinker on the truck. That and the fact that we've gotten about 6" of snow here in Texas...

I started out by shimming down the pinion angle on the rear end.

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Picked up my drive shaft last week, so threw it on. Its got a couple degrees difference, but may be too straight with those shims. Have to wait and see once the body and everything else is on.

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I swapped my thermostat neck out for the adjustable one, still waiting on my radiator to arrive...

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Went ahead and pulled my drivers side header off and trim up the tabs on the Bellhousing. Painted, then reinstalled the header.

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The plug wires were a little close to the headers so I threw on some heat shielding that I ordered.

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Next up was tackling the rear brake lines. Not the prettiest, but they'll work. Waiting on some tabs I ordered to get here to button it all up.

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Installed my fuel lines and fuel filter. Again, waiting on fittings that I got shorted out of my kit...

Plan is to get everything under the bed finished up, so that I can install the bed floor to fab in my filler neck, then put the bed parts together, measure my backspacing to order wheels, pull the bed back off, seam seal, and rhino line inside the bed as well as the bottom side.

I'll take my cab and doors to get blasted soon, replace whatever metal is bad, smooth my firewall and fill holes, route my wiring and AC lines, then send it out for body work and paint.

[LT7A]

That's going to be a cool truck. If you continue with the level of detail throughout, you'll be able to drive that thing anywhere and enjoy the heck out of the trip. Just curious, did you check the measurements on the shortened frame? In your pictures at the beginning, it looks as if the bed sits really close to the cab.

[tucktuck]

Originally Posted by LT7A

That's going to be a cool truck. If you continue with the level of detail throughout, you'll be able to drive that thing anywhere and enjoy the heck out of the trip. Just curious, did you check the measurements on the shortened frame? In your pictures at the beginning, it looks as if the bed sits really close to the cab.

Thank you sir.

When whoever cut the bed down originally put it back on, they didn't adjust anything, but yes I did measure when I first got it.

[tucktuck]

Well the plan was to throw the bed floor on and cut my filler neck hole before assembling the rest of the bed, but that did happen.

The bed floor needs to move towards the passenger side an 1/8th inch to be centered. Every other measurement was perfect. So, I have to throw the bedsides on and cab on to make sure the body lines match up, then get the bed centered with the cab, then mark and drill my filler neck.

This floor was also supposed to be for the wide tubs, but its not, so I'll have to cut a few inches out on each side as well.

Fitment of these bed sides are horrible.

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I'll have to adjust my axle as well to get it centered. It's not a huge deal, just going to be a pain since its all under tension now.

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Went ahead an cut the tunnel out for the high hump so I can't get the cab back on and clear the trans.

Have to clean up my cut a little more and bolt it in.

[mr.mud1]

looking good,marvelous progress.great work.

[CG]

I dont typically care for modern aftermarket pulley set ups. I really like yours though, its not in your face, and pretty compact.

[tucktuck]

Originally Posted by mr.mud1

looking good,marvelous progress.great work.

Thank you sir!

[tucktuck]

Originally Posted by CG

I dont typically care for modern aftermarket pulley set ups. I really like yours though, its not in your face, and pretty compact.

Yeah thats why I opted for the mid mount. I didn't want it to stand out once the hood was popped.

[JUN1269]

Looking good sir...you motivated me to start back on my project.

[tucktuck]

Originally Posted by JUN1269

Looking good sir...you motivated me to start back on my project.

Awesome! You have some skills for sure, I've been watching your build as well.

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Didn't get much done today, but I got the high hump installed...

Started to tackle moving my rear end back 1-1/4" to center it up, but lost motivation once the kids and grand kid showed up.

I'll get it done tomorrow.

[tucktuck]

Well that was a pain in the ass...

Ended up having to move my crossmember back to center my axle in the wheels wells. The monster hyme joints would have had too much thread exposed if I didn't, so I tore it all apart. I got lucky with only having to drill one set of holes on each side though.

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Here it is all back together. A lot of work for 1-1/4 inch...

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Looks like I'm gonna have to get my driveshaft reworked...little too much of the trans yoke hanging out for my taste. Oh well.

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Rear axle centered.

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Before and after.

[Alex69c10]

That’s a truly great looking build. A lot of work for 1/4” but it just makes it so much better!