73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Members Rides => Topic started by: exilous on April 21, 2009, 08:08:29 pm
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Ok I'm new to this site but here is my project. I will condense the story as much as possible Because its rather lengthy. It's call the C30 Project a 1985 GMC C30 mason dump 350 ith a SM465 trans. The bad cylinder 5 is dead transmission leaks like heck i have broken springs front end is worn like heck and the cab is rotted, thats typical though. The good, it was garage kept so all the rot is not soft and flimsy so its repairable, the truck was free. Uhm thats all the good. Ok So I got the truck from my uncle for free due to it being in such horrible shape. It started his roofing business about 15 years ago and I taught myself how to drive stick on it so it means somethign to me just as it does him. Hopefully I can start my own home improvement company with it when I'm done buil;ding it.That is the story in short. I figured out all the crap I needed to rebuild the truck buying it all used with the exception of certain things. So I went and bought cab mounts cab corners and rocker panels along with a rubber floor mat and insulation. That is the only stuff I bought new so far. Here is what I needed to find used:
-Doors
-Hood
-Genuine 1985 GMC Grille
-Heater fan
-Engine
-Rear Springs
-Extra windshield
-Front grille trim
That is everything I needed to get the truck running again. So instead of spending a small fortune buying from junkyards and local chevy guys I started looking for a whole truck. Low and behold I found a 1985 K5 Blazer with the silverado trim package. So I compiled a list of upgrades from silverado package stuff I wanted to integrate to my truck. That list includes:
-Tilt wheel
-Chrome door handle cups
-Chrome dash
-Headliner with all plastic pieces
-Aluminum Wheel well arches
-Aluminum trimmed fender signal lights
I picked up the K5 for $250 i towed it home with my pickup it was engineless but had a trans and a plow. Needless to say I got all the silverado trim package stuff off that truck parted the rest out made my money back plus $200 and still have the plow and a ton of other stuff. So I made out good. But I was still missing my most important part the front the grille and other miscellaneous things. So I went looking again. I found another 1985 K5 Blazer with the silverado trim package 305 carbureted 700r4 trans not running along with a 1987 GMC jimmy bone stock 305TBI 700r4 and someone painted the exterior with rhino lining i talked the guy down to $550 with him towing BOTH to my shop a few towns over. And the Jimmy AKA The armadillo had the 1985 GMC grille I wanted. I was happy when I found that. SO I got both home started tinkering around. someone recently did plugs wires cap rotor on the silverado and of course the distributor was 180 off. I got it running but I forgot to clamp down the distributor down cause someone flipped the hold down upside down...the engine died and refused to start again I talked to a local mechanic and he said the distributor wasnt grounded properly shorted out adn a solenoid or something went bad...all in all it needs a new distributor to run. Ok so I stripped most of the good easy things off of that truck put it in storage. Moving on to the armadillo I got that running it too was 180 off still runs awesome but the transmission is bad in it. Doesnt like moving very much. So i began my local advertising trying to sell parts...i sold small things here and there not accumulating to much. And then I began playing with ideas. I looked at the bucket seats in both trucks adn the bench in mine. I then took the bench out and measured and measured the silverado seats adn the armadillo seats. Armadillo seats were closer to fir with less mods because they are base models. So while i was dismantling these blazers I was working on the C30 I removed fenders wheel wells the complete interior the hood and some other things...First thing I worked on the fenders I got them all bondoed and primered up 2 days ago I finished that. I then moved onto the wheel wells they had that one rot spot on them which I went out and bought a little welder and taught myself how to weld on the wells. The first well came out bad the second was much improved. I moved onto the cab corners and rockers got those in then I took a sheet of steel and welded up a floor pan. Back to those seats. That was mondays project I spent 5 hours on the drivers seat cutting grinding and measuring and cutting then welding. Got it fabbed up and fit in. Today I did the passenger seat and I modified the headliner from the K5 to fit. I just need to do finishing touches on the back where the dome light goes and the headliner will be complete. Everythign else I did so far to the C30 was shocks and cabmounts.
All in all the project is going well I started the project in january and worked 2 hours a day on it until this past friday when i got laid off ive been there all day everyday. Between the blazers and the C30 ive got over 120 hours invested. OH dang I forgot I bought another mason dump awhile back. I bought a 1978 mason dump with a 350 Sm465 trans good springs good rearend. And it has 6 good rims. So basically What I'm going to do is take each component out individually an drebuild it or just freshen it up real quick. engine trans rearend and i think I'm just going to unbolt the whole front end and rebuild that then slide it right into mine.
I will work on getting pics up in a few minutes I have tons of pics. Hope to hear some input from yall if yo8u can think of anythign I should add to the truck or get rid of. I love getting ideas from other people. Speaking of ideas well I'll get into that later. I'm customizing a lot of the interior of the truck I worked with a motorcycle guy who builds his bikes with shoot around the house and he gave me some realyl good ideas I'll just put that out there for now. Pics are on the way!!!
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Here are pics of the 78 parts truck.Yes that is a gas can on the passenger seat. and yes that is how the gas gets to the engine.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4442.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4440.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4437.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4464.jpg)
I don't know how many pics each post can hold so I'll just make a few more posts.
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Me doing some final sanding after I finished welding up the cab corner. That is one of the bucket seats before I modified it and installed it into the truck.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4582.jpg)
Me doin the last sand on the fenders before I prime them
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4565.jpg)
Thats the hole on the driver side floor. not too bad thats after I cut it out of course.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4553.jpg)
Stock straight column on the right. Tilt column on the left...i already did the swap and I gave that grant steering wheel away i put the GMC one back on.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4436.jpg)
Empty dash very dirty.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4433.jpg)
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Armadillo to the left of my dodge silverado to the right of my dodge.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4580.jpg)
That is the better of the two patch panels I made on the wheel wells That one spot up against the firewall that always rots out. I used 4 pieces to repair it. I cut all the metal out of one of the glove boxes from one of the blazers. I waste nothing here...haha.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4488.jpg)
Ok To the left you can see a pallet sitting on top of a garbage can with tools on it...thats workbench #1 Workbench #2 also known as my body work table is a small piece of plywood ontop of a garbage can as well...Sometimes I use the tailgate of my pickup too.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4486.jpg)
My buddy is a photographer and takes really cool pics. This one came out especially good. Back when I first started welding last week using flux core wire. I have recently upgraded my welder to use 75%argon25%Co2...I'm a learning.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/IMG_4498.jpg)
Ok so thats a bunch of pics for now I need to buy a camera instead of using my buddies everytime i need it. Today I finished up bth bucket seats and got the headliner nearly complete hopefully I'll get to the store tomorrow and get meself a digital camera and take a whole ton of pics and post them up. hope you guys enjoy I will keep you all posted as I make progress.
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Cool project. Keep us updated
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yea man great work
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Dude. Great stuff. These are my Fav threads. Trust me I read every bit. Your not wasting your time typing.
Keep it going.
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Ok today i wasnt very motivated it was rainy cold and dreary. so i took all the windows out of the 3 blazer caps i had put those in storage in hopes of selling them. i took two of the caps and cut them up put them into my pickup along with some door plastics and a bench seat out of one of the blazers brought them all down to transfer junk station and got rid of them. by that time i just stopped got some lunch went back to my shop and did a lot of thinking. called a few people had them come down we threw some ideas around. I decided that I'm going to hopefully sooner rather than later get the cab off the truck put it in the bed while i redo the drivetrain. it would make it much easier to take the engine and trans out with the cab off then i can clean up the frame and paint it while im there. Makes sense right? Ok so my buddies left i am still waiting to get a few numbers of reupholsterers in the town to send out my bucket seats. I finished up modifying the back part of the headliner which wa the hardest part holding it up by myself making marks drilling holes cutting it grinding it and redoing the process. finally got it up and hanging looked pretty good i was happy with it. i took out the seats removed the hardware from them and put them up in storage until i get a guy to reupholster them. put all the brackets and mounts in a bucket with the seats so i can sandblast and paint them up. i measured up the gap between the seat frames so i can make a flat plate for a center console. just so happens that it is exactly 2 feet from the front and back of the seat brackets. that makes it easy. I talked to a home improvement guy in the building next to mine adn he said he'll make me a nice oak center console cup holders and everything. So i got stuff done today not much. Waitin on a buddy of mine to go find me a camera so i can get some pics for you guys. I'll update ya tomorrow.
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Found some pics of the fenders when i finished the exterior of them...i still have to do the engine compartment side of them... I did 1 coat of primer wet sanded with 400 grit did a second coat of primer wet sanded again with 400 then i did a 3rd coat of primer and didnt wet sand it again but i plan on 1000 grit sanding the 3rd coat
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/img_4594.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/img_4595.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/img_4596.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/img_4597.jpg)
i'll get some pics taken of the interior that i made tomorrow. i finally bought myself a camera. so i can take tons of pics...haha
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keep them coming man
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Alright today was another great successful day. I got a whole lot accomplished. Well a lot more than I ever expected to do. I went to home depot this morning and bought a wire wheel that apparently didnt fit my grinder, and I bought some paint and rust stripping wheel. Oh my God that thing was dang awesome it worked great. Kinda glad the wire wheel didnt fit cause this thing worked wonders. And I bought a new sawzall. My old one was so far worn out and leaking oil and stuff it needed to be replaced. So I got back to my shop I dismantled the interior again. I removed the seat brackets and I removed the headliner and the plastic pieces. I wired up all 3 of the floor lights. So instead of the factory 1 I have 3 now. Then I proceeded to open my blue paint remover grind wheel and wround down the roof. And While I was grinding it kept heating up the roof and popping some of the dents and cooling and stuff. So I figured I would give it a whirl and give the roof heck. Well I made 3 pulling tools 1 was a paint roller that I cut for pulling the hard creased dents and 2 smaller pullers for some small softer dents. I pulled all the hard creased dents around the cab lights then worked my way around the side and back of the cab grinding and heating then tapping. I pushed a lot of metal from the hard seam of the back window up onto the roof and as I did that I watched the big "oil can" dents push themselves right out. I was amazed it was totally awesome.Then I carried metal up from over the doors and pushed that towards the center and all the big stretched spots pushed right out. I pushed on the roof in a bunch of spots and it is pretty darn rigid. There are 2 hand size spots that are a bit soft but I am so happy with the way it came out I nearly crapped my pants. I even had a body guy stop by and take a look at it and he said it would take a whole day for him to get it looking good. Now I'm not trying to sound cocky but I got it done in about 5 hours of grinding and banging and for me its 100 times better than what it was. Although there are lots of small dents but those are a lot easier to fill with bondo then big dents so I can very happy. I am going to have to skim coat the whole roof to make it come out good. So first thing tomorrow I'm going to work on those 2 soft spots get those hardened up then its bondo time. I gotta bondo the roof then bondo all the seems around the cab corners and rockers. I left my camera at the shop so I have no pics of the finished roof or my tools but I will get those up tomorrow. Here are some of the before pics of the roof that I took.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0008.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0009.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0010.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0011.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0012.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0013.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0014.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0015.jpg)
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Great work! Looks like you're on your way!
Gonna keep the sm465 tranny?? ;D
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You are right bout that roof being pretty messed up.If your up to the challenge i say swap roofs from your parts cab.Just make sure you take measurements, double even triple check before you do any cutting.Or like blazin said you can use the stud gun as it pulls and shrinks the metal at the same time. But looking good man keep up the great work.. ;D
thanks
pat
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Ok well i'm up in massachusetts for the weekend with my girlfriend on her laptop to make a quick reply so i can't post aby of the pics but I spent hours banging and pulling yesterday and spent a few hours today doing some finishing touches and i got the roof its shape back. I looked through a couple auto body books i had and a few my dad had and got a few ideas. I heated it up with my blue paint stripping pad on my grinder and pulled a little tapped a buunch and just kept repeating. then to get the big dents out of the center I "carried" a bunch of the metal from the seam above the back window and pushed it towards the center. Then carried more metal from directly above the doors towards the center. And I watched the center slowly pop itself out. Although now the roof is littered with tons of small dents its much improved over what it was. Its to the point where I can bondo it and call it done. I had the body guy I know come to look at it and he said I did a really good job for something that difficult. So that made my day. Can't wait to get it bondoed and primered then i can really see what "shape" the roof really has. Other than that I bondoed up all the seams for the rockers and cab corners today and left it to harden till sunday when i get home. So Sunday I will have a ton of finish shots of the roof.
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Ok I came back i sanded down the roof and all the cab corners and rockers, I did another coat on the cabs adn rockers gonna get those sanded tomorrow hopefully then those will be all set and finished for bondo. i recoated the passenger side of the roof and started on the driver side. I sanded down the second coat on the pass side and it was close to good. i 3rd coated it and let it sit. i did the 1st coat on the drivers side and let that sit.im not gonna get crazy with the roof because id go through just too much bondo and i'm not horribly worried about it. so long as it looks good where the edges are that people see more often and the drip rails sit fit i will be happy other than that...here are a few pics of the roof before the 3rd coat went on.i havent even gotten to the middle of the roof yet...hahah.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0067.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0066.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0069.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0065.jpg)
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So much work bro. Keep up the postings
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Ok I forgot to post this up earlier...i really didnt get much accomplished today well i did and i didnt. I got 3/4s of the back of the cab roughly sanded ready for primer and I resanded bondoed again and sanded the roof. Now Ive made it almost full circle around the perimeter of the cab. Passenger side is dang close to done i did a few touch up spots I need to sand tomorrow and that should be case closed the back of the roof is done I did the 3rd coat of bondo on the driver side and it looks real good need to sand that tomorrow. and I made my way to the front. Hopefully I can get away with sanding the front tomorrow and just doing some touch up. I mixed the front bondo a little softer so it would take plenty of time to dry because I put it on a shade thicker than I should have. So hopefully just touchups on that and I'll be good to go. Im not even going to bother with the middle cause its not too bad. Hopefully you guys will get some pics tomorrow with the roof and the back of the cab in primer...that would be delightful. Somehow I don't think that will be happening though because I still need to buy a gun air dryer and all the other necessities to paint so...who knows. Here's a few more pics.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0089.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0088.jpg)
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Serious amount of work going on there. Nice to see a working truck getting some TLC.
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Dude you have a done a great job and you should be proud.
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Lets see...where to start for today. I got a ton done. First thing I sanded the bondo down i put on last night and decided to primer it up. cause staring at shiny sheet metal makes it hard to see all the bumps and ridges. I primered it and it looked decent a few small spots that need some work but I'm not going to go crazy with it. Then I set to work disconnecting everything from the cab so I can take the cab off.Hardest things to take apart were the linkages for the PTO and the emergency brake cable those 3 little prongs are a $#*(). Oh and I finally figured out why my speedo stopped working a handful of years ago. When I uncoupled it from the trans i looked in it and I couldnt see anything...the little squar end got twisted off and was in the speedo gear end. I took it out and forgot to take a pic of it. I will get that and show it up here for you guys. Other than that everything went well. I didnt have anybody available so the cab stayed on. I would have prefered to have someone lend some eyes if i missed disconnecting something. We will see if i can get someone for tomorrow. So I called it an early day from the shop I left at 4. I went home and fired up the drivetrain donor truck the old 78 C30. pulled that up to the barn and set to work disconnecting the engine and trans. I got everything disconnected I just gotta take the PTO off and pull her out and get the engine on a stand so i can freshen it up. Has some valve noise well not some its actually pretty loud. Im gonna see what I can do with that do the timing chain oil pan and valve cover gaskets rear main seal maybe a camshaft depends on what kind of can of worms I open when I start looking into the engine. Here are a few pics.
Before
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0106.jpg)
After
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0108.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0112.jpg)
that is by far the nastiest antifreeze ive ever drained from an engine in my life...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0111.jpg)
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alright everyone. I got much accomplished today.I posted about my critical engine dillemma on the engine thread. Check it out some pics are over there. To sum it up i moved the engine today and i grabbed the crank and went to push it into the shop and the crank moved...moved about an 1/8 of an inch so i may be getting in much deeper than i wanted to with this engine. either way it has to be done right? So after I screwed around with that till lunchtime i left went to my shop and pushed my c30 around got the cab off pushed it around some more figured out i didnt have enough room to move the forklift around the truck so i had to move the truck again. That freaking truck is really heavy when you gotta push it around...Nonetheless I got everythign moved situated and happy. So i got plenty done today...here are some pics of the move.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0148.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0149.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0150.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0155.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0154.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0153.jpg)
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You're knockin it out man! nice work! keep em comin ;D
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yea man keep the good work coming
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Sorry about the engine bro. Gonna have to head over and read your post. Dont sound good.
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Ok over the last two days I havent even gone to my shop to work on this. My parents are away for a week so i brought the 78 donor dump up from the woods and chopped it up. slavaging whatever I could scrapping everything else. Here are some pics.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0159.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0161.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0168.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0167.jpg)
Ya i lit the seat on fire so i could scrap it. haha.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0166.jpg)
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keep up the good work
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That looks like fun! :D
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wow amn your hammerin that project out its goona loo good when done keep us posted 8)
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well today I got absolutely nothing accomplished on anything today. not a single thing. It felt like a wasted day. I had 3 potential buyers for a ton of parts they all had my number So while I was waiting to get some calls i mowed the lawn did some stuff around the house. I had to go price a porch for a tear down rebuild my buddy sent me to go look at. Got there rang the bell talked to the lady and she was like "What we arent getting our porch done we told that guy we arent anymore. But while your here can you fix my door?" So it wasnt a complete waste I went there for a porch and I got a door job instead. The door will take a few hours not nearly what I was hoping for like 3 or 4 days of work on a porch but its better than nothing. then when that was done i proceeded to hang at my buddies shop and BS for a few hours then came home... Oh wait no i did get something done I unbolted the 3 bolts and springs on the passenger side exhause manifold for the exhaust pipe adn took it off. And I broguth my buddy back to my shop to thoroughly investigate my bad 350 in my c30 project. The current engine in it has a long long story and I wont bore you with that but in short. At least this is the version i came up with after talking to all the engine owners.my cousins friend bought it from a napa type store a a "reman 350 that fell off its crate and hit the floor" for $400. That guy sold the truck he wanted it for then sold it to my cousin who never used it it sat for a few more years then he sold that to my uncle who sold it to his friend who he then bought it back from and then it ended up in my dads hands who installed it intot eh truck and Now I own it. So after all that I still never figured out if it was a 4bolt or 2 bolt. Nonetheless my friend was over shootin the shoot and he wanted to see the antifreeze and he looked at it and said thats what color it was when it came out o fmy blown engine. Well he blew his head gasket and drove on it for a few months then detonated his cylinder 7. So we were pokin around lookin then he decided to stick a old weldin rod into cylinder 5 and low and behold there is a piston still in there. Well he seems to think that since my engine doesnt blow any smoke yet and it still runs I may be able to salvage it with a head gasket but to put a rebuild kit in it anyway. So there may be hope. What do you guys think on the engine? I will post more details about it on my post in the engine forum though.
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It's been awhile since I posted here.only ive been really workin on is the engine. well lets see. i tore the engine down and it needs a lot of stuff found out it had been rebuilt and bored 30 over once before so last night I ordered my pistons and rings for 60 over they should be in on wednesday or thursday. me and my dad tore the engine down the rest of the way and we got it down i pressure washed the heavy stuff off and then we picked it up and dropped it in our citrus acid tank to take care of most of the other stuff. as soon as the pistons get in ill bring the block and the pistons down and have our machinist bore it and clean the engine again. That should all be completed by next week if all goes well. in the meantime I need to open up a few more engines i have to find a good donor crank cause mine is shot and any machinist we know that grinds cranks dont have very good turnaround times/ we dont hear from them in months. so i gotta look for that and i think im gonna steal a set of heads off my 305 hopefully the crank too and rebuild those heads cause my heads are very worn and dont have hardened seats. AND i bought a whole frontend rebuild kit so i have to drop the frontend out of the 78 tear it all apart sandblast and paint the whole thing before i put it back together and when im ready i can just roll it underneath my 85. Me and my dad were rummaging through some trailers the other day at our house and low and behold not only did i score a brand new set of front coils for my truck but i scored a brand new side tank with straps and a high volume PTO to replace my old pto with driveshaft and all that BS. So i made out pretty well. oh before I dive into that front end i dont think there is any difference between my 78 and 85 front ends but i just want to ask and make sure before I get into it and find out there is a difference. Cause I bought a complete tie rod/balljoin/pitman arm kit off ebay to rebuild a front end cause both front ends are completely worn out. Her eis a pic of my njew front end...and its so nice it fits right in a flat rate box too. :D
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0263.jpg)
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Holy crap, you're really getting into this ole gem aren't you!
I've been enjoying the post bud, keep up the great work!
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I didnt get any pics loaded at home cause my internet is down. But I will get the pics up I dropped the whole front end out of the 78 today and completely tore it down. I found out I need a lot more stuff to put it back together. I need the A arm bushing which I kinda figured I needed, i dont need the bearings they are in excellent shape. gonna buy some new calipers cut the rotors and take it apart and sandlast everything. Hope to get a lot of the small stuff sandblasted and painted tomorrow and maybe by the afternoon I can start reassembling everything so long as the parts store has the a arm bushings i need. My dad has a brand new set of coil springs and i got all the front end parts ready to put together so tomorrow should be a very busy day. Hope to get some pics up later.
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Ok here we go. it was a hectic few days runnin around chasin parts droppin parts off sandblasting painting prepping oh man... to sum it all up in the last few days i got all the parts i need in including my pistons and rings so i just gotta find some time to run out to the machine shop and get that squared away. I dropped off the clutch and flywheel to get ground and fixed up and stuff. i tore down sandblasted needle scaled cleaned prepped painted watched paint dry then painted again watched it dry again and began assembling the front end. its almost done the lower A-Arm shaft kit one the passenger side binds up a bit before I get it bottomed out so something isnt right i have to check into that a bit more. hopefully that will be done tomorrow. Then I have to solve my spindle problem which I posted in the suspension forum if anyone wants to take a gander at it I am kind of stumped. Once that little dilemma is solved I should be able to drop the new springs in hook everything back up and paint everything AGAIN and roll it into the trailer for safe storage until its time to get bolted onto the truck. So I am going to be busy at my shop taking the engine and trans out of the frame taking the front end out of that truck cleaning and painting the frame putting the new front end in and hopefully by that time I will have the engine rebuilt painted and the trans rebuild and painted mate them together and drop them in. HOPEFULLY. if everythign goes right this should be all coming together in the next 2 weeks or so. Either way I'll cut to the chase here are some pics.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0272.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0274.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0286.jpg)
These broke the bank at a woping $325 for all 4 shaft kits combined...I nearly cried.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0285.jpg)
the 60 over pistons are in that brightened my day.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0284.jpg)
Everything is all assembled just waiting for the main carrier to dry it took a few hours before that stuff got installed and not all got installed...hopefully tomorrow I might meet the rest of the success and get more pics up on that stuff.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0292.jpg)
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very nice and glad to see your doing it right. how are you prepping your frame? i just painted mine yesterday after 3weeks of cleaning. i am quite happy with the turn out. painting leaf packs tonight and next week will be axles. i'll get my pics up soon enough. Very nice job and you are an inspiration...since your makin me look bad! lol j/k great work! Andy
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I havent even started on the frame yet. Seeing as how its at my shop and not here at my house I dont have the best tools at my disposal the best I can do is wire wheel the heck out of it and just throw the paint on. Hopefully that isnt too far off but honestly I m running out of room for my parts, I have no room for the engine and trans that are currently in the resto truck. It's alll slowly taking shape I can sort of see the end but I have a long way to go.I had 4 major hurdles in my mind that I figured would take the longest, the rebuilding of the front end, frame modifactions rebuilding of the engine and then the cab. I was planning to finish up by the end of may but...that is definetly not happening. looking more like june but if i make no deadlines the last I have to make is my birthday in september so its gonna be done before then I hope. hahah
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Ok well today I got tons done and met more failures along the way but that is to be expected. I took the engine adn trans out of the C30 at the shop,then I took the front end out cause I wanted to check the whole spindle situation and they are the same spindles and hubs/rotors all 1 piece. I MIC'ed both sets of rotors I have and yes BOTH sets are just below the minimal thickness. like its weird they are within a few thousandths of each other. The 78 had brand new Timken bearings and such, and my 85 had brand new pads...well slightly worn but not bad in any way shape or form. Very upset I have to throw that stuff away, I figured I would have been able to at least scrape by with reusing some parts but Ialas I ahve to order all new stuff tomorrow...ON a lighter note I dropped off my block to get bored it comes to $160 for the boring and cleaning, and he is going to look around his shop for a forged 350 crank he says he has one. told me for $100 I can get a forged crank, I figured I can't go wrong with that deal. Should be getting the block back late next week he said. So as soon as that rolls in I will get some pics up on that...but between now and then not only do I have to order the innards of the engine but I have to get the frame prepped painted and get the front end back in it. So I have my work cut out for me but I'm starting the rassembly process so I've made it nearly full circle. I can't believe I have stuck with this project for so long. I usually lose interest but I don't know whats keeping me going. Well lets cut to the chase...here are some pics!!!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0301.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0302.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0304.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0308.jpg)
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I just painted my frame and was really happy with it. What I used to clean mine up my frame one of these abrasive rust and paint wheels.
(http://www.toolstation.com/images/library/stock/webbig/10332.jpg)
This one i have a picture of is just a single but the doubled up version is much better and takes more abuse. They work better on the paint rather than rust but I mainly used the wire wheels on rust. After about 3 weeks of working on the frame after work i finally said it was time to paint. i prepped it with dx579 and washed it again and then shot my paint. it turned out pretty good. ill post pic soon in my project thread. Nice progress man, Andy
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Ya ive seen those, home depot has them, i bought one for my 3 inch angle grinder and it worked great when i did the roof part of my project. Stripped paint great. And I used it on some of the painted parts of the frame. But then again I'm not looking for perfection on the frame its going to be a work truck so I'm scuffing and cleaning whatever I can then just laying on a few layers of rustoleum. I'm gonna be replacing the fuel lines and all the brake lines while i'm here as well. Better than having to do that later on when its a PITA. haha. Anyway I got the radiator support nearly complete all wire wheeled down just got to remove the mounts take it off do the bottom in primer then paint it gloss black. I'll get some pics up later I hope, I'll be headin to the shop shortly.
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Ok, here is whats new, Well this will teach me to buy stuff off ebay I bought that complete kit for my front end...well turned out that the upper ball joints the shaft diameter that is supposed to have a snug fit in te spindle was too small... i found that after i had to get new lower ball joints because instead of needing a press fit they fell through the holes for them..I was pretty pissed off needless to say. After that dilemma i got my dads spring compressor tool which happens to be broken, one of the clips is broken but it still works. I compressed the first spring got it in not a single problem although i was scared crazy i thought it was gonna pop on me. Nope the second spring popped on me, twice. Scared the crap out of me. Got it the third time clamped everything down tightened everything up. I went to pick up my hubs and everything...the guy ordere the wrong hubs had to wait another day. That brings me to today I got everything together and hooked up. It looks like a front end again I am very happy. First thing in the mornin i gotta sandblast the trans member bring that to the shop paint that and toss it into the frame. slide the front end under it and bolt everything back up. It is starting to feel like the end is near but really its not, i still got lots left to do. Once the front end is in any spots I missed and anythign i didnt do i will pretty much just paint the whole front end one more time. I put the layers on pretty thick and so far for the whole front end and the whole frame ive used half a quart, I expect to use a good portion of that tomorrow when i second coat the frame and repaint everythign on the front end again. I forgot to get pics of the frame after I painted it this morning, it looks real nice. So here are some pics of the front end being rea-assembled.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0315.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0318.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0337.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0336.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0335.jpg)
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Keep up the installments!! Enjoying this thread. 8)
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Ok so its been quite sometime since I posted here. New news would be the front end is installed tires are on and its sitting on its feet again. I decided to go all out na dput the A/C setup into the truck. So I literally spent all day mocking up tearing down cutting and grinding and finally got it to fit. Put all the ductwork in and the tube that goes under the steering column doesnt fit. That made me rather unhappy. Looks like the wiring and the metal clip and stuff is bigger than whats on the blazers. I dunno I will see what I can do to make it fit. If not oh well. So I tore it all down and started chopping off all that nasty black crap off the firewall which took a long time. And I remember reading a thread about peopel neatening up firewalls and removing seams and stuff. Well I figured while I was there I would give it a go and I pretty much got the whole heater box side cut welded and de-seams so it looks pretty good I just gotta do some more grinding in the morning and it should be set. My goal is to make it all the way to the trans tunnel with welds and if all goes well make it with the primel and bondo as well. Havent heard anything about my engine or even my clutch from either machine shop, i expected to hear from both of them early in the week but i have not. Maybe next week but if not I do have plenty to do to the inside of the cab firewall and the frame before I can proceed forward. I can see the end its so close. OH! on a better note i recently finished working on my buddies 67 mustang doing a nice resto on that so that frees up a bunch of extra time to devote to my truck. not to mention i can now gain the assistance of my friend and his brother on my buildup. So i hope to get this stuff moving along and i hope to be driving it by the end of the month. I will get a ton of pics up tomorrow.
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The Duct under the dash is the same for all same gen trucks regardless of bodystyle. How was it fitting bad?
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it needed to move at least an inch closer to the column, it will be a few days before I get that back up again beacuse I took everything back apart to work on the firewall but as soon as I have everything re-installed I will get some pics of it.
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Didnt get much done today, made a scrap run worked on the firewall some and a bunch of little stuff. Finally got my clutch and flywheel back so now i just gotta wait on the engine, then i gotta start ordering stuff for that so i can build it finally. Hopefully tomorrow will be a slightly more productive day. And without further ado, the pics i promised from yesterday.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0413.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0412.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0430.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0431.jpg)
The next vehicle to get chopped up since im done stealing parts off it. haha.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0432.jpg)
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The next vehicle to get chopped up since im done stealing parts off it. haha.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0432.jpg)
Don't dooooo itttt!!! :(
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I already started haha, doors are gone passenger fender and wheel well already went to the scrap yard the dash has been gutted and the cap was chopped up yesterday. So its already begun. The only thing that really sucks is the fenders are in really good shape but the interiors where all the bolt holes are are all rusted out or broken I was kinda upset when I started taking it all apart. I woul dhave liked to save the fenders but no big deal.
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Ok its been nearly 2 weeks since I last posted, I havent worked on the truck much at all because the building I rent along with a bunch of other guys got into some trouble with the town about "blight" I.E. abandoned vehicles and garbage potholes blah blah blah...so I had to clean up everything in front of my shop ASAP. Thats what I have been doing. Either way that last blazer I dismantled i figured I would check to see if the heads were good cause my old ones didnt have hardened seats in them so it would have cost too much money to rebuild them. When i took the intake out it was clean as a whistle. popped the covers off also very very clean. My spirits turned up slightly. Got the heads off low and behold the engine was rebuilt. bored 30 over and judging by the carbon buildup it wasnt rebuilt very long ago it was very clean. So I am in the process of dismantling the heads cleaning them and I will probably just lap the valves see what they need and go from there. Saves me a good chunk of change there. Other than that I got my engine and pistons back today all cleaned and ready to go. The machine shop found a good crank for me and polished it up. cost me $360 to get bored 60 over put the pistons together and get a good used crank. I ordered my cam bearings freeze plug set gasket set and a cloyes timing set from summit that came in yesterday, i ordered my main and rod bearings today they should be in tomorrow from my local parts store. I gotta decide which cam I am going to go with and get that ordered and I've been watching a few Edelbrock Performer 2101 intakes on ebay goin for half the cost of a new one so I gotta get one of those. Other than that I am ready for the buildup of my very first engine. I am pretty excited. Once the engine is done everythign else should go pretty smoothly. I will get some pics up over the next few days to keep you all posted on my progress, I would hope to have the bottom end in tomorrow if my dad ever gets his engine off my engine stand. If not saturday I should have the bottom in.
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Wow what a project! I'm practically a neighbor in East Haven. I have been slowly redoing the body on my 87 swb. Will soon be swapping the bed over. If you need any spare parts let me know.
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Wow another connecticut guy, haha well I should have every part I need I bought 3 blazers and a 78 c30 for parts so I should ahve everything. Either way todays update. The engine build has begun!!!! :) ;) :D ;D :o 8) Ya. Well we put the engine on the stand and due to me leaving it my truck for a day while it was raining and driving around the bag ripped and the enigne got a bit rusty...my fault my dad was pretty mad about that. But nonethe less I cleaned the whole thing wire wheeled it and today me and my dad relieved it i guess was the term he used. We ground down all the slag and nasty crap on all the edges and rounded everything over opened up all the holes that were rough and nasty smoothed it out nice. Rehoned it and then washed it. Washed it up we put in the new cam bearings then the plugs and the main bearings and got the crank in. So tomorrow I should be getting the piston rings installed, pistons in timing gear on the crank and then I think I'm going to get the heads cleaned and relapped or whatever they need while I wait for my camshaft to come in. I should be getting it from Summit on the 25th or 26th so that will give me plenty of time to get the rest of the engine assembled. I'm waitin to find a good deal on a edelbrock performer 2101 on ebay cause I really dont want to spend the $127 on a new one. Used ones are going between $60 and $95 shipped so I would rather go that route. Here is a link to the cam i bought, should do the engine good, I was thinking about a Lunati Voodoo cam but the magazine showed that is was used for idle to 5500 RPMs and when I went to order it the specs said 1000-5500 so I didnt get it, maybe something was messed up I don't know. either wayt I will cut to the chase and here are some pics.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-CL12-231-2/
Rusty
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0513.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0514.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0515.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0516.jpg)
Got the radiator support mounts in so i just had to install them...haha
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0517.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0518.jpg)
freshly cleaned wire wheeled and re-honed
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0519.jpg)
grinding and reliefing
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0520.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0521.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0523.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0524.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0525.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0526.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0528.jpg)
There ya go guys, as I get more pics I will post them up. shoudl have more install stuff tomorrow. when i get the pistons and the lower end in.
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Got more done today and yesterday. Been busy as heck lately. Got the crank in the other day I installed all the rings yesterday. I got the cam in today so I should have that installed tomorrow. Today I got the pistons all in. I didnt torque them down yet. I just finished putting them in about 15 minutes ago. Also I got the doors off the blazer that someone had rhino lined...ya i said rhino lined. I finally got those stripped down i fixed the dents did a bunch of bondo work to them sanded them down primered, wet sanded primered again and thats as far as I got on those. Tomorrow I want to get the interior side of the doors scuffed and painted white cause they are black right now. then I should be able to reinstall all the guts for the doors and put them in storage untill they are ready to get put onto the cab. And if all goes well I should get the whole interior of the cab cleaned and scuffed and repainted. So its gonna be another busy day. I will get plenty of pics uploaded tomorrow for you guys.
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Wow, well its been a long time since I've posted here. Sttill laid off so I'm still working like crazy at the shop trying to get the ttruck done. Since my last post I will just sum everythign up real quick and get a ton of pics up. I had the brand new doors that were rhino lined off one of the blazers I scraped them both down sanded them did the body work welded the window mount holes and cleaned everythign and reassembled the whole door. just gotta wet sand them and prime them again. Took the fenders down from upstairs and sanded the inside of the fenders and painted them orange. So the fenders are all complete now just gotta wait for assembly and there is nothing left to do on those. I rolled the truck frame out grabbed the cab and brought it out front cause I'm pretty much done with the frame untill the engien is ready to go in. And sadly I pretty much gave up. I am tired of working on this darn thing and it is starting to show. I'm starting to get sloppy. The firewall especially mad me real mad all the welding and cutting and bondo work and i kept finding more rot. Finally I gave it i scuffed it and painted it. There were a lot of spots that I put patches in that needed to be ground down and bondoed that I just didnt do cause I didnt want to. Sad to say it. I will regret it later on. I know I will. When I started painting the cowl and firewall I didnt even tape anything off thats how bad it got. It was a bad day I think. But either way I got the A/c box on everything bad and attatched to the firewall and that part is starting to look like a truck once more. I got a set of those fender silencer things. That mount to the side of the cab. I got them off the 85 Silverado blazer so I decided to stick them on my truck. Lets see, I cleaned and sanded the whole inside of the cab floor and whatever would be visible when the headliner and everything else was on and painted that. I oredered up some dynamat got that installed put the insulation stuff down then that crappy floor mat I got from . it ahs cracks all over where the back of the trans tunnel is. But whatever. I cleaned up the dashpad put the AC stuf in it got that installed. Sent the seats out to get reupholstered got them back in 2 days cost me $500 for both. And man they are comfy. When I got them back I immediatly mounted one up and sat in it for a few hours it was great. I got all the plastic and metal headliner piecess cleaned and painted black ready to roll. So much that I did I can't remember it all. I can't install the door weatherstripping or the headliner yet cause when I make the pick with the straps I'm afraid I will crush it so I am holding off on that part. All thats left for me to really do is figure out what I am doing for a stereo system, cut holes for the seat bolts and install those. Paint the plastic pieces on the doors. And finish the hood...oh the hood has rhino lining all over it too. So I gotta strip that. Lets see other than that all that the cab needs is the gauge cluster I have to finish sanding and primering the back of the cab, then roll it over and clean and rhino line the underside of the cab then that is finished.
So now I gotta work on getting the passenger tank brackets off the donor truck, mount them on mine clean and paint my old tank and remount that then I have to run lines. I'm not using an electric switch I am going for an old had switch so My plan of action is once i get my new heads in...oh ya I had to get new heads cause the ones from one of the blazers someone cheated on the rebuild and didnt do the guides they were shot so I bought a set of loaded brand new Brodix aluminum heads. So once my heads come in I can get the engine running, mount the first transmission to it and drop that in. Then I have to do some serious fabricating to mount the 3 speed auxilliary transmission behind it, THEN i will run the fuel lines pop the cab on it cut the trans shift hole for the 2nd transmission and find a good spot for the fuel tank selector valve. Then assemble the sheetmetal, throw the exhause back on it and drive it to my buddies shop so he can custom bend me a duel exhause stack setup, WITH the flapper caps :D gotta have the flapper caps. Then right after that I decided I'm not painting it I am gonna bring it to Maaco and have them paint it once its painted bring it home and put all the trim stuff on it. So all in all I have busy as heck lately and I am almost done. Hurray!! Hopefully a couple more weeks. Once all that is done I gotta bring it home and that is where I wil be doing the back half of the truck, dump bed comin off gotta redo the spring packs clean the back half of the frame cut out the bed floor weld a new floor into it put the new tool boxes on the sides and then I will be done. Hopefully there will be a month on dually vehicles so I can enter it in that in hopes to make the calender :) Either way I will try to keep yall posted as the project nears a close. so far to date 7 month and over 400 hours invested.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0572.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0574.jpg)
This is the point where I finally gave up. I was tired of scraping and all that crap and I got no where...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0575.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0578.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0584.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0606.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0601.jpg)
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Hang in there, I know it gets frustrating, but it will be worth it in the end. Sometimes the best progress isnt progress at all. When things start getting to you, the best fix is to take a break, and maybe do some pencil building ( check list, schedule, or just get away from it)
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looking good
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I can't believe its been almost 2 weeks since my last post in here. Got tons done. Engine is finished did the test run and oh my gosh what a wonderful sounding engine. I went with the GM corporate blue for the 78 engine, and since the transmission never had a color I took the original color from the auxilliary trans and made both red. I sand blasted the exhaust manifolds and welded up the AIR holes and luckily I had 0 leaks anywhere until yesterday from my oil pan but my bolts loosened up on my. I explained it in the engine thread. Lets see what else did I do. . . I got the hood scraped bondoed and primered. I painted the underside and the wheel wells orange so pretty much all the sheet metal is completely finished. I moved the cab and rolled it onto its back I scraped the whole underside and rhino lined it. then i finished sanding the back of the cab primed what I couldI only had half a can left. So tomorrow I just need to finish primering the back of the cab I have to sand the driver side of the cab and paint that white and then the cab is nearly complete. I think I'm going to wet sand the roof and lay another coat of primer on it. So the only things that are holding me up with the project as it stands now, is I need to repair the original driver side tank brackets sand them and the tank paint them and install. I have to remove the passenger tank brackets from the 78 mason dump parts truck, repair those sand them paint them and sand the passenger tank mount those up. I have to order a couple fuel valves then run the new fuel lines. Then I gotta get my dad to come down to the shop at some point so I can have him help me mock up the auxiliary transmission. Oh for those of you that havent heard about it I am putting a 3 speed auxilliary transmission in right behind my regular transmission. I measured it up and it will fit under the cab before the rear crossmember. It is shorter in length than the driveshaft that goes to the carrier bearing so it should fit perfectly. Just got to figure out some hangers for it so that it doesnt hang too low. Other than that, lets cut to the chase and get some pics to you all.
The brand new top end. Brodix aluminum heads and a slightly used Weiand 8004 dual plane intake.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0641.jpg)
A very blue engine
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0653.jpg)
The transmissions once i cleaned them like 3 times. Even then they still werent clean.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0662.jpg)
The transmission painted
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0664.jpg)
The big U joints the auxilliary has. HAHA I will never wear those things out.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0665.jpg)
Once everythign was assembled
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0672.jpg)
Couldnt find a port-a-power so I made due with a steel block and a bolt. Worked real well.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0677.jpg)
The engine on the test pallet we made, in my dodge going to my shop to get installed into the C30. Finally 3 months in the making and it will have an engien in it again.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0689.jpg)
Engine is in, aerial shot and before I put all the wire looms on and zip tied everything...it is still a horrible mess. But who cares I can straighten that stuff later it runs though.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_0692.jpg)
Ok I will get some more pics soon when more major stuff gets done. I am getting close fellas. Very close. I can really see the end.
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Cool. I think that's the color I'll paint my next engine (provided I go with a Gen 1). What heads do you have there? IK180s?
I've been meaning to chime in on this thread to compliment your work. As far as the engine goes, I especially like how you took the time to detail the block. 8)
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wow man looking real good cant wait to se it all together wish i was as far as you are on mine 8)
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Ya those are the IK180's, They seem to be pretty good on the block revving it up I can't wait to be in the seat driving it to feel the difference from one stock engine to this performance engine. I really hope it is everything i could ever want. We shall see...hopefully a few more weeks and everything will be back together so I can at least drive it to my house, my buyddies shop then the paint place.
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Wow! That's really turning out great!
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I really dig your one ton. Those c-30's are really cool. I've got an odd ball 72 that i did on the cheap last year. they are really handy.
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I like those rims on yours. I'm still up in the air as to what I want to do with my rims on the truck, I have to obviously keep one set of stock rims for the winter use. But I was kind of toying with the idea of getting a different set of stock rims maybe ones like the fords with like all those little round air holes in them. But I was also playing with the idea of springing for the 19.5 Alcoas which would really set the truck off. Buyt I dunno if I really want to spend that kind of coin on rims. Especially since it will be a work truck. Not that I am not a fan of work trucks looking exceptionally nice...don't get me wrong there its always nice to see a really snazzed up work truck but I dunno yet.
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those 19.5's really make one look cool. they did make steel 19.5's with the standard 8 lug pattern, that would fit your c-30. they came on mid 80's postal p-30 step vans. I think all those postal vans ran 8R19.5 tires. I've seen a lot of those postal step van's go on ebay for under 1,000.00. the problem with the 19.5's on my 72 is the 6.17 gear ratio that goes with the 10 lug pattern. top speed 50 mph!
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Wow, 6.17 haha. Thats horrible.
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only good thing about it is, with the 406 and the granny low, it will pull ANYTHING you can get a chain or hitch on!
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Alright I am back...A whole lot of nothing has happened since I posted last. I'll condense a lot. the truck travelled from my shop to my parents house where i sat untouched cause my dad was off doing his thing unable to help me fabricate stuff to get my auxilliary trans in. He finally came back after I rebuilt the trans bought all sorts of parts but just needed his help doing the more technical alignments mounting and fabricating of shafts mounts and plates. He set on gettin a divorce with my mom blah blah blah me and him had a falling out I moved my truck back to my shop thus dropping the aux trans idea cause I couldnt do all the custom bracketry and lathe work needed to be done. 6 months of no progress and it ended up back at my shop the same as when it left.
On a better note not to dote on the past but moving forward in the last 2 days since the truck has been there I got everything in order cleaned up my shop and tried to remember where everythign went. I remembered how to get the cab on so that went on and just finishing up all the loose ends and cleaning up the engine compartment figuring out where the wires go this that and the other thing. I've got it going in the right direction so far. Lot of things I forgot or missplaced since i took it apart over a year ago. Only have a handful of wires left to figure out where they go in the engine compartment then the wheel wells fenders and hood can go on. As for in the cab gotta get the domelight in and wired headliner installed put the dash back together a few small things here and there and then thats all done. doors can go on and thats it. Then I gotta do the whole back half of the truck. Alright its picture time.
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Pics didnt work the first time
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1491.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1490.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1502.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1503.jpg)
Just a small amount of parts that need to be reinstalled...that nut and bolt pile doubled in size today...I just threw buckets of bolts on it from the 4 trucks I dismantled I hope I have everything I need. HAHAH
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1504.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1505.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1506.jpg)
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Alright, it's been quite some time since I have posted up here again and I have gotten a lot accomplished since the last set of photos.as of today I finished puttin all the sheet metal back onto the cab. doors fenders, wheel wells, and the hood 90% of the engine wiring is finished. Basically it's all small things that need to be done, cab-side forward for me to be complete now. I started a new job that is very demanding taking me away from the project 6 days a week leaving me only sunday mornings to work on it now. So progress henceforth will come to a near halt as I finish the cab and everything else. I did all the bodywork before as I took the panels off but now that I reinstalled them all, there is a lot more body work that I have to do to them. Which sucks cause I thought I was done with it. And the new doors I salvaged off of one of the blazers turns out they are both bent. Somewhat heavily above the triangle window. The hood I thought was good also salvaged from one of the blazers, is bent as well the center of the hood right at the front dips down more then the edges so it doesnt latch properly. The A/C pump doesnt line up very well with the other pulleys so I need to figure something out there. It seems to be aimed a bit crooked...but before I hooked up the power steering pump it was lined up fine. I tried to get the power steering lined up and that wouldnt line up originally. So I took everything off started from scratch and I was able to get the power steering pump to lineup but now the A/C doesn't line up. So I must be doing something wrong... I will figure it out eventually. Uhm as for everything else it's just tidbits here and there that need to be done bunch of small stuff here and there then I can take the dump bed off and work on the back half of the truck. Still deciding whether or not I want to keep the steel bed, go with an aluminum bed, OR a real curve ball go with the utility bed with the dump body inside between the tool boxes. I like that idea very much cause then I can carry lots of my tools around and not worry about when I dump they will get scattered all over the place in my boxes. So we shall see how things work out. Until then here are some pics and I will work on getting some vids up on youtube so you guys can hear how it sounds...well it has no exhaust besides the manifolds but it's still really cool.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1558.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1562.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1565.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1564.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1568.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1567.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1575.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1578.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1577.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1597.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/xylus/100_1600.jpg)
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I believe these are the links to the videos I just uploaded onto youtube so check them out let me know what you all think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlPRQKu0d-A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXSnOvXCU8E