Hello all.

[JohnnyPopper]

Hey brother!

Glad to see you're still with us- How time flies!!!

[jeremy.farlow]

I'm still here. Still hoping that the only time I'm not with you is a long time from now.

I'm still correcting my transgressions from 2020... and ideally not making too many new ones.

I had barely gotten the old exhaust installed before I wasn't happy with it. And I never made the final effort to put proper hangers on it. It had a weird "belly" in it that always bothered me, also touched down on a couple speed bumps apparently. I have a vague memory of the driveshaft being at the driveshaft shop and assume I was taking an (over)abundance of caution to avoid the shaft. In any event, I didn't like it, and I have a car lift at my new shop... we won't talk about how my father/tenant likes to disable vehicles on the lift and then walk away... anyhow, the lift should be free sometime tomorrow. I gave Jegs a shout and this started showing up Monday:

There's two long, straight pieces missing, but I had a few mandrel bends left over from last time, so that pile WILL become the new exhaust system.

Instead of overcomplicating things making my own x-over pipe I just bought one. Like last time it'll be a serviceable exhaust that splits to allow easier access and service.


I haven't been welding that much lately.




It ain't quite like riding a bike, but my hands seem to be getting a little steadier:


 


I'm hoping the straighter run and added length both work in my favor. I didn't mind the tone of the original exhaust system I built, but having the pipes exit in from of the rear tires seemed to throw the spent gases back in my face when the windows were down. Which is practically anytime I'm at the wheel. I'm definitely a windows-down and AC-cranked kinda guy.

I'll snap some pictures from underneath when I get there.





Be Safe



Jeremy.

[ehjorten]

Looking good! I am waiting to get my custom Left-bank header from GP Headers for my '91 V3500, then I can finish the exhaust!

[Shifty]

Cool Jeremy!  Now you can come do my exhaust....

[jeremy.farlow]

Sure thing... just send that blank check and I'll get started right away. Seriously. I promise... RIGHT away.

I hope it works pretty good, I got my exhaust done today:



This one is suspended by hangers at several points, instead of just hanging from itself and whatever frame members were sandwiching it. I still have no idea how the GM engineers managed to get a single pipe out the rear, I wasn't even gonna attempt dual, 2.5" rear outlets. I could've gotten two pipes out under the bumper, but I'm certain they would have been as walleyed as it gets. Discretion over valor here.

Because I'm getting my chance to monopolize the car lift I went ahead and inspected the rear end, wheel bearing and brakes. If anyone is interested, here's what the GM Gov-Loc looks like:


Drained and refilled with Lucas' version of GL5 80/90w. I can't find much on testing the Gov-Loc... but everything I've read seems like so long as there aren't bits and pieces laying in the third-member the thing *should* work as advertised. Wheel bearings looked good, brakes appear to have been serviced *quite* recently. Yeah... I really wish I hadn't taken the time to pull the axle all the way down to check the brakes.

The list got a little shorter today:





Be safe




Jeremy

[Shifty]

Interesting....all these years, and I've never seen a gov-lock....

[jeremy.farlow]

I will be perfectly honest... as much as it pains me to say... Ford (Dana) made a far superior axle to the GM corporate. The Dana 80 that found its way under comparable Dodge and Ford 3/4-ton and 1-ton trucks is a much simpler setup. The Dana axle can have the brakes serviced without pulling apart the entire axle. On the GM Corporate full-floater the whole hub assembly has to come apart for any brake service. It's not a difficult job, but time consuming and effectively, the added level of work means that next time it comes apart I'll expect to have replace every service part inside: wheel bearings, drums, springs, retainers, EVERYTHING.

The Gov-Loc seems to be a love/hate thing. For serious work it isn't as strong as a spool, but outside of serious, rockcrawling 4WD work the GM corporate with its Gov-Loc seems to be perfectly fine. I do have a 4:11 geared Dana 80 that I could swap in, as I do not wish to even attempt rebuilding a GM axle.

I'm hoping I can get tires ordered today and start driving this silly thing this week.

[jeremy.farlow]

Straight up photo-dump.






^^^ GoJacks are AWESOME!!! IF your surface is relatively smooth. My shop is tight enough that moving the whale from where it's been sitting to the lift bay really is best with a spotter...

or two guys pushing the truck on the GoJacks. Probably faster with the GoJacks...
Check out my boy:
























Be safe



Jeremy

[Shifty]

Awesome digs!  What is it that you are fabbing with the dimpled holes?

[Mike81K10]

You have an awesome shop!

[JohnnyPopper]

Awesome digs!  What is it that you are fabbing with the dimpled holes?

Wall hangers, look at all his stuff hanging.

[Shifty]

Awesome digs!  What is it that you are fabbing with the dimpled holes?

Wall hangers, look at all his stuff hanging.

Doh!  I thought I was looking at something for the Whale! 

[jeremy.farlow]

Here's something for the whale:







Touchscreen, Navigation... my ride done been pimped.




Be safe



Jeremy

[Shifty]

That's far out!   

[jeremy.farlow]

It wasn't "extra" enough. So I did this:





And then... after all of that... I decided that black is by far the most appropriate color to paint it in.

What did Mick say about the red door???

Before I do so I'll drill a hole and run an iPhone cord into one of those compartments and then there will be some well-trimmed and nicely-fitting neoprene rubber down at the bottom.

Maybe another, separate phone jack... for charging purposes.

None of which anyone will EVER see/notice...

After I paint the thing black.

See I have a lot black paint on hand... already paid for. Aesthetics are the primary consideration for painting this thing black, economics being an immediate second.

What I do not have... and do not want to pay for at this exact moment... are tires for this vehicle. And the tires I have settled on trend around $300/tire. Either BFG KO2's or Wrangler Dura-Trac's.

I need to generate some income before I buy tires...




Be Safe




Jeremy