What did you do to your truck today?

[gmcdeadhead]

started the front end conversion on my 66, it will get a new 1987 1-ton front end , power steering and hydro boost brakes. [IMG][/IMG]

[earl84]

gmcdeadhead, what components are you going to use for the front end conversion? New parts, or used, and if used, what is the donor vehicle? Are you replacing the entire front crossmember? Very interested in watching this, please post some pics along the way.

[Snailed]

I enabled the fuel cut on deceleration on my EFI setup. Now the injectors completely shut off when I'm coasting down which I do a lot of since it's a manual trans. I also got most of the cruising areas really leaned out. This 350 still runs fine at 15-16:1 air fuel ratio at very light cruising load. Now I really want to figure out how to hook up my stock speedo to the T5 so I can get an idea of my MPG.

[gmcdeadhead]

the donor truck was a 1987 r30 1-ton chevy. i already put the 14 bolt rear in a couple of months ago. the front end had all brand new parts already on it when i bought it. i switched out the whole cross member in about 4 hrs. old one out , new one in. i'll be doing the power steering conversion sometime today. i'll get some more pics up later.

[earl84]

4 hours, man that's fast!! Thanks.

[gmcdeadhead]

yep 4 hrs. my bolts and nuts were not that rusty , just road grime on them. they all came out pretty easy.

[Grizz1963]

Well, luck does favour the brave.... or am I missing something here?

Popped around to Mickey's this morning for a chat and he was cleaning up a huge pot and reviving the plant inside it, from a job he did yesterday.
His sons work rebuilding, decorating and gutting office space.
Yesterday they had to take down a load of offices, and one of the casualties ended up being a load of White Oak skirting boards.
They are 90mm wide and I am not sure how thick...... Hope you are getting my drift here.

Anyway, a load had been claimed by one of the guys on the job, buut there were still some in the back of his van he mentioned, if I was interested in them before he went to the skip.



So I cleared the lot out and brought them home in the hope I could salvage some bits for the garden furniture we have, that has seen a lot of seasons outside and are now starting to show their age.

I previously rebuilt a garden bench using offcuts of White Oak as well, which is still in use.



Once I had sorted the pile out, this is what I was left with.....

The pile to the right is all under 1.8 meters long, so only good for rebuilding the furniture.

The pile to the left though, has about 19 strips, and at 90mm wide, I need 18 strips to remake the floor of the truck which is currently plywood.





After sorting it out, stashed under the bike trailer for now.
The cleaning up of the wood to get all the glue etc off it will take some time.
Unfortunately the side I need to use is the side with the glue, the other side it grooved.





I am looking forward to the day I can fit the white oak to the bed.

[gmcdeadhead]

taped the template to the frame, and started to drill. then installed gear box , just left it loose, need to get new rag joint and reconnect steering shaft. [IMG][IMG][/IMG][/IMG]

[VonDog]

Installed my manual steering box that I just had rebuilt by Benchworks. They did an awesome job.
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[61_FL_Apache]

Look what the man in Brown dropped off to me today.. They will be installed in a week or so.

[robber grin]

Man-o-man Steve your truck looks bad to the bone setting there!

[RANDY COX]

Originally Posted by joedoh

didnt feel like taking out the bumper bolts there randy?

LOL,The truck is sitting on a 70 4x4 frame and had to cut the horns off to put the 64 horns to match bumper..

[ratrod11]

A big day... finally arranged transportation to haul my project the 30 miles to my house... a quick overall pressure wash to get years of farm dust and dirt off of everything... got the trash out of the cab and vacuumed it as well. Bonus find! A brand new set of AC Delco spark plugs new in the box for the 283!

Just a heads up for those who may be interested... my plans do not include the long bed frame or 4x4 components, I will alert you all when I get the truck apart!

[ACK]

Saturday's goal was getting the weather stripping around the drivers side door installed. When I lifted the carpet, I found so much rust on the floor pan that the game plan changed. I hit the rust with a grinder and a wire brush, next came the rust converter. Sunday I spent priming and painting, today the weather stripping went in. Both doors are now done! Also installed a thermal sender for the dummy lights, now I have a separate temp gauge and the stock lights, too.

[ratrod11]

A special thanks to Jack Quesenberry for the transport!

[1964Chevy]

Good luck RatRod11. Keep the pictures coming and wecome to the board.

[endlessearth]

I bought a dent puller from Northern Tool today. Tomorrow I am going to try and remove most of the dent from each of the (lower parts of the) doors on my truck. Last in is first out and work around the dent is what I have been told by those who know more than me...wait, that is all of you.

[jtrichard]

ratrod if you are not using the frame and 4x4 gear what are your plans for what you are using? (boy that truck has a LOT of patina LOL and less sheet metal) welcome aboard!! PS if you don't use the mirrors keep me in mind thanks Richard.... if it wasn't so far away i would love the frame and gear

[ratrod11]

Thanks 1964Chevy and jtrichard! Seems to be a great bunch of guys on here! JT, if you know any truckers who come to the east coast, maybe you can get one to deadhead the frame back to you. I have a 79 Chevy shortbed frame lined up that has already be redone, including 3 inch dropped spindles! No plans for the mirrors, like the rest of the truck, they're a little rough too. (patina! LOL!) We'll see what we can work out

[1964Chevy]

Spent half a day at discount tire trying to find rims for my 6 lug pickup.
Vintiques is 6 weeks out. and dt do not have simple steel wheels.
I want to run in the Good Guys rally race Oct 4-6th here in Texas and want to lower my pickup, install all new hardware up front, but can't start until I find rims and tires......
But I'll tell you what, if that is my biggest concern in life, well then, life is pretty good.

[61_FL_Apache]

Originally Posted by robber grin

Man-o-man Steve your truck looks bad to the bone setting there!

Thanks!

[gimmy 64]

Originally Posted by 1964Chevy

Spent half a day at discount tire trying to find rims for my 6 lug pickup.
Vintiques is 6 weeks out. and dt do not have simple steel wheels.
I want to run in the Good Guys rally race Oct 4-6th here in Texas and want to lower my pickup, install all new hardware up front, but can't start until I find rims and tires......
But I'll tell you what, if that is my biggest concern in life, well then, life is pretty good.

try summit they carry wheel vintiques

[robber grin]

Hey ratrod11 WELCOME aboard and another 62 to boot - can't beat that.

Too tired to get too serious today so I ran to my favorite parts store and picked up the intermediate cable and routed my e-brake cables which is a bit snug but should be okay.

I changed all the 62 stuff out for 66-68 front and rears & drilled the trailing arms for LMC cable brackets.

I pulled some e-brake hooks and hardware out of my spare parts, spotted and then drilled the frame and routed the cables through a "special bracket" I made up from an old factory exhaust hanger, a old cab mount washer, and a 3/8" bolt.

It anchors the front cable inside the DS boxed frame securely ("like" the original) only there are differences in the conduit length and clamping methods from 62 to 66 sooo...

this bracket bolts where the 62's frame clamp bolted and extends forward into the boxed area to allow the 66 cable to snap into the flat washer much like it does on the ds frame rail. No drilling of the frame required. Used a piece of 3/8" fuel line to insulate the 66 front cable where it passes into the boxed frame just aft of the firewall.

Routed the intermediate through the slots that formerly held the bars at the center of the frame and it looks nice tucked up in the frame.

After I was done with that I decided to mount up a GMC grill I had for some years now without the letters I gave to my buddy for his GMC. So I welded a couple of fender washers onto the letter bar and made some spacers to mount a 58-59 Apache hood badge to see how it might look.

I'm not sold on it yet but I'll give it some time... Let me know what you think.

rg

[dean jendro]

Hey robber grin,
I like what you've done with the GMC grill and the early Chev badge. It looks different but that's what this is all about. Make it like you like it.
I notice you have a "62" only grill surround/mount with the shallow frame horn cutouts. What is it about the "62" frames that makes this work? I have tried to use one on my "64" but the frame horns hit the sheet metal. All other years are much more open/deeper than the "62". Thanks and nice truck.

[robber grin]

Hey Dean Thanks - I had that GMC grill forever it seems and picked that earlier badge up some where along the way so last night I just decided to try that set-up.

I've seen some cool stuff done with alternative center pieces floating in the GMC grills. Mark's 60 is quite cool for instance.

I guess it's not terrible and that's sort of where I'm at for now... I think I might like it better once it's back on the ground. Maybe black out the opening behind it too.

The earlier filler panels / grill surrounds are not as deep at the frame notch because the frames are not as tall as the 63 and up frames are.

I had a buddy cut his to make it work on his truck. You could buzz a little out at the top of each notch, which should allow you to tuck it as tight and neatly as you like.

You also will have to drill for the earlier grills on the later panels but it's no biggie.

thanks man - bob