time for some upgrades

[Just-in-credible]

thanks captain!! I do have a few questions about your brake kit. I bought new brake hoses I got the front hoses from a 72, I'm picking up the calipers and rotors next weekend. Any brake shop should have the banjo bolt to go into the caliper right? I'm going to assume the same little fitting that attaches the brake lines to the drum brake will thread right in to the non banjo end of the brake hoses correct? I'm thinking about giving the calipers the same engine enamel and bake in the bbq. I figure that 250-300F in the BBQ will be around the same temp they would see during hard braking, so any seals should be okay.

[Captainfab]

I don't remember for sure which brackets you got, the D52's? Your local auto parts supplier should have or be able to get the banjo bolts for you.

The Fel Pro number for a truck 12 bolt cover gasket is RDS 13391

[Just-in-credible]

Yup, I bought the D52 kit. Which I'm sure will be awesome once I get it on.

[Just-in-credible]

Talk about a busy weekend! Sure got lots done! Things are getting closer and fer moure encouraging. So keep in mind that I work 9 days away from home, and I’m home for 5 days, I spent the entire 5 days working on the chevy, who’s name is Cheryl…by the way…Why Cheryl? Because I looked up the most popular baby name in 1965, and guess what it was!! So anyhow, I spent the whole time in, on or under Cheryl, which makes it sound a lot more fun than it actually was.

So where to start.

I picked up my newly redone bench seat!!

[Just-in-credible]

!! Thursday was a parts run. I picked up what I figured was going to be most of the parts I needed. But we all know how that goes. I got the carpet and jute for the firewall, all the glue, a new diff cover, rear disc conversion brake parts, new gaskets, new silicone etc. I painted up the calipers and rotors just to see what they look like. They turned out looking nice.

[siggyfreud]

Looking great! I like how the bench seat came out. Two tone looks nice.

[Just-in-credible]

I also got around to siliconing the gaskets into the tappet covers I painted last time. I put a good bead of silicone on the cover side of the gasket. I squished the gasket onto the cover, and wiped off the excess that oozed out, making sure I had good coverage all the way around. I added a little grease on the head side of the gasket, and a little grease on the bolts, then bolted them together to finger tight, plus a half turn, and again, wiped off the ooze and let them sit overnight. When I broke them apart, they came apart slick as can be. I used a moroso steel core silicone gasket. Putting them on was SO much easier. The bolt holes are permanently lined up and you know your gasket wont squish around when you suck it down.

[Just-in-credible]

And of course, when you are waiting on parts, and you have a narrow window of when you can pick them up, they will always come the day after you need them. I missed them last time I was home, so I had to make the 3 hour drive Friday morning to go pick up parts from my brother in law. He ordered the EFI and the Pulleys for me. So…4 am Friday, I hit the road, and roared south, grabbed my parts, had a coffee , drooled over my new parts for a few minutes, then laid the hammer down back home. Friday afternoon, the old seat came out, and we started laying the hush mat on the floor and firewall. I was amazed at the difference. Immediately, you could tell how much more solid it sounded. The picture makes it look like I stopped a few inches below the top of the firewall, but I actually used the same stuff, just with a black backing instead of silver. They only had the 12”x 12” sheets in black, and I’d never see it, so I didn't care. The panel behind the seat was the one that amazed me the most, it was by far the tin canny-est sounding panel, and after the mat, it sounded like a solid thud when you tap it. I extended the mat an inch or so around the bend onto the panel where the back window is, and even this little bit made a huge difference on this panel. And of course, I was a few square feet short. So I had to go Saturday morning and get another few square feet. So after it was done, it made a HUGE difference on the sound when you close the doors.

[Just-in-credible]

Next we moved on to the underlay and carpet up the firewall. It wasn't exactly easy, and I ended up with a few wrinkles, but luckily, it was in places you cant really see. I did the underlay in three parts, the drivers firewall , tranny hump, and passenger firewall. I just hit the jute with spray 77, and stuck it to the firewall. Man alive is this stuff ever sticky!! You WILL end up with this stuff stuck everywhere if you aren't careful. After I got the jute glued in place, I cut the carpet out and shaped it. It really turned out nice (for a first time attempt) I mean, Its not a professional interior installation, but for a guy who’s never done it before, it’s good enough. I didn’t have enough carpet to cover the back of the cab, so I will do that at a later date. I glued a sheet of underlay to the back, and that’s it. Its hidden behind the seat, so I’m the only one that should ever be looking back there, lol. I’ll take more pictures of this next time I am home.


I even mocked up seat belts! My other half said she wont drive on the highway with me anymore if it doesn't have seatbelts, and since I do enjoy riding with her, I figured I should compromise. I got a seatbelt kit from LMC truck last year and figured I would put them in when I put the new seat in. So I got all the holes drilled, and I just have to bolt them all in when I button the interior up next week.

[Just-in-credible]

I even mocked up seat belts! My other half said she wont drive on the highway with me anymore if it doesn’t have seatbelts, and since I do enjoy riding with her, I figured I should compromise. I got a seatbelt kit from LMC truck last year and figured I would put them in when I put the new seat in. So I got all the holes drilled, and I just have to bolt them all in when I button the interior up next week.
Saturday, my mom and dad decided to come up and help. Which was awesome because my mom is a seamstress, and my dad…well my dad is one of those oldschool guys who can do anything and knows everything about everything. He had an awesome 66 gmc back in the day that he totally re did. So he knows these trucks inside and out. So I put him to work putting the pulleys on. Now, you’d think the pulley kit installation would be simple. But, like everything, it required some ‘adjustments’ We had to drill out a mounting hole in the water pump, and it took a whole evening to shim the power steering pump so it was aligned and not running cock eyed, but he got it. It was complete chaos having him there, he’s a rip and tear, head down, ass up, get it done kind of guy. And it can be hard telling your dad what to do. So that was…um…interesting. Haha. We got the electric fan mounted, and mounted it to the outside of the radiator in a pusher configuration. More on this later.

[Just-in-credible]

Sunday morning, was fuel injection time! Of course when I went to drop the four bolts that held the tank on, three of four were ceased, and I snapped them off. Amazing what you can get done with a little brute force and ignorance. Anyhow, the fuel tank turned out to be the biggest headache of everything in this kit. Not because of anything wrong with the kit, mainly because of the way the fuel tank was mounted. The bolts were nearly impossible to access to take out, then even harder to get back in.
We buzzed a 2.5” hole in the top of the tank, and put the new pump in the tank. I was actually quite surprised at how easy this step turned out to be. Running the fuel lines and putting the fuel system together actually turned out to be a breeze. This was my first attempt at using AN fittings, so I didn't know what to expect, but I like them!! So I had dad pulling the old carb, the fuel pump, putting the block off plate on, and putting the new throttle body and all the linkage back on. Then he helped me put the fuel tank back in. which should have been about a five minute job, and it took us at least two hours, just because of how ignorant the mounting of the tank was. Once we got the tank in, mom and dad took off. It was actually a pretty awesome way to spend fathers day. Not to mention it was sweet to have my mom cooking!
Monday was a wiring day. It took me a full day to wire everything. I mounted the EFI computer up under the dash on the passenger side. When I first pulled the harness out, it was pretty intimidating. But I just went slowly, and took my time, and it all actually came together pretty nicely I had to extend the wiring harness for the O2 sensor, and luckily I had all the right color wires, so that worked out well. I also had to extend the main power feed wires, and the fan relay control wire. But same thing, I just took my time, and did one thing at a time, and it all come together. I had to do a little re configuring on the wiring that I did for the electric fan because I THOUGHT the ECU would provide a hot signal to switch the relay on. In reality, the ECU actually completes a ground instead of giving a hot signal, so that was a minor change.

I ran all the wires, and the fuel lines, over one full day. I’m not sure who does this in an 8 hour day, but you can budget two guys for two full days to install one of these. Maybe I’m just slow, who knows. So once I got everything all tightened up, I turned it on, and primed the pump, I was shocked…not a single leak!! The set up was pretty easy, other than the fact that I missed one small step. You can calibrate the touch screen, and it makes sure the button you push is actually where you push it. I was having issues with the button s not being where I was touching the screen, but I got it up and running eventually. The set up was easy, and the wizard was pretty much idiot proof. I hit the key, and after a crank or two, it roared back to life. It idled a bit high, and made all kinds of noise. I instantly had the ‘oh man, what the heck did I just do’ feeling. But I just let it do its thing, and once it was warmed up, it started to learn, and the hissing noise went away. I figured out it was the idle solenoid compensating, trying to get it to where it needed to be until it could learn. It was actually pretty neat to watch. I had the fan off to let the temp come up. I switched it to auto, and the ez efi kicked the fan on. Temp went from 210 down to 180 in a matter of minutes. Another awesome feeling. No more sitting watching the temp gauge when I’m at the cruise night.

[Just-in-credible]

At this point I got to see the fruits of my labour with the firewall work. I put the hush mat on the firewall because last summer the heat from the firewall was pretty intense. I had a few plugs missing from the holes in the firewall, and it felt like I had a heater blowing up my shorts every time I drove it. SO that’s why I did the insulation and hush mat. After the motor warmed up and was sitting there idling, the firewall on the engine side was pretty warm to the touch. The inside of the firewall…cooooool as a cucumber. That was a pretty awesome feeling to know all that work was paying off.


And that’s about as far as I got. Once I got it up and running, I spent some quality time with the misses, mainly because she’s been helping me more than I can possibly explain. We caught up on some game of thrones on the PVR, and I packed my bag to head to work the next morning.
Next week, I have the wiring and fuel lines to tidy up a little, finish the little details on the interior, like adding a shifter ring and boot, putting the seats back in, seatbelts in, adjusting the wing windows so they will actually stay put when you’re cruising. Then I have the whole issue of the rear end. Rear discs, and posi need to go in. I also need to take it for a balance and alignment, and HOPEFULLY I can get it into an exhaust shop to get the headers and a set of new mufflers on. I have exactly 6 days of being home to get all this done. Nothing like cutting it close hey…

[NEWFISHER]

Thats sooooooo cool. I am on the fence installing F.A.S.T on my inliner. Keep us posted on power, reliability, driveability.

[siggyfreud]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Thats sooooooo cool. I am on the fence installing F.A.S.T on my inliner. Keep us posted on power, reliability, driveability.

Right on. I say go for it! Depending on where you are in Oregon I'd be down to lend a hand with the swap. I haven't done a Fast system, but have done a few FI swaps before.

[Just-in-credible]

ya, I say the same. It really wasn't that hard of an install. I'm sure I will have bugs to work out in the end, but so far, it was pretty simple. And I'm no genius either, just an average guy with average hand tools, so if I can do it, anyone can. Like I mentioned earlier, I don't NEED the version 2.0, but the hand held is just so darn cool. and the throttle body looks so awesome. once i get everything all together, and get a few miles on it, I'll let you all know how it works.

[Just-in-credible]

So, I know its been a while, but here is the latest update.

I got everything together, and decided to take it for a spin. For some reason, I was not getting any signal to the speedometer, so I’m not sure what was up there. It was working fine when I had it up on jacks, the cruise would engage, the speedo would work (it was way off, but it worked). So I took it for a spin...about 20 minutes away from my place, I went to go see my cousin. Ran great all the way there. I got there and checked the fluids. Tranny was a little low, so I stopped and added some fluid. I mist have over filled the darn thing, because when I went up a big hill, there was CLOUDS of white smoke. It was all from fluid puking out the vent and directly onto the exhaust. Anyhow, I knew I had a leak, so I booked a tranny shop to get both issues fixed. I got it home...then it wouldn’t start. NOW WHAT!?!?! Turned out it was a bad MAP sensor on the EFI. After running around, I got a new one, and it immediately fixed the issue.

So I didn’t have time to shake out all the little issues before I had to hit the road for the big show in lethbridge. Friday morning, I got up early, checked everything out, and off I went. The drive from Calgary to lethbridge is about 150 miles. Amazingly, I made the trip with no issues.

SO the big question...how did it run.

The EZ EFI 2.0 was SO Smooth. It started and idled like a watch. I noticed a ton of difference in response, its a pretty snappy little unit now. SO overall, I’m very pleased with it. No pumping, no hot starts, no choke, no rough running at start up, no waiting for it to warm up, just touch the key and go. SO that part went quite well. Its now a very snappy and responsive combo. I’m happy with the results of the EFI.

The first issue that came up was that I kept over heating. I did not have enough room to run the fan I got as a puller, so I ended up putting it in as a pusher. It just wasn’t quite enough to keep it cool without a shroud. However, that was an easy fix. A buddy saw me on the cruise night with my hood up, stopped by to see what was up, and he said he had a couple kicking around. So I ended up with an ugly blue fan...but, it worked.

Another issue I had was an oil leak. I thought it was leaking around the pan, so I snugged up the pan bolts, but that didn’t seem to slow the leak down. I think I might also have a leaking dipstick. So if any of you guys have advice on how to fix this without yanking the motor out, I’m all ears. I have heard people say you can drop the pan without pulling the motor, so if you have any good procedure, as well as a recommended gasket, let me know. I HATE leaks like this. It blows back all over the rest of the truck when I drive, and drips from everywhere when I stop. Very annoying.

One quick note about the no slip powertrax. It seems like it works well, the clicking and clunking is a bit annoying but you get used to it. It started to quiet down the more I drove it. I do notice a difference in how it hooks up compared to an open diff, obviously.

The rear brake conversion went very smooth, other than a few minor hiccups. I noticed that the pedal feel is very different now, it seems like I have to use the full stoke to get it to stop, but once it gets into the brakes, it stops quite well. I was told this was because it takes more volume to run the rear discs and my master cylinder might not be the bigger one. I’m thinking about looking for adjustment in the pedal, because I get nothing for like half the pedal stroke, then it all comes in at the end, so maybe I can shorten that up somehow. I also had an issue with the pad rubbing on the rotor on the one side, but 5 minutes with a grinder took care of that.

So that's it! Little adjustments and chasing leaks.

[Captainfab]

Did you change the master cylinder and prop valve to a disc/disc master cylinder and prop valve? You might try drilling a hole 1" below the current hole on your brake pedal arm.

[Just-in-credible]

i changed the proportioning valve but not the master cylinder. I would assume there is some adjustment in the current set up to take up some of that initial travel?

[Captainfab]

I would change the master cylinder to a disc/disc master such as the Corvette master cylinder.

[Just-in-credible]

Well...nothing like bringing an ancient thread back from the dead. I decided that this year will be a big year for rebuilding all sorts of things on the truck, so i wanted to document my progress. Economically, things up here in Alberta have been a little slow since the big oil crash in 2015, so the truck took a back seat to things like my mortgage. I'm back on my feet these days, so that means truck upgrades!

I did however have a shelf full of parts kicking around from the days when i had more money, and no time. which worked quite conveniently for the last year or so when I had LOTS of time, and no money. I will try to go through the list of updates that I have done since my last post, and get writing up the list of new stuff that i have been working on lately.

First of all, I installed the Dual Sync distributor to work with the fast 2.0 system. I have to say that I was quite intimidated by this installation. I was used to stabbing a distributor in, turning it a bit, and calling it good. Diving into all of the individual specs of each function of your distributor was a bit intimidating at first, but it wasn't near as bad as I had thought it would be. And it really improved the overall system function. It is really neat to watch how the EFI system uses timing to help with things like idle and warm up. It always tells you what your advance is doing, so it is neat to watch it as you cruise down the highway or as you get into the throttle.

I had a set of the Hotchkis anti squat brackets, and i installed them as well. Overall, it was a pretty straight forward installation. It took an anfternoon to get the old rivets out, and the new brackets in. I didn't get much driving time in before the snow started flying, so I will have a better update on that part once the snow melts, and i can drive it.

So what is planned for this year? Well I just bought a new set of 18" american racing torque thrust wheels, wrapped in Nitto 555 G 2 tires. I wanted to try something stickier than the cooper cobra's. I hope i will see a difference. I got 9" wide for the fronts, and 10" wide for the rears. I think the fronts are 5" back spacing, and the rear was 5.75". I should get them in the next week or so, When i get them installed, I will update how they fit. Between stickier rubber, and the anti squat brackets, I'm interested to se if it made much difference in how it hooks up.

The next upgrade is installing a trutrac in the rear. To be honest, I got sick and tired of the clunk and bang from the powertrax. It was supposed to smooth out or get quieter, but after 4 years of driving, it never did, and i got tired of people asking if my rear end just blew up every time i was in a parking lot. So truetrac it is! I pulled the rear end the other day, and dropped it off at the gear centre.

Next step is upgrading to a 4L60E. I never could get and keep the 700R4 working properly. I got the bowtie overdrives kit, and i would set up the TV cable per the instructions, and it would work great for a while. But i kept having issues with the TV bracket bending. It just took a little tweak to that bracket, and the transmission wouldn't shift properly. So i bought myself the EZ TCU, and I'm getting a 4L60E rebuilt. I really like the adjust-ability of all aspects of those TCU's. I'll update how it all comes together as I go.

So that is the immediate plan. I have a new intake manifold that i may put on, and I might try my hand at porting my edelbrock heads.


I want to fix my brake system as well. I put captain fab's rear disc kit on, which functions great, but I don't think i have the proportioning set properly at all. I did put a disc disc proportioning valve in, but when I pulled the rear end out, i noticed a considerable amount of wear on the rear pads, and I've noticed that the rear wants to come around in a panic brake situation. So once i get the new wheels and tires on, I'm thinking of putting an adjustable proportioning valve in to dial the rear back a bit.

I also have a 509 casting bare 400 block that I'm trying to decide what to do with, so if there are any 400 sbc experts lurking around on here, feel free to give me advice. I had an inkling to do a 3.875 stroker with AFR heads. but at the same time, I've also heard that a plain jane 406 will be plenty torquey enough for a 100% street machine, so who knows how that will end up.

[The Rocknrod]

Nice truck. Is that a fiberglass front end? Who made the forward flip open front end kit?

[Just-in-credible]

It is a fiberglass front end. I do not know who made it, as it was on the truck when i bought it.

[Ken Cook]

Cool thread.

[Just-in-credible]

Weekend update...I got the front wheels installed, but I'm still missing the rear end, so i can treally see how it all fits together. It looks like the i gained a lot of clearance with the new 18x9" front wheel. The old eagle wheels rubbed the lower arm, so i ended up having to put a 1/4" spacer in with the old wheels to solve this. The new wheels do not seem to have this problem at all. They can go full lock to lock both ways with no contact. Now i cant wait to get the rear end back, so I can put the rears back on and see what she really looks like with new shoes. It looks a bit goofy up on the jack stands, but I'm sure it will look better when its back on the ground.

So I'm in hurry up and wait mode I guess. The new 4L60E is being built, and the rear end out...so i guess I will have to wait...

[Just-in-credible]

I should pop up a few other things that I missed over the last summer. I finally got around to installing the Dougs tri Y headers. I was quite impressed with the quality of these pieces. the flanges were very thick and straight, and frame clearance was excellent. I did end up having to remove my vacuum booster to get the drivers side on, but other than that, it was actually a pretty easy and straightforward installation. They seem to tuck up nice and tight, and not hang too low below the frame.

I finished the exhaust with a set of flowmaster delta 50's. And I have to say, I'm actually quite impressed with the mufflers as a whole. I think they are the perfect volume and tone. They could probably be a little louder, but I think if they were much louder, they would start getting into droning on the highway. They wont quite make someones head turn from across the parking lot, but if you are up close, they have a nice rumble, and they open up nice when you get on the throttle.