1972 Chevy p/u NewType Build

[Ol Blue K20]

Keep us posted

[NewType72]

Well so much for an update I was actually laid up in the hospital two Saturdays ago with a tractor incident. Got myself pinched between a building and the bucket blade itself but thankfully an old frame kept it from taking it any further through me BUT I did require surgery as my right flank femoral artery was damaged in the pinch incident. The tube itself if I were to explain it was like an old garden hose losing a protective layer and beginning to bubble before eventually bursting. Could've been years from now or could be the very next day so I had to go under and am currently in successful post surgery rest and rehabilitation at home. **** happens but I'm thankful I'm still on this earth to say these words and continue my experiences and see everyone I love.

[C1ph3r]

Holy crap dude. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

[Ol Blue K20]

I guess this is a good update. Speedy recovery Dylan

[Palf70Step]

Get well soon!

[NewType72]

Thank you all for the recovery wishes, I'm doing fairly well aside from being sidelined and not able to get out in the garage. To add on top of it last Monday my corporate job decided it was best to not let me return as I would be a liability (I was temp with no earlier recordable Incidents and the incident happened while not even at work) don't ask me how it made sense to them as I still don't have a full answer myself but upwards and onwards is the goal of you can't pick yourself back up you shouldn't be on the bull in the first place right? Had an interview Friday morning that went very well and I'm hoping to start there shortly with a better wage and full time A/C office work so it'll be new for me but I'm ready to save my hard labor for restoration work as I enjoy that the most.

[NewType72]

Moving on from all that I gathered some disassembly pictures of the current rebuild process on my 72. I've moved since the last time I worked on ole foghorn leghorn but that just means I can work later and louder being in the country now my current thought process with the truck was that I loved the stance it has but I just simply CAN'T stand the rough riding around these nasty central California roads as it is with this hammered static setup so time to change a couple things up and update as we go right?? Had to get her up in the air and safer than a few jackstands around the frame so I devised woodworking some taller tire blocks and have been very pleased with the results! So away to work I went ripping all of the rear suspension out. After doing a few clearance tests with the housing itself against the frame.

[RRR18]

Nice to see more updates.
Sucks about the accident and the job. You seem to have it figured out though.

[NewType72]

I'm only 24 so there's definitely. I way I have it figured out but it seems like a positive career move and thankfully my healing process has gone well. Have to wait till the end of the month before I'm medically cleared but we all push those limits when there's new parts waiting to be installed right? Lmao

[NewType72]

As noted in the previous section of pictures my driveline was actually close enough (at the 7" drop in the rear) to rub the muffler on occasion which is a no go for me and actually helped me identify that my factory rear end was finally wore out enough that the yoke was not securing the u-joint properly and letting it slip around causing a major vibration. So amongst the list of other bills I will be replacing that with a new one. Moving further up the chassis I realized that if I wanted to get any lower the stock trailing arm crossmember would no longer be enough clearance for the driveline tube so I contacted POL and ordered their anti squat crossmember for adjustable trailing arm angles which depending on my current exhaust routing I may or may not be able to utilize to its full potential. All I have to say from removing the factory riveted crossmember with cab/bed/exhaust all in the way is that I'll never take for granted a plasma torchs use in any garage. Grinding those stubborn rivets inside all the frame was a major task that I definitely will not want to tackle again ever in my life that way. I did manage to remove it as all one piece but it took me far too many hours. Decided to remove the exhaust afterwards anyway so I left it in the way for nothing but hey live and learn. I'll be working on getting some friends over to remove the bed from the frame this weekend hopefully but we shall see if that works out or not.

[crakarjax]

Yeah man, I've tried about a dozen ways to remove those rivets and Plasma is the way to go. I blasted the head off one yesterday and then punched it out with an air chisel -- it took longer just to hook up my plasma cutter than it did to remove the rivet.

[NewType72]

Well, I suppose it's time to start showing off all the new pieces that are going together to rebuild the rear end. I intend to feel 100% more confident with the whole setup as it drives me insane to have an enjoyable truck that rides like crap for the most part and makes me cringe when I see a rough road. I decided that since I was adding the joy of airride to the suspension that I may just get some use out of towing and that's just what I intend to do with the refurbished receiver setup that I did some fab reworking on. Let me tell you that thing is not fun setting up and pulling down from the frame multiple times. A big thank you goes out to my father for all the nick nack pieces and major pieces that are coming together to put this all back in one beautiful rebuild of the rear. New trailing arms will help with clearance and are downright gorgeous with that slick black powder on them. New bag plates that I fabbed to work a tick differently for my setup. Bag plates for the front as well as I'm not getting rid of the stock crossmember. And of course the freshly coated POL anti squat trailing arm crossmember. I'm so excited to get this all rolling but I am at a stand still until the weekend. Being on bedrest sure does suck when you have new parts laying around :/

[Low Elco]

New parts look great! Glad you're recovering well.

[Ol Blue K20]

Parts lok great. I'm glad you're recovery is going well.

[knomadd]

I did the same thing with the trailing arm crossmember. But I didn't have my exhaust in the way and I wound up cutting the top to get it out, then got the top pieces off the frame. What a PAIN that was! I don't think I'll do one with the cab on again either! Powder looks good!!!

[NewType72]

Doing very well guys. Taking it slow when I can. Did some minor cleaning and got rid of about 15 lbs of oil, grime, and surface rust on the back half of the frame and underside of the cab. Can't wait to give the frame a fresh coat of black paint to at least make it presentable

[NewType72]

Finally the weekend has rolled around up and down and through entirely and I am flat out exhausted. My body is just not use to doing all day restoration type work at this time with how much bedrest I've been on. Regardless there're no excuses in building cars that are worth a darn to anyone else in this day and age

Moving on from all that I was grateful enough to have a few longtime buddies stop by early Saturday morning along with papa-San to take care of removing the bed so that I could tackle the chores of fully installing the new trailing arm crossmember and working into the rest of the frame work. For this weekend task I acquired my close friends service truck for the generator/compressor/welding needs as I intended to blow off the back bump stop brackets and weld in some custom round stock angled c-notches I readied but alas the plasma decided that it didn't like the power source at all and didn't want to work.. shoot me now as I dread these damn factory rivets enough as is. It took me thirty solid minutes but I finally knock d the last one through and quickly junked the scrap so that I could rest. I had already spent near two hours updrilling holes in the frame to fit the new POL crossmember which I then had to pull the frame together with a supertrucker approved ratchet strap that I had a darn breaker bar on just to pull the frame close enough to get bolts started..

I officially swear on the Bible that I will never attempt any crossmember replacement ever again unless every piece of the body is truly removed from the equation. I dread this stupid "cab-on" method with a passion now.

Rant over, I also spent a couple hours at a good friends of ours as I was borrowing his welding helmet in anticipation for the upcoming frame work so I was plenty tired by the time I finished the brackets and had pops running a couple bolt errands and lunch pickup. At that point upon my thinking chair I decided that I should really fit the new trailing arms and rear end up in place to be 100% sure my notch would be in the correct positioning as it would match the axle tube roundness so I definitely didn't want it wrong.. here's where the laughter ensues.. with my bag plates installed I attempted a full squat of the suspension and realized I was still a good 3/8 of an inch from needing a notch with how tall my bag setup was. So the hard portion of the weekend was officially denied its chance to rear its ugly head. I was bummed that the botches weren't going to be needed at this juncture but in the next update it'll make more sense as to why it wouldn't have mattered if I did it now anyway. So heres some goody pictures of my process to this point as I finally was able to spend some time and gussy up the frame in some quick spray semi gloss black in preparation of the reinstall of the new goodies. Enjoy! And happy Memorial Day weekend to all!

[Jason7121]

Like your color scheme as well. Maybe I'll see you around someday. Are you headed to the brothers truck show next month?

[NewType72]

Originally Posted by Jason7121

Like your color scheme as well. Maybe I'll see you around someday. Are you headed to the brothers truck show next month?

I rally wish I could I never been a "maybe" for too many years but I just simply don't have the gas money to drive it down there and I will never trailer her somewhere as that's just not what it's about to me so that's outta the question too. Eventually I'll get there., just need a sweet money making job

[Jason7121]

I totally understand. My truck is not ready yet but I plan on going to check out all the cool trucks.

[68Gold/white]

Praise the Lord! That you are physically recovering completely!!!

[crakarjax]

If you ditch the top bag cups and add some 2" lowering blocks that notch will come in handy!

[NewType72]

Originally Posted by Jason7121

I totally understand. My truck is not ready yet but I plan on going to check out all the cool trucks.

For sure, i guess I'll Instagram watch like the last couple years.

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

Praise the Lord! That you are physically recovering completely!!!

Absolutely!! I'm very thankful to still be able to do what I do and more than everything be here in general.

Originally Posted by crakarjax

If you ditch the top bag cups and add some 2" lowering blocks that notch will come in handy!

I thought of the lowering blocks as I have my old 2" blocks in the wings but I really don't like the height the give and how low it throws my arms to the ground as far as clearance goes. I'd need u-bolts all over again as I cut the long ones I had since my old ones were wore out.

[NewType72]

So, as I was saying about the c-notch dilemma, with the bag plates I fabbed I just simply won't get low enough to need to worry about needing the notch at this point, and after putting a few other things together the current exhaust system is simply too low for the arms to get around when lowering past the stock frame height.

I started Sunday morning out by prepping the frame, sanding, scraping off old oil/dirt, and cleaning the frame of any oils for the painting. Once that was completed I took care of what I believe is a pretty decent mod to the e-brake dimples in the frame. As the truck is getting full air I wanted to get the lines inside the frame as soon as possible from the front crossmember (waiting on parts) and these just so happened to keep the lines away from the evil headers heat. I took care of adding clamps down the frame under the cab and bed area to keep them up, out of the way, and most of all keep my OCD happy

Since that went fairly quick I took care of my biggest addition by installing the freshly coated receiver. I fabbed this piece up quite a bit as it was originally fit to a squarebody rear frame so I needed to actually chop off the top of the mounting plates by about two inches and re welded a smaller portion to add a hole so I could utilize the stock mounting locations on my frame. Also added two hoops to the bottom for safety chains. I wanted it tucked to the frame as tightly as possible to help with clearance so I believe I accomplished this goal. That being done I started work on adding the new flip plate kit from brothers to my license plate pocket and cutting out the section needed for the hitch to slide through. It's a bit tight in the upright position but I'll see more once the bed is back on and bumper is in the right position. Other than that, I feel pretty happy with the whole setup.

Finalizing a few other things i took my time and bolted up the exhaust knowing I needed to get as much lift and separation as I could for the rear section with the trailing arms getting the opportunity to angle higher for a better pinion angle and traction help with the new anti squat brackets. I would have to say I barely made it by in this aspect as I can hardly fit a quarter between exhaust tube and arms in some areas but thankfully nothing is rubbing or close enough to hurt anything. So another happy install finished up with the addition of my new thicker adjustable panhard bar (that barely clears my differential cover )

[knomadd]

Hey Dylan, I'm doing the same POL crossmember swap you just did. First, you got lucky getting the top 4 rivets out. I had to cut mine out. Oh well.

I have a question for you... Did your top bolt holes in the POL crossmember line up with the factory frame holes? I'm going to have to elongate two of the four top holes (the back two) in order to align with the holes in the frame. I think it's strange that the instructions don't mention the need to drill out the factory holes to 1/2", but it wasn't too difficult to do anyway. But now that I've done it, those two holes don't line up. I have the other 6 bolts in already though. Just curious if you've experienced the same thing.

Hope you're healing fast. Keep up the good work.