Sorry guys, it's been a while since I've been able to post. Figured it was time for an update. So, where I left off I had for the most part finished the front suspension lack flipping the frame and welding in and finishing up the bottom portions (because I absolutely suck at welding upside-down).
I am just going to start with saying... the rear suspension was a bear! It was a pain (as I am doing this myself) getting everything leveled out and in the correct dimension to get this thing roughed in. I recommend having an additional set of hands if they are available. I have one floor jack and eight jack stands and at one point I was looking around and counting because I was often times thinking "I could have sworn I had one more stand"!
So here we go...
Had to put part of the bed together so I could see where I was going to make my wheel centers. I got pretty excited just laying the rear suspension below the rails so I decided I needed a picture of it. Quite a moral booster to pick a truck up in pieces, bringing it home in a box truck, then going to actually seeing four wheels under it.
Actually looks like a truck... well, half of one!
Putting that bed together was a bit of a pain because I'm kind of new at this. I will need to post some pictures of how everything was put together just so that no one else will deal with the same crap. Seems like I searched forever trying to figure it out with no real help in the matter.
Got the inside of the frame rails cleaned up a little where I was not going to be able to get back in with the soda blaster.
Tacked in the boxing plates. I was pretty impressed with the fitment, they actually did a pretty good job and required very minimal grinding on the ends to get that "L" shape.
I stiched them in once I liked the position better just because I didn't want to take the chance of having the cross-members tacked in and everything break loose after I've taken the time to get every measurement spot on.
Used clamps and those welding magnets to give me an extra set of hands in holding the cross-member and diff up.
It wasn't until the front cross-member was tacked in that it was brought to my attention that it had a pretty significant warp in the metal due to where the bracket was welded in.... so off it had to come again.
So for some guys on a bit of a budget... I don't have have an oxy/acet torch as my plan was to heat the metal on the opposing side then cool it with a rag to see if I can get the metal to over correct and shrink on that side. I first tried it with a propane torch... and that was pathetic. So I decided to lay some beads on the back end on the cross-member to give me a good bit of heat then grind the welds off once it was straight. Success!
Got the half shafts set at the correct angle and mounted the trailing arm brackets in. You need to bolt these in but there were no existing holes on my frame that aligned very well. Once I decided where I wanted them, I just clamped them and tacked them to the frame. That way I wasn't going to have to worry with them moving at all while I was trying to drill the holes. once I had the holes drilled I just cut the tacks and ground them off. Worked out pretty well.
I then sat the tires on the ground, lowered the frame back down for the correct angle on the half shafts, stood back and checked out how it looked and like it! I made everything permanent and here we are!
Did the same thing as the front with home brew "mock coil-overs".
It is a fantastic thing to have temporarily put up all my jack stands! Sitting on it's own four wheels!
I ended up going with a two inch rake. I think it looks pretty good especially considering where it started!
I guess the next thing is that I need to get my fuel tank situation figured out. I want to move it from inside the cab for obvious reasons and I am hoping to let it rest between the rails behind the rear suspension. I am going to have to move that cross member out of the way but I am more than okay with that. I want to go with a side mount filler neck as I'd like to make it come out of the side of the fender. A bed fill just isn't where I'm wanting to go with it. I also need one that will work with EFI as I still plan on going with that LS3. I have been digging around many different forums and none are really floating my boat very well. I would prefer something that doesn't hang too low below the frame rails and isn't quite as noticeable from the back. Any help, suggestions, or recommendations would be much appreciated. I saw one post where a guy used a manufacture called Docs Kustom. The tank that he makes for these trucks is actually not too bad and doesn't even require you to move the cross-member but doesn't really have the capacity. I really like the look of the Camaro tank that he has available and I'm pretty sure it will fit just right between the rails. I sent him an email to see if he can change a few things around such as relocating the filler neck and maybe modifying it to take a submersible pump from a later model Chevrolet *place model here* just to make it easier in the future should the fuel pump decide to give up the ghost and I need to make an emergency run to the local auto parts store.
I don't know, like I said... If anyone has any suggestions let me know.