[gringoloco]

Been playing with the truck a little bit more the last couple of days. I spent way more time than I care to share getting the fan shroud aligned- VERY little clearance around the clutch fan on my serp setup- but now it's done and installed for the last time Also finished up the underhood wiring, spent a ton of time chasing down a new lower radiator hose (do you guys' LAPSs suck as bad as mine do? <--rhetorical question), and finished up the last few things on the front suspension which included welding up a wallowed-out upper shock mount hole and finished installing my 1.25" sway bar and poly bushings (more leftovers from the Blazer), which makes the front suspension officially DONE except getting it aligned Unfortunately, none of this is really picture worthy...

Buuuut, you can't have an update without pics, so I'll stick a few up of my 'new' brake booster and bracket assembly with the new master cylinder installed, which also shows the rad and shroud installed (I know, nothing to look at, but I am happy that stinking shroud is installed ). I went with a '68 3/4 ton booster to reap the benefits of dual diaphragm and still be able to use the '71-'72 1/2 ton disc/drum master cylinder. Most guys when upgrading will use the '71-'72 3/4 ton booster, which will only accept the C20 master cylinder. I also prefer the look of the earlier unit's shorter, straighter bracket. I don't like the 'lean' the later trucks' master cylinders have.

Almost forgot, since I snapped the end off of one of my tranny cooler lines while removing the radiator, and the other had a compression fitting already patching it, plus the fact that they were a mangled, PO hand bent mess, I decided to bend up a new set. Used a couple of 6' lengths of 5/16" pre-flared steel line from Advance- like $3 each. What a pain, but MUCH cleaner, better looking, and safer than before. Also, in the process of installing the new brake booster assembly, I dropped the steering column and figured while it was out, I might as well 'shorten' it 3" (Thanks for the write-up, Putter) to give me some elbow room (I'm 6'6")...

All in all, the progress feels good, but I think I should have accomplished more given the time spent. Seemed like everything was fighting me the whole way, one problem after another, but that's how it goes sometimes- hopefully the next round will go a little more smoothly and be more pic-worthy