What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by stevenfromtexas

bezel looks great brother!!!!

Thanks . Amazing what 40$and a little elbow grease can do.

[ncpetersc]

Originally Posted by 72c20customcamper

The rest

That turned out great!

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by 72c20customcamper

The rest

Looks very nice

[Orange67]

I turned mine into a barricade to keep people off my new driveway. It's orange, so that works, right?

[Metaldoc]

Originally Posted by Canuckvetter

Metaldoc had made them up. Just a cushion between the box and frame. One less squeak or rattle.

I cut them from an old tread mill track and lined my fuel tank straps with it. Make sure you add some ground straps from the frame to the bed. Looking good, when do you get the engine back?

[VWNate1]

Fresh new Concrete ~ SWEET ! .

I just washed mine again last night and am sad looking at the cracks and how it's settling below the side walk....

-Nate

Originally Posted by Orange67

I turned mine into a barricade to keep people off my new driveway. It's orange, so that works, right?

[colgad]

Originally Posted by rkeller411

Finished LS swap...

Is that the Holley Mid mount Holley system? It looks so good.
I am about to do a 5.3 swap into my Blazer. I am so tempted to use the Holley system.

[Canuckvetter]

Originally Posted by Metaldoc

I cut them from an old tread mill track and lined my fuel tank straps with it. Make sure you add some ground straps from the frame to the bed. Looking good, when do you get the engine back?

Good call on the ground straps! I cancelled the rebuild on that engine last week. Going to go a different route on the CST. 5.3 LS/4L60E. So I'm pulling the 327 out of the CST to put in "The Readheaded Stepchild". It had a recent rebuild and has LT1 double hump heads & and a new duel exhaust system as well as power steering. I expect the CST will be a 4-5yr build as my honey has me on a strict allowance. I have a lot of parts to get started. Time to photograph, remove, clean, paint, bag, tag, shelf. Lol

[Steeveedee]

Changed the oil this morning and noticed that the power steering reservoir is loose on the fender. Before I just tighten the bolt up, I'd like to see a picture of it properly mounted. There is only one bolt attaching it to the fender, but it has two nuts welded to it. I'm thinking it's not mounted in the right place. GM wouldn't use a bracket like that and not have two bolts in it, methinks.

[Gregski]

doing some simple wire rerouting as inspired by Lucky Costa of Mobile Tech Lucky. this is where I run the red and purple wires from the starter right into the hole in the firewall right by the starter instead of dragging them across to the bulk head connector, and I do the same for the brown alternator wire and the pink ignition wire run them through another hole in the firewall and into the cab, makes the engine bay look so much cleaner

[Orange67]

Originally Posted by VWNate1

Fresh new Concrete ~ SWEET ! .

I just washed mine again last night and am sad looking at the cracks and how it's settling below the side walk....

-Nate

I love it, dont love the circumstances of why it was replaced. But hey, that's what we pay for insurance for.

[ncpetersc]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

Changed the oil this morning and noticed that the power steering reservoir is loose on the fender. Before I just tighten the bolt up, I'd like to see a picture of it properly mounted. There is only one bolt attaching it to the fender, but it has two nuts welded to it. I'm thinking it's not mounted in the right place. GM wouldn't use a bracket like that and not have two bolts in it, methinks.

I don’t think I have a separate reservoir, it’s got a fill cap on the pump. Is your PS aftermarket by chance?

[Ol Blue K20]

I believe his truck is a big block. Big blocks had remote resavoirs.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

I believe his truck is a big block. Big blocks had remote resavoirs.

Yup. After looking at pictures all over the place, it looks like it is in the right place, but if the reservoir mount has two welded-in nuts, it puzzles me as to why there aren't two holes in the fender. That's the way it is shown, but for other years there is a mounting bracket that has the reservoir standing off of either the fender or the radiator core support. I dogged the single bolt down gutentight. That's going to have to be it for now. My FiL did all kinds of hacks to the truck, which I am slowly backing out, like all the power wires he ran under the carpet for some aftermarket geegaws.

[Hank49]

Originally Posted by 72c20customcamper

The rest

The bezel turned out nice, what kind of paint did you use on the needles? Just curious
because I want to do mine.

[VWNate1]

Don'cha just love DPO & DPM bodges you keep stumbling across ? .

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by VWNate1

Don'cha just love DPO & DPM bodges you keep stumbling across ? .

You mean "Da Previous Owner" and "Da Previous 'Mechanic'"? I don't like finding this kind of c**p. I strive to keep the vehicles I own and maintain done right and safe. It has been my experience that shortcuts lead to disaster at some point. If those wires had somehow shorted out and caused a fire that injured or killed one of my sons (his grandchildren) I'd've been pretty annoyed, to say the least. When I worked as a mechanic, it was especially important to me that the customer understood why I wasn't just going to "patch it together". That way lies great liability in a court of law. That attitude served me well when the BAR sent undercover people in to check on us. We were a state-licensed SMOG, Brake and Lamp station, and I held those licenses. I've turned away people asking me to "just buy off the brake failure ticket so they could go home and fix it", etc.

The only time I made a "blacksmith repair" was on a Sunday, when one of my friend's (drunk) dad drove over a long series of pylons on the freeway and trashed the shifting mechanism and valve body on his Nova. He brought it to me, and I managed to use a punch, hammer and files to get the parts back together so that it would shift from the lever inside the car again. I gave him a list of the parts that needed replacing, but I don't know what he ever did with it. The required parts and an explanation of why they were needed was clearly spelled out on the work order. He may have been my friend, but it protected all of us when the terms were completely spelled out.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Today was a milestone, I can start building the truck. Had the frame, cross members, A/C brackets and some other powder coated for the first run. $1150, and well worth it, better than new.

Dropped the axle off for the once over too. They're setting me up with a 1-piece shaft. Guess I better order some suspension huh? Going deep into the pocket this month

[VWNate1]

@Steeveedee :

I say 'dang previous owner but it's essentially the same thing.....

easily 1/2 of the repairs I did as a Journeyman mechanic involved some sort of first un - doing some ill considered bodge repair .

You're right the person doing halffast repairs is legally liable but proving who made the mess is difficult .

I mostly worked on older vehicles during my long career so I got to see more bad repairs and patches than do most .

OTOH, I learned a lot about field repairs at the same time.......

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by Hank49

The bezel turned out nice, what kind of paint did you use on the needles? Just curious
because I want to do mine.

Krylon fluorescent orange

[Grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

Today was a milestone, I can start building the truck. Had the frame, cross members, A/C brackets and some other powder coated for the first run. $1150, and well worth it, better than new.

Dropped the axle off for the once over too. They're setting me up with a 1-piece shaft. Guess I better order some suspension huh? Going deep into the pocket this month

Your going to need one of these when your done

[Jim Boy]

I had the truck undercoated and a paint protection applied. No waxing till death do us part! A new set of snow tires and I'm ready, cause it's coming.

[ncpetersc]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Your going to need one of these when your done

That's a beautiful Chevelle. What is that exactly some sort of "clean" room for it? Pressurized to keep dirt out or something, or just sealed?

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by ncpetersc

That's a beautiful Chevelle. What is that exactly some sort of "clean" room for it? Pressurized to keep dirt out or something, or just sealed?

No kidding, that is beautiful. Chevelle in a plastic bubble.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

No kidding, that is beautiful. Chevelle in a plastic bubble.

It is trying not to catch LStuner disease