Halfbreed - GMC Z71 + IH Extd Cab

[sparkydog]

My GM truck is equipped with trans cooling lines. They run into two coolers one inside the end of the radiator and the other piggybacked in front of the AC radiator.

It would help if I could take out the unit that hangs in front and just use the portion that is inside the cap of the radiator. I doubt if I will ever use the truck to tow anything. Does anyone know if I will be OK doing this?

[Jonboy]

You can take the auxillary cooler out, but it really helps keep trans temps down. Heat is the enemy of any auto transmission, so if it isn't in the way, I would keep it.

[ERASER5]

If you remove the fron aux trans cooler, you could add a aux cooler on the frame closer to the trans.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=195643&page=5

Page 5, Post 120

[gearheads78]

Great build!!

[Dieselwrencher]

I'd do like Eraser5 mentioned. I'd ditch both of those coolers up front and put one under the bed that has it's own electric fan blowing air through it.

[sparkydog]

Wow all this stuff I am posting took about a day and a half and doesn't look like much. But... good things happened! And I must have gone through 4 or 5 cut disks to get this done.

After an appropriate amount of staring and studying and tradeoffs of this and that - I figured out what I was going to do and proceeded with the execution.

I decided that the base of the GM grille assy was going to stay and form the core of my nose job mods. I had to cut it free from the rest of the frame and then do a bunch of stuff. Shaving off unwanted crap, repairing torn spot welds, moving the mount hole locations to get about 3/8" of radiator relo just with the holes. Then I sectioned and slid the portion of the base that holds the radiator another 7/8" so all told I slid the radiator about 1.25" rearward on the vehicle.

[sparkydog]

I also came to realize that there were some issues going on within my IH grille structure and that I needed to open it up. This is what started tipping my thoughts toward spending so much time on the GM base - getting it ready to take the place of a very complex but rigid tube section within the IH grille because it had to come off and get the dirt and rust and s*** out.

[sparkydog]

Every vehicle has its own particular spots for rust and problems and the IH trucks certainly have their short list. The bottom section of the grille is in the top 5. I am glad I shaved this off and got the cancer more or less out. The next few days should see me getting the new hybrid grille assy mocked up and ready to mate up with the hood.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by sparkydog

Every vehicle has its own particular spots for rust and problems and the IH trucks certainly have their short list. The bottom section of the grille is in the top 5. I am glad I shaved this off and got the cancer more or less out. The next few days should see me getting the new hybrid grille assy mocked up and ready to mate up with the hood.

Good job there and I completely understand how a couple days work doesn't always seem like much progress on a couple pics. And if you ever ventured into the great white north, you would never say the IH trucks have a "short list" of problems. You rarely see them up here because they were long ago sent to the scrapper before there was nothing left to scrap.

[wuntun87]

Originally Posted by sparkydog

Does anybody know what this little thing with the circuit board inside it does? On the stock GM wire harness this was wrapped up into the main trunk of the harness near the brake pedal pivot pin - sort of like they wanted it hidden and protected and not accessible? Does it contain the ICBM launch codes or something?

IIRC, that is the wiper delay module. Not necessarily hidden to keep one from finding it, but just installed that way for cost cutting. My wiper delay failed and that part (circuit board) was a dealer only item (somewhere near $100 or more) so I bought a matching resistor like the burnt one ($2 at radio shack), and soldered it in. What a rush to save that much money on a repair. I have been reading your build from the beginning, and i finally got a chance to add .02 cents. Keep up the awesome work sparkydog! (OK. now .04 cents)

[racedaddy]

Man O Man, just found this thread this morning and read it all. Nice work. Have you thought of going with an electric fan? You can get a GM one from pull-a-part for like $10. They use them in everything and then you could get much closer to the engine.

[68 Four on the Floor]

You're CRAZY! I like you.....

[sparkydog]

Originally Posted by wuntun87

IIRC, that is the wiper delay module. Not necessarily hidden to keep one from finding it, but just installed that way for cost cutting. My wiper delay failed and that part (circuit board) was a dealer only item (somewhere near $100 or more) so I bought a matching resistor like the burnt one ($2 at radio shack), and soldered it in. What a rush to save that much money on a repair. I have been reading your build from the beginning, and i finally got a chance to add .02 cents. Keep up the awesome work sparkydog! (OK. now .04 cents)

Thank you wuntun! Very nice to know what that thing is.

Originally Posted by racedaddy

Man O Man, just found this thread this morning and read it all. Nice work. Have you thought of going with an electric fan? You can get a GM one from pull-a-part for like $10. They use them in everything and then you could get much closer to the engine.

Yes I would probably switch to elec if I needed to. I should be OK as is. There is a lot of stock GM stuff that would also have to move around if I got too aggressive with the relo. Like washer fluid tank, ECM mount bracket (because the fender skirt would get sectioned), battery. I'm trying to keep the total fab work down to barely do-able so that I don't burn out. I want to switch to front hood hinges and that alone is probably going to kick my ass.

Originally Posted by 68 Four on the Floor

You're CRAZY! I like you.....

Thanks for reading my build!

[67ChevyRedneck]

It's been a whole week! I need pics!!!

[sparkydog]

Ask and you shall receive!

Fabbed a mounting point for the IH grille by welding a doubler plate with a weld nut onto the GM grille base.

Then made up some mating gussets for the grille and marked off where they would be welded to. Then tacked them on while still on the truck and then took the whole thing off (for the 20th time) for proper welding.

[sparkydog]

Now the truck has a solid base for mounting the grille to the chassis - two 7/16 bolts and I can adjust fore/aft with the GM shock mount bolts and height by adding/subtracting flat washers under my new brackets.

[sparkydog]

Then it was time to mockup the GM fender skirts. I had not realized that the driver's side skirt was really smashed up - that side must have taken a bigger hit in some former accident and I just hadn't really noticed all the messed up sheet metal. So I spent about an hour with various tools taking the dents out of the skirt and getting it back to more or less stock shape.

After that I went on to putting some temporary braces (elec conduit) between the firewall and the grille so that I could have a stable and symmetrical hood and grille from which to start hacking up the fenders.

[sparkydog]

That's it for the week. At least the wood platform and most of the vice grips and clamps are off the truck.

I did chop up a fender and start playing around but quickly realized that I was getting ahead of myself. I have some work to do on the hood to get both sides where the edges meet the fenders to be smooth and arched the same before I can start aligning the fenders to the hood.

[Dieselwrencher]

Great chopping and welding back together! At least you're making progress!

[sparkydog]

As I started to weld up the hood I noticed each side of the hood had developed a slightly different personality. The PS was virtually perfect - naturally laying up nice. The DS was a little different so I had to pop a few tack welds loose and start over.

Then it was on to a day or so of welding, flapper, grind, hammer/dolly, flapper, sand, repeat. During the day I stumbled on a really cool trick - for certain sections of the hammer/dolly work I used a hot water bottle as my dolly and my rubber hammer and got really nice results.

Lastly I was able to quickly rip up the PS fender and get a little holiday mockup going. That will be all the progress for a few weeks.

[NONHOG]

Looking good! Wish I had half the progress you have. (on any one of my projects)

Never had a hot water bottle. Are you using it full or empty?
Interesting!

[1985-GMC]

Wow great job!

[sparkydog]

Originally Posted by NONHOG

Looking good! Wish I had half the progress you have. (on any one of my projects)

Never had a hot water bottle. Are you using it full or empty?
Interesting!

Yes full of water. Sort of a variation on a leather bag full of shot.

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

Wow great job!

Thank you!

[72CREWCAB]

Just read the entire thread! Truly unique build, looks great! Amazing to watch not only the progression of the build but the level of your skills and confidence as well! Very inspiring! Keep up the great work!

Subscribed for sure...oh and Merry Christmas!

[sparkydog]

Originally Posted by 72CREWCAB

Just read the entire thread! Truly unique build, looks great! Amazing to watch not only the progression of the build but the level of your skills and confidence as well! Very inspiring! Keep up the great work!

Subscribed for sure...oh and Merry Christmas!

Thanks for joining my build. You're right about the change in my confidence. I remember being very intimidated by the roof and now I wish I could go back and try it again.

Merry Christmas!
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