'78 3/4 ton 4x4 FRANKENTRUCK

[grinch4om]

cool man, I just get over safety conscience and hate to see anyone get hurt or loose valuable stuff!

[asphaltburner]

Yo! grinch4om! Sure like to visit with you further! You are absolutely correct!!
I spent alot of time trying to determine how to create the safest fuel delivery system, especially when posting! There may be folks that would duplicate what I'm doing, and therefore, I need to present the safest possible build. I was safety officer for 5.5 years at my last job, and I know the implications of presenting proper, or poor, examples of safe constructs. Your avitar should set an example, I love it!! Reminds me of my firetraining in Norfolk, VA!
Most people consider working on their cars very safe, but as an RN, I've seen crushes, burns, amputations, and explosions from doing this kind of work without careful consideration beforehand!
How cool to be a fire fighter!! Had to help extinguish a huge forest fire once when hunting (really cool, but scary!!), and the NAVY put me in some situations during training (but also quite controlled) so I'm relatively "seasoned" in that respect,... but I was quite the pyromaniac when I was young, and early teens, so I have this tremendous facination and RESPECT! Don't think I'd like the hours, but putting out fires has GOT to be cool!! Most folks are just afraid.
Your point is VERY WELL taken and I encourage all that view this to be very wary of dangerous constructs. This includes constructs involving gasoline or electrical, or both!! Also positional,...such as placing a vehicle on stands or blocks. And towing, or vehicles in partial working order, such as one with no functioning brake system. Be sure the construct, even if just temporary, is secure.
Working on cars can be dangerous, careful thinking and planning can reduce that risk. Thanks again, Todd.

[asphaltburner]

And grinch, you are not OVER safety conscious, I don't think that's possible! Todd.

[asphaltburner]

Yo! Y'all!
Here's the pics I could get today,...FRANKENTRUCK on the loose!!





Went with straight pipes out the back with chrome tips:



That twin stick is just awsome:



And here's the engine I built:



Made a couple three and four mile drives so far,...still lots to do, but it's under it's own power now!! Todd.

[Walts_restoration]

looking good man.

[grinch4om]

dig it!

[joe231]

very cool!

[ChaseDale3and8]

Love it! Now that the mechanicals are all good to go is the body next, or are you going to leave it as is? ...Joe

[asphaltburner]

Yo! It's on the road, but not properly finished yet. I'll finish some bodywork later, and then duplicate the factory medium green paint (a FRANKENTRUCK just NEEDS to be green!!).
Thanks to each of you for you interest in my project!! I'm overwhelmed at the appreciation!
"Bout time to start a new thread though, this ones gotten quite lengthy! I'll let everyone know when I abandon this thread,...not tonight, gotta go move a distributor about two teeth. Todd.

[asphaltburner]

Somethin' I hate about working on trucks,...having to climb in and out of the engine bay to work on, or tune, the engine!! Hell of alot easier working on my Camaro, it's lower than waist level, and you can reach everything! Probably had to climb in and out ten times to move that distributor. A trial,...no, climb out set dist. down, climb back in, move oil pump shaft,...climb out,...climb back in with dist. and trial,...no,...back out and repeat.
ANYWAY, properly set to 12 degrees adv., and carb tuned. Damn Holley tunes backwards,...screws in richens the mixture, out leans it,...crazy! Backwards when compaired to all the other carbs I've worked with. And the final setting is only about 1/4 to 1/3 turn out,...a rough, initial tune, but the truck starts and runs great with water out the exhaust (evidence of the best air/fuel mix).
Still have to troubleshoot fuel gauge (pegged beyond full), W/S squirters (no function), and speedo (0 mph). There's still some door threshold trim, twin stick shift boot, and the instrument panel bezel that need final installation, as well as horn parts and pad, and new windshield.
Farthest rear Xmember still needs to be bolted in (some GENIUS decided they could tow using the center of the origonal one and bent it at about 90 degrees,...I ground the rivets down and knocked them out on both trucks, and used the donor flatbed's to replace FRANKENTRUCK's. I'll grade-eight bolt it in).
Washing the black dust out of the 1973 brakes helped them not drag, but they'll need rebuilding later (good function though).
Wow, almost forgot the stereo! Minor bodywork and paint will come last,...they're the least important.
So I've still got some work to do, but I can move the truck without help now, and drive it (plates and insurance will help,...coming soon, now that it can tackle the road!). It's in it's small garage and my commuter, my Camaro, is back in the attached, big garage. And got'er done just in time for Halloween. Now I'm not racing time. My personal junkyard, the donor flatbed is also gone,...what a relief,...and got $100+ for it!
Didn't want y'all to think I was able to just "whip" this truck out like I didn't work full time, while still maintaining upkeep on my 3.5 acres too! Couldn't work on it at all this last weekend while getting the place prepared for winter!
Later, Todd.

[73CheyenneSuper20]

Originally Posted by asphaltburner

Yo!
I'ma gettin' 'er done! Here's that pic of my "H" pipe and exhaust:

Attachment 395606

Hi! Quick question, why the crossover in the exhaust pipe?

[asphaltburner]

Yo! 73CheyenneSuper20!
Balancing the dual exhausts with either an "X" or "H" pipe increases scavaging and dyno output tremendously over true dual exhaust systems. Something I learned from building high performance engines. summitracing.com and jegs.com sell them for cheap.
I have 2.5" tubes from my shorty headers to the "H" pipe, to Summit offset turbo mufflers, and straight out the back. I tryed to duplicate (as close as I could) the way I built my '76 Camaro because the engines are identical. Todd.

[73CheyenneSuper20]

Thanks! Learn something new everyday....

[asphaltburner]

Yo! You are absolutely welcome!! And it's my pleasure to be able to pass along knowledge that I've gained from others! Please, try to pass on the secrets you've learned along the way to other members here on this forum as pay back! All of us TOGETHER have a tremendous knowledge base,...we just need to share it so that everybody isn't reinventing the wheel all the time! Todd.

[asphaltburner]

Yo! After two hours of struggling and jacking the rear frame, FRANKENTRUCK now has the good rear frame member from the flatbed.
FRANKENTRUCK's origonal had been used to tow SOMETHING, and they bent the frame member to nearly a 90 degree angle at the middle! I had ground the rivets off and driven them out of both trucks before I junked the flatbed, stealing the flatbed's good rear frame member. I rust stabilized, painted, and tonight, installed it with grade eight bolts.
BUT bending the member also tweeked the tail of the frame rails, so I had to spread the rails about 3/8" to get the bolts in the holes in the frame,...nicley, that also returned the frame to it's origonal width at the rear. I'll need to tighten everything in the AM,...ten hour workday and then that, exhausted me.
All I have left is to hit the junkyard for a charcoal cannister (to vent the fuel system and tanks) and some small horn pad parts. I've yet to install a few door threshold chrome pieces and bolt the twin stick shifter boot to the floor.
I hate GM's design of having the fan run constantly, so I also need to run wires to and from it to the already installed toggle below the dash. Speedometer, w/s squirters, and fuel guage are non-functional and need troubleshooting too.
Fill the driver's tank tomorrow and some county road driving,...plates and insurance soon. Then it starts accumulating breakin/road miles!! Todd.

[arkracing]

Looks good.

Do you have a glass fuel filter over the front of the driver's side v.cover? if so I suggest replacing that ASAP - you don't want it to vibrate and break on the cover.

Wix # 33033 is a steel inline filter for 3/8" line. I believe #33032 is for 5/16" line, but don't quote me on that.
Napa should be able to cross that number as thier filters are made by Wix - @ least the "Napa Gold" oil filters are anyway.

Most of the "Independant" parts stores carry Wix brand as well.

[asphaltburner]

Thanks, arcracing!
I've got rubber on either end of that filter, it's a NAPA filter built to see the replacable filter element inside, through the heavy glass, and will not fracture.
The pic may be decieving,...the glass is not near anything that it could break against. I run these filters in all my high performance vehicles, and have for years without failure. The element is easily replaced when it becomes discolored. Cheap to re-new and easy to tell if it needs it! Todd.

[asphaltburner]

Torqued the eight grade-eight frame member bolts as tight as I could get them with a 1/2" drive today,...drove a mile to Ault and filled the main tank, and then made several low and high speed runs near my house with the truck. Did perfect, and no leaks. Functioning well, although brakes will need further bleeding,...and re-build in the future, especially with a 350hp motor to contend with! Todd.

[84 400]

good job there todd.

[asphaltburner]

Yo! 84 400 and all!
I really cannot express how much it means to me to read your posts of approval! I appreciate any critique I can get and all of the posts I have seen are positive, with some very good advice, too.
Out tonight, for a several short runs, and immediately ran out of gas,...wrong toggle switch setting,...empty aux. tank. Cool to find out if the system is built the way it was supposed to be ("NO,...need to swap polarity for the proper setting!"). Stupid me!! Todd.

[73CheyenneSuper20]

About that gas gauge... I had the same problem. I read on here that being pegged "super full" was an indicator of no/ bad ground. I also had an aux aftermarket fuel tank, so all the wiring has been tinkered with.
I put a test light on the sending unit wire (tan in mine, book says could be pink too) and it made the gauge read about 1/2, it was grounding through the light. I put a 1 amp fuse wire on the sending unit wire and grounded it directly and the gauge read "E". I put a new sending unit in it last night and it works great now. the sending unit has a ground wire on it, they just plug on, my old one had been soldered on, I think somebody had issues with it before. The tank selector valve also controlled the electrical side of the gas gauge, both sending units were wired to the selector valve and then it would send out the reading from the tank that's being used.
Hope it helps...

[asphaltburner]

Yo! Just haven't had time to direct my attention to troubleshooting it yet. I have two new sending units, carefully prepared grounds on each, and my new fuel tank switching valve,...all connections seem good (but I'll check for cold solders, since it was a cold day when I completed the solders). The guage settles at 1/2 full with the key off and jumps to pegged with the key on, so it's indicating something, but not properly. The pegged guage should indicate infinite resistance (beyond the approximate 40 - 90 ohm resistance that the senders should provide (my Camaro's, if I recall correctly is 40 - 90 ohm resistance). The sender moves up and down a winding, providing higher resistance or lower resistance, depending on the length of the electrical path along the windings.
I believe that my problem is at the gauge, and I stole the instrument panel from the flatbed before I dumped it, so I have a working guage in that panel right now, I may have to use it to test this system. First I'll check for cold solders with my ohm meter, the wiring to the instrument panel plug, the plug itself, and the foil pathways that supply the guage. The plug and foil pathways are NOTORIUS for failure at the plug (I converted my Camaro's from idiot lights to guages and hard wired the whole thing because of the plug and crappy foil connections at the female side of the plug).
My sending wire is also tan, and the dash was partially disassembled when I got the free truck,...an indication of SOMETHING. Sending wire was also disconnected at the small plug, pass. side frame, near the starter, also an indication of SOMETHING. Seems consistent with someone's abandoned attempt to fix a failed guage.
I'll get to it,...right now the truck runs like a champ, is tuned and timed, nearly all the damaged electrical system is functional, and my custom drivline is functioning properly! Remember this '78 has a '73 4x4 selectable front axle, and a twin stick NP205 that was never intended to be in it, so I'm pretty damn happy with developments so far! Thanks, Todd.

[73CheyenneSuper20]

Originally Posted by asphaltburner

Yo! Just haven't had time to direct my attention to troubleshooting it yet. I have two new sending units, carefully prepared grounds on each, and my new fuel tank switching valve,...all connections seem good (but I'll check for cold solders, since it was a cold day when I completed the solders). The guage settles at 1/2 full with the key off and jumps to pegged with the key on, so it's indicating something, but not properly. The pegged guage should indicate infinite resistance (beyond the approximate 40 - 90 ohm resistance that the senders should provide (my Camaro's, if I recall correctly is 40 - 90 ohm resistance). The sender moves up and down a winding, providing higher resistance or lower resistance, depending on the length of the electrical path along the windings.
I believe that my problem is at the gauge, and I stole the instrument panel from the flatbed before I dumped it, so I have a working guage in that panel right now, I may have to use it to test this system. First I'll check for cold solders with my ohm meter, the wiring to the instrument panel plug, the plug itself, and the foil pathways that supply the guage. The plug and foil pathways are NOTORIUS for failure at the plug (I converted my Camaro's from idiot lights to guages and hard wired the whole thing because of the plug and crappy foil connections at the female side of the plug).
My sending wire is also tan, and the dash was partially disassembled when I got the free truck,...an indication of SOMETHING. Sending wire was also disconnected at the small plug, pass. side frame, near the starter, also an indication of SOMETHING. Seems consistent with someone's abandoned attempt to fix a failed guage.
I'll get to it,...right now the truck runs like a champ, is tuned and timed, nearly all the damaged electrical system is functional, and my custom drivline is functioning properly! Remember this '78 has a '73 4x4 selectable front axle, and a twin stick NP205 that was never intended to be in it, so I'm pretty damn happy with developments so far! Thanks, Todd.

Wow, that's way more in-depth than I would do....

[N2TRUX]

Awesome project! Why is it when I read your post I imagine you sounding like your wearing a respirator?

[asphaltburner]

(muffled) hwaa harr fumm dar naw tanxs! (muffled).