My old '70 farm truck

[70truckguy]

I've decided to start my own thread and maybe through this I can save someone else some trouble. I'll add pictures as I can to show some specifics and try to answer any questions anyone has.

I have had my truck since 1992 and I completely took it apart, painted it, and put it back together back then. I was 16 and 17 years old when I did it so the work wasn't great but its held up pretty good considering the cheap paint I used. From the factory it was a 350/3-speed, no a/c.

I started with "old blue" by buying it from a cousin of mine and dragging it out of a hay barn with a skid steer. My great-great uncle had used it as his farm truck until he retired and then his grandson used it until it was parked.

I swapped the front spindles from a '78 chevy truck (to get 5-hole and disc brakes), the rear end from an olds 98 station wagon (5-hole) and installed a 383 to push the saginaw 3-speed. I also put a home made gas tank under the bed and put the filler neck in the fender from a '64 nova. Swapped seat from a 1992 chevy and got a grant steering wheel since the factory wheel was down to a metal bar. I switched to Jeep style taillights and made my spare tire holder a 5-hole. I also installed a new outer grille and painted my headlight bezels. I swapped in rear coils from a '69 3/4 ton, factory big block front coils to stiffen it up a bit.

Everything else was left factory, or as it was when I got it. I had wanted to upgrade a lot of things about the old truck back lacked the money to do it.

[70truckguy]

I have got a little done in the last year or two, I'll try to summarize.
Installed a 700r4, finally....
Tach gauge cluster from classic parts.
Carpet from LMC
Ididit steering column, chrome baby!
MSD ignition system
Edelbrock intake and carburator
Ashtray cupholder conversion, its useless so don't do it
Installed din radio and center vent
"Custom" cup holder from 1994ish chevy
Seat Belts
Baby moons, because they are always in style
Spindles and rear end from 1971 c/10
Factory power brakes from 1972 c/10
Gas tank setup for 67-72 blazer, hey gas gauge works now!
Sideview mirrors for 68, they look better
Factory style taillights
Rearview mirror

[70truckguy]

Things I'm slowly working on;
Cutting out for factory a/c vents
Clutch fan
Sway Bar
Re-paint with a little patching and body work
Thinking about better headlights, not sure what to do yet
Contemplating Vintage Air, Nostalgic Air, or factory a/c setup. Can't seem to make up my mind on this.

[dan42]

Did you think about just finding an a/c dash? It would probably be easier to swap them out. We need pictures!

[70truckguy]

I considered it, but the center vent was no trouble really with a dremel tool. The side vents scare me, but it can't be much tougher than replacing the dash. A friend of mine has an a/c cab that I make templates from, so no big deal so far. Also, this is my daily driver so I don't want it down for long.

[70truckguy]

This cup holder works great. The bracket was a little tricky but not too bad. I used 1/8 x 5 flat bar and 1/4 x 2 flat bar that we had lying around for the bracket. Then I painted the bracket and the cup holder black and used self tapping screws to mount them. The cup holder is from ebay, 1994 chevy truck.

[70truckguy]

This one is useless, chipped my dash getting it in. It won't hold much, blocks the radio, and breaks styrofoam cups when you take them out. Now I'm looking for a replacement ashtray, maybe chrome.

[no moa]

lookin good!

[70truckguy]

Thanks, I sure enjoy it.

[70truckguy]

It's too hot!!! Decided to go with a vintage air setup. Trying to scrape up some funds for it now. Also planning on getting the wife's a/c working again. I'll post some pics of that little adventure too.

[70truckguy]

Here is what I've been working on. Hopefully I can clean it up to its former glory.

[70truckguy]

Vintage air gen 4 sure fit kit on order from Kikin Street Rods. I'll do my best to document the install.

[70truckguy]

Finally got an a/c system delivered. Now to document the install....

[70truckguy]

Three sets of instructions from Vintage Air. One for evaporator, one for condensor, and one for compressor. I started with the evaporator. Removing the old heater and controls is easy enough, left me with some rusty spots on the firewall though. A little cleanup with scotchbrite pads and some rustoleum and back to business.

[70truckguy]

Assembly of the brackets to the evaporator housing was okay, I just had to drill out the holes to make them actually fit. You would think they would bolt up better. Firewall cover cleans up the engine bay nicely too.

[70truckguy]

Installing the hard lines on the housing, easy as pie...
Installing the box into the truck, not too bad...
Fitting a new a/c control with vintage control adapter, no problem.
Putting an a/c control into a non-a/c cab, problem...holes are gone.
I had to drill new holes through the bottom lip of the dash and bend the flange a little to make them mount straight.

[70truckguy]

More to come later...

[70truckguy]

Everything buttoned up inside. Getting the plastic glove box in was tough, but its in there. Notice I threw away the ashtray cupholder thing. Still have some cleaning up to do, but its all in there.

[70truckguy]

Compressor mounted fairly easily, the kit came with all the bolts that I needed. I don't really like it being on top of the motor, but it works and doesn't hit the hood. Vintage air fails to tell you that you have to have a beadlock tool to crimp the hoses after you cut them to length. Lucky for me I have a friend that didn't mind loaning his out.

[70truckguy]

Now for the condenser. I thought this would be the easy part, wrong again.
Took out the radiator, hood latch bracket, and trans cooler before installing the condenser. Installed condenser and drier then reinstalled trans cooler and radiator. Looks good, now to route the hoses. "Install hard lines through core support existing holes". Holes are there, but hard lines can't be threaded through the holes with the grill in the way. Grill can't be removed with bumper in the way....1 hour later....hard lines installed.

[70truckguy]

Got it all together and pulled a vacuum for 45 minutes. While I was waiting on that I did the retrofit control calibration. It was very easy and the fan blows hard. I put in the recommended amount of freon (about 2.5 cans) and it was off to the races...
Oh yeah, forgot to cut factory dash vents. That's what bungees are for. Maybe this weekend, for now its ice cold in ol' blue.

Just FYI, this install took about 14 hours. Shops normally charge about $2k for this work but they don't even include bungees.

[70truckguy]

One other thing I forgot to mention. The single stamped pulley on the crankshaft with a double cast iron pulley for power steering does not work with a/c. I had to use a double stamped pulley with the double cast add-on.