51 GMC 'Project Why Wait'

[lower50's]

Looking good Dave!!!! Having all new bushings and steering is such a great piece of mind when you start to drive the truck for the first time.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Originally Posted by MIKESAD50

Like the build. Like the pictures, especially the picture with your son.

Thanks! I've read your build a few times on the train and back.

Originally Posted by lower50's

Looking good Dave!!!! Having all new bushings and steering is such a great piece of mind when you start to drive the truck for the first time.

Yeah, the old stuff was from the donor the clip had come in and was sitting around for a long time and I don't think it would have been possible to align so I figured I'd just drop the coin now on everything.

Now having the new parts in my hand vs the old I can tell just how worn the were.

Looking forward to go cruising with you when its done!

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Dave_The_BMXER

Diaper wipe boxes come in really handy, who knew.

haha I saw this and immediately thought of the naughty pamphlets they pass out in vegas (and other places). glad you cleared it up, and glad to see you working on it again!

[lower50's]

That would be awesome to cruise around together, we just have to be careful we don't cause any accidents from gaukers LOL.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Originally Posted by joedoh

haha I saw this and immediately thought of the naughty pamphlets they pass out in vegas (and other places). glad you cleared it up, and glad to see you working on it again!

Those would be too thin stock and too distracting! It's nice to have it home for sure, though the chassis isn't back yet I've been doing little things in the garage to get myself used to heading out and tinkering once my son is down and get my wife used to what will be my routine.

Since all my components will be black steering box had to be too... Duplicolor caliper paint worked great.

I know super boring update but doing what I can with what's at home now.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

New update is up on stanceiseverything.com but for those who only follow here I thought I'd show you where I'll be building the truck over the winter:




It's just over half of a standard 2 car garage, not large enough to fit the body panels with everything off the chassis but more than enough space to build the chassis. The reason I'm doing it at home is because Blair's shop is currently really darn full.



And since I don't need anything much beyond basic hand tools right now I can work here until spring/summer rolls around.

I picked up a bunch of parts as I said before, I go into more detail about them here but I am pretty excited about these super travel ball joints from Proforged



And my new Allstar performance upper control arms



I'm patiently waiting for the frame to come back but here's a better look at the steering box before/after




Soon, soon soon I'll have everything I need to get my hands dirty again and ask a ton of questions.

[84blaze]

Keep it going man!

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Originally Posted by 84blaze

Keep it going man!

Trying, got news the chassis will be seeing paint this weekend, back home in Feb!

[hillshooter]

Looking good!!!!! I too am working on a 51 GMC. What fuel cell did you put in there?

[Dave_The_BMXER]

It's an RCI fuel cell. I bought it based on the dimensions, I'll be putting an aeromotive stealth pump in it.

[lower50's]

You clean up real good Dave! I mean you cleaned up a nice space, looks like the size of my garage. Bet you are really excited to get your frame back.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Hi guys, been awhile but the chassis is back in my garage!




I chose gunmetal for the chassis color because everyone seems to go with black and this was a good neutral color that allows me to paint the body one day if I stumble upon some money.

My suspension and most other components will be black so here's a photo of the two colors together



Also got my rear end coated.


Sadly its a bit wonky right now (missing shims someone has been in it) so I'm getting it looked at hopefully Monday. If anyone has 9 bolt GM rear end parts kicking around let me know!



Looking for something to do I made some tank straps




After my fuel pump arrives (Aeromotive Stealth) I am going to paint the straps the color as the frame and the fuel cell black.

There's a larger update on stancesieverything.com with higher res photos if you want to see more!

[youngrodder]

The frame looks good. I was thinking of going with a gray myself. Is it paint or power coat? Looking good.

Marc

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Thanks, it's paint over por 15

[lower50's]

Nice!!! Not going black will give it a little extra kick.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Like a lot of you I do a lot of my work when stores or closes so inventory checks like this help prevent wasted time. Turns out I was a few grade 5 bolts, and 2 fittings short.

Picked them up today and hope to put the passenger side in Wednesday night, verify my shock length, then put the driver side in.

Dropped the rear end off to get looked at today too so hopefully that is back soon too!

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Note to anyone reading, certainly do not select a GM 9 bolt for your project. Finding parts basically requires getting another complete unit. All that said, going back to another rear end and painting it would have cost me time and money so I brought my rear end guy another known working one and he combined the best of each. I now have a working 3.73 Posi

Additionally the front end is coming along



Fancy SLR pics to come but progress is happening!

[youngrodder]

Its never easy is it....Looks like you have it sorted out now...

Marc

[lower50's]

Sometimes we have to go the long way around to get some things to work. I'm glad it is working out for you now. 3.73 posi will be nice

[SalvagedSouls]

Subscribed. Great pictures by the way!

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Sometimes we have to go the long way around to get some things to work. I'm glad it is working out for you now. 3.73 posi will be nice

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Its never easy is it....Looks like you have it sorted out now...

Marc

Yep, took a bit of a wallet hit, but in the end it will all be a wash I'm sure.

Originally Posted by SalvagedSouls

Subscribed. Great pictures by the way!

Thanks!

Forgot to repost an update that went up on stanceiseverything.com here.

I've actually had all of this awhile but it was pretty far back in garage storage until I got closer to ready.

A few years ago Air Lift finished prototyping their Mazda 3 kit on my car. During that process I got a tour of their facility and came to know more about their development process so I basically became a customer for life (you probably already noticed the work bench banner) so for the truck I will be running the 3H system.

It will be my first height based system, give me some piece of mind when the wife is out in the truck that no matter what she has in what's left of the bed, or in the cab she won't be lower than what I've determined as workable.

Can't thank the guys at Airlift enough for helping out a bit and putting out such a great looking product.




I will also be using two tanks, which will be painted black along with black Viaair compressors.




I am of course awhile away from installing all this but already have some ideas on how I'll be placing it




Currently I am working on installing my in tank Aeromotive fuel pump and painting the tank black and tank straps chassis color.

Painting sure does eat a lot of time when you only have a few hours at a time, but we're still moving forward.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

New update guys. Took a break from fuel setup and decided to focus on getting the chassis as a whole ready to be plumbed.

Almost instantly after setting up the rear end I realized I goofed, hard. I didn't cycle the suspension when I put the shock mounts in (there was a bar welded from the axle to the notch to make it easy to roll around and well...
[img]


The upper link mount hit the shock hard when at a certain point and there was no way around doing this.



The mount had to move, an unfortunately I had to do this to a freshly painted chassis. No bueno.

I ended up drilling and tapping the frame for the new mount (speedway mounts)




Then putting a weld on it to keep it from backing off. My lil migpack 110 and 15 amp breaker made this pretty hard hence the ground down welds with not a ton of penetration. However it's not backing out any time soon.



Then I spent a LOT of time prepping the frame for repaint and then sprayed it. It's all rattle can but I think it turned out decent, I still have to do some wetsanding and polishing down the road once the paint is good and cured.





In between huffing paint I slapped on my brakes, 85 Trans Am rear, 98+ Blazer front for those keeping score at home



and as I had mentioned before the front end is pretty well wrapped up too


That's pretty well where I'm at and a more in depth update on the paint process and my lessons in humility are on stanceiseverything.com

Moving on to figuring out where my tanks/compressor etc are going to go now while I wait on some brake lines to arrive.

[GreasyLikeaBurger]

I would keep an eye on those shock mounts, you might end up snapping one off. Thats a lot of load placed on the bolt and only supported on one side. You might want to create a double shear type mount.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Fair point, I had thought about the forces acting against it, my hope is the frame will prevent flex that would cause it to bend and snap. Didn't think about it shearing outright. They seem fairly stout so I guess we'll see.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Mocked up, now time to make it work!