Plus Five

[donandal]

installed the skid plate,

[donandal]

I read in my instructions that they included bolts that go into
the transmission housing to hold heat shields.

The heat shields protect the transmission pan area from heat
coming off the cat. converters.

My kit didn't come with any heat shields, so I browsed the web
then made up some of my own.

.060 aluminum shields and stainless steel brackets riveted together
with solid round head aluminum rivets.

[Advanced Design]

Inspiring work donandal. Many good ideas well executed including the skid plate. How did you do the dimples? Guessing made a press die like you did with the stake pocket extensions?

[donandal]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Inspiring work donandal. Many good ideas well executed including the skid plate. How did you do the dimples? Guessing made a press die like you did with the stake pocket extensions?

Thanks,

Yeah, I made a simple dimple die for that skid plate.
I just drill a 1/4 inch hole where you need it, the press it in.
I pressed them in on a cheap harbor freight H-frame press.

[donandal]

I am going to finish up the fuel and emissions lines next,
then on to the brakes. I bent up some 3/8 inch poly armor
for the fuel line. I'll have braided fuel hose for each end.
I made up the clamps from 1/2 x 1 inch aluminum bar stock.

The hard line bends pretty easy and flares easy too. I'll
paint it black before final installation.

[donandal]

So I am back at it.
I made a distribution block for the Tee on the rear axle. I know you can buy those brass Tee fittings, but I've never been happy with the depth of threads that the have. Hopefully these steel AN fittings will be more secure.

This is 6061 aluminum with 1/8 pipe tape to AN-3 and AN-4 fittings. The AN-4 is the feed line from the front and uses 1/4 inch steel tubing and the two side fittings are AN-3 and 3/16 tube.

The block also supports the parking brake cable. I need to finish the front hard lines and then order the flex lines.

[donandal]

I also finished mounting the parking brake cables.

I made a center console frame that holds the parking brake handle and a bell crank setup that drops thru the floor. I threaded a stainless steel rod that connects to this pivot yoke that pulls both parking brake cables.

I'll post up the bell crank setup as the interior goes back in.

[donandal]

I finished the brackets for the front brakes and installed the flex lines.

I used two holes in the original frame and put rivnuts in there to hold
the brackets. They are made from stainless steel 1/8th thick.

Next I need to mount the inner fenders and brake pedal, booster and
master cylinder so I can make up the last brake lines.

[donandal]

I made a custom console that mounts below the dash that will hold the A/C duct work and some switches. Because that console runs full width, it interfered with the lever that opens the cowl vent.

I took an old power window motor and mechanism and powered the cowl vent.
I'll post pictures of the console later, but for now here's the cowl mechanism.

[tiddlar]

Originally Posted by donandal

I made a custom console that mounts below the dash that will hold the A/C duct work and some switches. Because that console runs full width, it interfered with the lever that opens the cowl vent.

I took an old power window motor and mechanism and powered the cowl vent.
I'll post pictures of the console later, but for now here's the cowl mechanism.

o man o man,.... you took my idea and brought it to life.. I want to do the same with mine except make a duct connected to firewall,. press the button the cowl opens and instead of sending that air into the cab send it to the engine bay.. very awesome build!

[solidaxel]

Originally Posted by donandal

I made a custom console that mounts below the dash that will hold the A/C duct work and some switches. Because that console runs full width, it interfered with the lever that opens the cowl vent.

I took an old power window motor and mechanism and powered the cowl vent.
I'll post pictures of the console later, but for now here's the cowl mechanism.

WOW you have nothing on Rocky Hinge Co for there cowl vent motors!!
Hot rodding at its best!

[Advanced Design]

Nice details! That is a very creative solution for cowl vent power. Great execution.

[Coach529]

Wow.....great stuff

[donandal]

Thanks everyone,

This setup took a little thinking but it works nice, the motor is easy to
replace, and it is fairly narrow.

Just this side of the cowl motor setup you can see some tabs that I added
to hold the wiper mechanism. It is a custom setup also, with a more modern
GM motor and custom linkage with late model wiper arms. I'll post that up
soon.

In the thru the dash photo, on the right is a tab welded to the tube
that runs to the firewall. That tube bracket also holds the left side of
the vintage air setup and the right side of the wiper setup. The tube has
a bend in the middle and is just thin wall conduit to help it collapse in a
wreck....heaven forbid!

All of this is just narrow enough to still have a radio in the normal spot.

[RockinKees]

Very nice touch!!
You get creative to overcome some problems

[donandal]

OK,
working from the inside of the firewall, I want to get all of the wiper and washer parts into place.

The washer nozzles I made from stainless steel. They have a threaded base with a small o-ring to seal to the cowl. I tested the spray pattern in the sink.

[donandal]

I also mounted the wiper system. I made a new transmission for the wiper rods and used new style ends that have the plastic socket and steel ball fittings.

I made some trial dimensions on paper then made new arms for the pivots. The original spline shaft seemed kind of flimsy so I got donor arms from a ford escort and used the splined shaft. I turned down the shaft to fit thru the original wiper barrels and made new bronze bushings. With a little high school math, I was able to come up with a dimension for the bellcrank on the motor that gives just the right amount of sweep.

I bought two wiper arms and modified the ends by heating and bending them. They cover the entire sweep of the window now and the 12 inch blades reach nearly top to bottom as well.

The motor is a newer chevy type that has high, low and intermittent. The whole setup just clears the cowl motor and the defrost vents and leaves room for the radio.

[donandal]

some more pictures...

[donandal]

all finished..

[donandal]

also installed the cowl drain line, which also drains the A/C condensation.

[II_Slow]

It was a lot easier to read those numbers off of the VISA card to the guy at RainGear!
Good job re-engineering that suff to work on your truck.

[donandal]

Originally Posted by II_Slow

It was a lot easier to read those numbers off of the VISA card to the guy at RainGear!
Good job re-engineering that suff to work on your truck.

Thanks,
It was a lot of work, but this type I enjoy.

I looked at that RainGear setup, but $500 is a lot of money. They also
say it won't work with a stock GM type column switch and it might hit on the
defroster duct on one side. Plus I didn't know if it would clear my cowl
vent motor setup, and they say it won't clear a stock radio.
I got the motor for $20 and the arms for $30 so pretty cheap.

Just too much money for something that might not work for me.

I do agree though, my visa card would have been a lot easier.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by donandal

I'll also soon be getting into some areas outside my comfort level, so will be
asking for some help.

Respectfully, I don't think this is going to happen. ...from your first post in this thread.

Impressive engineering and execution! The drain idea is a good one too.

[donandal]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Respectfully, I don't think this is going to happen. ...from your first post in this thread.

Impressive engineering and execution! The drain idea is a good one too.

Thanks,
I'm not done yet...

The electric, brakes/hydro-boost/power steering,air conditioning and transmission stuff is all new to me, so we'll see.

[donandal]

Today I installed the steering column, brake booster and master cylinder.