"Project ShortHaul" The Build Journey

[Getter-Done]

I always liked the sleeper approach.Back when I was Racing around in fast cars. I would use a cam with a low to mid range rpm specs. That would shock the person I was racing when they got beat by a what seem to be stock motor.
I used anti-pump up lifters that made it idle (almost) smooth.
Now with that said, My opinion on a stall converter just picture sitting beside a cop at a red light. To get the vehicle in motion you will go up to at least 1500 to 1800 Rpm just to get it rolling. Also while cruising around town you RPM will 2000 to 2200 minimum. Those are just round about numbers and this is just my opinion. I don't want to get beat up by the people that love stall convertors. A big cam an stall convertor sound COOL but they draw a lot of Attention (some good and some bad).
About your fan shroud. You have several options. 1st I would probably fabricate one. 2nd Go to salvage yard to (TRY) to find something you could modify to work. 3rd Jegs or summit racing have all kind of shroud for aluminum radiators (but they are expensive).

[jkk]

Getting their good work

[ShortHaul]

I see what you’re saying... the reality is I have no desire to make it loud or racy, I just want to keep it from acting like it’s going to die every time we pull up to a light. It’s supposed to be my wife and my daily/go getter pickup. She won’t drive it cause she’s convinced it’s going to stall on her whenever she puts it in gear. (And sometimes it does!) I could replace the cam with a stock one I guess.

Re:shrouds no much of a fabricator myself... I called Champion and they said that model is supposed to work with a stock shroud. Not sure how much I believe that, but I figured it’s worth a shot. Keeping my eye out for one cheap.

Thanks for the info Getter-Done!

[ShortHaul]

Went ahead and ordered up a stock fan shroud and a Derale 17” steel fan to hopefully solve the cooling issues. The thermostat install went well, and it works. It allows the truck to warm up faster, which is good, and keeps it running between 175-190.

Also picked up a B&M 2400 Stall Converter.

[ShortHaul]

Got the B&M 2400 Stall converter installed. It was a chore, especially doing it by myself and with 1 jack.

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get the old one out..

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Truck runs better now idling in gear, which was the intention of the stall, so i feel like its a success... However it is painfully in need of some taller gears. The stock 3.08 (im assuming) keeps it from hitting the 3K RPM range that this motor likes to be in to make power. In fact in Drive, it barely hits 3K before 65-70 mph. around town in D its hardly even reaching the 2400 rpm mark needed to fully engage the torque converter, which means it'll be doing a LOT of slipping, heating up the fluid quickly. No Bueno. Need gears.

Called the local rear end shop, they want 1200 to swap in 3.73's. Ouch.

Any suggestions? its got the 5 lug swapped rear, so id rather not deal with changing out the full housing etc, like to just swap the gears.

[ShortHaul]

Installed a Derale 6 blade fan and managed to mount up a stock shroud pretty well to the aftermarket Champion radiator. It WORKS. Runs cool now, in fact probably too cool. On the drive home from work it barely topped 140, and was around 120 most of the way!

Is that a problem?

[Getter-Done]

Do you still have the 180 degree thermostat installed?
If you do , putting a 195 in would help but only a little .
Other thing that is possible is you could have an air pocket in the coolant causing the gauge to give a false reading.
Do you have a pyrometer?
https://www.harborfreight.com/Non-Co...ing-69465.html
I use one of these to see if the gauge is reading true.
What will it hurt? IMO in the summer lower fuel mileage in the winter not so good Heat in the cab.
Things you may try is stock radiator .
Those aluminum radiators keep the water cooler that factory ones.
Is that fan a clutch fan?
If not a clutch fan would help a lot not to pull so much air.

[ShortHaul]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

Do you still have the 180 degree thermostat installed?
If you do , putting a 195 in would help but only a little .
Other thing that is possible is you could have an air pocket in the coolant causing the gauge to give a false reading.
Do you have a pyrometer?
https://www.harborfreight.com/Non-Co...ing-69465.html
I use one of these to see if the gauge is reading true.
What will it hurt? IMO in the summer lower fuel mileage in the winter not so good Heat in the cab.
Things you may try is stock radiator .
Those aluminum radiators keep the water cooler that factory ones.
Is that fan a clutch fan?
If not a clutch fan would help a lot not to pull so much air.

Ya its got a new 180* T-stat. Thought about a higher one, but its not even getting up to 180! so that would be pretty useless... Im thinking it may be an issue with the temp sensor, I had to completely drain the coolant when i did the shroud/fan swap. I filled it slowly, trying to let all the air bubbles come up, but who knows if it really got all filled...

I'm afraid a clutch fan might be the answer, it runs super cool while moving, but was overheating at idle in traffic, which is why i added the better fan and shroud. Now it runs TOO cool... So having that fan only kick on when its hot would be a bonus i guess.

Bummer. Fix one problem, create another.

Regarding the temp sensor, just point the pyrometer directly at the sensor and see if its matching? (sorry "Captain Obvious" question, just never used one before)

[Getter-Done]

Yes those pyrometers are really cool. You pull the trigger it has a little red dot .
Put the dot on what you want to read the temperature of. I just had central heat and air trouble in the house. After my wife seen me use it she was checking the temp of Everything
You can check the temp difference between Radiator and block heads and thermostat and so on.

[ShortHaul]

Been a while since I updated... But things are coming right along.

replaced the rotted out headers and exhaust with a set of Ceramic coated long tubes from Summit, and Flowmaster 40's. Also re-routed the tips to exit through the holes fabbed into the bedside. Love the Summit headers, they bolted right up and fit perfectly. Cant beat the price either...

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Untitled by awesome_adawson, on Flickr

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Untitled by awesome_adawson, on Flickr


Bought a set of wheels. Wheel Vintiques Series 62 steelies. 15x8 fronts and 15x10 rears. Love em...

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Sadie Sue guarding the truck
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Also scored a set of Rad tires! Goodyear Eagle GTII's in 295. Nice n wiiiiiiide

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Untitled by awesome_adawson, on Flickr

Also spent some more time on the grill, got the old insert cleaned and painted up, mounted back in. Far from show quality, but a major improvement over how it looked when i bought it...

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[ShortHaul]

On the subject of wheels... I am facing a challenge. Realized after i bought the steelies that my rear end is out of a squarebody C10, with the 5 lug big rear brake drums, and the steel wheels wont fit. Not even close. So now im in the process of sourcing parts to swap the rear drum assembly to the smaller 11x2 drums found on most 72-75 1/2 tons.

The drums, shoes and spring kits are readily available from all parts stores, but im having a helluva time finding the backing plates. None of the go-to spots list them LMC, Brothers, Classic Industries, summit, etc. Really wondering how to go about getting some, shy of buying an entire rear end...

Anybody got a set they are willing to part with? Help a brother out in the name of big ol wide steelies!

[Odaroloc]

I wish i could help you out on your brake problem, unfortunalty i dont have an answer for you> But its looking great! way better than when you picked her up! Also wanted to let you know that if you end up not wanting that gauge cluster to let me know. Been looking at getting that type for one of my trucks haha

[ShortHaul]

Originally Posted by Odaroloc

I wish i could help you out on your brake problem, unfortunalty i dont have an answer for you> But its looking great! way better than when you picked her up! Also wanted to let you know that if you end up not wanting that gauge cluster to let me know. Been looking at getting that type for one of my trucks haha

Thanks! I'll keep you in mind for the gauge cluster... I'm still not in love with them, but I do like how they all work, and they read accurately, which has been very helpful during all the troubleshooting tuning issues...

I may entertain a trade for a stock cluster in good working order however...

[ShortHaul]

So the saga continues... I thought I had a solution for the front wheels with a neat CNC'd 1/4' wheel spacer. But that fell flat when I realized the front hub has a neat stepped center bore, which the spacer only fits on the outer portion of...

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Untitled by awesome_adawson, on Flickr

Ugh. So those will either have to be returned or bored out to a larger ID.

I test fit the wheels again and used a grinder to smooth out the radius of the spindle where its rubbing, but it still makes contact, even with the cup of the tie rod, so that's not gonna fly. It'll have to be spacer or different wheel.

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So bummer. It's really a matter of the design of the backside of the wheels, as the ugly "Hurricane's" that are on there now are also 15's, just a bit narrower and have different design.

Back the drawing board...

[ShortHaul]

Did a bit of "automotive archeology" today and found this:

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Untitled by awesome_adawson, on Flickr

Stoked to find out its an original Chevrolet lettered tailgate. I had been thinking this whole time it was a plain re-pop. But buried under all that nasty primer and bondo is some real deal Chevy steel!

And in a few spots the bondo came off clean, showing off the beautiful original paint... How i wish i could get rid of all the crap on top but leave that! Why someone would want to smear mud all over this lovely Medium Blue Green Poly is beyond me...

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I've realized my truck was a victim of the dark ages of 80's custom trucks. Everything shaved, smoothed, bondo'd over, the awful wheels, The holes cut in the bedsides for exhaust, there's even a coat of purple sparkle paint in between the original and the black crud. I think had the previous owner had the $ it probably would've ended up with a chopped top and a 1990 bed on it.

Ugh.

Slowly but surely though, scraping the ugly away piece by piece.

So anybody know the best way to remove bondo? I went at it this morning with Kleen Strip and a razor scraper, but that was sloooowwww going.

[Getter-Done]

Cool Deal about the real deal tailgate.
I hope you don’t find any surprises 🙀
Any luck on your wheel project??

[ShortHaul]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

Cool Deal about the real deal tailgate.
I hope you don’t find any surprises 🙀
Any luck on your wheel project??

Yes! Im getting complete set of drums for the rear, the smaller kind, thanks to Randy500. they will bolt right up to the axle flanges, and will allow me to mount the wheels (fingers crossed of course...)

For the fronts Im getting a set of 1/4 inch spacers, this time with the proper hub bore... should be arriving today, so ill be able to check fitment then.

[ShortHaul]

Progress!!! Blowtorch and wood chisel is working wonders
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Untitled by awesome_adawson, on Flickr

The letters even had the beautiful white paint in them... Ugh WHY WHYYYY!!

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[cebra]

Where did you get those spark plug wire "boots" from to keep the header heat off? My plug wires are really close to my headers in a couple spots and those would be nice. I have the same aggressive cam lope/stall situation you have. I have just been increasing the timing and idle rpm to deal with it thus far.

[ShortHaul]

Originally Posted by cebra

Where did you get those spark plug wire "boots" from to keep the header heat off? My plug wires are really close to my headers in a couple spots and those would be nice. I have the same aggressive cam lope/stall situation you have. I have just been increasing the timing and idle rpm to deal with it thus far.

This is what I used

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/d...SABEgLnT_D_BwE

But they’re most likely available from any reputable parts store. Just as long as they’re high quality. I run a set on my Impala as well. They are a bit of a pain to get on initially, the ends are a really tight fit over the plug wire, but then they stay put.

Yeah getting this thing tuned properly has been a challenge, but I finally think I got it to a good place. Timing is 14* and I think the higher rpm stall converter really helped. I ended up removing the carb entirely and cleaned off the mounting surface, I think that cleared up some vacuum leaks. Turns out the PO had installed it over the old gasket... seriously I think Helen Keller owned this truck before I did... (no offense to Helen actually, she’d probably have done better!)

[ShortHaul]

OK, update time!

Its been a busy last couple weeks, but I was able to make some progress!

For the front wheels, i found a 5x5 1/4 spacer with the proper hub bore diameter, and it fits, the wheels fit right over it, clears the spindle and tie rod by a good amount.

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As far as the rears go... I was able to track down a set of the smaller rear drum setups from Randy500, but ended up replacing everything except for the backing plates! New drums, shoes, cylinders and spring kits.

The old...
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In progress...
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complete!
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Building the drums was quite a chore... luckily I did one at a time so i had one available to look at while building the other, helped out a lot. Also i think the special spring tools they sell for building drum brakes are probably worth their weight. I of course didn't purchase them and went at it with needle nose pliers and a few vice grips lol. Second one certainly went faster than the first!

So once I had them built it was time for install... Had to completely disassemble the rear end to get them on... which was fun Got it all pulled apart, and it looks pretty good in there...

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(This was upon re-assembly, and I hadnt placed the second spider gear, in case you're wondering)

Counted the teeth, and looks like i have the 3.07's. Nice for the highway, but sure would love to feel what its like with 373's

Got the brakes all put back on, and the rear buttoned up.
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Now on to the whole reason for enduring this headache... fitting the wheels!

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With Caps
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Im loving the look! Can't wait till Tuesday, when I get the tires mounted and get everything put together!

[ShortHaul]

Aaaannnnnnd of course... since it's one thing after another on this truck... I am having some issues bleeding the brakes entirely.

After I put the new set on, I bled each corner, going furthest to closest (PSR, DSR, PSF, DSF) and I still have a pretty spongy pedal. I bled everything again about 3 times, and still spongy. It'll stop, but the pedal is damn near on the floor. I got air bubbles and frothy fluid on the first bleed, but nothing but clear fluid every time after that...

I read about issues with the proportioning valve, so i disconnected it and put a still piece of wire through the opening, but didnt feel any lever move or switch re-set...

So help me troubleshoot here...

CPP 5 Lug Discs up front, 1972 era 5 lug drums out back, Power booster, dual chamber MC, proportioning (or metering?) valve.

Brakes worked good, not stellar, but good prior to replacing rear drum asssemblies.

Lines bled thoroughly on all 4 corners.

Pedal is now spongy and feels like air in system. Will stop, but pedal goes almost all the way to floor to do so.

Whats next? bleed MC? replace prop valve? kick self for replacing perfectly functioning rear brake setup all in the name of cool steel wheels?

[cornerstone]

Really enjoy this thread! A little temporary headache in the brake department is totally worth the cool steelies, no doubt. Keep it up!

[jonmc56]

"One thing after another" is familiar to me! I'm also enjoying this thread, excited to see where this truck goes....
So you are getting good flow of fluid at all 4 corners when you bleed it?
I would begin to suspect the master cylinder. I know it doesn't make sense for it to fail just because you opened up the brake lines, but I've seen them fail like this, maybe dirty fluid was keeping the old one working?
Related to that, from one of your pics it looks like you may still be running a drum/drum master cyl and prop valve? If so, I'd address both to make it right.
Hang in there!

Jon

[ShortHaul]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Really enjoy this thread! A little temporary headache in the brake department is totally worth the cool steelies, no doubt. Keep it up!

Thank you!! One thing I’ve learned with this truck is the patience to accept a new problem or issue as a challenge, an opportunity to learn something new, rather than a headache or a downfall. On my Impala, everything worked so well when I bought it that I was afraid to mess with anything, fearing I’d screw it up. With this truck, most everything has NOT worked well, so I’ve been far more willing to tear into it. I’ve really embraced the “journey” (hence the build thread name) of this project rather than just focusing on the destination of a completed truck. Thanks for following along.

Originally Posted by jonmc56

"One thing after another" is familiar to me! I'm also enjoying this thread, excited to see where this truck goes....
So you are getting good flow of fluid at all 4 corners when you bleed it?
I would begin to suspect the master cylinder. I know it doesn't make sense for it to fail just because you opened up the brake lines, but I've seen them fail like this, maybe dirty fluid was keeping the old one working?
Related to that, from one of your pics it looks like you may still be running a drum/drum master cyl and prop valve? If so, I'd address both to make it right.
Hang in there!

Jon

Thanks Jon! I am getting good solid flow at all 4 corners when bleeding... makes me think the prop valve is perhaps not the culprit. And you may be 100% correct on the drum/drum mc and valve. As with most of the “improvements” made to this truck by the PO, I am highly suspect. I’m feeling like 90% of the work done on this truck was on Friday at 5Pm... half assed and with one foot out the door. So it wouldn’t surprise me!

I’ll go snap a pic of the setup on there and maybe you can tell me if it looks like the correct parts or not.

Checked out your build BTW! Love that truck! Perfect stance and clean look. Any updates on it? Looks like it’s been a while since you posted in that thread?