Halfbreed - GMC Z71 + IH Extd Cab

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice progress on the roof, and congrats on the cool road trip.

[kwhite4]

You could always swap the axle to the top of the springs, just relocate the spring perches and shock mounts. Your real good at relocating or blending things...LOL

Anyway great project, I always come and check on your progress, very Cool idea...

Keith

[sparkydog]

I did several odds and ends this weekend. It was time to change out the tranny fluid after 1,000 mile break in. I had also cleaned, primed and painted the interior roof skin and now I have welded in the arch/brace that I scavenged out of the 96 GM truck. This will become my anchor point for my dome/map lights (rear seat) as well as an overhead console.

Now that I am doing 70-80mph on a regular basis I realized I really only had 2 bolts holding the entire hood+grille+ front fenders onto the frame. I didn't want to participate in a high speed aerodynamic experiment - so I upgraded my mounting in this area and now I have solid, safe anchor points for the IH grille onto the GM radiator support (which then ties into the frame).

I have decided that I am going to eliminate my original hood hinges and go with a front hinge. This will allow me to re-mount the stock GM coolant overflow tank, the cruise control module and the main fuse block back where the originally were. However doing the forward hinge mod will be a ways off in the future but I needed my coolant overflow tank NOW (warmer weather) so I fabbed up a temporary home for the tank up near the radiator.

[WIDESIDE72]

Yea, it looks like there is not enough room for longer shackles with your IH bed. An axle flip might be too much drop, thouh...

[sparkydog]

Mocking up the interior roof metal off the GM cab. This will allow me to attach a GM overhead console - which is where I want to eventually put modern idiot light cluster so that I can get the dash back to looking like the 60's.

Rear window is back in.

[sparkydog]

I continued working on the overhead console graft.

The open area on the console is where the passenger AC control knobs were mounted. This is where I hope to (someday) adapt all the idiot light symbols (along with their backlighting) that are currently scattered around the stock GM gage cluster.

I also managed to mate the GM review mirror (with the night dimming tab) to the 67 IH mounting stem/bracket.

[89muscletruck]

As always, nice progress!

[kmdracer]

Good build! Great reading, and looking forward to more.

[sparkydog]

Yesterday I worked on Halfbreed for the last time in my rental garage. After 1.5 years of waiting/hoping/planning to buy a home in San Diego county and get the rest of my family moved here... we are closing on a home this Wednesday.

So I will be out of project mode for a few months whilst I deal with the numerous repair/upgrade issues involved with the new (to me) house and property.

Here is an "action photo" of my interior map lights which I hooked up yesterday. The truck has hit the 2,250 mile mark too.

[1985-GMC]

Nice, Good progress!

[nuke1]

Congrats on the house!!! You will be in your glory, having the shop set up how U want it!!!!

[67ChevyRedneck]

It's been a good while, so how is the new house/big move coming along? Hope to see you back on this soon!

[sparkydog]

Hey thanks for asking!
I've been driving the truck every day to work (except when raining) and probably have 5k miles on her now. I have not done any other work except to take the GM floor carpet and put it in. The workshop is coming along slowly. I just tried out an idea for hanging my power tools (see pic) and I really like it. I also "retired" my jetboat and decided to part it out. I saved a couple of pieces to help put some character into my man cave.

Next up for Halfbreed is wheels and tires. I have been trying to pull the trigger on buying a set and may finally have a deal today. If so then I have to do a little work mocking up and then buy some spacers. (Modern wheel with big offset going onto a truck/body without offset so I need the spacer to make up the difference.)

[fryer1979]

Congrats on the new home, and a successfully daily driven project! All looks good to me.

[sparkydog]

Teaser pics. I found my wheels, put some tires on them and now I just have to wait for my wheel adapters to arrive next week!

[jb1016]

Nice, they look like Mustang GT takeoffs?

[sparkydog]

Yes they are Cobra/SVT 17x8".

My wheel adapters arrived today and the good news the bolt patterns and thickness are correct. But the hub bores are off on both the inside and outside. So tomorrow I will get them tweaked at work on a G-job and hopefully I will be rolling by Wed!!!

[low'n slow]

Are you running duallys?

JK

[sparkydog]

The truck looks kind of tuff with the dually thing in back. But not my style - somebody else can try that out on an IH conversion.

Got the wheel adapters modified, got them home, started the install and then realized that the bores for the lug nut cavities won't let a big enough socket into them. I've had 3 days to figure that out but now I have to wait some more and try to find skinnier lug nuts tomorrow.

[jb1016]

The front wheels sit way back in the arches...I remember you talking about this earlier in the thread, but I can't remember what you decided to do about it?

[sparkydog]

Ha! What I have decided and what I have actually done are two different things!. The basic story is - I intentionally positioned the body the way I did because I want to shorten the entire nose of the truck.

The big nose job is still off in the future. Of course now I am older and wiser and a little worn out and now understand just how much more work it will take to blend the hood and fenders after taking 3" out. If and when I ever get it done then the wheels will look centered in the wheel openings.

I could always just redo the fenders a bit and that would be slightly less work but would still look odd. The fender openings would center on the wheel but there would be too much body hanging out front. IMO.

[sparkydog]

2 steps forward. I have the new wheels and tires on now!

[sparkydog]

1 step backward. I now have the PO308 code which is cyl 8 misfire. It is a definite misfire of 1 cyl and always on not intermittent. I probably have a stuck poppet valve which means I get to loose my virginity on taking the intake manifold off and clean/repair/replace the spider assy.

[low'n slow]

On the other hand, the truck is looking good.

[sparkydog]

A little bling behind my Cobras. I painted the rear drums gloss black, the front rotors gloss black and the pad housing a special mix silver.

Took it out for a show off cruise last night and noticed a gas smell which turned out to be a missing o ring in the fuel pipe inlet on the Vortec FI plenum. Tonight it is all back together and ready for the commute to work in the morning.