Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I just realised that I forgot to post my progress from the weekend. I got the first "speed hole" and cleaned up with a file and rounded out nicely.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Nice job on those seat brackets!!!!

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Hey thanks man!

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Finally on the last bracket! Today I finished up the holes on the inner bracket and got the outer bracket laid out, drilled and filed on one half. It will be nice to have this completed. It is alot of filing by hand. I had a minor filing mishap and ripped my layout tape for the other half so I will have to re-tape and cutout the radius on that corner.:waah:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Been a while since I bought anything for project Splice so I figured it was time. I ordered up some Altman easy latches on black Friday and I'm super happy with them thus far. Though all I've done is unbox them:lol: Won't need them for a little while anyway but at least I have them when I do.

Today I managed to get the rest of the hole cut out on the last seat bracket.:metal: I also was able to get the holes drilled for the steel rods and 2 mounting tabs made. Getting so close to done on these seat brackets.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I had a chance to get out in the shop today and make the last two tabs for the seat bracket. I would have probably had enough time to get it all tack welded together had I not run into a stripped out nut in the floor. I decided the best remedy to this problem was to drill out the 4 mounting points and up the size of the bolt from 5/16 to 3/8. I will end up doing the same thing with the drivers side bracket so that the bolts will all be the same. I ended up being able to use one of the front mounting nuts already in the cross member on the passenger side so I will only have to weld in one nut. I would like it to resemble the factory as mush as possible from below so I will try to get a square nut in there.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Hey Kyle! Absolutely incredible attention to detail. I'm stunned by how much progress you've accomplished since I last checked in. Hats off for your persistence. You and a few other guys builds are setting a fire under my butt. No promises but I'm trying to form a plan on what to address next on my 72. I'm thinking it will serve me well to get the drop down battery mounting location resolved and installed. Great to see your work again. -Brian

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Brian, thank you so much for the kind words! It really help to keep me motivated when I hear compliments like that. It is good to see you back on the forums, I was starting to wonder what happened to you. I hope all is well and you can get a jump back on the truck again. I look forward to the updates.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I was able to find the time I needed to get the passenger bracket all tacked together. Now the fun of shaping the feet comes back again. :lol: I know this is not exactly accurate by any means but according to some shoty work with a torpedo level and a straight edge and due to the fact that no one will likely be able to see the bubble:haha: I assure you it's somewhere in the middle:bann: I'm pretty happy with that.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Well today was a successful day in the shop for sure. I had recently decided that I wanted to replace all of my seat springs. I figured I'd better do it while they are right out in the open. I'd hate to have the seats done down the road and then have a broken spring after the fact. They were looking pretty pitted and worse for wear where the seat cover had been ripped anyway. I picked up some new Zig zag springs in rolls from the local upholstery shop and watched a few videos and away I went. I'm very happy that I decided to do this. According to research the seat springs are supposed to be something like 9 gauge. Then the back rest springs are 11 gauge or something along those lines. The replacement back rest springs are nearly identical in every way, same gauge and they feel exactly the same for tension as the old ones. Where I really noticed a difference was in the seat springs. The new ones are considerably larger gauge which at first I thought they may be to big but after installing one seat worth and comparing to the old springs, it is a much more comfortable seat. I threw down some cushions on both and I couldn't believe how much nicer the seat felt even though the springs are so much stiffer.:metal:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I also was able to get some more welding and grinding done on the seat bracket. I have welded and ground down and finished the bottom of all the tabs. Ready for some full work down the road.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Today I managed to get the rest of the feet finished up on the passenger bracket. I also cut a v between the angle irons and the brackets and ran another weld across to make sure that they are strong. I was about 30 minutes shy of being able to complete the grinding on the passenger bracket. My compressor can't keep up anymore since my secondary tank gave up on me so it's slow going. Between waiting for the compressor to catch up, I took a square nut that was given to me by my dad for the one mounting point I needed to add and shaped it to look like the factory ones. Hopefully soon I can flip the cab on its nose for the last time.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I'd have to say it looks pretty good in there with the other two nuts.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

It's been a little slow the last few weeks on the truck but I maged to get some stuff done. I have completed all the welding and grinding on the seats so that is a huge step in the right direction. Today I was cleaning up a few odds and ends and got the passenger side cab mount plate welded back in as well as the last mounting plate for the passenger seat. I also got the driver side cab mount plate prepped and ready to weld in. Hoping to have the time to get that and the driver seat plate welded in tomorrow. After that, I will have to figure out some sort of firewall support that I can use to tip the cab back onto its nose and finish the underside completely.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Got those last two pieces welded in. Now I just need to make some sort of cradle for the firewall so that when I flip in on its nose, I have a way of securing it in place on my cart. I've got some scrap lumber to work with so I think I can come up with something.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Firewall craddle complete! Now I just have to do a good cleanup around the garage and find a bunch of guys to help me flip it to its nose!:metal:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

What is a firewall cradle?

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I made it so that when I flip it onto the firewall, it will help to evenly distribute the weight. It will also give me a point to attach it to my cart so that I don't have to worry about it falling over.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Great Idea on the cushion when you roll it:metal:

It is looking great.:metal:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Thanks man! It's going to feel so good to have the bottom of the cab completely finished.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I scored this today locally! It has a bit of a curve but I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to straighten it. The worst part is the large dent in the lettering but I think I can fix that up too. The best part is I haven't seen any rust holes or signs of one starting.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Got is straightened! Used a jackall, some wood blocks and a scissor lift. We ended up lifting up the scissor lift to get enough weight on it. :lol: Super happy with this gate:metal:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Nice work on the tailgate!

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Very nice score and work on that rust free gate!

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Thanks guys!

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Today was the first time in a couple of weeks that I actually got to work on the cab again. I've decided to wrap up a few loose ends on some other items within the cab before I flip it on its nose. Mostly that decision was due to a bunch of materials and such all over my garage and in my way. Today I added some more steel to the structure of my "behind the seat" box. There is still some more metal needed before it is completely done but I needed to see how this was going to work first. I cut my pressboard to fit and got it all screwed in place to get an overall idea of how it will look. There will be more work on this to come as I need some more backing (steel) to screw in a few loose areas and I will eventually make some speaker enclosures and a sub enclosure that will mount from behind. I'm pretty happy with the outcome thus far.:metal:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

That looks smooth

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Thank you!

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Just wanted to throw in a picture without all the mess in the cab.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Looks very clean! Should work well

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Thanks!

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Great thread, really liking the work. You've come a long way with the welding and it looks great! Isnt it interesting how many fractures and stress cracks seats get in their life? My bench needed nearly every spot weld redone and had many stress cracks

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Thanks for the compliments! I'm sure it would be wild if a person could see everything these trucks have gone through over the years.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I pulled my box back out today and started adding the required support pieces I need to properly fasten the press board the rest of the way. I also added some pieces to pickup the fiberglass corner sections. I plan to use nutserts for those. I didn't quite have the time needed to get it put all back together as I have a few more pieces to put in and need to weld everything on the back side yet.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Tonight I went over to my parents place and helped my dad bleed the brakes on his '69. We were hoping to take it to the local car show this weekend but after going for a test drive, we will not be able to take it. Unfortunately a botched transmission rebuild is making it very hard to drive anywhere. It revs at 2500 rpm at only 40 MPH along with plenty of other issues. At least the brakes are now nice and solid. Here are some pictures of the truck

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Looks like your dad has good taste in trucks as well.:chevy:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Happy Easter to everyone! I managed to squeeze in a few hours this afternoon in the shop. I carried on with the steel framework of my behind seat box. I needed to add in these sections at the top so that my speaker boxes will not interfere with the back of the cab wall at the top. I also started welding in tabs that will allow me to mount the speaker boxes to the framework.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Had the day off work today so I got the rest of the tabs made up and installed. I ran some nutserts into the steel I put in for mounting my corner pieces so that they would be good and solid. Then I reinstalled the press board and mounted the whole unit into the truck again. I figured at this point that I wanted to see how it was looking so I installed the center console and the buckets as well. It's all coming together as planned. At that point, I made the decision to do the filler work inside the cab before I flip it onto the nose. Before I can do that though, there are a few items I need to address. I need to cut in the AC vents so I went to try and get a template from my brother's cab but it proved to be a difficult task so I instead opted to borrow his vents and do alot of trial and error for fitment. I started cutting out the drivers side vent and so far so good!

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

One down, now if only I would have remembered the screws, I could mount it.:dum:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

And that's two. Center vent should be peanuts now compared to those.:lol: