Re: Restoring Rusty
 

donno, not on any of the popular sites, like LMC, Brothers, or Classic, etc... I did manage to find one on a GMC Van, so all is good now

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

dope, gotcha, it's been a long day

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Trust me (used to work at a PnP) finding a usable drive line in the wrecker is about as rare as finding a Corvette Stingray in there. They move the inventory around with fork lifts. Not exactly something that is kind to the undersides.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

OK, a message to the Demolition Derby Drivers [ahem] professional certified fork lift operators at Pick 'N' Pull: STOP KILLING THESE DRIVE SHAFTS !!!

and here we struck out 0-3 with yet another fallen comrade! a blood red '93 Silverado

but it takes more than that to defeat The Greg... so off to the next Pick n Pull across town

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

a mere 11 miles away at another junk yard we find this beauty in the back of a 1988 (I presume, I couldn't tell from the penmanship, so I took a pic of the VIN to decipher it later) pickup truck, already uninstalled and waiting for pick up

I hope I won't have to kick myself for not gettin' that plane jane lookin' transmission crossmember

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Why not just take some measurements and have a drive line made for it from scratch? That is what I'd do if it was mine.

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that crossmember literally only had one measly hole in it and the trans bracket was shot, completely obligerated and torn apart

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

money! or lack there of, and thrill of the hunt, ha ha, I have $42 bucks I don't got $250 or whatever a brand new one will cost me - and to prove a point on how easy the 833 trans swap may be (or may not be, we will see)

honestly the point of this old truck ownership is doing things yourself and doing them on the cheap, if I had money to throw around I would be driving fill in the blank __________ truck!!!

and where do you stop, hey we just bought a brand new drive line, ok, why not buy a brand new transmission, why drive 350 miles to buy an old one, ok we got a brand new drive line and a brand new transmission, why not buy a brand new crate motor, ok, we got a brand new DRIVE TRAIN, awesome, heck lets get a brand new diff, ok got all that new, we can't mount that to a used frame, lets get one of them brand new aluminum frames, ok got one, see what I mean, that's not what this build is about...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

alright ~ More Partz ~

got some special transmission fluid for this gear box since I guess I ain't supposed to put regular gear oil in it

well I dropped $950 on this thing and it's not like they grow on trees so proper fluid is just insurance that it won't blow up

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

alright so what came in the other box

well, what's better than one Series 40 FLOWMASTER muffler?

~ Hello me, it's me from the future. It's two years later (9/22/18) and you will never be able to get the dreaded drone out of these mufflers so you will sell em to your co-worker, don't feel bad for dumping them on him, he's a Ford guy, ha ha. ~

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Ohh I get it Gregski it's all about budget or lack there of. But for me, my time is worth something and my driveline is one those areas I never skimp on. I have seen too many come apart. One almost poll vaulting the car on a 2 lane highway (friends car). Balancing new vs. used parts is a fine line of practical and an owner priority thing. I could take your thinking the other direction too. The truck needs a u-joint or two let go to the Pick N pull and tear a couple out of some vehicle, wait it needs front brake pads there is a truck in the wrecking yard the has a set. it needs a rag joint i saw one in a burnt out shell lets use that. And no I am not trying to be an ass just stating my case of that fine line.
You want to know a secret............... If I had a million dollars my 77 would still be my toy and my baby. No newer truck could ever fill her shoes and she deserves every dime I throw at her.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thats more common then you think I'm lucky here the yard here takes them off and puts them in the car before they drop it in the yard nice if you need one they are easy to look for that way don't even need to work

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I love the sound of the 40 series. Those will make you smile when you finally put that truck back together. I got my 40 series used 10 years ago by the way. :) Who needs new parts anyway.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

nice, the older the violin the sweeter the music!

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Yeah, especially with a clutch!

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That truck with flow 40s will be a basically weekend cruiser. The drone and noise coming out of it will be so obnoxious :lol:

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That's what's on my DD. I like 'em.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

no time like the present, lets make things green

pic 1 - primered

pic 2 - first coat (I was taught that the first coats purpose / job is to make things tacky, simple as that, so sometimes fellers don't even expect a color change when you lightly coat the first coat) just sayin'

pic 3 - second light coat

pics 4 & 5 - third coat a bit heavier

I think I went four coats on this, light, light, medium, medium, would have gone more but had many more parts to paint and needed the paint for them

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I shot this top panel at the same time as the core, so it was painted exactly the same way four coats, light, light, medium, medium

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

this may be the best pic I have so far of the final painted core and the top panel

the message here is don't touch it, don't mess with it, and by all means DON'T LET THE WIFE RUN THE DRYER (cause it vents right into our organic paint booth, ha ha)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

forgive me, but what's a DD?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

with those two pieces out of the way, we moved on to the doo dadz

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and two more, I'm telling you there was a lot of small bits to this job

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Looks good ,great color .

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and finally the bottom panel, this piece is the one that actually should be green

I would be lying to you all if I didn't tell you that I was tempted to paint this one black, just to mess wichu all, ha ha

FYI, so this was shot with Singe Stage (no base coat and top coat, just one coat with base and clear mixed together, aka the cheaper alternative) OMNI product, the baby brother of PPG, factory paint code match, good stuff

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so glad that parts all over, and here's my reward... ~ PARTS ~

these are supposed to be the slide in plastic tabs that hold the plastic grill, not an exact match and it bothers me a bit, the originals are oval

if I have to order the other ones it won't halt progress so I'm cool with that

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now this is where the Fun Level spiked to an all time high, the HURST bolt on sitck base arrived, and I couldn't be happier nor more proud of myself for doing this right and I will have a proper genuine HURST shifter to show for it, so happy

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

man the timing couldn't have been more perfect, the postman dropped off the Hurst parts as soon as I was done with painting, and although I was tired, I went right for it, had to replace that hockey slip-in base with the proper bolt-on type

here they are side by side with anatomies of both

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then it was time to disassembly the stick itself, clean it properly by soaking the bits in Mineral spirits and cleaning them with a steel wire brush, and put it all back together with white lightning grease, man the action is so smooth on this baby now it's like a hair trigger, jk

love jobs like these, The Greg is so happy!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Like!

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Great work as usual, can't wait to see the blacked-out trim out front of all the new green. About the Hurst shifter - were you kidding about it maybe hitting the dash?

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I'm impressed with the green paint and the match to the original color. I have done the same (using factory paint code to get color matched paint in a spray bomb) with mixed results. Typically, it seems as if the paint out of the can sprays too porous so my results have varied. Do you mind explaining more about what you are using? Maybe a pic of the spray can? Time between coats?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

we need to rebuild the actual Hurst shifter mechanism, but first let me take you back in time to show you how grimy she was when I bronged her home

so first we pop off the "dust" cover or the inspection plate, call it what you will, it lives below underneath the stick, and it was disgusting

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I like that you painted the parts that were "supposed" to be black body color. I'm anxious to see it all together.

DD = daily driver by the way.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thank you kindly, me too, can't wait to see it either, but if it don't work out I have something else up my sleeve, stay tuned, it's crazy cool.

honestly no idea, we shall see, the bendyness is way different than the stock stick as you can see

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

yes sir, did the same on the inner fenders, and I love how those turned out, it gives the engine more depth, focuses your eyes on the prize, otherwise you pop the hood open and you see a black hole, at least that's what happens in my minds eye, I've always dug the body color engine bays, and there are some super clean ones, but you all know that

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so yeah with that bottom plate popped off here's what we see or I should say can't see in there (you may wanna put your sumich down before scrolling down, ha ha)

I think I already hit it with some WD40 and started the cleaning process

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like I said these are some old pics from the archives, ha ha but I think its worth sharing on how we got here, I am so excited to finally work on this shifter and hopefully soon be enjoying it

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Daily Driver.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

If your shifter ever starts to feel floppy and rattles, those two bolts have come loose.