Re: Restoring Rusty
 

If you have a Tractor Supply nearby ,they sell bolts by the pound and much cheaper than Home Depot .

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thanks for the tip, I didn't know Tractor Supply had good prices on hardware, I usually go to Blue Collar Supply but it is all the way across town, so not worth it for 12 washers, lol

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3. install the Z bar (the thingie that connects the clutch pedal to the clutch fork in the bell housing for you automagic trans jockeys) - DONE

I won't lie to you I had to refer to some pictures to remember how all the springs go, but I got her installed, works too, lol

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I may have listed #4 and #5 out of order, no sense in tethering a wiring harness to a core support that aint in place properly, so we skipped #4 for now and decided to tackle #5

5. complete assembling the core support, with grille, headlights, and trim - Partially DONE

so I mounted the core support and realized I ran out of brand new body bolts, that's right I bought a box of 50, and that darn thing ate them all, ha ha

also I know things were going way too well, and they are never that easy, and sure enuff, I wet to put these grille brackets on my new donor 1979 core support only to realize the holes aint there

thank you GM for at least giving us the dimples, you're such a tease!!!

so now I am thinking do I just drill them holes, or do I entertain the idea of going with a '79 grille, hmmm?!

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Thanks for keeping us up to date Greg! I like the new shifter location!

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the '79 core support also had no where to mount the '74 center grille support brackets, oh well I guess these did not get on Noah's Arc in time so they just became extinct!

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so we wanted issues, we got issues, so just to summarize here are the four grille support brackets the way they hung on for dear life on the good ol' rusted 1973 radiator core support

at least we got good contrast so we can spot them easily

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at this point I decided to move on to re routing the headlight wiring harness

I started with the passenger side, it being the furthest away

let me tell you I absolutely love working with the old style electronic connectors and plugs, you just slip a baby flat screw driver in there and the contacts slide right out, lovely, what a concept, everything is fixable, everything is servicable, what happened people? where did we go wrong? ha ha

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well I didn't just take that plug apart for sport people, no I needed to do that to fit it through this there hole, since we is a trying to run the wiring harness under the top grille panel and out of sight

but having it off sure made it easier to clean and lube up a bit

trying to do things right folks, just trying to do things right, note the rubber grommet around the hole to keep the wires from shaffin, text book I tell yeah, text book, jk

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The 75-80 grills had different brackets than 73-74. I have seen the older conversion done on 75-80 trucks so it is possible. If you do decide to go with a newer grill, you will also have to change the center hood latch support as well.

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the headlight plug came off easily, but its little cousin from down south, aka the parking light plug put up a little fight, (you know how them Southerners can be, kidding people kidding)

Top Tip: take that little red straw out of the trash and use it on your WD-40 can to squirt a bit of juice down the wires into the rubber housings that should allow you to slide them up and down the wire out of the way, may take some finaglin'

and pretty soon we was through the hole and out the other side! Victory, Victory!

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there is no job too small for The Greg (sometimes, cleanin' is the only thing I think I'm good at!) :(

two dirty grommets...

one clean grommet, one still dirty grommet...

two clean grommets!

[Recycled] Top Tip: throw your old rubber bits in hot boiling water it will soften them up

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I really enjoyed this job, not because all the bits were clean and painted, but because I don't know I just like making things tidy and clean, I would love to have one of them clean engine bays some day, where folks look at it and all they say is: "Clean!" that's all I want, ha ha

... and all this will be hidden by the battery tray, win!

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thanks, and I might could, the 75/76 grilles happen to be my favorite, but its hard to make that jump given the time and energy I spent on cleaning and painting this one

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while moving over to do the other side, we learned that Marge the core support installation technician unbeknownst to Stu her supervisor did like to cut corners, and sometimes opted not to drill the 7th hole in the top of the core support

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the drive side headlight wiring harness section proved trickier as it is the middle section of the daisy chain run

I'm gonna have to come back, and cut ans splice the headlight plug 3 inches over so it's not that tight when I plug it in (I am currently out of butt connectors)

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so here's how the headlight wiring harness runs underneath and in front of the top grille panel now

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the top and bottom trim went on next, and these little clip screws is one thing I skimmed out on and did not buy new ones, but to make sure these fit nice and tight I used a flat punch and flipped them upside down and flattened the holes in them, there good as knew, the 3 lbs sledge may have been a bit of an overkill, but it was within reach, lol

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went out and bought brand new U style "fast" nuts in both sizes #8 for the headlights and #6 for the parking lights

will get black headlight bezel screws as the judges will definitely deduct at least 1/2 a point for the rusty chrome ones

apologies about the pics - it was getting dark

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what kept me going is that I just had to see how the grille will or will not mount without those missing '73 brackets, so I fitted it with only the 2 screws in the the center support

I love that second picture!

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alright, and it all must come off now, we need at least the two brackets by the headlights, so time to drill those holes

we used the long lost art of self tappin' screws (pronounced: lazy) to secure them, when they fall off we'll add some nuts to those bolts, ha ha

and passenger side done

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time to drill the driver side... and done!

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What's this, more parts, at this stage in the game?

Yup, after Clips and Fasteners dot com let me down (see small green box below) I had to order the right white nylon grille nuts

Funny thing is, I paid to get a box of the wrong ones, than I paid to get six of the right ones, and meanwhile since I can not use the '73 brackets, all I need is 2 of them and out of the six old ones, two are perfectly fine, ha ha

Classic Parts comes through again! Not to be confused with Classic Industries

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and so here's the '73 grille mounted up to the '79 core support, and supported with 2 screws in the middle bracket and 2 additional ones (one at each end by the headlights) good enuff fer me, IT'S A TRUCK!!!

and that's all the updates for tonight

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Trying to figure out what your doing then realize you have a GMC not a Chevy lol

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Great, so not only is there a difference between early seventies trucks (73-74) and late ones (75-79ish) but now you are telling me there is a difference between Chebbys and GMCs, ha ha ~ man I should've known

oh well my grill mounted fine,

FYI: I did rely on these LMC diagrams for a reference when buying the donor '79 core support and they claim the 73-80 core supports be the same

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Yeah its weird there was a few cross over years and I think 77-78 is when they switched from front released to interior release hoods as well which can screw up people.

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No difference between GMC and Chevy hardware they all mount the same. Your grill should be fine the way you mounted it, it is supported in the middle and on the ends.

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No actually they don't. There is drastic changes in how grilles mount to the front of these trucks. I discovered this myself when I swapped from my 74 grille to a 76 chevy grille.

Even the center mount was different between the two because of the depth of the grilles.

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there is a difference between year differences ie 73-74 vs 75-78

~ but ~

there is no difference between Chevy and GMC of the same year is what we all are trying to say?

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the 1983 El Camino 61" long drive shaft is ready to be taken to the Drive Line Shop to be shortened 2 1/4 inches (that factors in that my truck be lowered)

taking the "nice" car so had it wrapped like a salami

fingers crossed maidens

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Yes!

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Hey Gregski, check for clearance of the center bearing mounting bracket when you install your one-piece driveshaft. You may find that the bracket and shaft will become intimate under spring compression from bumps or load. And seeing as how you've raised the rear axle in relation to the frame, clearance becomes even more critical

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you can do the shaft yourself. it's not rocket surgery. just make sure the yokes are opposed.

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will do, thanks for the tip, though I removed the carrier bearing center bracket with the two piece drive shaft leaving only the cross member there, so I should be ok

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Don't use insulated Butt Conectors. They will come loose and cause all kinds of grief.

Solder and Heatshrink the connection. I generally use "Marine Grade" Adhesive Lined heat shrink on connections that will be exposed like these.
Radio Shack 60/40 Sn/Pb rosin core solder is generally pretty smoky. I use Kester 44 .80mm 66/44 Sn/Pb and MG Chemicals Liquid Flux on old wires. <---That 1lb spool and tiny bottle is a lifetime supply. You can wipe off any excess flux with Ispropyl Alcohol.
Use a wet sponge to clean the tip. It'll clean off the corrosive burnt flux leavins and oxidized lead and tin. You won't have to use tip-tinner cleaner as often, or maybe at all, if you keep the crud off the tip by wiping it often.
A third hand tool can be built with ROMEX and alligator clips... See the first few minutes of the last video. Eric uses a soldering gun. I don't recommend a soldering gun it's way to difficult to control the heat so it's way too easy to burn the wire jackets off.

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so took another Thursday off and drove up to Chico California to hunt in their Pick N Pull yard, came across a 1977 truck so decided to yank some of the grille brackets, just to have them really, at the time I didn't realize there was a difference between 77 and 79 ones, so here's a little style recap:

1973-74 (my truck)
1975-78 (this truck in the yard)
1979-80 (my new donor core support)

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they wanted another $22 bucks for these automatic transmission crossmember support brackets, I have the big bar already just wanted these to complete the ensemble, I'm just funny that way (a completionist I've been called)

I passed on these too, I can get them for like $3 bucks each at my local yards, where the cashiers are properly trained, I mean I am not trying to steal them I am just willing to pay what they are worth

the way I see it, metal is cheap, they can get .11 cents total for recycling all this metal, or they can sell it to me, but at 10,000% markup that's ridiculous

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