71 C10 LB: Code Name Sloth

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by rechinca

Thinking here (dangerous I know) but has anyone used a bronze bushing in here to help prevent wear? I know I may have to drill out the bell crank to give room for the bushing but since it’s all apart it would be a simple fix now.

My two cents is that I would be disinclined to put a softer metal at a wear point like that. True, you can swap out the bushing but it seems that it might wear fairly quickly there. The original hole held up pretty well for 50 years, considering.

Also, I wanted to say that I appreciate a welder who will charge $15 for a small job like that, knowing that he could get 35 pretty easily, and probably even 45, without losing too many customers. Probably only takes him five or six minutes, but still...

Sorry about the multiple posts, but there were a number of things here that I thought it worth commenting on. Hopefully you will have this neat ride up and running soon and can enjoy it. And use it to haul parts for the Trans Am. I'd like to see pictures of that too as I am a bit partial to those myself.

[rechinca]

I plan on pulling the shift rods and trunnions off in a couple of weeks to wire wheel/blast and paint. I am out of time for this weekend (yeah my weekend is Monday-Wednesday this week) and next week I have to head to Northern Oregon to bring the boy home from college for the summer. Maybe then I can get my radiator mounts finished.

[rechinca]

More parts on order but got some stuff cleaned up and a new one in from Wyoming and Harlow. My bracket at the end of the clutch pedal (where it hooks to the upper clutch rod) was just plain worn out. Harlow sent me an as advertised near mint one including the bolt and spring clip to secure the clutch rod! I also finally took apart the booster bracket, media blasted it and painted it up with VHT epoxy Satin Black. Looks pretty good I think.

[rechinca]

Lots of little things done, tons more as I mission-creep 1 step forward 2 steps back. No pics on the first part, but what I have is a new to me 3 core radiator sourced and installed. Aftermarket rubbers for the radiator brackets suck. I ground a crap load off to modify the profile enough they would allow the radiator to sit in the support low enough that the 7-blade fan & clutch wouldn’t hit. It’s only in temporary right now as I have decided to install factory brackets/pulleys to give me PS. The manual box was shot and completely unsafe.

I didn’t want to install my refurbished PB booster bracket and booster yet as the firewall behind it was so ugly from a leaky master cylinder. Lots of surface rust. Add in a non-existent boot for the brake pushrod and a shot column seal and I felt it best to properly (or at least semi-half-assed) clean the firewall in that area and spray at least a 2’x2’ area back the factory orange. Which you guessed right, the steering column is now out and in the garage! It will be at least two weeks before I get back to her due to work and some house repairs.

I did get in the clutch rod bracket/connector at the end of the clutch pedal shaft. Beautiful part from a board member that required 2 minutes of bead blasting them some satin clear to make it ready to install. Hopefully some pics on my days off this week.

Lastly, purchased a Vulcan brand multi-process welder. It was about 30% of the new price with less than 3’ of flux wire used. TIG and stick attachments are still boxed up as well as the gas meter. Guy never used it, had his receipt and it was 4 months old. He needed money so I bought it with a decent helmet, gloves and jacket. Figured it was cheaper than a bargain basement MIG only so if I kill it learning how to weld I am really ahead of the game. Plus I have some small areas to tack up and weld shut I need to do before I reinstall the heater box and get the engine filled with coolant.

[rechinca]

Been way too long since I have gotten any work done on it!

Had to do some wiring in the garage to handle the welder. The panel and breaker were already there but I had my compressor hard wired into it. Got that fixed, so I got some blasting done! I had some issues in my wiring gutter that needed attention. Namely, the dreaded rust through...mostly just some spots where the old seam sealer allowed water penetration and fostered rust in the three sandwiched layers. From what I can see it is mainly in the level of the inner cowl to firewall. My plan is to have my helper hold a copper welding spoon to the back side of the holes while I do some small tacks across the holes and fill them in. If it doesn’t work I will then have to try the fun task of welding in a patch in that channel and I really didn’t want to disassemble my cab. Although let’s be honest here, the column gauges and outer heater box are already removed so there isn’t much more to go.

[rechinca]

Here is the view from the bottom side. I am trying to just get this solid enough I can stop my water leaks til I can afford the time and money to do the cab right. I realize I may end up just re-doing the effort later with proper metal replacement, but I need to get this sealed up somewhat right so I can seal the seam before winter rains get in the cab any more. I don’t have the indoor space to put this (Trans Am that is blown apart is occupying that now) to long term this project. If you have any advice or thoughts I’ll gladly take them!

[rechinca]

Wow, it has been almost a year since an update?! Just goes to show the new job I took last year has kept me way too busy!

Right now, and for last several months, Sloth has languished in the driveway with no front sheet metal and the engine wrapped in layers of visqueen. Rust in the lower cowl has been cut out and the radiator support has been stripped and prepped for the Brothers patch panel to go in. Which also means I got a new toy in a Miller 215 Multi process welder.

Tomorrow the engine trans comes out so I can clean the frame for paint as well as remove the front suspension for powder coating. All new bushings and CPP modular drop spindles will be going back in. Thank goodness for work from home most days! Hopefully a driver again within the month!

[rechinca]

Nothing like a driveway build.

[rechinca]

More work done! Front part of frame is stripped to bare steel! Looks pretty good. A lot of Purple Power with a green scuff pad took the majority of 49 years or grease, grit and grime off (and some of the rust). Then hit it with a wire wheel on my angle grinder and it was almost perfect clean steel. I coated it with two coats of Eastwood Platinum rust encapsulator the. Two coats of Extreme Chassis Satin Black. Looks pretty dang nice! Love the way this paint lays and sprays out of the can.

[rechinca]

Now for the question I didn’t want to ask. Here are some pics from the inside of the cylinders. I am thinking it’s a pretty solid “time to rebuild” issue. Let me know what you guys think. Keeping in mind I could stretch for a rebuild right now plus it’s out of the truck on a stand at this moment.

[rechinca]

Gaining serious traction today. I bought a Miller Multimatic 215 to learn to weld for this project. Hadn’t tried it out yet so no time like the present! Fired it up and finished the patch on the passenger side of the radiator support. Not pretty and had a fair amount of grinding to do, but got good penetration judging from the back side. Practice makes perfect and I have a LOT of patches to do!

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by rechinca

Now for the question I didn’t want to ask. Here are some pics from the inside of the cylinders. I am thinking it’s a pretty solid “time to rebuild” issue. Let me know what you guys think. Keeping in mind I could stretch for a rebuild right now plus it’s out of the truck on a stand at this moment.

Piston scuffing. I agree it would be time for a rebuild. Keep the new engine from running too lean to avoid piston scuffing in the future.

[rechinca]

Ok, disassembly went even more sideways last couple of days. Pulled the control arms and crossmember for detailing and powder coating after we pulled the engine and trans. More and more amazed at the idiot who worked on this previously to me.

Starter: top ear was broken but at least the grease and dirt buildup was holding the bolt in from the back of the bellhousing. Middle was good and snug, wait WTH is that third bolt???

Clutch: yep like the previous owner stated it had a new clutch recently, flywheel...waiting to hear back from the machine shop. It was UGLY with hot spots. Never understood why guys don’t get those done since they are that far into the trans removal. Oh yeah, missing two bellhousing bolts too. I mean all those threaded holes are just suggestions right?!

So as she sits in the driveway, Sloth is naked from the firewall forward.

[Ol Blue K20]

That welder is gonna come in handy.

[Low Elco]

Congrats on the welder, .023, 75/25 and low heat for the sheet stuff. Gonna be a neet beater when you get it rolling!

[rechinca]

Finally got started patching the lower cowl today. Learning to weld and make patch panels makes for an interesting day. And Ol Blue (Dennis) stopped by. Got to meet him and talk shop for a while.

Had to make two patches. Once I started welding in the first one, found I had some thin spots in the seam and had some blow throughs. Not a problem, cut out some more bad metal and made patch #2. Overall, not bad for a first timer. Learned a couple things and was able to work on my technique in an area that will be completely hidden once it’s back together.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looks good to me...oh and by the way, my name is Dale.

[rechinca]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looks good to me...oh and by the way, my name is Dale.

How the hell dis I do that Dale? Next time I owe you beers! That’s what I get spending so much time out in the sun welding and grinding!

[rechinca]

I know I posted in a couple of other spots, but I wanted to keep all of my stuff running in one fluid thread too for documentation purposes.

So word to the wise, be way more careful than I was with the spot weld cutters. Got a little aggressive in a couple of spots. Caused several drill through locations with the next layer of metal leaving 5/16” holes to fill. Then it hit me, one of my flanger/hole punch tools makes 5/16” holes which provided perfect little pieces for filler matterial!

[rechinca]

Lower cowl patch and repair completed. I treated a bunch of the areas around the fresh air vents with Permatex rust convertor after scraping out all of the old seam sealer and sanding down any rust I could get to.

** little tip her me for rust on the bottom side of the vent holes *
- I used Emory cloth as well as some 80 grit paper cut in strips and ran it back and forth like you were polishing metal. Cleaned up a lot of the heavy scale rust hidden up under there!

I hit everything in the lower cowl and the vent area with Eastwood Platinum Encapsulator. I brushed it on and it covers very well. Do yourself a favor and buy a couple of decent brushes though. I spent $10 total on good 1 1/2” and 2 1/2” Ace Hardware brand brushes and it left zero brush strokes.

Next up will be covering all of the seams with fresh seam sealer and then painting before welding in the new inner cowl panel.

[rechinca]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Hopefully, brakes are on your hit list before you take it on the road.

Decided on CPP modular 2 1/2” drop spindles and 1” drop springs for the front with all new calipers, rotors, MC, booster, and all new lines. Not taking a chance!

[rechinca]

A few steps closer! Got the rotors, all of the steering components and the wheels on it! Back on its own feet at least! And then the super fun task of the 100+ holes drilled into the replacement inner cowl. Gonna be busy plug welding tomorrow as I have to work Thursday - Sunday so it probably won’t be finished being welded in til Monday some time.

[Ol Blue K20]

With all this practice. Blue is in line....lol

[rechinca]

Finally figuring out my settings Dale, even though it’s an auto set welder still have to dial it in for the breeze even though I build a tent and wind guard around it. Also had a couple of spots where the factory metal was warped and dented from my impatience at removing the inner cowl. All I have to say is a lot of patience and some yellow label cold snacks. Take turns with a partner or take a couple of days as it is frustrating as hell. And don’t let it intimidate you. But I also found there is just about no mistakes you can’t fix or repair.

I did get the control arms assembled and the new drop springs/spindles installed, but had to work this weekend so didn’t get the bearings/rotors installed so I could set it back down on the ground yet. Also didn’t grab pics of that so Monday will be more updates while they replace our furnace and AC at the house.

[Ol Blue K20]

Cool, I washed the girlfriend's car and Blue today. This ash is kicking my ash. Lol