Rust repair on the firewall

Before I weld in the new floor pan I needed to fix a couple rusty sections of the firewall.

Finished fitting the kick panel

Yesterday I finished fitting the patch for the passenger side kick panel. I also bent over the lip of the floor patch panel where it meets the firewall. The floor panel was stamped with an angled edge so it doesn't quite meet up with the firewall at the far right edge. I'm going to have to make a small piece to fit in there.

Finished fitting the floor pan patch panel

Today I finished fitting the floor pan patch panel. To hold it in place while I fit the other panels I screwed it down with some self-tapping metal screws. I'm starting on fitting the passenger side kick panel.

Rust repair

I started on some rust repair this week. I am replacing some rusted out areas of the floor, kick panels, door supports and rockers. Before cutting I braced the hinge side of the pillar with some scrap material I had laying around the garage so it wouldn't move and mess up the door alignment.

Engine install video

Time lapse video of me installing the engine, shifter and parking brake handle.

Test fit for the engine and transmission

I dropped in the engine to check the fit. The passenger side header touches one of the brake lines so I am going to have to tweak that. I also marked the transmission tunnel where I need to cut for the new shifter and parking brake handle.

Finished the brake lines

I finished bending and flaring the brake lines tonight. The old brake setup was a single master cylinder so there was only one brake line coming out of it. The new proportioning valve has separate outputs for each of the front calipers and one for the rear brakes. I think it turned out pretty good. Now I need to put some fluid in, bleed the lines and see if anything leaks.

Mason helping out

Mason helping me unbolt the engine from the crate.

Bed is back on

Running brake lines to front of the truck

Assembling the wood bed

I made a time lapse video of me assembling the wood bed on my truck. One tip I have to make the assembly easier is to use blue painters tape to hold down the carriage bolts while you thread on the nut from the bottom.



Here is the finished bed.

Painting the boards for the truck bed

Almost done with the POR-15 undercoat. Hopefully I can get the top coat on this week and then put the bed together next weekend.

Bracket for parking brake lever

I made some measurements and I determined that my new transmission mounted parking brake lever was going to be too far forward when it is mounted in the truck. I made a steel bracket to move the lever back and it allowed me to mount the parking brake cable bracket as well.

Manual transmission cross-member

While researching motor mounts and perches I ran across some information about cross-members for manual transmission trucks. I knew my truck had been a manual at some point in the past and it turns out my truck still had the old manual transmission cross-member. It isn't needed because my truck is now an automatic and the manual trans cross-member serves no structural purpose. It just gets in the way of exhaust and makes installing the engine/auto trans more difficult. I decided to remove it before dropping in the new engine and trans. It took about four hours of careful cutting and grinding to get it out.

More engine pictures

Man this thing is beautiful. It came with some nice stuff that I wasn't expecting like the braided line connecting the fuel rails and the billet fuel regulator. The ECU box is much bigger than I was expecting. I'll have to find a spot under the dash for it. The wiring harness looks a little intimidating but every connector is labeled and can only plug into one spot.

Unboxing the motor

My engine has arrived

My engine was just delivered! Cristy sent this picture to torture me. Man I can't wait to get home from work and open that crate. I think I might be coming down with something... cough, cough...

Got my transmission today

UPS Freight dropped off my transmission today. I had a bit of an argument with Summit Racing about the delivery though. I paid for 'delivery to my door' shipping but it turns out what Summit Racing means by 'delivery to your door' is really a big rig trailer six feet off the ground out in the street in front of your house. When I called the UPS freight office to schedule the delivery I asked if they were coming with a lift gate truck. They said no and it would be an additional $135 bucks if I needed a lift gate. So I called Summit and asked why the trans wasn't coming on a lift gate. The customer service person then informed me what 'delivery to your door' really meant. I informed him that I thought that was one of the stupidest things I have ever heard in my life. He begrudgingly agreed and made an exception "just this one time" to cover the cost of the lift gate truck.

I got it unpacked and started test fitting the shifter and the parking brake lever.

Headers arrived yesterday

The Hedman headers I ordered arrived last night. My TCI transmission is supposed to be delivered by truck tomorrow.

Update on my engine

My engine builder (Smeding Performance) just called to tell me they finished the engine and ran it on the dyno. The dyno results were 404HP and 446ft/lbs of torque! Quite a bit better than the advertised 370HP and 430ft/lbs. Mr. Kim joked it would be $50 bucks per HP for the extra. They are crating it up and it should be on a truck in a few days. Man I need to get the bed mounted back on the truck to make room for all the parts that are going to be showing up soon.

Front shock brackets

I got these front shock reinforcement brackets from CPP. They help support the shock stud to prevent damage to frame. They are easy to install. Just drill two 3/8" inch holes a bolt it on. I replaced the included hardware with grade 8 bolts I had laying around the garage.

Tubular motor perches from CPP

Here some pics of the CPP motor perches installed. They are supposed to give more clearance for headers and plumbing. They only mount in the forward mounting holes which brings the engine forward 4". I have to recheck my measurements for the water pump and electric fan. I think I will have to go with a short water pump and slim fan.

More parts from Classic Performance

After being back-ordered for several weeks the parts I ordered from Classic Performance Parts have finally arrived. I ordered their tubular motor perches, tubular transmission crossmember and front shock reinforcement brackets.

Finished installing the front swaybar

Front sway bar install

Last night I worked on installing the front sway bar. I got it lined up and first set of bolts in place but the generic bracket is going to require some fabrication for the second bolt.