edwinsmith

You could take the plastic thing off and instead put something like a metal or plastic strip on the tank itself to protect it.

oliver foster

Last night I got the fuel lines and rear wire harness routed down the frame and re-attached mostly using the factory push pin style connectors. This puts me in a good spot to jack up the tank and install it with some freshly painted fuel tank straps.

I plan on leaving the plastic strip off the lower edge of the frame rail. I will keep an eye on the tank for any wear points and if needed use Edwin's idea of padding the tank rather than the frame, if I see any wear point developing.
Worst case scenario, I have a dozen other 1st gen fuel tanks stored, empty and ready to replace it with.

The last thing that got done was cleaning up a nice set of manual pedals. They where swapped in with fresh grease on the rod and pivot bushings. After all the contortion work under dash, I grabbed a cold IPA and hit the rain locker, AKA the shower.

I know this thread is slow going and seems like not much gets done on any given day. I am trying to showcase that these builds CAN get done with a spare hour or two here and there. Sometimes it seems like it will never get done...but if you don't give up, one day you can be driving that project you dreamed about.
It doesn't happen as fast as the shows that try to make you feel like custom show cars get built from rusted out hulks in a week....all it takes in $100,000, or more, stacks of brand new parts and a crew of a dozen people.

This is an example of an actual truck build that can be done by most any guy with an old truck, not a reality show style build, that is not really reality.

oliver foster

I had a couple of hours in the shop today to work on the truck.
I cleaned up the grease on the bed bolts and dunked them in some Evapo-Rust to clean them up. While I was letting them soak, I turned my attention to the engine bay.
The brakes res. got reattached to the booster. I threaded the clutch master through the firewall and connected it to the pedal. This took longer than you would expect as getting the rod properly installed with a good, used bushing [hard to find in the shop] on the pedals pivot rod and the E-clip properly installed was bit of a fight to get just right. I still need to drill out the firewall for the clutch hydro res. as it is an auto cab, I am using.

The power steering lines, heater core lines and the engine wires re-connected to the engine bay wires went smoothly though.

One question for you guys, as I rarely work on A/C systems... Is the metal gasket piece between the two lines that bolt to the firewall at the aluminum box, a one time use gasket? Like say the crush gasket for the exhaust manifold. If so is this a part I could get from NAPA?

I now see it is the Super Bowl tonight. The girlfriend wants to watch that on her smart [dumb?] phone, so the dogs and I are headed out to the shop to get some more work done.

The project is starting to look more like a truck again!

edwinsmith

I wouldn't ever reuse any of those metal A/C gaskets. Also get some NyLog ( I think) gasket sealer for A/C. You can get the gaskets at most A/C shops or Oreilly's has them. You can also get a complete gasket kit from RockAuto.

oliver foster

The fuel tank was installed the other night, without the plastic strips on the frame. There seems to be plenty of clearance. I should be able to wash out the dirt easily enough and plenty of room for some air movement.

Last night I bleed the air out of the OEM original fuel lines. I cracked the banjo bolt at the fuel filter and the applied a couple PSI into the fuel tank. As soon as I saw some fuel up at the filter, I started to use the primer button on the HVLP Lift Pump to purge the last bit of air. There is now fuel to the VE pump.

To make sure I am using a good 1st gen intercooler, I pressured tested the two I/Cs from the two rigs I am turning into one. Well one leaked and one didn't, which is actually better odds then I usually find. I find about 75% of OEM 1st gen intercoolers have at least some small leaks.
I use a very simple method to test I/Cs. I flip them over on a spare tire in the shop, I then added at least a gallon of water to them. If an hour later I don't have a puddle of water under the tire, the I/C passes my testing. The one that failed had a visible drip, drip, drip within 30 seconds.

It is about -20F here this morning so, it looks like a good day to get some work done in the shop as I throw wood at the fire.

oliver foster

Swapped in the manual PCM, manual steering column and cleaned up a different air box that was in better shape and installed with a new air filter tonight.

nonrev

Good morning fellow DTR members, Oliver sent me a few pics to show that he is actually working on this rig, not just sitting in the shop drinking IPA's and talking to the shop help

Frame actually is not in bad shape


Behind the tank was not too bad, using evapo rust seems to work pretty well and it's looking better all the time

Seal it up with some primer


Shop help say's it time for the IPA's now

oliver foster

Thanks for posting those Vern!

Good work cropping a few of the pictures to showcase the step by step improvement of the frame behind the fuel tank.
The first shot was what I started with.
The 2nd shot was after tapping off the loose flakes with a small hammer and wire brush / wire wheel.
The third shot was just after rinsing off things after a few hours of soaking in the Evapo-Rust product.

Vern, you even nailed the commentary to go along with the shots...Uma IS giving me the "can we take a IPA break yet?"... look in the last picture

KRB

Thanks Nonrev!

That frame section doesn't look too bad at all. Good deal.

"Uma", I like that name. She actually looks kinda bored. Not a 1st Gen fanatic? Or only when it comes to riding?

oliver foster

Uma might have been looking at me with some disgust after watching me push that truck around in a half circle to line it up with the bed that was on the lift.
I pushed, I pulled, I used a winch and a come-a-long and she just watched. She might be just looking at the drivers door and then back at me, trying to tell me that most people just use the door to jump in their rigs and drive them...

The past few nights I have just been fine tuning things. I didn't like the angle of the down pipe / exhaust and the front of the motor seems a little higher than the other rigs I have in the shop. I ended up shimming things with an added washer here and there trying to get clearances and body gaps at there best. It was micro adjustments that most shops would not have worried about, but I have the time and I wanted it to be as right as it could.
I shimmed up the rear transmission at the cross member up one washer to align the down pipe/ exhaust how I wanted. This also helped too lower the front of the motor slightly. I also shimmed up the core support with a couple of washers. This gave me a centered fan in the fan shroud but also a better gap at the back of the fenders.

I took more hours getting this all done than I would like to admit, but I am calling it done and I am happy with the results. It took a couple nights of taking things apart, mocking them up in different configurations, taking measurements, looking at stuff, and then taking it apart again to reassemble in a slightly different way.

I did get an older, but barely used Modine radiator hooked up with and OEM fan shroud before dinner tonight.
I hope to do some more reassembly this weekend.

oliver foster

I wanted to share a trick I just discovered a few nights ago, while I was checking if my factory front driveshaft would work with my front axle pushed forward 1 inch and my 2 inch lift.
My old driveshaft would fit but with the truck on the lift the slip shaft was very extended and I didn't love that. It was also going to need clearance for more droop around the Cardian joint.
I pulled out about 10 1st and 2nd gen driveshaft laid them on the tailgate, grabbed a beer and just looked at my options.

The '93 trucks I have noticed use a u-joint in the front which is slightly smaller that the earlier year u-joints. Well I noticed the '95 NV-4500 front driveshaft had the same part # on the front slip shaft as my '93 did. This told me they both should take the same U-joint.
This got me thinking. The NV-4500 driveshaft was about 2 inches longer and had a different design around the Cardigan joint, which would not need grinding to get the added droop.

Before this story gets too long, the point is... I used the a '94/'95 NV-4500 front driveshaft, gained the added length I needed and also saved myself from a bunch of grinding.
Last time I needed a longer front drive shaft for my lifted '85 crew cab, I had a driveshaft shop cut down an A-518 front drive shaft as those are about 6 inches longer than the Getrag ones. That was what I had as my back up plan, but finding out I could use OEM stuff I had around the shop was very cool. Now if I need a replacement front driveshaft, all I need is a factory early NV-4500 length one and I am good to go.

I thought I would pass this info. along incase it helped someone else.

oliver foster

In the past week...

The intercooler tubes and boots where cleaned up and installed. I picked through my boot and clamp selection for ones in nice shape.

The radiator was plumbed up using original hoses as the new hoses they sell now are thinner. I used OEM compression clamps on them and then filled the system with 100% antifreeze.

The steering column wiring was re-attached. I discovered the multifunction switch was missing it's nut cast into it for the bolt to tighten up the plug on it so I changed that out for one of the 2wd auto steering column.

The Getrag shifter stub was re-installed. I choose the threaded style shifter stub along with a new seal for the top cover that was designed for the G56 transmission but worked perfectly on the 'Rag.

I am modifying a '98-'02 style NV-4500 shifter which is a few inches shorter, with a small bend in it. This will make it a little lower and closer to me for a more comfortable shifting position with my long arms.

I swapped out the adjustment **** on the dash for the mirrors as the old one was in rough shape.

The dash panel with the O/D button and cargo light button was swapped out for one with just the cargo light hole and button making it look like everything in the cab was for a manual truck.

The to do list is getting smaller!

KRB

"The dash panel with the O/D button and cargo light button was swapped out for one with just the cargo light hole and button making it look like everything in the cab was for a manual truck." Now that is attention to detail! Please tell me you're not making sure all the bolts line up too though

nonrev

Winters are long and cold in the north country

oliver foster

Yes the winters are long up here. They are calling for 0F and 40 mile an hour gusts along with 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow. That counts as winter still.

KRB,
I have not gotten bad enough to tighten all the bolt heads the same way, so the heads line up, yet. I will be happy to not look at an OD button on the dash. I did chuckle to myself as I installed the cargo light wondering how often I would even use it.