Ready to Receive

This was a big day.  The morning was spent putting in the brake lines from the master cylinder to the connections at the frame.  A cool front had apparently come through the night before 'cause the temperature was only 104 at 1:00, in the garage shaded by a tree.  Yesterday it hit 108.

About 2:30 Doug came over and we started disconnecting the donor trucks motor.  I was really concerned about how the engine perches were going to fit.  The previous owner had the motor sitting in kind of sideways and had drilled some holes that weren't factory.  The whole motor and tranny was torqued to the passenger side.  My guess was that they had done this for the headers to clear the bendix style power steering box on the drivers side. 

We pulled the front end off (thank goodness) and wrestled the 351w out of it's nest.  The engine perches were removed and installed in the '67.  The 351w not only slipped right in, it fit great and looks like a factory install.  Time from start to finish, 3 hours.

Getting the front end off was a big help.

Sharky keeping his eyes on invading squirrels 

Break time.  It was damn hot!

Yea, I picked that engine up and moved it.

Brake lines were the morning project.

The passenger side of the headers gets in to the frame.

Doesn't look like much clearance, but there is plenty of room.

Mission, Control

The two objectives for the day was to get the controls put in that come into the engine compartment.  Gas pedal, brake booster, and steering column were all set.  The steering column was a whipping but once together it was pretty satisfying to know that it was done.  Manage to do this without splitting the firewall cover.  Which will happen if I have to take it out again.

Trying To Avoid Spaghetti

I like things simple, especially brake lines and hoses.  Part of my reasoning to purchasing the prop valve combination was to avoid the spaghetti bowl of brake lines that came from the factory.  To follow that theme I spend quite a bit of time today installing/making brackets and bending lines using the steering gear box core as a mock up unit. 

Plug n Play brake lines.

Order extra line.  You will need it.

Every Which Away

 I was everywhere today, including working on the truck.  Woke up this morning and cooked breakfast for 10 guys at PK Lake then when Fishing.  Caught 1 cat and added it to what I skinned the night before.  There after is was off to a friends farm where he is having a pig problem and needed help with a trap.  Got home about 6 o'clock and worked on aligning my booster to the MC.  It when smoother than I had anticipated with the help of an insert provided with the MC and my exceptional high speed grinding prowess.  



This MC is ambidextrous but the Prop bracket is not.

Insert next to the MC

Insert in the MC

Adjustable booster shaft

Sharpen the Saw

Confusion continued today so I spent mucho time researching, measuring and the "on again, off again" for visualization made up most of the day.  Some more internal pieces got fresh coat of paint and I installed the brake assy.   The break booster and master cylinder that I needed was removed the other day from the donor truck and I spent some time mulling over the fact that the proportioning valve I got at the bone yard was questionable.  The master cylinder was something that I wouldn't really know until I tried it, not exactly what you would call "peace of mind" in the Big City.  TaDa!  In comes Performance Online.  This solves it all and I am so jazzed to have ordered this.  Brakes are done! (in my mind)

The next brain clutter that I was having a mental shut down with was the power steering gear.  The box was purchased back in October at the bone yard and it too had an unknown condition.  I knew what I wanted to do but my tightness was having a hard time with $300.  So I bit the bullet and ordered from Red-Head Steering Gears.

Now my mind is at ease and the dollars just saved me countless hours of work.  Don't forget to sharpen the saw and stop and think about $ vs. time.  You will be surprised at the solutions you find.

Donor Truck Motor

Booster has an adjustable stem for the new MC

Whole lot of nuthin'

You know how you get a bunch of stuff together and nothing really happens, well that was today.  Lots of head scratching and install/remove/install/remove.  Got the rear break lines in (nailed it!) and stared at the rest of it for a while.

Special Shout Out to a Friend

A couple of years ago some friends of ours invited us to a car show held at their church in Arlington on Fathers Day.  We showed up and as luck would have it, there was a bump side at the show.  As it turned out, it belonged to our friends father.  We sat and talked about all the things he did to it and it really got me thinking about my old daily driver.  

So 3 years later (last Fathers Day) we came again and took these pictures, but this time I had been working on mine.  Today I discovered Mr. Powell has been following this blog so I felt it necessary to post a few pictures of his FINE ride.  It is as nice in person as in pictures and part of the reason I began working on mine.  Thank you for bringing my automotive disease out of remission.

Airliner Headliner

Kydex has multiple uses, one of which is aircraft interiors.  Good enough for plane, good enough for me.  Below are the steps I took to make the headliner.  During trial fitting, I only had to do 2 corner adjustment cuts.  Had it not been for having to rub all the 20 year old scuz off the chrome frame, I would have be done in 1.5 hours.  It looks better in person than it does in pictures.

Home again, home again Jiggity Jog

So now I know why most folks get half way through a project, take a break and then never start up again.  Upon returning to the project every thing looks so overwhelming it is hard to get going.

Today some good stuff happened.  I made some yoga mat sound panels for the inside of the doors to eliminate the "tin can" sound.  Then I saw the Frost King insulation on the shelf that didn't work for something else.  I lined the inside of the door panel with it and it worked perfectly!  Got most of both doors back together today and it feels like things are moving forward again plus I made some space in the garage.

Old Truck eye candy

Love the old Semi's

Flashing used for sound panels

Frost King on the door Panel

One of 3 sound panels in each door