48 chevy truck

[jaybee]

I continue noticing there's not a bit of extra space for coilovers on this suspension. Everything has to be positioned exactly right.

[kb426]

O&S had a good day in the shop. That means that there was a minimal amount of blood loss and I don't thing I messed anything up. LOL. The 1st pic is of the inside of a super 8.8 in case anybody cares. The changeout wasn't bad. Both the fill and drain plugs have magnets. The 15,000 mile unit had about the same amount of debris as the 90,000 mile unit. That made me feel that the initial break in was where the wear is. ? In order to fill the unit, I had to buy a 3/8" street ell to connect my funnel. The crossmember blocks the filler a little bit. That synthetic gear lube is pricing so I tried not to spill any. After finishing the changeover, I removed the lower washers I had roughed out for the carriage mounts and turned them all to the same diameter in the lathe. The carriage will get some work when I take this mess apart for some paint.

[kb426]

O&S worked on small stuff today. Sometime ago WzJunk mentioned that he now had an emergency brake. The Mustang rear had good cables so I set out to make them useful. I used nutserts to fasten them to the rear carrier frame. I fabbed a bracket for the cables to be attached to the driveshaft loop. The attachment area on the cables is about .090" from the cable stop. I machined the bracket to allow for that to work. There were extra cable brackets that I removed from the cables. That took more effort than I expected. The part that has the cable ends in it has a 5/16" hole for a an adjustment rod to run through and back to the brake handle. I mounted the rear brake line holders to the frame with 1/4" nutserts.

[kb426]

O&S spent a few hours in the shop this afternoon. I fabbed up the uprights to hold the radiator and grille shell in place. I took a 30 minute job and turned it into several hours. The bases are 1/4 x 2" strap. The uprights are 1 x 2 .125 wall tubing. I used the mill to cut them to length and make them as square as I could. I welded the bases to the uprights and quit. I ordered some more parts today. The list is getting shorter.

[kb426]

O&S set a record today. LOL. I have one tube in place with a lot of hours! In the spirit of making this useful and needing a mount for the Team Smart rumble seat, I decided to add a receiver hitch at the rear. I had decided on using 2 x4 in an upright position under the 2 x 4 that is the last crossmember. I got to thinking about that and decided that the horizontal position would add more strength. I had 2 pieces of tubing that I machined in the mill to make as square as I could and welded them together. The chassis is tapered so I ground a taper on the tube. Then the tube had to fit against a weld on both sides so I machined a relief in the top of the tube where it fits against the weld. After looking all over, I found a part that I used a long time ago that would work as a receiver for a 2" hitch. I put it in the mill and machined the ends square. Then this mess got welded into the chassis. There is an area on each end that I will use my pencil torch to weld. I bought one of those several years ago knowing that I would need it someday.

[kb426]

O&S had an exhausting day. LOL. I had some distractions so not much got accomplished. ( nice excuse) I hammered a flange on the new header pipes and welded in the O2 bungs. I cut and welded the extensions for the headers. I hadn't decided where I want the mufflers to be so I stopped at that point.

[kb426]

O&S looked at some different locations for mufflers before deciding on simple and effective. After making a decision, I cut the rest of the header pipes and welded them together. I had mixed emotions about welding versus clamping but decided that because of fairly close proximity to items that it might be better to weld them together. I'm going to use lap clamps on the mufflers and tail pipes. I used a 66 mustang radiator on the "rolling dumpster" project and the distance on the mounting flanges was 2" so 1x2 tubing made mounting simple. The ebay version had less distance so trimming was in order.

[jaybee]

I like that style of clamp. I find them easy to use, they provide a great seal, and you can reposition things or take them apart when needed.

[kb426]

O&S had an interesting day. I was going to get the radiator and grille shell mounted. The radiator supports weren't parallel. I stuck them in the mill and made a 25 thous. cut. Still not right. There is either a twist in the mounting tube or it's not perpendicular from end to end. A shim under one upright took care of that. I had to weld on some extensions to the cooling fan on one side to make mounting it doable. I plugged a battery into it and it moves air and doesn't whine. I mounted the grille shell in a similar way as I did in the rolling dumpster. I didn't like it. I lowered it and think that will be the better way to go. I have to get the sway bar mounted to see where there might be interference. After that, I opened up he box with the headlights in it. That last pic is what I found. One more phone call tomorrow.

[kb426]

Over here in the land of little progress, I at least made a decision. 1st thing this morning I moved the sway bar 1.25" forward. That was necessary for the bar to clear the coilovers and the rod end apparatus that I will fab later this week. There were natives lost in the yard so I took time to mow. I cut the top of the radiator supports some to lower the grille shell. I was not happy. I removed the front crossmember and started lowering it 2". Tomorrow, I will do a little machine work and weld the crossmember back together. The 2" drop will accomplish what I was looking for. Bracing the tube will take some creativity and it won't be as good as before. When I get this back together, I will know if version 3 is necessary.

[kb426]

O&S turned a couple of hour task into most of the day again. I needed to shorten the crossmember by about 45 thousandths. I stuck it in the mill and did the task. After tacking it together, I removed it and welded up all but where the brace on top was to be. I spent a lot of time fitting the 2 angle braces on the top. During all of this, I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why the radiator wasn't flat against the uprights. After doing a lot of measuring, I realized that the mounting brackets on the radiator weren't installed properly. It will take some washers to remedy this. The grille shell is mounted at the front of the radiator. That will make plumbing the condenser much easier. I may change that tomorrow. That was enough thinking for one day.

[jaybee]

You just built in room for some adjustment shims in your radiator mounts, that's all.

[kb426]

O&S had a light day. I spent way too long making lower brackets for the grille shell. After removing the radiator uprights, I was able to weld the last area on the angle braces on the crossmember. I have removed the frame stubs and have something of an idea for the extensions that will hold the headlights and taillights.

[kb426]

Here in the land of brain damage, I have the 4th try at frame horns. Unless the idea god helps me, this is it. LOL. These parts are 1 degree downhill from the frame rails at ride height. The access hole is to get to the fasteners for the headlights and turn signals. I will machine a cover plate for the hole with a slot for all of the wires.

[kb426]

O&S had quite a few hours with some progress. The 4 year old grandson showed up in the afternoon and things slowed. I started out with welding the bottom of the frame horns. The 48 Chevy steering wheel gave up it's hub for a wheel adapter. It took effort to remove the bakelight from the wheel to get to the metal support arms. The od was turned and it was faced on front and rear. GM was kind to use the same splines and horn riser for decades. I ground down the welds on the frame horns and mounted the grille insert. The mounting studs on the headlights were longer than needed so they got shortened. I removed the sway bar and removed the end bushings from it. It's time to make the new sway bar ends. That's about the time my 4 year old assistance arrived.