Project Mongrel - The 1500 to 2500HD SWB SCSB Step Side

[ddaxe]

About the only real challenge for getting the RC lift into the chassis was the upper control arm drop. It needed to be spread about 2''s. I cut the bracket in half, made little plates to be welded in to take up the space. It also meant that I had to make my own holes for it to bolt in. The psgr side had an access hole for a wrench, but not the drivers side. So I drilled another hole close so I could get a wrench in there to tighten it down. New bushings were pressed in the control arms and that's where I ran into a problem. While getting the old ones out, I accidently mushed one of the little side bushings in the press. With nothing to use, I turned to my lathe and quickly turned one out... having a lathe & mill, you can over come many obsticles

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[ddaxe]

I kept working away at the chassis, sandblasting everything I would reuse, though some stuff was just too far gone that I just bought new stuff as required... I butchered up the 2500 pretty good, cutting it up for it's good parts. There wasn't much left of it when I was done... I don't think I need to bore all of you with the details of ball joint or caliper replacement.. etc.. It's obvious by now this is a complete frame off resto... and realize most of everything would be changed out... right down to the smallest detail...

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[ddaxe]

After a full winter worth of work, what I ended up with was a completed chassis and engine. Shorty headers were put on the 454 and a 2 1/2 " true dual custom stainless exhaust system I fabbed with my pipe bender with Flowmaster 40 series mufflers installed. I didn't do much to the tranny or T-case except change out the seals & gaskets and cleaned off what I could get off them as they were working fine before disassembly. I'm a firm believer in.. " if it ain't broke.. don't fix it". I'm also leery of sandblasting something as sensitive as the tranny, unless I was going to totally take it apart and rebuild it.. as sand has a funny way of getting into everything when being shot around at high air pressure no matter how good you think its taped up.
The finished product turned out pretty nice. I wrapped up work in the shop by mid spring so I could do other things.. like playing festivals...fishing.. going to my camp or touring in my 71 Vette.. I began to gather stuff up for the next winter session of the build, which I got back into around early November. Time management and dedication are important if I wanted it to get done. I try to dedicate about 25-30 hours a week, sometimes more.

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[ddaxe]

Once getting back into the build, things moved along. The cab was set on the chassis and that's where the next step into solving the dreaded rust issues around the mounts on the chassis came about. I knew I had to deal with them early on. My solution was to use shock mount plates from railway equipment as I'm a certified Railway Mechanic and have access to a lot of scrap. The plates pretty much covered up what had rusted out on the mounts. I had to bore them in order for the poly bushings to go through them. Once I set the cab on, I made sure it was square before committing to welding them in. Now that I had the truck back on its wheels, the cab on, it was time to deal with the bed... oh yes.. the dreaded bed!! It was in sorry shape... But having bought a bead roller, shrinker & stretcher, I figured I could make new pieces and try to up my game in the sheet metal dept. I've chronicled that project in the body & paint section of the forum under "Stepside Bed Rail Repair" as I was looking for tips and or advise... unfortunately.. I didn't come across anything. So I forged ahead and posted my progress and it turned into more than just replacing the rails...much more.. I could of just as easily put on a short fleetside bed I have from one of my parts trucks that seems to be in good shape... but.. hey.. that wouldn't be fun.. hahaha... and not what I had in mind from the beginning... So, it took a couple of months dealing with that... I won't bother to post it in here... but if your curiosity is getting the better of you how it turned out... you can look it up

I figured I'd throw in a pic of what I do at my day job... We play with Big Boy Toys!!

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[ddaxe]

I would alternate my efforts back n forth between working on the bed and the cab. The cab I used was in pretty good shape, except for the cab corners. It is actually the only metal work that needed to be done to it. So it didn't take long to get that done. Though 1 point I did run into with the corners was I had to trim the bottom edge of them to get them to sit proper.
The drivers door also need attention down at the bottom edge. Instead of working on it, I had a good set of doors from another parts truck as I have 6 of them. I just transferred the guts from one to the other as the replacement was non power window.

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[ddaxe]

As things are nearing getting this bad boy running again, it was time to look into some meats & wheels. I doubt I'm going to beat on this truck as much as I did with my 84 Square body. So I was looking for a compromise when selecting the tires and went with Mickey Thompson's Deegan 38's measuring 35x12.5-16. For wheels, I couldn't find exactly what I was really looking for. I didn't want the "Bling" wheels of the day and was looking for more of an old school look. What I ended up getting is decent. Though if I come across what I'm really looking for, Ill probably switch. I'm going moderate with the build for now,but I do have a 3" body lift should I decide to put 38's under it later, which will probably happen.. lol...

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[ddaxe]

Presently, I'm about a days work from starting the engine. Just about everything is hooked up. I've been undercoating the new sheet metal, like front & inner fenders. It's lot easier to coat stuff when it's apart than back together. Canadian winters are murder on vehicles with all the salt they use on the roads and if you want them to last a good dousing is in order or all that work will just turn back into rust.. again... not what I want for all my effort. I've been test fitting the fenders and have noticed that I'm going to need to raise the rad support for some reason. Not much.. maybe 1/2" or so. Another issue I have run into is the front & rear parking brake cable joint. Being that I've altered things just a tad, I had ordered a front cable for a reg cab and the rear for a 2500HD ecsb thinking these would probably be the way to get them close. Well.. I wasn't too far off as the cables were about 7 inches apart. The problem was, the replacement joint is only about 3 inches long.
So I again turned to my lathe and made a piece that not only joins the 2, but is also adjustable.
It's been a long journey so far, but I have overcome many problems, relying on my experience to work them out. The body work will be next on the list. Sanding and prepping it for paint. I have had a gallon of nice red/burgundy that the paint supply store screwed up for one of their customers and they offered it to me for 40 bucks... ya.. that was a no brainer. I also had a gallon of clear that I picked up when I thought I was going to repaint my 84 Sq body.. but I went and stupidly sold it...(against the wife's advice) So far the build hasn't been too expensive considering all I have done to it. My total to date is about 7K... that includes wheels & tires. Anything done to it from here on out will be very minimal... I thought I'd throw in a pic of my 84 as it was another extensive build that me and the wife had fun wheeling through the bogs of Northern Ontario...

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[ddaxe]

Some of the other details of the build include the interior. I've lucked out as its mint. I don't really have to do anything, though I've toyed with idea of putting in buckets seats and console from one of the parts trucks. Only glitch is all my parts truck interiors are different colours. I'm good with the bench seat as it will allow for another passenger.
I have read a lot where guys had been asking about the heater hose from the intake to heater core and how to mod it, myself included. I was never a fan of the way GM had those clip in hoses. So while I was looking around for something else in my endless array of doodads. I came across a brass nipple that was the right size on the hose end, but not the intake side of things. It meant another round on the lathe. I tapped the intake hole to 3/4" course thread, took a 3/4" bolt and machined both so they'd press fit together, added a little JB Weld to be sure they are never coming apart. Yes, I could of just bought a nipple, but then, the only way to improve your skills is to do this sort of thing no matter how small, imo

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[ddaxe]

Here's one shot of the bed where I'm replacing the crossers underneath the floor. Notice the colour of the crosser where it will meet the bed, it's copper primer. I always use copper primer when welding body panels together (unless it's a butt joint). The reason is the bare metal in the seam is another breeding ground for rust. I also undercoated the inside of each because it will be near impossible to get at later.

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[ddaxe]

Another few hours in the shop yesterday had me getting some of the last details hooked up for a start up. But low n behold, I ran into a couple of snags. 1/ one the external trans cooler hoses wouldn't reach the hard line I had replaced. It's about 2 inches too short. 2/ the power steering return from the steering box fitting was seized and I had no choice but to break it off to get it out, because to tighten it, the hose wouldn't reach it's cooler as well. Set backs.. set backs.. oh well... it gave me a good excuse to go for a run on my sled. In the mean time I'll order or get a longer hose for the trany cooler line and another pwr steering return.

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