Rudy's 72

[RudyO]

My distillery...

Yes, that's a diesel jug. I rinse it out with Brakleen and let it dry out if I use it for gasoline. Don't have a diesel anymore, so had to put the jug back in service for a minute, lol.

 

[RudyO]

Mailman has a lot of useable pieces cheap. Can get a set of unsprung hinges, the full non-A/C heater system, the gauge face, a intact battery tray and braces for $50.00. Will be getting back with him once I have a lil green back in the pocket. Gotta write up another inventory first.

I definitely have to decide on the heater situation before I start throwing the front sheetmetal back on. How hot does a stock heater manage anyway? Going hunting in Wisconsin in November.

 

[bp71k5]

My stock heater combined with the exhaust heat under the floor gets pretty hot.

 

[RudyO]

Day 30:

Did a little cleanup- blasted/vacuumed some of the trees out of the cowl, and blew out the interior of metal shavings from the body mounts. Cut off the Caterpiller exhaust and most of the funky stuff underneath. Began disassembling some of the dash. Took as many pics of the wiring from different angles as I could.

I need to patch that firewall before anything is really gonna get done, so tomorrow I will be starting on pulling the electricals. The left hole I could pry get away with, but the right side is directly behind the jute padding.



Oh, and after looking at the first pic, I just saw a third spot directly in the upper middle of the firewall... That's not a hole though, but it is about a four inch tear.

 

[scottishdave]

where in the hell did those holes come from?

 

[RudyO]

Gonna guess a BFH and tin snips from a PO, to make room for a 396. Hey, at least the badge swap was clean, lol. Wish I had built that English wheel now. Ah well, beater bag and mallet time...

 

[RudyO]

Anyone able to get a clear unmolested pic of the same angle as Pic #2 above? The PO mangled the bracing behind it, so hard to tell how I need to make the patch.

Looked at page 5 of Greg's thread, but I need something closer. Is that hole right on the bend? And also, what is it for, and if I have to duplicate it, what is the diameter?

Thx in advance.

 

[bigblock72]

Here's the best pic I have of that area complete with big block valve cover for reference.

The hole is for clutch linkage.

 

[RudyO]

Very much appreciated!! So I can patch over that. Now to figure out how to replace that bend in front of the brace... Compressors caught up- BBL

 

[RudyO]

Day 29: No progess due to work... Did order some Rust Bullet though. Decided I'd use that before I did the body mounts.

Day 28: Got the heater and A/C stuff removed.

Day 27: Day off. Picked up the gas tank, HD radiator, heater core, and sending unit. Got back home and went to town on the electrical. All gutted except for the ignition (misplaced keys). Wasted about three hours due to that key... Did find a corner of a $10 bill, but not the rest of it.

Cut out most of the damage to the firewall before it got dark. Used some chunks of 80' Firebird quarter panel for the patches.

 

[RudyO]

Ah,fudge...
Decided to give up on trying to make that run. Too much other stuff happening to make any real progress. Springs and Rust Bullet arrived today.

 

[NV_K5]

GMC blue is still wrong....

Blue reminds me more of Pontiac for some reason.

Icon - Richard Petty 1984ish.

 

[RudyO]

Lol, yeah I hear ya. Already bought the can of Chevy Orange. Almost did it this weekend but for the weather.

 

[Greg72]

Ah,fudge...
Decided to give up on trying to make that run. Too much other stuff happening to make any real progress....

Sorry to hear that, but I can't say I'm surprised. It's not easy to thrash and get a vehicle done by a deadline. I did about a 3-week thrash before BlazerBash 2002 and it nearly killed me. Up until midnight every night, and I had a guy helping me that was logging those same kind of hours to get things done.

Keep chugging along though...if you let it sit, and just give up because you aren't going to the event your motivation will slip away in a hurry. There will be another event later in the year, and you don't want to be left behind a second time.

 

[70jimmy]

Yep missed taking my rig to blazer bash once myself, ended up driving my explorer and running shotgun. Still was a blast though!!

Take your time and do it right and you can feel better that you didn't take shortcuts to get it ready!

 

[RudyO]

By no means giving up, just slowing down. Was a time when I'd get off work and stay in the garage til 5:00 A.M.. Can still do that but now it's a bear to get up the next morning, heh.

I still try to do at least something each day, no matter how small it seems, but realistically, I know the wiring harness will be the bottleneck. I don't like messing with electrical to begin with, and it scares me, but it's something I've never done, and I want to learn. So I know I will be taking baby steps on that project.

 

[RudyO]

It decided to rain a lil to day, so worked on the tubing bender a lil. Mail man was good to me today also- got my reference materials. These discs are worth their weight in gold- have one for my Challenger- highly recommended!

 

[RudyO]

Been raining for a week now, so I got to weld a lil, then put everything back in the garage til it dried out again. But the patches are in, and it quit raining for a minute so I'm out there grinding the welds down til it rains again... Really like those 60 grit 2 inch discs- much easier than a 4.5 inch grinder and flapper disc.



Also threw a bead from the inside just to be on the safe side. Quite a bit of burn through til I used the advice posted on the tool page and started lapping the stitches. The triangular patch in the second pic is where I started improving on the technique. Plenty more metal to weld, plenty more practice, lol.

 

[jimbug]

looks good i'm in......

 

[RudyO]

Today is the run. Also the first day it hasn't rained in over three weeks. I get to drive the wifes' Cherokee...