My winter project. 1974 W100 Utiline

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Finally starting to paint :cheers:. Primered and painted the dash, core support and inside of the quarters. Turned out pretty good. The color is bright blue metallic.
 

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This is really cool, Trucks are cheap and are starting to sell for more and more, good investment.
 
Well I've been busy running brake lines, painting the front axle and installing a new cover gasket and doing body work and other boring stuff. The cab is almost stripped and a few small dings have been repaired. The good news is there was no rust and no body filler to sand down. :cheers: It will be getting primer in a couple of days.

I dropped off my bench seat at the upholstery shop today. It should be ready in a couple of weeks. It's gonna be sweet! Going with a two tone blue in marine vinyl.
 

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I got all of my adjustable shocks mocked up (and no they are not mounted upside down, that is the way ProComp says to mount them) and I also welded up some upper shock mounts, because the factory mounts were a little too high, because I ended up lifting the suspension about 6" instead of 4" :snakeman:. They are a little ugly, but plenty strong.


I also fabricated some lift blocks on the bridgeport at work to help level it out. So it now sits 2" taller than the previous pics. I think sway bars will be needed. :-D

I will have more pics in the next couple of days.


I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you should mount shocks in double shear not single shear. Those top mounts for the front shocks will snap off. This is critical with heavy vehicles. Just a thought. Brackets are readily available pre-made.

http://http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Coilover-Shock-Tabs_c_197.html

Also: Does the rear spacer have a through bolt? You might check driveline angle and machine a couple of degrees of angle in the top spacer to keep the driveshaft angle correct.

Thanks
 
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you should mount shocks in double shear not single shear. Those top mounts for the front shocks will snap off. This is critical with heavy vehicles. Just a thought. Brackets are readily available pre-made.

http://http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Coilover-Shock-Tabs_c_197.html

Also: Does the rear spacer have a through bolt? You might check driveline angle and machine a couple of degrees of angle in the top spacer to keep the driveshaft angle correct.

Thanks

Thanks for your input, but all of the trucks from the factory came with a single shear set up. I have thought about this already and will upgrade later if I need to.

Yes the lift blocks in the rear do have a through bolt to hold them in place. The driveshaft angle and pinion angle is actually really good, because I did not drop the front of the rear spring.

I'm a member over at RC and those guys say that I will be fine.
 
you have done an outstanding job. I wish i could pull something like that off. Oh and by the way those wheels/tires look freakin awesome!! I love em
 
Thanks Varlo. Finally got a day off so I have been prepping the cab for primer. I will also shoot the firewall and jambs in color today (No black Chevy engine bays in my garage). ;-) Now I'm just waiting on the primer to dry enough to mask.
 

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A little color. Now I can install the motor and trans and front clip. The Jambs on the doors will be painted next and installed, so I can start blocking.
 

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So I had to pull the dart in the garage to pull the motor that is going in the truck. I had to make a little video before I drove it around the block.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCjc1rPRiCw"]YouTube - Dart before teardown[/ame]
 
Well I finally got the 318/4 speed installed over the last couple of days. I also installed new motor mounts, clutch assembly and new mini starter. I love finding stuff that I forgot I had. I was digging through some boxes in the corner of the garage and found some M/T valve covers.
 

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Call me crazy, but I plan on restoring this wood Grant wheel that I have been saving for a project and using it on the truck. I think that it's sweet and the wood is actually in good shape. I plan on sanding and staining the wood, sand blasting and painting the frame and installing all new stainless hardware to hold it together. Just wait it's gonna be sweet!
 

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Here it is after media blasting the frame, sanding and staining the wood. I used textured paint, because I like the look. I think that it turned out pretty sweet. What do you think?
 

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Finally made a little progress on the truck today. Finished up most of the engine wiring, media blasted and sprayed the headers with some VHT paint and hung the front quarters. Wahoo! It's nice to see how tall the thing will actually be. Next I will be welding up the exhaust. The collectors are 3". I will be running both 3" to a muffler and then exit to a single 3". I don't want to kill the torque with too much flow.
 

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Damn, you're a one man army. Nice progress in a small amout of time. Looking forward to the finished prduct.

I feel like that I should be done already. :sad1: I started welding up the exhaust. I plan on running 3" pipe to a Y pipe then out with a single 3" turbo muffler.
 

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Looking great Badart. Just a question, are you going to run without the inner fenders?
 
So I started to pull the steering column for paint and I noticed the lower bearing was seized up and the shaft was just spinning in the ceramic bearing inner race. I was bored tonight at work and made an aluminum housing with a sealed bearing on the lathe. Should be very strong and is held in place with a snap ring and has stainless steel hardware. What do you think?

:thumbup::thumbup:, Dang Badart!! you sure have got allot dun this winter :headbang:
You have the stance down pat bud! And I am enjoying all the cool fab work you are doing.
I have got to say I like your color and the price on the wheels :thumbup: man that was a buy. You do great work and I was so surprised to see paint going on as I went through this thread to get updated on your progress
 
Looking great Badart. Just a question, are you going to run without the inner fenders?

Thanks HemiPar. I will be installing the inner fenders once all of the bugs are worked out with the motor install. It's much easier to work on it when you can stand where the inner fenders are. The inner fenders will be painted and undercoated when I install them.
 
:thumbup::thumbup:, Dang Badart!! you sure have got allot dun this winter :headbang:
You have the stance down pat bud! And I am enjoying all the cool fab work you are doing.
I have got to say I like your color and the price on the wheels :thumbup: man that was a buy. You do great work and I was so surprised to see paint going on as I went through this thread to get updated on your progress

Thanks Memike. I should have everything painted except for the bed in a week or so. I plan on having it running in a couple of weeks. Spring will be here soon.
 
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