My new truck

I'm using the same c notches on my 79. That bumper looks good on there in gloss black and tucked in. For rear hop I had a set of homemade slapper bars for the longest time. It got me into the 10s like that. I now have Caltracs and my et has improved once I got a hang on them.
 
I see the stance of your truck it is killer. However in the interest of functionality and utility, I would raise the arse 1" and only haul 500 pounds of garage door to the dump next time. Seriously 1" wouldn't hurt the looks and I'm with Bump leave the frame rails alone. They have made it 40 years without the torch.
 
Ugh, now u guys are makin me feel guilty! Air shocks are for hacks. There's no practical way to get the rear an inch higher with an axle flip. Bags are great for hauling but u have to always keep some air in them and they ride like crap unloaded.

If it was just loaded when it bottomed I'd be ok with it but I also hit a bump a few days later empty and it bottomed again .,. Not good for the kidneys

I need to measure for fuel lines today, I'll put my thinking cap on and look at it again.

Anyone tried holley's hydromat?
 
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Josh air shocks are not for hacks. OEM on Chev Elcamino. My 87 had them. I use to keep about 20 psi in them, I think it is the way to go for you and your truck, think about it.
 
droppedf100 said:
I say notch it. And cut a coil off the front while your at it lol.
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Many boxes of expensive parts are on the way.

Dropped do you have pics of your install? Did u bolt or weld it?

Here's the deal guys. I know my truck is nice...but I try my best to get my modifications to an OE level of functionality. Not being able to tow/haul with the truck anymore or stiffening up the rear ride with air bags or air shocks is not a fix to me. The truck drives like a dream now. Except when hauling and the rare unexpected kicker bump that causes a bruised kidney or two.

In my experience things like stiffening up the ride, a lean tip-in carb bog and such are things that really take the joy out of driving, and I drive this truck a lot.

If you know me, you know it will be clean, sanitary and proper. It's also still something that can be put back with a little weld and grind.

Dropped; interested to see how u ran Slappers with a flipped axle? Have about $97 left in the budget so I'll probably have to build my traction control devices

P.S. Holley's hydramat is crazy expensive. I ordered the in-tank setup from TanksInc along with their LS fuel line kit, just a touch under $500
 
My c notches are welded in. I don't have any good pics but they can definitely be bolted on if that's your preference.

Here are some pics of my old slapper bars.

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We basically used a 1.5x3" rectangle tube and welded it to a set of aftermarket u-bolt plates that came with my flip kit. The u bolts in the front kept them from pointing down in the front. Snubber kit came from Lakewood.



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droppedf100 said:
My c notches are welded in. I don't have any good pics but they can definitely be bolted on if that's your preference.

Here are some pics of my old slapper bars.

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We basically used a 1.5x3" rectangle tube and welded it to a set of aftermarket u-bolt plates that came with my flip kit. The u bolts in the front kept them from pointing down in the front. Snubber kit came from Lakewood.



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That's exactly what I had in mind. I worried they would be too low though, did they ever drag on anything? Did u just do rosette welds in the c-notch bolt holes and then weld all the way around the perimeter?
 
HIVOLTJ said:
That's exactly what I had in mind. I worried they would be too low though, did they ever drag on anything? Did u just do rosette welds in the c-notch bolt holes and then weld all the way around the perimeter?
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I never hung them up on anything before. And yes on the c notch exactly
 
Well men, it's not looking good. In fact it looks downright grim. I will not be enjoying the driveability of my new EFI system any time soon. Just received an updated email from Summit and apparently my new shipping date is August freakin first. This year at least, not next. There's no way Bruce is sitting in the garage all summer so I guess I'll finish out the season with the carb.






Took a trip to the car wash and hosed off the rear end. Looks like tank has been replaced previously.



Just snapped a pic quick of the front leveled on jack stands, turned out really cool for some reason. I checked level throughout the truck while setting it up, don't want the frame to be twisted or bound at all when I'll be cutting and welding on it.




After heating and scraping undercoating for an hour or so I was ready to hang a plumb bob and mark the axle centerline. Still need more cleaning before it's good enough to weld to.

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Front spring eye bolt on the passenger's side was seized to the sleeve so I had to kill it with fire. Mmm burning rubber. Still smoking in the pic though I couldn't quite capture it.







That'll be it for this week, headed back to my day job. Wing window seals from DC Ford showed up today.
 
One of my front leaf spring bolts was seized too when I installed the caltrac bars. It took an insane amount of sawzaw blades to cut it on both sides
 
Top pic is kinda blurry but I traced around a socket at the top corners and drilled holes. I've always been told you never want sharp corners on a frame cut; it's a stress point for cracks to form. I used a plumb bob to find the axle center line, which is a bit rear of th stock location. The djm flip brackets move the rear end back a bit to stop the driveshaft from bottoming.










I made the cut a bit on the safe side and had to sneak up on the right fit with more cutting and a bit of grinding; tedious!

The frame curves in just a bit ahead of the axle. I heated the flat c-notch plates with a torch and cranked them down with c-clamps and vice grips. I also pre-heated the notch plates before welding. I welded with my Hobart handler 140 which required 2 passes for 1/4" metal. According to my heat marks penetration was good. This was my first time doing two passes and the top welds aren't very pretty
 
I also welded short beads on different areas moving around to avoid putting too much heat in the frame



























Spent a few hours scraping undercoating off the frame, please don't let friends use undercoating. Dressed the welds on the frame and sprayed the weld area with primer. I received my 3G alternator kit from rebuilder in a box and started on that. I also pulled the battery, old 1g alternator and voltage regulator, fan and shroud. I found a NIB 16" electric fan on my parts shelf to use.
 
Progress has been slow, it's been hot, I'm working night shift and we had a hail storm which totalled my car and damaged my house. OK, excuses aside some good things have happened. Found me an '05 Super crew to replace the car and my FiTech has arrived a few weeks early.





Engine is torn back into, carb went on craigslist. I will be utilizing the timing control of the FiTech EFI so the distributor is out to lock the advance and "phase" it. While I'm in there going to clean the intake with some wheel cleaner and kick myself for not painting or clearing it.

$995 worth of happiness!











Very impressed with the initial quality, packaging and instructions. Two thumbs way up from this guy.

Went to the shop for a bit last night and it didn't go great. Took the low hanging fruit and welded on the 02 bung plate as it was an easy project to complete. Before removing the exhaust I used a deep well socket to figure where I wanted the sensor and trace a mark on the pipe. FiTech wants it like 4-6" from the collector; I had to put it here to clear the radius arm crossmember.

 



Coolant temp sensor mounted where the stock gauge sender was, had to move the stock sender to the thermostat housing. Not ideal as it won't read until the thermostat opens but the sensor is a higher priority



Cleaned the intake with some simple green and added the Hamburger's 1 inch spacer.




Mounted the throttle body



Played around with the gas tank trying to figure out where to put the pump. I plan to use the stock sending unit, which all hangs to the right of center so I'm pretty solid on the left side
Also cleaned up the rear end a bit and changed the pinion seal
 
No one can say for sure the stock duraspark distributor will work with the FiTech and I'm unaware of anyone trying it. It's a reluctor wheel voltage generating distributor same as many aftermarket so I don't see why not.

I set the motor to 10* BTDC on #1 compression stroke, marked the distributor position and pulled it



Disassembled the distributor, cleaned up the advance mechanism and tack welded it together in a few spots before removing the springs and counter weights.



Dropped it back in with vacuum advance removed and lined it back up at 10* BTDC. Lined up the reluctor wheel tooth to be on the magnetic pickup at this position, I.E. "Phasing the distributor". Plan to pull the distributor back out and drill a hole through the advance plate and into the bad play, welding a nut on the bottom side.






Finished rebuilding my 140 3G junkyard alternator






That was all for this week, I got distracted installing a light bar on my new Supercrew
 
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