In mocking up for the ps pump, I saw the old GMC V6 Motor mount perch needed to go. . . Also, here is a pic of the micky-rig fix bracket for the clutch linkage my uncle welded to the frame back in 1984. Nostalgia .
Digging in. Getting that ol sm420 out so I can get the th350 in. So excited to finally be doing this swap.
Getting ready for the auto swap. Pressure washed the frame. . . . . Used my leaf blower to dry it off, then pulled it back into the barn. . .
It would be kinda neat if it is the 283 I rebuilt myself with a jcwhitney kit back in 85/86. That means my rebuild lasted until that ol guy that I bought it back from blew it up. . . My earlier post on this:
I've been spending a lot of time in the 'Engine & Drivetrain" section of the forums. I don't know much about automatic transmissions. I bought a summit th350 from a local guy. Included was the flexplate and torque converter. As I started mocking things up, I noticed the flexplate he included wasn't going to work. Fortunately I still had the larger flexplate left over from the 79 donor I had from my 66 service truck build. . From my research in these forums I learned depending on which flexplate you needed, determined what starter you needed. Fortunately I had the correct starter also. . Next I started reading up on torque converters. I first checked to see if the torque converter he including would bolt up to my larger (14") flexplate. It did. . . . So now my only concern/question is what stall torque converter do I have. I'm going to take my chances and see how it goes. . I've also been reading... related to the stall of the torque converter is my engine/cam. My engine has quite a lope to it, and it requires premium octane.
I really don't know. I got the starter and flexplate mounted today. Cranked it over just to see if all was good. Tomorrow I plan on mounting the radiator support and radiator to start it up and run it for a short time. I'll hook the tachometer up also and see what idle is.
Just a small video of my engine running. I wanted to run it some after i cleaned it to check for oil leaks and idle rpm LostMy65 Engine - YouTube
When I poured the slab in my pole barn to have a clean dry area to work on my truck, I didn't consider the height of the loft above. Fortunately I had only tacked the sheathing down. So I pulled up a center section of the sheathing, rearranged the joists, and now i have an area that I can hoist things through. .
So, I was mocking up the Th350 so I could figure up my driveshaft length, and as many times as I checked, I never really felt comfortable getting a driveshaft made/shortened for the Ho32 knowing I eventually will be swapping it out for a 12-Bolt. Although it's only around 5/8" difference, I figured I might as well go ahead and do that swap now also. I didn't want to dig this far into it at this time, but it just makes more sense to do it all now.
Got Captainfab's axle perches/saddles mocked up today. I approached it very similar to how I did the 14-bolt on my 3/4 ton service box truck. I propped up the back end - bracing the trailing arms with 2x6 wood members. Removed the Ho32, and then made a template out of plywood (wafer board) - marking the existing axle perch holes. Then I lined my template up under the 12-Bolt. I was hoping I wasn't going to have to remove the existing perches from the 12-Bolt. As you can see from the pics; I pretty much have Captainfab's axle perches slapped up against the existing 12-Bolt perches. I'll tac them on and then test fit it before welding them on permanently. The pinion angle will remain the same. . . . .
Tacked on Captainfab's axle perches. Bolted them up, tightly, then tacked them permanently. I'll pull it back out tomorrow to weld them up completely. The axle is out of a 65, so it looks like I'll be able to use the track bar too. . .
Nice truck. Looks like your moving right along. I had forgotten those trucks had torsion bar front suspension. So, I guess my '01 2500 front torsion bars are just a "new", old idea. Steve.
What a GREAT thread and series of photos and descriptions ! . This is the very essence of Hot Rodding .
You've been busy! Looking good, thanks for the step by step thread... great reading and helpful to those that will be doing similar work. So why the rear axle swap... different gears? _____ John
Having things apart, I found one of my oil leaks. Someone at one time looks to have used a chisel or something to install the cam plug. But then later when a new one got installed, those chisel marks actually damaged the inner surface of the cam plug hole. You can even see how those chisel marks scraped the edge of the cam hole plug. There's four on the plug which align perfectly with the chisel marks on the cam hole. . .
Lightly used a 2" grinding wheel to knock down those chisel marks, and then used some Indian head gasket shellac and lightly tapped it back in.
Had a little wicking of oil up through some of the intake manifold bolts. I took the three out that were leaking. One at a time. Wiped them down and put the Permatex Aviation gooey brown stuff gooped on. Torqued them down.
