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My 66 GMC start to Now

Remember expensive mistakes

Too long, too much sand, on my next one I found a place that will sandblast the frame and related parts, epoxy primer them, and then paint them black for $400.00 or another that will do the same and powder coat it for $700.00....I spent more than that on this frame and then had to por15 it. Will not make that mistake again. Kieth
 
Daily advances

the GMC is at the point where we make great strides everyday......
Today we

Installed:

new brake lines up front

painted the front steering parts and installed them again

removed some of the interfering frame for the headers

installed the headers

installed the air bags and brackets

installed the shocks

installed the front wheels

it is starting to take shape day by day.....


http://kieth.smugmug.com/Trucks/66-GMC/13311086_gRF57#1128723713_zsmuL
 
rear brakes, 6 to 5 lug conversion

We ran into a few snags yesterday:

1. Machinest called and said axles were ready but one had a bad landing on it (where the bearing runs)

2. Went to pick new axle bearings and Napa said they only had repair bearings, being stupid I said yea great, Even a blind squirrel finds a acorn some time, the repair bearing moves the bearing to another place on the axle shaft and lets one start with fresh metal and avoid the bad spot on the axle landing.......YE HA I did something right for a change

3. ran into another glitch though,,,,,,bought new brake drums for a 71 chevy but it does not have a slot in it for the adjuster......newer trucks had the slot in the backing plate, guess we will have to make our own slot.

4. When you have the axles converted they must also turn the center of the hub sown so the later model brake drum will fit the hub.

anyone have any experience with the drums with no adjustment slot ? Thanks in Advance for the help ...... Kieth

http://kieth.smugmug.com/Trucks/66-GMC/13311086_gRF57#1130244686_ZfxoQ
 
6 lug to 5 lug conversion problems

Well no one makes (that I have found) a 5 hole rear brake drum for my 66 that has a adjustment slot in the drum itself........I actually have 2 of these drums off a donor truck that have the slots but it seems NAPA, O Reilly, and Auto zone all get their drums from china and none of these have the adjustment slot in it. Now we are just going to modify the backing plate so it has an adjustment slot in it........so we do not have the problem again.

After reinstalling the axles the drums did clear everything just fine, the rubbing was because the c clips had not been reinstalled and the axles were in too far which caused the interferance...............Kieth:eek:
 
I thought the adj windows were in the backing plate, am I wrong?
 
We just took a 3/8" drill bit and drilled out the backing plate (3 holes), used a small deburr tool and made the slot in the backing plates , it took about 10 minutes on each side. Used some rubber fillers from the donor suburban to seal the slot off when not needed. It worked out fine and now no one will have trouble when they purchase brake drums. I am making a short data sheet up that will go in the glove box of my gmc which will show what we used on the project so If I ever sell it the next owner will not talk bad:mad: about me on this forum..............Kieth

kieth said:
on the early 66's the adjuster slots were on the drums not the backing plates.
Click to expand...
 
Well we have made a lot of progress since the last update, here is a link to the build:


http://kieth.smugmug.com/Trucks/66-GMC/13311086_gRF57#1198227771_6ozys

Walnut blasted the cab, fenders, hood, bed, primed seeled, did body work on cab, hood, doors, inner grille......

Painted all the above: installed the cab, wired it up still in process, installed front and rear glass, redid dash, installed heater, vac brake booster, tilt, curise control, lots of stuff.......... Kieth
 
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