The Teardown The first thing I had to do was to pick up 6 paint pallets from a local paint store (free) so I would have a surface other than the concrete floor to set the bed on. Once I set them up (two stacks of 3 set next to each other) I unbolted the eight bolts that hold the bed to the frame, removed the tail light assemblies, and disconnected the gas filler tube. Once all that was finished I got two of my friends to help me lift it off and set it on the previously mentioned pallets. The next step was to remove the front clip. Being that I only have a two car garage I didn’t have room to take it off and set it aside as one piece, so I decided to put whatever I could into the bed as individual pieces. First piece to come off was the hood, then I pulled the fenders, inner fenders, and finally the core support. I carefully managed to fit the fenders and inner fenders in the bed and the rest was stored elsewhere. Once the front was finished I decided to pull the engine and transmission, this was very easy to do with the front clip removed. I started by unbolting the exhaust from the headers and frame and sliding it out from underneath the truck, I then removed the headers, throttle and transmission linkage, distributor, and everything else that was attached to the engine and transmission. After that I removed the drive shaft and unbolted the engine and transmission from the frame. After that was all done, I borrowed a friends Engine hoist and yanked out the engine and transmission as one piece. Next up was removing the cab from the frame. Since I wanted to be able to move the cab around the garage once it was taken off the frame, I designed and built a cab dolly. Once the dolly was finished, I was able to start on the cab. I began by removing the seat and doors (to make it lighter) and set them aside, then the four bolts that hold the cab to the frame were removed. After that, I unbolted the wiring harness, steering linkage, brake lines from the booster, and E-brake cable. Once I had all that finished, I called upon a couple friends to come over and help with getting the cab off the frame and onto the dolly. This was probably the most difficult task, simply because the cab is large, heavy, and awkward…not to mention it has to be carried over the frame rails. Between the three of us I would say it went pretty well, a fourth person would have been ideal however.
Now that everything is off the frame I can get it ready to be sandblasted, primed, and painted. The first thing I did was to remove two brackets one of the previous owners welded to the frame for an additional gas tank. Next step was to remove the exhaust hanger bracket and spare tire support. I am removing the exhaust bracket because I am going to fabricate two of my own to run dual exhaust (that way they both match) and I am removing the spare tire carrier because a 16 gallon fuel cell will be in its place. After that was done I carefully removed all the brake and fuel lines as well as the proportioning valve, I will be reusing the brake lines and proportioning valve but will not be reusing the fuel lines. I decided not to strip the frame all the way down (control arms, spindles, differential, etc…) because my truck came from sunny and dry Arizona and everything was in excellent shape with no rust. Once the frame was all done I put some old wheels and tires and brought it to a place called Brighton Sandblasting (Blaine, MN) and they blasted it, primed it with epoxy primer, and sprayed it with satin black paint. I got the frame back home and am extremely happy with how well it turned out, it looks better than new and is now ready for detailing and reassembly.
You may be wondering why I did not take apart the frame completely, and I will try and explain. Since I just completely rebuilt the front suspension one year prior with all new polygraphite components from PST, and the fact that I did not own a car trailer or air tools, it was much easier and less time consuming to go this route. The new bushings will protect the moving components of the suspension and will not be affected by the media used to strip the frame. You cannot tell it has not been apart…it looks that good. Now that the frame is back, the first order of business was to rebuild and install the braking system. Since this is an Arizona truck the brake lines were in excellent shape so I decided to re-use them, not only does the save me time (bending brake/fuel lines is an art and is something I can’t do too well) but it also saved me money because pre-bent lines are very expensive. The first step was to clean them up with steel wool, once that was done I primed them with Rustoleum primer and when that dried I sprayed them with Rustoleum aluminum colored paint, now they have a polished look to them and look better than new (I also did the same for the hold down clamps and purchased new bolts to attach them to the frame). Once I had all the lines cleaned up I installed the proportioning valve and the newly finished brake lines. I then purchased and installed new front brake rotors, calipers, pads, hoses, bearings, and grease caps. Once the brake system was finished, I then installed a fuel cell, click here to learn more about that.
Now that the main chassis, fuel cell, and brakes were out of the way, it was time to focus on getting the engine and transmission installed. The first thing I did was purchase all new Energy Suspension engine and transmission mounts. I then installed the engine mounts into the stock steel clam shell engine mounts, then bolted the assemblies to the engine towers, and then bolted the towers to the frame. One of the great things about Chevrolet V8 engines, they use the same engine mounts (at least on 73-87 GM trucks), so there was no need to hunt down different engine mounts for my 350 to 454 upgrade. On to the transmission mount and cross member. Since I will be converting to a 700r4 overdrive transmission (from a th-350), I will need to slide back the transmission cross member since it is a tad longer than the previous transmission. First I had to set the main support on the frame, I then loosely bolted the side supports to each end. Once that was finished, I bolted the new transmission mount to the main support. Now that that is finished, time to move on to the installation of the engine and transmission.
Drop down battery box
Fuel line routing...please ignore the dust!
Wheels and tires, Weld Pro Stars and BFGoodrich Radial T/A's...big & littles.
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