"Papa Smurf" - 1966 GMC 1500 Custom

[LordNatedawg]

I tried to make my own bracket for the brake booster. Unfortunately I did not get very far. My dad's drill press decided not to work. The thing is probably older than I am. Figured I should take that as a sign. Lol. Ended up buying CaptainFab's brake booster bracket. Also bought his power steering adapter plate. His plate puts all 4 bolts of the gearbox through the frame. You don't have to drill out the threads on the gearbox. I already drilled holes in my frame for the CPP brackets, and I'll have to drill some more for Cap's bracket. I'll probably end up welding the bracket to the frame for some added support.

Cap's brackets arrived around 8pm PST. They shipped very quickly and look to be high quality. Too late to test fit them though, so that'll be another post.

In addition to brackets, I finally got my steering column semi-permanently installed! I painted it the other day with a rust inhibitor; the only available color for that stuff is black. Eventually it'll get painted Fawn or whatever GMC's interior color is. For the wiring, I ditched the Ididit connector and added in about 1ft of wire to extend the wiring from the column so it would reach my dash connector. Then I used individual spades to connect to the original connector. Not exactly "professional", but it works.

I used 18 gauge wire to extend the column wiring. I initially tried to solder, but for some reason it would not flow through my wire, it kept beading on the top. Switched over to spade connectors. One thing to note is that I did not have any light blue wire. I substituted orange instead. If I ever get ahold of some light blue wire, I'll replace it. But for now it will be fine. Also, I did not use the brown wire on the Ididit column. The brown wire is for emergency flashers, and mine are wired to a button on the dash. I simply attached a spade and left it alone.

I've attached the Ididit diagram and the wiring diagram I used. You'll notice I edited it to include the Ididit column. Again, brown didn't get used and orange was substituted for light blue. To my knowledge, the gray wire on the truck connector is an indicator light for automatic transmissions; it does not connect to anything on my truck. In the diagram I used a light gray color from the Ididit connector to the clear wire on the dash. The light gray is supposed to be white, but a white line is kinda hard to see on white paper.

[LordNatedawg]

Just a quick update. Being as restless as I am, I decided to finish assembling my steering column inside the cab. Got my horn button wired up and got the steering wheel on. I'm reusing the 3-bolt steering wheel that was on the truck when I bought it. I believe it's a Grant steering wheel.

P.S. Not sure why one of the images in my previous post is upside down. It's not like that in my phone's camera roll.

[LordNatedawg]

Small update, but a big milestone:

My brake booster is mounted and adjusted. New stop light switch installed and adjusted. Steering column is now torqued down inside the cab and the parking brake has been reinstalled.

CaptainFab's bracket worked perfectly for the CPP booster. The only issue was that the pushrod on the booster was a bit too long. Cap's bracket is a bit shorter than the CPP brackets. Luckily, this issue was easily resolved with a hacksaw. I took off a 9mm casing worth of thread from the pushrod and it ended up being the perfect length after that. No more adjustment left in the rod, and about 1/4inch of slack in the brake pedal before it engages the master cylinder. About 1/8inch of travel before my brake lights turn on.

Next challenge to tackle: brake lines. Hopefully I can start those soon.

[LordNatedawg]

"Hopefully I can start [bending brake lines] soon"

HA. Who was I kidding? Between work, school, and Army, it is hard to find time. Especially with finals coming up. Although I didn't make a whole lot of progress, I managed to at least get started on brake lines today.

I mounted both calipers because I figured it would be easier to attach the brake lines if I could attach them to the brake hoses. Unfortunately I need a nut for my brake hoses.

Other than that, all I managed to do was get a rough shape of the front left brake line. I used some bailing wire to figure out a path and how much line I would need. It got dark and cold before I could actually bend the line. I will try again another day. It's supposed to snow next week, so I may have to suck it up and deal with the cold if I expect to get this thing driveable before next year.

[LordNatedawg]

Weather report: 28*F, partly cloudy with a 10mph wind. Result: fingers are frozen and I'm passive-aggressively telling my parents how great it would be to have a garage to work in.

Despite the weather, I successfully managed to get one brake line bent and installed. Even found a nut for my brake hose (until I can order new jam nuts). Took maybe 45 minutes from start to finish. The copper-nickel line bends smooth as butter. I didn't even use my bending tool, this was all done by hand. Very happy with how it turned out. Not rubbing on anything, not too close to the exhaust pipe, and enough slack that it won't put any pressure on the fittings.

Most of the scrap came from practicing my flaring. And a good chunk was a result of me overestimating how much I would need. Better to have it 6" too long than 6" too short.

How did I get those near perfect loops? I used my favorite tool in the garage: the rattle can. Lol. Feels good to make some progress again.

One down....three to go.

[LordNatedawg]

Two months later and I am back with a quick progress update. Been too cold to work on Papa Smurf. But today the weather was finally warm enough for me to do things with my finger tips.

First: things are rusting and it is making me sad. The calipers, master cylinder, and steering shaft are all turning orange. It isn't going to hurt anything, it just looks ugly. I'll fix it later.

The front brake lines are complete. The second set doesn't look very pretty, but I don't care as long as it functions. This line was a little more difficult just because it was longer than the previous one. Had to flare the end while sitting under the wheel-well.

I do need to figure out how to secure the lines so they don't rattle while I'm driving. I could copy the system that was originally used. But I figure I should ask if any of you have other ideas. It's not a pressing concern right now, but it's something I need to think about.

I am currently soaking the rear lines and hose in PB Blaster. After removing it, the goal is to have the hose remade with braided steel so I can start bending the rear lines. I also need to shorten the front brake hoses, but that will be something I do later.

It's all coming together. Slowly but surely.

[WDShaffer]

Use insulated tubing clams, available almost any parts store.

[LordNatedawg]

Originally Posted by WDShaffer

To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?

Use insulated tubing clams, available almost any parts store.

Noted. There is definitely more slack in my brake lines than there needs to be. That was done on purpose so I could route them differently if needed for securing.

I also want to update with some small progress. Very small, but progress still. I got some custom brake hoses made. 14" for the front, and I had the old rear one copied exactly. Braided steel lines that fit perfectly. The hoses are not pulled tight when the wheel is turned lock to lock.

More exciting news....today I picked up a 351E V6! It was running and driving before it was pulled. Words cannot describe my excitement. The rare motor that I needed just happened to turn up in my local area. One in a million.

It has the 2bbl carburetor conversion as well as the screw on oil filter. New clutch was put in. The engine was attached to a SM transmission, so I don't know if the bell housing will work with my NP435. Maybe I'll get lucky and the one on my 350 will work. Other than that, I'm not sure what to do. I wasn't expecting to find this motor so soon. I always thought it would take a few years before one turned up.

I guess the first thing to do is to get it on an engine stand so I can do a thorough inspection.

I want to get Papa Smurf running and driving on the 350 first, but I feel like it would be easier to do the work on it with the engine out (now that I have an excuse to pull it). I still need to tidy up the front brake lines, make rear lines, and finish the power steering conversion. Lots to think about...

[POWERSTROKE]

Congrats on finding the 351. There's no replacement for displacement. I wore out TWO Ford 300-6's, no matter what you did they were always s-l-o-w. And when you pushed them hard to run 65-70 they really burned A LOT of gas, like the '87 with factory EFI would drop to 11-12 mpg. Son's '93 Lightning would run 65-70 and get 14 mpg, lack of 4wd didn't effect mpg that much.
I did a complete brake system rebuild 5 yrs ago on my '96 F-250. I bought a complete stainless steel brake like kit from Classic Industries in New York State. My shop replaced everything in 6 hours, and everything included a new master cylinder, both frt brake calipers, and both rear wheel cylinders. So everything must have fit fine. My ONLY regret was my choice of flexible brake lines. My owner of my local NAPA store said his flex hoses were made in USA. They came a day late from the warehouse. The boxes AND hoses all said "Made in China" in big letters. I should have refused them. They haven't caused a problem but EVERYTHING else I've bought there has. Luckily all my other parts came from the same O-Reily's my mechanic uses.
Anyhow, nice to know the brakes will work if and when you really need them.

[jmfurgason]

Any suggestions for lowering 1/2 ton LWB 1963 GMC front and back ?? what is part # for oil pan gasket 305E Felpro ?? Thanks for ideas JMF