Get ready, King Of Trucks is coming...

You guys missed the rocket he strapped to it Saturday, he left before I could get pics!

 

Thanks a ton Fedman! I appreciate it!

I wish somebody would've taken pics, lol.

 

Been doing a little here and there. Mostly stuff like getting ducks in a row.

I picked these up at the swap meet last month for $5. '61 vette tail lights to be frenched into the rear fenders.




Got this drop axle by Sid along with a new kingpin kit off a hamber for a fair deal. I cannot wait to get that on and get that front end looking right. Its the one thing that has really bugged me.




And I had some stuff polished by my chromer.





Besides that, I've gathered up a bunch of stuff to sell. I don't really want to let the cat out of the bag until its a sure thing. Although I sorta have in a couple of other posts. Suffice it to say, if it works out in my favor, it'll be the coolest. Stay tuned, we'll find out together in the next couple of weeks, lol.



And thanks again for all you fellas do around here! hamb'ers are some of the best guys around. Especially Jeffy and Del and the rest of the Iron Lords. You guys are the absolute best!

 

Thanks dude! I thought you were up at your folks house right now? Shit you could have been hanging at my house and you could have told me what you though about the one "finished" polished exhaust manifold I got done today. Haha!!!

The intake looks killer. I love those carb tops!!!!

Del's coming over at 9am tomorrow if you want to help throw the engine in!!!

 

We can't go to Mount Airy tonight because my oldest daughter is in the Christmas parade in Concord tomorrow with the cheerleaders. We are going Saturday after the parade or Sunday morning.

That intake and air cleaners do look good. It'll be a shame if I have to let them go. I don't want to, but i've only got about $400 so far towards that top secret purchase, lol. I don't know how much longer it'll last. The "thing" or my patience, that is.

 

Well, keep the air cleaners and we'll get you a 3x2 intake you can use them on.

 

Awesome suggestion! I just hate to get rid of any of that stuff. Once you get a taste for that inline sweetness, it never goes away. But, you and me and moriarity know what's even better, lol.

 

terd,
how long before you think you'll install that front axle ?
is it a 3 or 4".... looks like a 3".
cant wait to see your "top secret"....

leonard

 

Leonard, I hope to do it sometime in the next week. It is a 3" drop.

 

very cool... cant wait for the pic updates man...
good luck.

leonard

 

Yeah! Hahaha!! JJ and I were supposed to go get the 390 today but the guy has been m.i.a. for a couple of days. Hope that pans out! There's still a 365 and a 331, but they both need rebuilding.

 

how about an inline 6 caddy motor ?? LOL. actually, i dont even know if there is such a thing.....
good luck with getting the motor...

leonard

 

yeah they put 'em in the Cimarron though.

 

Hey Turd!

How's the Caddy hunt going?

 

The guy with the 390 has dropped off the face of the earth. He hasn't returned emails or phone calls in nine days. I had made plans with him to come up last Friday to pick it up. Sucks!!!!! I'm going to give him til this coming Friday and then I'll buy that 331 and begin to do a long term build on it.

I know people selling/buying stuff have issues sometimes. But the least you can do as a buyer/seller is take a minute to send an email or phone call to let the other guy what's going on. Decent communications between buyer and seller is one of my pet peeves.

 

I hear ya, dude! Sounds like a plan. Guess you get to enjoy that stovebolt a little while longer!

 

Its not like that's really a bad thing hahaha!

 

I started the drop axle swap tonight. hotdamn! was helping. Everything went great at first. I had the wheels and tires off, then the hub, and then the backing plates along with brakes intact came off in one piece. I tied up the brakes, everything went so smooth. The axle and ubolts came off just fine. And then not so good, one of the kingpins decided it didn't want to come out.

Getting it out took pretty much the rest of the night. It was not pretty, let's just say I won't be getting a core out of this axle, lol. I'm going to go back in the morning and get everything back together. deltron will be helping me get all the steering arms bent up and clocked and etc.. Pics after all that.

 

I had the same issue with a guy with a 390 last year just dissappeared after my friend checked it out

 

good to hear you are on your way with the front swap. with you having 3 leafs pulled, like mine, im curious if your tie rod will hit the oil pan ? hopefully not, but if it does you can extend the steering arms like i did...
good luck.

leonard

 

Leonard, we'll bend and twist whatever we have to to get all that stuff straight. I'll take some pics.

 

sweet man.... look forward to seeing the pics.

leonard

 

Me and hotdamn! just got done. No way I could've done it without him!! Del, you're the awesomest!!!!

I still need to dial in the toe, its about 3/4" toe in. It just got late and we said "close enough for tonight". It was a pain to say the least, hahaha! Last night for several hours and most of today, hahaha! It was worth it in the end because I think the stance is perfect!

The first problem came with the one kingpin. It got cut out. But it took a while to figure out we couldn't beat it out with 12 different hammers and an old school press. Even with heat. The second problem came from one of the old kingpin bushings. It gave me a fit. Fitting old spindles and the new kingpins to the new drop axle was a piece of cake. Mounting it was sketchy by myself as it wouldn't sit straight up on the jack, it kept rolling over, haha!

Here's where it went beyond bolt on. I wanted to keep the stock ball studs and modify my own parts to save the $250 or so to switch to later ford tie rods and buy modified parts (and because I can't see myself using ford parts ). First, the drag link was clocked on one end 180* in order to mount under the steering arm instead of on top. This is necessary to keep it parallel to the frame for no bumpsteer. Delton heated it with a torch and we turned one end 90* and the other end 90* the opposite direction. It was also bent inboard a tiny bit for axle clearance on full lock. Turns out that doesn't matter, the tires rub the fenders just before full lock. No more u turns till I roll the fenders. No room to go the other way with backspacing as the tie rod ends are really close to the tires as it is.

So when you flip the drag link, it no longer fits in the steering arm since its tapered. That end has to be flipped. Either cut and weld or heat and twist. We did not have to end up bending the steering knuckles for tie rod clearance. We set preliminary toe in and off I went home since it was late. The ride quality in the front is vastly improved. Where I used to hit the frame on big bumps, it doesn't. That may settle, but its still a lot less bouncy up front. The steering is also 1,000 times easier and more precise.

In the end, it was a lot of work and some headaches. But totally worth it for the results and for the learning. I learned to get ball studs apart by hitting both sides with a hammer simultaneously. Thanks for that one Boobie!! I learned (again) that everything takes 7 times longer than you think it will. I'll get some pictures and measure some clearances tomorrow and post what I end up with.

 

I've got about an inch between the tie rod and the springs. Less than that between the tie rod ends and tires. Some 6.70x15 tires should take care of any tie rod rubbing worries. Tread width is 4 1/2" vs. 5 3/4" for the H78's on there now. Here's a couple of pics...

Before...



After...



I like this shot...



Playing with colors to see if I can live with it. I love the baby blue, but have decided on another color.

 

Sits perfect Terd!!!! I love it man!!! next up tail lights???

 

Yes, and a call to wheelkid.

 

Nicely done, Turd! Just wonderin' what color is fit for a King!?!?

 

Think traditional regal colors. But not gold.

 

Man that is turning out to be one nice truck! Keep up the good work