Build thread for the 72 GMC, finally. Thanks John!

I spent 80% of this evening garage time grinding or climbing in and out of the trucks underbelly. Under the bed side, over the jack, under the brake like, under the pumpkin, sit up. Oops, the welder is off. Oops, the gas is off, oops you forgot the grinder, oops no gloves, etc.

Here is the result of the grinding:

And then I test mounted the old damper with a few tack welds

And frankly, adding up some math afterwards, it looks like I am an inch or so too high. I may be able to get lower. See this:

It looks like the shortest available Summit damper (within reason) is this

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/slf-85030/overview/

Which is 11.57/18, and I sit now at 10/16.3. My range is OK, but I need another 1.5 inches of shock body to be in there somewhere. I hope I don't get the winder part of the body not fitting between the two plates. I won't find that out until I test fit the right damper. I am not sure there is another 1.5" there. We'll look for some tomorrow.

What say you aesthetically, paint the new damper a color? Buy the same brand matching fronts? Leave them non matching?

Oh man... the truck has a taste for human blood. It's going to want more...

I did metal work on my Javelin yesterday because of you!

Keep in mind that with the shock at an angle that's going to change just how much it compresses, so you might consider moving the upper eye to that forward hole. It's possible to test your fit by using a 'come along' and compressing the suspension to the point where the snubbers hit. CAUTION: this can be DANGEROUS. Be sure to use some no-sh!t cable or chain. Don't use nylon car tiedowns, they can easily get cut on sharp edges with disastrous results.

Curmudgeon wrote: Keep in mind that with the shock at an angle that's going to change just how much it compresses, so you might consider moving the upper eye to that forward hole. It's possible to test your fit by using a 'come along' and compressing the suspension to the point where the snubbers hit. CAUTION: this can be DANGEROUS. Be sure to use some no-sh!t cable or chain. Don't use nylon car tiedowns, they can easily get cut on sharp edges with disastrous results.

Yeah, the whole point was to get them more upright. That's what all them maths is for. That damper isn't being used - it's way too long. I have measured the vertical travel to full compression and droop and done that math as such in the Excel spreadsheet. I am using those values to choose a damper. I am not sure what else could go wrong... Are you thinking something else I am missing?

Javelin wrote: I did metal work on my Javelin yesterday because of you!

Tell Mrs. Javelin she has my apologies!

What I was thinking, if you were worried about the shock being too short at full compression the angle will change meaning the shock will lean more and thus not need to be as short as if the mounts were directly above each other.

As long as the shock isn't more than about 20 degrees from vertical at full compression it will still damp things out well, if it gets more than that the damping force will be reduced.

So will this have a Standard Oil derrick on top? With LED's on it?

In reply to Curmudgeon:

I am not sure if you can see my spreadsheets. Stock the angle was something was something like 35 degrees. Even now, as I have them brought in towards the axle centerline, the angle is as much as 22 degrees at full compression. I am assuming 2-3 inches worth of drop.

See the attached sheet here.

Unfortunately, since the frame is on its way down as you travel rearward from the axle, the drivers side, where I had relocated the damper to behind the axle, now ends up being too short. I need to have John make me a pair, just for that side, that's about 3/4" longer, and yes, that gives me about 3/8" compression of the bump stop for margin.

All that work for eight lousy tack welds, four of which have to be ground off!

Anyway, it's otherwise done. See the pictures..

My wife vetoed the derrick idea. Too bad. She was OK with a 2/4 inch drop, though. It will looks subtle, but nice. If you never saw one in the flesh, you would think GM nailed it. That's the idea.

Thanks for the mention about Mrs. VCH's repurposed wine bottles. Glad you are enjoying them!

The oil derrick is still at the Old Tunachucker Garage. Free for the taking, if anyone wants it. It looks cool, and I can personally guarantee that it will mount up perfectly to any '74 - '78 Ford LTD Landau or Mercury Grand Marquis.

Maybe I should list it on eBay?

Didn't have time to run over there this weekend. I don't have any 3" tubing at my garage, anyway.

I may be OK with dampers. Check these out. Does anyone have any history with either of these types?

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/exp-417500/overview/

Pro Comp Toxic Shocks are high performance units intended for lowered or stock-height sport trucks. They're a twin-tube, gas-stabilized design that relies on VSV 10-stage velocity-sensitive valving and are specifically set up for applications with limited suspension travel. They have either a 1 3/16 in. or 1 3/8 in. carbon-stamped, nylon-banded piston coupled to a 1/2 in. or 5/8 in. hard-chromed piston shaft with an external multi-lip shaft-wiper seal. They mount via high performance urethane upper and lower mounting bushings

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/djm-1700/overview/

Shock absorbers are a very important part of a "tuned" suspension, and DJM Suspension's Calmax Super Shox shocks are one of the best lowered shocks available today. These twin-tube shocks provide ideal pressure and shock travel for lowered trucks. They offer excellent ride performance at a price that you won't want to pass up.

Both have an extended length of 17.5, one lists the compressed length as 10.00, the other doesn't list, but I assume the same.

Please let me know

I seriously wonder if it would be worth calling these guys, like a Rancho or whatever, and having the lengths made up for the valving I need, because some of the front dampers will fit fine, but will likely be damped wrong. Has anyone done this?

Matthew and I spent the night on the couch. Not the guy on my Lemons team, my 2 year old. It was very cute, and he was much happier, but I didn't sleep. I even stopped and used my emergency *$ gift card which my wife got for free for... something... which I can't remember because I was falling asleep. I got a blahbittyblahieotto and it didn't even wake me up. I never do coffee, so that's a surprise.

As a result my wife and I agreed to just an hour in the garage. Since I am awaiting some damper reviews from one of my adoring fans anyway, and have not yet sourced additional leaves, the rear suspension is more or less done. I took tonight and installed the radiator support properly. It's done. It was easy. It looks good. I am going to sleep. No pictures. Just imagine the pictures you've seen of the front of the truck but with the radiator support moved up by about 1/2".

VCH: Those glasses are my favorite. Strong, too. Thanks for the nice surprise birthday gift!

Hey man,

I do enjoy firing up the old computador with my morning cup o' joe and reading your progress. Since I moved away from the area you seemed to have gained enthusiasm for the project. Hey, I guess I was a bad influence. What with all that LeMonizing and Bench racing and talk of the salty flats...

An hour in the garage sounds good. As others older, wiser, and with more kids than I have said, the important thing is progress- ANY progress. Last night I unloaded my truck and trailer from the most recent round of moving stuff and was dead tired- but I had a 10 minute break, a can of Genessee Cream Ale, some trail mix, and laid another coat of paint on my project car. And felt better for it.

A note on coffee- I drink it almost every day, usually about two cups spaced throughout the morning. The caffeine jolt along with some unsalted nuts (protein and fat) and dried fruit (natural sugar) help keep me from crashing between breakfast at 6AM and lunch around noon. But as a rule, I recommend staying away from coffee drinks- the ones with milk, sugar, and all sort of other stuff in them. They usually pack more calories than anything else, and empty ones at that. Coffee, black, no sugar and no cream. Or, in Starbuck terms, a "Short" "Bold Pick of the Day".

Tonight I built a new trellis for the new garden and inspected the water heater. Sorry fellas. Back to work tomorrow night. I plan to get the last little stuff done on this side between tomorrow and Thursday night and spin the truck around this weekend.

I called up a local spring shop. They can make me a leaf for under $20. I'll get details and order up one for each side. What say ye, one or two for each side, inverted, to drop roughly one inch?

Just get one inverted for each side. If that doesn't work, like you said, they are cheap and easy to get.

You may have to invert an existing leaf as well to get the proper drop. I do not have "teh maths" to tell you exactly what will work. You may just have to experiment.

Rob R.

wvumtnbkr wrote: Just get one inverted for each side. If that doesn't work, like you said, they are cheap and easy to get. You may have to invert an existing leaf as well to get the proper drop. I do not have "teh maths" to tell you exactly what will work. You may just have to experiment. Rob R.

Rob, Thanks for the opine. I'll try that first. I'll call the guy with measurements tomorrow. I now have three individual leaves plus an overload and my idea is to get one between #1 and #2 halfway between the lengths of those and invert it. I am not sure if I can invert any others, becuase #3 has nothing to hold it to shape, and #1 has the eyelets. Do you have a thought on that?

More water heater work tonight, but first I managed to get the passenger side inner fender finished. Now there are the two small spots to address before Sunday, when the truck gets spun around.

And the water heater gets an anode and a dip tube.

Six kids and all this! Wow.

Harvey wrote: Six kids and all this! Wow.

Six of us, four kids... sorry to disappoint you.

Very inspirational. I'm trying to duplicate your momentum and work a little on my locost every night after the kids are asleep. I only had a few minutes last night so I spent the time polishing my knob*. Keep up the good work!

(* shift knob)

bgkast wrote: Very inspirational. I'm trying to duplicate your momentum and work a little on my locost every night after the kids are asleep. I only had a few minutes last night so I spent the time polishing my knob*. Keep up the good work! (* shift knob)

Great!

I needed to be inspired, so it's only fair that others catch the fever. Of course, a Locost would be slightly more entertaining.

Actually, that's one of the biggest issues with this project. I bought this when we had one kid. I drove it daily. Now this truck is not relevant to my life anymore, in terms of it's people carrying abilities. From time to time I wish I was working on a suburban instead (but then I remember the added acres of metal) but I'll enjoy the finished product none the less.

Keep it up. Start a build thread. Making myself update it each day is very helpful. My wife and I joke that my legion of 4 fans would be upset if I didn't brave the cold to go spend an hour doing something. She doesn't even look at my too crazy when I dress up to go out when she's just headed for bed. Now she expects crazy. Nice.

tuna55 wrote:

Harvey wrote: Six kids and all this! Wow.

Six of us, four kids... sorry to disappoint you.

Now I'm unimpressed.

So I called DJM suspensions and I think I'll order their dampers when it's time, all around.

Good deal.

Local guy wanted $38 for an individual leaf. Any other options out there? Since the width is weird, not a lot of donors are around.

Tonight I welded up the two spots. Most of the time I helped neighbor Jim (different guy) try to find a noise on his Pilot. Couldn't find it.

The stuff is really so basic I wouldn't have even bothered to take pictures, but I did since it has been like four days since I've shown you guys pictures of anything.

Here is the repaired front fender section

Here is the rear section with the patch tacked on

Some bending and a few more tacks

Ground off the welds and ready for filler and finishing.

Not too bad, eh? Now I am essentially ready to rotate the truck around. And... do it all over again... ick.

Holy crap, pictures!

I'm glad you're still chipping away. I finally got all my charging system and starter circuit crap fixed only to have the accelerator pump in the 4bbl crap out. I had to get my POS pushed back to the driveway.

Javelin wrote: Holy crap, pictures! I'm glad you're still chipping away. I finally got all my charging system and starter circuit crap fixed only to have the accelerator pump in the 4bbl crap out. I had to get my POS pushed back to the driveway.

Boooo!

Not sure why those pics are soooo small, but I'll take it.

Accelerator pump? Not too bad. have you gone through the carb totally yet? Not a bad time to do it!