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

In reply to Mad_Ratel:

Closer than you think!

And Tunakid #1 can sew too, as well as weld.

He made his little sister a doll pillow for her new doll crib for her birthday.

that reminds me of my capstone project while at clemson. group wanted to pay someone to upholster the seat...

I did it in ten minutes...

It was actually pretty exciting, but I don't actually have much to show for it.

I decided to keep the front portions of the fuel and vent lines. First thing is to use my high tech tubing bender to take the 90 degree bends and turn them straight so they don't go through the cab floor anymore.

And then it got better. I know that the vent line has to have a vertical loop higher than the tank level to not siphon the tank into the charcoal canister. I wanted to build something and put it up between the bedside and the inner bed panel. Then I found this.

That is the loop which previously did the exact same thing when GM put it there, but it used to be in the B pillar. I just bent the two ends straight and then rebend them about 6" upwards, then twist the ends about 20 degrees. So then all I needed to do is bring a hard line up around the edge of the frame rail, and into the end of the bed strut. A 1 1/2" hole cut into the bottom of the strut near the frame and I can run two lines hidden right there. The rest of the hard line for the vent can go all of the way to the tank. The fuel line itself can just continue where GM left off and go straight to the tank.

This is going to be brilliant. The issue is that I spent an hour using my holesaw since it sucks. I'm way more excited about a fuel line than most people ever get.

2 things:

A). Thanks for the update, I was getting the shakes. Nice work with the lines BTW. Regarding the engine slip, Im not really pissed that you arent giving us more info, Im more...well, no, I guess I am kinda pissed.
2). As someone who works with upholstery fabrics daily, I wholeheartedly approve of DIY interiors. Some of the hotlink thread pics have me searching desperately for some plai...er...tartan remnants at work, or some kind of oddball houndstooth or chevron large scale pattern in weird color combos to redo my headliner and seat inserts with...because racecar. PLEASE PLEASE be sure to take lots of pics if you do that interior yourself. I really want some first hand info regarding how hard it was, challenges, creative solutions etc.

Thanks!!

Let me know if you have any stuff at work that's heading to the garbage can that I can use. I don't need any tartanplaids though.

Excited about finishing the fuel line tonight, an then another surprise that's already in the garage.

Right now the big money stuff (cylinder heads, paint stuff, seat stuff) is unknown, but the little junk is coming together nicely!

I bet he sticks a 440 Chrysler engine in that beast.

munches popcorn

FYI, PhantomWorks copied your gas filler idea in their C10 build episode.

Sorry man. You should sue or something.

Mad_Ratel wrote: FYI, PhantomWorks copied your gas filler idea in their C10 build episode. Sorry man. You should sue or something.

Whoa really? I don't know who that is. off to the Google (unless you have a link to something)

tuna55 wrote: Here she is now enjoying her Mommy-made shirt and pants.

Dude you could've told us that was store bought and I'd believe you.

Think of this, now that tunakid is helping and tunawife may help with interior. You can NEVER sell the truck after its done.

I see this pic, it looks indeed like it comes through the rear stake poicket, but I can't find any details.

They also used a lot of rubber near the tire, which I avoided. I also wanted the rear stake pocket to be a stake pocket. Additionally, not sure how they made clearance because the rear light gets in the way pretty heavily. No vent line shown either...

My gas tank straps are better too.

Left stake pocket has a pop up gas cap in it. Top is painted to match the truck.

damn I was hoping youtube had a video of it. I deleted the episode last night too. (else I'd snap a pic with my phone for you.)

My brilliant idea was pretty stupid. I spent a TON of time drilling the hole in the cross sill to hide the vent tube in since my hole saw setup was this:

And then I made the hole

And only then did I realize that GM put some fancy sheet metal bosses in the cross sill for the bolt. This means I cannot run the lines in there, and I spent an hour drilling a hole for nothing.

So then I utilized my high tech tube bending equipment to make one of these

To go from the existing GM vent line under the cab, to over the framerail and along the bed floor to the bedside where the vertical loop lives now. Than I made another with a long tail which goes along the framerail all of the way to the tank. I put rubber hoses everywhere I could (I ran out) to connect, and even plugged the extra vent hole in the tank.

Since I have no more holes to drill, once I buy some more hose, I should have no problem getting the fuel supply line made up and attached to the leftover GM stuff. Not as good as it could be, but still exciting.

No pics but I have an excellent video to upload. How do I do that?

The two older tunakids and I made up the rear portion if the fuel line, but they take a lot more time up, so I did not get the tank dropped to install the sender, or the clamps made up for the line.

Fatherhood comes first!!

In reply to tuna55:

I always dump mine to my Youtube account.

Tell you what. Tunawife doesn't like want kid videos out there. Pm me and I'll send it. Lamar, yes, but it's a funny video.

Haha!! That's priceless! I'm sure that fuel line doesn't have the first kink and isn't wrapped around the drive shaft 4 times. It probably won't take you long to find all the parts and tools they moved while they were out there either.

Fun times! Thanks and keep up the good work. Now that you've got such quality help, you can sit back, eat chips and direct the orchestra.

Tuna,FYI you can make youtube videos private and only allow others you give permission to see em.

I'll have to figure out how to do that, you guys would all appreciate the Tunakids addition to the build.

The biggest issue is that working on the truck has become a sort of reward for good behavior. It's a lot slower with the Tunakids 'helping' me, but it sure is fun. On Friday they got an education on how brakes work, complete with Dad pulling front and back wheels to show the differences. Very cool.

Last night they both watched as I lifted the bed out of the way to install the fuel sender (Tunakid #1 even held the light!!), and learned about safety when heavy things are in the air. I realigned the bed, dropped in the bolts, and then put them to bed (which takes an hour chunk out of the evening, but is totally worth it).

I then connected both fuel and vent lines to the tank, and ran the hard lines. I wanted to mount the vertical loop before finishing the last few connections, so I went looking... for another hour... for my line clamps. Attic, bench, boxes, truck bed, the dusty corners with the spiders and other creepy crawlies... and nothing.

I went in to look at the order so I could figure out when I bought them. Oops. never bought them.

So I bought them on Amazon prime. Should be here soon. The fuel lines are looking pretty good, though. Other than some waviness that's almost mandatory with the hand bent soft annealed tubing, it will function very well. I am able to use most of the GM clamps for the lines all of the way until the cab, so it looks pretty nice. Pictures are almost useless at this point, apologies.

OK folks I can post some big-to-me news now. I got these made through a friend of a friend. I am pretty happy. Tonight I will grind off the heads on the bedside top edge and weld the shank in place.

I can't decide if I will bedline it separately or together as one.

Seperately if you ever plan on removing it ever again.

Looks stock. I dig it.

I'd have used small rivets. that way you could have it bedlined seperately and it is removable...

Mad_Ratel wrote: I'd have used small rivets. that way you could have it bedlined seperately and it is removable...

I tossed around the rivet idea, but this way:

Enables me to grind the top flush and make those bolts into studs which are completely hidden.

Allows me to maintain it easier should it ever leak.

The carriage bolts on the bottom going into the wheel tub look pretty OEMish.

Tuna, I love this thread.

Carry on.

JohnInKansas wrote: Tuna, I love this thread. Carry on.

Dude, I was thinking about the name of this thread, and the fact that we haven't heard from you in quite a while. Glad to hear you're still keeping tabs on this, and thanks again for kicking me started again!