Surprisingly, now that I have the problem with my hands/forearms, my hands do not cramp up like they used to when working in tight areas or with repetitive motions.  Good thing!

Put it all back together and found that the fuel gauge and temp gauge did not work.  Removed it and traced out the lines.  Found a bad connection to the temp gauge and fixed that with a short strand of copper and a little bit of solder.  Removed all of the gauges and cleaned them while I was in there.  Put it all back together and still nothing…  Checked the fuses and the 3A cluster fuse was blown.  A quick run to Autozone for some fuses (all I had was the mini blade fuses) and it was back to working great.

While I was at autozone I bought a new headlight pull rod/knob to replace the broken one that was there.  So that was done.

I also picked up a new window crank handle for the passenger side.  Put it on and noticed why the previous owner had removed the old one…  The window track was broken making it almost impossible to roll the window up once it was down.  I had another rear window track from a pickup that I was able to cut off the truck upper bracket and weld on the bracket for my cut down doors (73-75 full convertibles had a different upper bracket).  Put that in and tried it again…  The window still jumped off…  A bit more inspection showed that the window regulator was bent up to the point that it was pulling the window out of its channels.  One of the doors out in my shed had a good manual window regulator so I removed that and dropped it into my door then dropped the window back in.  ALL IS WELL!!  It was a bit of a hassle to get the window back on the regulator, but now that it is in, it works as good as new!

Now that my roof is done, my next purchase will be that 74 Jimmy to cut up!  The first thing I am planning on doing is skinning the doors to get the additional supports out of them.  Then I will be converting my extra set of doors over to full convertible use. 

These quarters came off of an 87 Blazer if I remember correctly so if I use the whole passenger quarter, I will have to change over to using a fuel door.  I have to look into what is different between this and what is currently on my truck now.

I am itching to start cutting panels off, but my schedule right now sucks.  I am way too busy with other things to make time for the K5.  I am content right now to be able to drive it around!

Looking back now, I should have known that the hole in the floor board was not going to fly… So that is the task for this week. Getting that hole covered up so that it will pass inspection. I have been assured that, when fixed, it will pass.

A few months ago I had gotten it all cleaned up and fixed some of the damage that was present.  I had removed a prior patch job that was sloppily done and repaired some thin, cracked sections of the deck which needed to be strong to support the pieces that bolted on in those locations.  To strengthen the rusted and cracked metal, I backed these areas with some 14 gauge sheet metal.   Areas which were to be completely replaced, were replaced with 1/8” metal.

The pictures below show the progress from a few months ago:

Tonight I was able to get the non-discharge side completely fabricated and welded back together.  It is amazing how fast it actually goes back together.  My little Millermatic 140 welder still continues to amaze me.  For the old to new metal welds, I had to dial it back so as not to blow through, but with the new metal welds I had it turned all the way up and it burned in very well.  There were some spots which ended up with some porosity for some reason, but they were old to new metal welds so I do not know if it was just something in the old metal.

Anyway, pictures…  Mark, these are for you:

There still are a few other areas which need attention before I can call this one done.  I just wanted to show the progress that was being made so Mark would not think I was putting it off.

Hopefully I can get it finished up over this long weekend.  I want to discuss some other areas with Mark first to see if he would like me to just replace them or leave them as is.

The headers fit very well, however, the mandrel bent exhaust system did not fit to my liking.  The passenger side exhaust pipe needed to be cut into 4 separate pieces to properly clear the frame & transfer case as well as have the pipe end up at the proper place to tuck the mufflers up under the truck.  The driver side pipe only needed to be cut once.

I have the driver side pipe welded back together with the appropriate clearance and positioning for the muffler.  I also fabricated a hanger to properly locate the exhaust system using some 1/4” bar stock and an exhaust isolator from NAPA.  I will have pictures of these pipes up at some point.

Here is a short video of the open headers:

Enjoy!

I was able to get a set of Hooker headers for $146 delivered next day from Amazon.com.  The headers and the exhaust system I have purchased are made to work with each other nicely.  However, not as nice as a true bolt in.  Some "massaging" of the exhaust will be necessary to get the mufflers and tail pipes located where I want them. Nothing a cutoff wheel and a welder will not fix.

The good news is that I was able to save the Flowmaster Series 40 mufflers that were on the truck and they will get welded back into the system.  I am trying to find some high temp cold galvanizing paint locally right now so I can spray down the welds to try and prohibit rust formation.

I also did some more digging into the speedometer calibration and what needed to be done.  I pulled the driven gear out of the back of the transfer case and had a look at it.  It has a 7 tooth drive gear and a 19 tooth driven gear. I would need to step up to a 23 tooth driven gear to get the speedo to read right.  However, only up to a 21 tooth gear is available.  So I will need to purchase an add-on unit (speedometer ratio adapter) to get to the proper ratio.

I have pictures of all of this stuff, but will have to update later.

One thing is for sure, I have to get the lawn mower deck finished for a co-worker before it gets too cold outside.  That way I can move in the Blazer and get to cutting on that thing.

I did just pickup a new 1/8” thick steel counter top for my main work bench.  This will allow me to use the bench for more than just a junk accumulation point.  I will be able to cut, weld, and grind on it.  I had a piece of 1/8” thick steel sheet bent to conform to the bench with an 11” back splash and a 2” lip on the front.  I will post up pictures of the top as well as installed photos once I get it put in.  Only thing prohibiting me at the moment is the amount of junk that is on my bench!!  LOL

Hopefully I will be able to work on it more in the coming weeks. Fire practice/classes are taking up quite a bit of my time now though. My dad also needs some help out at the shop so the Chevelle may find itself on the back burner again…