SS Minnow (1 Viewer)

[FJ60Cam]

On to the rear.

Dirty Rob stopped by and we baptized the new garage in gear oil pulling the rear axle apart.

I had never done one of these GM RDB swaps, and the JTO instructions are pretty terrible, so I had quite a time figuring out how it all went together. Once it does, it all makes sense though. It’s pretty simple.

This was the perfect time to replace the original axle bearings & seals. I have used several Terrain Tamer rebuild kits on my own truck with great results, and this time was no exception. Since I am an authorized TT dealer now, I needed a pic for my website.

Check these bad boys out. With the Genuine Koyo bearings, they practically sell themselves.

New vs. original 1969:

I also cleaned & painted any rusty mating surfaces before covering them back up. Hopefully it’ll be another 30 or 40 years before someone digs back in, so it deserved some protection.

 

[FJ60Cam]

So fresh so clean!

 

[FJ60Cam]

The rear axle lines were the originals with the 9mm fittings. They needed 10mm ends to mate to the soft lines in the kit.

The lines looked pretty rough, so I figured I would harvest a few 9mm ends and just make new lines.

That was a great plan until I got to this tee and one of the fittings snapped off.

These aren’t available at your local Autozone, and finding a used one would take several days. I needed to extract this piece.

 

[FJ60Cam]

I drilled it out to find some fresh clean metal and put down a washer to protect the surrounding tee before welding on a nut.

Success!

 

[FJ60Cam]

Finished product:

 

[FJ60Cam]

When I went to put the wheels back on the truck, I ran into a snag. The alloy wheel mounting surface is thicker than the factory steelies, and with the new added thickness of the rotors, there were only a few threads to hold the lugnuts on.

This was just the excuse JTU was looking for to switch to factory wheels and skinny tires.

 

[wngrog]

Will the 9mm line flare up tight to a 10mm end?

 

[FJ60Cam]

Will the 9mm line flare up tight to a 10mm end?

I don't think so. I slid the old 9mm fittings on a new piece of brake line to mate up to the tee, and used 10mm at the caliper end.

 

[FJ60Cam]

IMO, The best solution is to get rid of as many 9mm fittings as you can. They mushroom at the end, and don’t seem to like being pulled apart many times.

New style ends hold their shape better.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

You went to a lot of trouble to save a 9mm t fitting! Why not upgrade to all 10mm? I'm sure there is a reason, just want to understand.

And that same mushrooming thing can happen with the extra long 10mm fittings too-the ones with no threads the last 2mm or so.

If you have not tried it yet, the CuNi brake lines are the bomb. Easier to work, no work hardening, no rust, shapes easily, flares perfectly every time, really good to work with.

 

[wngrog]

I just had a custom line made by Rainey Kirk aka @Rainman to splice in a 10mm proportion valve into my 9mm system.

He’s fast and reasonable and his work is OEM quality. I don’t think you can beat it.

 

[FJ60Cam]

You went to a lot of trouble to save a 9mm t fitting! Why not upgrade to all 10mm? I'm sure there is a reason, just want to understand.

And that same mushrooming thing can happen with the extra long 10mm fittings too-the ones with no threads the last 2mm or so.

If you have not tried it yet, the CuNi brake lines are the bomb. Easier to work, no work hardening, no rust, shapes easily, flares perfectly every time, really good to work with.

This was unexpected and unplanned for. I thought it was a bolt-on kit, so I improvised on the fly. If I was doing this over completely from scratch, I would have maybe just made it all GM downstream of the MC. I wasn’t super happy with the soft lines in the kit. There’s probably an OEM part out there that’s a better match.

I used some of the Copper Nickle lines for the fuel system later and I agree - much easier to work with.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Next up were these junction blocks. It amazes me that this was a factory design.

Old:

Much better...

 

[FJ60Cam]

Same with the fuse box...

 

[FJ60Cam]

Originally the engine didn’t look all that bad. But after a pressure washing and closer inspection, there were years of layers of grimey buildup and old painted over funk. I chiseled off what I could and hit it with various solvents to get the rest.

I wasn’t aiming to make it look new, but knew that a few hours of cleaning and painting would go a long way.

Check out that battery pedestal. New.

He also had a full set of motor and transmission mounts in the beno box, so those went on too.

 

[FJ60Cam]

We were still waiting on a few parts to close the engine up, so I started looking at the TBI.

I really wanted to be able to use the OEM air cleaner, but there aren’t any adapters for it. JTU has a machine shop at his disposal, so I took some preliminary measurements.

If we move the AC up and only used the lower bolts, it might work.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Right away, I could see that there would be some clearance issues mounting the TBI with this adapter.

First off, the adapter itself is made for a later manifold. It would need to be machined to clear this bolt. So I sent off for JTU’s machining magic.

There was also an issue with the IAC & plug. For one, it was practically touching the valve cover. You could install it plugged in, but you wouldn’t be able to unplug it.

Second, it was right where I wanted to put the temp sensor. On the later thermostats, you can screw it into an unused BSV on the thermo housing. This one didn’t have those.

Durn. I made a mental note and decided to deal with it later.

 

[BMThiker]

Fun times!

 

[fountainhead]

Durn. I made a mental note and decided to deal with it later.

Foreshadowing...just the literary technique this yarn needed.

Good stuff.

 

[wngrog]

He wrenches like he tells stories.

Slow and excellent.