R-100 4X4

[Jesse Stewart]

Be the middle of next week before the parts come in for the tranny/transfer case ..

Back to some body work ..
Still in the mode of fitting the hood ornament ...

This is pretty much how it will be ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Slowly been stock piling some needed parts when the motor work starts ..
One known needed item was a oil pan that allows room for the motor to trans stuts ..

This oil pan is well made and adds two qts. more oil .. And won't cause a fitment problem with the stuts ..

The motor runs super well, doing a re-ring job is mostly for replacing the freeze plugs, bearings, gaskets and painting ..
At the moment it has a Moroso 7 qt. stock car, bat wing oil pan ..

These take-off parts will be sold, since I'll have no further need for them ..

Kind of going to miss the "overbuilt" TH 400 trans that will also be sold..
That Bad-Boy is still ticking as well as the day it went on line ..

Bunch of goodies went into this pig !!
Used a "K" Heavy-Duty case as the foundation for the build ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Kool Beans ...

The Oem 4L80 4x4 plate came in today ..

That gap will be used for the custom made conversion plate ..
Plenty of spline engagement ... I like that ..
Do see some more work involved that will need to get done ... The shifter mount will no longer have a place to mount to.
Where it did mount is not there any more .. The custom made adapter will not allow it ..

A new shifter mount must be made ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Dang nice !!

Yeah Baby, yeah !

Bolted it in last night ..
Crossmember will be a chore to fit, bout 3.5" needs to come out of the drive shaft, moving the transfer case shifter entails fabricating a mount over the transmission case ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Tranny is on hold until some material get here to make the trans spacer out of ...

Been busy in another area ..
Seats are now nailed ..

I kind of like them more without the headrests on ..

Attempting to get some ideas on the door sill trim ..
Chopped up some GM Junkers I had laying around just for a look-see ..

Super thin aluminum ... Would like to have Stainless down there
..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Transfer case shifter mount ..

Was in the mode of coming up with some metal to fab up the mount ..
Buddy came by and said he had some junk metal ..
What he had was a mechanical Baseball pitcher ..
Had what was needed to do the mount ..

Cut, bend, drill, thread and a tad of welding will net a beefy mount for the shifter ...

That part is done ... Need some angle iron to make up the shifter to mount happen ... May get a piece of 3/16" plate to make that part of the mount ... ??

Looking like it's going to work really well .. Soon to find out ..

 

[shortbus4x4]

TH400 is nice but a 4L80E with lockup and OD is even nicer for a driver.

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Got this crossmember on order ..

Much better than my idea ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Transmission mount came in ..

Been busy on the T case shifter ..

Trip to Ace for some hardware should get it done ...
Appears to be able to work .. Going to test fit it on the truck before final welding goes down ..

Welded on the extension to the shifter, if my measurements are right should see the gear shift in the center of the cab's floor ??

Soon to see the results ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Nailed it ...

Shifter stick could be a few inches taller ..
Going to scout for a used one .. Anybody holding ??

Would like to see how this one would look ??

Being 15" tall may suit the looks for a old truck ??

Or Hurst 5384331 ..

I like this one better than the other and its 3" taller ..

Might use the one I got ... It's growing on me ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Pulled the trigger for the 4331 Hurst stick ..
It was being made for GM trucks .. Got a Nos one, still in skin warping on the way ..

Also on the way is the crossmember, tracking says tomorrow ..

In the mode of patching the old t-case shifter hole in the floorboard, bout done with that ..
Driveshafts are yet to do ..
Chipping away at it, sure feels good to be on the downhill slide with the tranny swap ..
( That was a colossal chore to do and very time consuming, I'm here to tell ya )

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Crossmember was a bogger to make it fit ..

Cut a half inch out of each side and welded back in ..

Was a bit of work to make it fit ..

 

[FDChappie]

Good progress!

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Transfer case shifter is in ..

Disguised as the transmission shifter ..
Trans shift is out of sight ... But can be seen in the photo ..

Got a cool knob for it that will match the dash woodgrain on order ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Since the overdrive trans is on the downhill slide almost got the column shift to work.
Welded the pivot in it's new location on the frame rail. That worked out super well, made the rod that runs up to the column lever work, it's a GM item off of a car, only needed to be bent in a few places ..
That's working really nice now ...

Did run up on a problem, working the column shift though all the gears, found that the 75 Caddy column didn't have enough throw for first & second gears ...
Worked fine when the TH400 was in the truck ..
Going to try cutting the slot that acts as a stop longer ..

Could move the hole in the crossover arm to gain more throw, but think that would most likely cause problems with the column's Oem switches that are in use ..
Got that work to do today .. Need to pull the fender & inner fender to gain access to the underside of the column .. Or remove the column from the truck ..

While the fender is out of the way, be great timing to install some beef to a known problem area on the frame ..

There's no damage on the frame, these plates will keep it that way ..

Beef installed ...

Almost, waiting for the bolt on brace ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Going to prep the dash for wood graining ...

Since I was working the Caddy's column for having all the gears to work on the 4L80, time to work the dash too ...

Must dial in the stops to get low gear to work ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Got a few holes to fill with weld ..

Headlight switch looks like it's going to work in the og starter switch hole ..
Got some work to get done on the fuel gauge switch before it will look like it belongs ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Steering box brace came in ..

That should add a world of beef to the box ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

BTY ...

Won't be having the need to keep the Oem Caddy switches on the column anymore ..
Was wanting to keep them on line due to the harness from the GMC plugged right up on the Caddy column ..

But, with modifying the column to work all the gears on the 4L80E trans, didn't see how they could hang with the new amount of throw it has now ...

The cure was already in hand ...

Sometime back I bought a gear shift indicator from "Ron Francis" ... I got it to tell me what gear I was in ..

The unit also controls the neutral safety and backup lights !!
Problem cured ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Dash work is going well ..

Filling the gaps around the AC vents with All-Metal ...
Also the radio had gaps that was filled ..

Had about 20 holes to weld up ...
Soon will have the dash under primer ..

The A/C Pod and the install of the power cowl vent motor is next to do ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Pod is finally nailed on ...
Took a bit of work to dial in the fit ..

Gap is fairly large on the vent .. Using metal for filling up most of the crack ...

Getting closer to be seeing woodgrain .. !

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Gave the vent a slight tilt ...
Might help getting the air in the face better ... This vent only has side to side adjustable directional air flow, no up or down control ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Some primer a little sanding and it's ready for printing on the woodgrain ...
Stay tuned ... This just might be interesting ..
(Backup plan, Almond)

 

[FDChappie]

I had a 1933 DeSoto rumble seat coup that had awesome wood graining on the dash and window trim. Can't wait to see yours.

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Same here ...
Mine was a 48 Chevy Fleetmaster ...

This will be a first for wood graining ...
Hoping it will look good, going to burry it under a ton of clear ... Give it a deep look ..