WhitsEnd Transformation

[WhitsEnd]

I was able to nearly complete the exhaust in an afternoon. Technically, I could have been done with it, but I want to hit the welds with some high temp exhaust paint before reinstalling it and I hadn't purchased the paint yet. So, the welded unit from the axle forward is standing in my garage waiting for the next parts run.

The front section attaches to the tailpipes with clamps, just forward of the axle. I have never used this type of clamp and I really like it. It holds extremely tight, doesn't deform the pipe and requires no seal to be leak free. There are cheaper versions of this style of clamp, but this one has an aluminum extrusion in the middle that helps form the leak proof seal as the clamp is tightened. We'll see how it holds up after use.



Here is a shot of the forward section. The crossover is welded, but the rest was just tacked at this point and pulled back out to fully weld it up.



I really wish I had purchased some different MIG wire for the attachment of the stainless mufflers. It got pretty ugly. It's done and it's strong, but it's ugly.

[WhitsEnd]

This is an example of why I keep a list of things to do.

When I mated the transmission to the engine, I completely missed the fact that the lower inspection cover required for the C6 automatic is completely different than the manual 3 speed. I got the motor and trans installed and added the cover to the list.

I bought a used one on eBay that finally showed up this week. As long as I was under there fiddling with the exhaust, I crossed it off the list of things to do.

[DuckRyder]

Patently waiting to hear about the exhaust... particularly the G body tail pipes.

[WhitsEnd]

Tailpipes worked out well. I cut the forward sections and rewelded to aim the tubes directly forward (they turned in awkwardly). If I wasn’t adding stainless tips, they would be perfect because they end about 1 inch beyond the rear bumper.

I’ll get some pics up next time I’m in the garage.

[McSideburns]

WhitsEnd,
I've been following your build and you are building an awesome truck. I bet your daughter is excited and is learning a lot. I am interested in where you are getting your battery cables. I'm suffering from heat soak issues and store bought cables are junk. Keep up the amazing work and enjoy that FE.

[WhitsEnd]

WhitsEnd,
I've been following your build and you are building an awesome truck. I bet your daughter is excited and is learning a lot. I am interested in where you are getting your battery cables. I'm suffering from heat soak issues and store bought cables are junk. Keep up the amazing work and enjoy that FE.

I bought my cables from http://www.custombatterycables.com/
All three cables, terminals and covers were $80 to my door.

The cables are copper strand, sealed with heavy adhesive shrink tube to copper lugs.



I ordered all three heavy cables: batt(+) to relay, relay to starter and batt(-) to block. Each lug is able to be custom sized, which is nice because the block ground bolt is 1/2", the starter post is 5/16 and the battery terminals are 3/8". In this pic, I've got them positioned to try to get a natural bend in them for when they're attached to the battery and relay.



I decided to get military style battery terminals because my ignition and my future EFI require direct connections to the battery. I think these terminals are a simple solution for that by allowing multiple leads to connect to two posts per terminal. The cables are actually simpler then, because they aren't integrated into the terminal.

I also got their special covers for the mil terminals.

[WhitsEnd]

Hey Burns, if anyone tells you you need extra large cables to fix your heat soak issue, don't listen to them. Most people buy cables that are too large, if given the option. If your grounds are good, you don't need cables any larger than what you see in my pictures, which is 4 ga, SGX cable.

Your issue may not be cables, but I agree, you can't buy good cables at an auto parts store.

[McSideburns]

WhitsEnd,
Thanks for the battery cable info. I will give them a try. Keep up the great work!
Scott

[Manny]

Totally second the band style exhaust clamps. If you have to clamps something it is the best thing to do. Secondly i like your battery cables can't go wrong oversizing the. You progress and good, and you have some great quality in your build. Enjoying it very much.

[WhitsEnd]

Had a good weekend. Even though I did most of the exhaust last weekend, I didn't quite finish, so I couldn't erase it from the To Do list.

I hit the welds with high temp silver, finalized the exit height with a couple very thin pie cuts and welds, cut the ends to final length and tacked the oval tips in place.



I didn't like the bright silver showing through the wheel wells, so I painted the tail pipes flat black to help them fade a bit.

[WhitsEnd]

So, with it finalized, I took a few shots of it installed.

Here are a couple shots of the bends over the axle, including my bubble gum welds.
I found it difficult to get the right heat and feed with the aluminized tubing. It seemed like it went from not welding to burning through at a very fine line. I had to jack the feed rate up to introduce material to act as a cooling effect once I got enough power to burn. I would still get an occasional burn through, which I had to go back and fix very slowly, 1 tack at a time.

[WhitsEnd]

Just after the pipe drops back down over the axle, the hangers are installed. There were actually holes in the frame already, I just had to open them up a little for my bolts.

This is the hanger on the driver's side. These hangers are a bit heavy, meant for large trucks. I like that they fully contain the U bolt, so they can't jump off going down the road.



Tailpipe around the spare on the driver's side...this is before I tweaked the exit height


Same view of the passenger's side

[WhitsEnd]

Yes, I think that spare is VERY old...and is completely useless because I've changed the bolt pattern. I need to add a spare wheel to the To Do list.

[WhitsEnd]

So, next was finalizing the 3G upgrade and wiring.

I installed the 95amp alternator from PA Performance, which included some custom shims and spacers with this lower bracket. Then I got busy with the wire cutters, ring terminals and solder.



Here you can see how close this housing is to the head, even after grinding off about 3/16". For this reason, I couldn't mount the ground on the back and had to use one of the housing bolts.



All of the wiring for the charging system is complete, although it currently looks like a mess. This will all just be draped over the valve cover to get it out of the way when I drop the front clip on. Here you can also see the requisite mega fuse and heavy line to the Batt.+ side of the starter relay.

[WhitsEnd]

Since I had the electrical tools scattered already, I decided to finalize the wiring for the new steering column.

For those just tuning in, this auto column is from a '76 dentside and the truck is a '70 that originally had 3 on the tree. Here's what I started with.



Due to copyrights, I won't post images of the electrical schematics I used from this forum. However, they were very useful, as well as the same from Fordification.net for the Dentside column wiring.

2 of the wires would get terminated and not be used. These are for speed control and hazzard flashers. I decided to keep the original hazzard switch in the dash ('76 column has a pull switch in it).

1 of the wires is to illuminate the gear selector. That got spliced into the dash lights.

The remaining 7 wires generally aligned with the same colors on the truck side of the plug, however some of the shades changed quite a bit.