Boy, I had a great Sunday afternoon -- a whole afternoon to work on the
truck! I had cut the old rear crossmember out about 6 or 7 weeks ago
and I've been waiting for an opportunity to set the 350 engine and turbo
350 back in the frame. Sunday was the day!
I measured the placement of the Chassis Engineering motor mounts
according to their specs, marked their placement on the frame with chalk
then tried to set the engine in. I ended up pulling the motor mounts
back out (just had them slipped into place) and took off the block
hugger headers. I put a jack under the tranny and then got the motor
back where it should be. It's still a tight fit and I need to pull it
back out again for such things as the torque converter, but it is such
a thrill to see the truck sitting there with a small block between the
frame rails. I think I'll need to trim the lip where the firewall and
trans tunnel meet. The trans mount is also under the trans and it loks
pretty good, still needs to have holes drilled and bolted in.
I wan't about to stop there. Since I had installed a power steering
sector from a '73 Chevy pickup, I still needed to move the shock mounts
from the front to the back of the wheel. Did some measuring, some
eyeballing and voila', I'm ready for shocks. I bolted up the power
brake bracket I got from No Limit (the holes don;t quite match up so
this will come back off to be redrilled). I also had some help setting
the front end back on so I could check the radiator clearance. It looks
like everything will fit, although the power steering pump may be tight.
The thing I discovered is I need to get a steering column in it (I've
got a column from a van I've rebuilt and repainting), all of a sudden
the front end of the truck is heavy and I can't turn it by grabbing the
tire and yanking.
I can hardly wait for another day like Sunday!
Paul Blosser
School of Metaphysics
1954 3100 (with engine)
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