International L122 B Binder Rat Build

[jmlcolorado]

That bracket is spotwelded to the firewall... I think there`s 2 of them in the middle between the bolt holes. If my memory serves me correctly, the top is bolts only, but it has been 2 weeks at least since I pulled that same bracket, so I may be wrong [S
I used the plasma cutter and ripped off the rest later. Didn`t pay too much attention to how it was built. I`d say cutting from the enginebay would be easiest. It was not a 5 min. job

Wow! That was fast

I'll cut the firewall out with the bracket then abd see where that gets me.
Thank you!!!!!

 

[Gunzenrosa]

If you can grab the mc and the brake pedal you can always engineer something to make them work. Here is what I did just for an idea.

 

[jmlcolorado]

Well, I really need that big bracket so I'll grab it tomorrow.
The steering column I was able to moint on the factory bracket that came in the international. I need the bracket in order to properly place the pedal on the floor. Based off my calibrated eyeball measurements, it appears the brake pedal mount will interfere with the steering wheel bracket.
While I could reinvent the wheel, I think I'll take a stab at removing the bracket from the donor truck. Looking at the pictures a couple spot welds drilled should do it. If not, I'll bring the cordless grinder and recip saw
The column is from an s-10. So if luck is with me, the donor bracket will also allow me to mount the steering wheel off of it too.

The firewall has all kinds of cool bad rolls I was wanting to keep, but now it's getting so cut up, I might as well cut it out and replace with flat metal. If I had a bead roller, I'd lay out all the pedals and mounting points then roll beads around the filler panel before welding in. But........rat rod.

Old vs........uhh.......still old. But new to me



In this picture, I feel as though the setup is far too low.

Hard to identify where it needs to go. I think it'll end up high, to where the MC cap is above the cowl. Looks like I need to make sure the tire doesn't hit the MC at full lock too. I might rotate the hydroboost 180*, but with all those lines, I gotta make sure it all clears the steering linkage, which doesn't exist yet. There's a lot going on on this side. Power steering: Remote reservoir tube, high pressure tube, 2 low pressure tubes. Then injunction pump fuel supply and fuel return. Throttle cable, fuel shut of solenoid wiring, starter wire, ground wire, hydro high pressure line from pump, hydro return line. All of this needs to stay within the outer surface of the frame for tire clearance, as well as remain clear of the steering linkage that will run across the top of the frame.
Oh boy.



Heres the space I'm working with under the dash.


The bracket at the top left corner was a mount for the last brake pedal Assembly which in my 394,982nd stupid move earlier on in the project, welded it to the firewall. I cut a hole about 6x12 in top of the cowl to weld that on and the patch is finally nicely patina'ed back to match everything else, so I don't want to open that back up to cut this bracket out. Another reason to cut out the firewall and start fresh.

 

[dutch]

Here`s a few pics I took this morning. Looks like there were a few more welds than I recall.... hope this helps

 

[jmlcolorado]

Here`s a few pics I took this morning. Looks like there were a few more welds than I recall.... hope this helps

That helped a bunch! Wish I had a plasma cutter at the junk yard

 

[jmlcolorado]

Made some decent progress tonight.
Took lunch and went to the junk yard. I brought a dril with a couple bits. A cordless grinder I don't have a charger for, some Chanel locks and vice grips.
Drilled the spot welds with the drill bit that was too small to catch the whole weld. A little prying......okay ALOT of prying later and I got the brake pedal assembly.
The old guy checking me out at the junk yard kinda chuckled and said, normally people bring wrenches and take things that are bolted to the trucks.



Horrrrrray!


Cut out the old section of the firewall so I can start fresh.


Embarrassing really


Stuffed the new section in.


I got it tacked into place. I'll finish welding it up tomorrow.
I stuffed the MC/pedal assembly into place and made my best guess as to where it needed to go. I wanted to avoid shortening the pedal arm in order to keep leverage the same as factory Chevy so I had to move the assembly a few times to get just right. It all ended up much higher than I expected. The to of the MC is about an inch above the top of the cowl. That's what I get for sectioning. Ha!



I haven't driven many automatics, and when I did, I never really paid any attention as to how the brake pedal is placed. So I went out to the back 40 and took some measurements on my 89 camaro since it's an auto. That gave me a base line as to where the pedal needed to be.
This required straightening the arm then cutting the pad off and changing the angle so it meets your foot properly.

 

[jmlcolorado]

Of course doing this dropped the pedal an inch and a half too low, so I had to raise the entire assembly again. So I have a couple extra holes in the new patch piece. Oh well, I'll fill em.

So here she sits.






I will probably end up rotating the hydroboost section 180* just to keep the lines below the cowl. We'll see.

I need to add a bunch of backing inside to eliminate flex.
The steering wheel will be reusing its original brace under the dash so I'll stab that in tomorrow night, then start bracing everything off inside.
This huge bracket was permenatly secured to the cab of the donor truck, and I'm not sure it will even need to be removed in my case, so I'll likely do the same once I have everything in its final location.

I assume I can replace the brake fluid reservoir right? The plastic looks out of place. I'd like to change those out to something else.
Maybe I can turn down some basic steel cans with separate caps and use those in its place?
I'm open to suggestions.

 

[MercuryMac]

Jml, the first possible solution that popped into my head for the OLDizing of the MC reservoir is get a rattle can of grey spatter paint and paint it. The lid of the cans comes out looking like cast iron it's so rough, so that might disguise your plastic tank. I have not used my can yet so you have to be the guinea pig on this experiment.
I applaud your want to keep everything looking old.

 

[jmlcolorado]

Jml, the first possible solution that popped into my head for the OLDizing of the MC reservoir is get a rattle can of grey spatter paint and paint it. The lid of the cans comes out looking like cast iron it's so rough, so that might disguise your plastic tank. I have not used my can yet so you have to be the guinea pig on this experiment.
I applaud your want to keep everything looking old.

I thought about that, but the only problem I see with paint is brake fluid will kill the paint in short order.

I stumbled across a MC that had plastic bungs that pressed into the MC bores with a hose nipple which allowed to remote mount reservoirs. This might be easiest. I could find some old cans and weld in a nipple on the bottoms and hard mount to the firewall somewhere. The bungs would be easy enough to turn on a lathe too.
Meh, we'll see. That's not top of the list, just another thing to stew about while I press forward.

 

[jmlcolorado]

No physical progress last night, but I did drop some serious coin on hydraulic hoses and fittings, new inner and outer tie rod ends, rag joint Assembly, DD steering shaft and support bearing, and the first part of the exhaust system.
All added up to about $750!!! Ouch!
It's all good. In retrospect, I'd prefer to have new steering parts. Safety first after all
Once further down the list I'll swap out the rotors, calipers, drums, shoes, rear brake cylinders too.
Ultimately when it's all said and done, all steering, braking and steering components will be new which simply gives me peace of mind.

 

[DJ3100]

I still get sticker shock on all of those small bits.

 

[jmlcolorado]

Another weekend has come and gone with no physical progress. However, I did order the last of the air ride components (computer and ride height sensors) and also ordered long battery cables kit as well as a painless 28 circuit (overkill I know) fuse block and all wiring for each circuit. Should make wiring much easier. Those items together were.......um.......expensive. But should ultimately tie together the trucks systems nicely and safety.
If I keep going this direction, all the sub systems and components under the truck will be new

The fuse block I ordered connects with a bulkhead connector at the firewall to make install/removal of the cab easier.
Pictures to follow once parts start rolling in.

 

[Bamamav]

IR Pops made a neat box cover for the master cylinder on his truck. Might check out his pics.

 

[jmlcolorado]

IR Pops made a neat box cover for the master cylinder on his truck. Might check out his pics.

I couldn't find his fix. He's got a couple builds with a bazillion pictures. I'll reach out to him, but your simple comment sparked the imagination.

I could simply wrap the thing with sheet metal, some "speed hole" and rust it up. Simple fix, and would fit the truck. Might have to give it a whirl [cl

 

[jmlcolorado]

Pop quiz for everyone.

On the hydroboost, I know the port closest to the accumulator is the high pressure out to the steering box, but which port on the steering box is the high pressure in? This is a '78 c10 power steering box I believe. One port is 5/8-18 female. The other is 11/16-18 female.
I presume the larger port is the inlet and the smaller is the return line?

 

[sgtpontiac]

Pretty sure...

Smaller of the two should be the return....usually just hose clamped to the pump inlet pipe....

 

[jmlcolorado]

Smaller of the two should be the return....usually just hose clamped to the pump inlet pipe....

I figured as much but I bought the box over the shelve to retrofit, so I never had any lines to identify from. The ports only had protective caps for shipping.
Thanks!!!

 

[jmlcolorado]

Started collecting a pile-o-stuffs to install. A few things I had already (air compressors and air horns), but still needs installed so they get thrown into the pile.



And more coming.......

Stopped by the junk yard again today to pick up a PS resivour. Wanted a firewall mounted one. This one has a return port so I don't have to tee the return lines. The return for the hydroboost will dump into this one and the return for the steering gear will dump into the back of the pump. Should make rats nest of lines a touch cleaner.


The 4BT has a large electromagnetic shutoff solenoid. It turns on and pills a lever back to allow fuel flow. Turn the key off and the spring loaded arm pushes the fuel shutoff arm back on the injection pump. I was screwing around with it one night without it connected to the pump and shot the thing apart. Boo.
Priced them and HOLY CRAP! They're made of gold!
SO, on the search for a cable.
Came across I pristine blue dodge van, which had cables for heater controls. I snagged the cable that runs........uhhh..... I don't know what it ran, but it had a two position switch integrated with the cable. I thought it was pretty cool so I grabbed it.




The international still has its factory choke cable mounted on the dash. Or what's left of it. I think I'm going to mount its knob onto this assembally.
Figured I would make one of the switch poles light up a light on the dash indicating "Fuel Off" so that I know why it won't steer when I turn the key and crank it over, and nothing happens.
I think the "Choke" knob is a fun play on words for its function.


It's in B&W because I poste it to the photo contest.

Let's see, what else.......

Oh yeah, new pile-o-stuffs.
Started getting exhaust parts.
3"-3.5" a damper to come off the turbo neck. Call it the down pipe. It's a short down pipe
Also a flexable connection.
I'll start collecting other exhaust stuff to build that up soon.

 

[jmlcolorado]

-6 AN hoses and some fittings.
Braided doesn't fit the rat rod theme, but I like it.


Found out today when wondering around auto parts stores that PepBoys has Russel AN fittings on the shelve. Dang! Have been ordering through Summit. Of well, at least now I know when I start putting it all together and forget something.

Steering shaft (3/4" DD), u-joints and support bearing. I forgot to get a 1"DD to 3/:" DD u-joint for the connection to the column, so that's lagging behind. I want to mount the steering shaft, then route hoses.
As I mentioned earlier, there is going to be a lot of stuff on the drivers side, so I want to make sure it stays nice and orderly.


Oh, there's a body/engine grounding kit up there too.


Wiring harness. Oh boy.
I got the largest block I could. Think it's 28 circuits. I figure you can never have too many.
This should support any future nerd that might come along.
I choose Bulkhead connector mounted as I want to remove the cab to finish plumbing the systems. Brakes, suspension, wiring, so I'm trying to have everything that connects to the cab easily removable. Minus brake lines. No getting around the hard lines from the Mc to the prop valve mounted on the frame.

I also picked up an accelerator pedal and a universal throttle cable that's too short. Not very interesting to look at so no close up of those


I managed to finishe welding in the brake pedal mounting assembally last night, and remounting the steering wheel for the most part. I ordered a ball floor flange for the bottom of the column because I didn't like my home brewed square plate I had.
I also flipped the hydroboost 180* to get the hoses below it vs on top and in clear sight from the drivers seat. Also shortens the hoses quite a bit too.

I was up till 2 am this morning messing around so probably won't get much done tonight, unless I get a second wind.

 

[I-R-POPS]

Here's what I did to cover up the plastic reservoir. I hate plastic.
Keep beating on it.
I need those air horns. They ought to wake people up.