Well, I got the exhaust in. The passenger side header was a PITA! I had to take the starter out, undo the tranny fluid lines, and loosen the motor mount on that side so I could jack the motor up to give a bigger gap (after I tried to get around this step for 2 hours). Then I got it in, and the edge of the collector was sitting right up against the tranny pan. I had to loosen all the header bolts I had just tightened, so I could bolt up the next piece, then re-tighten the header. That one header took about 3 hours. I ended up running one 24" piece of pipe behind the collectors to get over the tranny mount crossmember, then I went mufflers, and I put dumps right behind them. So the exhaust is dumped right behind the cab (like 2" under the bed). To my surprise, it is extremely quiet compared to my Mustang. I also ran the wires back to the headlights, and front blinkers. Now all the lights on the truck are working except the brake, and reverse. I ended up driving it home from where I had taken it to put the tranny in (about 18 miles). That was the first time I had actually driven the thing lol. My first impression wasn't very good, but by the time I was home, I was back to seeing the potential. The speedo cable wasn't hooked up, but I had a buddy behind me that said we were running 85mph for a while, and he said he didn't see any smoke of any kind the whole trip, so I think I have a good foundation to continue building on. I'll get some pics up soon.

Brandon

 

Well, I've been in the middle of a computer change, and I don't have all the stuff on the new laptop to upload the pics yet. I've been pretty busy. I drove the truck home from where I was working on it (18 miles). There's no smoke, no leaks, and it runs strong. I just have to figure out why the brake lights aren't working, and it will be legal. I'm getting ready to go pick up some used 15X8" Aluminum 5-star wheels for $150. I have a set of 275/60/15's sitting around so I should be able to get them mounted up, and on the truck this weekend. I'm going to try to get my custom grill put back in, and get some pics of that too. Hopefully I can get all the pics on tomorrow, or Sunday.
Brandon

 

Here's some pics of the old, and new exhaust...
http://photobucket.com/albums/b148/P...USTOM/EXHAUST/

As you can see, I had to put the old carrier bearing back in. The new one wasn't right. Please ignor the mess. My first objective was to get the truck driveable. The very large task of deep cleaning the truck will start soon.
Brandon

 

Looks like a very solid truck project, Brandon. And being Grandpa's truck makes it very special and definitely a keeper. Some nice goodies you got for it. Should be a fun project.

 

Oklahoma, I'm not sure about the layout of the 302, but on my 390 with headers, I used to burn starters up on a reg basis. When I did my rebuild, I wrapped starter with fire cloth that my stock car buddy gave me and havent replaced a starter since. A lot of heat getting to it, given it is only about 1" away from the header. i have also wrapped pwr steer metal line that is quite close to left front header.

 

Baitmaster, thank you very much for that bit of info. I was kind of wondering about that. One of the heater hoses lays down close to that header as well. I will definately spend some time on protecting those things when I start the engine bay. I got the tires mounted last night (got to Wal-Mart with 6 minutes to spare before close). I got two of them on when I got home, and snapped a socket. I got the other two on this morning. The truck is far from finished obviously, but here are a couple before, and now pics to show my progress...
http://photobucket.com/albums/b148/P...E%20AND%20NOW/
Brandon