To mount the shock brackets, Jeff took the coils out, bottomed the rearend, and installed the shocks so they still had about 1 inch of travel left before welding the lower shock brackets to the rearend. This will prevent blowing out the shocks in case they bottom out while on the road. From here all that's left is to reattach the emergency brake cables, resecure the brake lines to the frame, and reroute the exhaust. Looks good, huh? The old leaf spring mounts can come off whenever you feel like getting cozy with an air hammer. | 
While unable to change the location of the catalytic converter and run the exhaust through CPP's preplanned holes, The Muffler Man turned the muffler on its side and snaked the rest out between the driveshaft and the driver-side trailing arm and retained the original tailpipe location. |
CPP designed the trailing arm crossmember with big 3 1/2x5-inch holes in each side to run the exhaust high off the ground, but unfortunately the '79 needs to meet the smog standards here in California and had to retain the stock single exhaust complete with a catalytic converter, which as you may have guessed threw a small wrench in the works, but those with a non-smog truck with dual exhaust will love it. We took the truck to The Muffler Man here in Placentia, CA, to have Josh work some magic. | |