Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Got a little bit done this weekend. The sound system is done now - I fabbed up a couple plates for my front kick panel area speakers to hold 5-1/4" coax speakers. I had sealed up the vent from the outside when I did the rust repair. I had to use a 1" spacer since the vents aren't deep enough for the speaker.

Also took apart my vent windows and got those blasted and painted.

And glued the door glass to the sashes. I used 3M Fast Cure windshield urethane. It came out of the gun pretty easy since I heated it to at least 100 degrees, but it does start drying out pretty quick so I'll leave it clamped for a week.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I wish I would have worked on my window sashes like you have, they look alot better painted up.

Pretty slick on the speaker placement.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I'm just hoping they hold! It should be a tighter fit than just the rubber (which relies on friction) compared to urethane which should be friction and adhesion, but we'll see.

I'm hoping I have clearance for the vintage air box. I just saw a picture on here that shows the box pretty close to the kick panel.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Very nice work. On the wings, I guess you just have to drill out and pull the rivet and the glass can be removed? I'm assuming you have to pull the glass before you sandblast?

What A/C are you going with? If it doesn't pull fresh air, are you worried about not having vents to open for fresh air when A/C running? I was reading some guys are having to open the passenger side vent for fresh air sometimes or they have issues.. I need to read more on what exactly they are experiencing...

Those speakers look great in there. Put any sound dampener behind them on the metal cowl? I hear blow back causes distortion and sound dampener directly behind the speaker stops that.

Looking good man! I'm taking notes :thumbs:

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Vent windows are held together by rivets. To get the glass out, you drill out the pivot rivet and take the nut, spring, and washers off the bottom. Rivets get drilled out from the head side and use a punch to knock them out. I left the wing glass in the channel because we had so much trouble getting them back in on my dad's 64. So I taped off the glass and then blasted and no problems. In the video link (below), he sandblasts and paints the entire assembly but I don't see that as necessary as some of it is galvanized and mine were in good shape. The parts that were painted definitely needed paint though. The black channel with the chrome strike plate for the wing window latch can be pulled off the frame. I'll take pictures of the parts in their painted form this weekend before we reassemble.
Here's a link to a good video I've been watching on vent window restoration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiZOiHmcb_w

I plan on going with the Vintage Air Surefit system. It was my understanding that these systems reuse the air in the cab since there's no fresh air intake anywhere. I saw a picture where the right side of the blower assembly was almost up tight against the kick panel sheet metal, whereas the outside of my speaker grille is probably 1.5" or 2" out, so hopefully that doesn't become an issue. Maybe the lines coming out of the box end up in a different spot than intended and hopefully that's not an issue.

I didn't put any sound dampening behind the kick panel speakers. They're pretty low power speakers so hopefully it won't be noticeable if there is some distortion. It's going to be hard to hear the music over the sound of those black widows anyway....

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Vent windows are done, doors are loaded, and front bumper is on.

I was really happy with the rubber from Classic Parts - it all fit great. But I really dislike the rivets that hold these vent windows together. We started off at a disadvantage because the rivet setting tool I ordered (the cheap punch type) is on backorder so we had to use one that has already been used on two windows. We tried welding each end to a c-clamp, but the clamp just wasn't up to the task so I just unthreaded the c-clamp and used it as a punch. It's pretty well used now. What I found works the best is to use the rivet setting tool to get it about 75% flattened out and then finish it off with a normal punch.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Looks good, what kind of paint did you use?

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I just used some rattle can epoxy black and clear. Not the best route I know, but going through the process in the paint booth with all the automotive coatings just wasn't worth it for me. If it fades, I'll just respray it. I blasted everything prior to paint so it should adhere well.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Console is mounted. I was hoping to get both seats mounted too, but the console work took longer than I expected and I had to redrill the holes for the seats. For anyone considering 99-06 buckets and a 14-18 console (or any console that is approx. 14" wide), it's a tight fit and you really should have all three parts in hand and mocked up at the same time. I had to redrill the seat holes about 1" toward the outside on both sides and plug the old holes. Not my ideal fix, but I didn't want to weld them shut and burn the epoxy on the underside.

But the console came out really nice - we chopped the old mounting points off the frame and welded L-brackets to bolt it to the floor. We cut the bottom out of the lower plastic tray and it holds the PCM and TAC module great and I mounted the OBD port to the tray as well. I pulled my iPhone cable up into the top half so I can plug it in from the console too.

I get tunnel-visioned when I'm working on my truck and forget to stop and take good pictures. I'll have a picture of the seats and console next weekend.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Very nice! :thumbs:

I didn't think about coming back later and doing buckets and having to weld shut the old holes... That's gonna suck to redo... Enjoying seeing your interior coming together.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Im looking forward to seeing it all fit together. I like that newer style console a lot better then the 99-06 one

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Can't wait to see a pick of the interior completed. Going to look goooood.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Seats and console complete, windshield and back glass in. I had to trailer it to a local glass shop and they were very reasonable on cost. It's a lot more enjoyable to take on test drives now.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Glass looks great. You know you are close when the glass goes in!

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Oh yeah man, your getting close! The interior looks great.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

So close I can feel it. I just need a bed and a hood and then I can start driving it. Vintage Air and wheels/tires will be a little later.

Then start on the next project!

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

MDPotter, What size trailer is that you're hauling it on? I have to get a trailer to do those things with my build. Thanks. And by the way, you have a awesome build going on!!

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

That console looks great. I wish mine flipped back all the way like yours, maybe Ill refab the mounts like you did.

Whats your next project?

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I believe it's 18'x7'. Just a couple inches on each side of the front tires.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I'm not starting a build thread yet, but I'll post in the general forum what we picked up this weekend.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Dude, pics, progress, wuz up?

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I haven't done much on the truck this month. I'm at a point where I'm ready to start working on the bed, but I need warmer weather to do most of it. But 2nd Christmas came on Friday when my bed parts showed up! One of the bedsides has a small dent in it, but no big deal. Next steps with the bed are to cut in the fuel door and then mock up the whole assembly and then blow it back apart for paint.

My dad has wanted a lift for a long time and it's finally happened. We knew a guy that knew a guy that had one for sale and we are going to trade him some work for it. It's a 4-post (not a great picture) that he bought from another guy and never ended up using so it sat on a trailer for awhile. It was a workout taking it apart and setting it up in the shop.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Back to my truck though - we set the bed floor on it and immediately found a clearance issue. The drop shackles I installed aren't going to work. I knew from researching on here that I would probably have to modify a cross sill for clearance because the leaves come really close to it, but I didn't predict the shackle itself hitting the floor. It's actually holding the floor about 1/2" off the frame. So I blasted and painted the stock shackles and I'm planning on putting those back on. So now I'm trying to decide what to do for drop. I've read about taking out leaves, having the leaves rearched, buying drop springs, and doing a flip kit. Right now I'm probably at a 2/1 drop and I kind of want to go 4/2. I'm going to call a local leaf spring shop today to see what they can offer. Just another reason I wish I had coils!

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

That 4 post will be awesome. I'm hoping to get a lift when I finally build my shop.

I didn't realize you needed a whole new bed. Interested to see how this goes. I ended up getting a new tailgate, it was easier and cheaper than fixing mine. Plus now I have a back rest for a bench to sit on in my new shop...

Man you have enough leaf springs on there to trailer a 5th wheel :lol:

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Yeah, I can definitely take out the lower three leaves and gain some drop but probably not as much as I want and I would have to get different u-bolts. I talked to my local spring shop and they didn't recommend re-arching them and wanted over $600 for a custom set. I can get a set of lowered springs for like $350 or spend the same for a flip kit and a c-notch so I've got some thinking to do.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

The brown truck dropped off my drop leaves yesterday. These are advertised as 4", but comparing the thickness of the leaf stack to my stock HD leaves, I might get 5" of drop out of these. Can't wait to put these on this weekend and see where the back ends up!

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Wow that's a big change. I would almost think it might ride better too.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Awesome :metal:

And I agree with sprint, seems it would ride more comfortable.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

We got quite a bit done Saturday. We swapped out the drop leaves and installed new u-bolts (the old ones were pretty cancerous). Measuring from axle to frame, it dropped about 3" which is less than I expected, but I'm happy with where it sits now. I looked at moving the upper shock mount to the rear hole, but it looks okay. We test fit a bedside and I decided to cut another 1/2 coil off the front so it sits down in the front a little bit. My dad got a new set of wheels and tires on his truck so I put his old set on my truck and they actually look pretty good.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Were you able to figure out the issue with the belt jumping a rib on your dads truck? Im having the same issue; belt jumping a rib on the ac compressor with kwik bracket.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

So he bought a laser pulley alignment tool (worth the money) and we checked every pulley and the only one that was out of alignment was the power steering pump. We had replaced it a long time ago but the pulley wasn't pressed on the pump shaft far enough so we pressed it on as far as it would go but still wasn't quite enough and there was actually some axial play in it. So we replaced the pump and it lined up much better and we put on a new belt and no issues so far. Whether the power steering pulley had anything to do with it is unknown, but it's running great now so we're happy.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Thanks MD! First thing I did was check my power steering pulley and sure enough it needed pressed on. Pressed it on and fired up the truck and the belt didnt jump off. Easiest fix to date!

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Well what are the chances! Glad to hear it was an easy fix.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

The process of making an aftermarket bed assembly work has begun. We got the floor, front panel, sides, tubs, and tailgate all put together. A list of the modifications:
-Trimmed 3 out of 4 front/rear edges of tubs. They were pretty wide and were resting on the ridges in the bed in most spots.
-Elongated the holes in pass side tub where it bolts to the bedside. The whole tub needed to move about 1/4" rearward to get holes to line up with the floor.
-Elongated the top two holes in the front end of the bedsides where the bolt threads into the captive nut of the front panel.
-Trimmed excess material from the tailgate so the linkage could fold up completely.
-Cut and rewelded the pockets in the bedsides where the rear cross sill slides into.
-Elongated a couple holes in the tubs/floor so they would bolt up
-Trimmed excess material from driver bedside where front panel curl slides into the bedside.

Not trying to steer anyone away from buying an aftermarket bed, this is just a list of what I encountered and I don't think any of it is unreasonable. It's just what you have to do with aftermarket sheet metal. I still have to fit the skirts, those will take some modification too.

So we got the bed set on the truck and man are the wheel openings on these trucks huge! I'll have to do something about that down the road because these tires are way too small. I could easily fit 20's with low profile tires.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

potter,
hi! very nice build.. I have a couple questions for you related to your fans setup. according to post #160:
"...Also got my fans and fuel pump wired up and running. I used the GM 3-relay setup for the fans so they both run half speed when the PCM calls for low-speed and they both run full speed when the PCM calls for high-speed. This is a fuse block/relay setup I got from Amazon for $30. I looked at the Bussmann setup and it's nice because it has internal bussing to make wiring a little easier, but I would have spent over $100 because there is a minimum quantity of seals and terminals so I would have ended up with hundreds of them that you don't use. This block worked pretty well - I soldered the 10 ga wires to the terminals since they weren't big enough to crimp. Other than that, the seals fit tight and I'm pretty happy with it. Don't mind the labeling on the wires, we just used leftover wiring from my AAW harness to match the colors used in the GM diagram."

did you use any of the factory wires (factory harness) for your fan connections?
if so where and how did you located or tied into them?
I am wanting to do the same setup in my '86 with a 2013 4.8 and complete factory harness.
thank you for your time & sharing your build!!:metal:

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

rod - If you mean the American Autowire chassis harness, no. If you mean the LS engine harness, yes. I don't want to bombard you with information, but here is some info on what I did. I don't know anything about square body wiring, but here you go:

The wiring for the fans and fuel pump is pretty much isolated to the engine bay. Since most EFI fuel pumps and electric fans require more amps than the circuits in these old trucks can provide, I didn't use the fuel pump or fan circuit from the chassis harness. Instead I took power straight from the "disconnect" - it's where a couple fusible links separate battery power from the rest of the truck that I have mounted on the core support. Without knowing where your PCM is located/will be located, I don't know what's easiest or cleanest for you. The PCM for your LS has (3) wires which control the fans and the fuel pump - two of them are ground triggers for the fans and the third wire is actually a 12v trigger wire for the fuel pump. I reworked my own LS harness and left these three wires in the main trunk of wires that in factory form (2013 vehicle) routed to the PCM which sat in the engine bay. But when I reworked my LS harness, I wanted the PCM to be in the cab so I tore it all apart and routed the main trunk of wires down the back of the engine, on top of the trans and into the cab under the center console.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Bed is looking good on there! Wheel wells are huge. I will probably end up with bags and 20's at some point, but that will be after she is done.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

You are a better man than me! It would be a hard pill for me to swallow if I got a bedside with a "small" dent in it like that one. I'm sure you can handle it, but I don't know if I would be able to!:banghead:

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

They offered me a buydown or to send me a new one, I opted for the buydown. It won't take much work to fix it and the chances of a replacement bedside being damaged are there too. If you can swap a Gen V LT into one of these trucks, you can repair a minor dent!