COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

I drove out to Dallas/Ft. Worth area last August (2018) to pick this '66 up. Id been wanting a big window for several years and i found this on on a CL search. It was running (barely) and it rode home to Denver on a flatbed we rented for the weekend for $100.

Its Feb 2019 now and progress has been made, so I'll try to make posts in the sequence of the build.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

We started cleaning the junk out and underneath the drivers floor mats we found a cpl envelopes in a plastic bag containing just over $100 in $2 bills - all from 1976. I checked... they are worth exactly $2 each. Who knows how long they've been hidden under there. There was a red star $10 bill in there as well, also worth exactly $10 :) Nice to find treasure

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The old 283 came out pretty quick and cleaning of the engine bay got underway

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

A lot of this occurred in an afternoon... most all of the holes were welded up. I left some for wires and a Vintage Air unit that'll come down the road. After this was done it got a good scrubbing, sanding and then Napa satin engine compartment paint was sprayed.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

i went back and forth on what to stick in there... finally settling on a BluePrint Engines carburated 355 Roller cam. It came with a dyno sheet showing a 411hp peak. I now have motor mount concerns...

Here it is in the box.

For the trans - I revisited BowtieOverdrives and bought another 700R4 from them. I went with their stage 2 setup like I did for the 46 coop.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

That's a nice box to open right there

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Bed wood was pretty rotten and most came with a quick tug. I removed the bed to expose the frame and rear suspension... Frame is in decent shape front to back.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

All this… has to go into the suspension. I spent 2 days after work terrorizing my neighbors with a 4" grinder and an air chisel removing frame rivets.

Its Ridetech's full kit less the air management pieces: New trailing arms, cross members, shockwave rear shocks, traditional bags for the front, new upper/lower A-arms, front swaybar, disc brakes, rear axle kit... UPS and Fedex guys were visiting a lot

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

nice progress, keep those update(s) coming ....

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Looking forward to following this build! Gotta be a great day when the UPS man brings boxes of Ride Tech goodies!

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I was out of state when they were scheduled to be dropped and had them diverted to a local Walgreen so my daughter could pick them up. Needless to say, they weren't expecting so many boxes and it filled up their counter for a bit. I came home to a garage full of boxes which is always fun:)

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

I lost count on how many rivets needed to come out... where i could get to the heads with a grinder I cut an X in the head to make it easier and quicker with the air chisel.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Pics.. sry would upload in previous post

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If you're doing this same kit, this is something you need to address when you order everything. If you have a wood bed, the rear crossmember will sit too high and interfere with the wood once you install the bed. Ridetech initial response was to notch the wood to allow clearance. I didn't think notching the wood was the smart way and pushed a little. Ridetech will supply you with free spacer plates if you ask but you'll need to get longer bolts yourself. So make sure you ask when you order or it just causes delays and rework. Once the spacer plates were in, the top of the crossmember sat flush with the frame as it should. This also resulted in a loss of about 3/4" of drop... no wood notching.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

a few more

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rear end came back out after the suspension was in. Got it rebuilt keeping the same gearing but added a Yukon LSD and new 5 lug axles that came with new drums. Once I got it home and back in, I replaced both rear wheel cylinders.

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Brake line day... grabbed some straight ones from NAPA and bent them up while indulging in mimosa's

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Wheels are Riddlers:
Rear: RID-695-2173G (15x10)
Front: RID-695-8873G (18x8)

Backspacing info available if ya lookup the part number.

Tires are BF Goodrich g-Force Comp-2. All season
Rear 275-40ZR20
Front: 255-45ZR18

This isnt full drop or ride height... it's just kind setting there waiting to be pushed into the garage

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engine day... used original mounts in the rear holes pushed fully forward. New polyurethane motor mounts are hidden below. That's a long water pump with a summit pulley.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

More engine stuff. Brackets are ICT, pretty darn affordable :)
140A powermaster alternator
Chrome Sanden 508 will go on the left.
Headers are ceramic coated for a chevelle.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Got a small JOBOX from the farm store and sectioned it to shrink it down. Feet got cut off as well and it'll mounts on pucks in the bed floor, appearing to hover above the bed. Hiding the air management system in here.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

seat was trashed and smelly but we found some custom speaker work hidden under the vinyl. the guy in the pic (Manny Soto) fixes that kinda stuff though and rebuilt everything and covered it with some diamond stitch. Once the floors are done, he'll come back and finish the upholstery piece. Guy has mad skills (and he left the speakers in there).

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Sad state of the body mounts... replaced with poly. Everything came out pretty easy with PB Blaster and an impact wrench and the new stuff went in fine with a few kicks forward to get the drivers front holes lined up.

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Those headers look awesome. How far do they hang down frame wise?

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They tuck in high and tight. Drivers side is perfect, passenger side is tucked in so high I have to clearance the toe board pinch seam a little for flange clearance. These will not cause a ground clearance prob.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Gauge panel day... there was a guy on this board that posted his dash and he’d used Patina’d copper behind a set of dolphin gauges. Im copying his idea with the copper on the glove box door as well like he did but we’re adding an extra trick once the copper is installed (stay tuned). Two additional gauges will be used on the dash - one for the trans temp and another for the air tank pressure. Gauges are auto meter traditional chrome.

I've got extra water temp and oil pressure guages that'll mount somewhere in the engine bay.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Three days after filling with antifreeze, a leak developed at the water pump rear plate. not a huge one, but any leak is enough for me. Engine hasn't been run yet so its not even at pressure. Summit was kind enough to warranty the item with zero fuss and send a new one with a ups call tag. I've got the antifreeze drained back into its original jugs, will likely pull the defective pump tonight and should have the new one on tomorrow after work. Never had an issue with Summit in over 30 years.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Your build in going great. Really like how the seat came out. Did you do the Ridetech in the front too?

Also, How did you get the 20" tires to fit so nice on those 15" rims? :confused: :lol:

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Nice work so far. I'm looking forward to following your build.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Thanks for your reply and nice catch!!:lol: I'll get that fixed :lol:

Manny's done several seats for me and has a bunch more to do on this truck once the floors are fixed. We're building it a little out of sequence as I want it running and driving sooner than later. If anyone's around Denver and wants to talk with him about upholstery, just reach out and I'll introduce.

Front suspension is Ridetech as well, pretty straight forward install. Mostly drilling to get the plates installed. The only real issue was getting the drivers side lower control arm to lock into the locating pin. The pin was a little beat up and had to be slightly dressed to fit with a grinder. Some of the bolts in the kit were a little too short so I just went ahead and swapped out where necessary.

When I cut the original front suspension out, I fire-wrenched the lower control arm u-bolts off. The beefier ones from NAPA went in. Those originals looked a little flimsy to me.

Tie rods and idler arm are all new Moog stuff.

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Thanks!:metal:

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Can't edit the original post - so here's the fixed wheel specs:

Wheels are Riddlers:
Rear: RID-695-2173G (20x10) 5.5 Backspacing
Front: RID-695-8873G (18x8) 4.5 Backspacing

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Nice looking build. The interior is awesome looking...love the color and pattern. Making great progress!

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Thank you Sir :)

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Looking good!

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

thanks!

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Thanks!

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New water pump on, lines hooked up, radiator refilled and a/c lines cut to fit. I still need them crimped but my neighbor said he can hook it up for free at his job. I have such great neighbors.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Copper for the dash came in.... It's called "Verde"

I was hoping for a more splotchy patina with more spots of copper exposed - but this has really large areas of green.

I need to clean up the edges and drill out the mounting holes but you get the idea... And it needs to be covered with a few coats of lacquer to stabilize the patina.

copper will also go on the upper portion of the glove box door and the 2 gauge panel above the radio - which may have too much chrome going on...

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Pin striping by Stan Weaver on Sunday