Casper Build Thread

[68c10fuelnfire]

I figured for a project of this magnitude (very large for myself) that a build thread is suitable.
Background: This long box 68 c10 was given to me by my grandpa when I graduated high school back in 2011. He traded some model trains for it with the intentions of hot rodding it for a toy. Being a life long gear head he decided he had too many projects and I got lucky. I flew out to Utah that summer with he intentions of getting it going and driving the truck back to Wisco. However after about a month and a half visit and finding issues in the front end, the financial toll became too much. So the truck was left to sit with the hopes of getting back to it hopefully sooner than later.
Fast forward to later..... 3 years later... Things finally fell into place for me to get out to Utah with a truck and trailer and get the truck back cross country to Wisco. The biggest issue that I found myself having with this truck after i got it home was that I wanted to build it right. I didn't want to do a little hear and a bit there so I continued to put this project off for another 5 years. However this year I finally pulled the trigger and getting it started and after a little persuading of the boss lady, we finally got it back into the garage for the official beginning!!
Ideas: My plans for this truck have, if I put it lightly, SPIRALED OUT OF CONTROL!!!!!! Original plans in 2011 consisted of building a 383 stoker possibly swapping in a big block, mild lowering, new bushings tires etc... Pretty basic stuff, but what do you expect for a fresh high school grad on a slim budget. Anyways nowadays the ideas have become a lot more refined. Short bed conversion, LS swap, triangulated 4 link, tubular control arms, big brakes, fat tires, high power, high end paint and interior, and just one lean mean go fast drive hard stick it to imports machine.
Execution: Most of this project is going to consist of a lot of new parts, something I am definitely not accustomed to. On top of that Im going to try and fabricate as much as i can on my own. I'll have a few buddies that jump in and out throughout the process when they aren't working on their own trucks (the one that drives the ford is pretty busy) as well as the whole fam dam. On top of that i got lucky to get some help from the kids' home school group in exchange for "teaching automotive", so on and off I will have an army of minions to help. There's a couple of them that are pretty interested in everything and hopefully they stick around for a bit.
Anyways I hope you guys enjoy watching the project progress as I take on the second largest project yet, the first was convincing my wife to marry me...

[cornerstone]

Welcome aboard sir! Looking forward to your build!

Edit: Which one is you in the picture?

[68c10fuelnfire]

From left to right is my brother (we'll see more of him later) my uncle, me, and my grandfather that gave me the truck. That photo was taken at Rocky Mountain Raceways in the late 90s. My grandpa was the announcer for the track and in all likeliness both my grandpa and uncle were racing that night.

[cornerstone]

We also home schooled all 3 of our kids, from K through 12, and I never thought of "teaching automotive" for whatever reason. Hats off to you bud!... That deal works out for you and the kiddos! I suppose it's not too late for my project really, I still have a son learning at home and in a co-op with many other families. I'll give it a think for sure!

[flashed]

Im in to see this build

[MDPotter]

Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you've got a great starting truck as it's got a lot of sentimental value.

It will be a fun truck and you'll enjoy smoking the imports and Fords.

[68c10fuelnfire]

So we actually started this whole thing a few weeks ago with the home school kids, from now on referred to as minions. The whole goal of getting them to "help me" was to get them involved in the process and get their hands dirty and learn some stuff along the way. Up to this point the minions have been here for a couple hours on three separate days, so I'm going to kinda try and separate each day into its own post and spread them out over the next few days, cause lord knows I won't be getting on here every day. So heres some of what we've done so far.
Day one consisted of myself 5 kids another dad and a complete truck. After a little guidance, a bit of muscle, and a couple "hey get off your phones.." we got the truck stripped of the bed and front clip. We loaded all the parts onto an old boat trailer that my father in law was going to scrap. Lord knows how fast you can lose shop space to parts that you're not using. Anyways the kids so far seem to be having a good time, including my youngest

[68c10fuelnfire]

Pics from day 1

[68c10fuelnfire]

So it's definitely been a hot minute since I've updated this project.... and alot has happened in the last 2+ years....
I've spent alot of time on rust repair, more than i care to admit to, but im not a body guy so its taking alot of time and ambition to get it all done. In digging and cutting I found that the truck has already been "redone" once which included replacement doors, new cab corners, outer rockers, and a not so great paint job. oh, and ALOT of bondo.....
So now it's got all new inner and outer cab corners, floor pans, inner rockers and cab supports. the whole firewall will end up being replaced as well to smooth everything out and make room for the engine set back. As well as the inner front lip of the roof (where the visors and mirror attach) which I found today.

I ended up taking the 18 inches out of the long bed chassis and had my welder buddy burn it back together. Then I fabbed up a pretty simple tubular bracing and ordered a universal 4 link kit for the rear and got that all tacked in place along with some motor mounts for an LS and a trans mount for a 6l80. It was at this point that i had to switch gears to the cab to get it ready to set in place on the chassis to see how much of the firewall I was gonna have to cut out, and honestly I lost so much interest in having to do the rust repair that it sat idle in the garage for over a year.

Fast forward about 6 months to when my oldest son got in an accident with his 08 G8 GT. Long story short, he didnt want it anyways and I got a good deal on it after he got insurance money. So I got my 6.0 and my 6l80.. and in parting the rest of the car out ended up falling down a rabbit hole and decided to attempt to use the entire chassis of the car under the truck shell. In research the front suspension presented alot of problems though, but for some reason i was dead set on using a newer modern chassis system rather than updating the original chassis with big brakes, coil overs, and tubular parts. I found what i thought was a good deal on a set of complete front and rear subframes (brake to brake on both with steering) out of a c5 corvette, so I jumped on that.

I finally had enough of looking at the truck sit idle in the garage and jumped back into it in January. I have quite a few parts sitting waiting for their new home in the truck. All of the bottom side of the cab is replaced or cleaned up so I shouldnt need to flip it back over again. Im Currently working on killing time on the cab with odds and ends, probably some type of a harness bar/ half cage, and that stupid inner ceiling lip.... (really not excited to do that?) Just gotta find enough stuff to stay busy on until I can kick the wife out of her garage spot after winter so I have space to build the new chassis.

anyways, I apologize for the photo dump, but its also 2 years worth of work..
enjoy

[68c10fuelnfire]

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[68c10fuelnfire]

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[68c10fuelnfire]

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On a side note, I felt pretty bad about the project after taking some pics with Bubba (my middle child). He's been a good little helper so far this year and is really excited about building our "race truck".
The reason I felt bad though is that hes the same one thats pictured in the post from 2 years ago, and with him getting so big i feel like Ive wasted alot of time not getting anything done with the truck. Hes changed more than the truck has in the last 2 years.....

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by 68c10fuelnfire

pics4
On a side note, I felt pretty bad about the project after taking some pics with Bubba (my middle child). He's been a good little helper so far this year and is really excited about building our "race truck".
The reason I felt bad though is that hes the same one thats pictured in the post from 2 years ago, and with him getting so big i feel like Ive wasted alot of time not getting anything done with the truck. Hes changed more than the truck has in the last 2 years.....

From a different perspective? Sounds like you've been working on life's priorities so you're still getting things done. You've just been putting more effort into the family where it's most important.

The truck/hobby is there when hobby time is available. Projects can wait patiently indefinitely.