Project 68 - Radical Rebirth of my First Truck

[kxmotox247]

Here's a sneak peek of the wheels. This is the rear 20x12. I'm getting ancy but the front's aren't done.

[TA_C10]

Looking good, subbed.


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[TexasLS1]

Really excited about watching this one come together. You're blue one has always been one of my favorite, if not THE favorite of mine, on this board. The color, interior, motor, height... were perfect, and i didn't even see it in person. I'm super excited to see this thread pop up, can't wait to see the progress

[kxmotox247]

Originally Posted by TexasLS1

Really excited about watching this one come together. You're blue one has always been one of my favorite, if not THE favorite of mine, on this board. The color, interior, motor, height... were perfect, and i didn't even see it in person. I'm super excited to see this thread pop up, can't wait to see the progress

Well thanks man! I hope I don't disappoint on this one. The only thing that makes me nervous about this is 19's and a slightly taller tire on the front instead of 18's. After awhile I kept thinking that the front wheel on the blue truck just looked too small for the opening. I'm sure it's mostly just me. This truck has a ton of sentimental value to me so I want to make sure I get everything right. I'm really hung up on paint color too.

[GAc10boy]

Man, I'm glad to see you're coming back with another build. And glad you told us what happened to the blue truck. I think about that truck from time-to-time and was actually coming back to look for it for wheel specs as a starting point for my green '68. I'm thinking I'll go 20x10 TTIIs with 3" bs and shorten/rebuild an early ('67-'69.5) 12 bolt truck rearend I have.

Anyway, I'm subbed and paying attention. Thanks for starting a thread on this truck!

[kxmotox247]

Everything is loosely assembled to check fit of the wheels. Lots of sheet metal adjustments ahead. Nice to see it sitting on the actual wheels.

[kxmotox247]

One more picture before taking the sheetmetal back off. Still need to finish sectioning the inside of the bed sides.

[cornerstone]

Keep the pics a comin!

[smbrouss70]

Loved the blue truck, and loving this one even more so far! I need to finish piddling with my Blazer so I can get started on my truck again. I am planning a very similar start to my truck. Looking forward to seeing where this one ends up.

[TexasLS1]

Been thinking about your truck, any new updates??

[kxmotox247]

No real updates. Been working on a few other projects. Have a 57 Chevy convertible that is coming back from the blaster this week and needs primer. Also a quick cycle paint job. Probably another 3-4 weeks away from working on the truck again. I did buy a repro hood and a couple original grills. My original hood was rusted out in the lip but was filled with bondo. My original grill is bent downward at the latch. I swear everything on the original truck was tweaked.

[kxmotox247]

Slow progress... too many things going on. I did get all of the sheet metal for the front end fitting reasonable. Close enough to start gapping it for real. Got the porterbuilt hinges in. The hood is a Keyparts hood made from their new tooling. It exceeds my expectations for repro sheet metal but admittedly the bar is pretty low. Also worth mentioning is that I had bought a cheap set of rubber hood cushions (OER) and they were miserable. Flimsy and didn't wouldn't fit into the fenders properly. I got a good set from GMCpauls and the density and thickness are drastically different. Pretty important since they really control how the hood fits. The porterbuilt hinges came from a board member and were new. However the sealed bags were short on hardware and a couple of bushings. I knew I was on my own since I didn't buy from a dealer. Porterbuilt wanted $40 for the missing bolts and bushings. Ouch. Not happy about that since everything was still sealed and obviously their fault. Luckily I work with some talented guys who quickly spun up some new bushings on the lathe. Been working on putting a new floor in a 57' Chevy. Maybe in a couple of weeks I can get back to the truck. New firewall to install and then on to finishing the outer rockers and cab corners now that I know the front end fits.

[kxmotox247]

Latest update. New firewall is in. Steering linkage is finished and headers fit. Working on installing under dash brake unit.

[SCOTI]

Just found this so I'm tagging in on this one. Gotta' love the history.
What was your final wheel & tire sizes? I saw a mention of 19's so I'm guessing 265/35-19 (10's?) & 315/35-20 (12's?). What headers worked w/the NoLimit chassis?

Liking that induction set-up!

[kxmotox247]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Just found this so I'm tagging in on this one. Gotta' love the history.
What was your final wheel & tire sizes? I saw a mention of 19's so I'm guessing 265/35-19 (10's?) & 315/35-20 (12's?). What headers worked w/the NoLimit chassis?

Liking that induction set-up!

Thanks!

I went a little more narrow on the front than that at the recommendation of Billet Specialties based on my clearances and being able to get full turn out of the wheels when slammed. 19x8's on the front and 20x12's on the rear. I've slept a few times since I bought the front tires but I think they are 245/40/19 and rear is 315/35/20. The rear rims are one-offs made for the owner of Billet Specialties.

The headers are Sanderson BB8's. I'm excited about the Hilborn injection unit. I have always loved the way they look.

[kxmotox247]

Got the brake unit located. I still need to fab a couple support brackets and that's done.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by kxmotox247

Thanks!

I went a little more narrow on the front than that at the recommendation of Billet Specialties based on my clearances and being able to get full turn out of the wheels when slammed. 19x8's on the front and 20x12's on the rear. I've slept a few times since I bought the front tires but I think they are 245/40/19 and rear is 315/35/20. The rear rims are one-offs made for the owner of Billet Specialties.

The headers are Sanderson BB8's. I'm excited about the Hilborn injection unit. I have always loved the way they look.

I have the Sanderson BB3's (Chevelle) headers on my 67/68.
We were @ Summit today & checking out a couple of Hilborn 'style' set-ups in the display case. So very sweet!

[Ol Blue K20]

I just found this and I'm subbing

[kxmotox247]

I'm not sure why pictures come out sideways here sometimes. Well the brackets are done for the pedal assembly. I'm confident that if I needed to stop in a hurry it is sufficiently braced and tied into the cowl structure. I'm running a 3/4" bore front cylinder and 7/8" bore rear. 6-piston front calipers and 4-piston rear. Pedal ratio is 6.25:1. Bias will be about 4-6 turns to the rear. I can't wait to feel the brakes. According to Wilwood this is a tried and true combination. Should be no need for power brakes either.
Probably back to fitting the rockers and sheet metal shortly. I prefit the rockers about a year ago. Heavily sliced and diced. I'm happy with the fit of the driver's side but the passenger side has a strange bow to it. I've tried Keyparts/Triplus from both GMC Pauls and a set from Top Banana. I've tried Tabco. SoKyClassics house brand (these were the worst). I'll get some pics back up when I'm finally happy with the fit.

[TA_C10]

Looks like that setup will be really nice, but maintenance will suck having to remove the gauge cluster. Or am I missing something? I suppose you wouldn't be in there but once a year or so...

[kxmotox247]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Looks like that setup will be really nice, but maintenance will suck having to remove the gauge cluster. Or am I missing something? I suppose you wouldn't be in there but once a year or so...

Yeah, it definitely won't be as easy as a factory unit. I've got a dakota digital cluster so it unplugs easy. I made my own column mount that will be fast/easy to drop the column. Like you said... at best I'd be in once a year. It won't be a daily driver so even every other year is reasonable.

[TA_C10]

Cool man, yeah you will be fine then. And you know most people NEVER change their brake fluid. 30 years later it finally gets changed lol. So ya know.... You will be good

[kxmotox247]

Been working on a lot of stuff and this one has been tucked away. Decided to throw the front clip back on and see what it looked like again. Looks like I need to modify the front fenders for the new inner fenders. The rockers don't have the same contour as the front feners either. Guess I'll need to fix that as well.

[72 tigger]

I enjoy following along. You’ll be done eventually and it’ll be nice!

[SCOTI]

Glad to see you are still @ it on this one.