Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Sorry guys for the delay in updates I've been busy. On Friday I had a vacation day and meet up with the truck driver and picked up all my new sheet metal. Spent the rest of Friday hanging it and loosely fitting it all. I've got a good bit of the work done. Bed is on square and cab lined up perfectly. Doors were a pain. Elongated hinge holes on the door side to get the doors out far enough to line up with the fender. Had to raise he core support a bit to support the front clip and line up the fender to door gap. Question for y'all. Has anyone had to reshape the fenders to match the doors? Here's a few pics? Seems like I could cut the inner brace and push this area in to match and reweld the inner brace. Am I thinking this wrong?

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Rolled to it for a bit of sun to clean the garage.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

A few mor

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

The truck is looking great! My advice on the hood since your have that many layers would be to chemically strip it and finish with a DA. I think it would take a very long time and a lot of sandpaper to get that many layers off with a DA, especially if its an old paint job and it was done in laquer. That **** clogs paper up really bad!

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Anyone wanting to strip paint down to metal quickly check out Black Hawk easy strip 4 1/2 disc for electric grinder.To see the Eastwood version in action check out youtube.I have used many things to get to bare metal.I have an 80 gal 7.5 hp 2 stg compressor,DA's,water sandblaster,compressed air sandblaster.These disc are by far the cleanest and easiest paint and rust scale remover I have ever used.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Looking good. Bet you got lot of neighbor visits when the truck rolled out into view.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Have done that more than once, your spot on. Well that is what has worked for
Me In the past anyway

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Not only the neighbors, I once had an ambulance stop by on their way back from a call.


It seems like a good idea. I want to get all the hardware in the door and get it for sure where I want it before I cut the fender.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Still working on body lines. Making great progress. Here's what it looks like after a little slicing and dicing and bfh persuading.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Took a side step and am focusing on the bed floor for a bit. Designing it in sketchup to work out any bugs.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Its time to get this thread back beating again. I hung all new sheet metal and aligned the panels for the most part. still have a bit of fitting left but for the most part they are fitted. Has anyone sent a rear diff to Moser for rebuild? Coming up next will be front and rear inner fenders, bed wood and the interior. i need some suggestions for vendors for the interior/ buddy buckets, door panels inner door mechanicals. I also am taking suggestions on bedwood. I really like the look of a clear or light maple.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Your body looks way better after you adjusted with the bfh.
I can't help you with the wood bed since I used all steel on mine.
hang in there, someone will help you out.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

I would use truckseats (member on the board) for your buddy buckets/door panels. I had him build mine and they turned out great. My door panels match my seats. As far as the wood be careful what you finish it with. I used poly urethane that a paint Store recommended and it ended up sealing the wood too well causing it to crack and split. I ran across another company at good guys that specializes in bed wood and they sell a great product according to them and they say it won't do the same thing. I will look them up when I get home.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

I live about 15 miles from Moser engineering- I've never heard anything bad about them.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

I am trying to get some prices together. Does anyone know what a rebuild on a rearend goes for these days? I was gonna just send it to Moser and have them go through it new axles bearings the works.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

I had my rear end rebuilt for $150 labor. I applied all the parts. Posi and all timken bearings

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

who makes a buddy bucket center seat foam?

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Most good upholsterers can build you the center seat foam.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

The problem is there are no "good" upholstery shops here. I live in the sticks!

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

:lol:, I hear you! You can probably make it yourself, it's pretty straigaht forward. 2" thick and a rectangle, ;).

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Let's talk 2.5" exhaust for a bit. I'm looking at mufflers and wow there's plenty of choices. Im running stock Camaro manifolds. Can I use a 90 after the manifold or should I use two 45's back to the pipes. Any suggestions on mufflers are appreciated. I'm looking for a nice drive able tone that's not too annoying.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Exhaust is dictated by space. You'll need the manifolds bolted up & get a visual of what works best. On my 64 (68 chassis) I have 45's on the drivers side & a 90/45 on the pass. This combo worked best to clear the oil filter/starter/chassis parts.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

You should be able to run 90's using those manifolds, well at least they worked for me on my 68 with PB setup. I personally like the Magnaflows for LS motors, seems like less drone than the FLowmasters. If you plan on going over your axles to the rear of the truck, you'll probably have to do some creative things to make that happen....:).

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

I'm having a local hot rod shop go through mine when I get to that point. They are buying all the parts to add posi and change gears, pinion yoke and ordering my driveshaft. Their labor rate is flat for everything at $85 an hour. Kinda high, but I know they do good quality work. So for me, it's about the convenience of it being a few miles from my house, instead of towing it 50+ miles to another shop that was recommended to me. If I remember correctly, they quoted me about $2,200. Again, I think it's a bit high, but I've seen some $200 "rebuilds" that reuse the existing internals and just clean it up and put new bearings and seals in them. I've also seen some $4,000 builds that go as far as replacing the axles and everything inside. I'm sort of giving the extra $$ for convenience and piece of mind, knowing the quality they do instead of relying on someones recommendation.

It's best to look around and see what kind of reputation a shop has, then ask them for an estimate for the work. But budget a little higher, just in case.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Awesome work! I'm in for updates.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Guys, either my pm's aren't coming through or the few vendors I've contracted are ignoring me. Anyone ever had this issue? Anyways I've sent a few pan's requesting prices in carpet, weather stripping, and seat foam. Not sure what's going on. Anyone have ideas where I can order these items online. Naturally I want the good stuff. Thanks for your input.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Never any problems for me with pm anyone on here.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Send me a pm and I'll let you know if I get it. It is hit or miss with the vendors from my experience. Message kyle at laidback recreations. He can get pretty much everything you need interior wise. Tell him I sent you

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Hrs one of them I can't get a response from. Pm sent

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Anyways here's a few update pics while we wait.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Picked up a 69 a while back too. Will try to get that road worthy soon.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Got some of the interior installed tonight. Very pleased with how it came out.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Panels look great, who are those through?

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Ricks custom upholstery. They are very nice and as far as I'm concerned very fair prices.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

And it's driveable!

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Took her to her first show with the kiddos.

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Very nice, what did you use for the paint?

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

The white is just an epoxy primer. I'll blew the truck apart after I work out the bugs and get it painted. Eventually it will be blue

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

Time to update this and bring this build thread back to life! The truck is a blast to cruise around town, unfortunately it is in pieces yet again in the garage. I didnt like a few things on the air ride management so I tore the truck apart early last spring to move a few things. Around the same time that I got it all apart Accuair announced they were no more..... Obviously this was a problem as I was in the middle of sourcing a new ECU and harness for the air ride system. After scouring the internet for a few months I finally found all the parts I needed to get everything back together. Now that it is above freezing I will be back in the garage. The goal was to set this up to be a little more user friendly when things go wrong. I removed the large accuair tank and went with the 2 accuair 3 gallon tanks set on each side of the frame rails. Once I did this I realized I wasn't totally happy about the way the raised bed structure was layed out. This turned into a giant snowball as usual but I endured and was able to get the bed in a happy place. As a side note I was able to get a decent stainless exhaust built and installed, still have a few mounts that need made up. Its still a work in progress! here are a few pics for reference. I will grab a few more this evening if anyone is interested in seeing them. Going forward the focus will be to get this thing closer to paint, decided on a color change...... Hint, its going to be green!

Re: Daves new 68 chevy swb
 

As an owner of an air ride truck, I'm curious about your statement:

Would you mind sharing the specifics?