Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Paul
Thanks for the tip on that. I was going to put the tank in tonight since I just got the plugs in. Guess I will look for a vent. I guess I could mount one of the Suburban vent pipes inside the panel like on the 72' burbs if nothing else

Richard

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

I only capped the two small ones. There is still the larger return vent that goes back to the fill neck, that will not be enough?

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Our experience has been that they should all be vented, for each vent plugged you'll increase time needed to fill the tank and risk it puking gas out the side. Dad used 1 way vents on moms Burb and the 67 Panel.
Paul Jr @ GMCPauls

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Paul
I took your advise and ordered two check valve vents. They came in today and I got them put in the tank. Just waiting on it to warm up some so I can paint some parts, including my tank straps, then I can get it installed.

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Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Got some stuff blasted, etch primed and painted satin black today. 75 degrees today and cold/ rainy tomorrow. Figured I better hit it while I could.

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Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Stuff looks good. I have a bunch of parts to do too but it has been too cold here so far. Maybe next week. What brand of etching primer did you use?

LockDoc

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Leon
I use Matthew's paint and primers. I have a complete mixing station that I can custom mix colors for the signs I build and it comes in handy when doing stuff like this. The paints are satin single stage urethane that I can put a gloss clear on when needed.

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Well, that would certainly come in handy that's for sure. Looks like they have been in business for a long time. I see there is a dealer in Davenport, Iowa and my daughter lives there.

Thanks,
LockDoc

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Have you decided on a final color and which wheel tire combo you will end up with?

I had never done any upholstery work before I got into these trucks and now Ive done three benches and a set of buddies. Its really not that big of a deal, all of mine turned out pretty darn nice if I do say so myself.

Just do them on a warm sunny day if possible. Lay the covers out in the sun so they get nice and warm and pliable. Makes em so much easier to install.

Im enjoying your build! Should have got back on mine years ago.

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Leon
If you get the chance to spray it you will like it for general purpose stuff. I am not a cut & buff kind of guy. I am a spray and drive and it works well for that.

Richard

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Mark
Still have not nailed down final color as that is still a ways off but it will be a solid color (no metallic) and it will either be the green it is now or dark blue or burgandy/wine color. Thats why I went ahead and got the black highlander seat material since it should go with any color I pick.
I am still going to drop the seats by the local upolsterer to see what they would charge for install. I have enough to work on as it is and I am still unsure of how the new foams go back on the frames. The have weird cuts in them that look like they should envelope the frames but I could be wrong. I had to dig the springs out of the old foams.

Richard

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Pretty productive day so far. Gonna take a break and go to dinner with family while my POR 15 dries on the rear frame area. Had to get it all cleaned up and painted so i could get the new tank installed. Before I did that though I went ahead and changed out the old rear springs for the nos ones I bought a while back and got everything tightened down on the rear suspension. I also got the new stainless rear brake lines installed as well as the rear half of the new stainless fuel line.


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Since I pulled the cover off of the rear and determined that it was in face a 3:73 rear I went ahead and made a plate to put on the cover bolt similar to what should have been there. Only took a few minutes and turned out pretty decent.



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Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

I think that I have pretty much decided that since this motor has weak oil pressure and has small puff of smoke on startup as well as not knowing any of its history, that i am going to go ahead and get a crate engine for it. Gonna keep it mostly stock other than intake, carb and headers since I already have all of that, new in the box. I figure it will give me more piece of mind when I finally get to take it out for cruises. Pulling the engine & trans will also make it easier to finish up some of the front end work like the brake lines, fuel line, cleaning up the fire wall and adding the power booster setup for the brakes. Still trying to decide if it is worth getting the frame bracket to allow me to install power steering gear box or just leave it manual.

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Looking Good.
That's a Great Idea about the tag.

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Went up to PA this morning and met Shortbed Clayton. Took the rear section of the burb he had left over from his crew cab build. The barn doors are in real nice shape as well as the lower sill plate. The sill and rear section on my panel is pretty much toast so rather than rebuild, it gave me a good opportunity to replace. Once I grab what I need I will post the other stuff not needed for sale to recoup some of the costs.


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Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Got quotes back from a couple auto trim shops to install the foams & covers on the 2 seats. Cheapest one so far is $600. That sounds awful high to me since Everything other than hog rings & staples is being supplied by me. Looks like I will just put them off to the side until I am truly ready for them and then attempt them myself.

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Seat covers aren’t that tough to do yourself. I did the high back bucket seats on my 69 cougar and they came out great. People use silicone spray and even baby powder to get the covers to slide on. I’ve heard of people using copper hog rings that are a lot easier to crimp on. Get yourself a good quality set of hog ring pliers and let the new covers warm up really well in the sun.

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

At $600 I think I am going to learn. Rick's Upholstry had instructions with the covers I bought and in stressed leaving them out in the sun to relax them before attempting and I have also heard that putting paper over the top of the bun will allow sliding the cover on a bit easier. I am not worried about having a show pc because I plan to drive it quite bit (if I ever get it done lol) I am just happy to be able to finally plug away at it a little bit each week now. I can finally start to see improvements which keeps me interested in moving ahead with it. Getting ready to head out in a few to work on it some more today.

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Finally got the new poly tank installed along with the nos fuel sender. Still need to get new hoses for the filler and get them mounted.

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Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

SO, I figured since I just got the rear section of the burb from Clayton that I would try my hand at separating the roof from the C pillars without hacking them up. I know i have some damage on the panel to repair so I figured this was the best way to go about it. I am not sure how hard it would be to separate the front windshield header (since there was none with this one) but start to finish on this took about 40 minutes. Ten minutes of that was starting to drill out spot welds needlessly. The only place it is actually welded is at the top of the C pillars. The hardest part was determining exactly where to cut since it was ground smooth at the factory on the face to allow a better door seal I assume. It is bolted to the side window rail all the way down the side of the truck. Tomorrow I will finish drilling the heads off of the carriage bolts that hold the quarters to the plywood so i can get the rest of the sheet metal separated.

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Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

few more pics of roof removal


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Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

I was not going to pull the body off of the panel originally but now that I have a decent roller here, i may just go ahead and do it so that i can really get the panel frame finished correctly on the top. I have to replace all the mounts anyway so it just makes more sense to go ahead and do it. While separated I can go ahead and put the new motor in it . Yea , yea I have reached the "well might as well" stage of the process. :lol:

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Wow, thanks for posting the roof photos! I sure could have used them during the main renovation part of my Burban. It certainly would have saved me some time. I still have to route some wiring in the back around the lift hatch.
These should be in some sticky thread. :metal::metal::metal:

Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

Finished busting down the panels into more manageable pcs.


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Re: My 1st 68 panel
 

The rear cross sill is in very nice shape. The underneath of this rig had a heavy coat of undercoating and was only rusty where it had come off over the years.


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They even had helper air bags on the rear and they still worked other than a broken hose fitting. They were manual adjust like air shocks back in the day with valves in the tag bracket


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