1967 No Frills LWB Fleet (now SWB)
 

Hey Guys, I thought I should start a proper build thread to track the progress on my truck as it moves along.

It’s a 1967 LWB Fleetside. It’s had only a few owners and is basically a survivor that seems like it has always been well maintained. It is running a 6 cylinder and four speed, but was originally a three on the tree truck.

I’ve started to do some work on it, which I will post here. But I will start with the original craigslist pictures.

EDIT:

I've finally cut my truck down to a short bed over the winter of 2021.

I've posted a picture in post #81 and will try to add some details of the process later.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet (now SWB)
 

A few more craigslist pics

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I’m not going to go for a frame-off restoration but just kind of keep the survivor/shop truck vibe going. I will likely fix some of the rust but just patch the paint and keep the exterior as is. Plans are to do the following things over time:

1. return to the original three on the tree (done now)
2. clean up the interior to stock look with rubber carpets
3. new 15” steelies with dog dish caps
4. lower either a 4/6 or a 5.5/8 and make it handle
5. short bed conversion
6. long term an LS swap and a 6 speed manual trans



Couple of more pics after getting rid of the canopy.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

More pics

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I took out the four speed and went back to the three on the tree setup that the truck came with stock. I've only driven it around the block but love it already.

My truck is a 1967 but I picked up a Saginaw 343 out of a 1969 truck so that I could have syncro first gear. It seems much quieter than the four-speed Muncie 420 that was in it.

First I went around and collected all the parts I needed. I'm superstitious about the vehicles being off the road for too long. Plus I didn't want it hogging all the space in my garage.

It seems there are a few combinations of shift rods for these trucks (the rods that go from the steering column to the shift arms on the tranny). I needed 6 cylinder to Saginaw 3-speed arms.

My truck came with shift rods for the original Muncie 318 non-syncro 3-speed (pictured here) but hey don't fit (Muncie 318 is a lot shorter than the Saginaw 343). They are about 24" and 27" long in case anyone else is trying to tell one set of rods from another.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

The Saginaw 343 tranny I bought was behind a 307 V8 so they wouldn't fit either. This is them and they are about 22" and 27" long.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I got a set on the board here that were for a 6 cylinder and Saginaw (thanks Jason!) They are roughly 24' and 29". These are the ones i used and they worked perfect.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Here is a shot of the two three speed trannies side to side. The darker one is the 1967 Muncie 318 and the rustier one is the 1969 Saginaw 343. They both have 10 spline input shafts but the Muncie 318 has a 16 spline output and the Saginaw 343 has a 27 spline output. This means I'd have to buy a driveshaft slip yoke but I didn't have to buy a new clutch.


The hole in the bellhousing for the tranny changed sizes in 1968. The 1967 and earlier had the smaller 4 and 9/16" opening and the later bell housing have a 5 and 1/8' opening. So I had to change my bell housing too (a little more work).

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Thanks to these forums I found out that the four speed shifter is removed by pushing down and turning the little hump at the base of the shifter.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Nice thing about the removable high hump floor is that it is real easy to reach the bolts. My truck was originally a low hump floor but someone cut it open and put in a high hump with the four speed.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Another nice surprise was a very new looking clutch and pressure plate. I’m assuming the four speed swap was done pretty recently.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I used a floor jack to hold the tranny up because these things are heavy.!

And here is the four-speed Muncie 420 on the ground

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I cleaned up the “new” Saginaw 3-speed with some kind of non-toxic grease cutter and a garden hose since I don’t have a parts washer. I was careful not to get the important parts wet. I didn’t go crazy cleaning it up and later I rubbed boiled linseed oil into it so it wouldn’t rust more and it looked great.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I briefly considered swapping the input shaft bearing housings so that I didn’t have to remove my bellhousing. But the internal measurements were different (they are totally different trannies after all so that was wishful thinking.!).

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

To change out the bellhousing I had to remove the starter and took a picture to remember which wires went where.

And took a shot or two of the clutch linkage

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Throwout bearing was nice and shiny new

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I should have taken some pictures of the old bellhousing in place and the bellhousing crossmember. I put the floor jack under the engine oil pan to keep the engine level and not rip the mounts. Then I was also able to jack the back of the engine up or down slightly to make room to get the bellhousing out from the crossmember.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I took a little peek inside the Saginaw and was pleasantly surprised. Synchros look nice. Oil was clean. Looks like very few miles on a rebuild.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I wrestled the tranny back in. I figure it weighs about 80 lbs so I jacked it up with the floor jack. But once it was up the jack was in the way and I was struggling getting the splines to line up so I got my son to remove the jack. Then I wrestled it for a while until my arms almost quit and put the floor jack back under. Then somehow I got it nice and square and it popped right into place.

That white stripe you see in the picture is a zap strap holding my speedo cable off the ground. I need to order a longer one because the Saginaw is longer than the 4-speed that was in there.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Best advice I ever got was someone on this forum suggested getting two long bolts with same thread as the tranny bolts and put them in finger tight to hang the tranny on during the wrestling process. This was a really good idea and made things much easier than it would have been otherwise.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I had to get my driveshaft shortened since there aren’t any wreckers around Vancouver with C-10s in them. I have a two-piece shaft and the front needed to be around 28 and ½ from the center bearing to the seal on the tail housing of the tranny. I also got the whole two-piece balanced.

Pics of the old and the “new” driveshaft with new slip yoke and the right length

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Here is a shot of the driveshaft back in place.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

For the shifter adjustment, I followed the excellent 2007 forum post by Green Machine here:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=215307

I tell everyone about this post, and it showed me exactly what to do. A lot of the bad rap the three-on-the-tree gets is probably because nobody has adjusted these things for 40 years.

But my column was a bit different than Green Machine’s. I think his was a bit newer.

Here is the shot from his forum post and you can see his column has a boss to put the alignment tool through and into the holes in the shift selectors.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

My 67 didn’t have that boss or the hole through the selectors. But, based on his post, I could line up the little pointy tab things on the selectors. It also seemed like I could choose where I wanted the column shifter to end up, either high up towards 12 o’clock or lower down at about 3 o’clock. I chose a spot in about the middle of the travel I had but where I could still get good purchase on the shift rods.

Here is a pic of my 1967 column under the hood.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

You can see on mine that the little selector tab things are lined up. You have to see one working to know how it works but the column shift moves the center piece and the center piece grabs one of the two little tabs for either the reverse-first shift or the two-three shift. Green Machine’s post shows how to adjust the gap between the tab so that only one is grabbed at a time.

Another pic of my column and shift rods here. I have now put quite a few miles on this and it shifts perfectly.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I also put new bushings on the tranny end of the shift rods. Contrary to what it looks like in my shop manual, there are two bushings for each shift rod.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

And here is a shot of where my column shifter sits when in neutral. To me it seemed like I could adjust this a bit based on preference but, after driving, it seems like it is in the right place.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

If anyone has any questions about this or needs more pictures feel free to post here.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

You can also see that my steering wheel was mounted upside down by somebody. I'll have to change that back.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Good Tech, thanks for the pics! Where did you get the bushings for the shift rods? My jalopy could use a little tightening up in the shifter department.

thanks!

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I put all new bushings, did the adjustment and it seems like the tranny was in pretty good shape. It shifts perfectly..!! You can feel the shifts going in.

These are the links to bushings and clips:

1. the grommets for mating the shift rods to the column. This is only the rubber and you have to peel the tin inner washer from your existing grommets (don't throw them away.!). You need two.

http://www.classicparts.com/1947-76-.../#.VBB1SGRdW2M

2. the trans arm grommets (I'd call them shifter bushings). You need four.

http://www.classicparts.com/1960-76-.../#.VBB1RmRdW2M

3. and the clips (you need two)

http://www.classicparts.com/1960-72-.../#.VBB1CGRdW2O

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Awesome Thanks!

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Nice '67!

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I've got a few pictures on my iPhone so thought I should update this thread.

I patched up the hole in my floor late from where the 4-speed shifter was. I did it on a Sunday night and had to make do with what I could buy from Home Depot late at night, but it is patched up and will do for now

The hole was pretty ugly. Looks like it was a V8 high hump and someone had to cut it open a bit for the 6 cyl shifter location and they also did a pretty rough job of patching the hole.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

My patch was only a little bit better. The tin I found at Home Depot was a bit thin so I did a double layer with some polyurethane goop in between. Then pop riveted it all together.

I used this stuff called "backer rod" as a gasket for the high hump because I plan to have the hump off again one day for a tremec tranny upgrade.

And a little duct tape to finish it off and give it that professional look...

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Cleaned up the floor in preparation for some sound deadening and new rubber flooring.

My air vents are so full of pine needles even after vacuuming them out at least 3 or 4 times. Each time I take it for a drive I get a new wave of them.

I think this truck was parked under the same tree its entire life.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

There are a few ugly spots on this cab.

It has actually be repaired before and I can see new rockers welded in and some of the cab mounts. But the rockers are rusted again and one of the original cab mounts needs done soon. There is also a crude repair job on the floor under the gas pedal.

But I'm going to ignore all that for now. I'm planning a short bed conversion in 2015 and will possibly tackle rockers and cab mount then. But I want to keep the truck looking old and worn on the outside.

Anyway it cleaned up well with lots of soap and hot water and here I have started placing the sound deadener.

Those little white spots are more polyurethane I used to plug a bunch of extra holes that were in the floor. I think maybe it had a different set of seats in it at one time.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

I got a new longer speedo cable because the new Saginaw three speed is longer than the Muncie 3-speed and the 4-speed that were previously in the truck.

I have the Muncie three speed that was original to the truck and grabbed that speedo gear so that the speedo would be somewhat accurate again.

The one in the installed Saginaw did not want to come out easy and it occurred to me that it would be easy to break off inside and then I'd be seriously messed up. So be careful if you are changing these.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Love the little personal touches form the previous owner, such as the speaker glued on with construction adhesive.!

I'm not putting him down. That stuff is awesome and I'll probably use it myself here and there.

Re: 1967 No Frills LWB Fleet
 

Here's a couple shots of the sound deadener stuff I bought from Brothers as a kit. It came with the tar-backed strips and then the full size jute pad with the silver backing. I also bought the behind the seat kit and the door kit (which I will get to later).

I had luckily bought an extra roll of the jute silver stuff which was good because the kit didn't fit my high hump. And I used the extra to fill in the back corners and to patch a few problem spots.