My White Whale

[soule64]

Ok, it’s not really going to be white, but if you know the story about Moby Dick, then you’ll understand the name I chose. This project has turned into a ridiculous obsession. I’ve spent nearly every moment of free time working on this darn thing. I have been lurking for a while now, asking a few questions now and then, but mostly learning from the information being posted here. My dad always said that if I had nothing constructive to say, then keep my mouth shut and listen. Good advice. I’ve had this project truck, a ’68 SWB Fleet side, for about a year now. Here is a little history – I retired from the Army a few years ago, and since the kids were off to college and the “empty nester” syndrome hit, I figured I needed something to occupy my free time. This model of truck caught my eye back in the early 90’s when I was stationed in Virginia – my neighbor had a ’71 and I drove by it every day and I couldn’t stop staring at it – I really admired it and vowed to get one someday. It wasn’t practical to buy something then due to the military moving me around so much, not to mention money was a little tight. So when I finally settled down, I started looking for one. I found the ’68 in Tennessee and bought it without doing my homework. In fact, I found this site after bringing it home. I had been told that it had been recently restored so I figured ‘well, I’ll just paint it – drop in a new crate motor and have a daily driver’. Well, it turns out that it was in much worse shape than I had been lead to believe. This was totally my fault though for not doing my homework. So, a year later, it’s still in pieces with another year or so left to go. Forewarned – I have never tackled anything like this before – I am a helicopter mechanic by trade with just enough automotive experience to be dangerous. My intent was, and still is, to bring it back to pretty much stock, repair all rust, maybe add a few customized details and have something that I can tool around in without being embarrassed. It’s definitely not going to be a show truck, but (hopefully) something that will last another 40 years. So far, I have done the work myself (my son helped often while home for the summer) and, aside from scouring this board for info, I will try to keep it that way. The only component I am sending out is the seat for some leather as the time for the interior gets closer. Another note, I took pictures of everything with a digital camera that had a broken view screen (overhead bin incident) and waited too long to download. 75 of the 100 or so pictures were nothing but black – so much for leaving the camera out in the garage. Well, enough of the talk, time to get caught up!

[soule64]

Due to the lack of work space in my garage, I started at the back, removing the bed, axle, trailing arms etc. until the frame was bare from the cab back. All of the components were pressure washed, scraped, wire-wheeled and painted with POR. Every inch of the underside was encrusted with asphalt undercoating mixed with red clay. Nasty stuff.

[soule64]

– I reinstalled everything, replaced all bushings, brake components, shocks and springs (stock length, having second thoughts about that).

[soule64]

Some of the rot on the D/S.

[soule64]

New floor section.

[soule64]

Underneath the bed was also cleaned and hit with POR. The bed itself had very little rust. I had to replace two small sections of the forward floor where water had collected. All of the corners had rust and were repaired. Bed fenders were removed, cleaned, repaired, POR’d and reinstalled.

[my67chevytruck]

looking good.

[OARNGESI]

Coming along nice

[thirdstreettito]

Looks nice man!

[STOCKISH]

Looks great so far. Wish mine was that far along. Keep it up.

[BlueJeep]

The truck looks great! I'd recommend a stock TBI intake and injection setup for driveability and reliability reasons, since you have the new style heads.

[soule64]

Thanks for the comments - I appreciate the feedback. I hope in the end that it will look decent considering the amount of time and pain that has gone into it. I have managed to cut the tip of a finger off, not to mention a million other cuts, scars and bruises, to get where I am now, but I still go to sleep each night thinking about what I am going to work on the next day.

[soule64]

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

The truck looks great! I'd recommend a stock TBI intake and injection setup for driveability and reliability reasons, since you have the new style heads.

I think that I might pass on the TBI. My son and I tried fuel injection on his '76 C-10 and it never did work quite right. I am not sure if it was the equipment or something we did (most likely!), but we never did figure it out. We ended up taking it all off and goinig back to a carburator. It's been two years since then and it's been running like a champ. Besides, I had my eye on this as long as I stay under my budget:

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/te...ger/index.html

[soule64]

Here is a pic of where I am on the dash. I finished installing the interior portion of the Calssic Auto air, A/c control head, Lizard Skin, dash pad and mocked-up the stereo receiver this weekend. I relocated the A/C center vent from above the radio to where the ash tray shoud be. It fit perfectly and I didn't have to cut any more of the dash.

[Spray-Bomb]

Cool

[STOCKISH]

Looking good man. Nice project.

[soule64]

I've been neglecting the post for a while but the truck is coming along quite well. Front clip, electric fan/shroud, guage cluster, Lokar shift linkage, Painless wiring harness (false advertising) installed. Engine is buttoned up and fires with just a bump of the key.

[Lugnut64052]

. . . false advertising

Great thread. Very much appreciate seeing a guy take the time to fix and re-use the old stuff. Truck looks great!

[allen123]

nice project
Man I wish I had the money to do this kind of stuff

[soule64]

Magna-Flow stainless exhaust installed and a few minor rust issues to take care of...