68 LONG BED to SB Fleet

[67ChevyRedneck]

blakeaz33, I was wondering what you did to fix the area behind the wheel well, under the lower rear body line?



When I was following along with this build, it doesn't look like he had to do anything to his bed?

[Mike Bradbury]

I am going to convert to coil springs, going to fab my own trailing arms. I want to fab as much stuff for this truck as I can my self. Did a similar mod for my dads '29 roadster pick up. I've got a small bit of rust on the lower driver door which will be addressed when I put the suicide hinges on.
Iam going to cut my frame directly behind the cab so I don't have to hassle with taking the rest of the body off. I have a "z" cut mapped out that will extend up the frame rail where it bends over the axel. I will try to get a pic with cut lines on it like YellowGT did so it is easier to understand, if it gets to be too complicated I will just cut the 45* behind the cab.

[glock35ipsc]

Nice work dude!! The bed turned out absolutely awesome! I may have missed it, but are you keeping it the same color and going a different route?

Don't worry about the chop-n-weld haters. If they want all the long beds, I've got a couple they can have for a few thousand $$$$ each. I won't hate on people for cutting something (unless they ask, and it looks like butt!), it's what makes your ride YOUR ride! One look at my dash will confirm that!

Oh yeah, I'm glad my frame choppin' thread helped you out. Good call with the mobile welder too!

[glock35ipsc]

Forgot to add, the metal work up front looks great as well!

[blakeaz33]

[QUOTE=67ChevyRedneck;3079806]blakeaz33, I was wondering what you did to fix the area behind the wheel well, under the lower rear body line?


When I was following along with this build, it doesn't look like he had to do anything to his bed?

Here is a shot from underneath the wheel well. You can see I added a thin piece where the weld line is (kind of) - I will clean this up as well as the line. Like Kevin mentioned before I believe you could work it so you would not have to add anything but I chose to do it this way. Once I clean it up the majority of what was added will be ground down to clean the line up.

[blakeaz33]

Originally Posted by glock35ipsc

Forgot to add, the metal work up front looks great as well!

Thanks Bob - appreciate the compliments and your thread was definitely a great help.

In the short term I'm going to do a quick job on the bed with the existing color because I have some mixed up already. I eventually plan on going with the factory red with all the CST trim and molding - thinking I might get to that mid summer maybe. I also have original red vinyl and cloth from a GM factory over run to do the seat the way I want. I ordered some of my air ride components yesterday so I'll get it driving and sitting the way I want, then paint and interior will be last.

Here is a picture of the way the seat will be done and the look I'm going for in a short bed. I would have bought the red truck but couldn't get it for the right price, it had 39,000 original miles - got the green truck for 25% of what the red one would have cost. I still think I should have bought it anyway - it was a killer truck.

[VA72C10]

I imagine when you're done you'll still have much less into your truck and it will be EXACTLY the way you want it and you will have the satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself...Awesome job and I like the look you're going for

[blakeaz33]

Have not done too much lately other than accumulate some parts. I was able to piece together a complete power steering setup with original brackets and pulleys for a 250 six so I'll be installing that soon and UPS also delivered my ART strong arms and bags for the front last week - still need to get the rest of the air ride system before I install everything. Got a new set of drop spindles with new disc brake setup also with PB booster so I'm looking forward to getting all this together. I did some quick body work on the bed sides and have it in primer, need to do a little blocking and seal it and I'll spray on some green.

[nuke1]

that is such a nice clean looking truck you have there, nice job on the box shortening, do you plan on running rims on it or leave the stockers and ride original, with bags?

[blakeaz33]

Originally Posted by nuke1

that is such a nice clean looking truck you have there, nice job on the box shortening, do you plan on running rims on it or leave the stockers and ride original, with bags?

Appreciate it Nuke - I have a set of stock 5 on 5 steels that I will run for a while once I get the bags installed. I'm going back and forth on a couple of options for the tires and wheels. I'm planning on running 20's eventually but trying to decide on 20x10's or 20x12's for the back. If I do the 12's on back I'll do a mini tub and run a ford 9" about 2" narrower on each side to give me about a 7" outside lip. I did something similar on my 69 Camaro with a more modern style wheel - heres a couple of pics of the Camaro. Just need to decide on the cost increase if I want it enough - the mini tub option will double the cost of going with 20X8.5's on front and 20x10's on back. Either way I'll do more of a classic vintage look for the wheel on the truck vs. the modern style on the Camaro - probably go with something from Billet Specialties Vintage line.

[Puropedo]

Originally Posted by blakeaz33

Have not done too much lately other than accumulate some parts. I was able to piece together a complete power steering setup with original brackets and pulleys for a 250 six so I'll be installing that soon and UPS also delivered my ART strong arms and bags for the front last week - still need to get the rest of the air ride system before I install everything. Got a new set of drop spindles with new disc brake setup also with PB booster so I'm looking forward to getting all this together. I did some quick body work on the bed sides and have it in primer, need to do a little blocking and seal it and I'll spray on some green.

Wow, that is impresive work, can't even tell it used to be a long bed ( great body work ) musta cost u lots of labor hours, they are worth it, pictures speak for themself! I dont personally like the wheel option, just my personal opinion, but love what u done to the truck.

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by blakeaz33

Appreciate it Nuke - I have a set of stock 5 on 5 steels that I will run for a while once I get the bags installed. I'm going back and forth on a couple of options for the tires and wheels. I'm planning on running 20's eventually but trying to decide on 20x10's or 20x12's for the back. If I do the 12's on back I'll do a mini tub and run a ford 9" about 2" narrower on each side to give me about a 7" outside lip. I did something similar on my 69 Camaro with a more modern style wheel - heres a couple of pics of the Camaro. Just need to decide on the cost increase if I want it enough - the mini tub option will double the cost of going with 20X8.5's on front and 20x10's on back. Either way I'll do more of a classic vintage look for the wheel on the truck vs. the modern style on the Camaro - probably go with something from Billet Specialties Vintage line.

Originally Posted by Puropedo

Wow, that is impresive work, can't even tell it used to be a long bed ( great body work ) musta cost u lots of labor hours, they are worth it, pictures speak for themself! I dont personally like the wheel option, just my personal opinion, but love what u done to the truck.

That's his camaro wheels...not what he's planning for the truck

[blakeaz33]

Originally Posted by Puropedo

Wow, that is impresive work, can't even tell it used to be a long bed ( great body work ) musta cost u lots of labor hours, they are worth it, pictures speak for themself! I dont personally like the wheel option, just my personal opinion, but love what u done to the truck.

Thanks Puropedo - you know how the body work goes. Thinking I'll just do this real quick and you start and while I'm at it I'll just take care of this and this... The wheel in my pics above is on another project of mine, the truck I was thinking of going somewhat more classic - I'm thinking about this because it looks old school and I haven't seen it much.

[Ronm909]

are the measurements of what you cut from the bed the same as the frame, 8" from rear, 12" from front??

[Puropedo]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

That's his camaro wheels...not what he's planning for the truck

My bad, nice camaro (dont really like the wheels)

Originally Posted by blakeaz33

Thanks Puropedo - you know how the body work goes. Thinking I'll just do this real quick and you start and while I'm at it I'll just take care of this and this... The wheel in my pics above is on another project of mine, the truck I was thinking of going somewhat more classic - I'm thinking about this because it looks old school and I haven't seen it much.

Got ya! I've always admire people who want to be different (out of the ordinary) Those wheels will problably look bad ass with the right offset, keep
on posting your progress, great job!

[blakeaz33]

Originally Posted by Ronm909

are the measurements of what you cut from the bed the same as the frame, 8" from rear, 12" from front??

The bed and frame are to stock specs for a short bed, the 8 and 12 as you reference. The look is a little off to me sometimes also if that's what you're thinking. The only thing I can attribute it to is it is sitting much higher both front and back since I did the conversion and maybe the angle of the pics. Getting it lower with a little rake will bring everything back into proportion I'm thinking.

[Ronm909]

No it looks great, I am amazed, I had my long bed on craigslist, just took the add down, gonna give it s try. thanks for the step by step.

[Ronm909]

Originally Posted by blakeaz33

Thanks Puropedo - you know how the body work goes. Thinking I'll just do this real quick and you start and while I'm at it I'll just take care of this and this... The wheel in my pics above is on another project of mine, the truck I was thinking of going somewhat more classic - I'm thinking about this because it looks old school and I haven't seen it much.

I just went to the Grand National street rod show, seems like every other car had that exact rim, I actually saw 4 cars all parked next to each other with those wheels,

[blakeaz33]

Originally Posted by Ronm909

I just went to the Grand National street rod show, seems like every other car had that exact rim, I actually saw 4 cars all parked next to each other with those wheels,

I guess I don't get out much, or maybe all those guys heard I was considering this wheel

[Ronm909]

Originally Posted by blakeaz33

I guess I don't get out much, or maybe all those guys heard I was considering this wheel

Then again they were all pretty high dollar street rods.

[blakeaz33]

Seems like the more you look at wheels the more you change your mind - see many different wheels on the builds on this forum and appreciate them all. Like you say I think this is a more popular style for cars and street rods but I haven't really seen anything similar on a truck. Either way I prefer the the polished soft lip style of rim and have always liked the powder coated and satin finishes on the centers - the black centers to me kind of seems to bring the classic aspects of these trucks we all appreciate together with the more modern dimensions of big wheels. All just personal opinion and taste - either way this step of the build is a ways off. The near future will be a lower truck with steels and hubcaps.

[Ronm909]

Ya know what you mean, I have had my mind set on some large craiger smoothies and now all of a sudden the are getting popular again.

[msgross]

nice work and nice looking truck... I kinda like the vette rally look but in the newer 18"+ larger style...

[blakeaz33]

I haven't posted in a while - progress had slowed some on the truck. I've only had a few hours a week to work on it but had sprayed some paint on the bed this weekend. This was my first time painting, one side turned out perfect and one side was a mess - I used single stage so I'm letting the bad side dry so I can wet sand the runs and respray a couple of coats to correct. My brother has been painting for 15+ years and has been a big help when I've had questions - we are about 700 miles apart so I couldn't just have him spray it for me. I did this in my garage, the side that turned well I had good lighting, and of course the side with the runs was the side with bad light. The last coat I sprayed created all the problems, paint was looking dull because the lighting was shining through the plastic I had hanging from the ceiling so I thought I needed a wet coat when I didn't. Guess that's how you learn - by the time I repaint the entire truck I think I'll be able to end up with something I'm happy with. Here are a couple of pics so far.

[msgross]

looks good to me, you're hired.