67 SWB Crewcab....Building the Beast, aka Donkey!

[Hart_Rod]

67 SWB 4 Door CrewCab!

****** Board members who have contributed parts, ideas and most importantly, encouragement to this project!!!! ******

YOTE1234, BOWTIEOGRE, BILLSBOWTIE, PCMCOBRA, DARKFOX71, RON586, 68POS, SMOKEY02, OJOE, UNCLE, JOE FABRIS, GMC PAULS, FUELCELLGUY, RLM316, KRUE, ROKCRLN, RAM-MAN, PORTERBUILT, PUTTER, GRINGOLOCO, MSGROSS, FRIZZLE FRY, JAMIE (Doug Thorley Headers), HOTRODMTODD, Stan (ECE's), CCCC, one9six9, Seanu, Jorgensensc, 396Muncie, SadSack, Hurdy, scrapmetal, 10.5Stang, Bad_Turbo, ClassicBowties, MuscleCarPaul, BURNSMAN, MrCack, PeteM1957, 70RS/SS, MICHAELBUSTAMENTE, WANCOS, Entropy Radiators.........

I can't forget about my "local" buddies Chris Chambers, Tim McGriff and Todd Crutchfield, each contributed a lot of manual labor, .

**If I left your name out, please PM me and I'll add it to the list, . **

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The thread that got this insanity started, :

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=205329

which led to this........

Just got back from a 1700 mile road trip this weekend to pick up the CrewCab, aka the BEAST (or Donkey, ). A buddy of mine pulled it from Phoenix (thanks YOTE1234 for storing it) to Junction, TX. I pulled his newly painted 65 stepside from Pensacola and we swapped. Man that thing is huge!!!! 160" wheel base. I plan on eventually chopping the frame (DONE!) and installing a shortbed, fixing the front doors with square door frames like the suburban and installing LSX/4LX0E. I'm going to take everything off but the cab and doors which will be media stripped (DONE) and then epoxy primered (DONE). The next phase starting the fall of ??, will be do all metal repair, test fit all the sheet metal and get it ready to paint..


*** EDIT: COMPLETED WORK and PARTS GATHERED as of 3/13/09 ***

Custom Chassis:
New chassis built using the front section of a 72 1/2 T chassis and the rear section of a 72 1/2 T short wheel base chassis. The cab was originally stretched 33 inches, so that's what I added between the front and rear cab mounts when I welded the frame sections together. The 2 sections were mated using a 45 degree cut methoda and then braced by welding in ECE stiffner plates. 4" exhaust cut-outs were also installed in the trailing arm crossmember along with a CPP bolt in c-notch, ECE rear frame crossmember, ECE transmission crossmember and a ECE hidden hitch. It was then sandblasted and sprayed with 3 coats of POR 15.

Other stuff done to the chassis:
- Completley rebuilt front suspension (ECE components) with new balljoints, bushings, bolts, nuts, rotors, calipers, Raybestos pads, new rubber hoses, etc.
- Professionally rebuilt 12 bolt GM rear axle, OEM 31 spline axles, Yukon bearings/seals, Richmond Ring/pinion (3.73), Eaton 3 series posi unit, rear brake hoses, Raybestos brake shoes, vented drums (ECE components), etc.
- New ECE brake booster and master cylinder setup with proportioning valve.
- All new stainless steel brake lines from Inline Tube.
- Stainless E-brake cables from Inline Tube.
- New 67 emergency brake handle with cover
- New KYB Gas shocks in front/rear for lowered suspensions
- New ECE 2"/4" dropped coils
- New ECE super track bar
- New ECE shock relocation kit
- New ECE rear gas tank cross member
- New ECE hidden hitch
- New ECE front sway bar kit with 3/4 ton sway bar and new poly bushings
- New CPP bolt in c-notch
- New CPP 1 1/4" aluminum lowering blocks
- 4 OEM ralleys

Engine/Transmission

- New ECE LS motor mounts/stands
- New ECE transmission mounts
- OEM auxillary battery box (driver side mount)

Body:
- Entire body Plastic Media stripped and epoxy primered
- Original rust free hood, hinges and latch
- Like new OEM hood letters and C-10 emblems
- 2 OEM Suburban doors (NM) (for the B pillar conversion)
- Cowl antenna delete
- OEM hood (NM)
- OEM grill/latch (NM)
- New stainless steel mirrors
- New polished aluminum headlight bezels
- New clear front turn signal lens
- Bed splash guards
- New Goodmark (Tri-Plus) front sheet metal (fenders, inner fenders, core support, splash apron, outer rockers)
- New Goodmark (Tri-Plus) bedsides and endgate
- OEM steel floor and wheel tubs (NM)
- New rear bumper brackets
- New sliding rear window
- New rubber body bushing kit from GMC Pauls

Interior:
- NOS CST Horn button
- Nice OEM 67/68 steering wheel
- Setup for Vintage A/C
- Painless 18 Circuit replacement wiring harness
- 1 set of Suburban Buddy Buckets for the front
- 1 set of truck Buddy Buckets for the rear
- High hump auto tranny cover
- New emergency brake handle, cable and cover
- 2 sets of steel door panels

Plus a lot of miscellaneous parts and pieces.......

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[Hart_Rod]

Pics

[Hart_Rod]

More pics:

[rage'nrat638]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

[krue]

[bad_turbo]

I want one!!!!!!!! The longer the better!!!!!

[BLAZERMAN]

Cant wait to see you get started on it, keep us posted with lots of pics.

[texanidiot25]

Dont cut it short! It looks so nice, and long... I love it! You have too much money/garage space/shop space. Makin' a lot of guys jealous, lol.

Plus that truck looks like its winking with the 1 headlight [_]======[O] . haha.

Goodluck, you do some great work, cant wait to see what happens to this one.

[72CREWCAB]

Man...where do you guys find this stuff!!!!!!! Awsome project. Makes me wish mine was done! We better see lot's of pics!

[67ChevyRedneck]

My God that's an awesome truck!

[65-72 chevytoys]

Man if I had one of those I would drive it to work everyday instead of my company truck and claim mileage. That is sweet. It you ever decide to get rid of it let me know.

[Yukon Jack]

That's very nice! I like the way that conversion was done!

[msgross]

Very nice find, wasn't that an Ebay buy? Where those 67-68 buddy buckets? keep me in mind when you go to sell. I have ways to get down there and pick them up. Thanks...

Mike

[Aarons72s]

Cool truck. As for the rear end it is a corporate ho52. Good luck on the project.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by msgross

Very nice find, wasn't that an Ebay buy? Where those 67-68 buddy buckets? keep me in mind when you go to sell. I have ways to get down there and pick them up. Thanks...

Mike

Changed my mind about selling them. I've redone them for my suburban, .


http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...2079024&posted

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by Aarons72s

Cool truck. As for the rear end it is a corporate ho52. Good luck on the project.

Any idea what it is worth?

[yote1234]

hi rob. are you happy with the truck? kinda what you expected? already wish i had it back...oh well. enjoy! dave

[bowtieboy93]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet man crew cabs are so nice!! i ve been looking for one on top of my '69 c-10 for a daily driver

[cheyenne10]

String and duct tape, a real chevy tool kit!! Body work on cab looks good. Square doors might help. Keep us in the pics.

[BowTieOgre]

As I said before Rob, that thing is a flagship! I think the wheelbase on that thing is more than the overall length of the Burb in the background!

[msgross]

didn't the guy selling it claim that GM built it, what are your thoughts on it now that you have it at home. Was it a dealer crew cab, homemade fabrication or factory test truck? I think that you need to start a build thread for sure and give her a name...

[Aarons72s]

Rob not sure on value of the ho52. But parts are a pita to find for them. Brake drums are worth money as they are impossible to find. Id probably post wiw thread on just that axle and you would probably get some more hits on the guys that mess with them more than I do. Good luck.

[65-72 chevytoys]

Coming from out west that could have been a US forest service truck I have seen pics of several of them but I don't know any thing about them, how many were produced etc. I just know they exist.

[mrein3]

Please don't be offended by this but...
I used to have a 1998 Explorer. Once in a while I used it to pull my bass boat. That scared me. I can't imagine pulling a 5000+ pound truck!

How did that work? I hope you didn't use overdrive.

[cheyenne10]

It looks like a 4 door. If so I have never seen one that was an original dealer build/early custom build/factory build. Only couple I have seen were modern 1 only custom builds.