'67 C30 Protecto plate camper conversion

[FirstOwner69]

Is it too long for a flatbed?

My favorite!
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=227981

Others
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=384700

[nlped]

Originally Posted by FirstOwner69

Is it too long for a flatbed?

My favorite!
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=227981

Others
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=384700

It would be one LONG, long bed, but it'd be useful. Just that the cab has a passthrough into the cab that'd have to be patched up or another cab put on, and this cab is rust free.

[nlped]

BTW... IT IS ALIVE

I found a Holley 750 vacuum secondary on C/L that turns out the guy took off of a 454, so that handled the need for carburation. Then I pulled the fuel pump block off plate off, put a new fuel pump pushrod, cheapo Airtex fuel pump, some 3/8" line to a gas can & shot some starter fluid into the carb & VVVVRRRRRROOOOOOMMMMMM!!!! It has a miss, either a bad plug, wire, cap, rotor, or somethin' & the timing is to high I believe (it's hard to crank when hot). Cold it has 80# of oil pressure, 50# when warm and the coolant is still pretty, clean & green and it holds at 190 degrees.

Now I need to figure out how to drain this MAMMOTH aftermarket/custom fuel tank and run some new lines to it and throw a few gallons of gas in it so I can see if it'll move under it's new found POWAH. It did drop right into Reverse, but the brakes are sticky and the rear bags or aired out, so I gotta get them situated.

I'm STOKED!!!!

[Mikeeal33]

Do you know how much gas is in the tank? PITA draining em!

[Stranny64]

That truck is awesome! The flatbed idea is great if the camper don't work out. Keep us updated!!!

[hamjet]

If I knew how to work photoshop I'd make it a loooong hooorn fleetside........Too bad you have to dump the camper idea.....

[nlped]

Originally Posted by Mikeeal33

Do you know how much gas is in the tank? PITA draining em!

If the gas guage is right, & I'm afraid it may be...it has a LOT of gas in it. Guage shows 3/4 of a tank...a 40+ gallon tank

[nlped]

I haven't totally ditched the camper idea yet. My buddy had a brilliant idea...paint the cab orange, put a giant 01 on the doors, name it the General LEE, and take it to Talladega for the Nascar race in October & sell it for a "Billion Dollars"...or paint giant pot leafs on the side and put a peace emblem on the hood and take it to a Grateful Dead reunion concert & make BAJILLIONS.

[empi1776]

Really cool. Good luck with it. I had a 1962 I purchased was built just like yours in califronia. I converted to lwb pickup.

[nlped]

Thanks & welcome to the board!

[Xeen]

This would be a killer flatbed truck, very useful.
Now I want to buy one and convert it to a flatbed, see what you did?

[nlped]

I take full responsibility

I haven't done anything really productive on it this weekend due to the holiday, and I'm outta town. But, I did order new plugs, wires, and cap & rotor button just now from RockAuto.com. So I will get rid of the dead miss when they get here hopefully. I do still have to get the MONSTER gas tank drained so I can get this thing ready to drive around the property. YUCK!!!

[trac209]

Very cool truck,I like the open plan lounge area camper too. Depending on what will give you the most use I guess. But cool project

[nlped]

Originally Posted by trac209

Very cool truck,I like the open plan lounge area camper too. Depending on what will give you the most use I guess. But cool project

I agree. I haven't really committed to anything yet. I'm still.tryin to get it running & MOVING under its own power. That'll be a major deciding factor.

[nlped]

Well...It's running, driving, stopping (sorta ) and the a/c works.

I rerouted the fuel feed line from the existing 2 million gallon fuel tank to the mechanical fuel pump, bypassed the inline holley electric fuel pump for the Pro-Jection, and now it runs from onboard fuel instead of out of the gas can. It holds a constant 8lbs of fuel pressure and idles very well. It holds about 12-14lbs of vacuum at idle, but when I drop it into gear it plummets and tries to die, but I redid a few vacuum lines and that seems to be much better.

The brakes still suck, but I feel like that is due to a bad booster. It feels like manual brakes all the time, and using manual brakes to stop a 10k lb tank with 4-wheel disc brakes and a m/c intended for power assist...they SUCK. But that isn't to tough a fix.

Motor runs GREAT. I swapped out the plugs, cap/rotor button, and plug wires and the dead miss is GONE. I drove it up the road (country road with almost no traffic) and it shifts through all the gears and down shifts when you punch it as it should. I'm really pleased.

Now I have to commit to either gutting the living quarters and redoing, part it, or sell it as is... This is a tough decision. What do you guys think???

[nlped]

Nevermind, I went back out to check out the brake booster and noticed that the elbow that goes from the vacuum line from the intake into the booster was broken. I had another old booster that this fitting was intact on so I swapped it and BOOM, the power brakes now work and the engine idles even better now that I don't have that massive vacuum leak.

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by nlped

Now I have to commit to either gutting the living quarters and redoing, part it, or sell it as is... This is a tough decision. What do you guys think???

Redo it as a camper, there are lots of rollbacks out there!

-Richard

[littlecents]

I really like the lounge idea as well, to me it seems too cool to part out. (that could just be me though)

[BrianStep72]

Ed,

So glad that the project is going well. Keep going, it will be awesome to see you at the 2015 Truck Nats camping in that thing!!

Brian

[aggie91]

I say gut the interior of the camper and redo it! That thing would make a great rod run camper...

[nlped]

I still haven't decided. I stopped trying to sell it because I made a list of pieces/parts and realized what it could be worth. I'm going to start gutting the camper this weekend though.

[nlped]

Started parting it out because the camper was in worse shape than I thought... Lots of wood rot

But the cab is in such great shape, it's a shame it is missing a giant section in the rear/roof area... May use it for patch panels for my GMC?

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=646223

[slowcpe]

Originally Posted by nlped

I haven't totally ditched the camper idea yet. My buddy had a brilliant idea...paint the cab orange, put a giant 01 on the doors, name it the General LEE, and take it to Talladega for the Nascar race .

This is what I was thinking the whole time I read the build...well other than the general lee theme. We go to talladega every spring and thought about getting something like this for that and deer season. The person I cohabitate with does not share the same level of excitement as I do. She also does not think, under any circumstances, that something like this would "look cool" sitting in our driveway.

[nlped]

Yeah, my wife is NOT a fan of it sitting in our driveway either.

After further inspection, I've come to the realization that chubby could also be nicknamed Rotten. The infrastructure of the camper is rotted in all four upper corners, around the skylight, the opening that the roof air was in, and the floor under the kitchen and bathroom. So, I'm going to gut the interior, cut the camper into sections, and scrap all the copper plumbing and the aluminum siding, and drag the remaining pieces to the dump.

I'm going to use the doors, cab pieces and core support to repair my '70 GMC, put the motor in Walt with a newly acquired 700r4. I think I'll even put the under dash A/C in Walter to keep the vintage appearance. Then I'll figure out what to do with the remaining chassis.

[nlped]

An update. After much shagrin... The camper was in pretty bad shape (read...rotten wood everywhere). So I started cutting up the camper part of the chassis. I've used nothing but a sawzall, die grinder, BFA, pry bar and a drill by myself (my wife helped a little, but she wasn't a fan for long). It was a bear, but it's almost a flatbed"ish" chassis. Another day, and I hope to be about done.