Ragged to Running

[C-mater]

My block cleaned up nice. Crank bearings had a little wear but nothing too bad. Re-affirmed my stance on leaving the bottom end alone. Take a look at the timing chain though. Guess that explains why the timing "wandered" a bit. Here up would need all new components!

[C-mater]

Placed numerous orders for internal parts then sent the heads off for rework. Funny side note - I took my wife to Europe for our 20th anniversary the week the heads were in the shop. This was her first trip over there. We landed about 7am in Brussels on 3.22.16. The bomb in the airport went off just after we made it though customs and sat down at our next gate. Red star on the left side of pic is where we were.

[C-mater]

Put the motor together once we got back. Again, I was trying to keep cost low so I left the bottom end alone. Did do my best to try and keep it alive with a new oil pump, Erson cam and lifters, complete head rework, etc. Did swipe the Edel Performer intake that Dad had in the shop. I reckon that thing is like 20yrs old but do intakes go bad? Decided I use his air cleaner too. It's just on for looks at this point...still deciding on carb.

[yuccales]

Come a long way, looking good!

[Wootdog]

Your truck has come along way. Now it gets easier. Keep up the progress and send us more pictures.
Wootdog

[C-mater]

Blasting the frame and general clean up of components followed. We bought a nice media blaster from Eastman for this task. Worked well once we figured out how to get all the moisture out of the lines. I really don't envy guys that do this for a living!

[C-mater]

Time to paint the frame after weeks of putty knife scrapping, wire brushing and media blasting. We applied Chassis Saver to the cab floor, rearend and frame. Last pics show front end complete with new steering hardware and rebuilt drums. Had a set of spindles from a 72 but decided to go back 6 lug drums to get it on the road. Springs and shocks are CPP 2" drop.

[C-mater]

Frame complete, suspension in place and crappy rollers back on...time to check the rake. I wanted a "level" look but still wanted enough suspension travel to use the truck with a nice ride. After weeks of digging though numerous posts on this site I decided to go with the CPP 2/4" drop kit including shocks.

[C-mater]

Mater was now rolling again so I had to work on the stopping part. Went with a full brake line kit from Just Right. Boy that was an experience. First time for me and Pops replacing an entire brake system. All the lines from Just Right fit pretty well with some modest tweaks. We started at the rear end then worked forward. As you can see, the kit in the front of the truck didn't match up so well (pic at left). Looks like that section was meant for power brakes. Just Right customer service was great though. Sent them some pics and they replaced with no questions. Took a little time since they had to bend them to some old specs since he didn't have the right ones in stock. Apparently folks don't often restore a 68 back to non-power drum brakes?

[Old_Truck_Fan]

Nice build and great work. Just curious if you purchased the truck from someone in Columbus, Indiana? It looks oddly familiar to a truck a friend and I looked at but was sold when he called back the next day.

[In The Ten Ring]

I would sooooo love to do this to my truck!

*And LWB stepsides with spare tires on side are beautiful! Way more interesting than SWB fleetsides.

[C-mater]

Originally Posted by Old_Truck_Fan

Nice build and great work. Just curious if you purchased the truck from someone in Columbus, Indiana? It looks oddly familiar to a truck a friend and I looked at but was sold when he called back the next day.

Old Truck Fan
Yep - sure did. Picked it up in Columbus, IN on Jan 11th 2014. The fella that sold it to me picked it up from an older guy a few months prior. Numerous folks were "on the way" when I grabbed the cash and loaded it on a trailer that day.

I'd actually like to connect with the guy I bought it from now that the truck is back on the road.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by C-mater

I see a lot of folks calling them COPO caps. Here is a close up.

Those are late '60s poverty caps for pretty much all five lug wheels on Chevys. They MAY have been available in '70, at least I seem to recall popping a couple hundred during dealer prep. I recall that my wife's '69 Nova had a set. I got her some Rallye Nova wheel covers and put those poverty caps on my '56 Chevy 210 wagon. They went with the car when I sold it. That's two cars I wish I had now.

Back on topic, I was looking for a long wheel base stepside when my wife inherited the truck in my avatar pic. I love 'em, and yours is really cool!

[trac209]

Cool truck,looks like you're doing excellent work

[C-mater]

So now things were starting to go quick. The truck was clean and I had the itch to get it back on the road. The next big step was getting the 350 back in and firing it up. Org core support and inner fenders were too rotten so those are aftermarket. Heater box was torn down and completely rebuilt with all new gaskets, blower motor and heater core. Always good to build in a garage with a bunch of left over or unused stuff. The alt and fan was from my granddad's 71 Monte, the intake came off the 69 Camaro (under cover in pics), etc.

[C-mater]

Finally back on the road 10-2-16. Straight pipes with just a few bolts holding the dog house together. If memory serves I had broke the cam in late the night before.

[C-mater]

Next step was hanging the front end properly + removing the busted up org windshield. Also needed to paint the floor, cab corners and rockers. Had a local shop blend some paint for me that so-so matched the exterior then put it in rattle cans.

[C-mater]

Now time to attack the bed. It was all orig but boy was it rough. Step one was tearing out the old wood and checking out the cross sills. Everything was rotten so the die grinder was put to use.

[C-mater]

After repainting the cross sills I decided to starting putting it back together. Wanted to use some old deck lumber but those were too thick. Ended up buying some pine from Lowes that turned out pretty good. The new bed strips are from LMC. Special thanks to my Dad's buddy/neighbor Damon. He and I were the ones putting the bed back together while Dad (in pics supervising) worked on some other stuff.

[C-mater]

This was the other repair work Dad took on while I was getting the bed back on the truck.

[C-mater]

All cut out and ready for new bottoms. Noticed that we never took any pics of them done before we bolted them to the truck.

[C-mater]

My drive side fender was toast but it had the side mount spare that I dug. Had to put the truck back with it but there was very little sheet metal to work with. Found a SUPER solid 67 one cheap on ole CL. Figured out once I got it home that short steps and long steps have different cutouts...DOH!

Pic top right was what my new (shortstep) fender with my (longstep) side mount would look like...dumb. White truck is what I wanted...correct. All of this was clearly listed on this site if I would have just looked! Blue fender is what I bought.

[harpo231]

Originally Posted by In The Ten Ring

I would sooooo love to do this to my truck!

*And LWB stepsides with spare tires on side are beautiful! Way more interesting than SWB fleetsides.

says you

[C-mater]

So....Dad made the decision to try and repair the stock one. Have to admit, it turned out better than expected given the amount of rot. The 67 blue one came in handy as a template.

[C-mater]

Contemplated have my busted windshield replaced by a professional vs doing it ourselves. Neither one of us had done it before but I figured there was only one way to learn. A few various "rope trick" videos later and I was ready to roll

How did people work on stuff before You Tube???

Pics show my radio plate, seat, seatbelts, dash pad and visors all scored via swap meet or CL.