1967 No Frills LWB Fleet

[kitsbeach]

Hey Guys, I thought I should start a proper build thread to track the progress on my truck as it moves along.

It’s a 1967 LWB Fleetside. It’s had only a few owners and is basically a survivor that seems like it has always been well maintained. It is running a 6 cylinder and four speed, but was originally a three on the tree truck.

I’ve started to do some work on it, which I will post here. But I will start with the original craigslist pictures.

EDIT:

I've finally cut my truck down to a short bed over the winter of 2021.

I've posted a picture in post #81 and will try to add some details of the process later.

[kitsbeach]

A few more craigslist pics

[kitsbeach]

I’m not going to go for a frame-off restoration but just kind of keep the survivor/shop truck vibe going. I will likely fix some of the rust but just patch the paint and keep the exterior as is. Plans are to do the following things over time:

1. return to the original three on the tree (done now)
2. clean up the interior to stock look with rubber carpets
3. new 15” steelies with dog dish caps
4. lower either a 4/6 or a 5.5/8 and make it handle
5. short bed conversion
6. long term an LS swap and a 6 speed manual trans



Couple of more pics after getting rid of the canopy.

[kitsbeach]

More pics

[kitsbeach]

I took out the four speed and went back to the three on the tree setup that the truck came with stock. I've only driven it around the block but love it already.

My truck is a 1967 but I picked up a Saginaw 343 out of a 1969 truck so that I could have syncro first gear. It seems much quieter than the four-speed Muncie 420 that was in it.

First I went around and collected all the parts I needed. I'm superstitious about the vehicles being off the road for too long. Plus I didn't want it hogging all the space in my garage.

It seems there are a few combinations of shift rods for these trucks (the rods that go from the steering column to the shift arms on the tranny). I needed 6 cylinder to Saginaw 3-speed arms.

My truck came with shift rods for the original Muncie 318 non-syncro 3-speed (pictured here) but hey don't fit (Muncie 318 is a lot shorter than the Saginaw 343). They are about 24" and 27" long in case anyone else is trying to tell one set of rods from another.

[kitsbeach]

The Saginaw 343 tranny I bought was behind a 307 V8 so they wouldn't fit either. This is them and they are about 22" and 27" long.

[kitsbeach]

I got a set on the board here that were for a 6 cylinder and Saginaw (thanks Jason!) They are roughly 24' and 29". These are the ones i used and they worked perfect.

[kitsbeach]

Here is a shot of the two three speed trannies side to side. The darker one is the 1967 Muncie 318 and the rustier one is the 1969 Saginaw 343. They both have 10 spline input shafts but the Muncie 318 has a 16 spline output and the Saginaw 343 has a 27 spline output. This means I'd have to buy a driveshaft slip yoke but I didn't have to buy a new clutch.


The hole in the bellhousing for the tranny changed sizes in 1968. The 1967 and earlier had the smaller 4 and 9/16" opening and the later bell housing have a 5 and 1/8' opening. So I had to change my bell housing too (a little more work).

[kitsbeach]

Thanks to these forums I found out that the four speed shifter is removed by pushing down and turning the little hump at the base of the shifter.

[kitsbeach]

Nice thing about the removable high hump floor is that it is real easy to reach the bolts. My truck was originally a low hump floor but someone cut it open and put in a high hump with the four speed.

[kitsbeach]

Another nice surprise was a very new looking clutch and pressure plate. I’m assuming the four speed swap was done pretty recently.

[kitsbeach]

I used a floor jack to hold the tranny up because these things are heavy.!

And here is the four-speed Muncie 420 on the ground

[kitsbeach]

I cleaned up the “new” Saginaw 3-speed with some kind of non-toxic grease cutter and a garden hose since I don’t have a parts washer. I was careful not to get the important parts wet. I didn’t go crazy cleaning it up and later I rubbed boiled linseed oil into it so it wouldn’t rust more and it looked great.

[kitsbeach]

I briefly considered swapping the input shaft bearing housings so that I didn’t have to remove my bellhousing. But the internal measurements were different (they are totally different trannies after all so that was wishful thinking.!).

[kitsbeach]

To change out the bellhousing I had to remove the starter and took a picture to remember which wires went where.

And took a shot or two of the clutch linkage

[kitsbeach]

Throwout bearing was nice and shiny new

[kitsbeach]

I should have taken some pictures of the old bellhousing in place and the bellhousing crossmember. I put the floor jack under the engine oil pan to keep the engine level and not rip the mounts. Then I was also able to jack the back of the engine up or down slightly to make room to get the bellhousing out from the crossmember.

[kitsbeach]

I took a little peek inside the Saginaw and was pleasantly surprised. Synchros look nice. Oil was clean. Looks like very few miles on a rebuild.

[kitsbeach]

I wrestled the tranny back in. I figure it weighs about 80 lbs so I jacked it up with the floor jack. But once it was up the jack was in the way and I was struggling getting the splines to line up so I got my son to remove the jack. Then I wrestled it for a while until my arms almost quit and put the floor jack back under. Then somehow I got it nice and square and it popped right into place.

That white stripe you see in the picture is a zap strap holding my speedo cable off the ground. I need to order a longer one because the Saginaw is longer than the 4-speed that was in there.

[kitsbeach]

Best advice I ever got was someone on this forum suggested getting two long bolts with same thread as the tranny bolts and put them in finger tight to hang the tranny on during the wrestling process. This was a really good idea and made things much easier than it would have been otherwise.

[kitsbeach]

I had to get my driveshaft shortened since there aren’t any wreckers around Vancouver with C-10s in them. I have a two-piece shaft and the front needed to be around 28 and ½ from the center bearing to the seal on the tail housing of the tranny. I also got the whole two-piece balanced.

Pics of the old and the “new” driveshaft with new slip yoke and the right length

[kitsbeach]

Here is a shot of the driveshaft back in place.

[kitsbeach]

For the shifter adjustment, I followed the excellent 2007 forum post by Green Machine here:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=215307

I tell everyone about this post, and it showed me exactly what to do. A lot of the bad rap the three-on-the-tree gets is probably because nobody has adjusted these things for 40 years.

But my column was a bit different than Green Machine’s. I think his was a bit newer.

Here is the shot from his forum post and you can see his column has a boss to put the alignment tool through and into the holes in the shift selectors.

[kitsbeach]

My 67 didn’t have that boss or the hole through the selectors. But, based on his post, I could line up the little pointy tab things on the selectors. It also seemed like I could choose where I wanted the column shifter to end up, either high up towards 12 o’clock or lower down at about 3 o’clock. I chose a spot in about the middle of the travel I had but where I could still get good purchase on the shift rods.

Here is a pic of my 1967 column under the hood.

[kitsbeach]

You can see on mine that the little selector tab things are lined up. You have to see one working to know how it works but the column shift moves the center piece and the center piece grabs one of the two little tabs for either the reverse-first shift or the two-three shift. Green Machine’s post shows how to adjust the gap between the tab so that only one is grabbed at a time.

Another pic of my column and shift rods here. I have now put quite a few miles on this and it shifts perfectly.