Re: 1968 Custom Camper Duramax
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A few things going on in the first picture. Fixed the angle on the shocks, painted the axle, installed a polished aluminum diff cover, got one for the front to. I think these covers are a great deal at around $60 each from Amazon. Especially compared to the $200+ for a fabricated cover, sure its not as strong, but I think it fits the look of the truck.
After a few months of looking for a van column, broke down bought a new tilt column. Ill have to take an install photo, but I still need to make a bezel for the gauge cluster. |
Re: 1968 Custom Camper Duramax
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The truck is now road worthy, still needs a lot of little things before I would want to take it out of town or try to tow, at least I can run to the hardware store in it now.
Some of the highlighted to dos;
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Re: 1968 Custom Camper Duramax
That looks great! I've got the same diff covers on my 72 and they are nice. They have drain and fill plugs too. I ended up painting mine black because some dumb a drove the truck in the winter.....
I considered buying a CPP column too but I read some pretty bad stories with them so I passed. i'm interested to hear your take on them once you put some turns on it. I've been driving mine for almost 2 years now and I still have a list similar to yours of stuff to complete. They're never done. :lol: |
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Upgraded the headlights to some Hella H4 housings with some cheap H4 bulbs, both from Amazon. I may upgrade the bulbs to LED or HID, but they are way better then the 1 sealed beam light I had before. I chose these housings because they look like a normal sealed beam headlight.
My buddy made me some new U-bolt plates with shock mounts, he also made the upper shock tower. A note to anyone doing a diesel swap into one of these trucks. I have had these Rough Country springs on the truck less than a year and less than 500 miles on the truck. They are already sagging substantial in the front and they are a 3/4 ton spring. I called Rough County and they said the springs are not designed for the weight of the Duramax. So now I'm replacing them with some custom built springs from Offroad Designs. I really hope they were worth the wheelbarrow of cash I paid for them. After I ordered them, I discovered it probably wouldn't have been a big deal to swap in some junk yard F350 leaf springs and longer shackle. Planning ahead can save a lot of time and money. |
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I don't have many miles behind the wheel with the new column yet, but there are some things I like and some I don't. I have never seen a factory tilt in person so I cant compare. Things I've noticed so far, the gear indicator is kind of cheesy and I'm not sure how long the needle will last. The knob on the turn signal lever fell off, a little glue and no big deal. My truck did not have hazard lights so the hazard button is useless, not really CPPs fault. Otherwise, so far at least, the steering is tight, shifts are tight but smooth, tilt and turn work good, and the fire wall seal seems good. That's the truth about never being done, My problem is I cant wait to drive them so I do whatever it takes to get to that point then procrastinate on the small stuff. Once they leave the shop its so hard to convince myself to take something apart to finish up. I am trying to convince myself the next truck is going to be a slow and detailed build and I'm not pulling it out of the garage till its 99% done, we will see if I can stick to that. |
Re: 1968 Custom Camper Duramax
Great build, thanks for sharing. I’d love to do a diesel swap into my ‘70 K20 someday. A couple of questions if you don’t mind? In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of using the Duramax engine vs. the Cummins engine? Is there a transfer case adapter for a new process 205 that will bolt onto the Allison transmission? Or is there a bellhousing that will bolt to the back of the Duramax to allow the use of an NV4500 transmission? I’d like to try to plan out my build as much as possible, like you said, if you plan ahead, you can save money.
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Are your head light housing lenses glass? I put some different ones in my 72 last fall because I didn't like the look of what I had and one of mine allows water to get in. It looks like I have a gold fish bowl for a head light. :lol:
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Man I have no idea how I've missed your build, but I'm in now! Love the truck and your ingenuity. I have a 67 Custom Camper C20, want to do a Dmax/Allison swap. Not sure about going 4x4, but I certainly dig your ride man. My initial plan is to find a standard cab 2wd with a Dmax in it, and start swapping and modifying from there. I really like that you've retained a factory style frame.
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Re: 1968 Custom Camper Duramax
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For those following this build, I apologize for not posting much lately. I have done a little more work to the truck, have been driving it. Last weekend it got a little workout I used it around the house for a fencing project, including hauling over 3300lbs of bagged concrete in the bed and a loaded trailer of fencing materials. The truck hardly squatted and neither the engine or axles seemed to notice the load was even there.
I had it tuned a few weeks ago and it is night and day difference in performance and now its just down right fun to drive. The the tuner estimates 400-450hp, I plan to Dyno it whenever I get a chance and I will update you all on that. The only issues I have been having are on steering. My first steering box was sloppy and all over the road, I swapped it with a box off my square body which has around 50k miles on it. This was a lot better but still had more slop then I would like. Over the weekend I put a new re-manufactured unit from the local part store and now I have no power steering and no power assist (hydro-boost). I have tried jacking up the frontend and turning lock to lock for what seems like hours and still no luck. Does anyone have any ideas? Can it be a bad steering box causing the issue? I have never had an issue with the hydro-boost before. |
Re: 1968 Custom Camper Duramax
It's great to see you using it and cool that you got it tuned. I'm sure it is a blast to drive! Have you tried cracking the pressure line at the box, then turn the wheel to full lock. Tighten the line and try that until you get air out of the system? I've had to do that on some stubborn dodges before.
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Not much of an update, I need to take some more pictures and post here. My buddy made brackets for front and rear sway bars and rear shocks. I also found a free set of ladder bars that were ordered wrong and couldn't be returned. So we made brackets and mounted them up, picture to follow soon. I have put a couple hundred more miles on the truck and haven't have any major issues. My water pump started leaking through the weep hole, I haven't had time to replace it yet. On a side note, I brought home another future project, I don't know much about it, its a C60 with a tall deck 427, 5 speed with 2 speed rear axle. It was hooked up to a tow truck on its way to be crushed, I paid scrap price for it and tipped the driver to drop it off at my house. The engine was stuck, I soaked the cylinders with penetrating oil for a week and got it to turn over. It now cranks over smooth with the starter. The carb is missing, so when I have time I will throw one on it and see if I can get it to fire up.
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Re: 1968 Custom Camper Duramax
The white Duramax was put together very quickly, because I sold my other 4x4 truck and I needed something I can tow and do household chores out of. Because I put it together so quickly alot of things didn't get finished and there are a lot of zip ties. I decided I want to take the truck apart change some things and put everything back together better. This time I don't want any reason to rush anything. So, that means I've got to have something else to work out of. Rather than buy a cheap 3/4 ton 4x4, drive for a year or so and sell when this truck is done, I decided I need another project. This brings us to the 86 crew cab square body. Build thread here
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Good to hear you haven't had any major issues. I've been trying to find an affordable dmax donor truck around here with no real luck. Nice score on the C60!
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Thanks, I don't know if I will ever do anything with the C60 but I couldn't let it go to scrap, its too cool. |
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Are those the 427 emblems on the hood ? I think the c50 c60 guys really like those . I'd love to take that cab and put on a f550 4x4 chassis with cummins and g5600. 4x4 o5 ish top kick would be better but good luck finding that . F550 are everywhere. Lots of trucks get built with big truck wheels and such but I really want something that I could put miles on with 30k behind it and go across scales leaglly . Can't do that with wheel spacers and 22,5s on a one ton driveline like everybody seems to build these days .
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