Re: Previous owner '68
 

I decided to grind the offending caliper. I know, if I had ground the spindle area then all calipers from now on would have fit. But I have this thing about things not fitting correctly, if you don't fit, you will be ground down and made to fit. I'm not going to grind a good part to make it fit a bad part.

The second pic shows the comparison of the 2 calipers. The passengers (original GM part) casting on the right is crisper and not as bulky. The drafts from the dies are more pronounced and it fits. The drivers caliper works, now.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Finally got the calipers installed.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

The front brake hoses are for an '85, I had to tweak them to make them fit without hitting the spindle.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Looking good!

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Thanks!

Re: Previous owner '68
 

I hand bent some brake lines for the rearend and installed the trailing arms, springs, and rearend. No excitement, which is good.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Finally back on all 4 wheels.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

I have some of those later brake hoses I plan to use on my 67 and 68.
Those CPP lower control arms, are they 73-up, or earlier???

I am/or was planning on using 71-71 upper and lower control arms, because the shaft/bushings can be greased. Now that I'm educated on how they work, I'm not sure..
The 72 and earlier control arms do NOT pivot on rubber bushings. The caps on the upper and lower control arms screw into the control arms with external threads and the shaft screws into the inside of the caps. The bushings only capture the grease coming out of the caps, and only serve that purpose and to keep dirt and moisture out of that area.
THose pickups have always rode real nice, maybe I am over thinking this...

Re: Previous owner '68
 

DA68 wasn't too sure which the CPP a-arms were for, turns out they were for the earlier trucks, I had to change out the ball joints to make them work with my 73-87 spindles. They take standard press-in balljoints.

I've had 67-72 pickup and 73-87 pickups, and I can't tell the difference in ride. Some people claim they can, that the rubber bushings are smoother, but I could never tell the difference. I really don't think you can go wrong with either setup, these old chevys are great.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Went back and forth on where to put the proportioning valve. Finally decided to put it in the squarebody location since I already had one.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Then I went to the back and installed the adjustable track bar. I also had to remove the u-bolt nuts because someone forgot to put the shock relocator brackets in place. I blame my wife, even though she isn't doing any of the real work on this truck.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Started installing the gas tank. I had already removed the crossmember and will deal with any interference with the bed crossmembers when I get to them.

January 6, 2024

Re: Previous owner '68
 

The straps will be bent the WRONG way when you get a new tank (bottom strap). You need to bend them like the top one (or something reasonably close).

Re: Previous owner '68
 

An original blazer strap for reference.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Roger, the tank looks to have the straight fill neck on it, don't know if it will cause you any problems when you try to install hose, but mine caused a kink, and ended up removing neck and installing original neck

Now is the time to fix it if you want before you put gas in it

Straps I got with tank didn't have J bolts so I used the original ones

Nice work so far

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Thanks for the heads up Jim. I do have a couple blazer fill necks I could use if I need to but I'm hoping I can work something else out since I'll be running a stepside bed. I know the blazers have a body mount right where the fill is and I won't have to worry about that.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

I took a minute to stand back with a critical eye and there were a couple things I didn't like. The first was the way the rear brake hose was mounted. Obviously it wasn't the correct one for the rearend I have, so I changed the mounting bracket. Now the hose isn't so near the shock.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

I also hated the way the gas tank straps looked. So I took them off and spot welded them so they stay flat.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Another full shot.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

I also would rather rebuild vs. buying rebuilt or china new where I can. Recently I was having issues with my alternator, and guy at parts store said "I can have you a new one in the morning for $85". Rather than go that route, I tore it down and found the issue, and after a few bucks for a brush set, it was back in business (and likely will outlast the rebuilt $85 unit). I did consider buying a "new" AC alternator from amazon for about $35, and using for parts. I would like to support the local businesses, but they also need to be somewhat competitive, and that is rarely the case these days, usually not even in the ballpark.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Well, when I buy cheap rebuilt parts I kinda expect them not to work well. If I rebuild them I kinda expect them to work, at least I know who to cuss if they don't! Recently they tore down an old building in my town that had been a starter alternator shop. They threw away tons of wound coils for starters, and other parts. I grabbed some stuff I could identify but most of it got scrapped. Labor $ is a killer for shops like that.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

I did get the other fender off. Unfortunately trying to tighten to the breaking point stripped out the threads on the bolts! So I continued drilling them out, using a good drill with cutting fluid.

Scrapping undercoating, it is a joy.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Great Progress again today for you.

Myself :uhmk:
I am working on one of my better half projects.

I have used Wd-Forty or brake cleaner to soften the undercoating.:mm:

About the drilling of those bolts.


Here is my detailed process. :lol::haha::rolleyes:

#1= HSS (High Speed Steel) center drill the Bolt.
Link: https://www.grizzly.com/products/gri...its;%20Grizzly

Just an Example link.


#2= Drill the head of the bolt 25% less than the diameter of the bolt.

This gives you 12.5% if you drilled Off Center.

Then only drill to a Depth of the head of the bolt.

#3= Then take an Impact drill/ air ratchet / air gun and try to tighten them till they break off.

#4= If they still spin/ Then I put Vice grips on the nut/ Then step up the drill size tell the head of the bolt goes away.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

For the undercoating I use a combination of heatgun, scrapper, and brute stupidity that seems to work well. Then, after all the scrapping, I wipe everything down with lacquer thinner to soften the stubborn spots, and scrape again.

As far as the bolts, your process and mine are almost spot on, except I usually soften up the bolts with intermittent bouts of cussing.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Now on to some previous owner type crap. i started out loving the 60-66 chevy trucks, I still love them but have lately (last 25 years) focused on the 67-72 trucks. Nothing against the 67-72 guys, but, we are a bit spoiled. The earlier trucks guys tend to be a bit more more creative on getting things done. When I started out with a 64 chevy there were NO aftermarket parts for them. No fenders, no bumpers, no inner fenders, no NOTHING! Everything we did had to be a homebuilt solution.

One of the early things I did on my 64 was convert a 3-on-the-tree to a floor shifter column. I decided to do this on the 68. So here goes some old school tech...

Re: Previous owner '68
 

My disassembled 3 on the tree column. The truck is a 505 exterior but the column is 503, I guess this makes sense, I have seen this before.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Then, this. I plan on running a floor shifter (auto by the way).

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Ain't nobody got time for column shifting... Some people wonder why I might keep the shifter shaft, well, you have to, it supports the upper column cover and gives the stack-up for the column. Trust me, you need it. But you don't need those ugly old shift levers, they gotta go.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

How warm has that shop been the last week or so? Its been cold as hell.. Im guessing your roads over there have probably been iced up too. Ours sure have lol.. Doesnt look like any of this weather has slowed you down

Re: Previous owner '68
 

I have one of the Mrcool units and it usually keeps me around 66 out there in the winter (that's where I keep it set). On some of the coldest days I saw 63 in there first thing in the morning. As long as I can walk out there I'm going to get something done!

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Started filling in the shifter hole with my favorite 2 part metal epoxy.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

After more sanding, more jbweld, and some primer I ended up with this.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

I replaced both of the bearings while I was in there and checked the wiring on the turn signal. Those bearings cost way too much for what they are. I'm sure there has to be a more cost effective (cheeper!) solution but those parts guys got me by the short ones.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Dug through my paint cabinet, found some 503 in my favorite flavor, acrylic enamel. Hmmm, mixed in 2015, should be fine.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Couple of coats, column looks okay, collars need sanding and recoat. And, yes, there is a run on the column. I pretended I was a 1968 union worker who was just about to go on lunch when I painted it. Looks factory imperfect.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

I will sometimes sneak over to the squarebody side of the board to see what the cool kids are doing these days. I noticed a bunch of those guys (at least 3 of them) are putting jeep parts on their trucks. Hey, I like jeeps too, so I started looking for a place to fit up a jeep part. In particular this odd looking P.O.S. (piece of shaft) from a 84-94 Cherokee.

It looks like it fit right on there. Ha! If you will recall I painted up a 1972 steering box to use on the truck (it was there, I used it). The shaft on that box is 13/16" splined. The hole on the intermediate shaft is 3/4". So I broke out my reamers and miraculously I had a 13/16" reamer! If you are going to do this save yourself a bunch of reaming and use the 79 up steering box. It is already a 3/4" shaft. I also think some of the earlier trucks have 3/4" splined shafts but don't remember for sure.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Then I had to deal with the column side connection. The 67 and 68 don't come with an intermediate shaft like the 71-up, so first I cut the steering shaft. I left about 1.5-2" of the 3/4dd shaft at the end.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

The column side of the intermediate shaft has a coupler for a 1"dd shaft (which the squarebody trucks have at the end of their columns). So somehow I had to get from 3/4"dd to 1"dd. Too bad nobody makes a bushing to do this... Ah but gm does! And it comes in a long enough piece that you can get 3 or 4 bushings from it.

The hardest part of this is melting out the plastic and driving the solid shaft out of the hollow shaft.

Re: Previous owner '68
 

Welded the bushing to the shaft. It ain't going nowhere.

Like a glove!

Re: Previous owner '68
 

A little paint, leaned it against the work bench, it fell. I locked the shop and came in the house. Tomorrow I have the opportunity to paint it again, I could use the practice. I really should have waited on painting the column, now I have to worry about scratching it until it's in the truck. Live, and hopefully, learn.