Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

I haven’t had a chance to spend too much time on this girl lately, the orange truck is taking up all of my extra time. I did however do a little dent work on the B pillar the other night. I have also decided to get some paint stripper and clean the entire can floor down to bare metal to make sure there aren’t any other secrets hiding under that black paint. I hope to start on that next week.

Before and after

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Looking much better. What method was used to work those dents out without damaging the paint?

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

I ended up taking a piece of 1x2 hardwood and stuck it up in the B pillar on the inside of the cab. I took the plug out of the shoulder belt bolt hole and took a 1/4" punch and a hammer and tapped through the bolt hole on the wood to push it towards the outside of the cab. My original plan was to deflate a football and stick it up in the hole and pump it up inside the B pillar but the hole wasn't big enough to cram a ball up far enough to reach my dent so I ended up reverting to the wood and hammer method.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Also another slight development in the game plan, I am doing a v8 and 700r4 conversion on this old girl. I found a period correct 327 with all of the factory accessories thanks to Rusbuilt and I have listed the old 250 and 3 speed on the parts forum. A slight variance from original but way more power and drivability which is the whole point. I want to be able to drive this thing and enjoy it when she is done and I know with the inline 6 and 3 speed she would end up sitting there or getting sold to someone who would LS it or do a v8 swap. Wasn't it Sammy Hagar who said "I can't Drive 55"?? Should be cool and look fairly correct. Stay tuned :smoke:

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Graham, missed this one somehow. Are you coming to Good-guys show in Raleigh this month?

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Heck yeah! Love the 327/700r4 idea.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Hey Anthony, I will not be a Good Guys this year unfortunately. I will be at the Rod Run later this month and then the power tour deal at my Dad's in June.
Yea I'm pretty excited. I think it'll look right at home in there. I am hoping to get back to work on this girl this week, now that the orange truck is in a good place I can focus on Pearl again. Finishing the inner rocker and drivers door are first in order

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Where is the Rod Run going to be?

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Pigeon Forge weekend of the 21st

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Slow and steady, got the inners fit and tacked in last night

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Rocker looks great. My '68 GMC needs almost the exact same metal replaced on driver rocker.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Drive her on up the mountain, we can knock it out in a weekend!

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

May have to do just that! I need you to show some of your skills. Especially since we're working on identical trucks. :metal:

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

I’m at a standstill on the cab currently waiting on some tools to help prep the floor for paint and kill all rust. While waiting on that to come together I started on the tailgate patch. Sucker was rusty but luckily the bottom lip is solid

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Can’t figure out what caused all of the rust :lol:

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Got everything cut out and my patch panel fit. Finally let everything soak in ospho to kill the rust on the inside

Pretty cool the patch panel still has factory black primer on the backside

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Great build! I love seeing metal work on these old trucks; somebody has to save them!!
Well done!!!! Mike

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Thank you sir!

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Just realized I never documented my rust discovery on my cab floor so here it goes:
While tying in my DS inner rocker patch panel I was having a hell of a time finding good metal at the front drivers floor board, I took a wire brush to the entire floor pan and discovered that the old bed liner that was sprayed on the floorboard years ago was holding moisture and generating rust. Luckily the only rust that ate through was at the drivers feet but the rest of the cab had heavy surface rust. First thing I did was get some aircraft stripper and get all of the paint off, then I took my DA to it which helped some but not really cleaning out the putting, now I’ve been treating with ospho and wire brushes but I think I’m gonna have to go to naval jelly to really kill it. It’s been a pita but I’m glad I discovered it before the truck was going back together.
Game plan once all rust is gone, I’m gonna cut out the entire drivers side foot board area and replace with a patch panel. Once all metal is good and rust is gone we will get the por-15 treatment top and bottom and then new SEM bedliner top and bottom to seal everything up once and for all
:metal:

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Slow progress on the tailgate. Soaked the inside with naval jelly, I think it needs another treatment before I will feel really good about closing it back up. Also started spot welding the pin holes on the front face. It’s a lot of tedious work but should look good once complete.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Cool truck. I’m late but I like what I see.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

My project ADHD continues. Picked up my heads and crank from the machine shop today for this girl, hope to have the rest in a couple weeks to start assembly on the 327. Also got the straight six ripped out and sold so I can prep my firewall and get ready to make some progress :metal:

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Good work on the tail gate!!! I have a couple of tailgates that are just push in, dented. I plan to "disassemble" in a similar manner. I plan to leave the top and bottoms attached to the outer part of shell. straighten and repair outer and inner while apart, weld back together....

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Heck yeah, Andrew! That’s some good work on that gate. What all are you doing to the 327? I’ve got a 68 large journal that I’m planning to run in one of my trucks in the future.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Thanks man, the 327 started out as a head build but has quickly grown into more. So far I had the heads resurfaced, new stainless valves put in, hardened seats, z28 valve springs, cleaned out the valve guides, and new seals. The crank was polished and cleaned up. Had a little ware on the cylinder walls so I ended up boring 30 over with new pistons and possibly new connecting rods depending on resizing needs. It’s essentially a complete rebuild now, I could have ran it without all of the bottom end work but I wanted a reliable setup that will last for years to come so here we are

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

If there aren’t pics, it didn’t happen.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Here ya go

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did they charge for the head work? Mine needs the same treatment.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

$700 and they bought all of the parts.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

A little more progress on the cab while I wait on the engine builder.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

I wasn’t planning on making this a frame off project but I wanted to raptor line the bottom of my cab floor so off the cab went haha. I rolled everything outside for a good pressure wash and spot sand blast to kill some little rust spots on the firewall. Red primer is to seal blasted areas until it’s time to prime and paint the entire firewall.

I also decided to pop the spot welds on the cowl vents to check for crud and rust. Sure enough, glad I made that move. Everything is sealed up with por now and welded back together.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

A little more por-15

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

And finally, test fitting the outer rocker. Was hoping it would fit great and go on with a few spot welds. Unfortunately I was in 1/8” at the front and 1/4” at the rear so I split the entire piece and added some material to get it to match my door and cab corner.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Door fit after modifying the rocker

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Finally tipped the cab back, started on the floor patch panel, and soaked everything in ospho to kill what little surface rust is down there. I was shocked to see this truck never had undercoating installed from the factory. I will be cleaning everything really well, applying por-15, and spraying color matched raptor liner to the entire underside of this thing to keep it solid for another 50 years.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Nice work, Andrew!

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

A little behind on updating this thread. I did finally finish the floor board patches and sheet metal work on the cab. The floor patch panel that I was planning to use fit like garbage so my good friend Robbie Purser hooked me up with an og patch panel

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

Once that was behind me I was able to spray the color match raptor liner. I took a fender to the local paint store and they scanned it for me and gave me a quart of color matched single stage paint. I will say the raptor liner sprays super nice, I will definitely be using this stuff again.

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

A couple more

Re: 1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl
 

And finally, some progress on assembling the 327. On the lookout for a 700r now.