Bowtie468's Extreme '68 BuildPage
 

I finally decided to take the time and put something together on the '68 buildup. This truck was purchased in 2002 as a clean one owner truck. It sat for a couple of years until a shop was constructed and the teardown began.

The problem with a lengthy build is that before the project was even close to completion, i had changed my mind countless times on how the final product would look. This really came to a head about a year ago when the truck sitting in my shop looked nothing like the visions that were running through my mind. So began the process of selling parts and buying the "cool stuff" !!

Here's a few pics of how the truck looked when the disassembly first began, along with the first time the rolling chassis was built, and with the first set of wheels that were purchased for the project.

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Now, here's where things start changing !;) My plans were always to have a black truck. It's still going to be black, but the sheetmetal underneath will be given the works. At present time, the cab is about 95% ready for the final wetsanding before paint. Here's a pic of the cab when i dropped it off. I had already replaced the rocker panels and cab corners, along with smoothing the dash after removing the dash pad, but it still needed a few more corrections before calling it good ! I had also sprayed the interior, but it will also be redone !

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What's the size on those rear wheels?

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Those were 15X10's wearing 345/55 drag radials. Backspacing was 4.5 " They have been replaced with much larger rolling stock.:chevy:

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Cab and frame look great. Looking forward to more pictures. How did you smooth the dash? Did you fill the holes under the dashpad or something more?

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Alot has been done to the cab since i dropped it off. The first thing that was tackled was straightning the area below the back glass. This is a common problem with these cabs as they tend to bow in in this area. It's even more noticeable when running the cab divider trim. The inside panel had to be cut away to gain access to the back wall. Then hammer and dolly work could begin. Here it is afterwards sitting in DP90 epoxy.

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Dash was fiberglassed from the backside. I think i have a close up of it somewhere. I'll track it down and post it !:chevy:

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Here they are ! I decided to make a bowtie out of the center hole. Not exactly sure how i'll finish it, yet !

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Welded up the factory a/c control panel to make way for the Vintage Air Gen II controller.

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I'll get away from the body for a while and show what changes have taken place on the chassis. Factory upper/lower control arms and drop springs were tossed in favor of ART StrongArms with bags. 4 wheels disc were added as well as larger rolling stock. New wheels are Billet Specialties" Bullets". Fronts are 18x8 and rears are 20x12's. Tires are M/T Sportsman S/R radials. Here's the rolling chassis as of a few weeks ago before yet another tire change.

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I like the wheel upgrade! Sweet! I think I'm settled with 12" wide rears now...I just love the deep lip and i'll be modifying my bedfloor so might as well widen some wheel tubs ;)

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Thanks for the dash pic. Looks good. You could put some plexi behind there and a little LED and have it light up.

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few more...

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Also, i didn't want the truck disabled in the event of an air system failure. Designed and fabbed up these stops, which presently bolt in. I'll eventually weld them to the upper bag plates and adding a teflon button to the lower arms to keep them from getting scratched.

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liking the rear tire combo, whats the info on those?

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Rear combo consists of 20x12 wheels with 4.0" backspacing and 29x15.00R20 S/R's:chevy:

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nice work

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:)

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A couple weeks back, i decided that i really wanted to fill up the rear wheel well. Although the 29" tall tires looked nice in there, i really wanted a little taller tire. Here are the new 31 " S/R's ! 31x16.00R20 to be exact. I'm happy with the way the new tires look !
BTW... I'll be listing my 29" S/R's in the parts section pretty soon. They are brand new tires and have only been mounted on the wheels.

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WOW!! nice work. That is going to be a sick truck. Suscribed.

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Another modification that i wanted was the addition of a 3rd brake light to the back of the cab. After looking at various units, i finally settled on the 16" Hot Slot from Watson's Streetworks. Because of the size of the light, the inner panel had to be cut out to get it mounted in place. It's pretty unnoticeable when it's off, but when you hit the brakes, it's impossible not to notice it ! In the last picture, you can see the acrylic lens protruding past the surface of the sheet metal. This lens was blocked down to match the contour of the cab panel, but not so much as to make it flush with the panel. It actually needs to wind up flush with the basecoat, which wasnt on yet. And let me stress that they dont sand too easily ! :) This was a bit tricky as you dont want to pile on basecoat to make it flush. A little more work than i thought, but the end result was well worth it !!:chevy:

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Now that i look back at the order in which i uploaded the photos, it may appear a little confusing because it changes back and forth from epoxy to build primer. Any photo of the lenses in place while the cab was in epoxy, was merely a mock up and not a final mounting.

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very cool!

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Okay, here are the finished photo's of the brake light install. I really wanted the lens "buried" in the clearcoat. This is 3 coats if i remember correctly. When the rest of the cab is sprayed in black base, it will be blended into this area, then everything gets cleared again. :chevy:

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GREAT work!!!! I really like that!

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love it! i have 31x18.5 15 on the back of my pickup and they do look nice stuffed up in there

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nice build

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is the chevy emblem on the dash going to be lit also ??

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I've thought of a thousand ways to finish that bowtie, but i have yet to make a final decision on it. I think i'd prefer for it to blend with the surroundings and not really scream "look at me". I dont have a pic to show, but one thing i did was roll a piece of sheetmetal to tightly fit the contour of the dash directly behind it, then painted the same as the dash. When in place it looks like the bowtie was milled into the dash.

If anyone would like to offer suggestions on it, fire away !!:chevy:

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Sweet build! How much would you charge to make a couple extra stops? :D

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Lot of nice things you've done there. I really like the latest wheel and tire combo.

What headers are you running?

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Thanks ! Marq

The headers are Hooker #2455 with 2" tubes. These are early Chevelle headers and they fit great. One tube comes real close to the lower control arm on the driver side, since adding the tubular arms. Factory lowers had plenty of clearance.

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PM sent, Rob !:chevy:

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Thanks for the header info Chris.

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Maybe I missed it, but what size of wheel and tire (brand) are you running in the front?

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Rob, the front combo consists of 18x8 BS Bullets with 26x10x18 M/T Sportsman S/R's. Backspacing is 5.5 inches.:chevy:

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Thanks! I can't make up my mind between the 28 x 8's or the 26 x 8's for the front... But you have convinced me to go with the 31 in the back...:D.

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I really like that brake light [and the rest of the project] - hell of a nice job so far.

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Rob, i pondered that same question over and over. If you check out Eric D's " Silver Bullet " build page in this section, you can get a real good look at 26" Sportsman S/R's on the front, from a lot of different angles .:chevy:

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VERY nice Chris! I've been waiting to see it together for a long time. I knew that it would be nice, but I never imagined it being THAT awesome.