1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

1968 C40 w/ 12' flatbed turned into long bed 4WD pickup
I'm hoping to match front fender flares on bed. Stretch cab or make 4 door cab.
I picked this up last year, so some work is done, I will make several posts to catch this up to date

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Picked up Last year 80Kmiles 250 strait 6

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

appeared solid except for some rust in floors in the footwells and along the rocker seal area.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I was looking for a parts truck to snag some front fenders. I found one I wanted, but was a little too much to bite off for a parts truck.
72 C60 Bucket truck they used for setting telephone poles in the mountains. It had the Napco 4WD package, a 427 and had the wider fender flares, but it had a lot of rust too.
I wanted it for the Napco, but it was really heavy duty. 11K lb front springs and 28K lb rear. The price also put it a a little over the top for me. He sold it for 5K, but it was an interesting truck.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Still searching, I found one I liked that was in decent shape. My buddy Dave pulled out his Truck and we hauled it home. Its a 72 C50 Fuel truck with an older fuel tank on it. was kind of a cool looking tank, but I couldn't find a use for it. Found a guy that is going to use it to store diesel. He took the parts I didnt need. Frame, axles, Tank, pumps, hoses. All I really was looking for was the fenders, but kept the whole cab & engine, a running 350.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

So, back to the BlueMule. I got it into the garage, and picked up a couple of truck beds from Facebook Marketplace. First one looked nice, but ended up having a lot of bondo. Since I was going to be doing a lot of cutting and welding on it, I wanted to find one with better metal. The 2nd was a little rough, but mostly where I was going to be cutting material out, and it had Zero bondo on it.
I pulled the wood off of the flat bed, which was rotted, and sold the bed frame. I then placed the pickup bed on the frame and lined it up over the axle and put some temporary spacers under it to line it up to the cab lines. I didn't mount it solid since I hadn't decided on the frame shortening method yet.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

About the same time as I got the beds, I Picked up a tall deck 427 as a possible builder for it. Also took the cab and engine off of the Tank truck to scavenge the fenders. Set the rest aside as parts for future use.
I took the Tank truck fenders and cut out the wheel openings to patch into the bed wheel openings. Notice the fancy duct tape holding the extension on. Yep.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Jumped right in and started cutting. I wish Id taken more pics here, but only have the cutout then the patched in flare. The last 2 are welding the wheel well back to the factory inner panel.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Looks like your plan is coming along nicely. The tank body would be nice on another classic truck

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Coming along nicely. Any more price or info on that napco?

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I thought it was a cool looking tanker too, just couldn't figure what I would do with it.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

It was a cool truck, ran great too. I updated the post above. He sold it, I think he got 5K.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Picked up some emblems and hood vents off of Facebook.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Tried to do some work with the stud puller. The one next to the light worked pretty well. the one near the bottom edge ripped a little before I got it all the way out. Welded back up ok though.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I spent some time on the passenger bed side. 2nd pic shows the rear of the wheelhouse area. I'm leaving a little extra material to see if I can attach it to the bed structure. It will create a natural mud flap of sorts. Last pic is another parts donor that I picked up. It an 87, but it has a 1996 454, 4L80e. The 4WD is a dual stick NP205 with a Dana 60 front and 14bolt rear. I pulled off the Peterbilt sleeper and the cab and sold those as they wont be needed for this project.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

have been working on some patch panels, trying to clean up some rusted areas. This is one at the passenger front fender. I used part of the bedside that I cut out for the flare insertion in the bed for the main body line, and part of the wheelhouse that was left over for the curved area. Rust mort was used to convert the rust in the inner panel area as best that I could, and covered with some enamel primer called rusty metal primer

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

more work on the patch panel.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Love these trucks. I have a GMC topkick 4x4 chassis waiting for when I find some
Nice tin to use.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

This is a cool project. It'll be cool to watch the progress.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I have found that I didn't take a lot of pictures during some of the work, and a ton of pictures during others. I installed that patch into the fender. I took pics of the patch creation but not the welding or body work. I also missed out on the cleanup under the patch. I treated inner panel with rust mort, and then a rust resistant primer. I followed that up with a cavity wax to hopefully seal off any areas I might have missed.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

since I ended up with 2 full cab and front ends, I started checking for which pieces are in better shape. The blue cab floor and both kick panels are rusted out pretty bad. The grey cab was in a little better shape. It has some rust in the rear drivers side rocker area, and some in the inner rocker area of the footwells, but overall the floor was in better shape than the blue cab. The blue cab also has a beat up back panel from hauling things on the flat bed over the years.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I put the grey cab on a rolling cart, but it was a little unsteady. My friend Dave brought over his cab body cart, and I moved the cab over to that. It has a pretty ingenious idea. The cab mounts the cart at the stock mounting locations, and then the cab can be rolled around as needed. If you need to work on the topside, there are two "legs" that can slide into any of the four sides of the cart. You can then roll the cart and cab either 45 or 90 degrees onto the legs.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

If I ever decide to take on one of these as a project, I'd be inclined to put a turbo diesel in it. Like maybe a 4bt

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

After tossing around a lot of ideas, I want to attempt to do something a little different. I've seen 4 doors and extended cabs. With the size of this truck I think it will look good with the cab a little longer. This will means I'm going to be stretching the cab, and the doors by six inches. I'll start by keeping the roof off of the extra cab. I like the tear drop lights better than the little rounded ones on the newer cab. Then I'll cut some sections out of the cab to use in the stretch area. (some rusted areas will have to be replaced by extra metal)

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

First I put in a lot of support in the cab to keep its shape, but I left space between front and back sections so that I can separate them. I used all-thread at all 4 corners with locknuts on both ends to control movement. I placed the brackets exactly 2" apart and welded them to the body in order to ensure when I moved the sections apart that I was moving them evenly, and I could fix it in place with the lock nuts when I was in correct position. I made my cut on the roof thru both panels about 3 inches in front of center. I then trimmed the outer panel back 3 inches to center, leaving the inner panel cut out in the open, On the donor roof, I left it long so I could patch in wherever I needed to. The floor was cut just in front of the seat mounts. Its pretty flat there, so I can use flat sheet metal where donor pieces are rusty.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Here is the cab pulled to the stretch distance, locked into place at all 4 corners. Then tacking sections into place. Some tapering will need to be done on the roof inner panels, as the roof tapers in toward the front.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I missed taking pictures during a stretch while I was welding the stretch sections. It didn't seem to be progressing, while doing that, but now looking back, I wish I had some documentation on it. During that time, I added strengthening angle iron between the front and rear sections, finished welding in the stretched section in the floor and inner rockers. For the outer rocker, I welded a couple of rusty sections over the gaps temporarily to add rigidity since I would be replacing them with new metal. The roof inner panel was welded up and I left the all-thread bolted into place. I then put the cab back on the cart and sent it off to have the entire thing wet blasted. It came back all clean.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I put a coat of epoxy primer on the cab everywhere I could reach. Everywhere I couldn't, I used cavity wax on a long spray nozzle.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I cleaned up the roof as best I could, and fit the roof front panel from the blue cab into place. I tried my new flange tool on the roof panel, to fit it under the rear roof panel and clamped it into place. I used some Cleco fasteners to fasten the 2 panels together. I tacked it into place, but the panels are pulling down at the seam, so I need to figure that out before I finish welding it down.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

You really decided to get after it! The cab is coming together nicely.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I'm still unsure about how to get the roof the way I want it before I finish welding it up. I need to think on that for a while, so I switched over to placing the engine/trans/T-case into the frame. I used the 250 engine perches, and the big block engine mounts were able to bolt right up. I would just need to make a transmission mount crossmember. I set in a temporary crossmember so the engine would set at 4 degrees down in back.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I set the front of the old cab onto the frame, but the firewall hits the drivers side valve cover. First pic is showing the cab mount bolt under drivers side needing to move forward about 3 inches. (Passenger bolt is in correct placement) I slid the engine as far forward as I felt comfortable with the fan to radiator clearance. I can move it forward about 1.5". second pic shows where I cut the floor out of my old cab where it hits, and placed the cab down.

Once I had the cab down, I bolted a fender on, and the core support, and placed the radiator in to check clearance. Once I was comfortable, I cut the rivets out of the perches, removed them, modified them to move forward 1.5 inches, and then got some grade 8 hardware to reinstall. Last 2 pictures are engine bolted in on modified perches with fan and header clearance.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

First picture shows the section I cut out of the old cab to clear the valve cover, and the gap where it would need to sit to have clearance. it needs to move about an inch and 1/2. The last 3 pictures show the stretched cab where I moved the pedal section back 2" into the cab. I also leaned the bottom further in to gain additional clearance.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

With the roof tacked into place, and the inner rockers all finished up, I used sections of new rockers from classic industries along with some original sections to stretch the outer rockers. I then bolted them into place in the front, and used a self tapper to hold the back and underside in place until I am ready to weld them in. I want to have the doors in place in order to check the gaps before welding them in. I then removed the inner support structure I had used, and cleaned up the welds a little. I also made sure the transmission tunnel cover fits and could be bolted in.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I started looking at the doors to start planning the door stretch. I found that both drivers doors have interesting upper hinges. The blue cab had an old church key used as a shim. The grey door the hinge had only 2 bolts. The factory paint was undisturbed on the third hole, so it was that way from the factory. Not sure if that contributed to it, but the hinge was ripped loose and it tilted the inner threaded plate bracket in the door.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I used some tips from another member on here, and built myself some door skin removal pliers.
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...86#post5868686
Thanks for the tips Robert

I was able to use these for most of the vertical hems on the doors after Id used a spot weld cutter on the welds, but the bottom of the door, the angle is too tight for these pliers, and I couldn't get to the welds with the cutters. I was able to use a dremel to thin the welds out, and a flat blade screwdriver bent back a little over 90 degrees to pry the hem apart. Once I got it started under the skin, I'd pry it up a little bit, move the driver, pry it a little bit, move the driver until Id walked it the length of the door.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

my thought is to pull skins off both doors in order to cut both the inner framework, and outer door skins to the desired size. Then when I have welded the inner panels together I can attempt to do my best to planish the seam. After that, I will attempt to do the same with the door skins. Hopefully it will all work out like it is in my head.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Mike, cool build!

I am looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Thanks, me too. It all makes sense in my head, its just whether or not I have the skills to do some of it. :burnout:

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Well it is one of those things, you give it a shot, if you fail, try again, and again and again.

You know Try, cuss, repeat! :metal::lol::waah: