1968 redo
 

Here is my 1968 230 or 250 6 cyl, 3 speed short shaft trans, 373 posi rearend. Grandpa signed her over to me in 93. He bought her brand new. Engine and trans are exchanges, I broke timing gear in 93 and found out head was cracked, I have a 350 that I rebuilt 13 years ago that has been sitting covered up on an engine stand and thought it would be worth the upgrade. The truck sat in the woods since 95 with a camper shell, thanks for that the bed is in nice shape. Dad, 4th generation Max, and I hauled her in to dads shop 2 weeks ago. Looking at converting to auto, ps and pb as well. I will try some photos.
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Re: 1968 redo
 

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Got her loaded up
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Cleaned the sap off a spot on the front of fender and buffed it out to see if the original paint would shine. I was surprised

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We got the camper shell off, and pushed it out to pressure wash. The original title is in the glove box from 1968, Not a single chip in any of the glass. Here is what she looks like.

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All the body rust in photos is minimal. The only bad rust was passenger fender well, passenger rocker, and bottom passenger door. Thats Dad in the pics. He and I fixed up a 1967 short wheel base chevy custom cab when I was in high school, my little brother and I drove the wheels off of it. It originally had a 283 with power glide and dad eventually dropped a 327 and turbo 350 in it that came out of a 69 caprice. Here is the bummer, we had a perfect set of buddy bucket seats we took out of it replacing them with a seat out of a buick electra 225. They were electric with an armwrest. We thought that was pretty slick back then. We wish we knew where that buddy bucket set ended up.

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I am not sure if I am going to upgrade to the 350 and auto, but I am leaning that way. This is a family heirloom but the motor and trans are not original. Everyone that has commented has said go with the 350 so far. Will I need a new column? Someone told me I could use the 3 on the tree column and add the indicator parts to it, if so is this difficult.?

Re: 1968 redo
 

That sure is a nice gift from your grandpa I'm sure you will look after it.

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Cool I'm building a 68 shorty too keep it up
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Re: 1968 redo
 

We took the front cap off today, Rust under battery, need a new bottom tray for battery box and probably a new left fender well. There is some writing on the firewall, I assume made by someone on the assembly line, does this number mean anything???? Also, can anyone tell me what goes in the bracket on the r fender well in this last pic.
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very cool truck! thats cool that the paint is coming back to life like it is! keep up the pics!

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Very cool! Nice truck and cool story. Yes, the firewall writing looks factory. On the fenderwell there is a piece that's like angle iron that bolts there. It goes around the steering shaft.

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There is a bracket on top of the inner fender in the above picture. Dad said it was meant to hold and extra bottle of washer fluid. Is this factory?

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Amazing how the old chevy paint just shines right up..

J.

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I know, I wish it did not have so many and scratches or I would just buff it out. Talk about original.

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very nice im building a 68 8' steper red on red just put in a 400 w/vortec heads and realized newer exaust wont work with older mtr mounts

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nice truck, cant wait to see what you do with it !!

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Thanks. That is good information on the vortec. I am changing to a 350, I don't see any value in the straight 6 since it is not original.

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Got cowl, grill and hood painted original color. Inner fenders painted. I need a passenger front fender!!!
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Re: 1968 redo
 

this truck is so beautfiul

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Im going to be putting a CPP-Classic Performance Products Automatic Tilt Column in mine but you can get the tilt column without shift for a floor shifter as well and either configuration of the CPP column only costs $325 so its a hell of a deal, you cant find one new that costs less. The raw metal column costs even less and you can paint it any color you want that way. Heres the link.
http://www.classicperform.com/Store2...ng-Columns.htm
They are having a 10% off sale through the 3rd so if you have the cash you might wanna grab it now and any other parts you need while you are at it.

Thats a great truck, congrats.

Re: 1968 redo
 

man thats a great story and the trucks looks super

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Front cap is painted and hanging on wall except for right front fender which I had to order repro. It will be done next. I have a set of buddy buckets that needs redone, box under middle seat is rusty. Have some rust down in firewall/vent area on driver side, got to figure out how to get to that. I have decided to leave the 250 3 speed on column. I'll be pulling motor soon, add ps, maybe pb, and hei.
I'll get some more photos up soon.

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It has been almost 10 years since my last post. I never got around to pulling the motor, but the truck is safe in my Daddy's shop. We started pulling some more stuff off and noticed the drip rail on roof is almost rusted away under the paint. I kind of lost interest because I don't know what to do. All of it will need replaced or fabricated. We will start on the straight six soon. I found a head for it. We are going to pull it and do a complete teardown. I have removed the gas tank and it was in such bad shape on the inside, I ordered a new one. I am attempting to keep it as original as possible. I have new rockers and cab corners. We will get to those later. Some rust down in the side floor vents as well. I have seen some guys brace the door opening diagonally and across the cab when they replace the cab corners. Is this necessary? Any tips are appreciated.

Re: 1968 redo
 

Welcome back.
The roof area is a common rot spot. At least there are patches for it now vs 2011.
If you are new to welding sheet metal then start with the floor/rocker repairs. It's all hidden and will be a great place to learn. If it's not pretty it won't be seen.
I braced my door opening when I did my rockers and corners. It can't hurt. There's a fair amount of structure in that area.

Re: 1968 redo
 

Subscribed!

Cool truck

Can’t wait to see more pictures

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Great project, I will be following for sure!

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Well it’s been 13 years and I am picking up where I left off. Put the truck on jack stands, pulled the brake drums and master cylinder. Got new brake shoes and cylinder on right rear today. Gonna do left rear tomorrow as well as replacing front wheel bearings, races and seals. Master cylinder will be in tomorrow with the front wheel cylinders and shoes. I was planning on taking it down to the frame, but it’s in such good shape I have reconsidered. By the way, i had to pull the hubs off the front because they are riveted to the brake drum. Does this indicate that my Grandpa never had to replace brakes on this truck? 71,000 original miles.

Re: 1968 redo
 

Riveted front drums just mean that your drums are original.
Job well, done, so far!!!
Taking something all the way down can be a bad thing, depending. Since you had a 13 year lull in your work...you understand. Fix what you can, when you can, keep it roadworthy as possible. My 68 has been apart since mid 80's, but I have all the old and new parts for it.
I like original pickups, but never see a problem with a V8 swap.
Carry on!!!

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Today, we replaced the wheel cylinder and shoes. I picked up a new master cylinder, front wheel cylinders, and bearings for the front. I'm a little disappointed that everything is made in China. I am in such a rush, I don't have time to search for parts. I wish I had planned ahead and found some NOS parts. We ground the rivets off of the drums and the hubs came loose. My Daddy turns 81 in a couple of days. Neither one of us are in great shape and this humid Arkansas heat prevents us from putting in more than a few hours each day, plus I am still working 12 hour night shifts. It's a little over an hour from my house to his. My Dad was a paint/body man in late 60s thru mid 70s until he got hired at UPS. He retired from there. He has painted the hood, grill, cowl and fenders back when we first started. They look darn good. Gonna go back Saturday to replace the front brakes, hoses, bearings, and master cylinder. Gonna pull the heater core and take it and radiator to shop next. I will probably install an aftermarket a/c unit as well. Engine, transmission, power steering addition, more paint, buddy bucket reupholstering coming as will. I'll post some pics soon.

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Appreciate that advice. We replaced front bearings. We ground the rivets off the drums. Brakes are mostly done, but found a clogged line in the mid rear and had to order that part. Gonna put it on tomorrow, then put the wheels back on so we can push it outside and pressure wash 46 years of mud and gunk on the front end.
On another note I have verified that the 250 is the original motor and it has been rebuilt one time. cylinders are 60 over. I I am minus a head since the one I had was cracked like Humpty Dumpty, my uncle found one that would fit but it does not. It’s for a 261, and is apparently in demand for some 50s model engines. I’m gonna be looking for a cylinder head after I verify this engine is indeed a good one. If it’s not, I have other options. But, like I said, I want to keep it the way grandpa had it, within reason$$$$. Brake line and power wash tomorrow!!! Stay tuned, I’ll try to post some pics of the parts we painted on the front cap, to keep this thread interesting.

P.S. May not be original, but a "numbers matching" 250.

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Brakes and bearings complete. Put wheels back on so we can pressure wash the front. Got some pics today, will post soon.

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Here is how the drum looks after grinding.

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Dont look like this is gonna work

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Very cool story about your truck. I understand about losing interest after finding something unexpected like the drip rail rust. Sounds like you've moved on to other stuff to keep the fire burning. Keep up the great work. Looking forward to more progress and pics.

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A close up of the marking on the firewall. I am practicing loading pictures.

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I got a set of buddy buckets, gonna need paint, new foam and some covers. I need one of them iron mike handles as well. I just set them in here to see what they would look like.

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Here is the next step. I know I have bounced back and forth on the engine. Initially I wanted to change to a 350. I bought one with a 4 bolt main, had the heads redone, block checked, rebuilt lower end, and left it on a stand. It needs an intake, exhaust manifold or headers, and a hei. If I did this I was gonna change to an automatic transmission, something with OD, change the column, add ps. Something turned my sentimental switch on and I decided that I would just try to keep it like may grandpa had it, for memory's sake. It's an heirloom. So, the next step is gonna be to have this 250 checked out to see if it's ok. It ran up until I broke the timing gear. It has been sitting with the head off since 1992. If it is ok, I will find an appropriate cylinder head and get it going. If not, I will look at other options, one of those being the 350/auto plan. More pressure washing/degreasing the front engine/frame. Stay tuned.

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Pictures, fantastic. :)

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A little degreaser and some more pressure washing. Took the alternator off, took some wires off solenoid. I think we will pull this motor out this weekend, clean up the fire wall and get it ready for paint.