ThreeQuarter's 1968 C10 Build Thread

[ThreeQuarter]

I've been on the board for 20 years now and haven't ever started a build thread. It just seemed like it wouldn’t be time well spent for me when I have a project I could be working on. I got my project in 2013 and it’s almost finished now, so this will be a retrospective build thread. I'll go through my old pics and do my best to step through it.

My objective has always been to restore it back into usable condition and replicate the experience of having a brand new 1968 Chevy pickup. Regardless of all the advances made in automotive technology since 1968, I want know what it was like to have one back then. That's where I want to start with this project, and maybe after I drive it awhile I will upgrade some things to make for a better driving experience. That being said, it won't be a concours show vehicle and I will be making some upgrades, especially ones that can be out-of-sight. And radials.

[ThreeQuarter]

First, the back story:
When I was in college in the nineties at Texas A&M (WHOOP!) I got to know an already-retired animal science professor after I did some odd jobs around his house. I ended up checking on him periodically and helping him maintain his house and his old 1968 Chevy pickup that he bought new from a local dealer. I also got to listen to his stories about growing up in Kentucky, moving to Idaho and back to Kentucky, WWII, and college student (Corps of Cadets) pranks over the years.

The '68 was his daily driver and everyone in town knew him by that pickup. Even though it never did much hauling or towing, this C10 did not have the easiest life. Its parking spot was under a tree. The owner's office was less than a mile away from his house, so I imagine there were not a lot of miles put on it at full operating temp. By the time I started working on the pickup, it was on its third engine and the firewall and roof gutter were swiss cheese. He had it repainted twice, but there was minimal work done to the rotted areas. Rain would soak the driver's feet, so one of my jobs was to try to stem the flow of water inside the cab. At the time I had no shop, few tools, and even fewer bodywork skills. I cut out the rot in the cowl and used aluminum flashing with body seam sealer to shed water away from the passenger compartment. Fortunately this is an area that isn't visible. He was very appreciative and it did the trick until he reached an the age when he couldn't drive it anymore.

Fast forward a few years and I was living in Iowa. I still checked on my old friend when I visited College Station. His wife passed away in 2010 and he had no surviving children. He told me once that I was in his will for the pickup. I just responded that I hoped he would not make it happen anytime soon. However, time caught up with him and I got a call in 2013 from his caretaker. "We all know you're in the will for that pickup, and he doesn't need to be driving anymore. Come get it." It was a hard day to take that pickup away from him, especially when he no longer recognized who I was. I promised him I would bring it back when I was done "working on it." A year later he passed away.

Fortunately I was at a point where I was able to afford a full resto project. I built a shop addition to our house and started the teardown in 2017. So starts the resto...

[ThreeQuarter]

I'll start with a couple of pics I got from his family after the funeral.

- One from 1969 when he was showing it off to his wife's brother and the BIL's wife.

- The other from the eighties with his niece and her kids.

[ThreeQuarter]

A couple of pics I took when I had it at my house, doing some brake work in 2002. Still looked pretty good, had some new-ish paint at that point.

[ThreeQuarter]

When I picked it up in 2013, I could not store it on my property and so I left it in one of my dad's hay barns for a few years. I brought it to Iowa in 2016 and started the teardown in 2017.

[ThreeQuarter]

Here's the glovebox sticker. It was a pretty nice pickup for its day: a Custom with AC, a 327, and a sway bar. I wish I knew the story about how he ended up with this one: Did he order it, or buy it from dealer stock? He drove past one dealer to a different one in a nearby small town to get it, so I'm thinking there's a story in there that I don't know.

[68Gold/white]

Cool!
Ben, what type of paint was used? Doesn’t look like base coat/clear coat...

Job very well done on the exhaust, especially where the pass side pipe joins the driver side. Those are usually made into a straight “T” junction, with no angle o the pass side end of pipe.

I worked at an independent auto parts store from1985-1998. Every time I looked up front shoes for a 67-70 C10, there was always an option for heavy duty brakes. I never found anyone with the heavy duty option...until shortly before I quit working there! A friend came in needing front shoes for his 69.....Suburban....the suburbans apparently ALL use the heavier duty front spindles/shoes/drums. Not knowing how available new
Front suburban drums and shoes are these days, it might be worth investigating for your O. E. Pickup vs. some day going disc ( even though 6 lug disc setups are made).

I can tell you that the 11X2 front brake shoes are inadequate for today’s driving. But will work for an occasional drive, here and there. Are you planning use it R12 refrigerant?

I wish I had saved what was left of my 68 hubcaps!

What are those replacement rear coil springs? Your original looked fine.
Thanks
Jeff

[ThreeQuarter]

Thanks and good to hear from you, Gary!

Jeff, it is base/clear. And that’s a good idea about looking into the heavier burb drum brakes. Would have been good to do that when I was doing the resto, as a way to get better brakes and keep the factory wheels. If I change anything now I’ll probably just bite off the whole upgrade to discs.

I haven’t answered the refrigerant question yet. Your advice?

I have a stack of 1968 P03 hubcaps but they all look terrible. I think for now these Wheel Vintiques will have to do.

The new rear coils are from Detroit Eaton Spring (as are the fronts). The tight (soft) portion of the old rear coils were collapsed when the bed was sitting on it, so I only got the heavy spring action when I hit a bump. I used to have pics showing the difference in uncompressed height between the old & new, but I can’t find it. I only got the heavy rear spring because that’s what this pickup was originally equipped with, but I could see going softer someday.

[68Gold/white]

I like the hubcaps you now have, also! The white walls look appropriate, also!!!

Refrigerant??? Some of my thought is what people/equipment do you have available to you, and at what price??? I have certification for R12, R134, and the new R1234whatever it is...If you were near me, the labor would be free, for the machine use...I have a R134 machine at my work, I help out some folks...One of the most importatnt things to making an AC system work properly is having the correct amount of refrigerant in the system.
I have some R12, would like to put it in my 67 and 68, but have no machine to do that with, and those are a ways away, time wise from getting close to doing that...

R134 will work in old systems. Every vehicle is different when it comes to the efficiency of how cool the air can be. A newer R134 condenser helps a lot, I've read...

R134 might be your easiest solution. I've also read that the Vintage Air systems, REALLY do a great job of cooling, compared to O.E. It might be something you want to "break from the mold" of staying original 1968, although.......I'm wanting to try the O.E. AC route on my 67 and 68, at least first...

If/when you change brake stuff, contact me, before. I have lots of ideas about that stuff. I am planning O.E. 71,72 disc on my 67 and 72, and manual master cyl!

[cj847]

Really beautiful truck.

On the A/C. If you have ALL of the original parts, AND you know where they attach (ie did you disassemble it?), AND it was working when disassembled, I would hesitate to try to use the original A/C parts.

I would definitely recommend R134A. I think it requires a new expansion valve if used with the original A/C unit. Also, although it won't be "original" I would opt for a new condenser and modern compressor.

My truck came with factory A/C. But it was missing the condenser and compressor and hoses. It would have cost me $800-$1000 to hook it back up. I went with a vintage air unit which ultimately cost me about $1800 all in. I am glad I did as I learned a lot about other missing and broken parts of the original A/C that would have run the cost to over $1200.

[1971Stepside]

Just saw this build for the first time. Wow! Great job saving her. Lots of rust there in the beginning. Looks amazing now.

[ThreeQuarter]

Jeff and cj, I'll keep that mind when I start to work on AC. I'm pausing spending money on the '68 for awhile, but I hope I'll be able to install AC sometime this summer. My plan is to put factory AC in, or something that looks like it. The system I took off was a factory system, but a lot of those parts are not worth re-using. I bought an almost-complete '71 AC system from a member in NY and it looks like new, so I'm expecting to use the best parts of that system combined with my old one. At any rate, it's not something I'm going to be giving any attention to for awhile.

[mr.mud1]

a beautiful truck you've built and a great honor to your old friend.i have a 67 impala wagon,and like you wanted it to look like it did when it was new,now i'm hoping to do the same with the latest truck i've bought,a 72 cheyenne super 3/4 ton big block truck but it's in Utah til whenever the covid mess calms down and i can go get it.can't wait to get her home.all the best.Greg

[kjolivier]

Interesting that your truck has one of the custom options not both, but then has the side trim as separate option. I didn't know that was possible.

[Woodnears]

Beautiful truck! Keep up the great work.

[68Gold/white]

Ben, I hope you all are doing well!!!

Did you get those original hubcaps, when you got the pickup???

[ThreeQuarter]

Hey Jeff, I got three very aged original hubcaps with the pickup. I’ve bought a couple more since then in similar condition. I found a guy who can probably restore them but he says it’s a lot of work and very pricey. I’m saving that project for someday when I have money to burn. In the meantime I keep hoping someone will start making some repops.

[ThreeQuarter]

Got my rear bumper letters painted, so now they are back to their original red color. I love the original-ness of it, even if the paint is much nicer than the original coat that was on it.

[68Gold/white]

Ben, Look'n Good in the Iowa neighborhood!!!

Your hubcaps were the small, silver painted ones??? Not the Chrome ones??? )Mine had chrome, threw them away looong time ago...duh!!!
I will be keeping an eye out for some!!!

[ThreeQuarter]

Thanks, Jeff. My caps were the small chrome ones that came on a Custom, although 50 years in the Texas sun made them look as dull as a silver painted cap that came on a base trim level.

[raggedjim]

Very nice, 533 is my favorite combo.

If you are interested I'm pretty sure I have the correct color seat belts for this truck. If you are interested let me know and I'll dig them out and take a picture.

Good luck, Rg

[ThreeQuarter]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

Very nice, 533 is my favorite combo.

If you are interested I'm pretty sure I have the correct color seat belts for this truck. If you are interested let me know and I'll dig them out and take a picture.

Good luck, Rg

Thanks so much, raggedjim. I wish I could find the right color in a set of 3pt belts. I ended up settling for a set of turquoise from seatbeltplanet.com. Their color isn’t spot-on but it was the closest I could get. I’ll be installing them now that I got my carpet delivered today from ACC.

[68Gold/white]

Ben, have been cutting any wheat in Oklahoma or Texas?

[ThreeQuarter]

Hi Jeff, I went as far as Wichita last week and saw a bunch has been cut, but there are still some fields ready and waiting for the combines to show up. But I’m not involved in that anymore.

[ThreeQuarter]

Got my ACC carpet installed last weekend. It took three tries for ACC to send the right carpet (low hump) but they took care of all the returns & shipping. The correct carpet still didn’t fit as well as I hoped and I trimmed some off the passenger’s side to make the sill plate fit. Now the cab is much quieter with carpet. Also installed my turquoise seatbelts from seatbeltplanet.com. They’re a little too bright for this aqua cab. Guess I’ll keep them, but if I had to do it over I’d get black webbing instead.