My new project truck!

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

A few weeks ago I was driving across state with my kids, and noticed an old GMC dually flatbed truck sitting in a field on a farm. We continued on our journey, but I could NOT get that truck out of my mind the entire weekend. I have been wanting a 1967 Chevy C30 for some time, however this was an unknown year GMC, and on the return trip we drove past it again.

We came to a crossroads with a stop sign, and I turned to my kids and said, "We are going back to look at that truck!" I did a U turn and drove back to the farm. I was able to locate the owner/farmer and asked him about it. Unbelievably, It turned out to be EXACTLY the year I wanted! A 1967 GMC 3500 1-Ton! It did not run (it ran until it sat for 10 years), and he was asking $800 for it. I told him I would think about it and got his card.

Several days later I called him with a counter-offer of $400, and he countered with $600. I told him I would think about it, and was going to hang up, but he then said, "$500". We settled on it, and I drove there, paid him, and secured the title.

Days later I had it towed to my house. It took several hours to clean that cab out. It was FULL of squirrels (or possibly rats) nests, mud wasp nests, paper, farm tools, and junk. It filled up my large shop vac twice.

My son and I removed the old dilapidated seat, then resumed shop-vacuuming the cab floor. The cab floor is very rusty (as can be expected) but that will have to be somehow dealt with later. Then we unhooked the gas line, removed the gas tank, and dumped its trash-gas into a bucket. That stuff was no longer gas, and there was no rust in the tank (a big surprise).

The rodents had chewed some spark plug cables, so I replaced those. Some moron previous potential buyer had broken out the factory key switch trying to start the truck.

The next day I took out the nasty rusted idiot light gauge pod, and removed the dash pad (and found that the original factory color was light gray). Those rodents had also chewed some wires behind the gauge pod, but they were 98% intact.

I changed the oil (with a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil), and put on new battery cables (have not bought a battery yet). I also turned the crank with a socket wrench on the crank bolt, and was able to get it to move (engine is not seized).

Today I replaced the spark plugs, and repinned the gauge socket to work with my factory gauge pod that I bought and saved years ago.

Next up is to buy a battery, and get the carb rebuilt. I may replace the distributor since it is points system (I hate those). Once all of these things are done, THEN I will attempt to start it. But for now it is the "purifying" process of draining old fluids, and fixing the wiring system.

This has been FUN!!!

[Barnfind46]

Good luck with your new project!Looking forward to your progress.Can't wait to hear the details on what engine/trans and what your plans are. Don't forget we like lots of pictures!

[weq92f]

pic fa ya...

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Originally Posted by weq92f

pic fa ya...

Thanks for the fix! My Image Shack hosting service does that to all my pictures. I finally learned to enlarge them!

[mosel70]

awesome story, yer gonna have fun with this one. Did you say anything about needing a savings account for this project?! : >)

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Originally Posted by mosel70

awesome story, yer gonna have fun with this one. Did you say anything about needing a savings account for this project?! : >)

Savings account??????? What is that????????

More pictures are coming soon!

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

I think my kitten smelled the odor of tasty rodents inside the cab!

It cannot be seen in the pictures (thanks steering wheel!), but to the right of the brake pedal is some kind of protruding metal rod that looks like it was once another type pedal or something. Anyone know what it might be? I may post a picture later when I get home.

[72 tigger]

I would guess it's the throttle pedal rod

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Originally Posted by 72 tigger

I would guess it's the throttle pedal rod

Huh...I wondered where the gas pedal was. I thought these used a hinged pedal with a cable...? I have never seen one of these minus a gas pedal with a rod sticking out, so it confused me.

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Removing front lights begins...


Front parking and signal lights. Fixing wiring is a pain.



Amazing how bent the front bumper brackets are. Compare to the straight set.

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

This truck has no junction blocks! Is this normal for 67s or someone's bad wiring idea?
I had the junction blocks removed from my 68 after I had that electrical fire that started at one of the blocks and they have been replaced with fuses and fusable links.
Also, what kind of brake booster is that in the engine pic?

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by HIGHWAY BY THE SEA

Huh...I wondered where the gas pedal was. I thought these used a hinged pedal with a cable...? I have never seen one of these minus a gas pedal with a rod sticking out, so it confused me.

'67 + '68 MY used a plastic or rubber gas pedal that snapped into 2 ball studs coming out of the cab floor. Top of pedal moved a thick steel wire [~5/16''] that pivoted on the inside firewall. Other end came out of firewall, attached to long threaded rod. Threading connected to throttle arm on carb.

'71 + '72 MY [unsure when change happened] had gas pedal hanging on pivot on firewall, action inside cab, and cable going to carb coming thru firewall.
'67 GMC grille had black letters "GMC" stamped on center of grille -- usually painted white. Later models were chrome and had chromed hood letters.

[FirstOwner69]

Here are some pictures of what '68OrangeSunshine described. The first picture is the back of the accelerator pedal. The second picture shows the firewall linkage and mounted ball studs. The third picture shows the mounted accelerator pedal. The forth picture is a small block throttle rod that goes to the carb from the firewall linkage.

Here's a link to Classic Industries showing most of the parts.
https://www.classicindustries.com/sh...?q=accelerator

[raggedjim]

I think I still have some front marker lights and maybe some chrome bezels if you'e interested. They won't be perfect, but they will be cheep!

Rg

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

I think I still have some front marker lights and maybe some chrome bezels if you'e interested. They won't be perfect, but they will be cheep!

Rg

Someone on here is helping me with the markers lights, but I would like to see your bezels please! PM me!

[raggedjim]

I'll take a pic and post it.

Rg

[raggedjim]

Bezels and grill

['68OrangeSunshine]

All that being said, on my last engine rebuild, I converted to a GM '72 gas pedal and a Lokar throttle cable to overcome an L6 w/ side-mounted 4 barrel carb issue. The old way, with the throttle pushrod and _aftermarket bellcrank_, was too much of a Rube Goldberg affair, and frequently jammed, lost critical hairpin pieces, iced up and never got wide open throttle. Always at the most awkward times. Another gripe was that the OEM pedal [after about 250,000 - 300,000 daily driver miles] would pop off the outboard ballstud, fold under the throttle bail and jam the action. For a long time I ran with no gas pedal, and touched the wire bail with the ball of my foot. OK in town, but on a long drive -- Tucson to LA for instance -- I got fearsome foot, calf and knee cramps. Big wafflestomper hiking boots helped, sometimes.

But for stock applications, the '67-'68 gas pedal/throttle system works fine.

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Thanks for the gas pedal assistance gentlemen! I must add that to my ever-growing repair list!

**UPDATE**
I went through the chewed wiring and fixed what I could figure out, then installed an ignition switch that I bought from a forum member. I still do not have working lights yet, but that will be dealt with later. I even plugged in my repinned gauge pod plug into my factory gauge pod, but no illumination lights came on when I tested it. Electrical gremlins be damned!
I bought a new battery, installed that, then turned the switch. The engine turned over very strongly, so out of curiosity, I poured some gas into the carb (gas tank is still disconnected) to see if it would fire (it did not).
So I decided to stick to my original plan, pulled out the carb and sent to a friend to be rebuilt.
Next up I am installing a HEI distributor (as soon as someone comes to my house to show me step-by-step instructions), and a new fuel pump just to be on the safe side). After all of this I sure hope it fires up!
Can anyone think of anything else mechanical that I probably should do to this beast that has not started in 10 years?

[eastxbbqman]

Lookin good. You gonna keep the flatbed on it?

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Originally Posted by eastxbbqman

Lookin good. You gonna keep the flatbed on it?

Most definitely! It was kind of a selling point for me!

[AussieinNC]

Whats the radiator like?

Coolant (or water maybe)

Water pump bearing...

Clutch release ok?

Exhaust pipes (especially the tailpipe) maybe full of stored materials...

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Originally Posted by AussieinNC

Whats the radiator like?

Coolant (or water maybe)

Water pump bearing...

Clutch release ok?

Exhaust pipes (especially the tailpipe) maybe full of stored materials...

Green coolant, unknown water pump condition, clutch seems ok, not checked exhaust pipe yet!

['68OrangeSunshine]

If you want to go first class on new wiring harnesses, I recommend M+H www.wiring.com
Not cheap but vintage correct. They use the same gauges of wire, color codes, and connector types, as OEM. Each harness is hand made and signed by the fabricator. They can add in features like HEI, internally regulated alternators, etc.
USA-made.

[mattfranklin]

Looks like a fun project. Good luck on it and have fun with it!