ClusterTruck; because that’s what it is

[clay68c10]

I think it’s my turn to do a build thread. Maybe this can help someone else out, and it helps me see my progress over time.

Back in ‘89 I was a high school kid in Laramie Wy. There was an auction of a family friends homestead that was supposed to have a bunch of 03A3 Springfields and I was in the market. It turned out that every gun dealer in the area also knew and the prices were higher than I could afford.

Being young, that $500 was burning a hole in my pocket. So I bought the hammered out ranch truck instead. In hindsight, I paid too much. But that’s how it goes when you’re 17.

68 C10 long step, 292, 4 speed, 4:11. Plenty of rust and not a lot of compression

[clay68c10]

Fast forward to ‘91 and I’m off to Uncle Sam. While I’m in Navy boot camp I decided to have the truck painted a then current Geo color, burgundy red.
I was pretty happy with that. Also had a friend help me swap in a 307 SBC and the matching 3.07 rear out of a 69-70 wreck. I used the not as rusty bed from that truck also.
Time to drive it to San Diego!

[clay68c10]

Over the next 6 years, that truck went with me to both coasts. It got a few different 350 engines, a TH350 swap and a lot of use. It is what really got me into being a gear head and eventually a professional mechanic.
After I got out I went to college for a bit, and eventually WyoTech. After graduating, it was time to go work for Mercedes in Dallas.

That’s where this sweetheart tale goes south (pun intended).

In 2003 I decide to fly back to Wyoming and tow the truck back, along with my parts stash. It was time for a redo of the tired-out drivetrain and add front discs. The usual.

My dumb ass loads up the bed of the tow vehicle and the bed of the 68, and puts it on a trailer.

Bad weight distribution + cross wind = disaster.

[clay68c10]

All I can say is “Don’t tow stupid!”

If it feels squirrelly, you’re not doing it right.

Anyway, it was a hot mess. Totaled. Badly.

Fortunately, I’ve always kept receipts. I got $8k from the insurance, and bought it back for a couple hundred bucks. I was so disgusted by my stupidity that I gave it to my buddy in Casper.

I ended up buying a 68 C10 long bed factory BBC truck with buckets and AC down in TX and played around with it for a few years. That’s when I joined the board here.

At that point, I had really forgotten about my old 68. I assumed my bud was going to part it out, but he never did.

To be continued...

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

All I can say is “Don’t tow stupid!”

If it feels squirrelly, you’re not doing it right.

I can relate 100%! My plan was to take the rest of my worldly possessions back to Texas, back in 1990. Let’s just say that by the grace of God I made it, but my stuff ended up in a Pennsylvania junk yard.

That’s when I learned “Don’t tow stupid!”

[clay68c10]

Wow, you are lucky! That looks pretty bad.

[clay68c10]

In the meantime, we moved back up north to the Denver area in 2009.
The BBC truck was a great project and a nice driver, but by 2011 I had a second kid on the way and too many vehicles. I had just found a cool Cadillac that deserved a good paint job, so the truck was going to pay for that.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=442180

Of course, I sold it when the market for these trucks was pretty flat, but I did ok. The funds did get the Caddy painted.

[clay68c10]

Forward to late 2016.
My friend in Casper calls me up and asks "Hey man, do you want your old truck back? I haven't done anything with it and maybe your kids would think it's a cool project."

I had seen it numerous times at his place, but it never occurred to me to do anything with it. Part of the reason I sold that BBC truck was because I didn't think it was possible to have 2 old cars and have them both be nice.

I talked about it with the family, and the kids said it sounded like fun. My wife thought I was nuts, but she is used to that after 18 years.

My plan is to try and do this project with as low a budget as possible. I have the skills to do 90% of the work, some time, and not much $$. The kids could help out where they showed interest and it would be a long process.

I've always liked short beds, and since I'm working with rusty old junk at this point, why not cut one down? Everything I'm using is cast off parts.

Also, this will be used as a truck, so nothing too pretty. Which conveniently matches my bodywork skill level.

[clay68c10]

Now its spring 2017. We go up to Wyoming and I REALLY scope out the old truck for the first time since the wreck.

The nuked bed is off and scrapped.
One trailing arm is very bent from using as a tie point during the wreck. The other is rotted out.
The old repop right fender is trashed.
The cab roof is rotted, all that Navy time sitting at the pier.
The repop rockers are rusty from being installed over the originals back in 91/92.
The cab floor is not looking good.
The drivetrain is still as wore out as it was on '03 and now has been sitting for a really long time.
The frame may be bent.

Sounds great! Where do I sign up??

[clay68c10]

Lucky for me, my bud has some parts trucks.

I get a hammered long fleet bed and a cab with a great roof and crusty rockers for $500

Figure if I'm going to cut down a bed, it may as well be something I don't mind learning on.
The cabs on these trucks all seem to need rockers and corners, so I'll deal with that over a roof.

[clay68c10]

The bed sides are really beat, I think they'll just warp if I weld on them. Lots of old bondo over dents and rust.
Oh well, the bed floor is decent thru the middle section.
So I cut off the ends and make a new edge for the rear.
I practiced on the piece I cut off, then worked the floor.

[clay68c10]

And my little helper. Boys love hammering on anything.

[clay68c10]

Fixed the rear support with my other helper and hammered out the floor corners.

[clay68c10]

I found some short sides that were in ok shape and decided to use them instead. They need work, but not nearly as much as the long sides.

It was at this time that I noticed the bed didn't seem square to the cab, even with the frame still long thru the middle. It was also not possible to get all 8 bolts in without some major fighting. More on this later.........

[clay68c10]

If you ever have a bed off, put it on some pallets or something. Please!
Straightening out the bottoms isn't much fun. Maybe repop sides aren't such a bad thing...
But, I own these and that's that.
The first pic shows the piece that should be flat.
The second is after using my HF hydro ram to bring it back out.
Not super fun.

[clay68c10]

And a random page from a kids book about trucks. I saw this at the library the day after all the bed side work.
It's a good reminder to keep me on my build path. Like a mullet but backwards; party in the front, work in the back.

[clay68c10]

Part of the deal with the truck bed was that my bud wanted the tailgate back. That was fine with me since it was a GMC gate.

I found an actual take off tailgate, but of course it had a big dent. Seems that's the only way I'll ever afford one. I'll take it as an opportunity to learn more body work. I don’t have a great pic of it smoothed out, but it turned out fine after a lot of dent puller work.

[cornerstone]

I appreciate you showing the floor work in post 13. I’m doing the same modification to my bed and I’ve been stumped on how to handle the corner area where the post meets the floor. I didn’t realize it was possible to shrink the metal so much to make it look factory. Nice work!

[clay68c10]

Not sure if I'd call it shrinking as much as beating it into submission. I was using my highly technical piece of railroad track as a dolly and mostly hammering on or close to it. It actually stretched the metal in some areas, but the end result came out ok.

Again, I don't really know what I'm doing, but since this is old rusty junk I figured I would give it a shot. Plus it's just a truck bed floor. What's the worst that could happen, right??
I did do a more detailed thread on this, maybe it can be a bit more helpful
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=739356

[clay68c10]

About the same time I was doing the floor (summer '17), I picked up a bare 72 long frame to get the front disc parts and rear end. I lucked out and it is a 3.73.
I went thru and blasted/painted the control arms and center link. I also got all new wear parts and a set of 2.5" drop spindles and hit those with some satin black. All this is on a shelf, ready and waiting. I like having those new parts ready like that, so when I'm sick of cleaning and painting, they're just ready to bolt on.

The rear end is still on the to-do list.

I had more pics, but have changed phones since then. I do have a shot of the caster mod I did.
I drilled 2 different distances on either side of the original locator hole. I think I went 1/2" and 1". One or the other should get me close to a happy adjustment without a lot of shims. We'll see.

[clay68c10]

By fall, I decided I didn't want to leave the good (green) cab on jacks. I was a pain to work around and I was worried the kids would be playing and knock it off and get hurt.
Time to accumulate some metal and build a dolly.

It came out nice and makes it a one man job to move around.

Those fancy removable uprights for tipping came from the front part of a pickup ladder rack. I was hoping they would work.

I finally got a chance to try them out last week, and they work great.

[clay68c10]

Winter came, and typical for here there were some warm days thru nov/dec

I knew I wanted a rear tank under the bed. I also knew I wanted a side fill so I didn't have to worry about having cargo in the bed.

I got a fuel door kit secondhand, but didn't like the door it came with. So I gutted the hinge and the closing mechanism and made it work for my side marker.

In hindsight, it would have been better to use a factory hinge assembly for this. What I did will work, but the after market piece isn't the stoutest thing. If it doesn't hold up I'll redo it.

I won't box in the backside of it until I really get to test it out. That should be fun. I guess I'll need to get good with the metal brake in the meantime.

[clay68c10]

From the get go I've wanted this truck to be fun but practical. I had been debating about what to run for a transmission.
I had switched it over to a TH350 back in 94ish. That was ok, but I really like driving a stick. My 93 has a NV4500, and I like it, but the truck spread of ratios and that compound low aren't what I want in a hot rod.
I really want a fun to shift manual with overdrive. I had a friend in the Navy that had a 5.0 with a T5 and that was a fun car.
I was planning on my engine having around 350-400hp and a T5 would get expensive quick if I wasn't careful with the loud pedal.
I had saved up some money and gotten some Speedway gift cards recently so I pulled the trigger on this TKO500 when they were having their Xmas sale!

[clay68c10]

Now that my budget was shot for a while, it was time for some cheap/free work.
I had gotten a straight but slightly crusty set of trailing arms with that 72 frame. So I blew out the welds and split them apart, got the rusty pieces cut out and patched in new metal.
I'll add pics of that work if I can find them on the hard drive

I also kept a close eye on the 'Bay for a mid shift conversion for that TKO. I knew I'd have to move the shifter forward but I wasn't going to pay new prices for it if I didn't have to.
I lucked out and found a lightly used one for $80!! They're usually around $350 so I jumped all over that. It was just the shift tower, but the only other part I had to buy was a shift finger for $33. I could make a block off plate and secure the rear shift rod myself.
It took over a year of relisting but I ended up selling my rear shifter and parts for $50 so overall that worked out well.

[72 tigger]

Going to be a fun/nice truck when you’re done- nice work