New to the site and looking for ideas on building a truck

[makoshark]

Hey Folks! I`ve been lurking around here a little bit and searching through the threads to get some ideas. I am thinking about getting rid of my 99 chevy of 6 years and nothing new is appealing to me, so I`m tossing around the idea of buying a 67-72 fleetside and building it to my liking for a daily driver. I`m not too familiar with building these trucks, so I don`t know what works best and all. I have a 67 and 69 camaro that I am restoring and have all the tools and skills to do just about anything needed though. I have a 383 TPI motor that I was building for my 67 camaro and have changed paths on that car, so it`s just sitting idle and I think it would be a great motor for a truck cause it`s a torque monster. I`m not looking to build something to compete with a vette persay, but I would like to build something that handled great, big brakes and could handle some towing. I also have a complete rearend from a 99 truck that could be great for one of those old chevy`s. As great as aftermarket parts are, I prefer swappable GM parts for ease of availability. I would like to lower the truck a bit, but not slammed and have some pretty good size wheels with low profile wide tires, but no super low profile. Something more of a truck tire, but not a tall sidewall. I would like it to handle well, but not rough. Have a generally smooth ride, ya know! A few body mods to smooth up the lines of the truck. Definately get rid of the gas tank out of the cab. Do a bit of a custom interior. Automatic trans with shift on the column. Possibly even a bit of a chop if glass could be readily available. Trucks have such tall cabs. Well, hope that`s enough of an overview. Just looking for some pointers to put me in the right direction. Thanks for any advice from you all.

[krue]

Welcome to the board from South Mississippi. Check out the index here http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php3?t=157669 to do some good reading on mods and general info. Go to the pics board and find something similar to what you're looking for and find out the particulars on it. Good luck!

[LUV2XCLR8]

2 THE BOARD FROM WEST 10-UH-C

[jamis]

welcome from sunny humid sticky south west Florida

[BIG ORANGE]

Welcom to the board,here's a 69 I got for sale,where ya from? $15.000.00 OBO

[Palf70Step]

Welcome to the board from southern Mississippi.

[dtlilly]

Welcome to the board, lots of good ideas and people here!

[72shadetree]

welcome from va

[1STtimePRo'71]

A Hearty Welcome from the Great State of Minnesota.

[Pickemuptruck71]

From the Land O Lincoln, this is a great board. Lots of good folk with a ton of knowledge, and they share it with ya.

[68w/sbc406]

welcome to the board from portland or. there are alot of people on here, and just as many ideas on truck mods. if you have any questions, just ask

[barn9]

Welcome from Kansas!

[makoshark]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I am from north, Mississippi. Right outside of Memphis, Tn. Nice truck you have there Big Orange. It`s a little out of my price range though. Wanna trade instead? Something I neglected to mention in my first post is that I have set a working budget around $10,000. All the work would be performed by myself. I am very aware how easily you can go over budget on the restoration of a vehicle. As I have done several. I am familiar with the types of suspensions used on trucks. I have owned or been involved with Chevy trucks my whole life. What I`m not familiar with is what application would work best for me from my description. I noticed alot of people are doing drop spindles. As my expertise, persay, is involved with firstgen camaro`s, the drop spindles are the wrong type of setup you would want to use on those cars due to the fact they increase something called bumpsteer and your limited to breaking options. I really love the C5 brake setup and have recently seen the new Z07 brakes which are absolutely huge and beautiful. Those could be a great brake system. Not too sure what the price tag would be on those suckers would be though. I bet their gonna be expensive. I looked through the thread that was posted to me of FAQ`s and I think it just brought about more questions to me than answers. I am mainly looking for ideas and info on what type of suspension that would suit me as well as what kind of brakes I can put on these trucks. Also, a great source for parts would be nice as well. Thanks again guys.

[68haywagon]

from Eastern PA.

These trucks are fun....hope you get one and make it beautiful. Remember to keep us posted with info and pics.

Mike

[shortbed70]

Welcome from NC Rcae city usa. Good luck on the project and keep in mind its your build it how YOU want it. This is me and my wifes 65

[makoshark]

Nice truck short bed. Maybe I need to make my questions a bit more direct. Without a search button, I`m not going to be able to properly search through the threads. I have looked at the picture section and have looked through the FAQ section. Great pictures and info, but nothing in there helping me. First of all, what would be the best lowered suspension, in the 2/4 to 3/5 drop, for a comfortable ride in a daily driver? Also, with the front hubs and rear axles being a different bolt pattern than cars, are there options of changes the truck hubs over to car hubs? I know the axles can be custom made to my specs, so I have that part figured out there. I would like to use C5 brakes with wheels in the 18" to 20" variety, preferrably TTII`s. Also, keep in mind this would be my daily driver and occasionally used to tow my 18' tandem axle car trailer. Come on guys, help me out here. Not asking you to build a truck to your liking, just looking for suggestions. It`s not rocket science. Thanks again

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Welcome to the board from southern oregon good luck on your quest..

[68w/sbc406]

you could always take your rotors in ahd have a machine shop drill you new holes to the 5 on 4 3/4 (i think thats what they are) and press new studs in. i have no idea about adapting C5 brakes on to a truck, but where there is a will there is a way.

[GloryHound]

If your going to be towing a car trailer with a lowered 1/2 ton truck you may want to look into an air bag set up. That way if it pulls the rear of your truck down you can just air up a little more. But to get more stability I've heard leaf springs (They make lowered ones new up to 4") are better, in this senario you are probably going to want to add an air assist to the rear axle. As for the front suspension you may want to look into a experimentation or call one of the companies that sell the parts and ask them which is better! I like the drop spindles so I can keep the same travel up front. When it comes to brakes the sky is the limit. You can do a simple front disc set up or you can do both front and rear disc brake set ups. If you want something a little bigger in the stopping area you can go to baer and buy a big break package, I think they are 14" or 15" rotors compared to the stock 12" normally used and the calipars they sell are dual piston. A good place to start for parts are the vendors who support this board. I believe GMC pauls is one of them and mothers trucks is another and there are a couple others. Hopefully someone who know the websites by heart can post them here for you. Other vendors are out there and a good way of finding them is to look through the truck magazines. Truckin', Sport Truck, Tailgaters, Custom Classic trucks, Truck Builder, and Classic Trucks are a few of the ones I get.

Hopefully I answered a few questions for you and got you off to a good start. As you start working on you truck here thier are alot of people on this site who can give you technical advise on actually performing the work, and alot of them can tell you the exact number of bolts and sizes you will need to remove to get the left front fender off right off the top of thier heads.

Welcome from the Pittsburgh, PA area!!

[makoshark]

Thanks Gloryhound, you helped alot. From what I`ve seen, drop spindles seem to be one of the best front drops, but I`m still worried about the aspects that I`m used to about them. Although, trucks are a different beast and I`m not used to building them. I was thinking that rear leafs with bags would also be the best setup for the rear. The mags never even crossed my mine for being a good source for info. Thanks for the tip there. I am very mechanically inclined and no stranger to working on cars or trucks for that matter. I do my own welding, body work and mechanical work, so I know what I`m doing there. I`m sure, I`ll need some advice from time to time. I still have alot of questions, but some I still don`t know what to ask. I guess I need to get busy and buy a truck to build. Thanks again

[68w/sbc406]

http://www.classicheartbeat.com/
http://www.gmcpauls.com/
http://www.s-c-t-p.com/
http://www.mothertruckers.net/
http://www.christiansclassics.com/
those links should get you started

[GloryHound]

I'm glad I could be of help. I used to do a lot of mechanics work with my grandfather who was a GM mechanic for 35 years. I still do a lot of learn as I go stuff. As for the body work it is all learn as I go. I've made some costly mistakes early on and have found research, more research, asking questions, and who cares if it takes me 20 years to get done with my frame off project have been the best tools and attitudes for my garage! And it gives me a good reason to live in the garage for the next 20 years when the inlaws come in to visit.

[makoshark]

Oh I`m not claiming to know everything. I just know the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. I have been involved with auto restoration my whole life, so I do know a little bit about restoring cars. Although, mechanics of any sort has never been my living, just hobby. When I do get around to getting one of these old chevy`s, I`ll have to build it as quickly as possible. So, I don`t want to get too custom with one. Just keep it simple and make it look sleek. I did some searching around on the net and found a very sweet looking truck. It`s in the neighborhood of what I`m wanting one to look like. I`ll also post a pic of one of my many projects I`m working on. Keep in mind, I do ALL of the work myself. Can anyone give a run down on this truck?

[GloryHound]

It's a 67 that has already been lowered. Looks like a 4/6 drop. Looks like it already has front disc and may have rear disc. Due to the back being dark I can't see if it is a small rear window or large. The door handles, trim, and gas filler has been shaved. Probably has an under the bed gas tank with a filler in the bed. It would be hard to get that truck back to origional, but I'm not one for origional. Depending on engine, transmission, interior condition, frame condition, and if any rust is bubbling the paint looks like a real find. It more than likely has coil springs in the rear since chevy 2wd trucks came with coils stock while the GMC came with leaf springs stock.

[makoshark]

What size wheels and tires are those? This is a truck I found on, I believe, classic truck mag website.