Shortbed 63 GMC fleetside build by jcox68rt

[Jcox68rt]

Been on here lurking for a little while and pulled the trigger and bought a 1963 fleetside shorty. I probably overpaid for it a little but the drive train is sound and mildly built so it is what it is. Typical rust in passenger side rocker and floor pan & front fender tips.

Bringing her home back in April:

[Jcox68rt]

It's got a mildly built 350 with a 700r4 with a shift kit. A 10 bolt rear with 3:08 gears and leafsprings (with most of the leafs missing for rear suspension drop) Haha! The front suspension was already dropped with 3" coils from western chassis.

[Jcox68rt]

First order of business was 2.5" drop spindles and disk brakes up front. Still had original spindles and fairly new drums and shoes when I tore into it. (Which are available for free if anyone near me wants them.)



Which resulted in this stance

[Jcox68rt]

I drove the truck around for a week or so before getting the alignment done and completely obliterated the front tires...oops. Grabbed a couple used 16" tires and had them mounted, they are a little lower profile and resulted into a heck of a rake on the truck. Makes it look means and pissed off. Haha! Will get some skinny whites put on it when money allows.

Raked out

[Jcox68rt]

Next came rust repair...never done this kinda work before. I've been welding for years but mostly on farm equipment and frame stuff but never on sheet metal let alone thin sheet rust repair...

Tore in and cut rocker out...found more rust...of course! Haha!



Made new piece for inner rocker and tacked in (sorry about grainy pics, iPad)



Started on floor patch



Welded up 1 million holes drilled in floor pan over the years and bobbed the old gas tank brackets

[Jcox68rt]

Here is a pic of the interior when I got the truck



I was wondering why it was so loud and drafty in the cab...couldn't be that much rust right?! The rust wasn't terrible as you saw above, however, somebody had put a high hump tranny tunnel in. Cool right? Well if you put in a high hump in while retaining the low hump firewall side... You guessed it...about a 2-3" gap between the two!! Plus the high hump was rusted and mutillated beyond repair. Luckily a WTB ad placed on CL awarded me a nice two piece set of high hump from Jeff in Bakersfield about two hours away from me. Luckily he had a friend that was visiting him that lives near me bring it over! Thank you Jeff! Bolted and welded with por15 over all the floor...now ready for new carpet and my freshly upholstered seat!







Here she is back together inside







Lil helper

[Eazyrider111]

Nice looking truck! Glad to see another 63 out there. I'm down in Santa Maria. Looks like you got a good start on the cab. Mine is still in pieces.

[Yelcamino]

Looks like a decent truck to have fun with!

[RANDY COX]

Hey and welcome glad you joined...Looks like you have a good candidate to work with.. Alittle at a time...

[Jcox68rt]

Originally Posted by RANDY COX

Hey and welcome glad you joined...Looks like you have a good candidate to work with.. Alittle at a time...

Thanks for the kind words... Oddly enough my Dads name is Randy Cox. Haha! And we used to live in Burke, VA when he was stationed at the pentagon.

[RANDY COX]

Yep fall over, there's plenty of us out there...

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Hi Jcox68rt,
You're making some nice upgrades to your GMC... looking good! I like '63's the best.

[Jcox68rt]

No real updates lately. I did get a rear bumper from LMC, now just have to pull bumpers and grill and paint them satin white and reinstall. I've decided on a paint color! My sister down in Texas sent me pics of her new truck, a 2015 Dodge Ram and the paint color is called Dark Ceramic Blue...it will look killer on my truck with a satin or flattened clear coat on it and whitewalls! Next month should be headed to paint! Woo hoo!

[Eazyrider111]

Man that is going to look awesome! I feel you with the flat paint job. I was thinking about doing OD green with black accents. What about you? you going to do your bumpers white or black? Chrome? Endless options. You have great taste sir.

[Jcox68rt]

I'm gonna do the bumpers and grill in white. But will keep the rims black with pinner whitewalls. :-) I can't wait!

[vdawg]

Nice foundation to start your build...lookin good

[Palf70Step]

That color should look great on the truck. Looking forward to more of your build.

[RDrancher]

I like that color. Reminds me of Dupont Federal Blue from back in the '80's. I first saw it on a fleet of Peterbilts and always thought it would look sharp on a pickup.

[Jcox68rt]

Originally Posted by vdawg

Nice foundation to start your build...lookin good

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

That color should look great on the truck. Looking forward to more of your build.

Originally Posted by RDrancher

I like that color. Reminds me of Dupont Federal Blue from back in the '80's. I first saw it on a fleet of Peterbilts and always thought it would look sharp on a pickup.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone! Hopefully next week I'll get my rear bumper on... Oh wait, im working 6 24hr shifts this coming 7 days, I might not have time. Crud.. MiVidaLoco

[Jcox68rt]

Board member virginiaslim did a photoshop rendering of my truck for me



He nailed it! And the options he threw out there tells me the white roof to tie the grill and bumpers in will be a must!

Thank you virginiaslim!!!

[Eazyrider111]

I agree that looks awesome. I would have never thought white roof but that looks great. White walls a must! Are you doing a roll pan in the back or a painted rear bumper?

[Jcox68rt]

Originally Posted by Eazyrider111

I agree that looks awesome. I would have never thought white roof but that looks great. White walls a must! Are you doing a roll pan in the back or a painted rear bumper?

Painted rear bumper. Still undecided about pinner whites or wide whites... Pinner Whites have the 60's vibe to me and are cheaper. I am putting wide whites on my 51 studebaker truck so I think I'd like to define each truck by the decade... If that makes sense.