1968 GMC - Ol' Blue

[MDPotter]

Hello everyone - I've been on the 60-66 forum for a short while as my dad and I near completion on his 64 C10 restomod. I've always liked the 67-72 body style and I picked one up a couple weeks ago. Driving it is nostalgic for me because I grew up on a farm and I worked the summers helping with grain harvest and the trucks we used to haul grain are 68 Chevys (still in use today). I'm still young, but those days are 10 years behind me now.

My coworker bought this truck from what appears to be the second owner. The first owner put 11,000 miles on it from when it was purchased until 1988, then the second owner put 23,000 miles on it between 1988 and 2017. My coworker (third owner) put less than 30 miles on it in the past year (now over 34,000). It's a 1968 C15 longbed with a 327 and 4-speed manual. From what I can tell, everything but the seat, dash cover, and wheels/tires are original.

My coworker put block-hugger headers on it, but the headers weren't made for the truck as evidenced by the hammering of a couple tubes and the fact that the collector pointed at the starter. I believe the second owner put the wheels on it and my coworker put new tires on it.

Here's what I've done to it so far:
-Put the stock exhaust manifolds back on and put a couple Thrush turbo mufflers on
-Replaced the tail light, reverse light, and side marker lenses
-Registration and plates
-Polished what paint is left

Short term plans:
-Replace the heater core and get the heating system working
-Get the headlights working

Long term plans:
-Full on restomod - shortbed conversion, lowering, new wheels and tires, LS swap, etc.

The truck runs great and I don't have the time to get into the restoration yet, so I'm planning to drive it for awhile and tear it apart this winter or next spring. I don't know why the engine bay pic is upside down, I've tried flipping the picture on my phone and on the computer before uploading and it still comes out upside down.

[MDPotter]

It's been awhile since my first post - my dad and I have been working on his 64 and it's taken a lot longer than we anticipated and we only work on it one day a week. But all of the systems are done - fuel, brakes, cooling, steering, and wiring. Now we have to put all the front body panels on and load the doors.

As far as my 68 goes, I've been slowly working on my LQ9. The harness has been stripped of all the unnecessary wires/connectors, power wires merged, re-loomed, and PCM reprogrammed which is as far as I can go with it until I get it in the truck. I've really enjoyed that process - it's rewarding to do the rework yourself and couldn't have done it without Brendan at LT1Swap and all his info. Hopefully when I go to start it everything works! If not, I can always buy a harness.

I bought the LQ9 out of an 04 Escalade from a dismantler in New Hampshire and it's got quite a bit of rust and corrosion as you can see - I think they took the hood off it and let it sit out in the weather for at least a year. According to the seller, it only has 111,000 miles on it and I did find the salvage listing with the VIN they provided me and the mileage matches. Being a "trust but verify" person, I pulled off the manifolds and spark plugs and was able to shine a flashlight in to see the flat top pistons and I can even see the writing on them (they're that clean), so I feel pretty good about the engine. My initial plan was to rebuild it, but in the interest of budget and considering the condition of the engine, I've decided to replace a few parts and drop it in with the internals as-is. I've got it pretty well stripped down and a power steering pump (with 2 returns for future hydroboost), water pump, Speed Engineering headers, Speed Engineering engine plates, idler pulley, tensioner, starter, 4L80 flexplate, and rear brake rebuild kit on the way.

For anyone considering going the route I am - buying the engine separate from the transmission and going the "value" route - you get what you pay for. My dad chose to spend more on a complete dropout all aluminum Gen IV 5.3 with a 6L80 and it's immaculate compared to my LQ9. I've had to replace a few connectors that were damaged in addition to the parts I listed above. It's also got a lot of rust, corrosion, grease and grime on it. Going the route that I did will nickel and dime you every step of the way and take up more of your time, but it will save you money overall. If you want a complete dropout in excellent condition, you have to pay more.

I finally got a sport bumper put on as well. If you're buying repop brackets, make sure the ends of the inner brackets that attach to the bumper are flat so that when you tighten the bolt it doesn't damage your bumper. I got this heads-up in a bumper bracket thread and was able to heat up the portion of the bracket that had a bit of a curve to it and flatten it out and it worked just fine.

I'm hoping to finish up my dad's truck in the next few months so we can tear into mine. I've taken all the lessons learned and time up front to research all my ls swap parts so as to get the best value. I'll be ordering a reman 4L80 this month and at that point I'll have all the parts I need to mount the engine/trans to the truck. Just need more time!

[cornerstone]

Your dads 64 looks laser straight and beautiful. I guess blue is the family color! Thanks for the reminder on the rear bumper brackets possibly jacking up a new bumper. I'm getting close to that stage and knowing me, well, I'd have a dented bumper...

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Your dads 64 looks laser straight and beautiful. I guess blue is the family color! Thanks for the reminder on the rear bumper brackets possibly jacking up a new bumper. I'm getting close to that stage and knowing me, well, I'd have a dented bumper...

Thanks! We ended up buying a whole new bed because the old one was too rusted and damaged to be salvaged (at least with our skill set). I was thinking about painting my 68 red, but people keep telling me how much of a target it will be.

[MDPotter]

I got the accessory drive complete - new water pump, tensioner pulley, idler pulley, power steering pump and pulley, and belt. I sandblasted the alternator/PS bracket to get the corrosion off and it looks decent.

I also test fitted my speed engineering headers and engine plates. The headers look great and my plug wires just clear in a couple spots. I couldn't attach the plate on the driver side as the lower front corner was hitting a ground bolt so I need to grind that tip a little bit.

[MDPotter]

LS1Nova's build threads inspired me to take the time and clean and paint my engine. The engine had a lot of grease, oil, and dirt on it and the block was rusty so I took it apart Saturday to clean and paint it. I pulled a valve cover off and the heads looked good.

I bought a needle scaler at Harbor Freight to clean up the block and it worked well. I also sandblasted the block and timing cover in prep for paint. The remainder of the engine was treated with degreaser and scrubbing and looks much better. I also painted the power steering/alternator bracket and tensioner. I didn't have a lot of time Sunday, but was able to get the bed off.

Next weekend I hope to get the engine and trans out so I can sell them and get the front end apart.

[TA_C10]

Nice work man. I'm subscribing. Couple questions:

1. DBW or DBC for the LS? Where/How are you mounting the pedal?
2. Are you painting your core support or leaving it just e-coat?
3. 2 piece driveshaft or single?

Looking good man, keep it up!

[MDPotter]

Thanks man, I've been watching yours too.

1) DBW. I was looking at another build (1971Stepside - post 27) and he had used the stock LS pedal assembly and welded in a plate with a couple nuts to the firewall and I am going to look at doing that. I've seen the adapter plates but they seem so bulky and I've already welded shut my gas pedal nuts. I help up my gas pedal the other day and that spot seems to put it in about the right position. I have the same pedal (adjustable pedals came in Denalis and Escalades) and it's really bulky, so I might try modifying it so it's not such a monstrosity and since the adjustability function is no longer usable.

2) Core support was blasted and it has Chassis Saver on it. It's basically epoxy and it dries to a satin finish. I put it on my frame and all my chassis parts. It's nasty stuff, it takes forever to get it off your skin, but it sticks to almost anything. It's a competitor to POR15 so it sticks to rust too.

3) It's a one-piece driveshaft made locally by a driveline shop.

[TA_C10]

Thanks for the info! And funny i'm in same boat with pedal. I already welded up the original nuts in firewall... Check out what this guy did with his. Although it doesn't show how he mounted it to firewall, I was planning on modifying the pedal like this to get rid of the adjustable stuff. Then I will probably do the same as 1971Stepside to mount it to firewall.

Pedal Idea:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...2&postcount=18

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Thanks for the info! And funny i'm in same boat with pedal. I already welded up the original nuts in firewall... Check out what this guy did with his. Although it doesn't show how he mounted it to firewall, I was planning on modifying the pedal like this to get rid of the adjustable stuff. Then I will probably do the same as 1971Stepside to mount it to firewall.

Pedal Idea:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...2&postcount=18

I saw that one too and forgot to mention it, that's a cool mod. I have to spend some time with it and mount the brake pedal bracket and pedal temporarily to mock it up.

[MDPotter]

Doors are epoxied, driveshaft is in, and I'm done reworking my LS harness. I spent hours and hours working on this harness and I'm pretty happy with it now. I initially just pulled out all the unncessary wiring and reloomed it, but then I decided I wanted to mount the PCM in the cab so I ended up shortening or lengthening pretty much every wire back to the PCM connectors. I didn't want to have the LS power wiring made up in the engine bay, so I bought an American Autowire bulkhead with enough terminals to run the merged pink and orange wires through the firewall so I can make the connections in the cab.

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

Doors are epoxied, driveshaft is in, and I'm done reworking my LS harness. I spent hours and hours working on this harness and I'm pretty happy with it now. I initially just pulled out all the unncessary wiring and reloomed it, but then I decided I wanted to mount the PCM in the cab so I ended up shortening or lengthening pretty much every wire back to the PCM connectors. I didn't want to have the LS power wiring made up in the engine bay, so I bought an American Autowire bulkhead with enough terminals to run the merged pink and orange wires through the firewall so I can make the connections in the cab.

Nice work on all of this. Cool to see inside of doors. I did my harness same as you and made it standalone. I really wanted to rework to put in cab but for sake of time I think I'm going to leave it under hood, build a bracket for pcm, relays, and power and ground distribution, and mount all that on the core support, call that a day... Maybe in stage 2 I will redo harness and put inside cab ...

Looks great man, your re-motivating me. I'm headed out to garage with a NOS blue and I'm going to prep my cab for paint dammit

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[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Nice work on all of this. Cool to see inside of doors. I did my harness same as you and made it standalone. I really wanted to rework to put in cab but for sake of time I think I'm going to leave it under hood, build a bracket for pcm, relays, and power and ground distribution, and mount all that on the core support, call that a day... Maybe in stage 2 I will redo harness and put inside cab ...

Looks great man, your re-motivating me. I'm headed out to garage with a NOS blue and I'm going to prep my cab for paint dammit

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Thanks TA. I hope to be where you're at in a few months! It is hard to find time with a full-time job, vacations, and keeping your significant other happy. But even an hour or two a night makes a big difference!

[TA_C10]

Looking good man. I had trouble with that floor seam as well and I ended up welding the whole seam shut then seam sealer. And the pedal bracket looks really good. The way I modified my pedal didn't work that far back into the firewall, the pedal arm was hitting the right side. Improvise, adapt.

Keep it up man. Curious. What parts are going to blaster?


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[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Looking good man. I had trouble with that floor seam as well and I ended up welding the whole seam shut then seam sealer. And the pedal bracket looks really good. The way I modified my pedal didn't work that far back into the firewall, the pedal arm was hitting the right side. Improvise, adapt.

Keep it up man. Curious. What parts are going to blaster?


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Thanks man.

I've got inner and outer fenders, cowl, trans hump, brake pedal assembly, front and rear bumper braces and deflectors, center grille support, mirror arms, and mirror backing plates.

[TA_C10]

Excellent, Im at same stage and need to get those same parts sent out to blaster. If you don't mind my asking, how does your blaster charge for that? I'm curious if my guy is going to have similar cost as he seems to be a little high...

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Excellent, Im at same stage and need to get those same parts sent out to blaster. If you don't mind my asking, how does your blaster charge for that? I'm curious if my guy is going to have similar cost as he seems to be a little high...

It depends. He charged $50 per door shell (door minus outer skin) but he's going to charge by the hour with this batch since I have so many little parts. I'll have them back this Friday, I can let you know the total if you'd like. My guess is around $350.

[MDPotter]

I got my parts back from the blaster on Friday so I was able to get half the parts in epoxy and the other half in chassis saver.

I also got my driver door reskinned and it lined up great. I've learned that the best way to reskin a door is to keep the inner structure whole and to fit the new skin to it so that the correct profile is achieved.

I've been considering options for stripping my hood as I don't want to take it to a sandblaster and risk ruining it. The hoods on these 67-72's don't have a great structure to them so it makes bodywork difficult. In fact, the sandblaster I plan on taking my cab to won't even touch the hood. I thought about paint stripper and using my DA, but I ended up buying Eastwood's SCT tool. It comes with a 120 grit nylon drum and it worked great on the top of the hood - the picture below is about 30 seconds of moderate pressure. It works great on surface rust and primer, but it bogged down on the lacquer on the underside so I'm going to buy the abrasive drum which should be more effective. Stripping with my DA will take way too long because it's a fine orbit (3/32" instead of 3/16") and it will work the compressor for hours and hours whereas the SCT tool is electric and will strip things pretty quick and without too much heat buildup as long as I move around a bit.

I'm getting close to being done with the cutting and welding portion of this project. I just have to do a little rust repair on one of the fenders and then do the rockers/pillars on the cab and then I can finally move on to filler and sanding. My goal is to have everything but the bed painted by October so that I don't have to worry about cold weather and can spend fall and winter assembling and wiring.

[MDPotter]

[TA_C10]

Looking good man . I had my hood blasted, no issues. The blaster used glass media on everything, he said it helps keep heat down and works well. That door skin looks like it came out well. Fall and winter assembly eh? My wife will kill me if I don't have my truck up and running before winter

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Looking good man . I had my hood blasted, no issues. The blaster used glass media on everything, he said it helps keep heat down and works well. That door skin looks like it came out well. Fall and winter assembly eh? My wife will kill me if I don't have my truck up and running before winter

Thanks. I'm nervous about having it blasted - I've heard of guys having their hoods ruined and I'm committed now that I spent the money on the tool so I'll roll with it. I will use the tool on other projects, so I'm okay with it. We spent months wiring and assembling my dad's 64. So far, everything on my truck has came out quicker and better, but I've still got a lot of parts to buy and the rate I'm going, my money is keeping up with my progress. If I could work on it every day, I would be broke in no time haha.

[MDPotter]

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the truck in the last month between vacation and having family in town, but I am happy to announce that metalwork on the cab is done. Inner rockers, outer rockers, front and rear pillars, and cab corners are done and the cab is at the sandblaster. The only metalwork left on the truck should be a little bit of rust on a fender bottom and pulling out a couple dents.

I'm going as fast as I can in hopes of getting most, if not all, of the body (minus the bed) painted before it gets too cold.

[1971Stepside]

Looking good. It takes so much time to do these repairs, but it is nice to see what you have accomplished when you get a section completed.

[TA_C10]

That's a huge accomplishment. It's a lot of ugly, back-breaking, dirty jobs and now even with a little fender work and other stuff maybe its cleaner working from here out

Great job man.

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[MDPotter]

Thanks guys. I'm planning on working on the fenders this week and they may end up being the first parts I paint.