Green Gus the 68 shortbed convert

[jhama78]

Clean work man, You are lucky to have your Dad, Wife and kids in on the project as well. Looking forward to updates.

[hewittca]

Yes I am lucky to have my dad for everything he taught me over the years and all the help he provides on the stuff I still can't do. I wouldn't even be able to consider doing this project if it weren't for him.

Thanks everyone! I hope to have part 2 finished within the next month. Stay tuned!

[54belair]

Good luck on your build------its a lot of work but fun as well.

[GR8-68]

Looking great Corey, keep up the good work

[Malibu Monte]

appsk8r? You pulled me in with the vintage photos and then really lock it in when you posted your Malibu which was one of my favorites over at MalibuRacing. Thanks for the history and enjoying the build as well. Here is my Malibu you might remember from over there.

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by Malibu Monte

appsk8r? You pulled me in with the vintage photos and then really lock it in when you posted your Malibu which was one of my favorites over at MalibuRacing. Thanks for the history and enjoying the build as well. Here is my Malibu you might remember from over there.

That's me! I dedicated a lot of years to that forum, but sadly, after I sold the Malibu I never had any relevant content to add and eventually stopped posting. I do, however, visit the site from time to time to see what my forum friends are up to these days. I definitely remember your Malibu! I was wanting to go with those wheels on my next set, but couldn't make it happen before I sold it. I did get a little crazy with the Malibu in the last few months with a rusty hood and white line tires, but it was all in good fun. The guy who bought it still has it and went back to a painted cowl hood. It still looks the same and he sends me photos and videos occasionally.

I never did make a build thread for it, but for anyone who's interested, I posted a ton of photos on Cardomain (when it was still cool) here.





Also, the build summary for my Beetle can be found on thesamba here.

[hewittca]

So, it turns out I am very impatient when it comes to adding updates on my build. I wanted to wait until I had the shortbed conversion done before I added another update, but I have enough odds and ends to share that I wanted to document. Most of these are thanks to my dad who has been knocking a few things off the checklist for me while the truck sits at his house.

First up are the boxing plates we made to complete the frame shortening/step up. They look kinda funny but I promise they will make sense once you seem them in the frame.



I was planning on dropping the driveshaft off at a local shop to get it shortened, but then my dad sends me these photos one day. He shortened the shaft for me on the lathe at his work!





Since my dad works in NASCAR, he has a ton of connections for deals on steps relevant to this project. He was able to get my bedsides blasted and epoxy primed for practically nothing. We still have a bit of body work to do before we shoot them with paint, but they are close. As for paint, we got some single stage color matched 505 dark green to lay down. The plan is to do a light amount of artificial aging (aka, fauxtina) to match the original paint on the cab.







In regards to the original paint, I tried my hand at polishing it up a bit and was pleasantly surprised with the results. I am still not entirely convinced I want this thing to be shiny, but haven't found a satisfactory way to restore the paint properly and still leave a dull finish to it short of shooting some matte clear on it (which I don't want to do). I found some 5000 grit sandpaper that I may try to finish it off with just to knock the shine off.





Next up are some original GM parts to add to the build. I went to a home/garden antique show with my wife and much to my surprise, at one booth stuck behind some home decor were a set of Chevrolet script valve covers for dirt cheap! Of course I had to have them. Now I need to figure out how to make the whole PCV/breather setup work with these. I also refinished my hubcaps to the white '67 style since mine were flaking badly and I like the '67 caps better. I added a touch of wear to make them appear more authentic.



And last but not least, wheels! I originally wanted 20" Detroits but these 22" transports were too good of a deal to pass up. I plan on changing the backspace on the rears much like Bagd72Chevy did on his build. I threw together a quick updated photoshop to illustrate what the truck should look like when completed.





This steady flow of incremental progress has me excited to get this thing finished. At the same time, I'm enjoying the build so much I kind of don't want it to end. What to work on next, hmmm.... That's it for now.

[Bennett68C10]

Love the updates, can't wait to see how you do the paint to match the original patina.

[Graham57a]

Awesome project man, glad I finally found your thread. I'm in for the long haul on this one

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

Love the updates, can't wait to see how you do the paint to match the original patina.

I can't wait either since I'm still not 100% sure how I will approach it or if it will be at all convincing. At least I have enough paint to reshoot the cab too if needed.

Originally Posted by Graham57a

Awesome project man, glad I finally found your thread. I'm in for the long haul on this one

Thanks! Your old green truck is my inspiration for getting to stage 2 of my build plan, and I love your 72.

[hewittca]

I was able to work on the truck this weekend and we finally got it back on the ground as a roller. This update should give you a better idea of how the 2.5" step is integrated and looks on the ground.

We finished off the frame by adding in the bracing plates that I showed in the previous post, and then adding some paint to help blend it into the existing frame. At this stage in the build, I don't plan on repainting the entire chassis, so I just wanted it to blend in. I also had to drop the bumper 2.5". In the third photo, you can see the drop plates we added to the bumper mounts.







Next, we set the truck back on its own 4 wheels to see how it settled.





We also rolled the truck outside and threw the bed floor on for a better look at the results.







I thought there would be a lot of rear rake with the 2.5" drop in the rear, but to my surprise the rocker was level. Apparently there was a decent amount of front rake that I never noticed. Regardless, even with the rocker level, I will still need to come down quite a bit in the front because I have 4" of wheel gap up front and 1" in the rear. I prefer the equal wheel gap look vs the level look.

The final step is to finish off the bed and take care of a few other small odds and ends. I hope to have the truck completed by the end of the year, but we'll see. Both my dad and myself are quite busy this holiday season. Stay tuned!

[tinydb84]

Looks good. I always liked the idea of raising the rear rails instead of a shorter spring or large block to get the rear down. Should allow for a nicer ride.

The only thing I would have done differently would have been to connect a piece of steel from the top of the step down to the frame at an angle and box it in. I'm sure you will be fine though.

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by tinydb84

Looks good. I always liked the idea of raising the rear rails instead of a shorter spring or large block to get the rear down. Should allow for a nicer ride.

The only thing I would have done differently would have been to connect a piece of steel from the top of the step down to the frame at an angle and box it in. I'm sure you will be fine though.

Yeah, I debated on doing that as well, but it was pretty tight in there to be able to add anything at an angle. We did add in a cap on the end of it though, so at least there's that.

[rusty76]

Man you are making progress. Digging the square in the background too. ☺

[cknfrmr]

neat story. trying to get my 69 on the road.

[GR8-68]

Looking great Corey, thanks for keeping us updated. This is going to be one bad ride

[rusty76]

You were talking about adding a pvc to the valve cover you might be able to added it to the end of the cover and put it facing the fire wall. I think chevyrestoguy did it in his. I'll get the link for you.

[slowcpe]

Nice truck and story. Really liking the progress.

I've always been a big Mailbu fan and love your old one. When I was in high school there was a '79 Malibu that was painted '57 chevy teal with white scallops (mid '90s). I tried buying that car twice but my step-dad wouldn't let me. Settled for an '83 Cutlass instead.

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by rusty76

You were talking about adding a pvc to the valve cover you might be able to added it to the end of the cover and put it facing the fire wall. I think chevyrestoguy did it in his. I'll get the link for you.

I think I know what you're talking about. I read that thread at one point but lost the link. It was a nifty idea.

Originally Posted by GR8-68

Looking great Corey, thanks for keeping us updated. This is going to be one bad ride

Thank you!

Originally Posted by rusty76

Man you are making progress. Digging the square in the background too. ☺

That's my dad's truck. He bought it in '85 or so after he sold his '68. I grew up with that truck at his shop and at the dragstrip. Fun times.

Originally Posted by slowcpe

Nice truck and story. Really liking the progress.

I've always been a big Mailbu fan and love your old one. When I was in high school there was a '79 Malibu that was painted '57 chevy teal with white scallops (mid '90s). I tried buying that car twice but my step-dad wouldn't let me. Settled for an '83 Cutlass instead.

They are definitely fun cars and a cheap alternative to '60-70s era muscle. I loved that car but it was time for a change.

[rusty76]

Here's the link to the whole build. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=446527 It's extensive but you'll find it some where near the end I think. I can't remember.

[zicc1835]

love the build.. your blessed with having the family at the wheel with you. I'm in for the ride good luck Happy Healthy New Year to you and your loved ones
Jess

[GR8-68]

Okay, it has been long enough!! We need some updates here

[GR8-68]

I see you were able to open the stake pockeets back up and the side marker holes Just an fyi I did not weld those in there

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by GR8-68

Okay, it has been long enough!! We need some updates here

Oh I know! I've been anxious to get back to work on it but with the holiday season it's been tough lining up schedules with my dad to get the sides painted. We are tentatively planning to get them painted this weekend though. Fingers crossed...

Originally Posted by GR8-68

I see you were able to open the stake pockeets back up and the side marker holes Just an fyi I did not weld those in there

haha, yeah... it was some shotty work that's for sure. The marker lights were closed up with 3/16" plate!

[hewittca]

Since you guys revived my build thread, I suppose I will add a little update for you. While waiting to get to the paint booth to finish the bed sides, I was able to finish up the wheel/tire setup for the truck. I went with Nankang SP-7 tires since they were affordable and had matching tread for the front and rear tires I wanted. Coming from the VW scene, I have experience with Nankangs and they are actually pretty good tires. These SP-7s are very nice. I went with 265/35r22 fronts and 285/40r22 rears since I don't care too much for the ultra low profile look. These two photos are of the 285/40s compared to the 275/60r15s that I currently have on the truck. There is a huge difference in size!




These two photos are the 265/35r22s compared to the 275/60r15s. As you can see, I decided to go with white wheels for sentimental reasons. The truck had white wheels when I bought it and I still really like the overall look it had when I got it. My father-in-law helped me out by mounting these things for me. It was a challenge! We still have to rebalance the fronts and move the weights to the rear side of the wheels.




For the rears, I didn't want to run spacers so I decided to change the backspacing instead. We started with the "stock" GM transit wheels and removed the center section by cutting the welds and then pressing it out.



I decided to go with 4" of backspace (compared to the 6" stock backspace). We flipped the center section since the inside of the wheel hoop had a deeper dish. After truing up the wheel, we welded the center back into the hoop and that's it! I did have to remove the outer half of the inner wheel well to get these to fit, but that was necessary anyway during the bed floor raising process. Here are the fronts (left) and rears (right).



I don't have any photos of these on the truck yet because I want to wait until the whole thing is back together, so I'll leave you with one more detail about mounting these wheels for anyone else looking into these. The stock lugnuts are too small in overall diameter and seat inside the taper when mounted, so I went with these acorn style lug nuts and they fit much better.