67 C10 SWB Build

[chaseman17]

While I am not new to the site, I am new at posting, so bear with me...

I purchased a 1967 Chevy C10 SWB on year ago with the intentions of driving it for a few years and then slowly fixing this & fixing that and eventually redoing the body. After 1 summer of driving it, I decided it needed far more work than I originally thought, so in mid-November of 2010, I started to tear into it.

I have always wanted to restore a vehicle, so why not start now? I have some good friends who are very talented & will get me out of about any mess I get myself into, so what the heck.

Photo #1 - the day I picked the truck up in Indianapolis & brought it to W. Michigan.
Photo #2 - last drive before we began to pull it apart. (Craigslist $30 for 4 tires and wheels, so why not do a burnout or two???)
Photo #3 - disassembly continues. Now have discovered 4 different colors it has been at one time or another.
Photo #4 - chunk someone cut out of the frame somewhere along the way. Why get the correct hose, when you can just take a chunk out of the frame??
Photo #5 - no more chunk out of frame... thank you Brad.

[chaseman17]

I have taken 100's of photos through the process so I can reference them as I reassemble the truck. I am very thankful for digital cameras.

I decided to leave the front suspension in place & not mess with it. The truck had been lowered before I bought it (early classics 2"/4") and it went down the road just as straight as an arrow, so instead of messing that up, I just decided to leave it alone.

Once everything was removed, I had the frame blasted and then painted with a semi-gloss black. I know I am going to scratch it as I reassemble & I wanted to be able to touch up my mistakes. The semi-gloss black looks great and the touch up paint matches perfectly.

I made a make-shift paint booth in my shop so I could spray the small parts and not stink up the whole place. It has worked out better than expected.

[chaseman17]

Pretty much everything that holds a fluid on this truck leaked. I had never done any rear end work, so I dug into that and replaced all the seals and gaskets & actually got everything back together by myself! (one small step for mankind...)

I had the power steering gear rebuilt, a new power steering pump, new water pump & had the radiator reworked as well.

I have the new (pre-bent.. remember, I know my limitations) stainless brake lines installed in the rear & just installed the new gas tank in the frame.

I won a couple of early 90's low back buckets off e-bay last week and also picked up a console from an 80's blazer. The buckets are at the upholstery shop & the console will get cleaned up and painted black. I am really looking forward to seeing the seats, the guy at the upholstery shop understood exactly what I was looking for.

[1LoC10]

awesome truck

[chaseman17]

The power plant is a 350 / 350 combo. The engine is a 1968 & I believe it was from a Camaro. It ran ok... smoked some, leaked everything!

The transmission was rebuilt and received a mild shift kit and a little larger stall converter.

The machine shop bored the engine .30 over, reworked the crank and added flat top pistons. Heads were rebuilt with all new parts, new intake, rebuilt starter, new water pump, new rebuilt quadrajet with electric choke.

I am sticking with the ram horn mainfolds because I just like the way they look! My friend who built it for me is estimating the HP to be about 325.

I put on my big-boy pants and decided to install the engine and trans without any help. It went very well.... can't be too tough when it is just going in a bare frame! Again... another small step...

I splurged on the valve covers. They look fantastic. I only have had them on for a few pictures cuz I don't want them to get damaged. The air cleaner is the chrome one that was on it when I bought the truck. I sand blasted it, primed it, painted it with crinkle paint, then shot it with semi gloss black and it matched up nicely with the valve covers.

[chaseman17]

The body.... where do I start? The truck looked great from about 20 feet away, but once you looked close, it was a mess to say the least. Since I was "all in" on this project, I decided the body needed to be done right.

I sold the bed and ordered up all new steel. Now we can have fresh metal and a wood bed. Once I got a real good look at the cab, I decided to try and find a better one. I found one in Arkansas and bought it sight unseen & had it trucked to Michigan. It was rough, but not as bad as the original, so we are going to use it.

The Ark. cab also had very nice doors and a good tach dash, so I am happy with all those parts.

[chaseman17]

The bedsides that we sent were for a '68, so we ("we" is used very loosely here) had to fill them in. The bed was assembled, prepped, filled where needed, sanded a ton and then shot with epoxy primer.

Paint color is a huge decision. I decided on the "Blade Silver Metallic" that is used on the new Corvette ZR1. After seeing it in the sun for the first time last week, it looks incredible. There are two coats of color and 3 coats of clear.

When I went to the painters to pick up the bed, I took along the new front fenders and the 2" cowl hood. He will get started on those next.

I just picked the bed up on Friday, 3/18/11.

[chaseman17]

Just about up to date on the project now...

I decided to get rid of the ash tray, key start and lighter. A buddy welded in the ash tray cover and plugged the other two holes in the dash. I have plans to go with an "old school" look with the push button start and a toggle, but will wait to show that until the cab is done.

I did a dry run fit on the oak wood floor last night and am happy with the look and the stainless strips. (notice the reflection of the stainless off the paint)

Today I ordered up all the wood finish materials and will be on that once it all comes in. I still need to fit up the aluminum marine gas filler in the bed.

More later... thanks for looking & thanks to all those who have posted such valuable information and photos of their work! This has been a great experience so far.

[tstadel]

Looking good. I am intersted in how your luck is with the fit/finish/quality of the a/m bed. Keep us posted!

[chaseman17]

The painter was very impressed with the bed & how it went together & how solid it is. I can tell you it looks great & I am anxious to get it all together sometime this summer.

[Pop's C-10]

sweet build

[STOCKISH]

Man that is looking amazing. Great job and keep up the good work!

[72chevy383]

Wow looks great, love the color..What did you do to the cab that's wrapped up??

[chaseman17]

Thanks for the kind comments.

Nothing has been done to the white cab yet. It is the one that we have chosen to use. Work will begin once the media blaster can start working again. He is estimating mid April. It will get a complete new floor assembly for sure & cab corners. Not planning on any fancy firewall work... I need to make some cuts somewhere!
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[ChuckDriver]

Nice build! Bed floor looks awesome!

[67chevy1series]

man o man these wood floors are the most prettyfulest beds i have ever seen there so nice it would make me think twice about putting a cooler on them. i have a 67 wood floor too, the wood will be the last thing to be finished on my truck. ,the truck looks awsome, i think it would look awsome with those black steelies like you had in the being

[butternut1972]

That is good lookin. I like your attention to detail.

[gcburdic]

Chase....this is an amazing project....all looks real nice....glad that bed turned out good

[chaseman17]

Made a little progress this evening on the replacement cab, welding up some of the unused firewall holes and a few screw holes from a gun rack. Figured it was best to get this done before the media blasting.

I learned how to weld tonight too... gives me a whole new respect for those who do it so well!

Also came across a photo of my 72 SWB 4x4 from college. I loved that truck & wish I still had it. 350 bored .30 over, Edlebrock Performer, Holley 600, 4 Speed. 4-inch lift, 33x12.50x15 Dick Cepek Fun Country's. Had a lot of fun in that truck.http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/i...lies/metal.gif

[chaseman17]

My body guy stopped by yesterday to do a quick fit the hood and fenders before the cab heads off to get soda blasted. He said there is plenty of work to do, but things will go together nicely with some massaging.

[Zoomin]

Since I was "all in" on this project, I decided the body needed to be done right.

Now your task is to make the rest of the truck as nice as the bed. It's going to be awesome.

[Dads79GMC]

I like this build thread, quick and to the point Great work!

I like the low-back buckets. I know you purchased them from E-Bay, but do you know what year/make/model of vehicle they came from? I need to hunt down a set of them. Thanks

[chaseman17]

Thanks for the positive comments guys!
Zoomin... I have been very happy with the work my body guy has done so far, I am confident (& so is he) that it will all look as nice as the bed.
Dads... I am not 100% sure, but I think the seats are out of an early 90's Chevy truck. I had a 94 Yukon GT that had the same seats, but in the high back version, so it has to be close. I should get them back from the upholstery shop in the next couple of weeks. I am excited to see them completed.

[chaseman17]

Another quick update. Not much has been accomplished over the last couple of weeks... work keeps getting in the way of fun.

The cab, doors, cowl & grill are all at the media blaster and should be back any day. I am looking forward to seeing how they look all cleaned up. Seats should be done any day too.

My new gas tank arrived today and I was able to get it fit into place and quickly mounted this evening. The first tank I purchased was too big, so I returned it and I had Boyd Welding do the new tank. Man do they do nice work, and were very helpful on the phone.

I still need to figure out where the rear fill is going to mount in the bed, then it is all off to get the exhaust done next week.

That is it for now.

[chaseman17]

The media blasting & exhaust were completed this week. Sending the cab, doors & misc body parts to the body guy today.