Penny

[ekgguy]

As the title says, I have a "Vision" of what I want the truck to be when it is done, but I have very little experience and just enough knowledge to make me dangerous.

I bought this truck 6 months before my youngest daughter got her drivers license in March of 2012 and the intent was to have it ready for her Senior Year. Needless to say, that didn't happen, but life did. Today, she is a Sophomore in college, with a little economical gas saver car to get around with and she has no interest at all in the truck.

But I do..... I have putzed around with it over the last few years, going this direction, changing this, changing that, but never have had a real direction in where or what I was going to do.

A couple of weeks ago, I found a thread that Elliot949 started about a board member here named Chad "Hellaflush3d" that did 3D renderings of our trucks.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=661301 I contacted Chad and through several emails, tried to give him an idea of what I was wanting, and the vision I had for my truck.

Here is what I started with. This is the day that I brought it home.




and with a little input from me and a lot of Chad's magic computer pen, this is what I am hoping for in the somewhat near future




I hope that I can come even somewhat close to these renderings.

I am going to go through some of the things that I have done.... whether they are the good, bad, ugly, right or wrong. It is all a learning experience for me.

[mandojunior]

I like the renderings. Im sure itll turn our great. Are you doing a complete restoration?

[ekgguy]

Originally Posted by mandojunior

I like the renderings. Im sure itll turn our great. Are you doing a complete restoration?

It will not be a complete frame off like some do, but it will be a work on it as I can, drive it sometimes until it gets to a point of needing to do suspension type of restoration.

[ekgguy]

The first thing that I did was to give myself a little extra room in the cab, so that when I wanted to, I could drive it. I am a pretty big guy, 6'-4" and about 320, so fitting behind the steering wheel was a chore at best.



So we slid the steering wheel back closer to the dash about 4 inches and this is what we ended up with...



Then we removed the bench seat and installed a couple of buckets from a 2004 Chevy truck...



My nephew had to make sure they worked... We also relocated the shifter from the column to the floor with a Mr. Gasket shifter and removed the column shifter lever

[Elliot949]

Looks great... It doesn't look like what you are wanting to do wouldn't be real difficult... Just take it slow and the guys here on this board will be a HUGE help with direction and spending your money... LOL...

Also be focused... Make a list of what you want to do and a budget then stick to it... I didn't do that with the 67 "3 Deuces" and it has spun completely out of control... On the 71 "Haulin" I have a budget and a vision and I WILL come in on budget...

[ekgguy]

Originally Posted by Elliot949

Looks great... It doesn't look like what you are wanting to do wouldn't be real difficult... Just take it slow and the guys here on this board will be a HUGE help with direction and spending your money... LOL...

Also be focused... Make a list of what you want to do and a budget then stick to it... I didn't do that with the 67 "3 Deuces" and it has spun completely out of control... On the 71 "Haulin" I have a budget and a vision and I WILL come in on budget...

I completely agree. I have been on here for a while now and the board members have been ever so helpful with their knowledge and ability to recommend ways to spend money

[ekgguy]

I finally found the rest of the pictures I was looking for, now I can add them.

Left off on the seat installation and installing the floor shifter

[ekgguy]

Next, time to address the bed. There was some damage to the back of the passenger door and pretty much the whole passenger side of the bed.

I looked at just replacing the bedside and part of the floor that was rusted, but I found this bed in Oklahoma when we went up there to visit relatives




It had a nice solid floor and just a little damage from sitting like it is (I wish they had stored it upside down... but oh well). We struck a deal for $100 and I figured I could do some bodywork for that price.

I didn't have a way to bring it back at that time since we were in the wife's car, so a month or so later a buddy of mine and I made a road trip to get it.



Now comes the fun part

[ekgguy]

I have always loved the Pro-Street look. Great big steamroller tires on the back, regular sized on the front so it doesn't wander. Once my daughter decided she wasn't interested in the truck, I pretty much knew that was the direction I wanted to go.

So before putting the new bed on the truck, I figured it would be prudent to make the necessary adjustments to allow for the installation of these.



I took a lot of measurements and cross-referenced actual tire size and where the frame rails came into play and started cutting




A couple of cutting wheels and a few beverages later, I ended up with two great big holes in the floor

[ekgguy]

I also had this wonderful idea of trying to keep it "stock" looking by cutting the existing wheel tubs and extending them by approx. 10 inches.





It was at this point that I realized that if I needed to feed my family on my welding skills, we were going to starve. These are my first attempt at fabricating ANYTHING from scratch





They are still in the truck at this point, but will be removed and replaced with a set that was cut from 4 wheel tubs to retain the body line. I had it in my mind that since the bed was going to rhino-lined, that it wouldn't matter....

Not So Much.

[ekgguy]

Once I had the tubs semi completed, I got my dad and two nephews over (dad for supervision and nephews for muscle) and we put the new bed on...





A little adjustment here and there, some new carriage bolts and everything was locked into place.

BTW... I am the one with my head on the cab of the truck.

And... this is the way it stayed for several months. More time than money took over and well, you know... things happen.

[ekgguy]

Like I said before, Pro-Street was the way to go for me, but also, I gotta be me. I didn't want the usual 15 x 15 deep dish rims, I wanted something different.

I want a 15 x 15 STEEL wheel with custom offset and backspacing so I don't have to cut the frame rails and I want to run original 1968 dog dish hubcaps.

No biggie right.... again, Not. So. Much. Nobody makes that and those hubcaps are pretty much impossible to find.

Fine. I will just have them made. I purchased a set of 6 lug (oh yeah, I want to keep it 6 lug also) steel wheels from another board member here and started researching how this needed to happen. I got a lot of good advice from several people on the board about this and some suggestions of places to have it done, but those guys want an arm, leg and left ***.

My decision... I am going to do it myself. Anything they can do, I can do too.

Started with this...



Located all of the spot welds, ground through the outer wheel down to where I could see the different metals, put them in the freezer overnight, and the next morning with a really BFH, knocked the centers out.




That is the way those stayed until last month.

[ekgguy]

Until the last month, for about the last 7 months, the only thing that has been done to the truck is the installation of a '69 Camaro gas tank.




That is the way the truck has sat for pretty much the last 7 months. It has been parked at my parents house since we sold the house we were in, rented a house for a bit, finally bought a new one, did college stuff with one kid and wedding stuff with another, you know, life things. I kind of lost interest in working on it and there were so many other things to do.

Even then, like most car guys, you never really stop thinking about it. I was on the forum a couple times a week, looking at everyone's builds, perusing the for sale sections, checking craigslist and ebay... looking

Then about a month ago, two things happened that sparked my interest in getting up off my a$$ and getting something done.

First thing was I found a set of original hubcaps on ebay, they needed some work but it was a complete set of 4 and the guy thought he had a 5th one. They were listed for $40 each and he had a make offer option too. I made him an offer and he accepted it!



Second thing was coming across the thread by Elliot949 about "seeing your Dream truck in a rendering". That was a great idea. I contacted Chad (Hellaflush3d) and several emails and a couple of days later I had the renderings from Post 1.

[ekgguy]

Once Chad sent me the renderings, it was time to get started again. I contacted Speedway Motors and had them send me two of their 15 x 14 steel hoops



A little togetherness...



and a preview of what they may look like.. different offset of course



Again, thanks to the renderings Chad did, one major thing has changed. I was going to do the hubcaps in white with the copper striping, but I asked him to show me what they would look like chrome (even though it isn't original, it is close) and this did it for me...



This is where I am as of today. The hubcaps are out to be chromed and powder coated with the copper like the picture. The wheel centers are being welded into the hoops with the correct spacing so I will not have to narrow the rear axle or the frame rails.

And I am looking forward to a summer of long nights realizing the "VISION"

[ekgguy]

A couple of weeks ago, I orders a sample of the vinyl wrap that I want to use on my truck. A nice matte copper finish like the renderings.



They sent that sample, but they also sent a sample of the gloss copper...



So... being the man that I am, I looked at the wife and said "What do you think?" She said that she like the gloss better than the matte, but she would like to see what it looked like on the truck.

An email to Chad and.... PRESTO... one glossy copper 68 pickup



She LOVES the gloss copper. I like the matte copper. All of MY friends are taking her side with the glossy look.

So.... a question to the masses.... GLOSS or Matte???

So you don't have to scroll... here is the matte finish.

[Elliot949]

Gloss!!!!... By the way... here is the rendering Chad did for me... you are basically doing the same thing with the wheels I am doing...

[ekgguy]

Originally Posted by Elliot949

Gloss!!!!... By the way... here is the rendering Chad did for me... you are basically doing the same thing with the wheels I am doing...

Thanks Elliot... it is your fault (I mean your thread) that got me looking for Chad to do this..... I kind of like the wide whites, but not with the copper truck.

[Elliot949]

Thanks... yeah some things work better on some things...

[ekgguy]

I didn't get anything done on the truck this weekend, but, since Father's day is coming.... the wife gave me her Credit Card and said have a good time.....

So.... I have a "new to me" upright Craftsman Air Compressor



A new 220 mig welder



and the pleasure of trying to figure our where in amongst all of this stuff I am going to put everything, plus, she wants me to bring the truck to the house so I can work on it here.




Happy early Father's Day to me....

[swamp rat]

LOL! You have more room in that garage than i have in mine!

[Justin@EntropyRad]

kudos for wrapping...note: the gloss will last much longer due to the clear laminate, and wont get all wonky if a bird doops on it

[ekgguy]

Originally Posted by Justin@EntropyRad

kudos for wrapping...note: the gloss will last much longer due to the clear laminate, and wont get all wonky if a bird doops on it

I had that same thought... not about the bird stuff, but about the gloss finish making it last longer so I sent an email to 3M and asked them. Their reply was that the matte finish also has a clear laminate on it as well that protects if from dirt and fading due to the sun. Here in Texas, the sun will definitely be an issue.

[ekgguy]

Today I finally plumbed and wired up the 69 gas tank under the bed. It is so nice to have a working fuel gauge now. I also removed the old gas tank from behind the seats. Since I have early 2000 Chevy bucket seats, it actually gives me a little more room.

No pictures, but we all know what the gas tank in the cab looks like.... and what it looks like when it isn't there.

A little progress is better than none.

[ekgguy]

Got a few things done today that I am really excited about. I finally finished 1 wheel. The spacing is correct and it is fully welded and runs <1 all the way round on the dial indicator. I still have plenty of room behind the wheel, although the bump stop will have to be relocated somewhere, and I am going to need to move the emergency brake cable a little.



A shot down the side... nothing sticks out past the fender



There is plenty of room behind the wheels





Aaaaannnnndddd I threw my spare hubcap on just to see how it was going to look.... me likey



The backspacing to the part of the wheel that meets the hub



Front lip from the outer lip of the rim to the outer lip that fits the hub

[ekgguy]

This was an afternoons worth of work... If I ever find the person that put that white strip down the center of the bed....





Tomorrow... start filling in the divits and finish pulling the bottom of the bed.