My 68' Chevorlet c10 shortbed stepside truck 2wd project

[Oldschool68]

First off thanks for having me on here once again!! I have been working on my 68' Chevorlet c10 shortbed stepside truck 2wd since highschool!! Im only 23, so much has been done and its time for it to be done!! The truck was original til I got my hands on it!! It had the original inline-6 250 with the 3-speed manual and the 4:11 12 bolt rearend!! I have shaved everything except for the door handles, locks, and window wipers to give the truck a more cleaner look!! Then I have took out the inline-6 250,3speed and swapped it with a built 87' Big Block Chevorlet 454 that has been bored .60 over to a 468! Dom top pistons, 280 fordge cam,double roller chain, lined, decked, and balanced, all new rods, bearnings, push rods, freeze plugs etc!! Ran a set of Oval Port heads with 2.19/1.88 one piece stainless steel valves, a Performer Intake and Truck Avenger 750cfm carb!!The whole motor has been built from the ground up by Tuff Enuf Racing in Avondale,AZ! Then I have had a Th350 built up with a 2500 stall slapped behind the big bloc!! Im in the process of getting the Original 12 bolt rearend built with posi and 3.73 gear ratio!! I will add some motor and tranny pics soon!! Here are some pics of what I have done to my truck!! I actually had the whole truck together ready for paint til a new Dodge Ram ran a red light and I hit him at 65mph!! I have some accident pics around here somewhere just cant find em at the moment!! So I went ahead and tore the whole frame apart, gutted everything!! I was gonna box the whole frame in but since im on a shortness of time I went ahead and ran some 1/4" welds along the crossmembers to strenghten the frame as well as the brackets for the trailing arms!! This truck had the original ball joints in it, so I got to fight all the original rivets in this frame!! I must of had to drill and tap out about 75 of em, then it was off to the powder coater!!

[oscareltemblo]

Nice project keep us updated.

[Palf70Step]

Loooks and sounds like your off to a good start. We like picture builds .

[oscareltemblo]

BTW are you keeping the front suspension or upgrading?

[Oldschool68]

Thanks for looking at my pics and posting!! I have upgraded the front suspension with CPP upgrade kit!! It came with 2 cross drilled 13" rotors 5 lug, 2 dust plate, bearnings and stainless steel brake hose, 2.5" drop spindles, brake calipers(thinkin about running a 4 piston caliper)! All the tie rods, pitman arm, ilder arm, ball joints,sway bars for front and rear!! Also I have ordered some 3" drop coils for the front to make it 5.5 and some 5" drop coils for the rear with the relocation shock mounts and 2" drop blocks!! So yeah somewhat upgrade I guess!! Just with that much horsepower up front I wanna be able to brake better then drums! Lol belive me I know what its like trying to stop on a dime at 65mph with drum!! All the steering linkage, suspenision parts, u-bolts, upper and lower shafts are being powder coated Hammered Blue since the truck will be painted Metallic Blue!! I will be sure to update the powder coating ASAP! Again thanks for looking and be sure to ask many questions!!

[oscareltemblo]

How much wre the brakes? and are you keeping the stock a-arms if you aren't will you sell the lower pair?

[Oldschool68]

Well the brake kit was about 700 with shipping then I bought all the steering components seperate!! Yeah im keeping the lower control arms, actually check out part 2 on my building of this truck and you will see all the stuff that I have got powder coated so far!! Also CCP sells a pair of stock lower control arms for 1963-72 for only 238.00 plus shipping!!

[shifty]

wow, did someone really weld the trailing arms on like that?

[Oldschool68]

The trailing arm brackets yes I did!! I weld for a living and decided to give the frame a little bit more strength to get it from flexing with 510hp up front!! Would of box the whole frame but didnt feel like dealing with it this time!! I have much other projects among this one!! Im hopin to have this project done in the next 4 months for the Truckin Nationals in Phx,AZ at the Firebird Raceway!! And if that means im cruzin in primer then shall I be.........

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looks like your off to a good start... Welcome to the board...

[TugOwar]

good lookin start

[oscareltemblo]

any updates on this.

[stllookn]

I have never seen the T-arm mounts break but have seen plenty of the arms fold up under normal HP! I would look them over carefully and think about beefing them up. The 3/4 t. trucks had beefier arms but you could just weld some plates on the top and bottoms easier.

Check the "u-bolts" holding the lower "A" arms to the cross member. Make sure you have the big ones...3/8 or 7/16. At some point in '67-'68 they beefed them up because they were breaking. You can just drill the holes out and put bigger "u-bolts" in place. Several members have had the skinny ones break...resulting in an unintended radical right or left turn! Just my 0.02...LOL!

Nice start!

[bigfredtn]

If I were you I would do one thing different. You are building alot of motor for a TH-350. I would look for a TH-400. That engine you have will have a lot of HP and Torque. The TH 400 will last longer than the TH 350.