68 build

[Scott68-93-97]

Dont know the excact direction I'm going to take this project yet I bought the truck in May 06' and drove it home for $1500. It had a 350 basically stock with edelbrock intake and carb, a 700r4, tube upper and lower A-arms,lowering spings on all 4 corners, and the smothie cap rally rims (chrome). Interior had a 89 chevy bench seat 60/40 and grant steering wheel. The motor started ticking on the way home which I wasn't sure what to expect with a truck that had not ran in 2 years before we attemped to fire it when I purchased it. It was found to be a rocker stud pulling out I tightend it and it came loose again, so I have some 487x heads off a 70' LT/1 that I ported and gasket matched along with brass valve guides new hardened exhaust seats and a 3 angle valve job, along with re surfacing the valves, I also installed edelbrock 110 lb. spings. So that will be my fix for that problem while in there I plan to install a proven cam from a previos build on my old Malibu which is a comp cams x-treme energy 268xeh. For the rest of the truck I have been removing paint to find rust and previous repairs so far not to bad most of the damage was in the front driver side which included an unfixable hood, and a flatened front grille which i spent 15 hours fixing before my roomate hit it in the driveway during a garage cleaning session so in went another 10 hours of cutting , heating, welding, hammer and dolly and now I'm still not happy with it so its a good thing tripro auto is going to be selling those soon. My plan for now is to get it a reliable driver until i finish my 97' which has a long way to go(I'll have a build thread on that shortly) A couple other things I did was replaced all the accesories brand new with new brackets and pulleys from Chevrolet and converted to the internal regulated alt., a four core radiator and a clutch fan off a camaro. So heres so pics trucks a little on the dirty side right now but tell me what you guys think.

Thanks

Scott

[powell72]

I like it, I didn't even know you could get a complete running swb for $1500 anymore.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looks like it will be a nice project ..

[Scott68-93-97]

Heres a picture when I brought it home

[edflores]

you came up. i've been looking for a 67-72 swb for a long time. i come across lwb for cheap but not short fleets. motor ticks arm not uncommon for a truck sitting. i got my valves adjusted on my chevy that sat for 2 years and it ran great for 6 months until i sold it. lets us know on the progress. what are your plans??

[Scott68-93-97]

Plans are a full resto, still deciding on a custom frame or not I might just go with porterbuilts dropmember, but it will gets bags, shaved park lamps, on the fence with shaving door handles( I like functionability ) the tranny is slipping so I'm probably going to keep the 700r4 and rebuild it, the motor for know will get new heads and cam but plans for a 383 are in effect. Disc brake all four corners is going to be a must because I want to drive this thing hard, and Im on the fence with the rear suspension not sure if I want the stock trailing arms (for traction reasons) so I might go to a four link to help out weight tranfer during hard launches. Gas tank will be moved along with replacing the metal floor with a wood floor.

For the guys who have already done there trucks Im open to suggestions on the rear suspension, has anyone tryed to hook up with the trailing arms, I know on my 97 I converted to trailing arms from leafs when I bagged it and now I can do a 200ft + burnout, so i need this thing to grab with plans for 500+ ponies.

[PanelDeland]

Trailing arms work well.There are some members who use them on street/strip trucks.Also though it's not straight line NASCAR uses trailing arms.

[Scott68-93-97]

Thanks, just from experience I haven't had them hook up well, NASCAR does use them but there also not designed for hard launches. I'm trying to bulid a truck that carves corners as good as it launches, so the NASCAR set up will definatly work for that. If the do work well Im going to keep them, just don't want to tear it apart after I build it. Going from leafs to trailing arms in my other truck worked well but the thing has absolutly no traction at all off the line. Makes for some good donuts with that and a locker, I can look at the window and my front inner tire almost doesn't move from the one spot just spins right around it, makes you feel like your in a car not a truck.

[71tahoe]

You just have too much HP!

Have you heard the "if you can grab the $100 bill off the dash you can have it" story? Well this isn't one of them but you get the idea.

I was a passenger with my stepbrother and my dad was driving his 66 SWB, 283, 3-on-tree, coil rear. He was kind of upset because it was sputtering and said he was going to "blow the soot out of it". It didn't launch real hard but it felt like the springs in the seat left an impression on my back AND the gas tank before he got through the intersection. It hit 95 quick and I don't remember it spinning a tire. Also, it was an open rear end.

Leaf springs will absorb some of the shock on launch and release it more slowly but the same thing can be done with wrinkle wall tires.

Sounds like you want something you can dial in. Maybe go for a 4link with coilovers? I'm not smart enough so I still run the trailing arms.

[Scott68-93-97]

71 tahoe do you have microsoft excel if so I have a 4 link bar calculator I can send you. I use to use it when I had my shop, it will tell you how much understeer you'll have anti squat so on and so on, Im just seeing if anyone has had good launching sucsess with the trailing arms before I decide to cut into this thing. If I had a way to show you the video of the 68 dont know if I can load it on this site, the thing already burns out for as far as you can see and it has a plain stock 350 with intake and carb. Of course it is open diff, one tire fire woo hoo

[OlChev67]

cool truck, I like the plans keep us updated with plenty o pics

[71tahoe]

Originally Posted by Scott68-93-97

71 tahoe do you have microsoft excel if so I have a 4 link bar calculator I can send you. I use to use it when I had my shop, it will tell you how much understeer you'll have anti squat so on and so on, Im just seeing if anyone has had good launching sucsess with the trailing arms before I decide to cut into this thing. If I had a way to show you the video of the 68 dont know if I can load it on this site, the thing already burns out for as far as you can see and it has a plain stock 350 with intake and carb. Of course it is open diff, one tire fire woo hoo

Scott that would be great. I have a project that will probably require a custom frame and a 4link would be perfect. Can you attach it to a PM(haven't tried that yet)? If not, I'll send my e-mail address.

I bought a truck a little over 2 years ago that had been badly abused. Someone raced it and it "appeared" to have a little work done especially for launching. The front coils were cut and the upper bump stops were trimmed so the front end would come up higher. That's supposed to transfer weight to the rear. I know you can also put shocks on the front that allow quick rise and slow fall to help with this. The rear coils were heated but the passenger was about a half to 3/4" taller. I suspect this was for some pre-load to force that side down more? I have also seen kits to put airbags in the rear springs for this too.

That's about all I can think of with my limited experience.

[Scott68-93-97]

Well times are tough and Im a construction superintendent so my industry is not looking so great so i decided to go back to school and get a degree in fire science specializing in fire investigation and go thru the academy and being a single parent with no time I decided to sell the truck, it broke my heart but its been sitting for a while, I dont have time for it and now with fulltime work, fulltime daddy, and school that equals absolutaly no time for the truck. I was asking 3200 and within 1/2 hr my phone rang with about 15 people wanting to see it that night and it sold to the first guy that came. Im glad the sale went well and Im heartbroken over the thing but the well being of my son and I is more important, I'll find another one day good luck to you guys and your builds! I still have my 97 air ride truck to finish too! and Im always updating my rock crawler with newer stronger stuff so the 68 is better off with someone who has the time to spend on her....goodbye ol' truck you will be missed

[primered_junk]

I like it. I'd trade my 72 for one like that. Good luck with your build.

[72BlckButy]

Scott68-93-97, sorry to hear that you had to sell the '68, but it sounds like your head is in the right spot. You will find another one, but be sure to hang around the board. Just because you sold the '68 doesn't mean that you have to leave.

Best of luck!

[Scott68-93-97]

I'll be on when I can, trying to juggle work, school and parenting is a lot of fun, I really enjoy the people on here so I'll be on here still and I'll be updating my 97 build soon since I still have that one! One day when I have more time and I'll find one who knows my son is about to be 3, maybe when hes about 14-15 I'll start looking again so we can build it together for his first truck its a bit down the road but by then I should have more time for this kind of stuff