1968 C10 LWB build

[ekgguy]

I am the proud new owner of a brand new (to me) 1968 lwb C10. I bought it on Thursday of last week and found this forum on Friday.

Here are a couple of pictures of what I am starting with...



There are several small rust spots and then one pretty good damage spot on the passengers side.....



but that is really the extent of the work I am going to have to fix.

I have already poured through a couple of the builds and am in awe of the talent that I have seen.

I do have a couple of questions that I haven't found the answers for and may find when I keep looking, but I am going to throw them out there so I can be pointed in the right direction.

1. I am a pretty big guy and I just barely fit in the drivers side and the steering wheel is very hard to turn because of it hitting me. What is the best way to resolve that? As it will have to be one of the first things I do so I can drive the truck.

2. The truck came with the original inline 6 and 3-speed manual transmission. They are going to be replaced with a small block V-8 and either a powerglide or turbo 400, whichever one I find first. Do I need to replace the springs in the front end with stiffer ones to accomodate the weight of the larger motor?

3. Along with #2 above, would it be even better just to put airbags in? I plan on doing a 4 link for the rear end so I can accommodate some larger rubber and will probably use airbags for that.

I will be looking through the suspension portion here in the near future and will try to answer my questions, but any help is greatly appreciated.

I look forward to being a helpful part of this forum as well.