Forever project "The Beast"

[YBNORML]

I figured I should finally start a build thread. First a little background info. Friends called it The Beast in high school, mostly because it was a huge piece of crap! I bought my 68' LB pickup on my 14th birthday. That means in just a few months I will have had her 20yrs.

I spent all of highschool trying to fix her up. By the time I was done school was long over. I finally got her painted in 1999. She looked good, but in retrospect it was a pretty cut-rate job. In 2001 (I think, been a long time) I was driving behind a friend. He thought it would be funny to pull the e-brake at 80km. I was obviously too close because I smoked him. I decided to pull her apart and build her properly.

The pic below is from the last show n' shine I attended in 2001. I had intended for the build to last a year or two and cost around $15,000. Haha, I know famous last words! Anyways it has been a long 11 years. I had a few delays. Bought a house, got married, had a son, got divorced, got remarried, had a daughter, sold/ bought new house. Along the way I managed to build a few other trucks and discovered motorcycles It is only because of my wife that I am finally making some serious headway on the 68. She wants to have one more child, we decided that if I didn't get this truck on the road before it is born, it might never happen.

Sorry for the long intro. I added some pics of the family for the heck of it

[YBNORML]

Now for some actual truck info. I'm digging back into the memory files here, so I might forget a few things.

In 2007 I bought a 3/4 ton long box frame. (A decision I would regret) The truck was junk, had been sitting in a farmer's field for years. The frame was beautiful though. I stripped the truck and had the frame shortened by a friend of a friend. He is a repair tech for CAT, did a beautiful job. I also discovered Nate at Porterbuilt. I promptly purchased a DM version1. Beginning of the end haha.

Unfortunately, a few set backs put the truck into storage till the summer of 2010.

By this time Nate had come a long way in developing his business and had come out with a bunch of cool things. I ordered a bolt-in DM rear. I stumbled across a sweetheart deal on a set of 22/24 foose nitrous 2's with rubber. My uncle had bought a 71-2wd blazer with them on it. He wanted 17's, I bought him the replacement wheels and he gave me the others. Sweet!!

I started mocking up the frame using the rolling gear from my original 68. The axle centers on the rear axles were larger than the hubs on the wheels. A quick trip to my local machine shop fixed that by machining out the rims. I temporarily mocked up the front using the stock control arms so that I could make it a roller.

The girl is my 5 yr old niece

[YBNORML]

In the fall/winter of 2010 we decided to move. We needed a bigger house for our growing family. We ended up buying a house that was signifigantly larger than our old home, oh yeah the shop went from a 24x26 with no heat to a 26x38 with heat/water

I decided to slap the truck together in order to move it. This brought to my attention to the problems the 3/4 ton frame would represent. Cab mounts are different.

In January of 2011 I started ordering parts from Nate. Tubular control arms, steering rack, sway bar, big block steering kit, hoodhinges, Accuair and a bolt-on body drop. In the summer I bought a complete but rotten 68 GMC for parts. I have moved three times since disassembling my truck and am missing all kinds of small parts

[YBNORML]

Now I could finally get to real work on the frame. I decided to paint the frame gloss black and all the bolt on parts are machine grey.

The rearend is a 68' unit. I picked up a 72' rear with a 3:73 posi unit. I had the guts from the 72' completely rebult and installed in the 68' housing.

[YBNORML]

A little info on the rest of the drive train. The motor is a 454. The tranny is a TH400. Both pieces came from a 1979 camper special. The truck used to belong to my old landlord. He was a friend of mine, we had a verbal agreement that I would rent the house from him for 3yrs. Luckily for me he needed to sell the house after two years. It was fine with me as I was ready to buy a house anyways. Still, he felt bad for breaking our agreement and signed the truck over to me for a dollar

The truck itself was quite rusty and not salvageable. The motor was replaced in 1994 with a GM parts crate motor. He was down south and the motor blew. Had it hauled to the closest dealership and had it replaced. The transmission was rebuilt approximately 2000km's earlier. He drove it sparingly until he gave it to me in 2006. It has less than 10,000km's on it. Eventually I will throw some performance stuff at but for now all it gets is a bit bigger cam and a shiny intake.

[CHYNSPR]

Super sweet...subscribed

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by CHYNSPR

Super sweet...subscribed

Thanks, there sure are alot more Edmonton and area guys on here than I thought.

[YBNORML]

Shortly after this pic was taken I put the cab and front clip back on the frame. This is when I finally figured out that the 3/4 ton cab mounts are different from 1/2 ton. No big deal, this was right around the time that Nate announced his bolt-on body drop. There goes another $700.

Once I got the Body drop installed I realized that I had even bigger problems. I f''d up when I ordered my tubular control arms. I ordered Nate's basic control arms, they were set up for a 8-1/2"rim with 5-1/2" of B.S. Unfortunately my fronts are 9-1/2" with 5-1/2" of B.S. Inorder to use these wheels I needed the arms narrowed 1".

I sold the arms to tk-mpl, he's a member here. At least a board member benefitted from my oops. The new arms are on order and should be here any day. This is where my project sits now, stalled out waiting on parts. Once the arms get here, I will start real time updates.

[Slammed66]

Another seriously Awsome truck being built in Alberta!! Looks sweet !!!
Posted via Mobile Device

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by Slammed66

Another seriously Awsome truck being built in Alberta!! Looks sweet !!!
Posted via Mobile Device

Thanks, I'm hoping to be cruising this spring/summer.

[trevorrhine]

Wow. This truck is turning out great. Its pretty cool that you've had it for so long and all, makes the whole project that much better. I'm hoping to get my truck painted up nice and on the road and then down the line I want to do the porterbuilt suspension as well. I plan on having her for a very long time as well.

Nice job so far, I look forward to the progress....check out my build if you get the chance sometime. I need to update it, but you'll get the general idea...

[67cheby]

HOLY SMOKES....i missed all of this ??? BEAUTIFUL !

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by trevorrhine

Wow. This truck is turning out great. Its pretty cool that you've had it for so long and all, makes the whole project that much better. I'm hoping to get my truck painted up nice and on the road and then down the line I want to do the porterbuilt suspension as well. I plan on having her for a very long time as well.

Nice job so far, I look forward to the progress....check out my build if you get the chance sometime. I need to update it, but you'll get the general idea...

Thanks, I almost got rid of her a few times. Obviously I didn't, whew.

[Slammed66]

did you by chance order a 30" steering column from super scott to alleiviate some angle on the steering u joints??? if so how is it working out????????

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by Slammed66

did you by chance order a 30" steering column from super scott to alleiviate some angle on the steering u joints??? if so how is it working out????????

Wasn't me, I try not to use Scott's. Just some past history that left a bad taste in my mouth. I have a floor shift van tilt that a friend of mine is going to shorten to truck specs.

[yukonchev]

nice build if you dont use scotts may i ask where you get your parts

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by yukonchev

nice build if you dont use scotts may i ask where you get your parts

A friend of mine used to own a new parts business. When he decided to shut her down, I bought most of his inventory. I think I have almost everything I need. Anything I don't have I will probably order from one of the board vendors that is willing to ship to Canada.

[lolife99]

Subscribing!
That big block looks good in there.

[zammer]

Wow, B-E-Utiful.
I'd like to check out your truck and Blazer of course sometime..
NIce to see your family is behind you on the dream.. I'm 32 in April and have 2 kids as well and if they didn't have interest or understanding with my garage projects it would make them impossible to start/complete and enjoy of course.
When i get my blazer on the road I wanna do a swb also with Nates goods.. Pretty far away but one can hope anyways
Kris

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by zammer

Wow, B-E-Utiful.
I'd like to check out your truck and Blazer of course sometime..
NIce to see your family is behind you on the dream.. I'm 32 in April and have 2 kids as well and if they didn't have interest or understanding with my garage projects it would make them impossible to start/complete and enjoy of course.
When i get my blazer on the road I wanna do a swb also with Nates goods.. Pretty far away but one can hope anyways
Kris

Thanks. My door is always open anytime your in the area. I'm just off of yellowhead and 82st.

[Slammed66]

I may have to come kreep. I'm thru Edmonton once a week.
Posted via Mobile Device

[YBNORML]

Slammed66 : My door is open anytime you want to stop by. PM sent

Zammer : PM sent

[n2billet]

Very Nice Build!

[Hart_Rod]

Sweet build!!!
Posted via Mobile Device

[YBNORML]

Thanks for the compliments guys,

Not much of an update but I got some parts today Control arms should be painted and fitted by the end of the weekend. Then the fun really begins