First Ride Reborn: 68 CST

[Maxxd07]

The story starts about 15 years ago when it was a few months before my 14th birthday and my pops and myself were at a local auction sale. They had a 67 and this 68 CST there and for some reason I fell in love with both. I think my pops figured it out and supprised me with the 68. I would be getting my drivers licence in a few months and it would be my first ride. It came with a 283 4spd but was a factory 327 3OTT. The old guy that was selling out had painted it but with what I dont know since it was rougher than 80 grit sandpaper. Rust was minimal and it was pretty straight except for the back end which had a bowed tailgate and a few dents around the tail lights. It needed mirrors, seatbelts, lights fixed and an inspection from the NDHP to be legal. Done and done. I drove it for about a year and a half and the 283 gave it up. We had a 327 so it went under a mild rebuild. Ran that for another year and stuck a junkyard 700R4 and a ratchet shifter in it and ran it through my first year of college. During that time I smoked the tranny, had it rebuilt cheaply and then the front bushing went out and I smoked it again. Then for some reason instead of fixing it I started taking it apart thinking I was going to redo some stuff. Well that never happend so the engine was donated to another project. The summer after the second year of college the chevy garage I was working at put new rockers and cab corners and patched a small area of floor for me. After that its been sitting in storage for about 9 years. Now its time to get it running again. Plans call for 5 lug conversion, short box conversion, mild drop, and probably a 350/350 combo. I picked up an 80 2wd lwb at an auction for a song on accident a few years back that will donate the body to my 80 4wd so it is donating the front end, tranny, power brakes and maybe a few other little things. So now for some pics:
This was back in college at the car show. The red tailgate was a flawless original I scored from my dads cousin for $40.

This was about 10 years ago before the body work.

These are unfortunatly the only pics I have of it before yesterday.

[Maxxd07]

Yesterday was the day I restarted. I have pulled the 80 apart so I could get some room in the shop. I pulled the front end off and put the one off the 80 on. the only thing left is to drill the 2 holes that dont line up and its mounted. These pics are horrible since they are from a cell phone. I will try to keep the camera with me and take lots of pics since everybody loves them.



Here are some pics of the 80 silverado during teardown.



This will be a fairly low buck build. I am going to try and use alot of stuff I have and not get too carried away. I want to be driving this thing this summer if at all possible.

[Maxxd07]

A few updates but no pics. Tore down the suspension for a rebushing and paint. Took the crossmember back off, blasted and am painting it with por-15. Hope to get the A-arm bushings in next weekend and finish painting this week if I can get home from work in time. I was thinking about a drop so I was wondering if I cut one coil off the springs how much drop should I expect?

[Maxxd07]

A little progress, I got the bushings in the lower control arms. I thought it would be a tough thing to do but if there is a will there is a way. I did the uppers a couple weeks ago and they were pretty easy. They came out with an air hammer and went in with a socket, pretty straight forward. The lower ones on the other hand seemed to be a challenge. I burned the rubber out and got the shaft out. Since they have the "U" shape to them I thought the bushing would go in tough but they went in just fine. I had to find something big enough to fit over the rubber but catch the steel lip of the bushing. I had nothing around that would fit, no pipe, no sockets big enough but I got to looking at a caliper that was sitting there and WALLA! The piston seemed to be the right size so I removed it and it was PERFECT! So I tapped them in with a hammer. I found as long as you tapped the split side of the control arm every few taps they go right in. Now for pics.










Got the ball joints out and ready to blast and paint next weekend. Hopefully I will have enough time to finnaly start getting it back together. I ended up busy saturday so after church and the churches annual meeting it only left me from 2:30 till about 7:00 to work on it since the wifey wanted to watch a movie tonight.

[Maxxd07]

I also welded in a piece from the 80 frame. About a 2"x3" piece that holds the brake lines. I am using the same brake lines from the 80 except they wil be new, so I wanted them to mount in the same way. I cut it out of the frame, flattened it and welded it in the 68 frame. I know it seems like a lot of work but it was quicker than finding a way to make them and I cut out a slot on the frame that I would have had to fill in to install the lines where I wanted them to go anyways.