1968 Chevrolet SWB Stepside Restomod

[Xeen]

Hi all
First I will introduce myself, my name is Brian.

Ok now for some back story on my truck.
I started looking for a short wheel base truck having no prefrence on whether it was a fleetside or stepside I like both, and after about a month of looking I ran across this stepside that was a two owner, unfortunately it was used as a farm truck and had gone through a couple of different drive trains so it was no longer numbers matching.

The truck had also been wrecked some years before I got a hold of it and the frame was bent just in front of the suspension crossmember.

I found this good old boy that had worked at Pontiac in their body shop for 25+ years and he had his own frame machine and he straightened it for me for $250 which I thought was a reasonable price.

After she was straight I started on the frame restoration which is where the pictures for my project starts. This truck will be used as a daily driver, Enjoy.

[67cheby]

welcome, lets see it start !!

[Xeen]

Here are some pictures of some parts I refurbished and or purchased for the build Enjoy.

[Xeen]

Yeesh I really need to shrink these pictures a bit for future updates.

[67cheby]

you might try to resize the pics maybe like 640x480 ? just a suggestion, they are pretty big ! NICE PARTS

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

you might try to resize the pics maybe like 640x480 ? just a suggestion, they are pretty big ! NICE PARTS

haha yeah they are quite large, Ive got a 27" monitor so its hard to tell what might be too large for the "standard" monitor size of 19", but in the future I will shrink them down so that people dont have to side scroll to see the other half of the picture.

[Tinkermc]

well lets start with welcome to the forum!!!! That was a deal on frame work. It will be nice to watch a budget minded dailey driver build.

[Xeen]

Here are some pictures of the rolling chassis, Enjoy.
.
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[Xeen]

Im doing this entire project outside so I can only work on it weather permitting.

Yesterday I fabricated some Shock mount reinforcement brackets out of some steel I had just laying around.
The plan was to save some money by fabricating my own but while I was drilling the mounting holes I killed a 3/8" drill, so inorder to finish the bracket I had to buy a new drill, so I went down to Harbor Freight and bought one of their Professional Series Magnesium variable speed 1/2" drills.

Ouch there goes my "on the cheap" plan it ended up costing me the same amount of money, however on the bright side I got a nice new drill out of the deal.

Heres a pic of the brackets installed.

[VA72C10]

Nice looking rolling chassis! and good work on the reinforcing brackets!

[Xeen]

Oh I almost forgot I ordered some rear shock mount relocators today since the rear suspension has a 4" drop its probably a good idea to change the angle of the shock.

[Xeen]

I decided that I wanted to upgrade the brakes to Power Front Disk so I gathered the parts I needed and went to work.
It is a Hybrid retrofit between 71 and 72 parts.
I picked up some new 71' ball joints.
It turns out the spindles were donated from a 71' "Camper Special" so they are heavy half.
I also picked up 71' Steering linkages.
Im still using my 68 front cross member so I cut off the brake hose mounts and will move them to the front of the cross member when I get around to it.
I used a 72' Stainless steel brake line kit and because of that I will be replacing the frame brace behind the rear axle with a 72' version, because I dont have the tools I need to make a hexagon shaped hole and the metal shop wants $45 to make one for me so its just as cheap to replace it entirely.
I have a 1971 rear axle and the factory T-fitting mount is in the wrong place so I fabricated a bracket to attach to the rear axle housing cover like factory and installed a 71' rear hose.
I probably should have used a 72' hose but I didnt think it would make that much of a difference so I didnt worry about it.
I still have a little more work to do to button it up.

Front brake lines installed.


Rear brake lines installed.


Unfortunately the rear suspension cross member and corresponding frame mount locations are completely rotted out so both will need to be replaced soon which is why it is left unpainted.
I will also be refurbishing the rear axle while that work is being completed.
Thanks for looking.

[Xeen]

I am planning on installing a 700R4 transmission and I know im going to have to replace the manual transmission crossmember with an automatic version.
What I dont know is if I need to keep my tall transmission tunnel cover or if I can get away with converting it to the short version.
I would appreciate some advice on this from someone who has actually executed this application so I can plan in advance before I actually attempt it so there are no surprises.
Thanks in advance.

[67cheby]

looking good !

[Xeen]

I bought this cab for $300 and it looked excellent.
It already had all rotted metal replaced and was real solid, however knowing appearances can be decieving (you guys know what im talking about).
I decided to break out the side angle grinder and a Polycarbide disk and remove the primer on the cab corner and boy was I dissapointed.
The previous owner had done one of the worst cab corner replacement jobs I had ever seen on the passenger side.
Not only did he not remove all of the original rusty thinned metal there were holes all over the place.
There was also 1/4th of an inch of bondo because the brand new cab corner was caved in so instead of replacing or straightening the damaged piece he just layed mud on it.
So im going to have to replace the corner.
Sigh...
Heres a pic.



The Drivers side cab corner is just as bad, but that isnt the only problem on the drivers side.
When the rocker and corner were replaced he lost the fit and fair and it slipped towards the front so the rocker hangs off the front of the cab 1/4th of an inch.
The door wont even open or close without scraping on both sides even with the door and front fender yanked as far forward as possible.
Sigh...
So now im going to have to dismantle the entire drivers side move it back into factory fit and fair specs before I can finish up my cab.
Sorry no pictures for the drivers side right now I will add them when I start tearing into it.

/rant on

I just dont understand why in the hell people do things when they dont understand the proper way to do it.
/rant off

[VA72C10]

Good thing it's in an area that isn't too bad to fix.... but stinks since you thought it was good to go already....

[Tinkermc]

sorry 4 your bad news

[Xeen]

How long does it take for Krylon Rust Tough Enamel to dry in 100% humidity at 70-F? I dont know but im about to find out, I just sprayed it on the radiator support where the lower radiator retainers mount so I can instal them later today, It will drop to 85% humidity in about 2 hours and continue to drop every hour after that so it should speed up the drying process at that point and I should be able to instal it in about 6-8 hours.

[Xeen]

After spot spraying the radiator support yesterday I came to my senses and decided to pull and refinish the whole thing.
Pictures later tonight.

[Xeen]

Heres the pic of the painted radiator support.



I also started on the grill today, I will finish it tommorow and get a picture up.

[Xeen]

Heres a pic of the grill after I masaged all the dents, sanded it down to bare metal and shot it with Krylon Rust Tough, this is a temporary safe guard against rust untill I can get the truck painted since it sits outside.

[Xeen]

I reassembled the Front Clip today after painting the Core Support and the Grill Shell.

It looks so much better now and it gives me an idea what the truck is going to look like Satin Black.

[Xeen]

The front parking lights on the truck have been bothering me because with the clear lenses they show any discolorations behind the lense in the light housing.
I got the idea of cleaning it up and painting it with Bright Silver paint, so I picked up some duplicolor rattle can Aluminum Chrome colored paint and sprayed it on and WOW what a difference it makes.

Heres a Pic, Enjoy and feel free to use this idea on your truck.

[Tinkermc]

that front end sure looks nice.

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by Tinkermc

that front end sure looks nice.

Thanks man I appreciate that.
Im getting rid of that hood though it was crushed dead center on the top
and it comprimised the raised center line and it would be very difficult to get it right
again, so ive decided hey lets do something fun, after all this is a restomod
project so why not put a steel Cowl Induction hood on it.