67 C10 lwb to K10 swb conversion project

[68 TT]

I just worked a deal with a co-worker for one of his spare trucks. It is a 67 GMC fleetside shortbed so it has rear leaf springs. It is a little rough and is just a roller but the price is right.

I am going to convert it to a 4x4 using the square body engine crossmember & front springs if possible and put my TBI 350, 4L60E & NP208 into it and convert it to run 3/4-ton axles once I get some 4.10 gears for the front to match my 14-bolt.

Since the GMC has the 67/78 Chevy style hood, fenders & core support it will be easy to make look like the 67 Chevy shortbed I really wanted.

Now all I have to do is put the money together and pick it up before it gets buried in snow for the winter.

[pickup67man]

Let me know if you don't want the GMC parts of the front end. My parts truck has some good parts and some rusty parts for my suburban project. You aren't that far away and sometimes I need a good road trip.

[Captainfab]

Co-worker? You must be back to work Mike?

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by pickup67man

Let me know if you don't want the GMC parts of the front end. My parts truck has some good parts and some rusty parts for my suburban project. You aren't that far away and sometimes I need a good road trip.

The only parts I won't be using will be the grille and headlight supports plus the GMC tail gate. The core support, fenders & hood will stay in place and get used with the 67-68 Chevy grille.

Probably won't use the front bumper either.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Co-worker? You must be back to work Mike?

Yes, I started a new job. Not what I had been doing for the past twenty years but what I was doing in the air force. I am once again a machinist. I had to shelve my education but at least I have a job again.

No CNC equipment but otherwise a fully equipped fab shop.

[pickup67man]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

The only parts I won't be using will be the grille and headlight supports plus the GMC tail gate. The core support, fenders & hood will stay in place and get used with the 67-68 Chevy grille.

Probably won't use the front bumper either.

Yeah the front ends are very similar, my other truck is a 67. Don't know if the core support from the GMC will work because the headlights mount to it and they could be in a different place with the quad set up. Haven't looked close at mine yet. I used a core support from a 69 Chev on my 67 Chev and had to do some cutting and welding so my headlight were positioned right. Wasn't much work for a free, rust free core support that fit a 4 core radiator.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

Yes, I started a new job. Not what I had been doing for the past twenty years but what I was doing in the air force. I am once again a machinist. I had to shelve my education but at least I have a job again.

No CNC equipment but otherwise a fully equipped fab shop.

Congrats, I didn't realize you were back at cranking handles? I am a "manager" by title but I try to get out there on the floor every day to make chips. Most of the time on the manual machines.......cncs are nice but it's really hard to find anyone under 30 that can machine anything manually.

What kind of parts you building.? don't underate yourself, I'm pretty proud of my machinist roots. Plus here in OK you can easily make over $60k as a high end machinist. Not too sure the "recession" ever really killed the market here for good machinists? I know I sure have a hard time finding them.....

[Captainfab]

I agree....there's absolutely nothing wrong with being an machinist, whether you are running manual machines or CNC. Although I agree, a machinist that can run a manual machine is becoming harder to find.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Congrats, I didn't realize you were back at cranking handles? I am a "manager" by title but I try to get out there on the floor every day to make chips. Most of the time on the manual machines.......cncs are nice but it's really hard to find anyone under 30 that can machine anything manually.

What kind of parts you building.? don't underate yourself, I'm pretty proud of my machinist roots. Plus here in OK you can easily make over $60k as a high end machinist. Not too sure the "recession" ever really killed the market here for good machinists? I know I sure have a hard time finding them.....

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by pickup67man

Yeah the front ends are very similar, my other truck is a 67. Don't know if the core support from the GMC will work because the headlights mount to it and they could be in a different place with the quad set up. Haven't looked close at mine yet. I used a core support from a 69 Chev on my 67 Chev and had to do some cutting and welding so my headlight were positioned right. Wasn't much work for a free, rust free core support that fit a 4 core radiator.

The quad headlight bucket supports on the GMC's are spot welded to a 67-68 Chevy style core support. The access holes for the single headlights and the square holes for the adjusters are even there too.
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[68 TT]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Congrats, I didn't realize you were back at cranking handles? I am a "manager" by title but I try to get out there on the floor every day to make chips. Most of the time on the manual machines.......cncs are nice but it's really hard to find anyone under 30 that can machine anything manually.

What kind of parts you building.? don't underate yourself, I'm pretty proud of my machinist roots. Plus here in OK you can easily make over $60k as a high end machinist. Not too sure the "recession" ever really killed the market here for good machinists? I know I sure have a hard time finding them.....

I am by title a maintenance machinist. Lots of machinist work plus welding and a whole lot of troubleshooting to figure out what broke so I can fix it. My mechanical skills come into play quite a bit too.

It is never very repetitive so it keeps me on my toes.
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[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

I am by title a maintenance machinist. Lots of machinist work plus welding and a whole lot of troubleshooting to figure out what broke so I can fix it. My mechanical skills come into play quite a bit too.

It is never very repetitive so it keeps me on my toes.
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Sounds like a great gig to me. I hope you have the ability to slip in a "government" personal job if you need one for your build. That's always a great fringe benefit.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Sounds like a great gig to me. I hope you have the ability to slip in a "government" personal job if you need one for your build. That's always a great fringe benefit.

I enjoy it and there are plenty of opportunities for government jobs which makes it even better.

[1970 custom]

I have a few questions did u use the stock front cab mount on the 74 4x4 frame or all new mounts I have a swb 4x4 frame for a78 been wondering how u did it do u have more pics of the mounts on truck like core support and cab it would be very helpful if u did thanks billy
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[68 TT]

Originally Posted by 1970 custom

I have a few questions did u use the stock front cab mount on the 74 4x4 frame or all new mounts I have a swb 4x4 frame for a78 been wondering how u did it do u have more pics of the mounts on truck like core support and cab it would be very helpful if u did thanks billy

The square body cab mounts are in the wrong place up front and at the core support and on the wrong side of the frame on the rear cab mount.

You are better off fitting a set of 67-72 cab mount brackets to the square body frame.

The big problem is the curves of the frame just don't play well with the 67-72 truck floor pans and bed construction. With the bed bolted to the frame the cab needs to be above the frame rails about 2" to line up. A 3" body lift can fix this but I didn't want mine to sit that high. I can fabricate a 2" front cab mount bracket extension to make it all work as I have it but I am going a different direction now.

I got a good deal on a 67 short bed leaf spring C10 truck so I am going to retrofit it with the square body front leaf springs & engine crossmember out of this project to make it a 4x4 truck instead of pursuing this square body frame retrofit project any further. I really wanted a short bed and this opportunity to make the cab mounting stock and get the short bed too was just too good to pass up, even with all the time I have put into this project. I just need to come up with the rest of the funds to finish paying for it then I can get back to work on this project.

[1970 custom]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

The square body cab mounts are in the wrong place up front and at the core support and on the wrong side of the frame on the rear cab mount.

You are better off fitting a set of 67-72 cab mount brackets to the square body frame.

The big problem is the curves of the frame just don't play well with the 67-72 truck floor pans and bed construction. With the bed bolted to the frame the cab needs to be above the frame rails about 2" to line up. A 3" body lift can fix this but I didn't want mine to sit that high. I can fabricate a 2" front cab mount bracket extension to make it all work as I have it but I am going a different direction now. M

I got a good deal on a 67 short bed leaf spring C10 truck so I am going to retrofit it with the square body front leaf springs & engine crossmember out of this project to make it a 4x4 truck instead of pursuing this square body frame retrofit project any further. I really wanted a short bed and this opportunity to make the cab mounting stock and get the short bed too was just too good to pass up, even with all the time I have put into this project. I just need to come up with the rest of the funds to finish paying for it then I can get back to work on this project.

Ok so basicly I can put the truck on the frame just a little body lift I cool with that I have long beds so I can cut my bed to fit the 78 frame with out cutting the frame so u can fab up the front mount for corse support if so how much u charge to fab me up some I don't have the tools here to build that nor the know how but I can weld go figure
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[Pewterliftedz]

did you ever get a chance to get any pics of your modified front cab mounts? before deciding to use the 67 frame?
i like your idea of extending the frame under the cab.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by Pewterliftedz

did you ever get a chance to get any pics of your modified front cab mounts? before deciding to use the 67 frame?
i like your idea of extending the frame under the cab.

I set the cab in place to line up with the bed and measured for the front cab mount extensions but just haven't had the time to build them yet. They are probably going to be 2" square tube with some stiffening ribs on the inside of the frame to keep it from bending from the extra leverage.

My welder died while trying to tack things together on that project then three days later my compressor died. Kind of set me back on getting any fabrication work done for a while. I got the welder fixed and have the new compressor installed but need to rewire and do some plumbing before it will work.

I have a couple more projects I have to complete before I can get back onto this one and move forward with it.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by 1970 custom

Ok so basicly I can put the truck on the frame just a little body lift I cool with that I have long beds so I can cut my bed to fit the 78 frame with out cutting the frame so u can fab up the front mount for corse support if so how much u charge to fab me up some I don't have the tools here to build that nor the know how but I can weld go figure

The square body wheel base is about 4" longer than the longbed 67-72 truck so the 78 frame needs to be cut down so the wheels are in the wheel wells of the older body. I guess you could lengthen the 67-72 bed by 4" and make it close to a longhorn bed length.

I haven't figured out the core support mount mods yet. I need to get the bed & cab installed and level to the frame first so I can work things out for the core support and front bumper mounts.

[68 TT]

Getting my vehicular A.D.D. under control and making some progress.

I have way too many project vehicles and need to thin the herd not add to it so I will not be getting the 67 GMC short bed. I will be keeping the modified square body 4x4 chassis and working with what I have.

I played musical cars the past two days and got the trucks all cleaned out & found some parts I was missing. I also got the K10 project truck back into the driveway. Now I can level it out and can safely finish getting the body mounted to the square body chassis nice and true.

Once that is done I can make quick work of the final pieces of the puzzle to get this thing moving under its own power for the first time.

[68 TT]

A little time away from the project and I came up with a better solution to my front cab mount issue.

I was going at it backwards before thinking how to mod the frame mount to fit stock 4x4 style body bushings.

I got smart and fabbed up some 2" body lift style spacers to allow me to mount the 67-72 front cab mount brackets to the square body chassis pretty much as they were intended to be installed. Just needed to notch the forward 1" of the top to allow the top flange to angle up slightly to match the frame contours.

Now I just have to get back out there in the cold and drill some holes so the cab can be bolted in place.

Next project is the core support & bumper mount issue. Just have to get the cab in place first so I can line things up properly.

[mcbassin]

Very cool idea for the cab mounts. Nice machine work too.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Very cool idea for the cab mounts. Nice machine work too.

Thanks Mike.

I used a 1.5" stress proof steel core with the 3" 6061-T6 outer so it should be bullet proof.

I even made the fasteners out of 9/16" cold rolled round rod so they should be plenty strong too.

It is supposed to get quite a bit warmer here in the next couple days so I should be able to get outside and get to work without being miserably cold doing so early next week. I can't wait to get this done. It has been holding this project back from making any forward progress as the next things that need done all need a locked in cab placement to be completed.

[Captainfab]

It's good to see you making some progress on this again. It must be nice to have access to some equipment again.