1968 redo

[68Gold/white]

Sorry to hear about kidney stones, in ANYBODY!!!
I have much experience with kidney stones. PM me if you want I know too much about dealing with them.
I will tell you. Around 4 years ago I had stones in both kidneys. Not a good thing. Too many and they were too big for easy procedure. I had invasive surgeries on both kidneys in Dec. 2019. Had non invasive on both kidneys in March 2020.
Since then I've been taking a drug called Flo Max, generic name is Tamsulosin. I allows urine to flow easier. Its made a world of difference to me! I plan to take this stuff, the rest of my life!!! I've had no stones since 2019...

[rodstored-72]

agree with the above... the "pee DR." should recommend something, but i too have been using the flowmax and it really does help. best of luck!!

[Dude68]

Dad lost 11 pounds with the kidney stones from puking for 10 days before they were able to buddy them up. 9 mm and 5 mm. Anyway, he’s back in the game. Still finishing rockers up. Applied glazing putty and did some finish sanding yesterday. I got the welds on the front cab mount bolts cut with a dremel and used an air chisel to finish breaking the welds successfully. The cab line is bout 3/4 inch lower than the bed, got a cab mounting kit on order from Brothers. On vacation now in Louisville KY. Will be back at it in couple of weeks.

[rodstored-72]

MAN!! 9mm is unbelievable!! i had 5mm (biggest) and i was sweating & puking!!! your dad is a real man to handle that!! anyways great that you took some time off and looking forward to more updates!!

[Dude68]

Transmission is ready! Still waiting on the head. When it is done i will finish up the motor. All of the rust repair and patching is complete inside the cab, including wiper motor area. I have a solid day of sanding ahead of me, fixing all of those nicks and scratches on interior roof and dash. Going to order some carpet next.

[Dude68]

Got the head in from machine shop. Rings and gaskets on the way. There are a few more items that I need to get, oil pump, carb rebuild kit, maybe some new lifters and push rods. Not in a hurry because we gonna save the engine stuff for the colder weather and work on finishing up body repair and sanding so painting can be done while it is still warm. No heat in shop. Got to looking at roof and found some rust on upper passenger seam after we dug out the seam sealer, so we decided to remove windshield and did the back glass as well. It was surface rust only. Took a wire wheel to it and it looks great. But, if the windshield would not have been removed, there would have been some rust issues in the future. I had not noticed before, but top of dash is the darker blue, same as door panel and steering column. I am in no rush now that I know my seats will not be ready until February or March. Still finishing up the interior for paint. Have only been able to work a couple of hours a day for one or two days a week.

[68 C10 Driver]

Dude68, great posts! Looks like you are running into the same issues I found with the exception of the wiper motor mount. Keep up the great work! Feel free to look at my build posts. I will certainly be following along.

[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by Dude68

Got the head in from machine shop. Rings and gaskets on the way. There are a few more items that I need to get, oil pump, carb rebuild kit, maybe some new lifters and push rods. Not in a hurry because we gonna save the engine stuff for the colder weather and work on finishing up body repair and sanding so painting can be done while it is still warm. No heat in shop. Got to looking at roof and found some rust on upper passenger seam after we dug out the seam sealer, so we decided to remove windshield and did the back glass as well. It was surface rust only. Took a wire wheel to it and it looks great. But, if the windshield would not have been removed, there would have been some rust issues in the future. I had not noticed before, but top of dash is the darker blue, same as door panel and steering column. I am in no rush now that I know my seats will not be ready until February or March. Still finishing up the interior for paint. Have only been able to work a couple of hours a day for one or two days a week.

I've found difficulties in purchasing carb kits. THe local NAPA and O'Reillys could neither order at kit for a Rochester 2 Bbl I bought here. I DO know of a guy in Missouri that makes carb kits for nearly ALL applications...I'm not ready to order one, just yet...

[Dude68]

Well, Dad finally get his stent out, no more kidney stones. While he was getting his stent out I started having flank pain and knew what it was. A trip to the ER and a CT scan shows a 4 mm stone for me on the L. It is 10% down the ureter with 90% to go. Mild pain on Tuesday. Got an Rx for some glomax and pain meds, and contacted urology. They called back and got my info. Have me not heard anything from them. Started getting worried when stone had not passed, 4 mm should be easy to pass. Looks like it is hung up, so I’m gonna be in for a procedure. Pain started Thursday and has been getting worse. No answer from urology. Guess those 15 urologists are eating turkey. I am an ER nurse, so I know how the game is played.
Another delay on the truck redo. But, what are the odds that both of us got put out of commission by the same thing.
The only update I have is I bought a 100# propane bottle for $100. Had to send my son and son in law to pick it up cause I’m laid up with this stone. I’ll get it filled and we will have a heated shop go work in. Night temps have been in 40s with a few nights in 30s. Supposed to hit 30 tonight.
Stay tuned

[cj847]

Dude 68. Just read your thread. Great story and great truck! Based on the rust problems in your vents and wiper area, be sure to check the seams at both sides of the cab. I had a truck that looked great, but leaked like a sieve.

From inside the seams are right above the fuse box and the glove box. From outside they are under the cowl outside of the openings. Hard to get to for repairs.

[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by Dude68

Well, Dad finally get his stent out, no more kidney stones. While he was getting his stent out I started having flank pain and knew what it was. A trip to the ER and a CT scan shows a 4 mm stone for me on the L. It is 10% down the ureter with 90% to go. Mild pain on Tuesday. Got an Rx for some glomax and pain meds, and contacted urology. They called back and got my info. Have me not heard anything from them. Started getting worried when stone had not passed, 4 mm should be easy to pass. Looks like it is hung up, so I’m gonna be in for a procedure. Pain started Thursday and has been getting worse. No answer from urology. Guess those 15 urologists are eating turkey. I am an ER nurse, so I know how the game is played.
Another delay on the truck redo. But, what are the odds that both of us got put out of commission by the same thing.
The only update I have is I bought a 100# propane bottle for $100. Had to send my son and son in law to pick it up cause I’m laid up with this stone. I’ll get it filled and we will have a heated shop go work in. Night temps have been in 40s with a few nights in 30s. Supposed to hit 30 tonight.
Stay tuned

I was in hospital for invasive surgeries on both kedneys (one at a time), in Dec 2019.
I had too many stones and they were too large to remove any other way.

One thing I've learned to do is, to drink water, but in a sensical way.
The Dr.'s say drink water, drink water! Thats all and fine, but you need a strategie. Drinking a bunch of water at one time can sometimes leading to you barfing it back up, depending upon how you feel and such.
I hope you also have some nausea medicene, Promethazine...
I get a glass of water, slowly drink it down, in about 15 minutes. After about the 4th cup, you won't be able to hold any more. Doing this at a reasonable pace helps (me anyway). Be fore you start drinking (about an hour) take 2 of the flomax pills ( I was given 2 at a time when in hospital, ask your Dr, though).
My las stone was in July 2023, only had it for 1 day.

I've been taking Flomax every day, since 2019, with only this one issue. I plan to take flomax, the rest of my life. Before flomax I had kidney stones, WAY too often...

[Dude68]

Got some heat in shop!!! Did engine work today. Main bearings and pistons are in with new rings and rod bearings. Got the camshaft in and could not find the retainer screws that I took out 32 years ago, go figure? Got a few more parts to order. Another solid 8 hour day and the engine should be ready for transmission!!!

[Dude68]

Got another daylight til dark workday on Tuesday. The head is installed and torqued down. New lifters, pushrods, rockers, and nuts installed. Valves adjusted. New oil pump and oil pickup installed. The machine shop painted head black ceramic, I left it black and painted the block with a ceramic blue engine paint. Another victim of the 1992 tear down were lost side plates. I ordered a set of finned ones, they will be painted blue as well with the paint sanded off the fins. Stock valve cover, timing cover and oil pan will be painted soon.
Picking up a new fuel pump today. Leaving original style ignition and picking up a new rotor, points, condensor, plugs and wires today. Wanna learn about the old ignition.
I also decided to keep the original instrument panel and save my tach dash for my next project which will be a V8.
I hat a few pics I will post this weekend.

[Dude68]

Got most of engine painted. Side plates came in this evening and will be painted and installed tomorrow. Misplaced my bolts for timing cover, oil pan, and valve cover. I went to 3 parts stores and they did not have any in stock. I have a couple of them and it looks like they are 3/8 or 7/16 inch length with an external tooth washer. The shortest I could find was a 1/2 inch length. I could not find any tooth washers either. So I ordered a bunch of half inch length bolts and tooth washers. I also got some 3/4 inch length bolts for the corners of the oil pan.

[Dude68]

Chased out all of the bolt holes and installed the oil pain, side plates and timing cover. Ordered a carb rebuild kit for the monojet. That's the old distributor in the pic. Just checking how everything lines up. We will clean it up and put the new rotor, condenser, and points in. New plugs and wires going in also. I think I will add some more paint to cover some joints, bolt heads and areas I boogered up putting it back together. I probably should have waited until it was all together to paint. Its going a little at a time and I did not want anything to rust.

[Trucknut57]

Nice progress on your build, a little at a time and before you know it you'll be done and driving.

By all means, lay on the floor of the cab, have a flashlight and look under the dash at both sides right where the dash starts to curve towards the door. I had to repair that area on mine, not fun at all.

Don't worry about those kidney stones, some people only have 1 or 2 in their lifetimes, others (unfortunately, me) have MANY (I've had 50, largest was 13 mm). If you do get more, hopefully your urologist will do a bunch of tests to find the cause, mine turned out to be a parathyroid issue.

[Dude68]

Yep, I had rusted out spot in same place on drivers side. Got all of that mess repaired. Front cap is done except for passsnger fender. Once I get transmission on motor I can install it and start putting front cap back together. I’ll shoot that other fender when I do cab and the doors, inside and out😬😬

[Dude68]

Got the motor painted. New fuel pump installed, cleaned up starter and solenoid, painted black and installed. The old distributor got scrubbed up and a new capaciter, rotor, & points replaced. Gonna clean cap up when the new plug wires go on and ac/delco plugs are installed. Everything is torqued. Chased out all mounting holes and bolts. Got a parts washer sink with the water based parts cleaner, what a lifesaver. Used the wire wheel on bench grinder to remove old paint and stubborn grease from bolts. Mounted flywheel, new clutch and pressure plate, pilot bearing, & throw-out bearing. Took a wire wheel and scrubbed bell housing in parts sink and then painted it a ceramic GM blue just like motor. Rebuilt transmission installed on motor. We put in back on lift and into truck. No issues!!!! Here is a couple of pics

[Dude68]

Having some issues with shift grommets on steering column. They were mostly in pieces. I did order what I needed from classic parts. They do not look the same, so I am skeptical. I have a back up plan with classic bowties, they have a NOS set that will be 100% correct if these do not do the trick. I do know if you have a little slop in the shift and also the clutch, these can be the culprit. We did not have the shift boot when we hooked all of this up, so when the new grommets arrive, we will undo what we have done with the linkage and install the boot along with the grommets and bushings that are ordered. Should be here Friday. This may be a project for tomorrow if the parts arrive. Here's a pic of the linkage reassembled. the grommet is wallowed out making for some slop in the shift.

[Dude68]

I had a lot of leaves and trash below side vents. There was rusted spots on the interior around the vents. We removed the lower side portion of the inner cowl, the part covering the vents in order to access the rust around the vents. Instead of replacing the area with patch panels, which I did purchase, we chose to use a Dremel burr and do some dental work on theses rusted spots. We were able to remove all of the rust & patch the holes with epoxy impregnated fiberglass. When the holes were filled solid. we finished in with some body putty, Bondo, filler, whatever you want to call it. All of the inner areas with surface rust were sprayed with black Eastwoods rust encapsulator. Sanded it down to a smooth finish. The panels that were cut out had to be welded back in place. I am not experienced with a mig welder but did my best. The first photo you will see my Dad is pointing to where i was a bit overzealous with my grinding. I successfully welded the panel back in place but got off the weld and ground an additional hole in the panel. I did better on the passenger side panel. Ground it down even and finished with body putty. Got it primed and painted, Added seem sealer in all areas that are problem areas for most of these trucks. Then re-shot the fire wall and cowl. I did better on the one to the right.

[Dude68]

After those panels were welded in, the welds were covered with bondo and sanded smooth, primed, then painted.

[Dude68]

How about my bowtie on the grill???? I'm planning to stay with my original hubcaps and have the bowtie blue on them as well.

[Dude68]

We reshot the fire wall and outer cowl. Meanwhile, inside the cab we shot Eastwood's rust encapsulator on the floor. Interior will be same blue as exterior with exception of top dash and steering wheel. The inner door panels were a little darker, but I'm gonna use the steering column and dash color to paint the panels. You cans see the column that has been painted in this picture. This is the color the steering column and upper dash by windshield were painted in 1968.

[PowerdbyChevy79]

Subscribed

[Dude68]

Got water pump pulley, battery box, some fastners, clips, grommets, bushings, etc., fuel tank sending unit, clutch fork boot, turn signal switch, and a gallon of paint. My fuel line was clogged so I dropped it off at the machine shop to make another. Got some fuel line braided hose as well.
Been epoxying the steering wheel cracks. Sanded and primed the inner door panels today. Painted the floor of the cab, under dash and back of cab area that is behind fuel tank.