1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl

[LT7A]

You had me at grandpa truck and nearly lost me at bags, haha. Not really, and to be fair, I have a squarebody grandpa sled going on to a static drop. I really like how you are spot repairing the rust and working your way, panel by panel.

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by SCHRUMGMC

Beautiful truck, and excellent progress on the old gmc

Enjoying the photos of it all

Thanks man, it has been fun to work on

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

Looking great!

Thanks man

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by LT7A

You had me at grandpa truck and nearly lost me at bags, haha. Not really, and to be fair, I have a squarebody grandpa sled going on to a static drop. I really like how you are spot repairing the rust and working your way, panel by panel.

Haha hey granpas can party too! I feel like most of my trucks start out as a granpa style to stay true to the GM design but then I usually switch it up with stance and wheels / tires. I appreciate the kind words.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Graham57a

Got to work on Pearl a little this afternoon. Between a 9 month old running around and about 6 other trucks it seems like this one keeps getting put on the back burner. Well I’m hoping to change that over the next little bit, we will see how well I can keep at it.

So my current to dos:

I really need to get the front crossmember complete and bolted in for the last time. I worked on metal finishing my welds today and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Hopefully gonna take it to work for a blast and powdercoat in the next couple weeks to call it 100% done and bolt to the frame for the last time. All in I’m pretty happy with how the 1 1/2” pancake turned out

Balance of front suspension. I was able to score a set or used porterbuilt tubular uppers and lowers. They are going to make my conversion to bags a million times easier and way cleaner. Mocked them up today with no issues, gonna put them on the list to powdercoat as well.

It looks like I have about 14” clear from “aired out” center of hub to ground. Based on eye balling my orange truck I think I can tuck 22s with really skinny tires or 20s with a fatter tire. That will probably make me go with a 20/22 setup long term but I’m still gonna get a set of steelies for now.

Detroit Steelies 20x8 & 22x10 in the Argent Silver & those caps FTW.

So I got everything mocked up in the front and I’m pretty happy with how it all fits and moves. I think next on my list is to figure out inner fenders so I can verify clearances and what else I have to modify under the hood. I really like the old hills rod and custom style of inners but I don’t think they make them anymore so I may have to do some searching.

These are the old Hills fenders: https://www.stonerspeedshop.com/collections/fenders

After I get my inner fenders figured out I think I’ve got almost everything figured out up front. Gotta get some bags and run some lines but I feel like that will be straight forward (hopefully). Also figure out steering but I think I am gonna go with a rack n pinion to keep it simple.

R&P might be a little more trouble w/the x-member sectioned 1.5". Maybe the POL set-up?

Lastly I am on the search for rear kits. I’ve been looking at this kit my Chasis Fab https://chassisfabsuspension.com/col...suspension-kit but I’m not totally sold yet. Does anyone have any other opinions to insert here?

Was this one leafs or truck-arm?

Lastly just a few interior pieces that I’ve been working on to show you guys. I’m gonna hold off on any more interior work for a while to avoid getting the cart before the horse. I’m 95% sure I’m gonna be welding and grinding on my firewall again before this is all said and done so I wanna keep that collateral damage to a minimum.

What further mods to the firewall?

A little late to this party but came across this one today....

[Graham57a]

Thanks for tuning in Scoti, see my responses below

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Detroit Steelies 20x8 & 22x10 in the Argent Silver & those caps FTW. I am thinking 15" steelies for now and some billets down the road


These are the old Hills fenders: Major thanks for that link, that is hopefully what I will be running on this one https://www.stonerspeedshop.com/collections/fenders


R&P might be a little more trouble w/the x-member sectioned 1.5". Maybe the POL set-up? Yea I've thought about using a modified factory steering setup as well. Gotta mock it up and see what will work


Was this one leafs or truck-arm? This was a leaf spring truck


What further mods to the firewall? Just gonna fill in some old holes that I dont need to clean things up. I should have done so before my first paint job but I also think I want my firewall to be a satin sheen instead of gloss so I can weld up the holes I dont need and re-paint all in one

A little late to this party but came across this one today....

[Graham57a]

It's been almost a year since I updated this thread so I guess its time to let you guys know where I am at. I am still plugging away on this build. It has actually been really nice just being able to tinker on it and not have any time crunch or deadline for it. In the last year I have finished the switch suspension hood hinges, I final powdercoated and cleaned up my tubular PB control arms for the front. I am waiting on upper ball joints from Moog now which have been back ordered for over a month, they are supposed ship at the end of Jan. Once those are in the front end will be a roller. I ended up buying a freshly gone through 700r4 from my buddy Adam and got it painted and in the truck. I also bought all of my rear suspension parts from Tinworks Fab (super nice stuff). It is all. mocked up and ready for powdercoat. I am also in the process of fabbing my rear bag crossmember over the rear end. I have a set of Coker tires ordered and on the way, once those show up and my ball joints get here I should have a roller.

I also finished my pancaked crossmember and bolted it in. I was about to drop the motor in the truck and during a final pass over the motor I realized that the engine builder put the #7 rod on the piston backward (or vise versa). Unfortunately I had to blow the entire motor apart to get that rod / piston out and take it back to him to rotate it 180 degrees. I previously painted the motor with VHT engine paint but I also used the same paint on the Jimmy and that paint is already failing after only about 2 years of driving. So I figured now would be the time to strip it down and paint it with something better. I am going to try out the Eastwood ceramic engine paint which I sprayed out yesterday. So far it looks great, we will see how it looks after I drive it a few times.

So my current goal is to get the truck sitting down on the ground on all 4 as a roller, wheels tires and caps done, rear bag crossmember done and 100%, and the motor / trans sitting in the truck around the end of January first of February. After that I can focus on all of the components needed to get the motor started and broken in. Here are some misc pics of the progress over the last year

[Graham57a]

Pics
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[Graham57a]

Pics 2
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[Graham57a]

Motor torn apart and after repaint
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[SCOTI]

A step back & then a few forward. Nice.
Sucks about the extra effort required on the rod/piston issue though.

[KyleSeal]

Really enjoying the build thread. Looks good. Good job on the doors, those are never fun.

[Graham57a]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Ive got a little motivation on this one so I have been putting in the work on it. Some more progress pics.

[Graham57a]

Pics 1. I dropped the motor in a couple of weeks ago while it was snowing. The orange truck got a little white while I was working on the gmc.
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[Graham57a]

More
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[Graham57a]

I am down to just a few items before I can fire it up:

- Finish running fuel lines. I have all new hard lines from the fuel tank sending unit to the fuel pump and I will make a new line from the pump to the carb.

- Cooling system is done and ready to go

- I have my original wiring harness that I am cleaning up now. I ordered a few accessories to run the wiring properly. That all should be here this week which will allow me to finish up wiring.

- I need to install my trans cooler lines and top off the trans with atf.

- The factory throttle linkage that I have is not going to work with my holley carb. I need to order a new universal throttle linkage and return spring and that should be done.

I think that catches me up to current. Hopefully another week or two and it will be a runner. I also have new tires and my factory 15x6.5 steelies are at the blaster now. Once they are done I will throw some paint on them and mount my new tires. Then it should be a roller. My goal is by the end of February to have it sitting on all 4s and be able to hit the key and start it up. Still a long ways to go but hey these are milestones haha.

[Graham57a]

One of my favorites parts of messing with these olds trucks is searching for memorabilia that helps tell the story of their history. I was finally able to locate a license plate frame from the original dealership it was sold at new. I also got a cool little keychain from the same town, Forest City, to go along with it.
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[mr.mud1]

very nice truck.so cool to find an old frame for yours.anything that tells the story is neat stuff to have.i just had a frame reproduced from the dealership my truck came from,Leo Hoffman Chevrolet although i've been looking for a couple of years for anything at all but only have seen 1 ratty old frame for $200.00.
very nice truck your building.it'll be a knockout.

[GAc10boy]

So awesome, Andrew! Following along.

[nicklear36]

Awesome. I'm running ChassisFab on my build thread

[hewittca]

Soooooo nice! Do you like those hood hinges? I need me some and am wondering if I should reverse engineer them or just buy a set. What, if anything, are you going to run for inner fenders?

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by mr.mud1

very nice truck.so cool to find an old frame for yours.anything that tells the story is neat stuff to have.i just had a frame reproduced from the dealership my truck came from,Leo Hoffman Chevrolet although i've been looking for a couple of years for anything at all but only have seen 1 ratty old frame for $200.00.
very nice truck your building.it'll be a knockout.

Thanks man, I really appreciate the kind words!

Originally Posted by GAc10boy

So awesome, Andrew! Following along.

Thanks man, I appreciate your continued support!

Originally Posted by nicklear36

Awesome. I'm running ChassisFab on my build thread

Thanks man, they make super nice stuff!

Originally Posted by hewittca

Soooooo nice! Do you like those hood hinges? I need me some and am wondering if I should reverse engineer them or just buy a set. What, if anything, are you going to run for inner fenders?

The hood hinges are okay, I have a couple of items I am not crazy about but overall they work well. I plan on running the Hills inner fenders, now currently sold by Blake Stoner (https://www.stonerspeedshop.com/coll...custom-slammed). Saving up my money now for a set so I can cut the fenders and final paint everything else under the hood.

[KyleSeal]

Really enjoying the thread... how much did you pancake that crossmember? By my guess it looks like maybe 1.5"?

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by KyleSeal

Really enjoying the thread... how much did you pancake that crossmember? By my guess it looks like maybe 1.5"?

Thanks man. You are correct, 1.5" pancake. Should be able to keep my factory steering with that pancake, I have been told if you go lower you need a rack n pinion.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Graham57a

Thanks man. You are correct, 1.5" pancake. Should be able to keep my factory steering with that pancake, I have been told if you go lower you need a rack n pinion.

1.5" section clears w/minimal fuss/tweaks as needed for the arc of the steering linkage. Beyond that, the clearancing becomes more invasive & IMHO is creeping in too close to the 'not safe' zone. Guys have done 2" pancakes/sectioning but it's more invasive than what I like.

The other option is you could raise the steering linkage points the same amount ad the pancake/notch. Thats the best path but a bunch more work.

[PowerdbyChevy79]

Looking great!!!!