68 C50 Looongbed pickup build

[Advanced Design]

Great solutions Richard!

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Okiefromwatonga

Once again your resourcefulness is inspiring. Your simple "lets not over engineer this problem" approaches to all the hurdles this project tosses at you are refreshing in this billet everything day and age. It's good to see someone building a truck instead of assembling one.

Thanks! While it is nice to have a robust aftermarket, there is a lot of cars that seem like they were picked out of a catalog.

Originally Posted by Flipnoco

Richard, looks good and I make trips to the back rooms of the autoparts stores looking for combinations of hoses all the time. I need that special rubber hose bender thingy

I didn't know they made anything to bend rubber hoses, man would that be handy.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Great solutions Richard!

Thanks Doug, I hope all is well with you.

-Richard

[flashed]

Im surprised DeerHunter (Noah) ,has not piped in ,this is his favorite build on here .

[Deer_hunter_088]

Im here john!!! From workin on the k10, hangin with the girlfriend, summer, and my job ive not had alot of time to check in! Looks good rnk!!!!!

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

Im here john!!! From workin on the k10, hangin with the girlfriend, summer, and my job ive not had alot of time to check in! Looks good rnk!!!!!

[Deer_hunter_088]

The projects keep mountin. But the k10 is inching closer and closer to bein done. Just waitin on some parts (from flashed) and for them DAMNED wasps to leave my truck. The deerhunter became puffy after that........

[rkn463]

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted an update. A lot has transpired and rather than try to piece together actual chronological order from the photos I figured I just go with logical order instead. All in all this is not too far off of how it actually went down.

When we last visited in mid-June I had finished up radiator hoses and oil cooler lines and made a test run. At that point the fender wells were not in, the instrument cluster wasn’t in and the transmission hump was open. It made for a loud ride but it was fun to drive again. It had been so long since I drove the truck with working brakes I was shocked at how hard it was to work my leg under the steering wheel onto the brake pedal. I may have to lose the late model seats or use a pickup steering wheel… It also did not want to idle very well and without the auxiliary pump connected on the hydroboost I was afraid to find out what a stop would take without the motor running. I set the timing and the idle and it ran great after that. I never made my modifications to the instrument cluster (http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=222) and didn’t want to drive it without a temp gauge so I reinstalled the cluster as-is. It showed to be running just a touch warmer than I like but still under half. As much radiator as it has that did not make good sense. Also, I did not have an overflow tank on it and with the radiator cap made for an overflow I was losing a bit of coolant so I modified the bracket for an aftermarket overflow tank and mounted it to the side of my battery mount. I'll try to get a better picture later.

-Richard

[rkn463]

Next up was getting the passenger side fender well in. A test fit showed that it was rubbing against the modified battery tray.



I tried some “creative hammer work” with the fender well still installed but ultimately marked it,



then pulled it out and had my brother heat it with a torch, then one or two hits with a “Big Fancy Hammer” and it was sufficiently clearanced (note the discolored dent)



I grabbed my new DeWalt sander and went after it.



That thing is great! After I sanded it down,



Dang 5 picture limit! Primed and painted next post...

-Richard

[rkn463]

OK, primed and painted...

First primed with "Rust reformer"



Then with high build primer



Then sanded and sprayed with satin black



There were a lot of streaks in the top coat but they were down low against the fender where you can't see them.

-Richard

[rkn463]

Unfortunately during working with that fender well I got distracted by a big dent in the fender and started trying to figure out how to bump metal. So, when that didn’t work I beat the hell out of it. Anyway, the original dent was almost an inch deep and when I got done I have something that is close to just needing a thin coat of Bondo. When it’s all said and done it won’t matter because I will be replacing that fender with one that has no rust, I was just practicing. Here are before and after photos:





And so ends the saga of the passenger side fenderwell. Oh wait, here it is installed. It is so black you can't see it!



-Richard

[Deer_hunter_088]

sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Advanced Design]

Nice work Richard. Looks good!

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Deer hunter!

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work Richard. Looks good!

Thanks Doug, good to hear from you

Next up was the fuel line:
When I bought the 89 donor truck the PO had just installed a new Edelbrock Performer carb in order to get it running right. The fuel line came in on the rear, passenger side of the carb where the original Holley had it coming in front, driver side. He had just shoved a 3/8 rubber hose over the flare in the factory line and run it back to the barbed input on the carb. Anyone who has ever watched a car burn due to a failed fuel line knows how important steel lines are… I thought it looked like crap and on top of that the rubber hose was already cracking badly.



I picked up a 3/8 steel line at O’Reilly’s and got the brass fitting for the carb (a complete rip- off at almost 14.00 but necessary) plus a brass coupler (also ridiculously priced).



I tried the crappy bending pliers that had actually worked very well on brake lines, but they were not up to snuff for the 3/8 line. The attempt destroyed both the pliers and the steel line:



, , repeat

-Richard

[rkn463]

So after the failed attempt at bending the tubing it was back to Amazon for a better tubing bender. This was under 60.00 with shipping and does an amazing job!



I ended up with 4 bends in the line to make it fit, and I used the Eastwood flaring tool to flare the end of the new line as well as the cut end of the original hard line




It all fit together well and looks like it belongs (check that one off the list)



Now I can drive the truck without worrying if I'm going to catch it on fire!

-Richard

[61_FL_Apache]

Its all in the details!! Looking great!

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by 61_FL_Apache

Its all in the details!! Looking great!

Thanks Steve!

[trac209]

Extremely cool truck,this would be something I would love to own if money and space were no object.

[Deer_hunter_088]

Tbh im just watching this thread as a how to for mine!!!!!! and because this is a cool build

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by trac209

Extremely cool truck,this would be something I would love to own if money and space were no object.

I've found that if I just spend a little at a time I don't feel the hit on the pocketbook nearly as hard. Unfortunately the bottom line at the end of the year is just as shocking. At times I wish I had really kept track of what I spent and others I'm glad that I didn't!

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

Tbh im just watching this thread as a how to for mine!!!!!! and because this is a cool build

Thanks for sticking in there deer hunter. Hunting season is rapidly approaching, are you ready???



When we last visited I was closing in on getting this up to date. Hopefully I can get the rest of it documented tonight.

I was ready to put the bed on but I wanted a gooseneck hitch. I started planning on how to fabricate one when my friend suggested that I use a B&W hitch. My first thoughts were “I seriously doubt they make a hitch for an 89 C60” and “way too expensive”. I shared those thoughts with my buddy and he hooked me up with a used one for 200 dollars off a newer Ford. The modern HD ¾ ton trucks have a wider frame so it needed to be narrowed by around 1¾”. Because of how the hitch is built I was able to unbolt the very heavy duty angle iron from the front and back, cut a bit out of the middle of each, weld it back in and drill new holes. I spent a few hours but got it done to my satisfaction (and I’m pretty darned picky!) Surprisingly enough when I measured out the holes and drilled them in the reconfigured angle iron they all lined up, that never used to happen… Here are some photos (note in the last picture I had already notched the spacer that raises the bed high enough to line up with the cab, it is made of 3x5 box tubing. Also you can see how the frame reinforcing plate kept me from sliding the whole hitch any farther forward. This unfortunately has the ball just an inch or so in front of the rear axle and means that I don't get to flip the ball upside down for fear of it hitting the diff if heavily loaded. However with the bed spacer it doesn't need to flip so that doesn't make any difference. My bigger concern is the inability to place the load farther forward but honestly this truck should be able to take anything I throw at it without problem. If I don't like it once I try it then I'll redo it later.





More come…
-Richard

[rkn463]

Next up was to get the ends of the frame cut to match the bed spacer. Here is the spacer sitting on the frame and a close up of the frame sticking out.



Once again I used my trusty 4.5” angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to trim the ends of the frame. I always mark my cut lines with masking tape and then cut up to them. What I don’t have a picture of is the side that was exactly one tape-width too long, so I got to make an extra cut.

Only one because at least I cut it too long instead of too short!

Here is a shot of it in place:



I also missed photographing where I went back and boxed in the reliefs that I made to clear the hitch. I’m sure that was unnecessary but that broken part of me just had to! Here is a shot of it in place, boxed and painted:



And since I can post 5 shots on a page here is one where you see the hitch in place from above:



More…
-Richard

[rkn463]

With all of that done I measured and drilled the holes for the bed bolts, then I got out the “farmer’s all-purpose friend” (AKA Bobcat) and placed the bed back on the frame:



Either I got lucky or I really am getting better at measuring because all of the holes lined up without having to enlarge any!

My brother has not been happy with the beast “being seen” because of the two colors on the bed so I used a can of primer on the front part of the bed to cover up the ochre paint. From my perspective it is a waste of paint and that much more time to sand it off in the future but if it helps keep some peace in the family so be it. On a funny note, one reason I had left the three colors for so long is I had thought about calling this “Project Calico” because the colors are those of a calico cat. Anyway, here it is with the calico knocked off of it:



That primer went on a little over 5 weeks ago. Life and daily drivers have conspired against me during that time. I now have a 2013 F550 diesel 4x4 on the ranch (with bad brakes) and my new daily driver is a 2017 Colorado with a V6. I must say that 308 horsepower from a normally aspirated 3.6 liter engine is pretty impressive. The 23-26 mpg is not hurting my feelings at all! But back to the beast, I drive it some every weekend, I still have a pick list a mile long of little things that need wrapping up. As soon as I finish the brakes on the F*rd I’ll get back on this.

I hope you have enjoyed the ride so far!
-Richard

[61_FL_Apache]

Thanks for the updates! Looking great!

[rusty76]

Looking great.

[Advanced Design]

Coming together nicely Richard.

[Deer_hunter_088]

Richard, im ready for the 1st man. gotta get my wheeler fixed up after school so i can get ready to go the first day.