68 C50 Looongbed pickup build

[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

[rkn463]

Next up was the driver side fender well, this was around the end of June... first I needed to address a sharp edge in the firewall that could have eventually cut in to the park brake cable that I had added back in January (post #241: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=241 ). As you can see the cable was right up against the sharp edge of the firewall:



so I removed the bolts and elongated the hole where the bolt held it to the firewall:



then I reinstalled the whole mess with a washer under one of the bolts that holds it to the floorboard, this tilted the whole thing so that the cable is no longer pressed against the sharp edge, but I wanted something more:



I grabbed a washer made for a half inch bolt (which was about the perfect size to fit around the cable) and this huge rusty washer and I fabbed up a piece to screw to the firewall to protect the cable from the sharp edge. Not pretty but functional



I installed the piece and then went on to tackle the fender well itself, but yet again I'm up against the 5 picture limit, so stay tuned...

-Richard

[rkn463]

The driver fender well went way better than expected, I went through the same steps of sanding priming and painting. It takes a lot of spray paint for a fender well this size. Basically a whole can per coat...



Here are pictures of the painting process:




I got some runs in it but I keep reminding myself, it’s a farm truck! I was very happy that I was able to install the driver side fender well without modification; considering all of the extra hoses, different steering box and the park brake cable I had been very concerned about fitment issues... especially after the battery tray “incident”. I have to go on record as saying that installing these giant fender wells by yourself is no fun, they are heavy, oddly shaped and quite uncooperative. Eventually I prevailed and was presented with a much more finished look!



-Richard

[rkn463]

Next up wiring (4th of July weekend ) ! First I went and took some reference photos off of the 67 to see where the wiring harness was supposed to be routed. (Damn that thing is dirty!)




I used some cable clamps to hold the harness to the driver fender well and I had to drill a couple of holes in my “new” fan shroud but it all went in and fit.



I had to terminate the alternator hot wire and ground wire and I also made my final solder joint in the temperature sensor wire (initially wasn’t sure which side I would end up using). After that the temp gauge read correctly. Unfortunately I did not get any photos of that bit.

-Richard

[rkn463]

With all of the “stock” wiring done I still needed to get my auxiliary fuse box installed and operational, it was now early August. The auxiliary box is necessary for a place to add in circuits for the electric choke, 2 speed rear and auxiliary brake booster. How it is wired: I mounted a 100 amp relay powered off of the positive battery cable, it connects to an 80 amp breaker; Both are screwed down to the passenger fender next to the battery.



The wire to energize the relay is connected to an unfused ignition tap in the fuse box in the cab. I used scrap wires from the 89 wiring harness to make all of this up and did the solder and heat shrink thing to all of it. I also added in a single blade fuse to the wire that energizes the relay, it is the bright green wire here: (You can also see the tach wire run through the same conduit – the brown wire)



Currently I have the wire to energize the relay and the power wire that feeds the auxiliary fuse box run between the hood hinge and the fender, at the very least I have to go back and wrap them with tape, I may still try to reroute them.



It all seemed like I was on a roll and I wanted the 2 speed rear functional again and I needed post terminals to connect the switch end to the rear harness like the factory did and all I could scrounge up was this piece off of an old electric range. It is functional but looks like crap and will get replaced!



To the right of the screw terminals you can see the 20 amp breaker that powers the two speed rear. I really wanted to use a blade style breaker like the 89 had stock but it would not fit in the fuse panel that I had added so I just used a typical 20 amp 12v breaker. After wiring it up I took it out for a test drive to verify that the two speed rear works, it does!

Enough for tonight, more to come. -Richard

-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 Deer_hunter_088

Doescit go blub blub blub and shake the world or does she sound like rice? WE NEED THE STUFFS

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

... i wanna see your big truck run. and drive, and be awesome, and all that.

This one is for you deer hunter, I think this qualifies as "blub blub blub" rather than rice

Driving the C50

If you wear headphones to listen you get a much better idea how deep this truck's voice really is. FYI; I've never even tuned the motor up, the 89 ran that good when I bought it! Since taking the video I hit the clutch linkage with some PB Blaster and quieted the squeak.

At about 45 seconds you can see a shift of the two speed rear - nice and quiet, just the way we like it!

At the end of the vid check out the oil pressure and nice cool temp. We were over 100 degrees that day outside.

What you can't see in the video is that there was no bed on the truck at that point. This gets me almost caught up to where I am on this thing.

-Richard

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by 61_FL_Apache

Its all in the details!! Looking great!

Thanks Steve!

[Deer_hunter_088]

Originally Posted by rkn463

This one is for you deer hunter, I think this qualifies as "blub blub blub" rather than rice

Driving the C50

If you wear headphones to listen you get a much better idea how deep this truck's voice really is. FYI; I've never even tuned the motor up, the 89 ran that good when I bought it! Since taking the video I hit the clutch linkage with some PB Blaster and quieted the squeak.

At about 45 seconds you can see a shift of the two speed rear - nice and quiet, just the way we like it!

At the end of the vid check out the oil pressure and nice cool temp. We were over 100 degrees that day outside.

What you can't see in the video is that there was no bed on the truck at that point. This gets me almost caught up to where I am on this thing.

-Richard

Great now i gotta get mine moving so i can take a video of it

[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.