It’s Just A Pickup

[notsolo]

Originally Posted by Bruce88

You are more than welcome Mike, and thank you for the complementary comments about this build thread.

I’ve tried to incorporate my thoughts about overcoming some the problems that I’ve run into during this build and how I went about solving them. Where your original question was a simple answer of (yes), I thought I would be a miss not to try and give you the overall view of how I arrived at the fuel tank installation.

The problem I’m having with this build thread is that all that I’ve posted on this build is disjointed/not in order and scattered throughout this thread concerning an item like the fuel tank. When the build is complete, I might try and put an index together to bring the information together concerning different areas of the build. Until that day comes, the only way is with links or just searching thru the thread (sorry).






Motive Products did come out with a new model 0115 that has a metal cap. I don’t know how well the new cap seals but it’s probably better than the plastic cap model 0105. Their still selling both models and the price is higher on the metal cap model. I agree that it’s frustrating but with care the problem with sealing the plastic cap can be overcome. I wish I would have taken a little more care and I would not have spilled the brake fluid.

Hey Bruce Thanks for the great build and sharing your know how, Also your Avatar speaks volumes....Where did you get the Dorman ram horns Thanks. Ed

[Bruce88]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Hey Bruce Thanks for the great build and sharing your know how, Also your Avatar speaks volumes....Where did you get the Dorman ram horns Thanks. Ed

I obtained the Dorman exhaust manifolds RNB-674-199 & RNB-674-201 from Summit Racing.

[Pop's C-10]

Wow...jus wow

[Bruce88]

Like to compare before and after pictures
It might only be the front end but it makes me feel good to see the progress

Don’t know if the front end was used to push something or just hit something. Very few parts where used from the original front end sheet metal, only the hood.

Everything went together smoothly until it came to the front bumper.

The grille shell is a reproduction 38-3925 from LMC and the headlight bezels (36-4312 LH) & (36-4313 RH) from LMC.

The headlights are from LMC (ref post #368) http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...318544&page=15

The grille insert I picked up many years ago from JC Whitney 19TS8944P Round Tube Show Grille Chrome, it’s been sitting in storage for many years and JC Whitney doesn’t even carry it any more. (Some old school custom that I don’t know if it’s made any more)

The front bumper is a reproduction (paint able) that I had powder coated and the turn signal light lenses are from LMC (ref post #59 & #65) http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=318544&page=3

The front bumper didn’t want to sit right, it was low on the left and the bumper was sitting about 1/4 inch offset to the left. There must have been some damage to the front frame horns that’s throwing the bumper off. Ended up elongating one of the mounting holes and using some washers in a few locations between the bumper and the frame to level and shift the bumper to the right place.







All that’s left to do to the front end of the truck is installing the fender wells and then I will be off to assemble the step side bed.

Enjoy your build

[mcbassin]

The front end looks great. It looks like you got the alignment right too.

[samuellg1977]

I've learned more today - reading your build thread than I have picked up in the past three months trying to "Figure out" how to do some things to my truck. You are an artist, Sir!!

Sam

[Bruce88]

All the bolts installed except one
Sometimes the holes just don’t line up

One of the first things removed during a body off rebuild and what I consider the last thing to install on the front end is the inner fender well. Not that I totally ignore it during the build until it’s time to install it. With the inner fender well not installed there’s more room to run the wires & hoses as well as checking for leeks and getting a wrench in some areas for installing other parts.

Before painting and during the test fit and fair of the fenders, I also test fit the inner fender well. A few of the fender well holes needed to be elongated a little to fit up to the fenders and radiator support. The one bolt hole that I did not check during the test fit was between the battery tray and the fender well. That’s the bolt that I can’t get in (the holes are more than a full hole DIA off) with all the work to make the holes line up like disassembly, welding, drilling and repainting I’m going to leave this bolt out. The battery tray is sitting on the fender well and it’s secure and solidly mounted to the radiator support.

A few tips that might help you with installing your fender wells.

(1) Test fitting before painting, you want all the drilling and metal work done before painting. Not like me, finding out that something doesn’t line up on final installation.
(2) After painting and before positioning the inner fender wells, I make sure all the threads are clean and I lube all the nuts & bolt threads with grease. The grease helps me get the bolts in straight without cross threading. One thing you have to keep in mind with any nut & bolt thread that you lube, the bolt can be over torqued. For example a 5/16 – 18 grade 5 bolt (dry bolt thread torque is 19 foot lbs) but if you lube the threads with grease the torque requirements are reduced by about 45%, so the max torque would be 11 foot lbs. Over torqueing the bolt can cause stripped threads or broken bolts.
(3) I use a ¼ steel rod to help line up the holes to the floating/clip on nut plates before installing the bolts.
(4) There are about 14 bolts used to install the inner fender well, get all the bolts started (not tight). This allows the fender well to move around some so you can get the rest of the bolts in the rest of the holes. After there all started then you can tighten them.

The inner fenders are (38-9570-T LH) & (38-9571-T RH) Inner Fender Primed from LMC. When I had the painting done, I just told the painter to use a 60 – 70 % gloss black finish on the inside area (some would call this satin finish or semi-gloss) and I did the undercoating with Herculiner bed liner (ref post #431) http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...318544&page=18







I think the truck will work just fine without that one bolt installed (smile)

Enjoy your build

[VA72C10]

Very nice work! Hey...nobody's perfect

[doosekoop]

Quote:
"(1) Test fitting before painting, you want all the drilling and metal work done before painting. Not like me,
finding out that something doesn’t line up on final installation."

probably the best advice you could give to anyone , better to fix it now then scratch a finished
paintjob or worse need to weld something near it!!


My first post in this thread but like many others i would like to thank you for such a detailed and concise build thread.
You have answered so many questions someone should pull all the replys and make a " how to build a 67-72 pickup truck " thread!

Fantastic job!

[mcbassin]

Engine bay looks great Bruce. Super attention to detail as always. Thanks for the tips too.

[trev1]

Looks great by far the most informative thread i've seen on this board. Can't wait to see the bed installed. Looks to me like its a little more than "Just A Pickup".

[Bruce88]

The bed’s coming together
It will soon be ready to haul something

Not that I’m planning on hauling gravel/dirt or heavy items in it, but still wanted some added protection on the inside of the bed. Had some Line-X bed liner applied to the panels before assembling the bed.

Normally the Line-X bed liner is applied to an assembled bed and is thicker than I had it’s applied to this one. I would say that normally the bed liner would be about 1/8 of an inch thick, I asked to have it applied about 1/16 of an inch thick. This aided in assembling the panels after the liner was applied, especially the front panel. I would call this a light duty bed liner application and that is just fine for the work this truck will see (smile).

If you’re interested in how the tailgate latch came to be (see post #69) http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=318544&page=3

I went with the option to bolt the floor stainless steel angle strip to the bed side instead of welding it in, this gives me the advantage of having the bed liner under the strip, yes there will be two bolt nuts that can be seen in the step side area on the out side but most of the bolt nuts are inside the wheel well out of sight and I might get some dome finish nuts later for the two that are seen. The stainless steel angle strips are 38-7692 from LMC.

If you’re interested how I laid out the angle strip holes (see post #221) http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=318544&page=9

In the pictures below you will see a tie down strap from one side of the bed to the other, it’s just there to hold the bed square for assembly and floor installation.





Time to move on to the bed floor, I’m making it out of simulated wood a plastic decking type of material. Need to brake out the saw and routers bits.

Enjoy your build

[71Sleeper]

Your truck is looking GREAT!!!! My wife really likes the step side bed. After seeing your build she is really after me now on finding her a step... Keep up the work looking forward seeing it complete.

[VA72C10]

Looks great!!!

[litew8]

Looks great Bruce! I'm considering lining my bed also, and I've got the wood floor. Can't wait to see what yours looks like.

[chevytruckluver]

Wow Bruce you are getting very close, very nice looking

[Bruce88]

An older look with a newer material
Then throw in some bling with stainless steel

Probably from the beginning of the use of the wood bed floors to the day they where no longer available, people have been looking for a way to make them last and stand up over time & use. Then throw in customs/hot roding and wanting them to look good into the mix and some kind of compromise might be needed either in the use of the truck or to it just being for show. I’m trying to meet that compromise with this installation.

Prior to 1967 the wood bed floors where finished with linseed oil and lampblack, this black color was what I was looking for. I obtained some man made wood decking (plastic wood) from Engineered Plastic Systems Qty 7 - 1x10x8foot black decking (actual material size ¾ inch X 9-1/2 inch X 8 foot). This material is expensive and comes in many different colors and add in the shipping cost and I wish I could have found some closer manufacture, maybe you can if you’re thinking of using this type of material (smile).

The design of how the wood floor is installed, is to allow the wood to grow and shrink with different temperature and water conditions. This growing and shrinking can be held to a minimum on wood with a protective marine finish. The man made decking grows and shrinks also but in relationship to temperature only, it doesn’t absorb water. The one area that it grows and shrinks more than wood is in its length. This is the only dimension of cutting and milling it that I changed from the standard wood dimensions called out on many web sites. I made it 1/16 of an inch shorter in length than a wood floor to allow it to move a little more and prevent binding and bowing.

An additional item in cutting this man made wood that I picked up from the manufacture is concerning the ripping to width. You need to cut the board width from the center of the material an equal amount from both sides, don’t leave the manufactured edge on one side with a cut edge on the other. The way this board is made there’s a certain amount of tension on the manufactured edge of the board and if you just cut one side, the board might not lay straight and bow. So you need to rip the board twice to get it to the right width.

There are a number of web sites that have the wood dimensions that you need to cut the wood to. I used Wes’s web site Classic Heartbeat Pickup Parts for the wood dimensions http://www.classicheartbeat.com/bed_wood.htm and Mar-K Quality Parts web site for the drilling bed to frame holes for 3/8” Bed-to-Frame bolts with Offset Washers http://mar-k.com/mtgholes_3-8_ofst.pdf

I’m using the 38-7290 Bed Strip Kit SS (shortbed) and 30-0777 Bed Mounting Kit SS (shortbed) from LMC. A change that I made to the nut and bolt mounting kit is that I replaced the lock washers and plain nuts with SS nylon insert lock nuts. I personally don’t like lock washer and prefer nylon insert lock nuts instead that I picked up at the hardware store.

I cut the bolts flush with the nuts that go over the fuel tank to make sure they wouldn’t ride on the gas tank. If your interested in the cross sills that I used and the custom one going over the gas tank (see post #301) http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...318544&page=13



When the day comes and it probably will where the floor needs additional protection to prevent it from getting gouged up from a heaver load than just some boxes or a few sheets of wood, I have a 3/8 thick bed mat that can be thrown in. I forget where I pick this one up, it’s just a universal/cut to fit mat. I don’t think it will be in the truck much but it’s available in the shop when needed (smile).



Now I just need 4 guys to come over and help me load this bed on the truck, yes I could use my cherry picker but I would prefer the hands on load to prevent banging up the paint.

Enjoy your build

[y5mgisi]

THAT looks AWESOME! Should hold up great too!

[chevytruckluver]

Originally Posted by Bruce88

Now I just need 4 guys to come over and help me load this bed on the truck

I would be right over, if you were not some 2000 miles away

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by chevytruckluver

I would be right over, if you were not some 2000 miles away

I'd love to see this truck in person and be able to contribute a tiny part in its' completion

And I was thinking just this week how cool it would look for someone to use the black engineered decking wood to simulate an original style wood floor....and you did it and it's just as cool as I pictured

[Bruce88]

The bed is on the frame
Now just installing some of the things that hang on it like the steps

One item that was not reusable from when I took the truck apart was the braces for the step. I almost had to cut them off but my impact gun did overcome the stripped threads. I don’t know if it was the rust or the over torqued lock nuts that caused the stripped threads, but I was going to need replacements.

I couldn’t find a reproduction part for this brace, so I made some from LMC 38-7368 Fender Center Braces (see picture below). Per the Factory Assembly Instruction Manual the torque for the adjustment lock nuts is 120 – 180 inch lbs and it would be easy to over torque the lock nuts because the treads on the rod are not as strong as a grade 5 bolt. This is more like a grade 0 bolt threads, and I don’t want to strip the threads on my new braces.

Normally this brace can not be seen from the outside, it sits on the fender lip in the wheel well and the bolt holds the step, fender, and brace together.





I’ve got to clean up the new braces and get some paint on them.

Enjoy your build

[Palf70Step]

Love the look of that bed!!

[Anthony2010]

love this build makes me want to get started on mine

[Bruce88]

One fender on
One to go

Applied two coats of Herculiner to the inside of the fender, then moved onto installing the fender.

Prior to our trucks you would find the factory used fender welt between the fender and bed to seal and give a cushion to prevent the painted surfaces from rubbing together causing wear, the fender would move around slightly during normal flexing of the fender during driving. On the 67 – 72 step sides the factory used some kind of caulking/sealer between the fender and the bed. I couldn’t find out exactly what this compound was, but I remember when I removed the finder there was a sealing compound between the fender and the bed, it was not hard kind of like a clay compound.

I used the 3M Ribbon Sealer, ¼ inch 08610 to seal the fender, after using this product I think I should have used the 3M Strip calk 08578, it would probably be a little easer to use and would seal the area just as good. Both are non-hardening and a butyl rubber compound.

I still have a few spots to clean up some minor squeeze out mainly at about 3 or 4 bolt locations. I found that some wax/grease remover does a good job and will not harm the paint.



As you look at the next picture of the forward inside of the fender the question of what that orange hose is doing in there. That’s what I call a high loop for my fuel tank vent system. If your interested the vent system it can be seen better in a prior post #301 & 311 http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...318544&page=13







Time to be moving onto the other fender installation

Enjoy your build

[into69z]

WOW-what a great job you have done with your project. Your thread has inspired me to plan a step, by step, restoration of my truck when the time comes. I now have also started a list of tools and supplies I will need to get the job done, and more importantly, reflect upon the memories of my Grandfather who owned the truck before me. Like you, he spent his life working as an aircraft mechanic/machinist for Boeing and Northrop, making fighter planes in WWII and later working on the Apollo projects. Listening to your attention to detail and the thinking that goes into the things you did is a mirror to the discipline he practiced. Thanks for sharing your story!

Kind of funny how things come full circle sometimes.