67 C10 lwb to K10 swb conversion project

[68 TT]

I have been holding off doing much more to the 67 4x4 conversion project in hope that I would find a better cab, preferably an A/C cab, to build off of and save me a ton of rust repair.

Last night I scored a 69 C20 factory A/C cab & matching front clip on the original C20 chassis that someone had started converting to a 4x4 with period correct front suspension parts. It also has a fair condition 67 bed on it too. Much less rust repair needed vs. my 67 cab and I get A/C too. It will still need rockers and inner rockers but far less floor, kick panel & support structure repair. Grand total $160 delivered to my house.

Only things it is missing other than drivetrain are doors, windshield, gauge cluster and a tail gate. All of that can come off my 67 so no big deal.

The 69 C20 still has the truck arm rear suspension but has the 67-70 vintage front axle & leaf spring setup retrofit to it. I will get a closer look at it in a couple weeks and see if I want to work with this chassis instead or do a body swap onto the modified square body chassis.

It looks like it will sit pretty level with the 4x4 front suspension and C20 truck arm rear suspension. I wondered if this would work at all when I was thinking about the 67 K10 conversion project. I don't plan on off road use at all with this thing just bad weather unplowed roads so the truck arm rear suspension may stay.

I could get the 69 on the road rather easily compared to all the work left on the 67. I may just use the 67 cab as a template and test platform for some of the retrofit projects I have been coming up with and use the stock column shift auto steering column and stock dash mounted ignition & wiper switches that are present in the 69 so the project hits the road sooner.

[68 TT]

Some pics of the retrofit 4x4 parts on the 69 C20 chassis.

I will have to get a better look at them in better light to see if it is worth keeping and making this work or if I should scrap it and start over.

[68 TT]

Scored a set of decent condition complete doors for the 69 C20 cab in addition to a brand new tinted windshield and a decent tail gate shell today.

Now the 69 is pretty much complete short of a gauge cluster, some hood hinges & the guts for the tail gate and the drivetrain.

Found a buyer for the 8-lug trailing arm rear end in the thing so that will help offset some of the purchase price and the recent parts acquisitions.

Might even have a buyer for the drum brake Dana 44 up front and the high offset factory front 4x4 wheels too.

[68 TT]

Current plan is to get the 69 A/C cab gutted, cleaned up, all the rust and body damage repaired and paint the thing.

After that it will get assembled with the best parts I have available between it and the 67 truck.

Still not sure if I will go with the 67 front end or the 69 front end. They are both in about the same physical condition and would take the same amount of work to make them nice enough to paint.

I won't know if there is enough room to run the 4L60E & NP208 with the trailing arm suspension or not until I get the engine assembled and the whole mess can get dropped into the truck for test fitting. It is going to be close.

Once I get the 69 cabbed 4x4 truck on the road I will sell off the other truck with the 67 cab as a roller. I may stick an engine & trans in it and make it drivable as a 2wd truck.

[mcbassin]

I just got through your whole thread. I like what your doing here, a lot innovation! I've always thought about trying one of these conversions. I really like your cluster idea. That is super cool. My buddy is fitting one of the ls1 clusters to his s-10/ls1 4l60e conversion. I know the weather sucks out west now, looking forward to updates buddy.
subscribed.

[67chevy1series]

wait what are you building now you started with the 67 now there is another truck?????????

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

I just got through your whole thread. I like what your doing here, a lot innovation! I've always thought about trying one of these conversions. I really like your cluster idea. That is super cool. My buddy is fitting one of the ls1 clusters to his s-10/ls1 4l60e conversion. I know the weather sucks out west now, looking forward to updates buddy.
subscribed.

Thanks for the complements. I wish I had a shop like yours to work in. I might actually get some work done.

I really like Camaro cluster idea too. I picked up a plain cluster with no secondary gauges at the wrecking yard that will make the Camaro cluster swap a bunch easier. The back of the housing is so much simpler than the amp meter housing.

I think I will cut out the center of the truck housing and use some plastic weld epoxy to fit the Camaro cluster face to the plain truck speedometer bezel. I can reinforce the back as needed to support the cluster properly.

The Camaro cluster face texture looks identical to the texture on the 67-72 speedometer bezel. I can add the appropriate texture to the plastic weld area pretty easy. If it doesn't look right I will re-texture the whole surface and make the glove box door match.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

wait what are you building now you started with the 67 now there is another truck?????????

I had intended to just get a better cab to use in place of my cancered out 67 cab for this project but couldn't pass up the deal I got for the whole 69 C20 A/C cab parts truck with clear title, especially since it had the front end converted to correct 4x4 parts long ago and had been driven as a 4x4 for many years the way it is. It will save me a bunch of fabrication time and labor to just build the 69 truck first.

I really need an automatic truck due to my bad knees and one that gets better gas mileage than my 78 K20 so for now the easiest to put together truck wins out.

I have nearly enough parts to put the whole 69 truck back together now without taking a thing off the 67 truck.

The 67 will get completed and put back on the road once the 69 is done. I hate to see these trucks get scrapped. If I get it on the road it has a much better chance of somebody putting the work into it to make it nice again and keep one more of our truck in the gene pool.

[mcbassin]

Hi 68TT,
I saw your pic on the frankstein thread. Did you use a 73 up style tilt column? Did you have to modify it? can you use the wiper controls? I've always like those style columns.
Nice work!

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Hi 68TT,
I saw your pic on the frankstein thread. Did you use a 73 up style tilt column? Did you have to modify it? can you use the wiper controls? I've always like those style columns.
Nice work!

It takes some minor mods to get it to fit. The biggest problem is with the ignition switch control rod and the location of the ignition switch so if you want to keep the stock in dash ignition switch then it is a pretty easy install. You could grind off the ignition lock bezel and smooth the area out to make it look like it was never there.

The only down side to the swap is the lack of gear indicator on the column. I guess you could machine up a simple setup similar to the 67-72 stuff that could be secured to the square body column. It's possible the 67-72 pieces may be an easy retrofit. I will have to take a look at that.

Since my goal is to use the complete square body under dash harness as much as possible I am keeping the column mounted ignition switch & lock cylinder so I have had to relocate the ignition switch further down the column. I have a trashed donor column to experiment on and to cannibalize for parts so that has helped.

I still need to make the mount plate to secure the column to the dash but that won't take much more than some 1/2" tubing and a little flat bar.

I also still need to change out the ignition lock for a new one I have the key for so I can finish the ignition switch relocation part of the job.

Gaining delay wipers that work properly, cruise control capability, a column shifter, a tilt wheel and a locking steering column in addition to making the EFI swap more straight forward are worth the effort.

[68 TT]

Finally back on this project. A few unforeseen health delays eliminated any working on the truck since the end of November.

Still not 100% back to normal but good enough to hit the wrecking yard.

I scored another high hump 67-72 tunnel so I won't need to do as much fab work getting the square body part to fit the 67 floor now.

I will still need to graft in the NP208 shifter mount area into the new high hump tunnel and fill in the manual trans shifter opening but that should be less work than fitting the square body part to the 67 floor.

Also picked up a decent condition 69-72 style gauge cluster assembly so I won't have to mess with the wiper switch wiring to put the switch on the left side to match the labeling on my 67 cluster in the 69 cab or deal with the extra hole in the 67 cluster for the choke.

Grabbed a nice speedo cable, antenna assembly and a bunch of switches, knobs & hardware I was missing while I was there too.

[68 TT]

Did some research while I was unable to work on the truck over the winter and found it was fairly easy to convert the drum brake Dana-44 front axle in the 69 C20 to disc brakes.

I really like the newer 2500HD 10-hole aluminum 8-lug PY0 option wheels and wanted to put them on my truck but didn't have the 8-lug front end to go with it. I was just going to settle for some different rims and put a set of the 6-lug axles I have into the 69 C20 to make it 6-lug all around.

Turns out the 3/4-ton square body parts from a Dana-44 vintage truck bolt right on with no real issues.

Didn't have any extra 8-lug wheels with tires sitting around so I picked up some functional ones while I was at the wrecking yard. The tires are decent but are too small for my taste. With a little luck I will have the money to get the other two PY0 wheels I need and put the tires I want on them soon enough to be able to return these wheels & tires to the wrecking yard for a refund to get my $24 back

[68 TT]

I ran into two things that slowed me down on the front disc brake conversion. The article I read said that the only parts needed were the rotors & caliper mount brackets but in actuality you need the spindles too.

This may not be the case with the 1/2-ton parts but the inner wheel bearing is larger on the 3/4-ton. The grease seal fits right and the outer wheel bearing fits right but the inner is about 1/8" larger in ID than the drum brake spindle. The drum brake inner wheel bearing will not fit into the disc brake hub either. The OD is way smaller.

Someone converting from a 1/2-ton drum front to a 1/2-ton disc setup may be able to reuse the drum brake spindles but I don't know for sure.

The donor truck was missing the calipers so I grabbed a set of 1.25" rotor calipers off a G10 van thinking they would fit. Wrong. The design of the caliper around the piston interferes with the steering knuckle on the Dana-44 so the caliper can not even bolt up. It is close but just won't fit without mods. I will just to go back and look for another set off a 4x4 or get rebuilt ones that are correct and use the G10 parts as the core rather than grind anything for clearance. No sense making things weaker when the right parts are out there.

[68 TT]

The brake rotor donor was an NP203 truck with just caps over the end of the rotors where the locking hubs would go on a part time 4x4 transfer case vehicle but the hubs on the rotors were machined with the splines and lock ring groove the locking hubs needed.

All the drum brake Dana-44 locking hub parts fit right into the 3/4-ton disc brake hubs with no problems and function properly.

[68 TT]

The 3/4-ton disc front uses 9/16" thread lug nuts and the stock 8-lug C20 rear axle uses smaller studs. I will need to upgrade the rear to match the front. I will need to do some research to see what can be done.

I have never owned one of the rear axles that is in the C20 now. It does not look like a Dana-60 or Dana-70 that I have had before and it is definitely not a 14-bolt like is in my 78 K20. I believe it is the Eaton rear axle I have heard people talking about occasionally. Can anybody confirm this? How strong is it and should I be looking for another rear axle to replace it with?

[Captainfab]

I'm sorry to hear you had some health issues.....hopefully nothing too serious.

Were you able to find all these parts at Pull and Save? Seems like I usually get there after they've been pretty well picked over.

I didn't know that about 4x4 calipers. I also assumed all D52 calipers would be the same.....learned something new today


That rear differential is the Eaton HO52. They are a ppretty tough rear end, but parts are getting hard to find and $$ when you do. Plus the most common gear ratio seems to be the 4.57 gears....not real highway friendly unless you're running tall tires. That's what I have under my '69 K20 frame. I had considered switching to a 14 bolt or a 60 in the rear, but then I would have to change the gears in the front also. The current plan for that is to run 35" tires since I don't want to change gears in the front. Of course that could change before I get that far.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

I'm sorry to hear you had some health issues.....hopefully nothing too serious.

Were you able to find all these parts at Pull and Save? Seems like I usually get there after they've been pretty well picked over.

I didn't know that about 4x4 calipers. I also assumed all D52 calipers would be the same.....learned something new today


That rear differential is the Eaton HO52. They are a ppretty tough rear end, but parts are getting hard to find and $$ when you do. Plus the most common gear ratio seems to be the 4.57 gears....not real highway friendly unless you're running tall tires. That's what I have under my '69 K20 frame. I had considered switching to a 14 bolt or a 60 in the rear, but then I would have to change the gears in the front also. The current plan for that is to run 35" tires since I don't want to change gears in the front. Of course that could change before I get that far.

The health issues were physical injuries that will just take time to heal. My foot got crushed at work and now I have to deal with bone bruising now that I am out of the cast. Then three weeks after that we were rear ended while stopped at a red light by somebody not paying attention doing 30 mph. I was turned sideways talking with my wife and didn't see it coming so it hit me full force and snapped me sideways causing some back & neck issues and a non-stop headache that hasn't gone away. The impact pushed me forward hard enough that I sprained and strained my ankle on the brake pedal. It put so much force on my brake foot that it stopped the Tahoe from hitting the car in front of us at the light when we were hit by somebody doing 30 mph in a 3800 pound car. Everything is getting better but the headache and some persistent lower back pain.

I got most of the parts at Pull and Save but the tailgate and one set of doors came from people on Craig's List.

I think the difference in the D52 calipers may all be related to brake line outlet locations. I picked up another set off of a 79 K20 that I will test fit tonight to see if they fit. I took a picture with the G10 calipers in it so I will compare the line locations and shapes as best as I can as I returned them to get the right ones yesterday.

I haven't checked the gears in the front or rear of the 69 C20 but it is high on my list. I do have an overdrive trans going into the 69 so even if it has 4.57 gears they will be OK. The 30% OD will turn them into 3.20 gears on the highway. I may look for a Dana-60 or 14-bolt to swap into the 69 C20 just to have something a little more common in there for replacement parts sake.

I scored a set of 3.73 gears and carrier for a 14-bolt out of a 78 K20 too so my 78 K20 can lose the 5.13 gears finally. Those are brutal with only ~32" tall tires and no overdrive. I already have a set of 3.73's in a Dana-44 front that can go into the 78 K20 to match the rear.

[Captainfab]

Wow, you took a beating! Hope you can get the headache and back pain taken care of.

[mcbassin]

Man, sorry to hear about all the beating you took in the last several months. Glad to hear you're back on your project. Even if it's only part time it's better than sitting on the couch I'm sure.

[68 TT]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

I have a bunch of pent up energy waiting to get unloaded on my vehicle projects from all the down time I had over the past 3-1/2 months.

Things are good enough now that I am able to function about 80% capacity so I can get back to work on my toys. I really want to get one of these trucks back on the road soon.

[68 TT]

Made a trip to the wrecking yard in search of a 3.73 or 4.10 geared 14-bolt for the 67 K10 project to complete my 8-lug conversion. Found a nice 4.10 posi 14-bolt in a 74 so I brought it home.

I was hoping for 3.73's to match the Dana-44 currently in the front of the 67 but since the Dana-44 on the front of the 69 has 4.09 gears it can work with the 4.10 geared 14-bolt. With overdrive the 4.10's won't be too bad on the freeway. Nothing like my 78 K20 with no OD and 5.13's.

[Captainfab]

If you're going to mount that on the trailing arms, I have some trailing arm mounts that I made specifically to fit the 14 bolt axle tubes. Send me a PM if you're interested.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

If you're going to mount that on the trailing arms, I have some trailing arm mounts that I made specifically to fit the 14 bolt axle tubes. Send me a PM if you're interested.

It is actually going into the modified 74 K10 chassis that is under my 67 body so it will stay leaf spring. I decided I wanted to run the late model 2500 HD 10-hole aluminum wheels I have on the 67 so it is getting converted to 8-lug.

Those trailing arm mounts would have come in handy if I hadn't changed direction with the 69 C20. If I ever need any I will keep you in mind. Thanks John.

[68 TT]

After tearing into the 69 C20 a bit and getting a good look at things I am not happy with the PO's fab work converting it to a 4x4. I am going to cut off the modified front frame section and install the matching left over stock part from my old 67 C10 front frame section to convert the thing back into a 2-wd truck. I can then install the truck arm 12-bolt out of the 67 C10 truck bed trailer into the modified 69 C20 frame to make it a C10. I have everything needed to make it complete as a C10.

This will allow me to use the C20 / K10, 20, 30 cab mount brackets off the 69 C20 frame on my 67 K10 conversion project. I wasn't looking forward to the rest of the custom cab mount bracket fabrication and alignment I have left to do so this will simplify things tremendously. Working by myself and with only basic hand tools makes it hard to get the cab aligned properly and the mounts made accurately enough to keep me happy with the end results. Using the stock C20 / K10 mount brackets with new bushings will leave only the height and body line alignment left to do as the cab mount brackets will center and square up the cab to the frame for me.

I can put the stock 67 C10 cab mount brackets onto the modified 69 C20 frame to keep it functional and consistent with the C10 conversion.

Now I need to get though about a dozen other projects before I can get back to this one and make some real progress. At least one of the first projects is building the engine for this thing to get all the parts out of my store room and shed.

I might sneak in the 69 cab & mount bracket swap on the 67 4x4 conversion project just to get things cleaned up around the house a bit.

[68 TT]

Not much happening on the truck project. Life is getting in the way again.

I did get the C20 / K10 poly body bushings ordered at least so when I get the time to go back to work on the truck I can get the 69 A/C cab put onto my modified K10 chassis with the 69 C20 cab mount brackets and everything will be level and true.

Sorted through the bushings, washers & sleeves to make sure I got everything and bagged them up by location.

First time I had ordered anything from streetsideauto.com and I will be for sure ordering from them again. Very quick free shipping, no handling charge at all and I found a bunch of coupon codes online that worked. The same bushings that would have cost me $77 to get from Jegs or Summit were to my door for under $60.