68 shortbed stepside stripper truck build

[indymachinist]

This is still going on, and I am building up a collection of pictures on my phone. It's just hard to post them from a phone so I haven't been.

I picked up a 2006 4.8 engine the other day so I am going to run it instead of the 5.3. Hoping the bigger rods will allow it to hold 800 whp for a while.

The "goal" is to wrap this up and run at least part of the Hot Rod Power Tour this summer. I don't know if I can make it yet. Everything takes longer than I think it will.

Build goals haven't changed much since I started.

Junkyard 4.8 LS engine
78/75 On3 Performance single turbo
Built 4l80e transmission
ProEFI engine management system
Traction control
E85 fuel with flex sensor
Boyds under bed tank with custom dual Bosch 044 pumps
12 bolt rear w/ 3:42 ratio & Eaton posi upgraded as best as possible
17" wheels (keeping 6 bolt)
Junkyard big disc brakes from NBS trucks
Hotchkiss springs & sway bars (4/6 drop)
CPP modular spindles
Power steering
Air conditioning

[indymachinist]

Ok so I have taken a bit of lunch break time to gather a few pictures....


Lets start with one of the truck as it is pretty much going to look when finished.


Now the rear end



New brake mount flanges at the end of the axles, and center section welded to axle tubes. I weld, but I don't weld that nice. It is good to have friends available to help you where needed.



I am a CNC machinist/programmer so I have access to solid modeling software that helps greatly when you are trying to assemble parts and you really only want to do it once. I often measure and draw everything up so I can look at it on the screen before making it. This is an assembly of the end of the axle tube with the axle, brake backing plate, and a wheel speed setup I am custom making so I can have traction control on a 68 truck.



Rear brakes are starting to come together. I haven't got the wheel speed setup done yet.



This is the start of putting a trigger wheel on the passenger side axle for the wheel speed sensor.



Mark Williams billet diff caps to help stop the diff from being spit out the back of the housing. I am also going to use a braced Moser cover with the cap bolts.


Now for a little of the Eaton diff build.... take brand new Eaton posi




Tear that all down. Keep this, get rid of the rest.



Get hardened spider gears and steel clutches to replace stock parts.



R.E.M. polish that stuff because it was ugly.



Put diff back together.




Now on to the fuel system...

Start coming up with a plan.... do a lot of drawing again.



Buy some materials from McMaster



Boom. Cut that stuff all up.



Cut bigger hole in Boyd tank, test fit parts.



Get the aluminum parts anodized and final assemble.



Now here is the engine. The $200 4.8L bomb.



This thing has 213k miles on it. It is not going to get rebuilt. New bearings, rings, rod bolts, etc are NOT in its future. I will put an LS6 cam in it, a new set of lifters and new timing chain, and an oil pump. That is all. 800 whp from this? Maybe. We will see.

[indymachinist]

And thats all there is time for right now!

[MMcMasters]

You have talent!! I can't wait to see it come together.. Keep the updates coming!

[Advanced Design]

Nice work, big difference between the material from McMaster and cut it up...nice looking parts!
Hope you can make some of HRPT.

[t300]

holy crap thats awesome. loving the machine work!!!

[slowcpe]

Nice work

[aggie91]

Cool build and awesome machine work.

Could you briefly explain the REM polishing and its benefits?

[indymachinist]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6FxilBXNhg

the music is pretty awful but the video gives you a pretty good idea of how rem polishing works

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by indymachinist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6FxilBXNhg

the music is pretty awful but the video gives you a pretty good idea of how rem polishing works

Thanks for the link. Interesting and the video mentions the finish facilitates lubrication. Does the process reduce possibility of stress fracture of the part?

[aggie91]

What's the latest on this build?

[faribran]

Do you still have the spare tire rear fender?

[indymachinist]

Originally Posted by aggie91

What's the latest on this build?

Its still underway. I havent had a lot of time to do any updates here but I have been taking pictures along the way. (Pictures are time consuming to load from a phone)

The suspension work is nearing completion. I hope I never have to cut/grind/drill/hammer another rivet in my life!! I am sticking with a quite "stock style" suspension. No air bags, drop members, rack and pinion swaps or that kind of thing. Too much money, and I am not into slammed trucks. I just like a nice low functional look. So where the suspension stands now:

-stock front upper and lower control arms
-Brothers front shock relocators
-all new Moog tie rods, ball joints, idler arm, pitman arm, cross shafts, etc etc
-CPP 2" drop front modular drop spindles
-stock rear trailing arms stitch welded top and bottom
-flipped stock trailing arm mounts
-Hotchkiss swivel joints to replace stock rubber trailing arm bushings
-Hotchkiss front and rear sway bars
-Hotchkiss 2" front and 6" rear springs
-No Limit rear shock relocators
-No Limit adjustable panhard bar

This pile of parts is all ready to be coated and installed.



Here are the old rubber bushings vs the Hotchkiss swivel joints



Flipping the trailing arm mounts underway





The rear end is all cleaned/assembled. Here is a test fit of putting some of the suspension together:



This is some of getting the rear wheel speed sensor set up for the traction control system. Had to do pretty much the same thing on a front wheel as well.

Custom designed/made bracket to hold a 2001 Tahoe ABS sensor



Here is a test fit on the housing with the axle



And here is the same thing but with the inner drum style parking brake and backing plate mocked up





The Boyd fuel tank is finished and powder coated. The dual Bosch 044 hanger is finished and assembled. The tank needs put under the truck and needs plumbed and wired. I also still need to finish up the behind the marker hidden fuel filler I started forever ago.

I don't think I commented on it much here but I was not wanting to hard mount the fabricated aluminum gas tank to the frame rails. My thoughts were similar to a hard mounted radiator, I expected it would crack. So instead of doing that I got rubber grommets from McMaster car. (a great place to get racecar building supplies!) The rubber grommets press into oversize holes I drilled in the flange of the tank and they have a sleeve in them I made so they can tighten down without smashing the rubber. The end result is a tank with a small amount of "float" to prevent cracking.

You can kind of see it here






With the help of this board (thank you clinebarger!) and multiple others I bought an unknown condition 1993 4L80E transmission and completely rebuild/upgraded it. It now has all new high enegry clutches, all new Delco electronics and solenoids, upgraded input shaft and forward drum, and a Circle D multi disc torque converter.

The before and after pictures don't look much different. That is partially by design as I had no interest in painting the housing. I have a TON more pictures of this but they are pretty borning trans internal shots without anything special going on.

Before:


After:

[indymachinist]

Originally Posted by faribran

Do you still have the spare tire rear fender?

Sorry I don't. I cut it up and sold part of it as a patch panel and junked the rest. Wasn't much of any interest in it when I had it for sale.

[indymachinist]

Also of note... I took the heads off the junkyard 4.8 I got to find a badly scored cylinder wall. It looked like a piece of the porcelain from the (original and TRASHED looking) spark plug tip got loose and found its way between the piston and cylinder wall.

So now I am a bit stalled out on what exactly I am going to do with the engine. Time will tell.

[nds1968]

Bummer about the motor... Nice work so far, do you feel the swivel joints were worth the money? Who did you buy yours from? Thanks, Nate

[aggie91]

Nice update, too bad about the 4.8.

[indymachinist]

Well, all the suspension should be done with powdercoat here soon. After that I can get it back on the truck and have a roller again.

Project frankenengine is underway as well. 3 junk yard engines are mixing with a few new parts. Block and crank from one engine, pistons from another, heads from another. I am attempting the build myself. It was going to be the only thing I hadn't personally rebuilt so I figured what the hell.

[indymachinist]

This stuff almost looks too good for this build. Really glad I decided to powdercoat all the suspension.



Circle D pro billet multi disc converter ready to go.



Engine all put together and mated to the transmission. Hopefully it goes in the bay soon.

[indymachinist]

I don't have a picture but engine and trans are in now hopefully to stay.

Front suspension is going back together. It's almost too nice for the truck honestly. Haha.



The front is just stock crossmember and upper and lower control arms, Moog cross shafts and ball joints, and CPP modular spindles. Everything was powdercoated and the lower cross shafts were redrilled for more caster. The little bracket and sensor you see on the spindle is for wheel speed. Need a non driven wheel speed for traction control.

Life got in the way big time this month so progress has been really slow.

Edit: I just cant seem to find a decent picture size. Just too big or too small.

[indymachinist]

This thing is on the road now! I enjoy it quite a bit but I wish it was quieter! Haha.

[aggie91]

Curt,

What spindle and hub did you use to be able to add the tone ring and sensor for your traction control?

How about some updated pictures?

[indymachinist]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Curt,

What spindle and hub did you use to be able to add the tone ring and sensor for your traction control?

How about some updated pictures?

The spindle is the CPP modular lowering spindle. I added the holes for the sensor bracket myself. I also made the sensor bracket.

The hub is from a cut down 1994 - 1998 Chevrolet C2500 front brake rotor. That type had the hub as an integral part of the rotor. It also included a pressed on ABS tone ring. I cut the rotor part off in a lathe.

[indymachinist]

Here are a few current pictures

[indymachinist]

Its running pretty good and gets a ton of attention on the road. I’m pretty pleased with how it rides and drives. Most of the suspension is Hotchkis and No Limit stuff. AC is cold as can be which is super nice in summer.

I’m not going to be able to get a proper tune done on the computer until late August but based on how it feels with no more than about 25% throttle it is going to be a monster.