68 C10 SBSS build - start to finish

[VA72C10]

very nice work and some nice quality part$

[VA72C10]

very nice work and some nice quality part$

[VA72C10]

Curious with all this attention to detail you have if you kept a spreadsheet of hours and parts/materials costs? I've done that on past builds and the current project #1 build and the numbers always surprise/shock me

You mention working on it 7 days/week...how many hours a week do you think you spent on it?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Curious with all this attention to detail you have if you kept a spreadsheet of hours and parts/materials costs? I've done that on past builds and the current project #1 build and the numbers always surprise/shock me

You mention working on it 7 days/week...how many hours a week do you think you spent on it?

Yes, I kept an Excel spreadsheet on everything and you're right, it makes my hands shake to open it. Including the initial cost of the truck and what I spent on services I had to farm out, minus original parts I sold at swap meets, it's north of 40K a little bit. That doesn't include any of my time. I didn't keep an accurate count of my hours, but I'd estimate I spent an average of 40-50 hours a week on it. Some days just a few hours, others a lot more. I did that for eleven months minus several weeks for personal time, so probably between 1600 and 2000 hours. Not all of that was grunt work as I spent hours chasing parts, design time on DeltaCAD and occasionally staring into space just mapping strategy. Nothing I hate worse than finding out you need to tear something apart because you forgot a step somewhere.

[Hduramax]

Just read through your build,really nice work. I really like how the grille turned out, and with todays technology on the USB port in the dash thats sweet. Keep up the nice work
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[Vic1947]

By the third week of May, the wiring was complete and all that remained was to install the hood and carpet and finally a test drive. The hood fit just so-so and after fixing the body line mismatch with the cowl, neighbor Mike and I were able to adjust it for a little bit better fit. It's okay, but if I'm ever forced to do any more repair work, it will get a makeover. When Precision Collision resprayed the cowl, I had them re-shoot the underside of the hood also. I'd failed to trim the expanding foam they use to adhere the substructure to the outer skin and didn't like the result when it came out of the booth initially. So out came the Xacto knife, scraper and the mini DA sander. After the respray, it looked much better.

When it rolled out of the shop I was planning on just running a LED light bar between the tailgate and rollpan for brake/turn lights. In MO, you have to have a safety inspection every year and mine had lapsed during the build. At the Chevy dealer where they aligned the frontend, they refused to sign off an inspection without "separate" tail lights. The single bar was not acceptable in their opinion. So I cut a small piece of duct tape and placed it in the middle of the light bar, which sort of gave it the appearance of being two separate lights, took it to a different station and they passed it with no complaints. Later, I added a small light on each side because I thought it needed it, but for awhile we had fun watching people search for the tail lights.

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[Vic1947]

Some interior shots after we had the carpet installed. Wish the mats had matched a little better, but when you mail order stuff it's always a crapshoot. One of the photos shows the USB port and retractable cupholder I grafted in from a Geo Prizm. I was surprised that there were provisions in the B pillar for a three point seatbelt, so we upgraded to that from the lap belts that were in the truck to start with. You can also see the aluminum covers I made for the lower door panel area that had been previously cut up for speakers. After rollling the design into them, I had them anodized so they should stay nice for many years.

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[gdavis]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

By the third week of May, the wiring was complete and all that remained was to install the hood and carpet and finally a test drive. The hood fit just so-so and after fixing the body line mismatch with the cowl, neighbor Mike and I were able to adjust it for a little bit better fit. It's okay, but if I'm ever forced to do any more repair work, it will get a makeover. When Precision Collision resprayed the cowl, I had them re-shoot the underside of the hood also. I'd failed to trim the expanding foam they use to adhere the substructure to the outer skin and didn't like the result when it came out of the booth initially. So out came the Xacto knife, scraper and the mini DA sander. After the respray, it looked much better.

When it rolled out of the shop I was planning on just running a LED light bar between the tailgate and rollpan for brake/turn lights. In MO, you have to have a safety inspection every year and mine had lapsed during the build. At the Chevy dealer where they aligned the frontend, they refused to sign off an inspection without "separate" tail lights. The single bar was not acceptable in their opinion. So I cut a small piece of duct tape and placed it in the middle of the light bar, which sort of gave it the appearance of being two separate lights, took it to a different station and they passed it with no complaints. Later, I added a small light on each side because I thought it needed it, but for awhile we had fun watching people search for the tail lights.

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I like to piece of flat metal in the front on both sides of the hood latch

[67swb72klb]

nice realy liking the parking and marker lights,mesh grill great work!

[tommys72]

damn nice truck......

[Vic1947]

Thanks for the nice words, everyone. Here are a few more photos taken after a summer of cruise-ins, a road trip to St. Paul, MN for the Car Craft Summernationals and several local car shows. We picked up two "Best of Show" awards along the way and more importantly, we met a lot of great people that share our enthusiasm for old trucks.

I have some more photos I'll post later showing the work I've been doing to try to correct an annoying vibration at highway speeds. Meanwhile, we'll catch you later!

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[original-71]

very nice truck

[Low Elco]

Looks familiar! Wish ours was half that nice.
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[Low Elco]

Post up! I'm still fighting! It's going to a pro trans/driveline guy tomorrow.
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[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Post up! I'm still fighting! It's going to a pro trans/driveline guy tomorrow.
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Will do, I took some photos with the rearend out of the truck showing the line up bar in place and the amount the axle tubes were off center. It's back under the truck at the moment but I'm just getting started on the brackets to relocate the shocks to an upright position. Will post it soon.

[99-LS1-SS]

What size rims and tires are you running?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by 99-LS1-SS

What size rims and tires are you running?

Fronts are 235/65/17 on 17x7 rims, 4" BS.
Rears are 275/60/17 on 17X8 rims, 4" BS.

[Apstar44]

Wow nice truck. I like the work that was done to it.

[67cheby]

Wow , nice work ....and alot of it !
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[Low Elco]

Nice work, Vic! Wish I coulda been there to see the posi in the lathe, that had to have been a show! I like the tie-in to the stock mounts with the new shock. Work looks great. Are you going to pull and balance it? I didn't know they could do that. Who is your engine builder?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Nice work, Vic! Wish I coulda been there to see the posi in the lathe, that had to have been a show! I like the tie-in to the stock mounts with the new shock. Work looks great. Are you going to pull and balance it? I didn't know they could do that. Who is your engine builder?

Thanks Chip. I don't have plans to yank it right away, maybe after the first of the year. My builder is Bobby Morton in Independence. He does engine balancing and, like most performance shops, he has mandrels he uses to balance flywheels, vibration dampers and etc. I'm sure he could balance the diff. It's a lot less mass than a crankshaft for sure. If you decide to go thru your 3.73 to replace bearings, seals or whatever, I'd be happy to check the axle tubes for you while it's apart. PM me if you're interested.

[Vic1947]

Well, with Christmas out of the way and the KC AutoRama approaching, I'm back to doing a little inside work while the weather is not so balmy. When I first got the truck on the road, I used a steering wheel I robbed off another of my projects. Mainly because my wife didn't like the Grant wheel that was on the truck when I bought it. When I had carpet installed, the guy that did the work showed me a leather wrapped wheel he'd done and it really looked nice. So last week we took the Grant wheel to him and asked about having it covered. He pointed out a couple of things I hadn't thought about and suggested it might be more cost effective to buy one, assuming I could locate one that was suitable.

Since Brian seemed pleased with the Forever Sharp wheel he got for Christmas, I decided to give them a try. It ain't all flamed up and fancy like the one Brian got, but after a little tweaking it blends in with the rest of the interior. It's the Muscle Series half wrap, which means I can swap out another ring style in the future if I decide to. Pictures below.

I'd test drive it to do a 15" before vs. 14" after comparison but I haven't gotten my Demon carb back from the factory yet. Had to send it in due to a persistent issue with the accelerator pump. I hope they can figure out the problem, but just in case, I have a Holley on my eBay watch list.

More on that later.

[gdavis]

I like the grey and the gages are sweet

[Xeen]

That new steering wheel looks great in there!
Also you should be able to bring your tilt all the way down now without the steering wheel rubbing your legs.
I really liked the new shock mounts you fabricated and that rear differential cover is sweet Im adding it to my list along with a CPP bent bar to clear it.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

That new steering wheel looks great in there!
Also you should be able to bring your tilt all the way down now without the steering wheel rubbing your legs.
I really liked the new shock mounts you fabricated and that rear differential cover is sweet Im adding it to my list along with a CPP bent bar to clear it.

Thanks Brian. You're right about there being more room between the steering wheel and my legs. It's much more comfortable now!