A New 68 Build Thread

[ccracin]

Originally Posted by chevy_mike

An idea I was just thinking about was, from the back of the wheel wells to the tailgate, way not keep your raised floor all the way to the back AND put a lower, stock hight floor in. Basically you build a cubby hole area that you can put cleaning supplies, folding chairs, etc. in that is easy to get to but is completely hidden when you have the tailgate up. Keeps the smooth floor up top yet gives you some storage.

Just an idea to use some wasted space. Nice build.

Great idea, I was thinking the same thing. Just didn't want to let all the tricks out of the bag at this point!

[chevy_mike]

Originally Posted by ccracin

Great idea, I was thinking the same thing. Just didn't want to let all the tricks out of the bag at this point!

Doh! Sorry to let the cat out of the bag. Glad we were thinking the same thing.

[falconizer_62]

Very nice! Nice to follow a build of this caliber.
peace

[green68]

very nice. i am enjoying!

[67cheby]

Originally Posted by ccracin

Well the wheel tubs are stretched and the interior bed sides are sectioned to raise the bed floor. It's all tacked together. Now I just have to figure out how I want to attach the wheel tubs to the bed sides. I had to remove the stock bolt in flange to raise the tub and allow the wheel/tire to be moved out toward the wheel well lip. I'm considering welding it together? HMMMM The only reason I can see it was bolted in to begin with is for production reasons. Oh well, looks like I'll be laying awake at night some more to figure this out. Anyway, here is how it is coming together.







Once I figure the wheel tub mounting out, I can move on to building the bed supports and the fuel cell. I love progress and as always, thanks for looking!

mine still bolt in , just thought you might like to see these pics for an idea

[FRENCHBLUE72]

B!tchen build and you guys have some awesome skills..

[rondog4416]

Wow !thats going to be super nice .great looking frame .

[jbclassix]

Subscribed!

[ccracin]

The new project has been sold. A friend decided he wanted it and made an offer my Dad did not refuse! LOL This truck is back underway. I will try to post updates soon. I will also keep the other build thread alive. Since a friend has purchased it, I will try to post updates as I get them.

[ccracin]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

mine still bolt in , just thought you might like to see these pics for an idea

Very nice. I am close to finalizing my plan. One more test fit and we will be there. I am 90% sure ours will still bolt in. Gotta check your thread out some more! Thanks for the pics!

[VA72C10]

congrats on the sale ...... now get this done

[caviness]

we need updates

[ccracin]

We have made some more progress since we cured the "Brain Damage"! Although, the progress is not exactly on the truck. We have a new addition to the tool family:



It's a Lincoln Precision TIG 225 Square Wave TIG. Guess I have some learning to do. LOL We also got it so that our "Pro" welder can come to our shop rather than me taking everything to his place. Well with the new addition we needed to consolidate space. So, a new welding cart is in order. This is what we quickly came up with.



The other welder is an SP-125 Plus MIG. We have had it since 1996. What an awesome little welder it has been!



Now, back to the truck! Stay tuned.

[smbrouss70]

That's a nice cart that you came up with! I need to do something like that to hold my mig and plasma cutter together, since on usually requires the other.

[ccracin]

It may be hard to tell from the previous pictures but we have made official progress ON the truck. The stretched wheel tubs are finally fit. I will get the bare metal on the bed sides painted and then get the tubs welded in. After that I will finish off the welds from the sectioning of the bed sides as well as the stretching of the tubs. Not much, but we are further ahead! Enjoy:













Thanks for looking!

[VA72C10]

Nice work. Looking good.

[ccracin]

Have you guys ever wondered why it doesn't look like more has been made when you have spent countless hours working at it? I'll bet you there is 60 hours in the pictures I am about to post. It sure doesn't look like it to me, but hey it's progress. I guess it takes time to try and do it right.

So, we put the tailgate on to see if everything fits and to check the rolled pan fit before we take the bed back apart to weld it all up. Sounds easy, right? WRONG New bed sides, new tail gate, new tail gate hinges well it didn't even close. When I did get it to close after tweaking some holes the top of the tail gate ended up 3/8" below the top of the bed sides. That's right 3/8". You can't slot holes that much, plus the holes in the bed sides had nuts welded to the back. Well, here is what I did to fix it. I used a hole saw to cut the old hole and nut away but on center for the new hinge location. I then welded a flange nut to the back of a heavy washer. I then tacked the washer into the hole. I did it for both holes that mount the hinge to move it up 3/8". I will finish weld and grind it down when I take the bed sides back off for welding. Here is what I ended up with.



After this was done the tailgate still would not close. On these old trucks there are two tabs, one on each side of the top of the tail gate. They engage slots in the bed sides to keep the tail gate centered and support the bed sides when the gate is closed. These are now guess what, yep 3/8" to high. So I had to cut them off and move them up. Geez! I bet I have 20 hours just getting the tail gate to close and get roughly aligned.

After that we moved onto making the mounts for the chassis to bolt the bed to. I think we came up with a clean/strong solution that matches the style of the chassis. We set them up to have 3/16" shim on them right now so that we have room to align everything later down the road. Here is what they look like.









By the way, I welded these brackets. I'm not as good as my welder, Harry but I am getting better. I just need to learn how to use that TIG now! Anyway, a couple more hours and the bed will officially bolt to the chassis.

Now that the bed is mounted and I know what kind of space I have, it is about time to design the gas tank. After that it is off to the front of the truck. Progress, love it. Thanks for looking. As always, feel free to comment. Good or bad, I want it right.

[VA72C10]

Nice progress! I see the time and thought that went into it

[67cheby]

sweet progress

[ccracin]

I just realized this is the first update for 2011! Happy New Year! Progress is being made although it is not exactly photo worthy. A lot of welding, grinding, hammering etc. I have also been putting a lot of time into designing the fuel tank for the truck. I have been putting a lot of time into researching factory pumps and specs. I was looking at late model Vette pumps. Then I thought what about the new Camaro. As I uncovered some specs, (Not Easy)I pretty much decided that the 2010 SS Camaro pump would work well for the power level we are going to have. Just when I started to look into it more, Rick's Hotrods announced the Vaporworx tank using this same pump. So, I started researching Vaporworx without finding much. After some internet stalking LOL, It turns out that Vaporworx is a that is on another forum I frequent! Lateral-g.net His name is Carl Casenova. He has put a huge amount of time and effort into applying this fuel pump module to our hobby. Since I have brain damage and want to do as much myself as possible, I contacted him. On a side note, If you do not posses the skills and equipment to fabricate a quality tank then by all means contact Rick's or one of their dealers and get one of the Vaporworx tanks. They are by far in my humble opinion the most advanced application of factory technology for fuel systems in our hobby. OK, back to our regularly scheduled program. Carl and I corresponded for a few weeks and I have to say that he has been very very helpful. He has gone out of his way to educate me on some of the aspects of this project I hadn't thought of yet. He absolutely did not have to go as far as he has. I believe I would have made it to my goal but it would have been a much bumpier road. My hats off to Carl and what he has been willing to share. You can check out much more detail on his system over at Pro-Touring.com. Look in the new products section and read. He has it all laid out in the thread. I didn't post a link as I am not sure if that is frowned upon. I have a whole slew of parts and am modeling components in solidworks for my application. I have attached a picture of what I have modeled so far. Stay tuned as I move down this road. Again a big thanks to Carl! Let me know what you guys think! If you check out the Vaporworx tank, you will obviously see where this came from. Definitely Carl's influence! Enjoy!

[67cheby]

everything is looking great.......i understand you time and labor in that bed...lots more work than anyone would imagine, but in my opinion it is the only way it looks RIGHT !!

[ccracin]

Here is what I was working on the last couple days. These trucks have big ugly door latches. Since we are shaving the door handles and putting remote door releases in we decided to use bear claw latches. We are going to put the latches in the jamb and the pins on the door. So I started fabbing them in. I decided to try my hand at hammer forming. Man I should have tried my first shot on something thinner than 16 ga. I am a glutten for punishment. Anyway, here some photos of what I have so far.

The stock jamb.


Cut out.


Hammer Forming.


Fitting.


That's it for now. Thanks for looking.

[ccracin]

I got some more done on the bear claw latch install. Moving along. Check it out.





What do you guys think?

[ccracin]

This has to be one of my most highly anticipated days in the build! Check out what we will be taking delivery of very shortly! I can't believe I am almost speechless. It's not completely dressed yet but it doesn't matter.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMNNt8dpVzc

That's what I'm talking about.

Some quick specs.
Stroked LS3 415ci
Wegner Ported L92 Heads
Wegner Rockers
Wegner Kick Out Oil Pan
Wegner Accessory Drive Black
FAST EZ EFI

614.3 HP @ 6700 RPM
544 ft# @ 5200 RPM

The torque curve is absolutely cool. Over 500 ft# from 4200 to 6300 RPM.

I will plot the curves tomorrow.

I won't be able to sleep!

My hats off to Casey Wegner, Dan Timm, Gary Nelson, and everyone else at Wegner! Thanks also to Frank at Prodigy for kicking this off!

[CheyenneShop]

Yeah - I would be EXCITED too if I was you. Bad A$$!