Project: DIY '68

[Mac93]

Painted the front fenders, bumper and grille white yesterday. Got the core support mounted and started working on bleeding the breaks with dad's help.

[Mac93]

Worked on the chrome molding for on the grille. I got a set of the clips that only have the one retaining clip on them, much easier than the ones with the two retaining clips. Easy to install.

[68 short step]

looking good, a little tip, on those clips, the spring is on the wrong side. you should be able to see the spring going across. hard to explain, but on your pics above, both the spring, and the stud mounting tab, should rest on the same side (lest side, in your pic)

[tommyd241]

Nice!

[Mac93]

Originally Posted by 68 short step

looking good, a little tip, on those clips, the spring is on the wrong side. you should be able to see the spring going across. hard to explain, but on your pics above, both the spring, and the stud mounting tab, should rest on the same side (lest side, in your pic)

Thanks for the tip 68 short step, I tightened them down and they're holding so I'm not going to go back and fix all of them.

Originally Posted by tommyd241

Nice!

Thanks

Brakes are finished up, thanks to dads help. Replaced the calipers when one of the bleed screws was frozen in and PB blaster, vise grips and a torch wouldn't break it loose. Hung inner fenders and outer fenders. Nothing is tight yet, just wanted to see some noticeable progress..

[Mac93]

Grille loosely bolted on.

[SOON2BLAZE]

Coming together nicely. The paint color looks sweet in the sun!

[Mac93]

Got the hood mounted today. Overall, the front end wasn't too far off so the hood went on with some minor adjustments. The gap on the passenger side is a little big but I will live with it for now. Painted the bumper bolts and got it mounted as well. Also got a bumper built for the 83 chevy. Pictures are sideways but yall get the idea.

[Mac93]

Radiator is set in and bolted down. The factory mounts all work, which was something i was not expecting.

[slick copper]

Nice build! Just got caught up on it. I was wondering about your radia8. Aluminum? Where'd you get it from, and you say it fit in stock mounts?

[Mac93]

Originally Posted by slick copper

Nice build! Just got caught up on it. I was wondering about your radia8. Aluminum? Where'd you get it from, and you say it fit in stock mounts?

Thanks, Slick Copper! Yes, aluminum radiator. I ordered it off EBay a while back. It has the built in tranny cooler lines too. Yes, both upper and lower rubber mounts work which i was not anticipating.

[Mac93]

Installed some sound detaining material/insulation I picked up from Lowe's a while back. I wanted to sound proof the cab a little more than it was. If i doesn't work, I'm out $10. I put the original floor mat back in and will continue to use it since its not in to bad of shape. I'd like to find a way to cover up the aluminum color the mat doesn't cover.. that's another weekend project.

[slick copper]

Originally Posted by Mac93

Thanks, Slick Copper! Yes, aluminum radiator. I ordered it off EBay a while back. It has the built in tranny cooler lines too. Yes, both upper and lower rubber mounts work which i was not anticipating.

Cool. You'll have to let me know how it holds up after some use.

[Mac93]

Originally Posted by slick copper

Cool. You'll have to let me know how it holds up after some use.

Will do.

Buttoned up a few things on the truck to get it ready to fire up. Found out that I had the wires on the solenoid backwards... so once those were on in the correct order, it fired up after adding fuel to the carb. Still not getting any fuel up to the carb via fuel pump. Put a ground wire from the block to the frame, painted the backside of the door panels black, plugged the transmission cooler line intake and outake (5/16 flared brass plug is not very common and took some searching around town to find one).

[Mac93]

Got the truck to fire up and stay running! Distributor was not tightened down, snugged it down and it kept running. Dad worked on making a key to go into the ignition bezel to tighten it, worked good and its snug.

[Mac93]

Haven't posted any progress for a while. Busy with work and moving. Truck is up and running most of the time. After driving it for a while, decided the tires on it, old Wild County mud terrains are very loud on the road so those will be replaced. Also discovered the headers are heat soaking either the starter or the wires that go from the starter. Bought a heat heat shield to go over the starter. I did not like how high the rear end sat, has the "Stink Bug" look so lifted the front end to see what looked level. After playing around with it for a while, I decided 2" looked good so I ordered a 2" rear drop block. The kit includes two aluminum 2" blocks, U bolts and all the nuts and bolts. The kit shipped out today so should be here sometime around the beginning of next week.

[Mac93]

Got the 2" lowering block kit in the mail the other day. Also got the white letter sticker set too for the tailgate. I know, they're stickers but thats what I can do now. Don't have the time currently to do the bodywork and paint on the tailgate so they will do. Should be able to get these both installed this weekend.

[roushinator]

Looking Good!

[Mac93]

Today dad and I were able to get the 2" lowering blocks installed. Took about 45 minutes to install. Took a couple photos of the fleet. Dad found me two new arm rests while we were at the swap meet a few weeks back. Not the same color as the interior but they're new and not worn.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Mac93

Got the 2" lowering block kit in the mail the other day. Also got the white letter sticker set too for the tailgate. I know, they're stickers but thats what I can do now. Don't have the time currently to do the bodywork and paint on the tailgate so they will do. Should be able to get these both installed this weekend.

Your truck is looking good! It has come a long ways too.
Where did you get the 2" block kit? It looks like a quality setup.
Keep up the good work.

[Mac93]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Your truck is looking good! It has come a long ways too.
Where did you get the 2" block kit? It looks like a quality setup.
Keep up the good work.

Thank you mcbassin. I bought the drop blocks off Ebay. The blocks are aluminum and it has "Made in the USA" which is nice to see. Instructions said it will take 45 minutes to install, which is about the time it took us. My suggestion would be to soak the old U bolts with some form of penetrating oil, I use PB blaster, to help the old U bolts break loose. I did this for a few weeks prior and the old nuts broke loose very quickly.

The hard part of the install for me was maneuvering the U bolts out an new ones in because my hard brake line runs across the top of the axle, so I had to bend them slightly out of the way.


Here is a link to the lowering kit.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lowering-Blo...dXCDKY&vxp=mtr

[Mac93]

Been working on getting the wheels scuffed down, primed and painted with a metallic silver paint from Rustoleum. I have two more wheels to do. I won't mount them until I buy new tires for the truck.

[Mac93]

A few weeks ago I ordered some white sticker cut-outs for the tailgate. I was going to do the body work and paint the letters but don't have the time to get it finished so the stickers will do. Overall they turned out okay. A few of them were slightly longer then the stamped letters on the tailgate but a razor blade will fix that. For $13 it wasn't a bad investment.

[Mac93]

I havent had a functions exhaust for a while now. Pieced one together to get us to and from out wedding, funny story about the drive to the wedding.. Called around to a couple local shops and was a bit disappointed by how much they wanted for a dual exhaust set up. I'd love to support a local guy, don't get me wrong, but its too much for what I want to spend. The alternative would be to buy a kit and do it yourself, just like the name of the project states. Went onto Summits website and found a kit for $228, minus the mufflers. I have flowmaster 40's that I found on Craigslist a while back that I currently have on the truck. Just to keep everything new, bought a set of Summit's Turbo mufflers. Got part of the shipment in the other day, the actual kit should be here today. Next weeks project on my days off will hopefully be welding the kit together.

[Mac93]

Ordered some cast manifolds for the truck. I fought with the headers and was never impressed with them. I also like the original look. Havent been able to work on the truck for quite sometime. Snow was one of the reasons. 2 months later and I was finally able to access it. Will need some stand off's for the plug wires so they don't melt.