project "C10 Fever" (68 factory black 396 swb)

[68Gold/white]

I don't know what color you are shooting for, but most vinyl dyes work very well. The Marhyde brand stuff that comes in a spray can has never failed me.

[Indychus]

Wow, nice build! I'm in to see the BBC dropped in!

[68bowtie]

Originally Posted by Indychus

Wow, nice build! I'm in to see the BBC dropped in!

Thanks. Me too!

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

I don't know what color you are shooting for, but most vinyl dyes work very well. The Marhyde brand stuff that comes in a spray can has never failed me.

Thanks for the input. I’m going for as close to 67-68 fawn as possible. I’ve been thinking about eventually having the various vinyl parts dyed to match each other. The original dash, door panels, and arm rests never seem to match exactly right. Here is a close up. I have been told dyes will come out pretty good as long as the base color is close to the dye.

[68bowtie]

I pulled out the original high hump auto floor mat I bought from a forum member a while back. Cleaned it and scrubbed in some plastic/rubber restoring compound. It's got several tears but I love the OEM fit. It's just for walking on anyway...

[68bowtie]

Here's the seat in better light and after a thorough scrub with simple green and a scotchbrite pad. It was pretty dirty.

The seat color is not a good match. It looks closer in the picture than in real life. But I'm not complaining...

With these seats in now I really notice the things I need to do with the interior (radio hole, gas pedal, and the crappy seat belts really stand out now).

[clay68c10]

It looks pretty decent to me. You did a heck of a job cleaning those. I really like buddy buckets. Too bad they’re so expensive now.

[mcbassin]

Love the buddy buckets!

[slowcpe]

Just went through your thread, nice progress! Do you know what brand the material is on your buddies? I'm going fawn with my '67 and planning on fawn with gray/black houndstooth seat.

[68bowtie]

Thanks guys!

I have no idea what the color/material is of these seats. Seems to be something an upholstery shop made up possibly. I thought about something like that with the houndstooth. I think that will look fantastic.

[68bowtie]

I got some parts in this week. Hoping to have the 396 mostly assembled soon!

[nlped]

Cool parts. I just recently installed the CVF serpentine setup on my 468 going in Walter...good fit , finish and phenomenal tech support! I liked them so much, I bought a set at SEMA and am in the process of putting them on my sbc in my ‘77 SWB “Vern” (still gotta finish that install up, but they fit like a glove too).

[Chulisohombre]

Originally Posted by nlped

Cool parts. I just recently installed the CVF serpentine setup on my 468 going in Walter...good fit , finish and phenomenal tech support! I liked them so much, I bought a set at SEMA and am in the process of putting them on my sbc in my ‘77 SWB “Vern” (still gotta finish that install up, but they fit like a glove too).

This setup looks awesome. The big block helps. Lol. I’ve thought about going that route as well but haven’t jumped the gun yet.

[Chulisohombre]

One of the guy on this chevelle board looks to have the same valve covers as you. He took the Moroso big block looms and turned them upside down to still fit against the valve cover. https://www.chevelles.com/forums/13-.../topics/278166

[68bowtie]

Originally Posted by Chulisohombre

One of the guy on this chevelle board looks tomhave the same valve covers as you. He took the Moroso big block looms and turned them upside down to still fit against the valve cover. https://www.chevelles.com/forums/13-.../topics/278166

Thanks for the lead! I actually like the custom bolt idea in that thread.

[68bowtie]

I had seen those on your thread. Looks awesome!!

[68bowtie]

Well it doesn’t feel like much progress but I got the heads, lifters, push rods, roller rockers, and balancer installed and valves adjusted. Having trouble with an intake bolt (previous thread repair). It’s finally looking like an engine.

[68bowtie]

Oops. I did not catch the different attachment design when I ordered my valve covers. I had been planning on keeping the plug wires nice and tidy above the headers with something like the second picture below. But I'm not sure if that will work now. Has anyone found a solution to this? If not I suppose I'll have to run the wires beneath the headers.

[68bowtie]

New rubber. OEM trim.

[68bowtie]

I got the engine in the truck finally. It's a little tricky with a truck this low when the hoist won't go under the a-arms.

The driver side valve cover is making contact with the firewall (glad I put a rag between there during install). I'm hoping I can loosen the engine stands and trans crossmember and move it forward slightly to clear. If that doesn't work, does anyone have any other ideas? Maybe the valve cover will actually move forward slightly on the head now that I think about it.

[Chulisohombre]

Many people that put the big block transplant in thevsoitba small block have that same problem with the drivers valve cover. Many I seen gently massage the firewall with a hammer to make room for the cover. Because the other problem is you can’t get the cover off to make adjustments to the valves after it’s in either. I had to hammer the firewall back when I did the hei distributor change from the stock small cap points dizzy. Otherwise you’d have to move forward the engine mounts and redrill the holes for the crossmembers. Otherwise you’d need a custom engine mounts and still redrill the trans crossmember to move the engine forward. The problem will be then how much room you have in front of the radiator and what cooling fans you use.

[68bowtie]

So it looks like the driver side cover needs to move forward at least 3/8” to clear (see pic 2 mating surface vc is loose and sitting forward). The passenger side is slightly clear 1/8” or so. The HEI has plenty of room. So I’m going to try a new set of valve covers. These ones are 3-3/4” tall, and there are some I like that are 3-1/2” tall and have the correct wire loom attachment. I figure if the new ones still hit the firewall I may widen out some of the frame mount holes.





Here is what I’m looking at:

https://www.holley.com/products/acce.../parts/241-280

The mating flange looks like it should give me plenty of clearance.

[chainsawman]

Nice truck and nice build thread. Gonna watch till the end now. We all know it never ends. Keep up the good (inspirational) work.

[68bowtie]

Originally Posted by chainsawman

Nice truck and nice build thread. Gonna watch till the end now. We all know it never ends. Keep up the good (inspirational) work.

Thank you!! It does seem never ending. Especially with a full time job, 3 kids, and having to stop and do part-outs or flips on the side to fund this truck.

[Uglykato]

X. Just placing an X to follow, beautiful build.

[jocko]

Wow, I gotta get over to the build thread side of the house more often... missed all your progress Tim. It looks great. Really REALLY glad you went with the fawn interior, I think it looks perfect. Sharp truck. I may have missed it, but you mentioned earlier you were on the fence for white top or not white top.. Made up your mind yet?