68 C50 Looongbed pickup build

[Deer_hunter_088]

Rnk just for you today i took a picture of franken truck. Its sad i think i need a grill asap. And an oem steerin coloum. But i wanna drive ittttttt. But ive came up eith an awesome fuel filler idea.

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

I dont think ive worked on it in a few weeks :lol

THERE YA GO A CONCEPT PHOTO!!!!!!!!!! but seriously i love the look of this truck.

Daaaaaaaaam! If you manage to create something like that I will indeed be impressed. That is a great one to shoot for. It almost makes me want to convert my 67 stepside into a 4x4 (the truck in my avatar)

Originally Posted by Stephen717

good progress on the truck, and that lifted stepside looks sweet. my blue knight is still getting gutted, all I have left on the wiring is whats running to the tail lights and reverse lights. work is slow when you're truck ain't covered and monies not plentiful. Now if only I could find the intake bolt that I dropped. I didn't think that an orange bolt would blend in so well with grass and gravel.

Thanks Stephen, I don't recall a build on your blue knight, do you have a build thread going on it?

I feel your pain on the missing bolt, check out the last picture in post 66 of this build. That roll of tape fell and landed there!

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

Rnk just for you today i took a picture of franken truck. Its sad i think i need a grill asap. And an oem steerin coloum. But i wanna drive ittttttt. But ive came up eith an awesome fuel filler idea.

...ok... Did you post it?
Come on deer hunter, you're killing me!

-Richard

[Stephen717]

I don't have an actual build thread. I thought about it but couldn't justify having one what with the cold rainy days and no dry place to work on it quicker. But here is how she sits now minus the grille or front bumper

[Deer_hunter_088]

There ya go!!!!!!!!!!

[Deer_hunter_088]

Ahhhhhhhhhh i remember this day, the day i brought the ole girl home. and dude if ya ever near me i have a front axle so ya can make yout 67 a 4x4

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Stephen717

I don't have an actual build thread. I thought about it but couldn't justify having one what with the cold rainy days and no dry place to work on it quicker. But here is how she sits now minus the grille or front bumper

Looks like a good start.

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

Ahhhhhhhhhh i remember this day, the day i brought the ole girl home. and dude if ya ever near me i have a front axle so ya can make yout 67 a 4x4

Ah, finally! Thanks for sharing, get that thing going and drive it

-Richard

[rkn463]

Update from last weekend:
I really wanted to bolt the front sheet metal back on and rig the too big radiator in and drive it. However... I still needed to deal with the park brake first. And even bigger deal, if the weather would permit I needed to work on my fencing project between my neighbor and myself. Well, the weather was good Saturday so I worked on the fence most of the day. Around 4:30 a squall blew in and ran me off of that. So I stopped for the day, washed off the poison ivy and had supper after that I attacked the park brake.

The 68 had the park brake bolted directly to the transmission, sticking up to the right of the shifter. The 89 was under the dash next to the driver side kick panel and was cable operated. My original plan was to adapt the trans mounted brake lever but when I compared the throw the 68 moved the linkage less than an inch where the 89 was about an inch and a half. Rather than re-engineer the whole mess I decided to just reuse the whole 89 brake lever and mount it in the 68. The lever used three bolts, one aimed forward through the firewall and two bolted to the floorboard on the wheel hump. The height of the mount points meant that I needed to make it taller or have it too close to the floor. The two bolts that hold it to the floor were welded to the bracket so I not-so-delicately removed them, you can see in these pictures with one stuck back through the hole and the second with them gone.



I figured out the height, drilled a hole in the firewall and screwed the assembly to the firewall. To hold it level I stuck a bolt through one of the holes while I measured for the new ears. Finally I cut off the old ears and added my home made pieces. The welds weren't perfect but are getting better.



One last picture of the assembly installed.



more to come...

-Richard

[rkn463]

...more on the park brake:

What I did not get pictures of was that I pulled the park brake assembly back out and painted it, I also sanded the part of the floor that it will cover and hit it with Rustoleum rust reformer paint.

I was a bit stumped as to how the brake cable was supposed to be routed but eventually found a picture that hadn't made the cut to be posted at the time. But you get to see it now . As you can see the cable came out of the firewall, looped behind the body mount, over the trans and then down to connect at the back of the trans on the passenger side. (thank goodness for reference photos!)



Since I wasn't able to locate that picture until Monday I didn't finish hooking it up over the weekend. Once it is connected there is literally nothing left that has to be done before the sheet metal goes back on. So pending fence work I may make it look like a truck again next weekend.

Also, I have requested a quote from another radiator shop, so we'll see what they say.

Oh, and last; that danged circuit breaker finally made it in from China!



That's all for now folks, hopefully I'll have more to show next week!

-Richard

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Okiefromwatonga

Ouch, thats Highway robbery

Originally Posted by rkn463

Also, I have requested a quote from another radiator shop, so we'll see what they say.

I got a quote from a radiator shop here in Fort Worth, $650, that is $225 cheaper than the previous one. Who would have thought that I would be quoted 650 for a radiator and be happy about it!?

-Richard

[Hewfil1]

Good to see someone's making progress on their truck! I ain't touched mine in months. She still needs new 3/8" fuel line, the tank dropped and cleaned, removing the frame in-line filter, and all new rubber hose.

[Deer_hunter_088]

Finnaly!!! and yeah money is whats keepin mine from runnin.

[Advanced Design]

Richard, that is a good idea on the parking brake. Circuit breaker took its time....oh, my box cutter hasn't turned up yet either.
Appreciate the updates....were you putting up wire fence?

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Hewfil1

Good to see someone's making progress on their truck! I ain't touched mine in months. She still needs new 3/8" fuel line, the tank dropped and cleaned, removing the frame in-line filter, and all new rubber hose.

My advice (for what it's worth) sit down, make a list and then pick a couple of fairly cheap and easy things to do first. The feeling of accomplishment can be very motivating.

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

Finnaly!!! and yeah money is whats keepin mine from runnin.

Been there, done that! At this point in my life available time is a bigger problem than funding. If I don't get moving life expectancy may become an issue!

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Richard, that is a good idea on the parking brake. Circuit breaker took its time....oh, my box cutter hasn't turned up yet either.
Appreciate the updates....were you putting up wire fence?

That is one crafty box cutter you have hiding from you!

The wire fence is down on the property where the truck resides. I'm on my iPad right now, next time I get on the PC I'll try to get a screen capture from google maps to show you what I have going.

I haven't checked out your burb in a Few days. I think I'll head over there now.

-Richard

[Hewfil1]

Originally Posted by rkn463

My advice (for what it's worth) sit down, make a list and then pick a couple of fairly cheap and easy things to do first. The feeling of accomplishment can be very motivating.

-Richard

Well in that case, maybe I'll take a day to remove the fenders and Gunk the whole motor. Hah.

[Deer_hunter_088]

Originally Posted by rkn463

My advice (for what it's worth) sit down, make a list and then pick a couple of fairly cheap and easy things to do first. The feeling of accomplishment can be very motivating.



Been there, done that! At this point in my life available time is a bigger problem than funding. If I don't get moving life expectancy may become an issue!




That is one crafty box cutter you have hiding from you!

The wire fence is down on the property where the truck resides. I'm on my iPad right now, next time I get on the PC I'll try to get a screen capture from google maps to show you what I have going.

I haven't checked out your burb in a Few days. I think I'll head over there now.

-Richard

I applied to a local grocery store, so i can keep my s10 runnin, and slowly restore my k10. hopin i get the job

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

I applied to a local grocery store, so i can keep my s10 runnin, and slowly restore my k10. hopin i get the job

Warning, Unsolicited advice follows: When you go to work for someone, treat it like it is your own business, don't waste, always try to look for ways for your employer to be more efficient. You'll be a manager in no time! Ask any of the old guys here...


Now for the weekend update:

Saturday was spent working on the fence project

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

....were you putting up wire fence?

Here you go, the red line is the North boundary of my property. This represents around 2200 feet of fence. On my side lies the remains of an old dry stacked stone fence. It is about the only piece of physical history on our place. Because of this I wasn't willing to push it out of the way with a dozer so I'm manually picking up rocks and throwing them back on the pile. Along with that a lot of chainsaw work. Did you know you can get poison ivy when the vines don't even have leaves??



After throwing rocks for several hours Saturday I finally got to work ion the truck. Time to put the front clip back on. I started by pulling the truck out of the shop and turning it around where I could get to it. Check out that battery hold down!



Next I grabbed the front clip with the Bobcat and moved in to position.



I took a look and there was a lot of rust on the lower part of the fenders so I scuffed it up and hit it (poorly) with some rust reformer.



I took a break for supper with my brother and sister in law and when I was finished I found out that I had run out of steam for the day so I went to bed.

More to come...

-Richard

[rkn463]

Sunday morning I got up and finished connecting the park brake that I had modified last weekend. Once the cable was attached and the mechanism bolted in the park brake works perfectly. I still need to tie the cable down with the clamps from the 89 and I will have to relocate the dimmer switch by a couple of inches since it is now tucked up under the park brake lever. After that I set the front clip on and threaded in a couple of bolts. By then it was time to go to church.



Following church I tried setting the radiator in the 4-core lower mounts that I had moved to the new position. Oops, the drain petcock hits the power steering box! I removed the petcock and now the radiator clears the steering box by about 3/16th of an inch.



Today I dropped off the radiator from the 89 to be re-cored with cut down tanks. They said it will be ready on Thursday

I will still need to get new radiator hoses, hopefully finding something to fit wont be to big of a challenge. I will also have to re-engineer the battery tray as a modification that I made a few years back is encroaching in to the area where the wider radiator needs to sit.

I must say that as little time was spent setting the front clip back on the truck, it registered as a huge accomplishment; it put the fire back in me

In making this post I realized I haven't done as well taking pictures, I'll try to fix that next weekend.

Have a good week everyone!

-Richard

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by rkn463

Today I dropped off the radiator from the 89 to be re-cored with cut down tanks. They said it will be ready on Thursday

So I did get the radiator, but there were issues…

Originally Posted by rkn463

I will still need to get new radiator hoses, hopefully finding something to fit won’t be too big of a challenge.

Haha… HA! Oh the pain. Lower radiator hose for a 68 with a 366 is discontinued. Seems it would be a simple matter to fab something. No, not really.

Originally Posted by rkn463

I will also have to re-engineer the battery tray as a modification that I made a few years back is encroaching in to the area where the wider radiator needs to sit.

OK, this part would be no big deal, if I just had some free time to work on stuff.

Originally Posted by rkn463

I must say that as little time was spent setting the front clip back on the truck, it registered as a huge accomplishment; it put the fire back in me

Right, that put the fire in me, somehow it doesn’t seem that way when I think it has been two months with almost nothing to report.

OK, so here is a video of what I have been working on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edJnnJvq81Q
A bit of background, we need a new fence between my neighbor and myself. The quote was 12K dollars. I ain’t down with that. We worked out a deal where he paid for materials and I do labor. He had his side dozed, my side has an old dry stack wall that I was unwilling to let get pushed aside so I’ve been doing manual cleanup each Saturday since deer season ended (that is when the truck progress slowed to a crawl). Anyway that description of the project is an oversimplification but you get the idea. As I was moving rocks out of the way I started re-stacking…. The video is many weeks old, I finished the cleanup last Saturday, next weekend we start building the fence. I'll try to get a new video of the current status next weekend.

-Richard

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by rkn463

So I did get the radiator, but there were issues…

Here is a comparison between the one that came in the 68 with the 327 and what a stock 68 with a 366 would look like, also 2-core vs. 4-core!



I did gt the radiator that week and I needed to move the lower mounts and replace them with the wider ones for the 4-core radiator. No big deal there. Here are a couple of pictures showing the original small mounts and the larger ones in position.



After mounting them I set the radiator in and the width was off by about a quarter inch (too wide). I pulled the passenger side out and hogged out the holes so that i could set it properly (thought I had pictures but apparently not).

I set the radiator in and found that the core was tweaked... With it sitting properly at the bottom the top wasn't square to the core support. I paid a lot for it and was quite upset but rather than start over I decided to just make the mounts work, they would have to be custom anyway.

About that time it struck me that there was an outside chance that I could have a set of 4-core upper mounts with a front end I bought for parts. I went and checked and sure enough that truck had come with a 4-core but I hadn't grabbed the top mounts. So... I would need to fab up the upper mounts using parts from both the 89:



And the 68.



Thanks for not giving up folks! More coming later this week...

-Richard

[Stephen717]

Good luck on the job Noah, and gunk is always nice when you have a hose or pressure washer to get it off with.

[Deer_hunter_088]

Originally Posted by Stephen717

Good luck on the job Noah, and gunk is always nice when you have a hose or pressure washer to get it off with.

Thank ya. i figured if i can have two trucks, one a classic, and a beautiful girlfriend, then i can go out and get a job.

[Advanced Design]

Yep, that is a big fencing project.
Poison ivy vines with no leaves is not to be ignored...learned that logging in woods many years ago.

Good progress on the truck!

[Deer_hunter_088]

Niceeee. tried workin on mine this weekend. instead i just sat in it. i think itl be up for sale soon

[Stephen717]

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

Niceeee. tried workin on mine this weekend. instead i just sat in it. i think itl be up for sale soon

don't say that. you'll regret it if you sell it. I've wanted back the 73 camaro my dad sold since he sold it. and as for work all I did was take out the side markers that were from a 68 and tail lights and reverse lights that were from a 67

[Hewfil1]

Originally Posted by Stephen717

don't say that. you'll regret it if you sell it.\

x2