1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl

[Graham57a]

Got everything cut out and my patch panel fit. Finally let everything soak in ospho to kill the rust on the inside

Pretty cool the patch panel still has factory black primer on the backside

[Dads79GMC]

Great build! I love seeing metal work on these old trucks; somebody has to save them!!
Well done!!!! Mike

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by Dads79GMC

Great build! I love seeing metal work on these old trucks; somebody has to save them!!
Well done!!!! Mike

Thank you sir!

[Graham57a]

Just realized I never documented my rust discovery on my cab floor so here it goes:
While tying in my DS inner rocker patch panel I was having a hell of a time finding good metal at the front drivers floor board, I took a wire brush to the entire floor pan and discovered that the old bed liner that was sprayed on the floorboard years ago was holding moisture and generating rust. Luckily the only rust that ate through was at the drivers feet but the rest of the cab had heavy surface rust. First thing I did was get some aircraft stripper and get all of the paint off, then I took my DA to it which helped some but not really cleaning out the putting, now I’ve been treating with ospho and wire brushes but I think I’m gonna have to go to naval jelly to really kill it. It’s been a pita but I’m glad I discovered it before the truck was going back together.
Game plan once all rust is gone, I’m gonna cut out the entire drivers side foot board area and replace with a patch panel. Once all metal is good and rust is gone we will get the por-15 treatment top and bottom and then new SEM bedliner top and bottom to seal everything up once and for all

[Graham57a]

Slow progress on the tailgate. Soaked the inside with naval jelly, I think it needs another treatment before I will feel really good about closing it back up. Also started spot welding the pin holes on the front face. It’s a lot of tedious work but should look good once complete.

[rusty76]

Cool truck. I’m late but I like what I see.

[Graham57a]

My project ADHD continues. Picked up my heads and crank from the machine shop today for this girl, hope to have the rest in a couple weeks to start assembly on the 327. Also got the straight six ripped out and sold so I can prep my firewall and get ready to make some progress

[68Gold/white]

Good work on the tail gate!!! I have a couple of tailgates that are just push in, dented. I plan to "disassemble" in a similar manner. I plan to leave the top and bottoms attached to the outer part of shell. straighten and repair outer and inner while apart, weld back together....

[GAc10boy]

Heck yeah, Andrew! That’s some good work on that gate. What all are you doing to the 327? I’ve got a 68 large journal that I’m planning to run in one of my trucks in the future.

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by GAc10boy

Heck yeah, Andrew! That’s some good work on that gate. What all are you doing to the 327? I’ve got a 68 large journal that I’m planning to run in one of my trucks in the future.

Thanks man, the 327 started out as a head build but has quickly grown into more. So far I had the heads resurfaced, new stainless valves put in, hardened seats, z28 valve springs, cleaned out the valve guides, and new seals. The crank was polished and cleaned up. Had a little ware on the cylinder walls so I ended up boring 30 over with new pistons and possibly new connecting rods depending on resizing needs. It’s essentially a complete rebuild now, I could have ran it without all of the bottom end work but I wanted a reliable setup that will last for years to come so here we are

[Grip]

If there aren’t pics, it didn’t happen.

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by Grip

If there aren’t pics, it didn’t happen.

Here ya go

[Grip]

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did they charge for the head work? Mine needs the same treatment.

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by Grip

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did they charge for the head work? Mine needs the same treatment.

$700 and they bought all of the parts.

[Graham57a]

A little more progress on the cab while I wait on the engine builder.

[Graham57a]

I wasn’t planning on making this a frame off project but I wanted to raptor line the bottom of my cab floor so off the cab went haha. I rolled everything outside for a good pressure wash and spot sand blast to kill some little rust spots on the firewall. Red primer is to seal blasted areas until it’s time to prime and paint the entire firewall.

I also decided to pop the spot welds on the cowl vents to check for crud and rust. Sure enough, glad I made that move. Everything is sealed up with por now and welded back together.

[Graham57a]

A little more por-15

[Graham57a]

And finally, test fitting the outer rocker. Was hoping it would fit great and go on with a few spot welds. Unfortunately I was in 1/8” at the front and 1/4” at the rear so I split the entire piece and added some material to get it to match my door and cab corner.

[Graham57a]

Door fit after modifying the rocker

[Graham57a]

Finally tipped the cab back, started on the floor patch panel, and soaked everything in ospho to kill what little surface rust is down there. I was shocked to see this truck never had undercoating installed from the factory. I will be cleaning everything really well, applying por-15, and spraying color matched raptor liner to the entire underside of this thing to keep it solid for another 50 years.

[Grip]

Nice work, Andrew!

[Graham57a]

A little behind on updating this thread. I did finally finish the floor board patches and sheet metal work on the cab. The floor patch panel that I was planning to use fit like garbage so my good friend Robbie Purser hooked me up with an og patch panel

[Graham57a]

Once that was behind me I was able to spray the color match raptor liner. I took a fender to the local paint store and they scanned it for me and gave me a quart of color matched single stage paint. I will say the raptor liner sprays super nice, I will definitely be using this stuff again.

[Graham57a]

A couple more

[Graham57a]

And finally, some progress on assembling the 327. On the lookout for a 700r now.