68 C50 Looongbed pickup build

[rusty76]

My stepson tells me all about the kids at school and how they drive these fancy cars. He gripes about driving a RIO but I tell him it aint crowded walking. And the bus still come by the house. If we were rich, or pretended to be he could drive a BMW too. I don't know how the parents pay the insurance. Its high as crap. Most expensive thing next to the house payment. Good for you young man. Stick to your guns and hold your head high.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

When I was a kid, if I didn't buy the car or truck myself, pay for the insurance myself and pay for all the other expenses myself, I was walking.

And sure enough, it all meant a whole lot more to me to boot.

[Stephen717]

plus there's the fact that if you're parents go out and buy you a car, you don't care for it or respect it as much as if you go out and work to pay for it yourself. I am just lucky that my parents said they will pay the insurance for a year once mines roadworthy. But that might change soon. I'm looking at trading the blue knight for a 71 Camaro (which i will name the black stallion after my uncles 68 1/8th mile street/strip Camaro). If all works out, not only will I be able to say I got it myself, but I will be able to say I got a Camaro by myself for $700 because instead of my parents paying $20,000 for a new car, I chose to work hard for the money to get it myself. And that's something that not every kid has the pride of saying. ... Sorry for the rant.

[Hewfil1]

I see all these kids in my school getting bought a brand new car at 16, showing it off, driving like idiots. Then there's me in my rusted out truck, beat up Saturn, and a motorcycle that has been laid over more times than a streetwalker. They all laughed, they all looked on them like they're trash. But little did they know, each one has a story. Each one I worked hard for. Then when the day came I'd had enough, I'd gotten sick of it. We lined up on an old stretch of highway, and they were shown what a few thousand dollars and a dream can do, instead of my parent's $18,000 and a set of keys to be handed. There will always be more heart in something you build, or something you got yourself.

[Deer_hunter_088]

Originally Posted by Hewfil1

I see all these kids in my school getting bought a brand new car at 16, showing it off, driving like idiots. Then there's me in my rusted out truck, beat up Saturn, and a motorcycle that has been laid over more times than a streetwalker. They all laughed, they all looked on them like they're trash. But little did they know, each one has a story. Each one I worked hard for. Then when the day came I'd had enough, I'd gotten sick of it. We lined up on an old stretch of highway, and they were shown what a few thousand dollars and a dream can do, instead of my parent's $18,000 and a set of keys to be handed. There will always be more heart in something you build, or something you got yourself.

Kids now adays dont respect an
yone/ anything it seems. like my 69, and my s10 gets picked on DAILY but then you see them rolling around in mustangs, camaros, bmws, etc. Then they call me tryin to get help fixin their broken car...........

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

People at school are like "why aint the 69 done?" i always say, "well because $$$" then they ask "why aint ya parents paying for it?" Then i always say " It wouldnt be my truck then would it?"But i go to a school where evreyones mommy and daddies pay for their cars, minus a few. but you can tell the people with silver spoons, and the ones that know the word work.

Well said deer hunter!

Originally Posted by rusty76

My stepson tells me all about the kids at school and how they drive these fancy cars. He gripes about driving a RIO but I tell him it aint crowded walking. And the bus still come by the house. If we were rich, or pretended to be he could drive a BMW too. I don't know how the parents pay the insurance. Its high as crap. Most expensive thing next to the house payment. Good for you young man. Stick to your guns and hold your head high.

Some People are so caught up in appearances these days that their kids are just accessories that they "decorate" with fancy cars to reinforce the appearance of wealth.

Originally Posted by C10 - C90 Bill

When I was a kid, if I didn't buy the car or truck myself, pay for the insurance myself and pay for all the other expenses myself, I was walking.

And sure enough, it all meant a whole lot more to me to boot.

Yep, I went to work at 14 to save up the money to buy my first car when I was about to turn 16. My parents did pay the insurance the first couple of years but the rest was on me.

Originally Posted by Stephen717

plus there's the fact that if you're parents go out and buy you a car, you don't care for it or respect it as much as if you go out and work to pay for it yourself...

... Sorry for the rant.

So very true. When I was in high school there was a kid that got a brand new car for hi 16th birthday. It was totaled in less than a year. He got another and totaled it and another. I know one was a Z28 and one was a Trans Am, don't recall wha the 3rd one was. The lesson? No skin in the game, no respect.

...Rant on my friend!

Originally Posted by Hewfil1

I see all these kids in my school getting bought a brand new car at 16, showing it off, driving like idiots. Then there's me in my rusted out truck, beat up Saturn, and a motorcycle that has been laid over more times than a streetwalker. They all laughed, they all looked on them like they're trash. But little did they know, each one has a story. Each one I worked hard for. Then when the day came I'd had enough, I'd gotten sick of it. We lined up on an old stretch of highway, and they were shown what a few thousand dollars and a dream can do, instead of my parent's $18,000 and a set of keys to be handed. There will always be more heart in something you build, or something you got yourself.

I used to imagine that they' run home and yell at their parents for buying them a car that wasn't fast enough

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

Kids now adays dont respect anyone/ anything it seems. like my 69, and my s10 gets picked on DAILY but then you see them rolling around in mustangs, camaros, bmws, etc. Then they call me tryin to get help fixin their broken car...........

Don't take any crap off of them, get that 69 going and hold your head high!




For anyone wondering what happened to the progress on my truck, I was kind of under the weather last weekend. I'm picking up a new master cylinder next Saturday and then on to the next phase.

-Richard

[Deer_hunter_088]

DANGIT RNK IMMA YELL BC YOU AINT FAST ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Just jokin. take your time, do it right, and yknow imma get the 69er done because shes my baby. MINNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE not anyone elses. BECAUSE HOW MANY 16 YEAR OLDS HAVE A 69 CHEVY K10 WITH A 75 FRAME AND A 65 BED!!! Can ya belive im runnin on a hour of sleep and a thing of coffee? i dont even like coffee and i drunk like 6 big cups. #finalsweek #ratherbeworkinonmytruck #smoketiresnotdrugs I think i have a problem

[Hewfil1]

Originally Posted by rkn463

I used to imagine that they' run home and yell at their parents for buying them a car that wasn't fast enough

-Richard

I actually had a parent call me and try to give me **** for taking their child's paycheck and pride because they underestimated my "POS".

[Deer_hunter_088]

Originally Posted by Hewfil1

I actually had a parent call me and try to give me **** for taking their child's paycheck and pride because they underestimated my "POS".

Lemme guess, the kid was a "MY CAR IS BETTER THAN YOURS BECAUSE MINES NEWER BUT IDEK WHAT A V8 IS AND WHATS MOTOR OIL AND MY MOMMY AND DADDY BUYS EVRYTHING I OWN WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" type.

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

... Can ya belive im runnin on a hour of sleep and a thing of coffee?

Yes I can!

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

#smoketiresnotdrugs

Nice

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

I think i have a problem

Nah, it'll wear off

Originally Posted by Hewfil1

I actually had a parent call me and try to give me **** for taking their child's paycheck and pride because they underestimated my "POS".

-Richard

[Hewfil1]

Originally Posted by rkn463

-Richard

In memory of them. Hahah

[rkn463]

Way back on September 28th I wrote:

Originally Posted by rkn463

Next I went to reinstall the hard (steel) part of the oil cooler line that has somehow NEVER gotten it's picture taken! .......... when I pulled it off many weeks back I ever-so-carefully dropped 2 of the 4 clamps that tie the two cooler lines together directly on the floor under the motor so that I could find them again. The other two stayed on the line that that I didn't remove. My plan would have worked had I not cleaned up the floor when I last rolled the frame out for paint. I clearly remember picking up the clamps and thinking "I'll never see these again" before I put them away where I could "find them later." Searched for at least 45 minutes taking time out, every now and again, to try once again to rearrange those "bad words" in some manner that I hadn't used before. Never found the clamps. So... very... frustrated

So... Tonight I was cleaning up a bracket that connects to the master cylinder and provides a mount for the proportioning valve. I scraped off the crud and went to clean the oil off with my parts washer. I moved all the crap off the lid and opened it up and there were my oil line clamps.

-Richard

[Advanced Design]

I remember that Richard. Glad you found your clamps...I misplaced a box cutter months ago and haven't found it yet.

[61_FL_Apache]

Great looking build. Subscribed!

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

I remember that Richard. Glad you found your clamps...I misplaced a box cutter months ago and haven't found it yet.

Thanks for checking in Doug, now I just have to decide if I want to put the original clamps back on. I expect I will, there was also a support bracket...

Your burb is looking great, it is lucky to have found you ...oh and good luck with the box cutter, did you look in the parts washer?

Originally Posted by 61_FL_Apache

Great looking build. Subscribed!

glad to have you along for the ride!




There has been some progress, parts have arrived by brown truck, brakes are finally going back together. When I get some time I will write it all up.

-Richard

[rkn463]

Well, it has been a long time since I did a proper update.

When I last made an entry of any significance I had just found out that I needed to replace my master cylinder due to fluid contamination. I contacted my brake specialist guy and sent him pictures of the casting numbers and stamped numbers and he was supposed to get back to me with a quote.



After not hearing from him for two days I called and he said that according to his books I had the wrong master cylinder. Another call to him and still no price (he said that his supplier hadn’t got back to him) finally I decided to go to my local guy in Meridian and he looked it right up. He also showed that I had the wrong one. The one like I had was special order and no telling how long to get it, the “correct” one was in stock in his warehouse. Since both have a 1.75 inch bore, the same mount and the same size lines going in I couldn’t see how it would make much difference so I had him order the correct one according to the books. I picked it up last Saturday (the 17th) I measured carefully and everything looked like a direct bolt in so I put it on. Of note, on Saturday by 3:15 we were at a balmy 80 degrees. At 3:30 the cold front blew in… Sunday morning – 16 degrees, that is a 64 degree drop in about 18 hours. I’ve said it before; I see no redeeming quality in winter, bring back my 105 degrees ASAP!



Along with the master cylinder I needed to replace the soft lines that go from the proportioning valve to the main lines. They are specialty items that are no longer produced. I found a place not too far from where I work that makes custom lines so I took them in. Unfortunately, they came back wrong, there should be a way to secure them to the bracket on the end by the hard part of the line (see picture). When I picked them up I did not realize the mistake as I was in a hurry and did not have the bracket to compare them to. I did not catch the mistake until I had cleaned and painted the bracket Sunday morning and went to install the lines and there was no provision to secure them to the bracket. I was really frustrated since the guy at the shop had helped me remove the lines from the bracket. That shop is about 140 miles from where I am working on the truck and it would take two trips to have them redo the lines. Had I known it was going to go this way I could have cut the bottom of the bracket off and used longer soft lines and zip tied them out of the way. As it is including gasoline I’m a hundred dollars in to lines that aren’t correct when I could have probably gone generic for 40 or 50 dollars.



I went through several ideas as to how I would deal with the problem. I still didn’t want to cut the bracket and finally settled on wrapping the part of the line that passes through the bracket with a bit of heater hose to protect the lines. It looks like crap but should be effective. I'll probably add a small hose clamp above and below each to keep the protective sleeve from working it's way out.



Wednesday night I finally got the bracket/line thing sorted out then flushed the brake lines and then bench bled the master and hooked it all up. I thought that I had plenty of brake fluid to do the job but turns out that gallon jug was almost empty. OK, back to the auto parts store for fluid yesterday but haven't had a chance to work on it since then.

-Richard

[rkn463]

A month or so back I mentioned that the two speed axle wiring was badly frayed; here is a picture of the part that I had to cut off to get back to wire with decent insulation. (This is the half that goes to the switch on the shifter)



I also needed to come up with a way to connect the two parts of the wiring together, the half from the shifter connected to the part going to the rear via a terminal block on the 89 model. You can see a picture of the terminal block back in post number 37. It also requires a 20-amp circuit with a breaker so I had some pondering to do. I found an open, switched terminal on the fuse block (unfused I believe) so I decided that I would add a fuse block under the hood to run the 2 speed axle along with any auxiliary lights or other add-ons that I dream up.



The plan is to use the switched circuit from the fuse box to energize a 100-amp relay that will pass through an 80-amp circuit breaker to feed the auxiliary fuse block. Apparently the 80-amp breaker I ordered from Amazon is coming direct from China because it’s status shows shipped and “Arriving Jan 11, 2017 - Jan 30, 2017”. Oh well, I don’t have a fender installed to mount it to right now anyway.



I thought that I would be able to use the factory 20-amp breaker in the fuse block since it just plugs in to a standard blade style fuse slot.



Unfortunately, the fuse block that I bought is made to have the fuses recessed into the block and therefore the larger circuit breaker will not fit. So, for the axle control I will just fall back to the old traditional style breaker.



I picked up some ring terminals and heat shrink tubing the other day, now I need to get out there and finish the repair work on the wires and figure out where the fuse block needs to land.

-Richard

[Advanced Design]

Richard, I will look in the parts washer for the box cutters...who knows...lol. Thanks for your kind words on the Burb. Hope to get some shop time on it...though the Gator has a bad miss I need to look at.

Too bad about the soft hose issue though it looks like you came up with a good solution. 140 miles to the specialty shop, wow. Hoses like this are always a challenge to work out.

That 80 amp breaker must be special what with taking that long to arrive.

Appreciate your updates. Merry Christmas.

[Deer_hunter_088]

you there? i wanna see more loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng bed truck.

[Stephen717]

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

you there? i wanna see more loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng bed truck.

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

That 80 amp breaker must be special what with taking that long to arrive.

Almost three weeks later and it still isn't here!

Originally Posted by Deer_hunter_088

you there? i wanna see more loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng bed truck.

Been hiding.

Originally Posted by Stephen717

Here we go friends and neighbors...

So on with the auxiliary fuse block: First I needed a place to mount it. Above the master cylinder looked good but a bolt from inside the cab was sticking out in the way (just to the right of the third terminal on the fuse block in this pic):



I checked in the cab and it was the screw holding the horn relay in:



So I drilled a new hole and moved it down out of the way:



Plenty of room now:



Block mounted. For now the wires hooked to it are temporary. The wire that currently is feeding the fuse block will ultimately energize the 100 amp relay that will power the fuse block (only when the key is on). With out the front sheet metal there is no where to mount the relay so I just connected it this way so I can run the electric choke.



Stay tuned...

-Richard

[rkn463]

Now one of the things I'm stuck on. I need some additional lights in the instrument cluster. The 89 had a brake light that like more modern vehicles comes on with the park brake and if the brakes fail on one half (switch in the proportioning valve). That same light is also wired in where it will come on if the auxiliary pump comes on but fails. Additionally there was a light that came on with the auxiliary pump. So I need those two lights, plus I added switches for oil pressure and water temp. It has gauges but I prefer to have both gauges and lights. I knew there were two unused lights in my cluster so I checked and here is what they are:



I still need The oil and temp lights so I need two more spots in the cluster. While harvesting parts off of a 79 Caprice I came across the idiot light cluster and It looked like an option I had never considered. What do you think?







It would give me places for both brake lights plus the oil and temp and would allow me to keep the over-speed light. I'd really like to have a factory tach cluster but I haven't come across anything that I've been willing to pay the price for yet. If I do this I could still add a large tach where the fuel gauge is and put in a small fuel gauge where the vacuum gauge would normally sit.

...Alternately I could put lights where the vacuum gauge would normally sit and leave the dummy in the center.

I've imagined several others as well, just not sure which direction to take it. I'd welcome some feedback.

-Richard

[rkn463]

Now on to a really fun area... the brakes. A couple of posts back I had put the master cylinder on. I still needed to clean any residual contamination from the lines and did so with isopropyl alcohol and compressed air. I only cleaned the part of the lines from the proportioning valve to the soft lines both front and rear. After that I used a vacuum bleeder to pull fresh fluid from the master through the calipers effectively flushing the soft lines and calipers effectively bleeding the system at the same time. Afterward I got in the truck and stepped on the pedal and it felt like it was welded in place; much harder than I expected. I decided to fire up the motor and see how they felt with the hydroboost working. With the motor running it still felt like I was stepping on an anvil welded to the floor. Uh-oh. I was convinced that I had a bad hydroboost unit. With the motor running if I pressed the pedal as hard as I could the pedal pulse back at me. It felt like I maybe got a half inch travel at best.

I told a buddy at work and he did some internet searches and aimed me at a couple of forums with some good info, Thanks Dave!

So what I read was about converting Ford trucks to hydroboost and they were saying that you need the full pedal assembly or you would have a really hard pedal feel and almost no travel. A little critical thinking led me to the conclusion that could only be to change the leverage...

When I next had access to the truck I got out the tape measure and measured the distance from pivot to where the brake rod connects and pivot to pedal. I measured both the 89 and the 68 and knew I had found the problem. The numbers look like this:

89: pivot to brake rod: 4.5" - pivot to pedal 14.75"
68: pivot to brake rod: 6.5" - pivot to pedal 13.5"

Using the formula for leverage I calculated it out and to place 100lbs force on the brake rod would require 30.5lbs brake pedal pressure on the 89 setup and 48.14lbs on the 68. Well crap! I looked at how it all goes together and to change it would be a huge undertaking.

I decided to see how they feel driving so I rigged up a way to strap the battery to the frame, started the truck and did a quick couple of hundred foot drive and tested the brakes, even though it takes some additional force they are really strong. Any change to address this would require moving the master cylinder higher and it would be major surgery. I don't think I'll need to change anything for now. Hopefully once it is completely back together I won't change my mind.

Next up is the radiator, it needs a new one. It is big, this ain't gonna be cheap. I'll be headed to the radiator shop on Monday to see what we can do.

-Richard

[Okiefromwatonga]

I like the Guage it looks stockish

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by rkn463

...Next up is the radiator, it needs a new one. It is big, this ain't gonna be cheap. I'll be headed to the radiator shop on Monday to see what we can do.

So much worse than I expected... I was quoted 875.00 to make up a radiator for it. Now I need to come up with plan B.

-Richard