A New 68 Build Thread

[ccracin]

My dad and I are building a 68 SWB for him. We are going the HotRod route.
Here are some high points:
New Chassis I designed and built
Morrison Tri-angulated 4 Bar w/ Coil Overs
Morrison Tubular IFS w/ Coil Overs
9" Ford 3.89 w/ Tru-Trac and 31 Spline Axles
502 BBC w/ AFR Heads and Fuel Injection
4L80E Tranny
Wilwood Brakes - 6 Piston 13" Front 4 Piston 12" Rear
Custom Dash and Interior

I attached some progress pictures of the chassis: Enjoy, All commentts welcome!!!






Chad

[68 short step]

i like it so far...

[toomanytoyz]

That frame is Awesome, You Guy's do Top Notch Work...........

Rick

[ccracin]

Some updates. The cab is pretty decent to start with.





Alot of this repair is close to complete. I'll get pictures soon. Enjoy.

[ccracin]

We just picked up some new sheetmetal for the truck. New front fenders, cowl hood, font bumper, bedsides, wheel tubs, front bed panel, rad support, roll pan, and a couple other things. Christmas come early!




Time to get at it!

By the way, all this stuff came from www.raybuck.com. They are in PA near me. Randy was great to deal with and he carries all Tri-Plus stuff. Not everything he has is on his site, give them a call if you need something. This is an un-sponsored plug, they were just very nice to deal with. We got some stuff from Manes as well. They are also very nice to deal with. We were able to pick these big items up from Raybuck ourselves which saved a ton in shipping. Plus, we were able to inspect all the parts before we left. All in all 2 great places to deal with.

[Frizzle Fry]

Chassis looks sweet! I see that you c-notched your kick-ups for even more drop with less bed space loss than if you were to simply build it taller

[72BlckButy]

You can drop that trailer off at my house if you want...

Great looking build so far, keep it up!

[revn67]

is that 3x5 your using throughout your frame? it looks killer by the way!!! she'll be a beaut when shes done!!

[ccracin]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

Chassis looks sweet! I see that you c-notched your kick-ups for even more drop with less bed space loss than if you were to simply build it taller

Mike,
Thanks for the compliments. The bed floor will have to be moved up about 3" as it stands. I didn't want to go any further. The truck will have a ride height of 5.5" at kick up in the front and about 6.25" at the kick up in the rear. The notch gives me a full 3" of compression in the rear without bottoming. By the way I have been following your build. Very nice work! Keep it up.

[ccracin]

Originally Posted by 72BlckButy

You can drop that trailer off at my house if you want...

Great looking build so far, keep it up!

Nate,
I think we'll keep the trailer. It's a leftover from our stock car racing days. It's been turned into extra storage at the moment. Thanks for the good words!

Later,

[ccracin]

Originally Posted by revn67

is that 3x5 your using throughout your frame? it looks killer by the way!!! she'll be a beaut when shes done!!

Revn,

There is actually 3 different sizes of rectangular used. The main rails under the cab are 2x6x.125. The kick ups are 2x5x.125 and the rest is 2x4x.125. Thanks for the compliment. I have put alot of time into the design, I think it will handle and ride really nice when it's done. Here is a picture of how I have been developing the design. It's cheaper on the computer than in metal to make changes.


Thanks Again,

[ccracin]

Here's some quick updates. A little rust repair and some firewall work. Comments welcome.





Later,

[PBFAB.COM]

Looks great Chad! I have been following your thread over on Lateral-G...but haven't seen updates for a while. I really dig the 3D model...wish I had a few more days in the week so I could spend some time to get more proficcient at SolidWorks. I currently design all my stuff on my CNC plasma software...does the job, but I am jealous of your 3D model!

[ccracin]

Originally Posted by porterbuilt

Looks great Chad! I have been following your thread over on Lateral-G...but haven't seen updates for a while. I really dig the 3D model...wish I had a few more days in the week so I could spend some time to get more proficcient at SolidWorks. I currently design all my stuff on my CNC plasma software...does the job, but I am jealous of your 3D model!

Nathan,
Thanks for the compliments, that means alot coming from you. I think I've checked out every build you have posted. You do great work. I'm going to try and get everything for the chassis modeled. I've used Pro/E and Inventor in the past. I just changed my group at work over to Solidworks. It is really nice. I initially did the layout for the chassis in Autocad. Like you said, you gotta use whatever works. With all the projects I've seen you working on, you may never get to Solidworks. And since like you said you havn't seen many updates on Lateral I may never get back to the metal. I'm hoping to get rolling here right after Christmas. Do you have Solidworks? If you want something modeled to see it in 3D let me know. You can e-mail me at ccracin@yahoo.com.

Later,

[Hart_Rod]

That's going to be one sweet truck!

[ccracin]

I just looked at the date of my last post, geez. The last year has been tough. Every time I thought we were ready to go, another set back hit us. Mostly health problems. Most of that is sorted out. We have actually made some progress. Well sort of. We have been working on the shop. It's coming together. We ordered some new lights and a few new tools. I love tools! Anyway, I am still alive and I hope to be making sparks soon.

Later,

[Joe67]

Looks like a fantastic project!

This rust looks just like mine:

[ccracin]

Some new toys will be at the garage on Monday! Sweet!

Everyone likes pictures.









Now we just need to use them on the truck.

Later,

[VA72C10]

I'll be watching now that you're getting back to it You've got an awesome foundation with that frame...

[ccracin]

Well here we go, we are back at it. The mock-up phase has finally started. We got the cab mounts on the chassis and the cab is mounted. The new rad support is mounted and just for good measure I cut the firewall out to get ready for the motor and tranny on Sunday. I'll let the pictures show where we are. We will be spending alot of time on the manufacturer's midway at Columbus next weekend. Enjoy!











As always comments good and bad are always welcome.

Later,

[VA72C10]

Looking good..glad to see you're back at it.

[ccracin]

As promised, the motor and tranny are in. We had an old set of big block first gen headers from Mr. Gasket to try. They are close. The engine is set back a bit to keep that big block from causing an incurable under steer problem. Anyone have any recommendations for custom headers? I can send these with the changes that need to be made. Should make it easier. Anyway, here are some pictures. We are going to try and get some more done before Columbus, but we are leaving on Thursday. Gotta cut the grass, do some things for the family before GUY TIME! Enjoy.

[VA72C10]

Looks nice sitting in there....

[ajgriffin]

Rookie/dumb question here: how did you figure out that the engine placement would cause an understeer problem? I'm going to install a 396 BB in my 69 and am curious if I'll have the same problem.

BTW the install looks great so far!

[dan42]

If it's further forward, more weight further forward is going to want to continue going straight despite your best efforts to turn the tires. Further back, behind the wheels, it will follow the wheels. Especially a big block.