My "New Arrival", w/Pics, 68 C10 Panel

[Acme Racer]

Hi Gang
I'm Larry and a new member (today 10/29) of the forum. This my new arrival, a 1968 Chevy C10 Suburban Carryall Panel, 327/350 Turbo, NO P/S, P/B, A/C, however those WILL be added. I'm gonna build this for my "road unit" to take to car shows for my job with the Daytona Turkey Run and Daytona Spring Show.

I might use a RMW front frame clip and rear end to "upgrade" the driveline, and get P/S, A/C, front disc brakes, and add P/B, unless I learn of parts of other trucks I can "bolt on" to do the conversions. I hope to lear alot here thru reading others builds. I am a member of other forums, so I do know how to use the search function. Any and all info on disc brake/power brake/power steering/AC additions/conversions will be greatly appreciated. Paid for it, now gotta get this one home tomorrow (thurs 10/30).... Whaddya think?

Larry

[lolife99]

Cool project. Keep us posted on your progress.

[Acme Racer]

Hi Gang
I just came home from bringin my new arrival home! It was dark, so no pics yet, but I'll take some in the AM and post them.

Larry

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Sweet cant wait to see the new pics and welcome to the board from southern oregon..

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Acme Racer

I might use a RMW front frame clip and rear end to "upgrade" the driveline, and get P/S, A/C, front disc brakes, and add P/B, unless I learn of parts of other trucks I can "bolt on" to do the conversions.

Who is "RMW"?

[nuke1]

Can not wait to see them, nice purchase

[MrBeast]

Sounds like a cool build, just a thought but because you are using it as a hauler, ever thought about converting it to a dually? That would be pretty sweet if you used the chassis cab axle, because you wouldn't need dually fenders just inner wheel wells.

[Palf70Step]

Love the panels. I will be very interested in seeing your improvements/build.

[Acme Racer]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Who is "RMW"?

Hi Scoti
"RMW" isnt a who, its a "what". In otherwords, its a Buick RoadMaster Wagon front frame clip.

Larry

[Acme Racer]

Hi Gang
Heres a link to the pics I took yesterday at the shop.68 Suburban Panel Before Shots Enjoy!

Larry

[72BlckButy]

Great looking project!

Welcome to the board from Mid-MO, and good luck with the build!

[Acme Racer]

Hi Gang
Heres the latest update on the panel. After checking out the "recently rebuilt" engine, it seems (after jackin the engine up and removing the pan) that this guys "engine builder" (and I'm using this term VERY loosly) left ALL the rod bolts loose, a few tried to "escape" thru the pan, thus lockin' the engine up. On the bright side, the engine is very clean inside. I changed the title and got a plate for it today also, along with doing my "regular day job".

The engine is almost ready to pull out and replace with fresh crate 383 and fresh turbo 400 from a early 80's donor truck. The donor also has P/S, P/B & A/C, so those (except the dash unit of the A/C) will find their way to the panel, now named by the neighborhood kids, "the Pickle". Maybe tomorrow I can get the old mill and trans out. I'd love to have it runnin by the weekend. With a little luck I just might! I wanna have it runnin and drivin, P/B conversion, drop spindle & disc conversion done also by thanksgiving. I wanna get all them "bugs" out of it before it hits "the ol' Fab Shop".

More updates as they become available...........................
Larry

[Acme Racer]

Hi Gang
Got a chance to change out the spindles to the Western 2 1/2 drops yesterday & today, and got the disc rotors hung on them. Painted the calipers and its now sittin on 5X5 all around. The kid has the old mill & trans ready for removal. Took a good look at my hood today, the front lip is amost ready to fall off. Gotta get another hood, probably a repop. I will take pics tomorrow. Yea, I know.........................



Larry

[Acme Racer]

Hi Gang
The 383/350 combo is almost ready to install. The kid pulled the old blown up mill, I pressure washed the engine room and started some lite detail/paint work. I promise to post pics soon.

Larry

[Acme Racer]

Hi Everyone
Between work, life in general and a mild heart attack on 12/12/08, I have finally found some time to work on the panel. The "heart transplant" (read engine change) has taken place. Then got the power brake conversion completed, along with bleeding the brake system. I finally got to drive it home christmas eve. It runs and drives nice, so far. Its now resting in my driveway, for the moment. Decided not to "clip" the front frame, just work with whats there. I found on my first "shake down run" that I should have changed the steering over to power.

The original "plan" has kinda changed for the panel. At first it was just gonna be a nice driver, now its going into "show truck" mode. I do event promotion work for the Daytona Turkey Run & Spring car shows held at Daytona Intl Speedway.

The "new" plan is to use it as a "event promo" vehicle for the shows. Thus, we now have all new inner fenders, rad support, fenders, 4 core aluminum Griffin radiator, Comp roller cam, RHS aluminum heads, Flaming River polished column, all new tinted date coded glass and almost every interior and exterior trim piece for it.

The engine is coming back out for a complete freshening. Same with the 350 trans & rear end. Thats when the main body work will start. My main goal is for it to be "bulletproof" as far as the driveline goes. The panel will get lots of miles going to shows when its finished, so I dont want any problems on the road.

The interior will be all new, with (yet to be determined) power seats, carpet, sound system w/GPS, A/C, all the "creature comforts" for those long road trips.

As far as the paint design goes, Thats still being discussed.

Now, for the "good" part, the panel's "debut" will be sometime between "Speedweeks 2009" at Daytona Intl Speedway in Feb, or at the latest the "Spring Show" at Daytona the end of March.

More Updates Later
Larry

[Acme Racer]

Heres some pics now that its home for the first time!

Here it is!



The new engine

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Acme Racer

Hi Scoti
"RMW" isnt a who, its a "what". In otherwords, its a Buick RoadMaster Wagon front frame clip.

Larry

Sounds like a lot of work. If you are just wanting power disc brakes, etc just put a 73-87 GM truck front suspension under it.

[Acme Racer]

Hi Gang
Well, heres the latest "update" as of 4/29/09. After finally realizing I wont have the time to dedicate to the panel, A friend of mine has decided to do the panel for me. My plan was to weld in the needed (and theres alot of those) panels and make a nice driver out of it. well, a long time friend who builds high end street rods decided to do a full frame off rotisserie resto/rodding of the panel.

Its now at his shop, being disassembled for media blasting and panel replacement. Then lots of new parts (already in stock ) and a bunch of $$ and it will be on the road. The chassis & suspension has been all rebuilt/replaced (with the exception of possibly bagging it) with new pieces.

With my travel schedule for work I'm only home 3 to 4 days a week. So Paul and the gang at the shop will make my "baby" nicer than I ever could. We have been trying to decide on paint schemes/colors/wheels, and other "subtle" things to do to it.

Even my boss from work (he has had a hand in building 3 Ridler award winning cars, and many ISCA Class winning cars) is helping with choices. Thru my connections at work (I work for Daytona Beach Car Shows) were even getting some ideas from some "left coast" builders/designers. The new "debut" for the panel should be early to mid August. Not sure what show that will be, but I'll let everyone here know when she has her 'coming out party"! When I get some pics of the disassambly of it I'll post them.

More Later from Daytona Beach
Larry

[Hart_Rod]

Cool build. I look forward to seeing it in person....

[my67chevytruck]

looking forward to seeing this one ...

[Acme Racer]

Hi Gang
Sorry about the rather long delay in updating this. First for the good news. The body & frame have been slowly completed. The reason its taking so bloddy long is that in April of '10, new management took over where I worked and they cleaned house. Thus, I became unemployed.

Then in August of that same year I had a massive stroke. While rehabing from that in Dec of that year, I had yet another stroke. I spent most of 2011 in and out of the hospitals with various surgeries and bunches of rehab, like learning how to walk and talk all over again. I'm back up and around again, although now 100% diasbled. I now only have 23% of my heart function now. I wanna try and get started again on the panel with my buddy whos been helpin me on it.

I'll try and remember to get some pics when I get back over to his shop. I just didnt want everyone to think I just *bailed* on it.

Larry

[Palf70Step]

Glad to hear you are still with us. Keep improving and will love to see how your panel is doing when you can get back to it.

[57NAPCO]

Larry, I pray your health has improved some! Blessings to you!
Posted via Mobile Device