Project 'ETERNITY' 68 Stepside

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Figure its time for my build thread as I jump back into this project.

As the story goes... I bought this truck in 98. Had an original 1970 LT-1 motor in it and ran like a beast. Drove it two years before the TH350 went out. Swapped in a 700R4 that I had laying around from my IROC-Z. That tranny laster till 2003 when the 3-4 gears went out. The truck sat for a year and then I started a complete teardown with visions of a frame off restore. I planned to turn the truck into a daily driver. Have a nice fuel injected engine with good mpg, AC, nice styling, etc. So no show truck but a completely rebuilt and reliable, comfortable daily driven classic! Oh yeah, I figured Id do this in a year! I picked up a 20k mile LT1/4L60E setup... great motor for this plan.

Well that was the plan! Shortly after tearing the truck apart, I blew up the motor in my IROC-Z while drag racing at Darligton dragstrip. The truck gets shoved to the side while I rebuild the Camaro. A year later the IROC is back on the road with a forged 355 Turbo setup, running like a raped monkey. Back to the truck, finally start putting it back together.... but the need for a truck forced me to buy a new 06 Colorado. Now the truck can be a little more built and less concern on mpg.

Frame was snadblasted and mostly put back together. Transplanted a 10 bolt 3.73 posi geared rear from the Camaro.

My cab was a disaster, picked up a new cab that needed the normal repair. Purchased my first welder and started attacking the cab, got most of the passenger side repaired... then... I decide I need a shop!

My back yard really didnt allow for a shop since it was a very steep slope. I went house hunting and found my dream house which had a 32x28 shop! Moving a truck in 100 pieces was not fun! The frame and cab were together but I had no front suspension! I got it strapped to a dolly and was able to tow it without much problem. Got it to my new shop and 3 years later its still there collecting DUST!

Here's my baby before teardown







and

Oh crap, I have to remember how to put this back together???

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Frame back from sandblasting.. man that saved some messy hours or cleaning madness. Well worth the cost.



Painted gloss black with some heavy duty industrial enamal that my paint buddy recommended.



Rear back together with new tank, hidden hitch, and new rear end. Ill eventually swap the drums to disk brakes on the rear.




Picked up a replacement cab that had AC. Its in much better shape than my old one. Sent it off to sand blaster and as usuall a little more rust than expected but nothing to bad. Ive never done sheetmetal work before but always wanted to learn. Bought a mig welder, did gobs of research and hooked up with EB Fabman from this site who lives in my hometown. Bought his DD set on cab repair... Looked it over and decided this isnt rocket science, lets melt some metal!

The swiss cheese passenger side






Time and patience, this isnt that hard and very rewarding to do yourself!



Cleaning up firewall since Ill go with aftermarket AC



Fast forward to 2010! ugggh, and so this is how she sits in my new shop... I tinkered a little putting the door on and planning to install the rocker, mocked up the LT1 motor I picked up...

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Picked up a new front 13" front disk brake setup from McGaughy's. Went with 5x4.75" lug setup to match the rear end. I can finally get the truck into a full roller now. Started working on powder coating the new setup.



Modified McGaughy 2.5 drop spindles



After powder coaring.. lighting is horrible. its a silver with black specs.

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Finished up powder coating the front brake setup and got the passenger side installed and mocked up. Very pleased with this brake setup. Fits perfect and looks good. Im sure it will stop well. Please ignore how dirty thew frame is... its been sitting for 6 years collecting dust!






Spent the rest of the weekend repalcing a header gasket on my Camaro.. Fun fun

[SCOTI]

Who's brake set-up?

[OARNGESI]

Looks good so far looking forward to seeing more

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Originally Posted by SCOTI

Who's brake set-up?

Its the McGauhey 13" kit... uses a modified version of their 2.5" drop spindles. Here's a link where I bought them. Already had 74+ spindles and components on my truck so I went with those.

http://www.stylintrucks.com/parts.as...tfamilyid=6325

[jeffg1010]

So... I thought I may be able to wake up your thread to get an update. You are real close to me, so I wanna see this truck out cruising around!

Anything new happening?