Tyler Smith: My 68

[Tyler212]

About 2 years ago I bought a 1968 c10. I knew when buying the truck it was gonna take a lot of money and time. Keep in mind as I tell ya about it up until 6 months ago I was driving it as I fixed it. Its still not done and I'm not gonna go into too much detail.

I bought the truck for $350 and could have drove it home. It had a lobe wore the cam. 307, 3 on the tree. We originally rebuilt the 307 but as I said 2 years ago and now I'm still learning stuff about buildin a motor so you can guess what happened. Had an oil leak, blew the motor on the way home to change the oil.

Since then we put a $50 305 bought it stuck it in and put an intake and carb on ran it for maybe 4 months before it started knockin. Next a 305 that we pulled earlier that month out of my step dads truck cause he got a new one. Nothing was wrong when we took it out. But it didn't last 24 hours. The oil pump had for some reason stopped and it warped everything.

Next motor I bought a 74 pickup from a relative of my stepdads (how they are idk) for $500 and took the motor, tranny, and radiator. Ran it over a year. Best running motor it had. And my stupidity lost it. I forgot to drain the water out and put antifreeze in. I had just got an s10 to save on gas and hopefully get a little more work done to the truck if I didn't have to drive it. The next was a motor we slapped together outta spare parts literally. the heads of the 74 the block and bottem end was an 88's that needed bored over or at least new rings bad. But it ran good enough.

Finally I saved up some money I bought a reman'd motor for right at $1000(only reason I did instead of tryin to build one was that it come with a 6 month warrenty) but the guy fell through and its crap. Had to buy a new set of heads cause the one's on the motor are nothing but tire chocks. And the truck's sittin in the garage waitin on my cropper 383 to be finished and dropped in.

As for transmissions it was originally a 3 speed standard. Since then I've put two different 350 turbos in it. The 2nd was supposed to have been built but I think its trash too. But it'll stay there til I get another $1000 saved for my new tranny. It's gonna have a 4L60 as soon as I get the cash.

Along the lines of suspension and whatnots. I've changed the trailing arms. And I've changed the upper and lower ball joints. In the next few days I'm going to go through the steering since I'm putting powersteering on in anyway might as well make sure all of its workin good. (the steering has alot of play in it as it is not sure if its in the linkages or the steering box.) I am also planning on putting a sway bar on it as soon as I can.

We've already done some body work but I'm going to go through it and patch some places up better. I've filled in the marker lights and am wanting to patch them up better as well as it used to have cab lights that I removed. I've replaced the original bed(it had a wood bed but was completely lost) I've got alot of pics but I'll post a few to give ya an idea. These are when I brought it home.

[Tyler212]

Interior and primer pics

[Tyler212]

The new interior and most recent painted pics

[Tyler212]

And some of the work we've done. Still gotta find more pics.

[lolife99]

Looks like a great start.
I bet you're quick at swapping engines.
Keep those pictures coming.
We like updates!

[Tyler212]

Haha were probably not the best but(me my step bro and step dad) but with two of us workin and one "supervising" we get it all done. Usually we take our time and can take one out/put one in in about an hour. Maybe 2 and a half to pull one then stick one back in and have it running. But thats if everything goes smooth. Which it hardly ever does.

I'll post some of us puttin the new Cropper 383 in soon.

[bigguy69]

wow, sound like my truck! looks good though!!

[Tyler212]

Thanks and good luck with yours.

[Permafrost]

Gosh, you've had a good run of bad luck with engines...

Better luck with your new stroker!

Great project BTW.

[67chevy1series]

what happened to those hub caps

[Tyler212]

When I bought the truck it only had three on it so I took em off. And their actually sittin about 3 feet away from me right now. Why ya ask?

[travlinman]

nice looking truck where did the cab lights an side mirrors go ?
a nice drop and some rallys would look great.

[674x4ton]

You didn't like the cab lights? When i get ready to find a cab it must have cab lights.

[67chevy1series]

Originally Posted by Tyler212

When I bought the truck it only had three on it so I took em off. And their actually sittin about 3 feet away from me right now. Why ya ask?

im might want to have them

[VA72C10]

nice work on the truck. Sorry bout all the motor issues

[Tyler212]

Ahh with this truck it wasn't in the plans but I might with my next build. Take the cab lights and put some lights for the fire dep in em. So I can have a emergency responder setup. Never know.

[travlinman]

what happened to the big side mirrors ?
Posted via Mobile Device

[1LoC10]

looks cool, good work

[Tyler212]

Thanks. and I dont remember what happened to the mirrors. Might Still have em but I doubt it. why?

[travlinman]

Originally Posted by Tyler212

Thanks. and I dont remember what happened to the mirrors. Might Still have em but I doubt it. why?

oh... ive just been looking to buy a set for long while now but cant find any in decent usable shape so i figured id ask.

[Tyler212]

Well at the moment I don't have any pictures because I can't seem to find the camera that we took em with but I figured while I was thinkin I'd post an update of what I've had to do the last little bit.

Finally got the 385 set in and been drivin it for a month or two now(or better yet been able to weather's kept me from it) I'll break down the motor for ya too:

Bored .040 over, 3.75 stroke Eagle if I recall right I'll check the paperwork to make sure.
4 bolt main, line bored
flat top pistons, and new connecting rods same type as crank
hydrolic lifters and mild cam
195/150 int/exh valves
Stock 350 heads for the time being
Holly Intake
Edelbrock 650cfm 4bbl carb
Electronic Ignition with a high fire accel Coil

Still not happy with my tranny its a 350turbo but none of the one's I've had have pulled well but thats probably cause I've just traded around for em and not got a built one.

Got a new 4 core radiator for it, haven't had to worry about overheatin it. Until today I didn't think my temp gague worked cause its never moved higher than like 120 since I put the motor back in.

And while I'm sure with the tansmission and rear diff I've got now I'm not gonna be going very fast today I had it the fastest I've ever gone in it. And I assure you I won't be going that fast that often.

[67chevy1series]

sweet

any pics of the truck and how it sits now

[Tyler212]

I'll try to get a few posted in the next few days. Its not white outside right now so might need to take the chance to take pics now.

[67chevy1series]

oh okay well when you get em i'll be watchin!

[Tyler212]

Hey guys i know its been a while but I was wondering what you all would suggest for using as the insulation for the cab? I've got my interior out and patchin up the holes in the floor pan so its just bare metal now. I don't plan on putting the gas tank back in the cab and will keep the bench seat. If you need anymore info just ask I'll be checkin in often as I can.