68 3/4 ton LWB - Big Block

[19Hoosierdaddies68]

Hello all,

I cant remember if I have already posted pictures or not. I made some progress this weekend so I have before and after pictures. Unfortunately I didnt take pictures of the work in progress, too busy trying to finsh. Anyway, I have a 68 3/4 ton with the factory 396, has a 700r4 trans and a 71 3/4 ton disc brake setup.

I wanted to go the lowered route, cuz thats how I roll here in So Cal. ;-) I bought airbagit.com 3 in. drop spindles, 2 in drop springs from brothers, drop shocks from CPP and partsmaster front end rebuilt stuff like lower ball joints and upper and lower a-arm shafts. Here is a before shot and an after shot, still need to lower the rear using, 5 in. drop springs, CPP shocks, CPP adjustable pan hard bar and CPP shock relocation kit as well as front end alignment. So with initial measurements I got a 4 in drop in front using 5 inch drop parts, I am sure it will settle a bit, of it was already lowered a bit because of old shocks, springs, ball joints etc.

Before:


After:

[19Hoosierdaddies68]

Well I got the rear lowered. still need to grind off the rivets to mount the new upper shocks mounts(relocation kit from CPP). It seems my right passenger side exhaust pipe is now smashed between the rear axle and the frame (5 inch drop), is this normal? Has anyone else had this problem? Do I simply relocate the exhaust? Maybe it is sitting too low because I don't have the shocks installed? Any comments, thoughts suggestions?

[19Hoosierdaddies68]

hmm Did I post this in the wrong section? Maybe i should have put this in the suspension section....

[CrazyDave]

Looks good what is your other plans for it
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[19Hoosierdaddies68]

Originally Posted by CrazyDave

Looks good what is your other plans for it
Posted via Mobile Device

Hey Crazy! Sorry It has taken me a couple days to respond, I have been out of town on business. Anyway, for now I plan to get this thing painted one color, flat white, then most likely some 8 lug 20's in flat black. After that pretty much drive it, maybe a 3" exhaust as well will be in order to replace the stock pipes. I will post up some addtional pictures as I move along.

Thanks,

Jerry

[wild4wheels]

First off ... DIG your truck .. wish I woulda dropped mine when I had it ..dig the original patina you got going, but I havent seen the other side so painting may be necessary! More photos please!!

In regards to the exhaust, IMHO, I'd have your exhaust guy run both sides at a 45 degree angle to exit right before the rear wheels "Nascar" style, as it were, to eliminate your problem. You never know, you may decide to bag the rear someday ;-)

I'd like to see some pictures underneath too.. with a 5 inch drop, did you have to notch your frame?

[19Hoosierdaddies68]

Hey Wild, thanks for the compliments. I really like the original patina as well, unfortunately the previous owner primered the drivers side and the drivers door was replaced from original, so I lost a lot of the original patina, thats why I took the pictures from the passenger side, haha. The other side currently has a rough coat of flat white and I will have to make the whole truck match eventually, nothing high quality by any means thats why I am going flat. As far as the exhaust, I am hoping to get the shocks installed this weekend and then I will take some pictures of the under side. Right now without shocks I have about 2 inches before the axle hits the rubber bumpstop and then another 3 inches before the axle would hit the frame. I think this will be drivable without a c-notch based on what I am seeing and what others on this site have experienced as well. With the current rake I think it could use 2 more inches of drop via a block, so a small notch may be in order soon. However i dont want to spend money unecessarily if I do eventually bag it as I do want to bag this things pretty aggressively so the bed floor may need to be raised....;-)

As far as the exhaust goes I like the idea of the exhaust coming out in front of the tires "Nascar" style as you put it. Do you know if this will be much louder than running out the back? i just dont want something that is going to resonate through the bed, I did that with a slammed S-10 (cutoff under the bed though) I had once and eventually got tired of it and ran it all the way back to stock.

My only concern right now with the 5/5 drop is the carrier bearring, might have to make some change to that area as well, havent figured that out yet... I think CPP makes a fairly affordable drop crossmember to help this area, need to hear more thoughts on this from other members...