66 C10 Project SWB

[66Project]

Hello, This is my first post but have been reading throughout this board since I purchased the truck in January of this year. Its a bigger project than I wanted but I went with it anyways. Last spring I just finished a 78 CJ7 that was a 5 year rusted out project and I didn't want that this time but here we are anyways. I was looking at a guys 72 that he wanted too much money for and had too much rust, but this was in the background. Its a 66 LWB, factory AC, with the 327, 4 speed on the floor.
(first post of a pics so may or may not work)



The Plan:
SWB conversation
Air ride
5 lug conversation
All power... brakes, steering, windows, locks etc
Power tilt hood...maybe

Normal rust

Rockers, cab corners, floor corners.



More to come...

[66Project]

This is what I have done so far.
Sand blasted floor, primed, replaced all the rust in on the cab.




I got a little carried away cutting the new patch panel. It ran a little short.


More to come...

[66Project]

I figured out how to resize.
Mainly everything in black is new metal.

[66Project]

New or new to me stuff I've picked up in the last 6 months

'86 front end suspension. Cleaned, blasted, ground down stamping flaws, paint, new bushings and ball joints.


'72 12 bolt 5 lug rear axle. Great shape. Cleaned, replaced all seals and outer wheel bearings. Picked up a nice differential cover off of ebay.


More to come....Tomorrow

[66Project]

My plan from the start was to convert the lwb to a swb, Frame and Bed. I ended up finding a swb bed about 2 hours away. He had quite a few people coming to pick it up so I had to leave on a short notice to beat everyone else there. It was a great find. Mainly rust free, a little damage on the lower corners, wheel tubs have been stretched by 4 inches, and I got him to throw in a decent tail gate. $500, and around here that is a good deal.



This is the worse of the damage.

[66Project]

The floor in my shop isn't exactly level so I had to use my dad's shop. Its a metal fab shop so he had all the right scrap metal laying around and a 220v welder so it made sense. I did it in his paint room so not to disturb business too much. I leveled out the frame, checked it for square and welded on metal stands.




Cut out 12 inch in a Z pattern for strength. Welded extra bracing in the inside. I thought the diamond looked better than just a square piece of metal. I think I found that on here somewhere.

[lolife99]

Great work!

[68JOHNDEERE]

Looks good, jump right in should be back on the road in no time. Since you went with the short fleet side, do you still have the chrome trim from the long box?

[66Project]

My plan is to run air ride and set it down pretty low. Not sure how low but I felt that the trailing arm may drag at times. I flipped over the frame and started to shave.


Welded in a piece of flat plate.

Then cut some holes out for the exhaust.

Welded in some 4 inch pipe to regain some strength.


Well that's about all Ive done so far. I only work on it on the weekends and my wife is incredibly understanding with the time and cash it takes to do a project of this size. I hope everyone enjoys these pictures and keeps following along with my progress. Ill try and update it weekly. Comments and suggestions are always welcomed.

[66Project]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Great work!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by 68JOHNDEERE

Looks good, jump right in should be back on the road in no time. Since you went with the short fleet side, do you still have the chrome trim from the long box?

Thanks! I do have some. A lot of it wasn't in good shape and has already hit the trash pile. What parts are you needing?

[Druman]

outstanding fab work. congrats on the understanding wife those are few and far between.

[66Project]

Originally Posted by Druman

outstanding fab work. congrats on the understanding wife those are few and far between.

THANKS!

Shes a keeper. I haven't been married long (Oct of last year) but a few things I have learned already is never say no to anything she wants to buy, help clean the house, and annoy her to the point she tells you to get the hell in the garage. The old timers will probably disagree, Seems to be working so far.

[gimmy 64]

nice work so far I'm in

[sneaky]

Originally Posted by 66Project

]

The Plan:
SWB conversation
Air ride
5 lug conversation
All power... brakes, steering, windows, locks etc
Power tilt hood...maybe

..

hey retard..I think you meant "conversion".


a conversation is what I had with your mom last night.


oh, nice work btw =)

[66Project]

Originally Posted by sneaky

hey retard..I think you meant "conversion".

a conversation is what I had with your mom last night.

Ohh Sneaky LOL, I knew you were on here and going to bust my balls. Damn spell check, always screwing me.

[sneaky]

ha! projects looking good man! can't wait to see it layed out.

[Jmorales3181]

Nice truck! And some good progress too
Posted via Mobile Device

[66Project]

Originally Posted by jmorales3181

nice truck! And some good progress too
posted via mobile device

thanks!

Originally Posted by gimmy 64

nice work so far i'm in

thanks!

[66Project]

I didn't get a whole lot done this weekend. My grandfather pasted away in March and dad and I worked on cleaning out his shop. Four truck loads of trash and one 1400 pound load of metal to the scrap yard. He kept everything. I did find this cool old toy of his. Not sure what I plan on doing with it other than a bookshelf item. The wheels were robbed a while back to fix another toy.




Did get my Jeep out and washed up. I mentioned it in my first post that this was my first ground up resto.


Anyways back to the truck. I did get some time to start the sandblasting process on the frame. Pretty slow and boring.



Thanks again for everyone viewing.

[Jeff La]

Nice Jeep, your doing some great work

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum

Sorry to hear about your Grandfather

You're doing some real nice work on your truck. Judging by the looks of your Jeep, this truck will be equally nice.

[66Project]

Originally Posted by Jeff La

Nice Jeep, your doing some great work

Thanks

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Welcome to the forum

Sorry to hear about your Grandfather

You're doing some real nice work on your truck. Judging by the looks of your Jeep, this truck will be equally nice.

Thanks, he will be missed.

Hopefully I can do twice as good on this project as the last and Ill still probably only be half as good as some of you guys. With the Jeep project I realized that you must take your time and don't take short cuts. Seems like everything on the Jeep that I did short cuts on has bit me in the ass. Ive learned to just spend the money in the right places and have the right tools. Still learning a lot tho. Great info on this board.

[R_W]

Good to see another Nashville guy on the board...
Posted via Mobile Device

[66Project]

Got back on the truck this weekend. Cut in the CPP C notches. Sandblasted the back side of the notches to etch the metal, sprayed some primer on it before bolting them on.






Straightened out the lower radiator support. It was twisted around were someone winched it from there.
Before:

After: Used a torch to heat up and twist the support back straight. Its not prefect but usable.

[vegadesign]

everything is looking good!!