68 Chevy c10 rebuild and shortbed conversion

[Dillon64]

So here's what I have. We had been looking for a chevy pick up in the 67-72 range for a while. We had spent tons of time deciding what year and condition of a truck that I wanted. I knew from the beginning that I wanted a 67 or a 68 but I would not have minded a 69-72. After I had made up my mind the problem was finding the right one. We made some pretty length trips in and out of Kansas looking at a couple different trucks. We soon figured it out that it was not easy and realized that we could buy a longbed in good condition and convert it to a shortbed. After widening our search we found a 67 short bed frame that we would use to convert the long bed. The frame was nice and clean but the only problem was that he had a 72 frame that was just as clean but already had front disc brakes and exauhst. The 67 frame had a disc brake conversion kit but would have been much more difficult. After pretty much deciding we wanted it he then proceeded to show us the truck he had. It was a 68 long bed that was basically a body. I instantly knew I wanted it because it was virtually rust free and had a great look to it. He had all the original paperwork and had the story behind the truck. The only problen with the body is the front driver fender is dented in from where the previous owner hit a mailbox. We bought the truck and the guy gave us extras including a 700r4 transmission. So here are the pictures of what we started with.

[Dillon64]

Pic

[Dillon64]

Pic

[Dillon64]

Frame

[leddzepp]

Nice...even came with slots!

[Dillon64]

Frame 2

[Dillon64]

How do you post more than one picture onto a reply? I would like to show progress so far

[hugger6933]

Your not alone in changing a long to short truck. I have three truck builds in different stages now at my shop [2 -70's and a 68GMC]. One of the 70's is a long and is the first I bought at the wreck sale I buy from, then the 68 came to me in a trade[I had been after it for a while]. I is a 3/4 ton with factory bb t400, air power steering ,brakes and speed warning and buddy buckets. I just felt right to make a short 5 lug out of it. I found a 68 truck and bought it for the bed and the frame and a 72 was given to me for the 5 lug stuff for it. The 70 long is going short as I have a 71 parts truck to go with it 5 lug short frame with a few left over body panels. I think you have a great project, I could have cut down the frame and stuff but, it is more work this way but after all it is just work, and I 've never been afraid of that. Jim

[Elliot949]

I am just down the road from you... I am in Augusta a couple times a week... I would be happy to help you with things you may be looking for... I have been converting a 67 C-20 Longbed Fleetside to a C-10 Shortbed Fleetside ... There are a lot of nice guys in our area that have a lot of items for these trucks...

Here is where my truck is as of today...

[hugger6933]

When you scroll down past the reply box where the text goes there is a box that says manage attachments. Click on it then download from your pics file. Jim

[Dillon64]

So far we have nearly finished the engine on the truck. The engine came from a 1979 gmc rally sport can that's as given to me by my grandpa. We went through the entire engine and added tons of new parts. We had a 700 r4 tranny but just decided to use the turbo 350 that came with the engine. After we dropped both of those on the frame we set the cab on the truck. We are getting ready to tax weld in the new dashboard. We would have more progress on the cab except for that the previous owner had used tons of adhesive to put in really cheap headliner carpet. It took us a while but we funnily got it all stripped out with some 3m adhesive remover.

[Dillon64]

Engine

[Dillon64]

Cab and frame

[Dillon64]

Cab frame and clip

[Dillon64]

We also just ordered the wheels they are boss 338's gunmetal finish 18x8 front 18x9.5 rear. I'm not sure what size of tires I want and how far I want to lower it. If you have any suggestions reply back and post your pictures. This is a picture of what the wheels look like.

[Bomp]

Looks like a sweet project.
Subscribed.

[mac808]

Wow! Thats a great find! nice starting point for you project. Looking forward to the updates!

[JHT67]

Originally Posted by Dillon64

How do you post more than one picture onto a reply? I would like to show progress so far

Once you choose file and upload a pic, don't close, go back to the choose file and do it all over again, you use to be able to load up to 5 pics.

[Dillon64]

Originally Posted by JHT67

Once you choose file and upload a pic, don't close, go back to the choose file and do it all over again, you use to be able to load up to 5 pics.

I always try it but it won't let me do it but it might be because I'm doing it from my phone

[JHT67]

Originally Posted by Dillon64

I always try it but it won't let me do it but it might be because I'm doing it from my phone

Yea I can't help ya there, I can't do anything like that from my phone, I'm lucky to be able to do it from my computer. I'm sure I don't do it the conventional way, and I usually have to ask my wife, or figure it out by accident.

[cool68]

Cool - ambitious project

[Dillon64]

Here is the up date we purchased a parts truck that helped extremely well with some mechanical things and all of the wiring harness'. To this point it is running very well. We ran into a few issues getting the brakes and engine running the way we wanted but figured it all out. We installed a 4 core radiator and all of the heater components but not the a/c. We plan on hooking all that up later. Also I bought boss 338's with 18x8 front,18x9.5 rear. They turned out great and I would recommend them to anyone with a chevy because of how cheap they are and how slick they look. Beyond that the next step is finishing up some small things, working on the interior, cutting down long bed to a short, and then adding things to make it look better

[Dillon64]

On the boss 338 I forgot to mention on the front's we had to grind where the rotor sticks out in order for them to fit even with spacers.

[Elliot949]

Looking good... I would like to see your truck sometime... I am just a hop skip and jump from you...

[jlsanborn]

Cool truck and nice work so far! I'm smack in the middle of the short bed conversion myself.