68 C10: Mission "RPG"

[hardcore4life]

Well I have been a member of this site for a few years now and have just been trolling around looking at builds. There are some nice trucks on here and I figured I would share my build.

The story behind this truck; it belonged to my grandpa, and everyone in the little town he lived in knew it. "Here comes Bill in his green truck". Those words still ring in my head every time I look at it. The truck was called just that, "the green truck". He bought it from a neighbor, whom I believe was the original owner of the truck, the year I was born. My mom and dad bought the car the neighbor was selling so they came as a package deal. I grew up around this pickup and remember helping my grandpa put up county road signs and going on trips with grandpa and grandma with my little brother and I in the middle. Trips to the DI were my grandmas favorite to do so she could see all the deals people just gave away.

The green truck started off it's life with me with a 292 straight six and a 4 speed with a granny low. I drove it like that for a while but soon it gave up the ghost and seized. So I built a custom 400 SBC that was bored out .030 over with forged steel internals, Dart Pro 1 aluminum heads, forged pistons, Weiand Street Warrior intake, and a Holley carb. I originally had ram horn exhaust manifolds, but decided to trade them for some body panels and got some Hedman Headers for the beast. I got a built up 700R4 for it so I don't eat up the gas as much and can cruise a little easier.

I decided to take it to a shop to have the body work done because I have no experience whatsoever in that area. And I'm not keen on destroying a project. I have full confidence in this shop as I have gotten to know them over the years and they turn out some AMAZING products.

The trucks new name is "RPG", I have been in the military for almost a decade now and it just seemed fitting. I was going for a menacing look to it, so we'll see how this thing end up looking. Enjoy the build.

PS. I don't have any pictures of the truck when I originally got it due to the computer tower crashing that they were originally on. Talk about a loss.

[hardcore4life]

Here is some of the work that the shop has done before. He has won Mopar on the Strip in Vegas two years running with these builds.

[hardcore4life]

So here are some of the pictures of the tear down process. Rust was minimal due to it being an Idaho truck. There is still a bunch of work to be done though. This was shortly after being sandblasted.

[Ghostryder79]

Looks good. Those other builds are amazing. I'm in for the ride on this...perhaps I can learn a thing or three and get some new ideas.

[hardcore4life]

Originally Posted by Ghostryder79

Looks good. Those other builds are amazing. I'm in for the ride on this...perhaps I can learn a thing or three and get some new ideas.

Thanks Ghostryder. I researched this guys projects before going to him and I feel I made a good choice. He is also a lot less expensive than any other shop around here. The 34 Dodge is called The Godfather if you want to research it. It has a Viper V10 stuffed under its hood.

[hardcore4life]

Here are some other pics from the tear down.

[mud.man.rj]

With a shop turning out work like that it won't be cheap..but well worth it when done, keep us posted should be a cool ride when done.
Mudman.

[hardcore4life]

I wanted the fuel tank moved from the cab to under the bed. This cleaned up pretty nice. As well the trailering mirrors were taken off and the doors were repaired. The passenger door was repairable but the driver door had to be scrapped. As well as the driver fender. That seemed to be the side that grandpa and all of the cousins would find the fence posts with. My aunt tells me grandpa wasn't the greatest driver.

[Bomp]

Nice story.
Like your plans for the truck.
I'll keep checkin in

[hardcore4life]

The passenger side cab corner was replaced and all fixed up. It was one of the few areas that had cancer all the way through. As well as the driver side threshold and rocker panel area.

[hardcore4life]

The cab is in primer here, and the drip rails have been shaved to get rid of the unibrow look on these cabs. I never cared for the look of it. After talking with the owner we decided to just take the cab off and do a frame off, seeing how only 4 bolts were holding that back. Plus it gave better access to the frame to clean it up.

[hardcore4life]

With the build plan I wanted it to still be usable as a truck and not worry about damaging the bed. He finally was able to find a bed that was in great shape that had a metal base rather than wood. We will be putting a form of diamond plate in the base of it with tie downs for any cargo that might make its way into the truck. I never did get over to see the cab off the frame, I was doing military stuff at the time. The frame has POR 15 on it.

[hardcore4life]

Finally got the brakes and suspension components in. All CPP stuff with Wilwood brakes up front. I went with a 5 lug conversion to find parts easier as the brake components don't have to be special ordered. The rear trailing arms are from Early Classic Enterprise, they are fully boxed and damn are they heavy. There is no drop in the front, but I went with 2 inch lower springs in the rear for a more level look. I really liked how it rode before and didn't want to mess with it, plus I still like having ground clearance.

[hardcore4life]

Its got 4 wheel disc brakes now, I wanted to stop a lot faster than the 4 wheel drums were doing. Plus the gas tank is now where it should have been, under the bed so I don't have to smell it. Here is the color I finally decided on. After looking at many different colors this is the one that spoke to me. Plus it wasn't much different cost wise from any of the other dark grays. Its a Ferrari color, Grigio Silverstone.