1963 Texas Time Travelin' Machine

[ProudSoul]

Bought this 1963 SWB BBW with a small block 400 and Powerglide tranny in Wylie, Tx about a year ago and while I've been a big time lurker on this site I haven't made much contribution so I thought I'd share what changes I've made.

Keep in mind I bought this truck during my senior year of college (broke as a joke) and had minimal wrenching experience so it has been a huge learning experience and I could not have done it without this forum

Also, note that I don't intended to blow my truck apart and rebuild it, this is more of a fix it up, drive it, fix it up some more kind of project

Attempted to drive her home(60 miles) and overheated her pretty bad and had to tow it the last 30 miles. Here's day 1.







First Thing I did was clean her up a bit and do some basic stuff like fuel filter, air cleaner, oil, trans fluid/filter, chase some bad grounds, and add some peep mirrors!



Added a cheap mechless headunit under the dash with some 6x9's behind the seat. Also added some gauges. Made some 7.62 knobs for the old radio


Swapped the old master cylinder for a dual pot MC with all new lines



Decided to go for the bare metal look on the door panels


Truck still had the original shocks on the front so I swapped them for some KYB's


Rebuilt steering box and new tie rods to fix the sloppy steering


Hand painted the grill letters


Headrests removed and a mexi blanket over the seat


Made a makeshift fan shroud out of aluminum flashing


Nice day to take my 61 huffy for a ride


Next up I put in some new balljoints, shaved the bumpstops, cut one coil off the front springs, and topped it off with an alignment.




To address the rear I added 2 inch blocks and cut one coil


My steering wheel would turn your hands black everytime you touched it so I took it off and painted it with appliance epoxy and it has held up great! Also painted and added the shift knob


Having that ratty shop truck look I decided to black out the window with some 5%


Painted the tailgate letters and went over it with some paint thinner to give it that patina look. I also painted in between the trim and hacked another half coil off the front. Added some half moon eyelid covers about this time.



I just had to add some Texas flare to this truck


I wasn't happy with the 1 and 1/2 cut coils on the front they didn't seat right and would fall out on full lift so I decided to just bag it. Being on a budget I found some lower control arms for $50 to cup. I cut everything out and gave it to my buddy to weld. I also built my own 4 way air ride controls using 3/8 lines and ball valves.





I also got some new u-bolts for the lower control arms since the old ones are prone to breaking


Viar 444c and 3 gallon tank






My buddy Grant is trying to get into pinstriping so I let him lay some lines down on my air cleaner. Not bad for his 4th or 5th time


Got some airlift dominators for the front, the cheap ass chassis tech bags leak and the replacements I got from them leak too so I'll just put them on the back for now.


I'm not even bagged in the back and I rubbed a hole in the hose going the fuel filler neck in the wheel tub. Decided I would just make a trap door in the bed and figure out some kind of filler underneath it.


Here is how she's sitting right now. I had to cut the rear springs out as the bolts were rusted solid. Need to drill holes in the frame for bags and run some air line back there.

I'll be sure to post updates as I go

[flashed]

I like what you have done so far ,will keep watching as you go forward .

[63chevyman]

Looks like a great score on the truck. Keep up the progress

[Grizz1963]

Talk about coming in with a BANG !!!

That is a great first post.

You have done so much great stuff already.

If you were on an unlimited budget, I would love to see what you created.

I love every aspect of your truck.

[ProudSoul]

Originally Posted by flashed

I like what you have done so far ,will keep watching as you go forward .

Originally Posted by 63chevyman

Looks like a great score on the truck. Keep up the progress

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Talk about coming in with a BANG !!!

That is a great first post.

You have done so much great stuff already.

If you were on an unlimited budget, I would love to see what you created.

I love every aspect of your truck.

Thanks for the kind words guys! I'll be sure to keep posting as I go.

[Ta2Don]

Great start...
Gotta agree about this board boosting confidence...
I bought my 65 sans engine with the plans of dropping in a small block and driving the wheels off... Instead, I blew it apart and found bent frame and the saga continues...
Enjoy and keep up the great work...

[TJ's Chevy]

Project is sweet. Subscribed.

[markeb01]

Welcome to the forum. Nice progress and to see you know your priorities.

[Justin@EntropyRad]

You had me at Mexi blanket and 7.62 knobs!!

[earl84]

Some great ideas used on your truck! Being an ex-Army tanker, I LOVE the 7.62 radio knobs. Appliance epoxy on the steering wheel is a great idea, and has to be durable as heck. This is th best forum on the Internet, no doubt about it. Lookin' good, keep it up.

[Vics63Chevy]

b1tchin' truck

[aggie91]

Welcome to the forum. Love the truck and what you have done so far.

I noticed the air dam under the bumper. Can you tell us more about it?

[Palf70Step]

Welcome aboard. Your truck looked great to begin with, but you have really made it come out!

[joedoh]

nice work, is that a 88-99 lower valance under the bumper? I worked with an aero guy who told me to lower my 99 suburban and get that valance as close as possible to the ground for best mpg. seeing it on there, it looks good!

[ProudSoul]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Great start...
Gotta agree about this board boosting confidence...
I bought my 65 sans engine with the plans of dropping in a small block and driving the wheels off... Instead, I blew it apart and found bent frame and the saga continues...
Enjoy and keep up the great work...

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Project is sweet. Subscribed.

Originally Posted by markeb01

Welcome to the forum. Nice progress and to see you know your priorities.

Originally Posted by Vics63Chevy

b1tchin' truck

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Welcome aboard. Your truck looked great to begin with, but you have really made it come out!

Thanks Guys!

[ProudSoul]

Originally Posted by Justin@EntropyRad

You had me at Mexi blanket and 7.62 knobs!!

Originally Posted by earl84

Some great ideas used on your truck! Being an ex-Army tanker, I LOVE the 7.62 radio knobs. Appliance epoxy on the steering wheel is a great idea, and has to be durable as heck. This is th best forum on the Internet, no doubt about it. Lookin' good, keep it up.

Haha thanks. I may have to post some pics of my 7.62 babies and the truck

[ProudSoul]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Welcome to the forum. Love the truck and what you have done so far.

I noticed the air dam under the bumper. Can you tell us more about it?

Originally Posted by joedoh

nice work, is that a 88-99 lower valance under the bumper? I worked with an aero guy who told me to lower my 99 suburban and get that valance as close as possible to the ground for best mpg. seeing it on there, it looks good!

Yes, you guessed correctly! The valence looks pretty good from the front but there's a gap when viewing it from the side between the valence and the front fender. I may trim it or try to heat and bend it to follow the lines of the bumper. I've seen a lot 67-72 trucks use this valence so I gave it a shot for 30 bucks off ebay I can't complain.

[Grizz1963]

I forgot to say, I personally love the seat as well.

Those split seats look great and are probably good to live with.

Do you know what it was from?

And if people recognise it, do they come in any dark colours?

I am thinking of one upholstered the same as the seat in my truck.

[Ta2Don]

Grizz, those seats appear to be out of 88-9? Chevy trucks/suburban and they come in a variety of colors... My 90 DD has the dark red one... I believe headrests were added in 91...

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Grizz, those seats appear to be out of 88-9? Chevy trucks/suburban and they come in a variety of colors... My 90 DD has the dark red one... I believe headrests were added in 91...

Head rest were 92.

They are great seats Grizz. Very comfortable. I am getting ready to take the ones from my 94 and put in the 64.


Now back to our regularly scheduled build thread.

[ProudSoul]

Well finally got my rear bags mounted. Need to get some narrower wheels as these 15x10s wont let me go lower than the bumpstops.



Thought I would dump some oil in her real quick and go cruise around but I ran into a problem with my oil filter and I can't believe that I am mentioning something as simple as an oil filter in this thread but its a huge pain in the

the filter is stuck on there and I've already broken 3 filter wrenches trying to get it off. Breaker bar, impact, nothing is working. Might have to take the headers off and perform screwdriver surgery

[Captainfab]

Yep, oil filters can be a big PITA when the previous installer did not lubricate the seal and tightened the crap out of it. Have you tried a band style filter wrench?

Your truck is looking good

[flashed]

Can you get a big pair of Channel locks in there and get hold of it ?

[Elliot949]

Next to my 67... The 63 SWB is my favorite... I love your truck...

[ProudSoul]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Yep, oil filters can be a big PITA when the previous installer did not lubricate the seal and tightened the crap out of it. Have you tried a band style filter wrench?

Your truck is looking good

Originally Posted by flashed

Can you get a big pair of Channel locks in there and get hold of it ?

Nope unfortunately the channel locks aren't working, I went ahead and ordered a new oil filter adapter. Just going to rip the filter apart and un bolt the old adapter.

Originally Posted by Elliot949

Next to my 67... The 63 SWB is my favorite... I love your truck...

Thank you!