GM 1968 C10 stepside shortie build. (8 Viewers)

[darwink1]

Figured I'd start a thread here instead of polluting the 40 series section more lol.

I've been a toyota land cruiser guy for a long time now but last week I picked up a 68 c10 stepper and I blame Roadkill because muscle truck.

A buddy and I drove 11 hours round trip from Sudbury to just past Brantford Ontario to take a look at the truck. After a test drive and a bit of haggling it was mine and we dragged it home

The things I know. It's a 68 on a 1990 1500 frame/drivetrain (tbi 350, 700r4), still titled as a 68. The previous owner was starting the stepside bed swap when I picked it up, he had been driving it with a 90 stepside bed. It's missing the ps rear fender but I have one on order. It looks to be slightly lowered with longer shackles out back and coils? up front but it's not drastic. Everything besides the windshield washer seems to work and the truck drives straight and well.

The things I've messed with so far. I made up a quick bed floor out of tongue and groove cedar so the truck would look more presentable for certification, more than likely it's temporary as I plan to lower the truck more. I wired up a pair of oro led tail lights I had left over from my fj40 build because it had none and they actually look okay imo. The truck came with 80s chev rally wheels with trim rings and caps, I swapped those to some chevelle style unilug chromies with caps and big/little rubber that I scored locally.

The plan from the get go was to keep the truck ratty but give it a metal flake roof with some stripes. Finished up the roof yesterday, went with metallic gold with white and metallic orange stripes. Not perfect by any means but I like the way it turned out. I'd like to lower it more over the winter so I'm researching that now. I'm thinking 4/6" ish drop with a c notch out back...

I've got the fender on order, some new marker lights and a gold flake Grant steering wheel. Not blowing this one right apart, just want a cool cruiser muscle truck type thing that I can rip around without worrying and work on when I feel like it.

The 40 and the C10.

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[darwink1]

Bed floor and tail lights. I've taken off all of the original light brackets, and the lights are getting mounted lower on the bedside... bed stake?... side.

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[darwink1]

Gold metal flake roof à la Blasphemy but with a couple stripes. I seam sealed the drip rails and treated any rust before primer.

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[darwink1]

Didn't turn out too terrible.

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[darwink1]

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[darwink1]

New steelies, old tires lol. I'd like to paint the wheels black and keep the caps patina'd chrome.

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[darwink1]

Close up of the wheels, the new steering wheel and new marker lights.

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[darwink1]

The po had cut the 90 frame to fit the 68ish box and there was no rear cross member. I grabbed a chunk of 2x4"x1/4" and a reciever and threw one together.

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[darwink1]

Lo pro and ready to tow seadoos! Lol.

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[darwink1]

Got the new cross member drilled and tapped for the rear bed mount bolts last night and started planning tail light relocations.

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[darwink1]

So far this is my inspiration for tire fitment and stance, it belongs to @chuckamatic on insta.

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[Michael B]

Nice start. Here’s my 69’ that I put a 68’ front clip on. I’m curious as to why the PO did a chassis swap? I finished the build in 04’. It currently has about 80k miles on it.

 

[darwink1]

Nice start. Here’s my 69’ that I put a 68’ front clip on. I’m curious as to why the PO did a chassis swap? I finished the build in 04’. It currently has about 80k miles on it.

View attachment 3758750View attachment 3758751

That truck is mint man, I read your 50s truck build thread today and saw it lurking.

Po lived in farm country so I'm thinking he found the cab and clip and had the frame/running gear lying around. He said the frame was donated to a highschool shop class by gm? back in the day and he ended up with it somehow. Seems believable, the frame has no pitting or scaling at all and in ontario thats impressive. Said he's had it on the road (with the 90 stepside bed) for 3 years.

He had a few cool projects around the yard and in the garage.

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[darwink1]

Lowered the tail light brackets and used the new rivnut tool for the first time tonight. Tool worked mint, and the tails are.. lower? I like it, but wanna see it with the fenders on. I'm still waiting for the ps to come in so hopefully that happens next week.

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[darwink1]

Added some tubiligational supports between the cross members last night.

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[darwink1]

Oh yeah, this beautiful bastard came in. Just waiting for the adapter/horn setup to get here.

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[clrussell]

I’m following along. Should be a fun and unique build

 

[darwink1]

Eyeballed the factory paint match cans at Canadian tire the other day and found two greens that were similar to the paint on the front clip. Sprayed some red oxide primer over the gray on the lower part of the cab then tested the greens. One was closer than the other but they both look pretty similar to the clip. The plan is to try and match the patina on the clip, I've never done that so it'll be interesting to see if it turns out.

Before, I hate that gray primer so much...

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[darwink1]

The Chevy is quadifenderous! Almost lol

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[darwink1]

Not too much to report. All the grey primer is green now, not the right green but close lol. The 1x1" bed mount points got sleeved so they wouldn't crush. The fenders are loosely mounted and the non spare tirey one looks so much better than the one with the cutout lol...

Been working on getting the steps between the cab and bed sectioned to fit around the leaf hanger. Ps went mint and looks like its gonna work great. Po had started the ds and it was driving me crazy because it wouldn't line up. I realized he had cut the support bracket too short and everything fit perfectly after I took the bolt that held the step to the bracket out.

Everyone needs to be reminded of how fun it is to weld on old rusty steel once in a while lol.

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