Well I don't get a chance to do much posting much less pics of the trucks, but yesterday I cleaned out some bushes at my house so figured I would snap a pic or three(more or less just an excuse to fire up the chainsaw). BTW, the white Econoline is the neighbors, ha. Oh the last 2 pics are of my 67 chevy work in progrss. It has come along way, complete frame up resto, powdercoated all that I could underneath, new and tweaked 383 stroker, lots lots more. Hope to get it running for my wedding next June, so if anyone has a few spare weekends and lives in the area, I can use the help, free pizza and beer :) :)




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LOOOOOOOOOOOVE the '67!! I have a '71 SNB powered by a 406, so I can tell we both have this fetish for 67-72's. Is she going through a full frame off? Looks like it....fresh painted frame and fresh sway bar and bushings. Tell me about your truck pleeeease!???

 

Thanks for the comments. Where do I start I guess, project is going on 7 years, I got the truck in its original form, my senior year in H.S. and drove the wheels off it, it was a real pile but I loved it. Originally started out with a 350 and the 4speed on the floor. Got a wild/crazy/stupid idea to restore it and turned it in to what it is today.

COMPLETELY tore down to the bare bones, powdercoated the frame, suspension parts, rear end, and crossmembers. 3-4 suspension drop, stainless rear mounted fuel tank, big sway/ track bar kit. Rebuilt the rear end with new axles, bearings, eaton posi, and disc brake setup. Front has all new parts, power steering, disc brake setup. Motor is a GM performace 383 stroker with port matched and polished vortec iron heads, edelbrock 650, ceramic coated headers, serpentine kit, full msd pro billet/6al, and 100shot of spray(est. about 450hp and 500ft/lbs without spray), backed by a custom built 700R4 w/3000 stall and a dennys driveshaft. Other than that lots of other new parts, since I did the wrong thing by starting with a truck from the rust belt.

Lots of time, fab work, lost girlfriends, and of cash, funny how a "budget build" turns into this monster, but after all that has been done I would'nt tarde it for anything, because of all the great places I have gone to get parts, people Ive met and skills I gained. Heck I bought the Ranger because of it, as I was getting sick of carrying rear ends, bumpers, etc in my Grand Marquis.

It is by no means perfect, and never will be a 100 point show queen, but thats not what I wanted it is just going to be a "nice" cruiser that I can show, but not be afraid to drive hard and not get pissy if it gets a scratch. Like I mentioned, hope to have it streetable by June next year for my wedding, but it will not be "done" :) Hope this explains a bit more about it, sorry for being a rambler, guess thas what happens wen I get up too early. BTW any info on your 71 that you mentioned, I always like to here about others "mistresses".

 

Looking good. Whereabouts in MN are you?

 

The fine metro area of St. Cloud, MN to be exact.

 

more pics of that crazy looking leaf setup?

guess im just not old enough to understand?

 

Hey now, I'm just a young guy too, its not that tricky, just not that often you see coils on the rear of a truck these days.

Hopefully this pick makes a littlemore sense. It is basicly a type of 3 link set up that has 2trailing arms that bolt to the axle and have coil springs mounted to them also. Then a pan hard bar holds the axle from moving side to side, and the leafs you see in back are really just overload springs. If you need more pics Ive got plenty of em.

 

Sweet rebuild you've got going on!

Oh yeah, and I LOVE the Ranger! Haha. I love the fact that its a green, reg cab shortbed 2.5L 5spd. And it looks VERY clean. Not to mention that those BFG A/T's look awesome on it. Makes me wish I could go back in time and not be a stupid teenager and tear up my 98.

 

looks like you've done a hell of a job on the chevy man.. keep up the good work

 

Your fords are real nice too freddie, I dig the black wheels on the Ranger. I almost feel bad being on here sometimes with my mostly stock Ranger, but as you can see by the pics the chevy is my real time eater.

 

Woah....you got the super rare 'load leaf' option on it. That pretty neato. Thanks for all the into there Aaron. I'm really digging it.



Here's mine back when she was on the road...Bought her at age 16 and lusted after her sitting on the side of the road at a run down 'dealer' everyday driving to work and home. Shoot...I even made a hotwheels just like it BEFORE I even owned the truck! lol. It's not that often these days that you see a short chassis 67-72 for under $5k. I bought her just like this....hacked up suspension(WAYYYY too short cut springs, and there were 2x4's above the front springs), interior was decent, the body was in 'okay' shape. Somebody was stupid and did a paint job over rust, but whatever. I actually saw it and wanted it in truck trader about a year earlier for $7000. I bought it for $4000 after a summer long price haggling battle with an idiot who thought it was worth 8k in the beginning. As bought, was a 305 backed by a sm465 granny 4spd, 12bolt, the deluxe gauge pkg(no tach), and was in all around good shape. Drove it for a few months then the engine decided to throw a rod though the pan, so in went my other truck's mild build 400. Drove it for a while in high school, then I got the ranger. And when the ranger was down for a month or so after highschool, I drove the chevy as my daily again. And...what started out as a throwout bearing replacement, turned into a full engine rebuild and a auto trans swap(TH400). And she hasn't touched the road in 2 years. :(.

Here's some pics of her...

1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place....all lined up at the high school car show...

 

i almost bought one in college with my extra tuition money but the guy sold it on me.

orange, 67 3/4 long bed, 327 with a 3 on the tree. kinda sucks that i didn't get the chance to buy it.
he wanted $700 and it was in rough shape.

 

Wow, that is a pretty sharp truck you have there Shane. Seeing stuff like that really gets me excited to get mine running again. Its also cool to see that you have a neat little story behind it and how it has been a part of your life too. Im really glad you shared some pics too, because I always like to see what other people have done to get new ideas. Hopefully you will get a chance to drive it again soon, it is a nice one, we don't see many stepsides around these parts, mostly long boxes, but then again the long box was most likely the most common model made. If you don't mind I'll try to remember to post a pic or send you one once in awhile. Thanks again for your story and pics, neat truck!

 

yeah dude....go for it! Are you on 67-72chevytrucks.com? Might possibly be 67-72chevypickups.com...idk..been a loooooong time since I've logged in over there. I'd just follow the build threads. lol.

something I forgot to add earlier....My love for these 67-72's began when I was a youngin'...like 6. My grandpa had a '72 and my father took my mom on their first date in it....then at age 10 or so when I finally realized the year range, I really started to look at them alot....fell in love. The curves, the similarities with the 66-67 Chevelles, just everything about them is awesome. Something I'll never let go is my love for 67-72 chev's.