New Member Saying Hi

[spacedebris]

My name is Mark and I recently purchased a '60 Chevy panel. Its a 1 ton with an extended 10' bed. I fell in love with it the minute I saw it on CL. I just had to have it. Bought it as a rolling frame/body. No drive train. I've got a lot to do on it and it will take a long time to complete but it will be a labor of love.









And here is my fancy seat. Ever see something so perfect?

[scottofksu]

Wow man! That is epic! Just be careful with all that unsprung weight on the back... Welcome aboard!

[68 SHORT-STEP'N]

Welcome !!! That's a awesome truck you got there. There are plenty of great board members on here that will answer any questions you might have .You couldn't have joined a better site . Good luck on your project & keep us posted on your progress .

[markeb01]

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your project. What are your plans for it?

[spacedebris]

Right now, I'm working on fixing the rust areas. I have rust at the top of the windshield on the drivers side and along the entire drip rail all the way around. I want to get it drivable, then I will work in the finer details. Also I'm dropping in a Cummins Turbo diesel out of a 95 dodge. I had to modify the floor a bit but it sure looks good under the hood. Eventually I hope to convert to 4x4 and raise it up a couple inches with 33's. I'm going to soften up the ride a bit (bad back) but put on an air suspension for towing. And in the bed, I'm going to fix it up with a small bed, chair, and table for camping. But at the rate I'm going thats going to be a decade down the line

[CRGRS 66]

EPIC INDEED!!!!
I am not a big fan of slammed trucks, but that behemoth should definitely be slammed! Very cool find, looks like it is in very good condition!
Oh, and welcome, I am new here too.
Craiger

[RockTonka]

What a beast! Your plans sound good and welcome to the site.

[hotrod66]

welcome! do ya have any picks of the under hood i would love to see the big c under the hood?

[jocko]

and I'm sure everyone noted the elusive red seat... !
OEM4ME will be here any second! Lots of questions about red seats from several members in the past, nice to see it actually still in a truck.

That thing is beggin for a hot tub and a half-moon chevyvan window on each side.

Cool truck, welcome.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum Mark

Looks like your Panel is fairly dent free. Hopefully the rust isn't too difficult to repair.

[aerotruk63]

You might consider saving the Red Seat material for a pattern for redoing a seat. The frame as well as the foam are different as compared to the standard Vinyl seat.

[erock805]

u need a bigger truck man!

[CRGRS 66]

[QUOTE=erock805;5354307]u need a bigger truck man!

[nhchopperartist]

sweet. welcome from another new member.
Jamie "CRASH" from NH
1966 C30 Long Step Side
1964 C20 Fleet Side
1964 GMC Suburban

[nhchopperartist]

you need a split front bench out of a GMC Suburban so you can access the back. it is a 2/3 1/3 split with the passenger side that lifts and folds forward

[spacedebris]

I'll get some pic under the hood some time this next week and put them up.

I plan on saving the seat. Believe it or not, it is still comfortable the way it is. LOL. The frame is in perfect shape and moves easily. Even the sliders are smooth. My plans are to reuse that seat, just replace the foam and recover. I like the pattern so I'm going to just have it reproduced. There is a reupholster just down the road who has done work for me in the past who is extremely good at what he does. He actually saw me when I was towing the truck home and peaked in at the seat. He wants to do the work almost as much as I do. LOL

The body was completely dent free when I purchased it. However, I dont have room to store it at home so I have it in storage. However, they attempted to move it without my permission or with me being present and you see that large grey primer area from the drivers door to just past the fuel door? They drug it against a concrete pole that put a dent in the side that was about 15 inches by about 42 inches. I was livid. However the owner of the storage owned up to the damage, fired the manager who did the damage and fully paid for all the repairs. Still pissed me off but at least they did everything they could to make it right. He as assured me that no one will even go near it in the future without me being there to supervise.

At first glance there doesnt seem to be much rust, however the more we dig in the more we find. But thats normal. Good news is that the hood is solid, and there is no rust in the filler fender panels. It seems that none of the "normal" rust areas are bad. The rockers are in good shape, only a little surface rust that I've already taken care of. The floors are all in good shape. The wood bed is solid but really ugly. But thats from nearly 30 years of neglect. The hard parts are going to be....

The roof..





The lower door pillar on the drivers side....



And the drip rail....





It looks like a previous owner tried to hide/fix rust along the drip rail. At least thats what I think they may have been doing. But what they did was put fiberglass cloth in the drip rail and partially up the roof and then filled most of the drip rail with body filler. Then smoothed it up on the roof. Its a PITA to try to get all the body filler out of the drip rail. My body work skills are barely above novice. I can do some of the minor rust repairs, but for the big stuff I have a friend that runs a hot rod shop that is doing the major repairs for me. He says that there is nothing there that cant be fixed and most of it is fairly easy. It just takes time.

[1963c-10]

Welcome. Nice looking panel you have there. The roof is a tough fix, but guys do fix them. Might consider a new roof if real bad.

[spacedebris]

Originally Posted by hotrod66

welcome! do ya have any picks of the under hood i would love to see the big c under the hood?

Hey hotrod66, here are a few pics of the Cummins shoehorned under the hood.







Now the Intercooler and Radiator are both out of the Dodge and just sitting there. I'm going to have to do some fabricating to make them fit right but as you can see there is plenty of room for both and also for the planned transmission cooler I'm going to put in.

And in these you can see how much of the firewall we had to cut out and how much the engine encroaches on the interior. We are going to have to do a bit of finagling to insulate it all but we are confident it will work.

[spacedebris]

For those interested in the Cummins swap.

I'm using a Cummins out of a '95 Dodge 2500. I took the engine, trans, and the rear axle out of the dodge and put into the Panel. You can even see the Dodge wheels in the 2nd pic of post #1.

The reason I chose the 95 Cummins is due to it being one of the last "p" pumps. All manual, no computer crap. Plus they can build a lot of power.

Some of the things I've learned so far. This swap would not likely work well with a C10 unless you beef up the suspension a lot. The diesel is just too heavy. Even with my C30 it will defiantly need much more modern suspension. I have not decided on what/how exactly yet as I'm on hold.

Also, take note as to how far into the passenger compartment the Cummins is. Width wise, there was plenty of room under the hood. But length wise, I had to put nearly 2 cylinders through the firewall. Now I could have pushed it a little bit further forward, but for clearance with steering and accessories on the front, this is the best for my situation. My only concern with this is that as you can see in this pic



The exhaust is basically going through the passenger side of the cap. Its going to take a hell of a lot of insulation to try and keep the heat out.

One nice surprise is that I didnt loose much space under the dash. A little but not much. Also leg room for driver and passenger will be fairly good. wont have much for someone in the middle but cant have everything. I'm only going to have to move the accelerator and break pedals to the left 2 inches. When I make the new floor, it will be a removable section for access to the trans and filters.

If anyone has any questions feel free, I'll be happy to answer if I can. I can even get specific pictures if anyone needs, however since it is in storage those will be a little slow in coming as I cant just run outside and take them.

[Jeff La]

I would assume that this engine would fit in a C 10 cab the same??? I've been wanting to put one in a C10 but with a newer chasis.

[hopped up]

welcome. i think monolith on the forum has one of these extra long panels. his is a gmc but i bet hed have some info
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[spacedebris]

Originally Posted by Jeff La

I would assume that this engine would fit in a C 10 cab the same??? I've been wanting to put one in a C10 but with a newer chasis.

To my knowledge, there is no difference between the c10 cab and c30 cab, so as far as room goes, it should fit the same. I am by far no expert on this kind of swap and I'm learning as I go, however the mechanic I have helping me told me I was lucky to have the 1 ton for this swap due to the weight of the Cummins. Also someone in the past replaced my front clip with a more modern one. I have no idea what it came out of (we are thinking a mid 70's 1 ton truck but not sure). He gave me the impression that if I had a C10 or even a C20 version I would have been in for even more challenges than I am. Just food for thought.

Also be aware, regardless of what version you have, be aware that there is a lot of fabricating, especially in the firewall and floors that will have to be done. We are still mocking it all up, seeing how much we have to cut out and then replace, and I'd say that 45% of my firewall/floor panels have been cut so far and we are not even close to being done yet.

Also, because we had to push the engine so far back, the trans cross member had to be moved. Right now we have it just clamped in place to hold the trans but have yet to determine where it will have to be located.

[Jeff La]

well after seeing how it fit in yours, I'll probably be looking for a 4bt for a c10. I'll save the 6 for a more modern truck

[monolith]

Nice Panel and nice conversion!
I was looking to do a similar swap to my 1ton panel but have decided to go with a 6.2 or 6.5 GM diesel. Practically a bolt in to replace the 350 I have in there. Not as nice as a cummins, but easier for a noob mechanic like me.
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[piratexpress1369a]

that is a tight fit for sure