Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Hey, I recognize you too! Good to see another Alaskan on here!

I got the Vortec out of my truck and on the stand, and did a little tear down. I knew it had a rod knock which was verified by at least 5 loose rods and the vast amount of metal shavings in the pan.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_69.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_70.jpeg

However, while this one is in on the stand getting rebuilt and for the sake of saving a few bucks for now and getting this truck back on the road, I'm thinking of dropping this engine in I built a few months back. It's nothing mind blowing, just a 305 with decent stock heads, R/V cam, Edelbrock carb and intake, and a nice paint job (hey, gotta make up horsepower somewhere!)

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_72.jpeg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Pulled the (finally correct!) rear axle out of the long bed, got it painted, and installed onto the leaf springs.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28331.jpg

The U-bolts I had bought earlier were made wrong. The length was too long and the threads were too short. Took them back for the correct ones.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28341.jpg

Finally bolted in!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28371.jpg

Hopefully permanently this time :lol:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28381.jpg

Also installed the hard lines (brake and fuel) from the longbed as I robbed the ones off the shortbed about 10 years ago for my mud truck. doh!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28391.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28411.jpg

And ordered up a new pair of headlight bezels off ebay. $25 shipped!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28421.jpg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

On the red cab just ahead of the doors is a black weather strip of some sort. I've heard of this piece, does it add any weather protection or reduce wind noise, anyone? Anyone doing a repop of it?
Thanks Bob

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Between the door and fender?

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Rear lowering kit complete, and wheels mounted. I'm stoked!!!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_77.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_78.jpeg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Started tearing apart the front suspension from the longbed. These components are in much better shape than the 78 parts, so these ones will just get cleaned and painted for the most part.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_79.jpeg

Components removed

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_80.jpeg

The longbed is looking pretty bare!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_81.jpeg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Looking good.

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Thanks!

Got started on the suspension today. Old, rustly junk out!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28721.jpg

Cut 1 full coil out of the '86 springs

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28781.jpg

Can't get any closer than this!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28791.jpg

LCA shafts cleaned and painted Hammer Black

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28801.jpg

Springs cleaned and painted, along with the sway bar. I think the silver will offset the black on the rest of the suspension nicely!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28821.jpg

And finally cleaned and painted the LCAs. I will be working on the UCAs as well as the crossmember itself over the weekend.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_28831.jpg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Yes.
Thanks, bob

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Bushing removal on the upper control arms

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_83.jpeg

And they're out!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_84.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_85.jpeg

Crossmember is painted

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_86.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_87.jpeg

LCAs and springs finished!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_88.jpeg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Got the crossmember mounted to the frame

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_90.jpeg

A-arms mounted up to the crossmember

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_91.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_92.jpeg

Springs going in

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_93.jpeg

And spindles mounted up!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_94.jpeg

Everything assembled again in the front end

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_95.jpeg

Brake rotors painted and getting new wheel bearings and seals

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_96.jpeg

Backing plates cleaned, painted, and mounted

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_97.jpeg

All together!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_98.jpeg

Aaaaand I couldn't resist throwing the front wheels on and seeing what the drop looked like! Still need to do the steering and brakes, but it's back on 4 wheels! The front should come down a little more once the engine and transmission are in, and I'm thinking I'll end up going with a 1" shackle in the rear to level it out, but we'll see how it sits once it's all together.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../image_99.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_100.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_101.jpeg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Looking really good, lots of work into this one.

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Thank you! Definitely takes all my free time to keep up on this one. :lol:

Brake calipers painted and mounted with pads

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_108.jpeg

Steering arms and tie rods painted and mounted also

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_109.jpeg

Steering box done as well!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_110.jpeg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

My 1" rear wheel spacers came in! Should push out the rear wheels exactly where they need to be.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_115.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_116.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_117.jpeg

Clearance looks about spot on. Camera angle is a little funky though.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_118.jpeg

Also ordered in some new brake lines for the front calipers

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_119.jpeg

The problem is the old lines want to share the same space as the ball joint nuts

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_120.jpeg

So I carefully and gently bent the new lines just enough to gain the proper clearance.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_121.jpeg

Looks pretty good all around!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_122.jpeg

And the front is complete!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_123.jpeg

I also picked up these tail lights, I was thinking about using instead of the enormous square stockers that come on the stepsides...opinions?

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_124.jpeg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

personally not a fan of the square stockers so these are an upgrade in my eyes:metal:

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Those lights are definitely an improvement. What are they "supposed" to be on?

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

They're off a Polaris 4 wheeler, 05-08ish came with the clear lenses and they were a "Work Light" package. They're also stock on Polaris IQ Widetrack snowmachines. I thought it would be neat to integrate part of my work into this truck! Plus, they have taillight, brake light, and reverse lights, so they should wire in exactly as stock ones do. I would need to fab up some brackets, but that is easy.

I stopped by up at my buddy's wrecking yard and he let me take a few small things I've been missing or aren't in great shape. I scored a straight grille valence, windshield washer tank, RH headlight chrome trim, A/C harness, and door handle trim pieces off an '86 suburban. Also found a smaller, non-emissions evap canister off an '88 suburban with TBI. This will still let me have a functional canister, but with a smaller, cleaner look and minimal vacuum lines! Plus I snagged some new headlights out of the same rig to replace my broken/faded ones.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_125.jpeg

Compared to the old one

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_126.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_127.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_128.jpeg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

New valance went on, then I moved over to mounting up the bumper. Inner brackets were trimmed to fit with the 78 frame. It went on pretty smoothly other than needing to spread the frame a bit to get all the mounting bolts to line up.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_29491.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_29501.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../IMG_29511.jpg

Which headlight is not like the others lol

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

I picked up a new set of shocks while I was in town today. I did some research and found that this particular line of shocks is about 1/2" shorter than most of the aftermarket shocks available, so they should play nicely with the drop. I will be fabricating my own shock extenders for the rear.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_130.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_131.jpeg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_132.jpeg

Also installed the grille and headlight bezels. I'm loving the look!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_133.jpeg

I also stumbled across a pretty good deal today. I found a 2000 Suburban that was T-boned very hard on the passenger side. The kicker? It has a brand new GM crate Vortec 350 with 35,000 miles! I paid $500 for the whole thing, hopefully I can part this one out and make my money back as well. I figured this would be a cheaper option versus rebuilding the blown Vortec on my engine stand.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...image_129.jpeg

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Stock front shocks work on the rear after an axle flip.

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

True, but I've encountered the issue that follows most of these axle flips, where the spring plates sit too close to the shock mounts on the axle to allow mounting a shock at that point. I have an idea for a custom bracket that should fix this, and run the stock shocks.

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Dang man good work on the craigslist scores. Stuffs usually scooped up by the time I'm able to make it to the valley or it's been inflated for AK prices.

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Thank you! I literally live on Craigslist, so most of the stuff I buy off there isn't even on long enough to get seen by most people. :lol: Its kind of an addiction!

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

I know what you mean. I work on the slope, so for 3 weeks I look at stuff I can't buy and torture myself.

Re: Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside
 

Ouch, that's rough. To top it off, it sounds like it's becoming a ghost town up there.