Project: Learn to Do It Myself

[cLaWz]

Hello all, name is Shawn and I am what you would call a shadetree (or weekend) mechanic. My wife (fiance at the time) bought a 1983 Chevrolet C10 from her stepfather that he said was a "great truck" that had a 454 put in after the original 350 caught fire. Fire worried her but she went ahead and bought it on her stepfathers word of it being a "great truck".

Ran great for about the first 2 weeks and then all hell broke loose. Distributor flaked out and after replacing just about everything (cap, rotor, module, coil, etc) I found a great deal on Ebay for a full distributor that was highly recommended here on this site. Dropped it in and she fired right up without a hitch. While I was doing all of this, I began noticing issues with the wiring.

This is where my original thread comes into play. Was starting to puke coolant and run hot so I replaced the radiator, coolant recovery system, hoses, and water pump. First test drive went great but on the second it started dumping water out of the exhaust and billowing white smoke soon after leaving the house (less than 1/4 of a mile). After advice from forum members and much searching on my own I performed a few tests to confirm it was the head gasket. Coolant gushing out of a spark plug hole pretty much confirmed it.

At this point the truck sat for a few weeks due to the Texas heat and time constraints. Will admit, I was a bit overwhelmed by the whole prospect as well but knew I couldn't afford to have a shop do it so one day I went out and just started wrenching. During the teardown I had many, and I mean MANY moments of just shaking my head and thinking to myself "WTH were they thinking?!". After about 4 or 5 hours I was left with this.



I have vacuum lines coming off the carb plugged with screws, or leading to nowhere unhooked. Looks like I may be missing some parts to the Holley 600 CFM carb as well.

Intake had a lovely oil leak down the back side of the motor (No wonder we were using so much oil!) due to the rubber seal being used and sliding out during install apparently. On top of that instead of pulling it off and fixing it they just shoved some RTV in the gap and hoped it would hold I guess.

The exhaust headers have the emissions tubed installed but the main pipe they all connect too is crimped off and just left there instead of removed and plugged.



When I finally made my way down and removed the heads I found evidence of a rebuild. Piston heads are stamped with 030 and the cylinder wall ridge is extremely fine. They must of rebuilt it not to long before my wife bought it.



As I mentioned at the start of this post, I am pretty much a weekend warrior when it comes to this stuff. Give me a guide, even a Haynes manual and I can get the work done and learn something along the way but I have never taken on anything like this though I have always wanted too. My plan is to try to learn then complete everything myself. It might take me a looooong while due to finances and time but when I was tearing it down, even though it's been a pain in the rear so far, I like the truck and it is the perfect project platform to learn with I think.

(These pics were taken while I was repairing the mechanical gauges her stepdad installed, right around the time the head gasket went)



Think my biggest challenge will be this body work. Wife avoided a collision with a vehicle one day but ended up tagging the gate at her friends apartment complex. Other driver took off even though it was his fault (coming in the exit gate instead of the proper entrance)





I know for sure I will find more problems along the way but I will deal with them as they come up. I already know that a LOT of wiring issues are going to become present and it very well may be easier just to buy a new wiring harness and install it rather then trying to find out where all of these wires go to and come from, etc. I am sure I can find help on this great forum