1966 C10 Project Truck

[scoot_mcgrute]

With my new work schedule, I don't have as much time after work as before but I can still make a lot of noise for an hour or so. I got the factory brackets cut off the 8.8 last night and noticed that it will need axle seals and it looks like a pinion seal as well. I also sent the axle shafts and brake rotors off to Dutchman to get them redrilled to 5x5 pattern.

[The Rocknrod]

Maybe these with a blue dot:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1956-1...xW3f88&vxp=mtr

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Maybe these with a blue dot:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1956-1...xW3f88&vxp=mtr

I agree. That is the style I was thinking they are.

[forestb]

Originally Posted by aggie91

I agree. That is the style I was thinking they are.

You can use the same brackets for those as the ones for the 60-66. A vary easy swap.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Maybe these with a blue dot:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1956-1...xW3f88&vxp=mtr

Those are pretty close!

I reached out to my buddy that gave them to me to see if remembers anything about them. I never really thought much about them but they sure catch a lot of attention.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Sounds like he bought them from Grumpy's Truck Parts in Arizona but a quick search shows that they closed their doors a few years back

[scoot_mcgrute]

Weekend progress update. Had a couple friends come over and we knocked out flipping the trailing arm mounts, set the pinion angle and burned in the perches, put the Mustang pinion flange on my driveline and pulled the bench seat to start getting the buckets installed. I also found a leaking injector o-ring so I'll take care of that soon as well. All in all, a great day working on the old pickup!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Army Truck weekend report:

Saturday I did a winch install on a Mitsubishi Delica and it turned out pretty good.


Sunday, my buddy came up and we got the c-notches done, they were a bit of a pain but we got em done! My axle shafts and rotors should be here this week so I'll get it all buttoned up after work and hopefully on the trailer Thursday night for a weekend of racing

[shearjs]

Looking good! What do you gain by flipping the trailing arm brackets? Keep up the good work!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by shearjs

Looking good! What do you gain by flipping the trailing arm brackets? Keep up the good work!

You gain anti-squat. When you lower a truck down with the truck arms, you lose a little anti-squat; in my case, I lost a lot. I could light the tires up no problem and while that's fun every once in a while, when you need to put power down it gets old fast. Flipping the brackets put the arms back to stock-ish angles which increases traction everywhere (straight line, corner exit, etc) for me.

[shearjs]

That's good to know. I'd seen others do that on other build threads, but never really knew why. Thanks for enlightening me!

[Blue666(2)]

Do you have an estimate of how much anti squat gain is made by flipping trailing arm mount brackets? For the costs of grade 8 bolts and a few grinder discs, that could be one of the best low cost suspension upgrades ever.

I love that your truck is ready to get down & dirty on the road & no worries about perfect paint/chrome. Great truck & build thread.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by Blue666(2)

Do you have an estimate of how much anti squat gain is made by flipping trailing arm mount brackets? For the costs of grade 8 bolts and a few grinder discs, that could be one of the best low cost suspension upgrades ever.

I love that your truck is ready to get down & dirty on the road & no worries about perfect paint/chrome. Great truck & build thread.

Thanks man, I appreciate it! I'm not sure on actual numbers but it really helped my corner exit traction. Definitely a great low cost upgrade!

My first autocross of the year was last weekend, I loaded the truck on the trailer without rear rotors on it, got those by lunch on Friday, headed South to my buddy's house in Eugene, installed the rotors and bled the brakes Friday night. Saturday, showed up and immediately failed tech due to my wheel studs being too short. I was bummed but there was a Firestone right next to the track that helped me out to get everything together and able to run with my group . I did terrible on Saturday, the truck was pushing really bad and I was having a hard time figuring it out. I almost didn't go back on Sunday but at the last minute decided to go and increase the rear tire pressure to see if that would help. It did and minus the long waiting time to get to run, I had a really good time. I got my cousin to take a break from homework and ride with me for a couple laps, he had a great time! I'm pleased with the old girl but it needs some more work before I'm happy with it again

[Pinchecharlie]

Holly crap your a badas@! You had helped me before and I appreciate it and your truck is awsome Just curious now that the racing bug has caught ya what your plan s are for the suspension? See that you have adopted the no limit philosophy a bit which is cool. Are you gonna drop member it ? Raise the rear rails? Hope your doing good in all life's adventures and Can t wait to see what's next!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by Pinchecharlie

Holly crap your a badas@! You had helped me before and I appreciate it and your truck is awsome Just curious now that the racing bug has caught ya what your plan s are for the suspension? See that you have adopted the no limit philosophy a bit which is cool. Are you gonna drop member it ? Raise the rear rails? Hope your doing good in all life's adventures and Can t wait to see what's next!

Thanks man! I feel that I have hit the upper limit of the suspension already this year; I still have to install the taller balljoints and do the caster mod to the front. I really want to get a set of arms on the front and go coilovers all around but that will have to wait for a little while. I think I will be happy with the rear suspension when I can get my rear sway bar back on, I'm hoping to tackle that during lunch tomorrow.

I was able to get the truck on the dyno at work for some tuning and I'm very happy with the results. Baseline was 257 at the tires but running super rich. Our tuner changed the MAF tables from the LS1 to the OEM truck tables and picked up 18 wheel horsepower and after some time playing with the fuel tables, the final numbers were 281HP and 310 ftlbs. Not too bad for a junkyard NA 5.3!







And the video of the final pull. I need to figure out the smoking issue but I think the LS6 valley cover will help that out a little bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNUxMAkkeqI

Hoping to hit up and autocross this weekend for some more seat time!

[aggie91]

Not bad at all.

[Pinchecharlie]

Man that's great and you haven't even started with speed parts. If you watch ls1 tech forum classified you can score cams and lifters and throttle bodies pretty cheap/affordable. Of course there are rotating assemblies and all manor of parts to make you broke too. Maybe add a 100 horses with bolt ons? I hear ya about the coil overs and arms. Would be nice. The qa1 c10 stuff offers just the lower and the mounting stuff but I dunno if the gains would be there or not? But it's "affordable" compared to whole kits? Sad day when you think 2k is "a good price" lol. I did the caster drill hole in lower mount thing. At the time ididnt want to clearance the crossmember so I machined the new locate hole 5/8 from stock. After alignment I got 4° of caster. Iam no guru but that was with no headaches and they where off so a win I guess. Now I am looking at the front end apart again and thinking the fabricated arms look soooo much better. Who knows maybe we will win the Powerball and have all the goodies! Sure enjoyed watching you do your truck and have fun racing!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Couple videos from the autocross a few weeks back. First one had my cousin riding with me so I had a little fun, the 2nd one was my last run and I think my quickest run. Good times!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHIdVxIDBUI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIuUyW1VE7w

[scoot_mcgrute]

LS Fest prep is in full swing in my garage right now, I am leaving a week from Wednesday so the pressure is on! Over the weekend I got my bucket seats mounted, LS6 valley pan installed and also repainted my valve covers to match the truck. Good weekend in the garage for sure!

I used a similar idea to another member for my seat mounts and made a frame that bolts to the factory holes and holds both seats.






Tearing into the motor to swap the valley pan, I sure like how easy these engines are to work on. Took all of about 30 minutes start to finish.




All back together with the new color on the valve covers. I think that it really showcases the whole swap now as the motor is the main focal point and not the valve covers.


That's all for now! I have a 3 day weekend this weekend so I'll be buttoning a couple other things up and get it ready to go on the trailer!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Had a very productive weekend working on the old girl. Dad came over on Saturday to help me knock out the remaining mechanical items before LS Fest, we killed it in the garage and got every item taken care of minus some cleaning!

The initial list


Center console, cup holders and tool box all done




I also did some research and found that my PCV system was hooked up improperly so I got that taken care of. Oil smoke out the tailpipe does seem less than it did before


I also got the rear sway bar on and wired in my Dakota Digital speedometer signal converter, so nice to have a working speedometer in it!


List is all checked off, minus cleaning it up!


Now for the unpleasant news. I was driving home last night and decided to blow 3rd gear out of the transmission. Just what I needed right before I left for LS Fest! Sourced a remanufactured unit this morning, dad will pick it up on his lunch hour, and I'm taking off early to start pulling the broken tranny. I WILL make LS Fest, down but far from out!

[Pinchecharlie]

oh man bad luck! good luck and post your results!

[silvertonguedevil]

Cool truck!!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Back at it again! A couple weeks ago, I had a couple friends over and we pulled the front clip off the truck and pulled the motor and tranny. I blew up another T5 on Labor Day Weekend so I picked up a T56 that my buddy pulled out of his S10. I have that going in as well as doing a cam in the 5.3, I went with a Street Heat Stage 1 from Tick Performance awesome customer service! Amongst that, I am also playing with the front suspension a bit with upgrading the lower control arm u bolts, moving the lower control arm forward 5/8", all new bushings, Hotchkis front springs and finally QA1 taller upper ball joints. The truck has been suffering from the lack of camber and caster so it's time to play with things a bit!











I also signed up for LS Fest West again this year! Decided that it was more than worth going for the Truck Grand Champion, I'm super excited and can't wait for May!

[kdad]

Lookin good Scoot...

Need a local meet and greet.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by kdad

Lookin good Scoot...

Need a local meet and greet.

Thanks man! I am hoping to get something put together with Northwest C10s this summer. There are quite a few guys in the Portland area that are great to hang out with!