"Midnight Rider" 1970 C10 SWB Fleetside

[omodified]

Putting in more work today. Removed the hood latch assembly.




Removed headlights, rings and bezels. Will be needing some new parts here.








Removed headlight buckets. I restored these before, but I think I can do better this time around.




This is what's left of the headlight adjusters. Garbage...




Remove front bumper and mounting brackets. Like the rear bumper, the front one has some dents and dings.




Removed grille assembly. This will be a really nice driver for somebody. Finish needs a little attention but no dings or scratches to speak of. Parking light lenses were NOS when I bought them so I'll be keeping those. This step was my end goal for the night and I made it! A little at a time...

[omodified]

I was able to get some things done yesterday but I didn't have enough time to post an update. So, here goes....

Removed battery tray. This was an aftermarket part that I dropped in many years ago. It still looks brand new.






Removed alternator brackets and alternator. This will get sold with the engine.






Removed antenna and cowl. I was also suppose to remove the wiper arms during these steps, but I already did that a few months back. I thought if I removed something easy, it would motivate me to get started on the rest. Well, I didn't pick the easiest thing to do. I remembered that I bought a tool a long time ago to remove the wipers. I still couldn't remember how to do it. Found the answers I needed right here on this board of course! After a few tries, they popped right off.






Got the driver's side fender off. No rust in the bottom cup. Amazing!






Removed junction block on passenger fender.




Removed passenger fender. This was a great stopping point. You can see the original blue, but not for long.

[omodified]

Core Support...More Like Life Support

I wanted to tackle one thing tonight and it was suppose to be simple. Tonight's task was to remove the core support. Easy stuff right? Wrong! Everything was going good until I got to the actual core support.

Removed trim and emblems from the fenders. Good drivers pieces here.




Removed core support to fender braces and dual horns. I restored these dual horns years ago and they have held up well. I'll be keeping these for the build.






Removed front wire harness. This thing is 50 years old. Probably a fire hazard. Will definitely be replacing this.






Now for the fun part. I started with the drivers side. Cushions are rotted but the bolt is in good shape. It came apart easily.



On the passenger side, I found this handy work. I guess battery acid ate away at this area years ago and this is the best way somebody could repair it. Strange how I never noticed this before today.




Check out the other side out of the repair panel!






Needless to say, I had a lot of issues getting this bolt to break loose. I got pretty mad at it and starting ripping it apart. I wasn't very successful with this method.




I finally just had to cut the head of the bolt off. This did the job and the core support is officially off the truck. Next stop, the dumpster!

[cornerstone]

All black is just plain sexy....

[omodified]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

All black is just plain sexy....

I couldn't agree more Brian! Thank you for stopping here.

[omodified]

I had a few hours tonight so I though I would knock out a few items.

Remove passenger side ground strap from inner fender. I actually took the inner fenders out a few years ago. I don't quite remember why I did that, but it made things easier for the next few steps. When I removed the inner fenders, I zip tied the ground strap to the idler arm mount. It's been hanging out here since then. I bought this set of these straps from a vendor on this site. Maybe I can still find a new set. Actually, were the originals copper?




Removed heater hoses. Capped the heater core so I wouldn't have any leaks.




Removed positive and negative battery cable.










Last, I removed the fuel line (fuel pump to carb) and the fuel pump. I plugged the gas line in the frame rail to avoid any spillage. Avoided another mess there. Had to remove the air cleaner to disconnect line from carb.

[cornerstone]

Yes, the original ground straps were copper. I admire your level of care to keep that beautiful floor clean!

[geunther]

I am currently disassembling an un-mollested 72 and while the firewall to valve cover grounding straps are copper, the passenger fender to frame strap is silver clad.

But we certainly know there are no absolutes with these trucks.

[cornerstone]

Learn something new every day!

[omodified]

Thank you geunther and cornerstone for the input. Looks like I may have some searching to do on those ground straps.

[omodified]

So, this weekend wasn't as productive as I would have hoped. Real life always seems to get in the way. I did manage to get one thing done Saturday night. I used a turkey baster to recover the power steering fluid from the pump. Then, I disconnected both lines and removed the pump from the engine. I let the lines sit over the pan while I turned the wheel lock to lock thirty times or so. I basically did that until no more fluid was coming out of the lines.

[omodified]

I was able to get a few small things done tonight. Just tried to keep it simple really. I started out draining the engine oil and transmission fluid. While those were draining, I removed the rear universal joint. Once the trans was finished draining, I removed the driveshaft. Last, I disconnected the speedometer cable from the trans. Hoping to make some more progress tomorrow.

[omodified]

All This Teardown is Exhausting

Got a few things done yesterday when I got home. The list said to remove the exhaust collectors. However, I figured since I wasn't keeping this old exhaust, I would go ahead and just cut the entire system out of there. Also removed shift linkage, distributor cap and wires.























Current situation...

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

All black is just plain sexy....

I was leaning towards red for our current 69, but this truck has me back to black.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

I was leaning towards red for our current 69, but this truck has me back to black.

What a compliment, that I can inspire someone during the tear down phase!

[omodified]

Prepping for another milestone today. Tomorrow, the engine and transmission are coming out, one way or another. But for tonight, I have to remove the last of the things that are connected to it.

Removed throttle rod, vacuum hose to brake booster, oil pressure line, water temp sending unit line, ground straps from back of engine to firewall, and engine harness from firewall block.


















Last thing for the night, I unbolted the engine from the stands. This thing is ready to go for tomorrow!

[omodified]

As I said yesterday, today's project is a huge milestone in my opinion. There's really no turning back now, not that I would want to. Only a few bolts to turn tonight and some heavy lifting. Now I have some more room to work on this thing!

[omodified]

I decided to skip working on the truck yesterday. I'm not superstitious, but I just decided to find something else to do on Friday the 13th. So I tried to get some things done this morning, before lunch.

Evacuated the brake system. I used a turkey baster again, to grab most of the fluid in the master cylinder. Then I used a syringe to get as much fluid out of the lines from each wheel cylinder bleeder.




Once I couldn't get anymore fluid from anywhere, I disconnected the lines from the bottom of the brake distribution block.




Removed brake rod from brake pedal and booster






Removed four nuts holding the booster to firewall and removed booster.








Removed ragjoint, and firewall to steering column mount.




Disconnected wiring harness on steering column and disconnect optic cable to instrument cluster. Removed two under column brackets and column strap. Removed steering wheel, then steering column.

[omodified]

Got a few more things done towards the next big milestone, removing the cab.

Removed cowl vents and arms.



Disconnected heater control cables and removed controls from dash.



Removed heater box assembly from the firewall.



Removed plastic wire channel from cowl.



Removed wiper transmission from wiper motor and cowl.





Removed outside door mirrors.



Removed both inside door panels.



Removed seatbelts and bench seat.



Done for this day. Just a little more prep work and this cab is off to storage!

[omodified]

Still inching my way toward taking the cab off...

Disconnected speedo cable from cluster. Disconnected oil pressure line from cluster. Removed headlight and wiper knobs and bezels. Removed cluster. Removed wiper and headlight switches. Removed glove box door and latch. Removed radio and speaker. Removed radio antenna cable and grommet. Removed visors and dome lamp assembly. Removed fuel tank. Removed gas pedal and rod bell crank. Removed pedal box assembly. Removed ignition and bezel. Removed wiper motor.

I didn't really get any pictures today, but here is what I ended up with after all this was finished.

[omodified]

Just a few details left and this cab can come off!!!

Removed cigarette lighter assembly, Disconnected e-brake cable from e-brake assembly and removed the assembly. Removed gauge line and grommet from fire wall. Removed both doors.

Detached e-brake cable from cab.



Unhooked last frame to cab ground cable. Removed cab to frame bolts.



Used the engine hoist and a nice piece of aluminum stock to get the cab off. Milestone reached!!!

[omodified]

It doesn't seem like much is left to do but the remaining list is still quite long. Removed wheels and tires. Removed rear shocks.

[omodified]

I received some motivation to get my rear in gear. I'm not ready to install this stuff quite yet, but I can't wait to be at this point!

[omodified]

This time, we finish the rear of the frame.

Disconnected all mounting points and connections of the e-brake cables and removed all cables.






Removed brake drums.



Removed rear brake lines and drained rear end fluid.




Removed axles. Removed drum brake components and backing plates. Removed track bar.




Removed upper and lower spring perches and removed springs.






I removed both truck arms from the crossmember. With nothing else attached or interfering with the rear end, I was able to pull it out with the floor jack. Rear of the truck complete!!!

[omodified]

So here is some news I am excited about. During my daily browsing for parts, I came across a really good deal on a long block. I have been struggling with the decision of reusing the 350 that I removed or doing an LS swap. In fact, being somewhat of a purist, I was almost against swapping to an LS in this truck. Also, I was hoping to save money by reusing what I already owned and putting that money somewhere else in the build. However, I made a crazy offer and it stuck!

I don't know much about the LS engine and I know that I will be basically be starting over and needing to buy lots of other parts to make it complete. I do like the reliability factor and that there are some old school looking parts available for it. The guy selling the engine, claimed to have 12 years experience building race engines and this engine was built by him for fun, using the same standards and equipment from his shop. I did some sleuthing. The clues I had were his name and the city/state that it was shipping from. Turns out, he works for Comp Cams. I believed at this point, it made the deal even sweeter! What the heck, I'll hit the "Buy It Now" button. What have I done?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Here are the specifics...

-2007 6.0 Gen III block - low mileage
-touch hone cylinders
-stock 6.0 24x crank, checked for straight and polished
-New take out Gen IV rods and pistons from L96 (+6.7cc piston volume)
-Mahle piston rings, gaped .024
-GM Performance main bearings
-GM Performance rod bearings
-oil pump
-oil pump pickup tube
-windage tray and nuts
-factory truck oil pan
-Clevite SH2125S cam bearings
-ARP 134-6006 rod bolts
-Stage 4 Comp Cams camshaft, FHI/FFX 239/244 .663/.655 113+3
-Morel tall body hydraulic lifters 4708
-OE timing gears and IWIS chain
-7.3 x .150 Hi-tech Comp pushrods
-Wegner CNC ported 241 heads with new valves
-stock rockers with Trunion upgrade and stands
-Comp Cams 26926-16 dual valve springs w/LS retainers, locks, seats and seals
-Felpro ES722220 head bolts
-GM Performance 12589227 head gaskets
-blueprinted
-compression ratio 10.32:1
-pump gas 93 octane
-rated 550 HP