1966 C10 Project Truck

[scoot_mcgrute]

Last night was wiring night. I was less than thrilled how the truck harness didn't even try to fit the car intake even though my harness guy knew exactly what I was doing. My buddy came by and it doesn't even look like the same harness anymore. I honestly would have been better off buying a new harness rather than having mine reworked but this is a build where every dollar counts and this option was cheaper than going another route. Live, learn and move on

Here's how the harness ran when I got it all plugged in. Totally hiding the beautiful car intake


After a couple hours of my buddy working his wiring magic. So much better is a definite understatement! We worked the stock harnesses over and integrated them with the LS harness, the end result is it not looking too much like a 1966 when the hood is popped.

[siggyfreud]

Wow that looks awesome. Definite improvement over the original routing. How long did it take to extend and rewire?

Edit: Nevermind I see you said a couple hours.

[siggyfreud]

PS definitely want to see this build. I'm considering either an ls3 or LSA for my build and would like to see how it all fits.

[Bomp]

Read through the last couple of pages to refresh and get caught back up.
Rebuilding at a break neck pace with the skill of a fine surgeon.
I'd like to tag along on a drop by with siggyfreud if that's okay.
I'll be at the Portland (PIR) Swap meet.
Looks great

[scoot_mcgrute]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I really appreciate it! The garage is always open when I'm tinkering, BOMP, I'll shoot you a PM with my number

Last night, we got the harness mostly done, the hard parts anyway. My buddy Hackster has been instrumental to this step and I definitely would be waaaaay further behind if it wasn't for him. He's done quite a few builds over the years including a Volvo 240 with a 5.3 and a T56, a 68 F100 with a turbo 6.0, a Coyote powered 68 F100 that he raced in the Optima series last year and then most recently, I helped him with a BMW E46 wagon M3 swap. All of his builds are posted online if anybody wanted to look them up.

Wires all loomed up using the Painless kit, I recommend this to anyone that's looking to cover their wires


I also got the electric fans mounted on the radiator last night so we could start figuring out that part of the harness. I'll have the front clip back on the truck pretty soon so we can finalize the rest of the harness.


I'm going out in the woods with my dad tomorrow for a little off road adventure and to reset my society button so I'll be back on it on Sunday

[scoot_mcgrute]

I didn't get a lot of shop time over the weekend. I'm putting on a 4wd event in our local state forest in June so I spent some time away from the truck to get some things checked off the list for that. I did get to wire the check engine light and tach in on the gauge side though. I'm using weatherpack connectors that run to where the factory gauge connections are. Turned out really good!

The check engine light fit almost perfectly into one of the gauge bulb holders, I epoxied it in place and put it in the provision for the "Tandem Lock" light. Made for a seamless install.




Shop time this week will net me completing the under dash wiring, removing the gas tank from behind the seat and starting to hook the fuel line up. I wanted to get the dash stuff sorted out before I did that.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Running the car intake and fuel rail, I had an interference with the fuel inlet and a coil. Tried flipping the rail around and it still ran right into a coil and I also had the #8 coil just touching the firewall so I came up with this bracket to move the coils around a bit. Couple quick things to check out tonight before I have them cut but I should have a winner

[scoot_mcgrute]

I got some good shop time with the Army Truck on Saturday. Ended up torqueing the new crank bolt, installing the power steering pulley, pulling the in-cab tank and moving the shifter hole for the T5. I wanted to get a little more done over the weekend but had to spend some time on the 2 upcoming 4WD events I have coming up. Shooting to have it back together before the end of April

[scoot_mcgrute]

Hit an unfortunate stopping point with the exhaust manifolds last night. I can't run the factory truck manifolds because they hit the frame so I picked up the Hooker block hugger manifolds and apparently the driver side manifold hits my slave cylinder. Oh well, I'll either get that swapped out for an internal slave or a pull style slave. No biggie. I was able to re-thread the temperature sending unit for 3/8NPT so that and getting the manifolds installed was a plus

Rethreaded temp sender


Tightening the driver exhaust manifold, I heard a little pop and the manifold seated all the way to the head. Crawled under the truck to find that it doesn't want to play nice with the slave cylinder I had.


The manifolds look amazing though!

[66farmer]

just read your thread great to see another stepper in the local area. keep up the great work.

[The1960APE]

Nice looking build! I'm a bit partial to the LS swaps...!!!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the kind words, they keep me going

Pretty much no progress over the weekend but I did get the new slave cylinder so I can start making a bracket for that this week. I went with a pull style slave cylinder off of Speedway Motors, should work out quite well.

I spent Saturday spectating at an autocross and gathering some Jeep parts, I had the bikini top fly off the Jeep on Friday, and when I got home, I tinkered a little bit but mostly cleaned the garage up.

Sunday, dad and I pre-ran a course for an upcoming 4wd event that I'm putting on. It's a great loop and I can't wait to have the competitors run it! Just for fun, here's a video of my dad driving up a little climb in a gravel pit.

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

More progress on the Army Truck this week

[Bomp]

Man,,, he climbed up that lil hill like it was nuttin'.
Hope to see you at the meet.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Man,,, he climbed up that lil hill like it was nuttin'.
Hope to see you at the meet.

We were there on Friday but the weather kept us at Expo. One of these days I'll actually get to meet you!

A buddy stopped by on Saturday and we knocked out getting the gas tank install completed, I started working on the new slave cylinder bracket, we bolted the shifter back in and started prepping the firewall for the new gas pedal. I monkied around with the power steering hoses but the hoses I have are either too long or too short so I'll probably end up making my own.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Time for a little update. I haven't had much time to work in the garage lately but I took the weekend off from my other projects and events to get some progress done on the old pickup. Thursday night, I finished plumbing the pressure side of the fuel system and started on the return side but ended up needing more fittings so the fuel system had to wait a little longer. I was happy with how everything was looking from underneath but when I got top side, I couldn't live with what I had.

This is how the feed line to the rail came out. It just didn't look right and I wasn't happy with that.


Friday night, I fixed that with a longer piece of AN that runs from the regulator up to the rail. Much much cleaner and looks like it was supposed to be like that.


Saturday, I had some running around to do in the morning but my AN fittings were in so I was able to get those on my way home and plumb finish the fuel lines. One thing I had to do was swing by my buddy's place and cut the final version of my coil pack brackets out on his plasma table. I wasn't sure how they would look after seeing them in CAD but I'm super happy with how they turned out.





New on the left, old on the right


Looks good on there!


While I was waiting for the paint to dry on the brackets, I took the time to clean the valve covers up and shoot them Chevy Orange. They turned out awesome.


Looking real good at this point and I was super stoked to see it all together!


Sunday morning, bright and early, my buddy Sean showed up and we got right to business. We started the morning off by taking the front clip apart and getting the inner fenders and core support bolted on the truck. From there, we were able to basically finish the motor install, all the wiring, radiator, air intake, etc. Here he is cutting a hole in the inner fender to mount my relay and fuse block for the 5.3. After that, we figured out where the ECU will sit, it'll be tucked down between the radiator and the motor so it will not draw any attention to it. Can't wait to get the mount done for it!


Gettin his cutting on!


This is where it ended up, looks super good here!


We had to go pick Sean's Coyote F100 up from being on display at the Performance Warehouse tradeshow and while we were out and about, we picked up some remaining wiring items, radiator hoses and some other miscellaneous items we needed. When we got back, I had a phone call to make and when I was done, I walked into the garage to see this. Holy crap, it's coming together!


I finished wiring the fuel pump and then we started working on getting the bed wood back in place. Some HUGE progress was made on the old girl over the weekend and I can't be happier with where it is right now. I truly have great friends that are willing to jump in and kick my butt into high gear. Wouldn't change them for the world!

The theory behind the install is that the motor needs to look at home, like it could've come this way from the factory and I gotta say, I nailed it.



My obligatory progress board shot. These items were all completed yesterday, it was a hell of a good day in the garage!


Check back soon for the first start

[scoot_mcgrute]

Last night, my buddy Sean came back to button up the wiring under the hood and to finish the hole for the fuel filler in the bed wood. My dad also stopped by and helped out finishing the bed wood install and a few other odds and ends. It's pretty great how much you can get done with 3 people all keeping busy! The wiring is basically finished, I finally wired in my reverse lights while dad wired in the fuel sending unit. What an awesome and productive Monday night!

The rain and snow took a toll on the wood last year, it's still in great shape but ultimately I will be ditching it for a steel floor at some point.


The filler just didn't look right on the truck but after a coat of OD Green, she looks right at home. I'm not a fan of the fillers out there that go through the bed but I have yet to see a stepside filler that I like so I went through the floor.




Sean does some amazing wiring work, I'm super thankful that he's willing to take the time to wire this for me, I couldn't make it look half as nice!


Here, you can kinda see where the computer ended up. I'll make a mount off of the crossmember to hold it at an angle. I like where it's at, it doesn't draw attention to it and fits really good there.


And, of course, the obligatory to-do list picture

[aggie91]

What Lower Radiator Hose did you use? I assume you had to cut one up...

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by aggie91

What Lower Radiator Hose did you use? I assume you had to cut one up...

I'll get the part number tonight but I went back to the radiator hoses and found one that was close to what I was looking for. Ended up cutting one end off as it was way longer than needed.

[TJ's Chevy]

Looking really good man, I always like clean wiring. haha

[Bomp]

Made the swap look like a piece of cake.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by scoot_mcgrute

It sure has a great stance now!

:

Cool shot.
I'm surprised I hadn't posted in this thread yet.
I'm glad you kept the body as is - dings and all - and preserved the originality.
It has a unique nostalgic personality, rather than just another truck with a shiny paint job.

[LostMy65]

And I like the wheels better without the chrome caps. The army would have ordered this truck totally basic.
No chrome.
The black rallies and stance give it just the right look.
Great job.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by LostMy65

Cool shot.
I'm surprised I hadn't posted in this thread yet.
I'm glad you kept the body as is - dings and all - and preserved the originality.
It has a unique nostalgic personality, rather than just another truck with a shiny paint job.

Thanks man! It's pretty easy to keep everything the way it is when you don't have money for a paint job

Got a bunch done over the weekend again. Saturday evening, we buttoned up a few things and this happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qHzbH5ai-c

Super excited, it fired right up first try. I still have a couple things to do, it's got some vacuum leaks I need to plug and such but it runs!

Last night, my dad came by and we busted out the front clip and the seat. It sure looks awesome sitting on the ground and almost assembled. I love how unsuspecting it looks

I drop it off for exhaust Wednesday night, hopefully the driveline is done this week because then I can drive it around this weekend. So stoked!

[jcramsey]

Awesome work scoot! Apparently on these former government trucks you must have been required to open the doors from the inside with a roundhouse kick....my 62 water department truck has the exact same creases on both doors from smacking the fenders....and I love it

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by jcramsey

Awesome work scoot! Apparently on these former government trucks you must have been required to open the doors from the inside with a roundhouse kick....my 62 water department truck has the exact same creases on both doors from smacking the fenders....and I love it

Now that's funny! I'll have to remember that line if anyone ever asks me about the creases

I drop the old girl off for exhaust after work tomorrow so I'm in the big push to get it all together. Last night I built the mount for the ECU. I put it in an S10 mount and made a couple little straps off the frame. Simple and effective!


I also started getting coolant in it and after a few minutes, I heard coolant hitting the floor and about **** a brick. Looked like it was coming from the head gasket so I was pretty bummed. I cracked one of the front steam ports open to bleed the air out of the system and forgot about that. Coolant was running from there, down the valley cover and down the back of the head. Phew!




Check the list out, it's getting down to the nitty gritty now, I love it!