66 C-10 Daily Driver "Outlaw"

[63swag]

Bored at work so figured I would start a thread on what I've been working on the last two months. I'm not very good at keepin my threads updated so please baer with me through this build. My plan is to build a truck I can drive everyday and not worry about door dings and bruises but I have become very custom to all the modern features in new vehicles. So exterior wise I have no plans, and am trying intenionally to keep all the ugliness I can, besides updating the lights, wipers, locks, etc. Interior will be completely redone with AC/heat, good radio, seat, low cab noise, new paint and seals. Under the hood, bottom of the cab and bed will all be stripped sealed and painted, not wanting anything over the top since it will be driver quality but want it worry free and know that its going to last for MANY years. Original plan was to go 5.3 and 4L60 but my budget I set for the build is shrinking fast. Its still a possibility but freshening up the 327/700r4 that I pulled is looking more likely.

So, lets get on to the pics! Here is what I started with, a decent running driving truck that simply needed the brakes worked on.

[63swag]

A complete tear down was inevitable

[63swag]

First I decided to takle the frame and suspesion. It was all blown apart and put back together with new bushings, seals, ball joints etc.. While apart I went on and converted the front to 80's model power steering and disc brakes using moog ball joints, tie rod ends and adjusters, pitman arm and idler arm. I also installed a set of 2.5" drop spindles, 3" drop springs in the front and 5" drop springs in the rear along with 2" blocks and an adjustable trac bar. The frame and all suspension was all stripped and painted with with an industrial black paint before reassembly. Finally, all new hard and rubber brake lines were replaced and the new rims and tires were installed (my rims and tires I pulled off when I went 20/22 on my 63).

[63swag]

Next was to attack the cab firewall and bottom. This is where my budget got blown, there was way more rust than I originally thought but it needed to be fixed and fixed correctly. So all holes that were not needed were filled (to keep down on road noise and heat) and all rust was cut out and replaced with patch panels. The entire top of the firewall had to be rebuilt along with numerous patch panels that had to be custom made because of the lack of reproduction pieces availability. Not bad for a guy with little experiance welding and profession in the wood working industry. This is where I will leave ya'll for a few days, I hope to get the bottom of the cab finished up and por-15ed this weekend so I can flip it back right side down and begin stripping the interior so I can tackle that step next.

[TJ's Chevy]

Welcome aboard! Looks like you have a good plan! 327 with 350 heads and a little more cam will freshen it up. lol

[joesscamaro]

Looks like you've tackled some big tasks already...like the bottom of the cab. What was your technique for removing the undercoating on the bottom?

[Ta2Don]

Sub'd

[63swag]

Originally Posted by joesscamaro

Looks like you've tackled some big tasks already...like the bottom of the cab. What was your technique for removing the undercoating on the bottom?

I first hit the heavy places with a wire wheel on my grinder then finished it up with my sand blaster using the heavy grit media. Not sure if this is the best way or not but its what I found works.

[63swag]

The floor is finally completely sealed up. Few issues I had were: 1) I did not like the way the rear cab supports fit, they were way to big so I cut them up added some bracing and made them fit. 2) On the driver side where the floor turns up to the area where the front of the seats bolt was pretty rusted and I tried forming a patch for it but could not get all the bends right but I was able to cut one out of my old donar truck. 3) Had the same issue (rusted area with lots of contours and no patch panel available) with the area at the base of the firewall where the tranny hump firewall and floor meet, I did have to fiberglass this area then smoothed it out with all metal.
When I painted it with POR15 I had forgot to paint the rock guards so I went back and painted them then touched up a few other spots. This is some strange paint! The can is labeled semi gloss but when I painted the firewall it was glossy then when I painted the floor it was flat then a few hours later when I touched up a few places on the floor it was glossy again! I stirred the paint every time before use and applied it the same way but came out diffrent every time so please excuse the patchy looking paint, I will paint it all again to have a uniform look, even though no one will ever see it.

[63swag]

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Welcome aboard! Looks like you have a good plan! 327 with 350 heads and a little more cam will freshen it up. lol

Thanks TJ. I'm certainly not a motor guy but think I will tackle this one as my first. I've tried verifying this is actually a 327 but have not been able to find anything for sure. These are the numbers on the back of the block and the markings on the heads. From what I've found the heads are supposedly a pretty good head.

[TJ's Chevy]

According to the casting number link I used that could be 302, 327, or 350 from 1968. You might put that picture in the Engine and Drivetrain forum for guys who can better help with that.

[aggie91]

Look at the front of the block on the pad in front of the passengerside head. If the the deck of the block has not been cut, there should be some numbers stamped there. If there is, post those up. they are better for ID'ing the engine.

Also, under the valve cover, there is a casting number on the head between the rockers. What is that number?

[rusty76]

I'll watch.

[63swag]

I took aggies advice and looked at the numbers/letters in the front of the head saw this V1127YV. I looked up that and turns out to be a 1968 327 made Nov 27th in Flint and came with a 4 barrel and M/T and made 220 horse power. So I'm very happy with that. Then I pulled the driver side valve cover and the first thing I saw was a rocker arm that didn't look right, its the rocker closest to the cab and not sure how bad this is or what it means. Following is a pic of it and the numbers on the head under the valve cover. I looked up the 3998993 and found one place that says its a 72-73 307 or 350 head with 75 cc chambers, then another place says its 68-76 350 heads with 1.72/1.5 valves from a truck. Also, what does the K242 stand for, I can't find anything on that. Thanks for all the healp guys! I know everyone loves pics so I try to include as many as I can.

[aggie91]

The 993 head is a decent street head. It is actually used on the Goodwrench 350 crate motors all the way up thru the early 2000's. Some of the later heads had 1.94" intake valves, but most had the 1.72" as you mentioned. The K242 is the casting date I think, the K is for November, 24th day, 2 second year of the decade most likely 1972.

If you are going to do a full rebuild, have the heads checked out to see if there are hardened seats on the valves for dealling with unleaded gas...

[wutnxt]

Nice job on the floor thats a bunch of work looks like you banged it out in no time....Nice big shop too It's way too clean to be my shop lol

[65sub]

The rocker does look odd. Is it longer or is that the camera angle. Also not centered on the valve. I would check into that

[63swag]

Originally Posted by aggie91

The 993 head is a decent street head. It is actually used on the Goodwrench 350 crate motors all the way up thru the early 2000's. Some of the later heads had 1.94" intake valves, but most had the 1.72" as you mentioned. The K242 is the casting date I think, the K is for November, 24th day, 2 second year of the decade most likely 1972.

If you are going to do a full rebuild, have the heads checked out to see if there are hardened seats on the valves for dealling with unleaded gas...

Once the cab gets a little closer to being done I'm going to tear into the motor and really see what needs to be replaced but the way that head looks I'm thinking I may replace them with an aluminum set. Thanks for your help!

Originally Posted by wutnxt

Nice job on the floor thats a bunch of work looks like you banged it out in no time....Nice big shop too It's way too clean to be my shop lol

Christmas held me up on getting started on it but glad its done, Thanks. My family got really lucky buying a house last summer, it was repo and needed lots of work but the shop went with it and since the home remodel is done I'm slowly getting the shop the way I want it. I've had to replace the roof and now working on tinning the exterior walls, after that I plan on moving to the interior but its so much work! The shop area is 80X100 and has a 38X42 insulated office and parts room! I just haven't had the chance to clutter it up yet

Originally Posted by 65sub

The rocker does look odd. Is it longer or is that the camera angle. Also not centered on the valve. I would check into that

Its just the angle of the pic plus that valve is open but it's not centered on the valve and thats what worried me. Ashamed to admit it but I'm not mechanically inclined enough to know how bad (or not bad) that can be for a motor.

[BR3W CITY]

dang you got some space to work with. I'd have 10 dissasembled trucks in that by now lol

[Captainfab]

You've done some nice work on your truck

Wow 80 x 100 is a nice size shop! Mine's 50 x 100 with a 15 x 50 off one side and it's pretty much full.

With those open chamber heads on a 327, you're going to need some domed pistons to get the compression up where it should be. I had a 327 years ago with large chambered heads like that and it was disappointing to drive. It had flat top pistons in it. There are better heads out there than the 993's some of which have smaller chambers to get the compression back up with a flat top piston. I personally wouldn't put any money into those heads.

[wutnxt]

Originally Posted by wutnxt
Nice job on the floor thats a bunch of work looks like you banged it out in no time....Nice big shop too It's way too clean to be my shop lol
=========================================

Christmas held me up on getting started on it but glad its done, Thanks. My family got really lucky buying a house last summer, it was repo and needed lots of work but the shop went with it and since the home remodel is done I'm slowly getting the shop the way I want it. I've had to replace the roof and now working on tinning the exterior walls, after that I plan on moving to the interior but its so much work! The shop area is 80X100 and has a 38X42 insulated office and parts room! I just haven't had the chance to clutter it up yet
==========================================

Thats a sweet size for a shop....I seem to fill my spaces up with parts and trucks. To be perfectly honest I don't even know for sure how many trucks I have anymore lol....You can't have to much space sounds like a killer setup

[63swag]

Got a few things done since my last post. Interior painted but have a few things to touch up, cab and bed set on frame just to check clearances and ended up having to remove the rear 2" blocks. All the under hood sheet metal was blasted repaired any holes and painted semigloss black. Fixed my valve/rocker issue and after having the motor apart it was apparent it was recently rebuilt with very little wear so I put it back together and painted it and the trans. Currently its all back apart to finish brake lines, exhaust and trans cross member then will be ready for final assembly and wiring. Also decided I wanted the firewall body color instead of black cause the black firewall on my 63 has always bothered me.

[Modges'66]

Lookin real nice so far!
Should be a great driver!

[Jeff La]

Truck is coming along great, You work fast. And a really nice shop. The 65 I have came from Monroe about 3 years ago. Yours looks way better than mine.LOL

[LostMy65]

Any updates?