Building My Grandfather's 64 C10

[CRGRS 66]

Originally Posted by 64C10Fleet

In other words, they all fit like crap! Haha! At least I know what to expect now. I still scratch my head when I look at that LMC catalog, I'm not quite sure which panels to order. Oh well, I'll figure it out and if I don't I guess I'll make my own.
Posted via Mobile Device

Check out the thread on here on Top Banana, good info on patch panels

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by 64C10Fleet

In other words, they all fit like crap! Haha! At least I know what to expect now. I still scratch my head when I look at that LMC catalog, I'm not quite sure which panels to order. Oh well, I'll figure it out and if I don't I guess I'll make my own.
Posted via Mobile Device

I totally love the LMC catalog, it is like a tech manual.
I wish a lot more were like it. It is one thing to order a part sometimes, but to see where it goes too... awesome for a dork like me !!!

My only adivce would be to be patient no matter what you get, and always cut too big, then trim it down to fit. For some reason I did not have much luck with one cut go....

[LostMy65]

Have you seen the recent thread regarding TopBanana ?
It talks about them being a good place to buy your patch panels.
Posted via Mobile Device

[C@rnut001]

I really like your truck and the story of it. It is great to see you fixing and restoring your grandpa's truck. Keep up the great work on it and keep the updates coming. I love to see these old trucks going back together and being fixed up to drive again.

[64C10Fleet]

Originally Posted by CRGRS 66

Check out the thread on here on Top Banana, good info on patch panels

Originally Posted by LostMy65

Have you seen the recent thread regarding TopBanana ?
It talks about them being a good place to buy your patch panels.
Posted via Mobile Device

Either of you guys have a link?

Originally Posted by McMurphy

I totally love the LMC catalog, it is like a tech manual.
I wish a lot more were like it. It is one thing to order a part sometimes, but to see where it goes too... awesome for a dork like me !!!

My only adivce would be to be patient no matter what you get, and always cut too big, then trim it down to fit. For some reason I did not have much luck with one cut go....

That's what I like about metal, you can always put more back! You should see some of the gaps I've jumped in sheet metal, lol.

Originally Posted by C@rnut001

I really like your truck and the story of it. It is great to see you fixing and restoring your grandpa's truck. Keep up the great work on it and keep the updates coming. I love to see these old trucks going back together and being fixed up to drive again.

Thanks brother. I'll definitely keep the updates coming.

I spent the day organizing my shed to store more parts and then transferred parts from the garage to the shed. I plan to remove the front crossmember this evening and prime it, hope to paint it tomorrow morning.

Picked up the remaining gaskets for the engine today and some paint for the Corvette manifolds. Almost done painting then now.

[CRGRS 66]

top banana thread

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=535140

[64C10Fleet]

Originally Posted by CRGRS 66

top banana thread

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=535140

Thanks man! I'll check it out!

Got the front suspension and crossmember out. Cleaned the crossmember and coated it in Jasco and got it ready to prime in the morning.
Posted via Mobile Device

[64C10Fleet]

Ahh progress...

Managed to get the control arms cleaned and ready for primer, hope to spray a couple coats on tomorrow. They're pitted pretty bad, so I'll probably spray a few heavy coats and wet sand to see how well I can get them to clean up. I think I'll probably swap them out for something else down the road.

Front crossmember is installed. Plan to finish painting the majority of the chassis tomorrow. Sorry for the pics, couldn't find the camera I normally use.







Manifolds look awesome, can't wait to bolt them on.



Hope to install the engine next week if I can finish cleaning up the bottom of the cab and hit it with undercoating between now and then. A lot to do, but I'm really looking forward to being able to move this thing around under its own power soon.

[64C10Fleet]

Not much of an update here... I spent some time sanding and priming my control arms yesterday and then decided to work on the engine a little.

I found that I somehow installed the pistons in the wrong cylinders along the way (or at least I think so) and my rod clearance is off now. The clearance from front to back came in at less than .005 (that's the smallest feeler I had), .012, .014, and .020. My guess is I accidently swapped pistons 1 & 2 for pistons 7 & 8. I'll get back into it on Thursday evening.

[64C10Fleet]

Been a long couple of weeks. Not a lot of time to wrench on the truck with the rain and work schedule. I finished cleaning and painting the front suspension and reinstalled. I've had a lot of problems with the local parts stores lately, it all started when I purchased new ball joints two weeks ago. When I got them home I noticed one was used. Drove 16 miles one way back to the store I bought it from in my Nissan that gets 8 miles per gallon and they didn't have any in stock. They offered to give me the more expensive ball joints for the same price so I agreed. Guess what!? One of the ball joints from the second set was used, as well.

Oh well, sorry for the crap pics, but I got it back together...





Engine problems. For some reason the one thing I decided to not tear down was the most problematic piece so far. Looks like the cylinder walls were not polished properly after being cut, same thing with the crank. Also found the cam bearings were installed incorrectly. We decided to pull the freeze plugs and found even more problems. It was apparent all of the plugs were not pulled during the PO's build process. Last but not least, looks like one of the pistons was dropped at some point.

So the crank and cylinders will be polished, new cam bearings installed, new freeze plugs installed, new main bearings, and new rod bearings. My friend that owns the machine shop said he thinks he can repair the piston. If not, I'll order one.

Had a chance over the weekend to spend some time on the grill. My wife wasn't very happy that I used the kitchen table, but she doesn't expect anything less from me. Grill is still going to need a little work, but the basic shape is there again. Wow, did that take a lot of work!

[Hagelin]

Really nice truck!

[Flathead Smith]

Originally Posted by 64C10Fleet

.....Any idea where these hubcaps came from?...

I don’t think anyone has answered this yet so…

I'm fairly certain those hubcaps came from a 1956 Chevrolet Car. I think (not entirely sure though) that the 1955 Chevy also used the same hubcap, but with a white strip. They were most likely used on the higher end vehicles like a Bel Air or maybe even a 210, whereas a 150 would just have a dog dish caps.

Originally Posted by 64C10Fleet

…. My grandfather was a HUGE fan of the Powerglide transmission. He tried to stuff one in just about every vehicle he ever owned. As far as I can tell, this truck came with a Powerglide and V8 from the factory. Naturally, I'll keep the Powerglide in it for now. This truck will be a daily driver when its complete (Why build something if you can't drive it?), so I may end up swapping the Powerglide for something else later depending on how much highway driving I do.

The Powerglide is great transmission. I run one in my truck and plan on keeping it. Unless you go to an overdrive transmission it is no different in high than any other transmission in that high is a 1:1 ratio. The other transmissions just give more gear multiplication in low gear, but that also means more shock for the rear axle and driveshaft.

Plus Powerglides have that cool blower whine in park and neutral.

[64C10Fleet]

Originally Posted by Hagelin

Really nice truck!

Thanks Hagelin!

Originally Posted by Flathead Smith

I don’t think anyone has answered this yet so…

I'm fairly certain those hubcaps came from a 1956 Chevrolet Car. I think (not entirely sure though) that the 1955 Chevy also used the same hubcap, but with a white strip. They were most likely used on the higher end vehicles like a Bel Air or maybe even a 210, whereas a 150 would just have a dog dish caps.

I'll have to look into that. I'm just curious how they ended up on the truck and why. I assume is has something to do with the original wheels being swapped for a slightly wider wheel at some point.

Back to the engine... Two nights ago we measured everything to get an idea of what we were working with before going any further. Cylinders were at max wear and one of the mains was way off, so I decided to scrap the block and start over. My old block isn't a total loss, it can be line bored and have the cylinders bored to .060. Of course, this will be a street truck and I don't want the extra heat that comes along with that.

Last night we spent about 4 hours looking through the pile of old blocks at the shop. I think we tore down 7 or 8 blocks and as luck would have it the last block standing was the only one that won't be making a trip to the scrap yard this weekend. We found a .030 over four bolt with a broken rod. So we'll bore this one to .040 and install all of my parts. I worked out a deal to swap my used .030 over pistons for a new set of .040 over.

I picked up all of the stuff I needed to put the front brakes back together. My neighbors will be happy after this weekend when I bolt the brakes back on and reinstall the wheels. I was going to be cheap and only replace the faulty parts, but I changed my mind and bought everything new.

And finally, after months of calling (and threatening, lol)... I GOT THE TITLE!! I'm going to the DMV today!

[64C10Fleet]

Slow couple of weeks here. I've been out in the desert teaching grunts how to drive offroad. Yeah, I know... probably not a good idea.

Finally found a good block after tearing 12 down, lucky number 13. Block was bored on Saturday and will start assembling as soon as the new rings come in (I somehow forgot to buy new rings when I ordered all the other stuff a few weeks ago).

Front brakes and suspension are DONE. Feels good to say something is actually finished.

Got the first fine from my HOA last Friday. I think I'll hang them all up in the garage as they come in each month!

[64C10Fleet]

Seems like it has been a REALLY long time. I spent the last couple of months searching for the parts for the engine and assembling everything. For the last two weeks, I've been running the engine on the stand and tuning. Finished tuning tonight and it is ready to bolt in.



I finished up the steering last week. Everything was relatively new, just needed a good cleaning, fresh paint, and assembly. I installed new boots on the tie rods.

Hope to make some progress between now and January 2nd. I have a lot of time off over the next few weeks, just need the weather to work in my favor.

[64C10Fleet]

Sooo... This thing is sucking down about 2 gallons in a little over an hour at idle, haha! We ran it out of gas on the stand, here's a video of startup after adding some fuel.

64 C10 355 start up - YouTube

[64C10Fleet]

Having that engine sitting in the garage (now wrapped in plastic wrap), waiting to go in, has me working harder than ever to finish this up. With Thanksgiving coming, looks like I'll see my Uncle for the first since I picked up the truck. He's pretty excited about the progress I've made and looking forward to seeing some pics of the truck.

Wanted to post a few pics of the past few days of work before heading off to NC to see the family.

The goal over the past few days has been to finish the firewall and cab floor behind where the engine will be and above the trans. Over the last few weeks I stripped the bottom of the cab between the frame rails. It looked like it had been coated with about 5 cans of undercoating. Took me almost 4 hours just to get it all off, not including the time spent sanding afterwards. I sprayed the floor with some 3M undercoating. Really impressed with this stuff, cured faster than any undercoating I've ever used and looks great.





Wet sanded the firewall and sprayed with some bug bomb. It was Rustoleum satin black from Lowes with the funky sprayer on it. Expensive, but it lays down better than any spray paint I've used and has a great finish.





I finished patching up a few places in my core support today and hit it with some filler primer. Gonna spend some time wet sanding tomorrow and hope to spray with Rustoleum tomorrow afternoon before hitting the road.

Almost forgot... I fabbed up some trailing arms out of 2"x2"x.25" box tubing Sunday night. Just need to find some weld-on bushings and I'll be set. As soon as I finish up the trailing arms I'm gonna clean up the rearend and slap it all together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[magmax1999]

Nice truck! And great info... I'm just starting my Grandfather's C20 build and have been combing your posts for info.

DJ

[64C10Fleet]

Originally Posted by magmax1999

Nice truck! And great info... I'm just starting my Grandfather's C20 build and have been combing your posts for info.

DJ

Thanks, look forward to seeing your build. Hope your truck is in better shape than mine, haha.

[64C10Fleet]

Just a quick update... I spent quite a bit of time wet sanding the core support. Sprayed one side with with some Rustoleum Satin Black to get an idea of what it would look like. Looks great, but I didn't clean some of the areas as well as I would have liked to. I'm gonna wet sand it one more time this afternoon and spray it tomorrow.

I tried to focus my attention on cleaning up my garage this week and working the driver side inner fender. The inner fender had two spots on the top side that were rusted through. The more I cut out, the more problems I found. I called it and welded in some new metal. Didn't want to spend a ton of time on it, I know the inner fenders will need to be replaced eventually so I just did something to get my by for now. I prepped the entire piece with Jasco and hit the bottom side with under coating. sprayed the top with filler primer and plan to wet sand it this evening to get ready for topcoat.

Bought new motor mounts and a couple jugs of antifreeze last night. Slow and steady.

On the side I've also been trying to locate a shop with a lift and room for 3-4 vehicles. A friend of mine was layed off almost 8 months ago and is having trouble finding work. He's been flipping cars on the side with pretty good luck, but it obviously isn't a very stable source of income. He and I have known each other for over 8 years. We deployed to Iraq in 2005 and shared a few near death experiences, lol. I found a shop on Monday, should be a good fit for us. I'll only be helping manage the business on my offtime and assisting with bills in case business is slow along the way.

Another friend of mine just got out of the USMC and moved back from California. He brought his old '68 Ford F100 out of his parents garage here and I've been trying to help him locate tools to start his project. He's had a pretty rough time since leaving Active Duty and really wants to get started on the F100 that's been on hold since he joined about 5 years ago. I had to laugh a little when he told me he had a brand new Mustang II front suspension still sitting in the box from 5 years ago. I bet all those shiny new parts sitting around have been driving him crazy.

Hope to post a few more pics by end of weekend.

[64C10Fleet]

Finished up the core support today. While I was waiting for it to dry, I got crazy and started working on the driver side floor. I spent the better part of the day marking and cutting and welding. Not too bad so far, I almost completely removed the "factory air conditioning."



I went out looking for a cheap local source for the weatherstripping that goes on the knife edge of the inner fender (between inner fender and firewall) last night. I thought I might be able to pick something up from Lowe's or Home Depot that would work, but no luck.

Toward the end of the day as the light started running out, I decided to prep the trans crossmember for paint. I was able to remove it as one piece, not sure why I see so many people having problem removing without cutting. Of course, reinstalling in one piece will be a completely different issue. I decided to grind the rivets and remove them to make it easier to reinstall. I'll connect the main part of the crossmember to the small brackets, that bolt to the top of the frame, with bolts this time around. That is, unless anyone has had luck with only installing the lower portion of the crossmember...

I cut out all the patch panels for the passenger side inner fender tonight, hope to get it all welded up and ready for primer tomorrow. I plan to complete the driver side floor in the morning, before working on anything else.

[64C10Fleet]

Been busy here the last few days. My torque converter, Boss Hog 2200-2800 stall, and transmission seals all came in on Wednesday. I finished everything up on the trans Thursday night and started prepping to bolt the engine and trans together. By yesterday at noon I had the engine in...



I had an issue with my lower pulley, it is much thicker than stock and the stock bolt wasn't long enough. I made several late night runs to the parts store the last few nights to get all the little pieces I was missing, including a new flywheel. Best thing about Charleston is the parts store stays open til midnight, saved me on more than one occasion.

I installed the new bolt this morning and finished shimming the torque converter. Took a while to get the new alternator bracket to fit with the ram horn manifolds, had to burr out the holes to adjust the alternator pulley to align correctly with the other pulleys. Installed the manifolds today along with the plug wires, new dipstick tube, flex fan, and plumbing for the mechanical gauges.

I also flushed the radiator and cleaned, painted, and installed. My daughter came out this afternoon and cleaned up the garage and organized all my tools. Hope she doesn't ever get tired of doing that, haha!

Taking a few days off from the truck to do some family stuff and study for a big test coming up on Thursday. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!

Oh, and I'm missing part of the kickdown linkage for my Powerglide. So if any of you have one or know someone that does, please let me know.

[64C10Fleet]

The guy that did all my machine work named my engine "The Halloween Motor," he's not a fan of Chevy Orange, haha. So bright it glows in the dark.

[CRGRS 66]

Nice!!!

[Bomp]

Looks really nice. Liked the video too.