C10CJ: A Pro-touring '71 Stepside on a No Limit Pro-C10 Chassis

[rob32472]

I cant wait till mine is as far along. I picked up my No limit chassis a few weeks back. I have my engine in and just working on finishing brake lines, fuel lines and a few other items while cab is receiving metal work. I have been keeping an eye on your build to hopefully avoid any pit falls. You are doing great work!

[1971_c10]

Originally Posted by rob32472

I cant wait till mine is as far along. I picked up my No limit chassis a few weeks back. I have my engine in and just working on finishing brake lines, fuel lines and a few other items while cab is receiving metal work. I have been keeping an eye on your build to hopefully avoid any pit falls. You are doing great work!

Thanks man!

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And sorry guys for the lack of posting. It's been busy at work (11-12 hr days) then I'm in the shop right up to bed time, so limited time for posting. But I did keep taking pics.

So here's a shot of the finished heater area (well, sans body work and paint). I still have a few holes left to fill, including the original fan hole. But I've already filled a ton of holes, including three of the 1" holes (had some fun making little circle patch panels) where the oil sense line, speedo and washer fluid lines went through. And the last hole I'll leave is the fuse panel. Still trying to decide if I relocate it or not.


And I decided to go Black Widow on the exhaust. 3" all the way back to let the beast LS breathe! And yes that is daylight you see through those Black Widows.

[1971_c10]

Continuing on the updates ...

So I started to finalize my drivetrain setup as mentioned when I got the setup bars installed. Found yet another rabbet hole. My motor/trans down angle was sitting about 4.1 degrees down. Yikes. That's a tad on the high side. So I set off evaluating options. I've got that stroked LS, so Rob had sent me some bits to make new perches (the part that the motor mount bolts to and then bolts to the truss on the chassis) that pushed the motor up 1/2" from the ones that shipped with the chassis. So since those were just bits, I took to modifying them.

The goal was to get the down angle to 3.5 degrees with no transmission tail shaft spacers. So the engine/trans came out. I hacked the plates up that make up the perch and started "moving" the hole for the motor mount tube down. This was an iterative process. Die grind a little, bolt the plates in, set the motor/trans in, check clearances, check angle, repeat. After several iterations, I wound up dropping the engine down a tad more than 1/4", basically putting my oil pan resting on the cross brace part of the cross member. So me and the angle grinder went to work and put a shallow U to provide just enough clearance on the oil pan. Success! I got the motor/trans down to 3.5 degrees. With a 1/4" trans tail shaft spacer I get can get down to around 3.0-3.1 degrees, but then I may be into the back of the cab with the driveshaft which would require me to notch the back of the cab (this is at full bump only).

Oh, and on the driveshaft, I'm using Mark Williams Enterprises here in Colorado. Those guys are awesome. If you ever need a custom driveshaft check them out (they have more than just driveshafts). I'm getting a 3.5" 6061 aluminum driveshaft with 1350 U-joints. That will handle the 600 HP with no problems. It does impose a ~150 mph speed limit on the truck with the 3.70:1 rear gears, but with no roll bar/cage, I'm perfectly ok with that as the top speed. For those curious on why the driveshaft is the limiting factor, it has everything to do with the critical speed of the driveshaft. The critical speed is the speed at which the driveshaft becomes unstable, and you don't want that. Trust me. It's a matter of seconds before carnage starts to happen.

So here's a few shots of the stuff. The first are the finished perches (sorry, in this case I forgot to take pictures of the mods). The original No Limit ones on the left, my hacked up modified ones on the right. I got really lucky and found an epoxy spray paint that very closely matches the powder coat. The left ones are powder coated, the right ones are spray paint.

I also tossed in a couple shots of the finalized engine mounting and a comparison of the 1350 U-joint/yoke to the factory one.

[1971_c10]

The new driveshaft was finished up yesterday, so I went and picked it up this afternoon. Boy does it look good and stout. Mark Williams Enterprises does a good job, this thing fit perfect! And they tested the driveshaft to 3000 ft-lb before handing it off to me. And just look at another view of the 1350 u-joints vs OEM. I also picked up a pair of their billet straps vs a typical u-bolt to hold the rear u-joint in the pinion yoke. Those billet straps help keep the bearing cup square under heavy/dynamic loads to help minimize wear on the bearings in the u-joint.

It's a good feeling to almost have the driveline wrapped up.

[1971_c10]

Got the bulk of the chassis setup complete. The rear end is all buttoned up. Got the 4-link adjusted and set pinion angle to ~2.1 degrees up. I've got the engine set at 3.5 degrees down to give me the minimal interference with the cab at full bump. Unfortunately, that means I need to notch the back of the cab and the rear cross member between the cab mounts. But, the driveline is essentially done. Aside from exhaust and plumbing (brakes/fuel), the chassis is ready to drive. Of course, there is still a good chunk of work left to do before the truck is truly drivable.