My $350.00 1986 Chevrolet C10 - 350 - SM465

[Camacorn]

Howdy!

I've spent the past couple weeks browsing various Chevrolet truck forums, trying to find the right one to fit in with. First I'll give you a little background as to how I ended up here.

I originally drove a 1997 Mercury Mountaineer with a 5.0 302 High Output, I loved her, and I really regret getting rid of her, she put up with everything I put her through ( like driving over 120mph on the interstate like a loon ). But I had always missed driving a truck, my first truck was a 1993 Ford F150 Flareside, and so I decided to sell her in favor of purchasing a shiny new toy. I sold her for $1,700 ( $1,000 more than I paid ), drove down to a local dealership, and started financing a 2002 GMC Sierra 1500 with a 4.8, was a damn beautiful truck, but they wanted too much for it in the end ( they managed to make me sign off on it without reading :/ ) and so I sent it back.

Then out of no where on Facebook, someone posted this lovely 1986 C10 for $750.00, I explained my situation and everything, and the guy told me to come down to his house. I get there, and he says "Look, you seem like a really cool guy, and my wife wants this thing out of here. Give me $350.00, and she's yours." so I did.

And so here I am.

A little about the truck;

She's a 1986 Chevrolet C10 Custom Deluxe with a 350 of unknown mileage, mated to a SM-465 transmission. Even has true duals . She runs and drives, but has a bad throwout bearing, and I'm sure the transmission is going to require a rebuild soon. She's not pretty, I used to see this truck driving around town all the time, with a PERFECT body, but the previous owner took her to the junkyard, where her body panels were abused. The guy I bought her from purchased her from the junkyard with a clean title. I've managed to find a set of fenders, a long bed, and a nice hood for $300, and my buddy is a certified auto collision tech, so our plans are to restore her to factory spec. It has no rust, except for the drivers side rocker panel, which I hear is very common on these trucks. We're going to get the body looking good, repair the rust, get some nice bucket seats, a new dash pad, and door panels, and then get started on the mechanical stuff.

I've already ripped every bit of wiring out, and re-ran it so that I can at least drive her around without worrying about blowing up, it was rigged bad. I also took the dash cluster apart, spray painted it white, and tossed in some white LED's so that it's much easier to see at night, they even work with the dimmer . My first plans mechanical wise, are to tear out the transmission, and convert it back to an automatic by tossing in a TH400, around here a stick isn't the preferred method of transportation due to all of the lunatic drivers like me. I'm also going to fix the AC, and put in an original steering column, they put a 90's column and wheel in, I don't mind the wheel, but the column sticks out too far, even with the seat all the way back, it hits my stomach ( And I only weigh 150lbs ).


I guess I'll end it right there for now, and post some pictures for ya'll to see. I'll hopefully start updating this thread with new information within the next 2 weeks when I get time to pull her into the garage and begin really digging into her.

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My other baby

[Advanced Design]

Welcome! That was a nice find for $350!

[Camacorn]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Welcome! That was a nice find for $350!

Thank you! I'm quite excited about it. I've always preferred Chevrolet's, but only owned Fords, so it's a bit different for me.


This is my dads truck, we're going to pretty much make them twins, but mine's going to be Aqua Blue and White:

They almost already look the same, except mine's ugly lmao.

[Advanced Design]

Dad's truck looks good. Cool effects on the picture too. Glad you made the switch to Chevy!

[silverbear]

Welcome to the site. I also have an 86 that I am building. Most of us are picture junkies so keep us up to date with your progress.

Here is my ugly truck.

[Camacorn]

Originally Posted by silverbear

Welcome to the site. I also have an 86 that I am building. Most of us are picture junkies so keep us up to date with your progress.

Here is my ugly truck.
Attachment 1431478

I love pictures, I take pictures of everything, even as small as tightening a screw hahaha.

That's a nice truck, I like the early 80s front bumper, I'm thinking about putting one on my truck, and using the signal slots for fog lights.

Anyway, here's a picture of the engine bay before I get to working on it:

[silverbear]

Originally Posted by Camacorn

That's a nice truck, I like the early 80s front bumper, I'm thinking about putting one on my truck, and using the signal slots for fog lights.

I plan to use the bumber openings the same way. I tried to post two pictures yesterday. I recently replaced the entire front clip to get rid of the cheap aftermarket parts that were on there. It now has factory fender and a hodd, along with the core support and grill from an 89 Burb. The second pic would have shown this. I'll try again later.

[Camacorn]

UPDATE 1 - 08/09/2015:

Did a slight restoration on my dash cluster yesterday, I took it apart, painted the plastic white, installed some bright white LED's, polished the gauges, and clear plastic lens, installed a new printed circuit board, and it's as good as it can get without buying one :P





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I also picked up a new steering column, and dash bezel from the local junkyard for a total of $55. My current column is out of a van, and is too long, plus doesn't have an automatic shifter. Just need to put a new chrome shifter on it, the current one is rusty.

I cleaned the steering wheel really good as I wanted an original wheel, just need a new horn button, I also recoated the bezel in black, and I'm going to outline the gauges in silver. Looks really good I think. The radio cut out will not be visible when I have my radio installed.









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I was bored, and decided that instead of purchasing new AC vents, why not restore mine?

BEFORE:



AFTER:





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Till I can find a new dash pad, I polished mine up so that it looks as good as it can till then.

[Camacorn]

UPDATE 2 - 08/17/2015:

I got the new dash bezel sitting in the truck to see what it looks like after repainting it, I think it turned out great for a $5.00 job



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Found a set of new brake lights with the trim for $10.00, take a look at old vs. new O.O



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UPDATE 2.5 - 08/25/2015:

I also got the new steering column installed finally, but I didn't snap any pictures of it yet, as I have to get a new ignition switch first.

I finally got her pulled into the garage, and this weekend we're going to begin the TH400 transmission swap. Goodbye SM465!

( On another note, if anyone wants to purchase any manual parts, I've got everything but the shift boot. )