How I spent my Covid-staycation

[hank scorpio]

Took advantage of our winter break this year to work on my c10. Because COVID shut down the tradeshow I normally have to do in Janurary, this was the first christmas break in years where I actually had some free time.

Where it started back when I first got the truck.



When we first got shut down last year under shelter in place, I took advantage of the time and converted the truck from manual drums to 4 wheel discs. That turned out to be a bit more hassle than I expected but was worth the fight as the drums were absolutely terrifying to stop at any speed over 40. (note: I know they could have been rebuilt back to useful brakes but I just didn't want to deal with drums and manual brakes any longer). Also rebuilt the front suspension while I was at it.

The main take away from this was I'm too old continue working on cars with jack and jackstands. Over the summer I finally got to do the lift installed and it's the best decision I've ever made. Unfortunately it ate the budget for 2020 towards the bigger projects.

So I decided to take advantage of the time and rehab the 283 in the truck, clean all the front sheet metal and do a bunch of small punch list items while I was there. The main thing was the motor just leaked so badly, it really needed a good reseal. Here goes:


Truck up on the lift. Could not be happier, I can't fathom going back to working with out it.



Amazingly, no broken bolts, everything was dirty but in great shape.


LOTS of pressure washing, easy-off, purple power later...

Was super happy how well the firewall cleaned up back to it's original fawn paint.

Most of this got accomplished during my winter break. Then we all went back to work / school and 2 weeks later my oldest got Covid. SO we all separated to different parts of the house attempting to mitigate the spread. The upside was another week in the garage while we got tested (and all my employees).

before:


Did all the normal stuff. Front and rear mains, water pump, timing chain, valve seals (all 16 just crumbled apart, that was one of the biggest issues) etc. Didn't do a full rebuild, it really didn't have all that many miles since it was rebuilt last, just a lot of time. Also converted to a Pertronix ignition and got all the sensors setup for the dakota digital dash. Also did a LOT of cleaning:





By this point I had started feeling crummy and ended up testing positive myself. By the time we caught it was in our house it was too late. So I ended up taking a couple weeks off and did nothing but rest and stay locked up in my bedroom. Thankfully we all had it mild with more issues from a long term lingering cough/fatigue than anything during my infectious period.

Back to work!

Built an adapter harness to connect to the DD box

Success

Picked up the inner fenders / core support etc from sandblasting, snuck down to the shop to use the booth to spray

and then put it back together




(I realized after these photos my upper hose is backwards LOL)
Hit it with the buffer again too


There we go. Making the best of the last year with some unexpected extra free time. It's first day back to the shop got put right back in use as my favorite photo backdrop too.