Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Well, here we go. I've been watching some seriously talented guys on this fine forum for almost 6 years occasionally showing portions of my project usually on the "What did you do to your truck today" thread. I often comment on my favorite builds and actually consider many of you friends, in spite of never even meeting you.

I had just moved to Texas in 1991 and was attending UTA when I met my future wife, Susan, who lived with her cousin, aunt and uncle. While dating Susan, I had the good fortune to get to her know extended family. After about a year I had to move out of the house I was co-renting since my room mate was getting married, and 3 is a crowd. By then the relationship with my girlfriend and her family was strong. The Stephens offered their guest house for me to rent at a stupid cheap price of 50 bucks a month, which they would never accept since I helped with the work around their 3 acre lot. I became very close to my wife's Uncle Loyd, he worked days as a Lineman for Ma Bell, and evenings and weekends in his own business, a lawnmower repair shop on his property. These were some of my "good ol'days" I remember many trips to the landfill with a londbed full of tree limbs, and constant runs to the parts house for his business. The first time I got a ride in Loyd's C10 the truck was 20 years old, and ran like sewing machine. As he got up into his mid 70's I noticed he had a harder time turning the non power steering wheel, so he let me add that to the truck. Loyd knew the quadrajet like the back of his hand and would rebuild it every other year. I don't think it even needed it, but he loved to do it so he found a reason.

After Loyd passed on, Laura sold his truck to me. I drove it for several years just as it was, but eventually lowered it, changed out the wheels and tires and added a rear roll pan. I bought myself a new RCSB Silverado in 2005, and loaned the 72 to an employee to drive for a few months. That's when it got the dents on the passenger fender and bedside. That employee moved on and I let another use it for over a year and a half. Eventually the motor developed a hard miss and a nasty sound coming from the valve train. That's when I parked it for good.

I had been working on a 69 fastback Mustang for a couple of years when I came across this forum and instantly the fire was lit again. I officially started the disassembly in July of 2016. The plan was a quick ls swap. After all I had done this before on a replica 65' Cobra. As I continued to frequent this site, I became more and more infected with the common disease, scope creep. I blame every one of you who's build thread blew me away. You know who you are....

I've got a ton of pictures to share, but since I type with 2 fingers, its going to take me some time to get y'all caught up to where the build is currently.
Please feel free to tell me what you think, it may not be too late for me to make changes. I'm pretty used to that. :chevy:

Brian

P.S. I'm someone who just can't come up with a name for their truck. So I took the easy way out and titled the thread what I've always called it, but I am open to names for it if you've got something I like.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I’m sure Loyd is looking down with a big grin just knowing that the truck is still in the family and your still tinkering with it.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Sometime in the early 2000's I wanted it lower and didn't want to spend a buck to do it right. I took a torch to the springs and watched it drop. Instantly it looked way better to me, but would bottom out easily. This time I want it done right. Some of the other plans during the swap, are to change the color. I know there are Ochre fans out there, but I am definitely not one. I always called it baby poop yellow. In addition to a color change I also wanted a short bed, air ride, and a full interior change. As you can see, my quick LS swap was turning into an all out "now is the time" restomod. I always figured this would be the perfect truck as a starting point for me to customize exactly how I wanted. It's probably the least optioned, most prolific base model truck in the worst possible color choice. (Sorry Ochre lovers!) Here are some more pics of the tear down and prep/ clean up of parts. I love the Snap-On Dealer sticker on the SPID... way back in time, we used to only have to dial 7 numbers to make a call kids! And service was important too, so much so that you get his home phone number!

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I got a call from a buddy one day telling me he found a very low mile 2014 L83 5.3 and 6L80e for $2500. He had wanted to buy it but realized he wasn't ready to pull the trigger on his project so he gave me the guys number. I went over to check it out and sure enough, it was all there including computer, harness, motor mounts, air box with ducting, even the radiator with trans cooler, from oilpan to intake. It came out of a Z71 crew cab, so it was set up for 4 wheel drive. I didn't want the transmission and offered him $1500. and I loaded it up and took it home that day. The next day I realized I could change the trans to a 2 wheel drive so I went back and scooped that up also.:metal:

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

A few more pictures during tear down, and cleaning of parts.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Travis at ProPerformance is the man if you have questions about what lowering components work the best to achieve your goals. I knew I wanted to try air ride, but didn't want to drop the coin to do it fully automated with the high dollar parts. I wanted to ride in a bagged truck but didn't know a single person I felt comfortable enough to grill with my questions. Again, I had been driving on clapped out springs bottoming out on occasion. I remember his first question to find out what parts to sell me... "How low do you want to go?" I told him about specific trucks I liked and he knew exactly what was needed.

The last pic shows a small mod I did in an effort to add strength to the trailing arms after I installed new bushings.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I had difficulty deciding where to put these. This is where I ended up. I built these shields to protect the compressors from rocks thrown from the rear tires or possibly covering them in shredded rubber.:lol:

Of course I wanted a high quality fuel tank, so Boyds Welding it was.:metal:

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Mounting bracket for air tank.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I’m in. Loyd is coming along nicely. Stay after it and the shop man!
I’m one of those guys that loves ochre.
I didn’t at first but, I grew fond of Sally’s mellow yellow tone.
I wanted some of the same things as you, I cut 2 coils off the front coils with a cut off wheel and 4” drop springs and 2” drop blocks in the the back. Originally I wanted a short bed.The idea when I bought that truck was to have it painted. It definitely grew on me and now it’s probably one of my favorite colors for 67-72s.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Sally looks like a clean and straight truck! Do you still own her? In the coming posts about the journey with my truck, you'll see me change my opinion about the color... It's grown on me now also. Particularly the 2 tone ochre and white. I'm still planning on a change but at the pace it's going I may come full circle and end up right back where I started.:lol:

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

No Brian, I sold the truck 6 or 7 years ago. One of those “I wish I never sold it”.
Local guy had been after me to sell. Eventually I sold it to him and he had it painted a 2 tone. Blue and silver. I see it around once in a while. It ain’t the same truck.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Looking forward to following along.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I have a couple of those myself. Mostly my 65 SS Impala and the only brand new vehicle I ever purchased, an 05 SWB Black Silverado. Thank God I never was so broke I took any of the offers on my 72.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

That's what I was worried about :lol: I've got some big shoes to fill. Yours is one of the many quality builds I aspire to. :chevy:

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I test fit the new motor and trans with the cab on many times trying to get it to fit with the stock L83 oil pan. The best I could manage would have not allowed the motor to be low enough in the chassis without the pan being way to low below the frame. One speed bump would have been the death of it.

I cut away enough of the front crossmember so the motor would sit low enough in the truck for me to be relatively happy. Then I added ribs inside the newly opened cavity to add rigidity. After that came a cover plate with slots cut into it so the ribs could be welded top and bottom inside the crossmember, finally I boxed in the sides of the opening, cleaned it all up and repainted it.

Back when I started this part of the work Holley had not yet come out with their 302-02 oil pan. Eventually I bought it and all this work turned out to not be necessary. Oh well...

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I think it was about this time that I made the decision to jump on the shortbed band wagon. I fully intend to keep this truck for the rest of my days on Gods green earth, and I figured I'd enjoy it better. After I read every article I could find I went for it, with any luck I'll still be rolling on all 4 wheels when it's all said and done.:lol: I did add some plate to box the frame aslo.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I had the suspension all back together with all new Moog parts sometime along in this time frame. The oak tree directly in front of my garage makes it easy to lift or set the cab with a chain hoist. This was the first time I had the cab back on the newly shortened chassis with the motor in its proper spot, and it's the first time I was able to really see what it looked like at maximum drop.;)

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Looking awesome, reminds me a lot of my 67’ long box. It almost got chopped down but I decided to build the yellow 68’ instead and just keep the 67’ as a dropped longbox cruiser.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Nice work! Keep the posts coming.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

This is a great story, love the history. Also you should be proud, very nice build, high quality work for sure. I will be following, keep up the good work!

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Thank y'all for the kind words!

Even though I now had the motor sitting in a place I thought would work, I wasn't happy with the multiple brackets, shims, adapter plates and general mess that the mounts had become. It looked like a birds nest in there, and would have made it harder to have access to the headers later on when the truck is completed, if the need arises. While searching Fleabay I found a set of weld in Metaltek motor mounts for the newer style L83. It took me a while to figure out how to hold the motor up with no mounts in the way while I trimmed the new ones to fit in the right spot. It took some finagling but I got it done. I made a replica of the new mounts from cardboard and a piece of plastic tubing from an empty tube of caulk. This helped because I could trim the cardboard to get the right fit much easier than grinding a little, test fit, grind some more, test fit.....

Now Metaltek makes a set of mounts specifically for the L83 to bolt up to the 67-72 truck. If I were to do this again, I'd buy those instead of their generic style mounts.

The factory mounts form a triangle between the frame rail, motor and crossmember. Do you guys think what I have currently will be strong enough, or do you think I should add another bolt in piece from the rail to the motor mount for additional strength? I'm on the fence, I do like the open space for looks but obviously that takes a back seat over durability.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

You are doing great. Im honored you liked my build, thank you.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I realized that the factory stock trans crossmember would force my exhaust to be routed to low for my liking. Plus, the 6L80e is way bigger than the th350 that was in it so I made my own crossmember that accommodated for both problems. It was decent overall, but allowed the trans to bounce up and down when I would try to move it. Since I soon found out that Metaltek made one designed specifically for this application. I made the decision to just get the one professionally made as opposed to spending another half a day strengthening mine.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Dude, it's nice to finally see you with your own thread bro! Love the story. And your doing a great job man, can't wait for your next 2 finger posts cuz I know your a lot further than this haha.

I'd be cautious of those motor mounts too btw. But I will wait to comment yet, I'm sure you have more to post. I'm in for the ride!

:chevy:

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Sway bars were a must.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Thanks man. This havin your own thread business is a lot of work! I have a new found respect for your thread in particular, fact is... I bet you even type with like 3... maybe 4 fingers!

I still haven't decided whether or not I'm ok with the motor mount sitch-e-ation.. I'm leaning toward adding some more metal down there.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Glad to see you started a build thread!

That's a great truck to start with - 5 lug, disc front, wide rear axle, coils, all the good stuff. And it's got sentimental value.

Keep us posted!

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Can't wait to see the progress!

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I think it was around this time frame that I went to the Pate Swap Meet. I had planned to get as many bulky parts as I could, so as to save on freight and get the "swap meet price". I scored a new set of wheels and tires from Mr. Coy of Coy's Wheels, picked up my rear wheel disc brakes pre-ordered from Auto City Classics, a full set of upper and lower side trim with wood grain, a chrome grille surround and insert, a set of vent windows, emblems, mirrors, handles and all kinds of rubber seals and gaskets from The Truck Shop.

The rear disc brakes were just a bolt on affair and the cheapest kit out there. I don't expect any performance gains over the stock drum brakes, but mainly changed over to have a matching look. Also changing pads is waaay easier than shoes.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

It was now time to address the cabs rust. For years I took pride in what I thought was a "rust free" truck. Probably 10 years ago I noticed a few small holes in the rocker panel where the sill plate meets. I took the seat out and sill plates off and cleaned it up while looking for the extent of the damage. There wasn't enough there to upset me so I took the easy approach. I happened to have quite a bit of left over fiberglass mat and resin left over from a previous project, so I slapped a layer over all the holes I could find and went forward. Fast forward to 2017.... knowing that I wanted an actual rust free truck I knew it was time to dig as deep as I needed to get new metal where ever cancer was hiding. Thankfully all I had to replace were both outer rockers, one inner rocker, 2 lower kick panel patches, and 2 small sections of the floorboard. Still not too bad compared to most trucks I see.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Undercoating fun! I used a roller to lay this stuff down. I did like the finish, but in hindsight spraying it would have given me more coverage. I used a very low nap roller, but it still soaked up a bunch of it. In the last pic I'm just wanting to show you what I did for best access to get to the underside of the cab for this job, it's a piece of 3/4" plywood with 4 of those wheel dollies screwed to each corner underneath.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I like the coys. And does Mr Coy show up there every year? Kinda cool you got to buy wheels from him at pates!

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Thanks. I didn't ask him. His sons were there working the show also. He had multiple brands of wheels already mounted on tires stacked up for sale. I was torn between a set of Rocket Mags, Torque Thrusts in chrome, Ridlers 695 in chrome, and the Coys. Mr Coy gave me his personal viewpoint from the manufacturers perspective. Ridlers were absolute junk (by far the cheapest), Torque thrusts and Rockets were strong wheels but only chromed on the front side, and the Coy's were strong and chromed on both sides. In addition to that, his center caps are chromed aluminum and screw on, as opposed to the rest, which mostly all use a plastic chromed center cap. Of course he would want to sell his own product but after a personal inspection of all the options right there in front of me, I went with the Coy's for the reasons he mentioned. He also talked to me about the problems he had in earlier years with chrome peeling, and the internet trolls exacerbating the problems that were legit. He was a straight shooter in my eyes and I really have enjoyed the wheels thus far... no regerts.:lol:

If I'm wrong on any of this I'm open to a wheel or product education.

First pic is a Rocket Mag wheel
Second is a Ridler 695
Third is the Torq Thurst II
Pic with giant tires mounted are the Coy's

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Those wheels are slick. Are you running 245/45's front and rear?

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Very cool story and a great start to the truck!

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Thanks! No, I have 255/45/20 front tires and 275/45/20 rear tires.

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

I do appreciate it! It'd be awesome if the lot of us can do Hot Rod Power Tour someday.:metal:

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

After all the reading I did I decided to follow 65standard's method for shortening the bedside on the drivers side. If you haven't seen his method I would encourage you to check out his thread. I would post the link if I knew how... but the name of it is "A different approach to a LWB to SWB conversion." The drivers side was dent free and I really liked the idea of less welding. Basically, he removes the front spot welds from the leading edge of the bedside, removes the 12 inches, then wraps the metal back around, and re welds the spot welds. That explanation probably made it clear as mud...

I did a different method on the passenger side. Since I had a dent with a pretty hefty crease in it in front of the rear wheel, that's where I removed the front 12 inch section required.

These pics are not in the correct order, but you get the idea...

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

continued...

Re: Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10
 

Rear portion of bedside whackage. While I had the tail light section removed it made it easy to bang out the dent that used to be in the spot that I circled.