Our 1965 C10 Project

[JWheeler331]

This will be a thread that will hopefully show the progress of our truck and also the progress of rookie builders.....(hopefully).

I have had the truck a few months now and have finally started doing little things here and there to it. It may be a slow process as I juggle the many demands on my time.....and my money.

At any rate.....it was time to make a build thread.

When I was 17 I bought a 66 Fleet Side Truck and dropped a motor in it but never could get a title so I ended up selling the truck. I have always wanted another.

My great grandfather drove a 1963 Step side which I logged hundreds of hours playing in the back of, using the truck as a clubhouse.

Here is his old farm truck.



Sorry, its a picture of a picture.

I have always been more of a fan of the fleet side trucks but this is the one I found and the step side is def growing on me the more I look at it.

Here is what we found;

1965 C10 Short Wheelbase Step Side. It has a 283 V8. The previous owner owned a barber shop and liked to call it Mayberry so he had the truck done in an Andy Griffith Show theme, complete with siren, red light and numerous stickers and things.

The truck gets lots of attention and I do love the Andy Griffith Show however; we plan to make the truck more of our own.

Here it is the day we got it.....still sitting in the previous owners driveway.



And here are some more pictures from when we first got it before anything was done.

283 V8





Truck









Dent in hood



Interior







You can see in some places the truck was a dark green originally





Us when we first got it. That is my son Chaise who will have input on many of the things we do.









Inner doors

[JWheeler331]

Overall its not a bad truck to start with. Mostly solid. I have kind of been ADD on what we want but will get together a list of our plans.

[Jeff La]

Looks like your starting out with a good solid base, Good luck on your build.

[jmack91z28]

Nice, any rust at all? Rockers, foot wells, cab corners? What are your realistic plans for it?

[Bomp]

Father and son build.
I'll keep watchin'
Subscribed.

[1963c-10]

Gotta love the air cleaner nut....haha. The truck does look like a great starter and I'm sure you and your son will have countless hours and memories from the rebuild. Very cool story and cant wait to watch the build. Love the pic of your granddad and the old 63....nothing beats the classic pics.

[JWheeler331]

Originally Posted by jmack91z28

Nice, any rust at all? Rockers, foot wells, cab corners? What are your realistic plans for it?

Not much rust overall. The truck does have some shotty floorboard replacement metal though that will one day get an overhaul.

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

Gotta love the air cleaner nut....haha. The truck does look like a great starter and I'm sure you and your son will have countless hours and memories from the rebuild. Very cool story and cant wait to watch the build. Love the pic of your granddad and the old 63....nothing beats the classic pics.

Yeah, The siren WAS on top of the air cleaner held on by the nut.

Im happy to have the old picture of my grandfather.



Plans for the truck........well for starters,

Front disk brake conversion from Early Classics with the 2.5" Drop (already bought)

Upgrade the power steering by putting on one of Capt.Fab's brackets cause mine is barely held on by the grace of God.

Got rid of the siren and light already

Eventually I will replace the 283 with a LT1350 from a 1997 Trans Am

Heater core busted so that will need to be replaced

Rims and tires

I have had ADD with my vision for this truck. Been looking around seeing what I like from different pictures and threads on here. For now I just want a safe truck to drive and will work on things and change things as they pop up.

[JWheeler331]

Surprisingly, even my daughter has taking a liking to this truck.





My son turning his first wrench on the truck....taking off the hitch.







As you can see....the power steering is not held on too good.

[JWheeler331]

I decided that the dash cluster was looking pretty bad and after looking over the thread on here I decided I would try to redo ours.

It was in pretty rough shape. Lots of overspray on the lens and the lights were all cracked up or broken. I did not do a complete refurbish but rather a general updating and clean up.













Check out all that overspray. The lens was pretty scratched up and nasty.













And the finishing

[JWheeler331]

Here are a few more pictures. I think this truck has a Turbo 350 Transmission.









Can anyone confirm that the tranny is that?

[JWheeler331]

The radiator blew so we replaced it with a new one.

[JWheeler331]

One thing I really need to find is an original Automatic steering column and wheel. The one in this truck is from something newer and it has the key in the column which is not being used......and it don't tilt so there is really no use for it. I would rather have an original style. Eventually I will find one and replace it.



Here is the mother that will eventually prob. land in the truck. My cousin had this Trans Am sitting for several years due to him moving off and leaving it behind after he hit a deer. I was able to get the motor for free by taking the whole car. My grandmother is happy to get it out of her yard.





I am in no rush for the motor though as the 283 seems to run pretty good for now. That LT1350 is just a future plan .......slow plan.

[JWheeler331]

Early Classic front disk conversion brakes with 2.5'' spindles.

[Ta2Don]

Nice Start!!! Sub'd!!!

Awesome that the Kids are getting involved!

[JWheeler331]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Nice Start!!! Sub'd!!!

Awesome that the Kids are getting involved!

Thanks.
Posted via Mobile Device

[jmack91z28]

I don't recall I've seen an LT1 swap. The LT1 is similar to the TPI.. it got over looked and over shadowed once the LS motors came into the picture. That will be an interesting build. Are you planning on sticking with the 4L60e transmission?

And yes, that would be the turbo 350.

[JWheeler331]

Originally Posted by jmack91z28

I don't recall I've seen an LT1 swap. The LT1 is similar to the TPI.. it got over looked and over shadowed once the LS motors came into the picture. That will be an interesting build. Are you planning on sticking with the 4L60e transmission?

And yes, that would be the turbo 350.

Yes. I plan to use both the motor and tranny from the car. I'm parting out the rest. There are a few guys on here who did the LT1 swap. I'm in no rush on the motor. My 283 still has some life left.
Posted via Mobile Device

[JWheeler331]

Was messing around with the camera a couple weeks ago and took this pic.

[JWheeler331]

Had my smallest helper out there the other day.

[JWheeler331]

Well, my father in law had a bed on his truck that was pretty rusted out. I have always wanted a fleet side so there was a guy in town who really wanted a step side. We talked to him about trading and he was cool with it so we traded my father in law's step side bed to the guy for a short fleet bed. I then traded my bed to my father in law for the fleet.

Here is the bed on my father in laws truck just sitting for the ride back to our shop.



Next thing was to pull the bed off of my truck. That proved harder than it should have. The previous owner had a sheet of plywood that was bolted to the frame.......then the bed had a piece of metal welded in it and that was bolted down also. What it left was a problem somewhat. We could not hardly get the bed off because the bolts were spinning and the bolt heads were trapped between the ply wood and the welded in metal with no way of getting to them. We ended up having to cut them off. When we lifted the bed the plywood came off with the bed and is bolted to the welded in metal. We will have to figure that out later.

Here is a picture of my father in laws truck though with my old bed on it.



Back to my truck.

The bed is now off and you can see the shotty paint job. On the back of the cab you can still see some of the original dark green.








I am planning to clean up the frame and possibly replace the shocks and springs before putting the bed on.








Also got a little work done on the bed this weekend.

[JWheeler331]

I do have a question about these fleet side beds.

When I look at LMC or whatever other catalog I cant seem to see exactly how many cross sills these things are supposed to have?

Here is what I have in there now.



Im obviously missing some. Im guessing at least a front one that goes up against the front panel? Maybe more?

[bhc41051]

Originally Posted by JWheeler331

I do have a question about these fleet side beds.

When I look at LMC or whatever other catalog I cant seem to see exactly how many cross sills these things are supposed to have?

Here is what I have in there now.



Im obviously missing some. Im guessing at least a front one that goes up against the front panel? Maybe more?

Like you said you're missing one main sill. And it looks like you need one long reinforcing strip and one short reinforcing strip.

[JWheeler331]

Originally Posted by bhc41051

Like you said you're missing one main sill. And it looks like you need one long reinforcing strip and one short reinforcing strip.

Thanks. I will try to see if I can find some locally somewhere.

On a side note, I was able to pick up a new hood yesterday.

The hood is pretty nice with no real problems. My old one was dented right on the crease where the front top and bottom come together as seen in the pic above.

Here is the hood while it was still on the 66 long fleet. Sorry for the bad angle. I took it while I was waiting on the owner to arrive.

[JWheeler331]

Originally Posted by bhc41051

Like you said you're missing one main sill. And it looks like you need one long reinforcing strip and one short reinforcing strip.

In the LMC book I don't see any short reinforcing strips...just the one. Know where to get the short ones?


Does anyone have a picture of their bed without wood but complete sills? Would love to see it if so.

[aggie91]

Great progress, you son willreally enjoy this build and it will wonderful way to spend time together.