Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work on the radiator, and cool to hear you got a 4x4 crew cab now too!

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Looks like a good fit on the radiator. You should be about ready to power tour not huh....

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Yeah, I think its as close as you will find in a non-stock part fitting in there. Just about ready.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Nice work on the radiator, and cool to hear you got a 4x4 crew cab now too!

This is what I'm buying.








I've seen this truck before at my sisters place. It belongs to a friend of hers. I had no idea the guy was interested in selling it. If I had I would have got this one instead of the brown one.

It's a 1982 C-30, that has a 78 front end (all new parts). It was originally a dually 2wd, but he converted it to 4wd with parts from an 82 K-20. It has a 454 and 4 spd manual tranny, NP205 transfercase, Dana 44 front and 60 rear. I'm not getting the truck as seen in the picks. It has a 6" suspension lift and 3" body lift. The wheels are 16.5" with 38" bias ply mudders on them. He wants the wheels and since they are the 16.5" I'm fine with that. The bed has rust in the cross sills but he is swapping another bed onto it that is mostly rust free and has a good tailgate. He will remove the body lift (I don't need it). The steering was scary loose and he will be replacing some of the worn parts and changing the oil for me. It also comes with 2 good GM front doors. It will need rear doors, rockers, cab corners and a couple floor patches. Also will need the clutch replaced but it didn't slip much when I drove it.

The brown one will be for sale as soon as I get back from power tour.

Today I finished the steering column up. I got the wires run, except for the power to the shift indicator. I even got the horn working! I was noticing that the idle didn't always get down to where it should and I lost the spring for the throttle return. So I made a bracket and got a new spring in there. I got the other 2 screws in the shroud bracket.

Here's a tip for doing the blinker switch. The wire harness with the plug will not fit through the column assembled. You need to pull the terminals out of the plug. It took me a few minutes to figure it out but there are a couple little tangs, one on each side that you need to bend in. I used a dental pick to do it. The terminal slides right out once they are bent in.


The wire for the shift indicator needs the plug removed also. It has one tang on the back side.


My mess yesterday. I figured if I didn't get it back together I would just use a visegrips to steer and use hand signals.


I also remembered that I bought a new shift indicator piece a few years ago and wanted to get it in since I had it all apart anyway.


But my shifter is not lining up as it should. It's too far to the left. Need to figure out how to fix that eventually.

It's all back together and working good though. Still need to do the oil change and I was thinking during my drive back from the girlfriends place that I should check the rear diff oil too. A wash and wax and rain X on the glass and it's good to go. Still might do the tach replacement if I have time.

And for those that may have forgot or didn't know, I'm getting this car tomorrow. FINALLY! After about 2 years or more of knowing about it and over a year of talking to the owner. It's a 46 or 47 Olds Series 78 Dynamic Cruiser Club Sedan. He's hauling it to my place tomorrow morning and taking my 79 Mazda RX-7. I get some cash in the deal also.




After I finish up the Jimmy (which has been on hold cuz of everything else I've been doing) the olds is next on the project list. As of now, my plan is to get a denali XL or escalade with the AWD and single speed transfer case and use it as a donor for the complete chassis and drop the olds body on it. Will it work? I'll find out eventually.

Thanks for reading. Good night.