1965 C10 LWB Project Build Thread

[JohnIL]

A couple of weeks ago, we had an unseasonably warm weekend. I took advantage of the warn weather to install a new set of door seals. I used a push-on style seal kit from Brothers. It appears to be a good quality product and it was easy to install. I am, however, struggling with door alignment with the new seal.

Removing the Original Seals
The original seals were glued in at the factory. The condition of the rubber varied quite a bit, depending on location. Along the bottom of the door openings, the seals were brittle, splitting, and crumbling. Along the tops and sides, the rubber was still pliable, but it was split in several spots. The seals came out in a million pieces and I had the scrape the glue off of the flanges. That was, by far, the hardest part of the process.

Installing the New Stuff
The new seals were easy to install. Generally speaking, you just press the seals over the flange. Here are a few tips for anyone who takes on this project.

• Start at the bottom of the door frame. If, someday, your seals shrink, it's much better to have a small gap at the threshold than somewhere along the sides or top of the door.
• Make sure the seal is fully seated on the flange. I used a dead-blow mallet to tap the seal down onto the flange.
• Take your time. Press a few inches of the seal onto the flange. Then, tap it down with the dead-blow to fully seat it on the flange. You want to make sure it's fully seated all the way around the door opening. It's much easier to seat the seal as you go. If you wait until the end to seat the whole seal, you'll never get it to seat fully.
• Cut the seal a little bit longer than you think it needs to be. When you get all the way around to your starting point, Add a 1/4"-3/8" BEFORE you cut the end of the seal to length. It's better for the seal to be a little bit too long than a little bit too short
• Align the ends of the seal. The Brothers seals come with a short "connector" piece that slips inside the outer portion of the seal. This helps align the two ends of the seal and adds a little bit of insurance against a gap in the seal.
  

Troubles with Door Alignment - Hard Closing door
Now that I have fresh new door seals, the doors won't close! Actually, the passenger door is just about perfect. It seals up nice and tight and the door closes with just a little bit of effort. The driver door, on the other hand, is WAY too tight. It closed beautifully, with the old worn out seal. With the new seal, it takes a tremendous amount of force to compress the seal enough to latch the door. I loosened the door strike and adjusted it as far out as it will go. The rear edge of the door now sits about 1/8" proud of the cab and I still have to slam the door for it to latch. I don't think it is a vertical alignment issue. There hinges are tight and the door doesn't sag. The gap at the rear of the door is too tight, but I can't move the door forward without getting into the fender. When I get around to the body work, I can/will loosen the fender and adjust it forward. That should give some extra clearance to adjust the door forward too. In the meantime, I'm open to suggestions on correcting the hard closing door.

As always, I appreciate any advice you all can pass along.

Thanks.
John

[JohnIL]

There's really nothing new to report. I tucked the C10 into its winter cocoon a couple of weeks ago and I miss it already. The Expanded-Use Antique license plates I have on the truck go dormant for the winter. The C10 can come back out and play in March.

Really, it's for the best. I have no intention of driving the C10 in the winter months anyway. They salt the living wee out of the roads here in central Illinois and I don't want to encourage the rust any more than necessary.

If we have any unseasonably warm days this winter, we'll spend our garage time chipping away at the bodywork on my son's '83 El Camino. Plenty of work to be done there.

So, until Spring, the C10 will wait patiently under its cover, storing up its potential energy to be converted into kinetic energy when the weather turns warm again.

Winter sinks!

John

[JohnIL]

New parts have started to arrive for the projects I hope to work on when Spring arrives here in Central Illinois.

Bucket Seats

My original plan was TMI Pro Classic Low Back bucket seats. But, because of the high cost, that wasn't happening anytime soon. My plan changed when I stumbled across Procar's Pro-90 Low Back seat (see picture below). Not only are the Procar's MUCH less expensive than the TMI's, I actually like the looks of the Procar's better. The TMI's have a more modern look, whereas the Procar's have move of a vintage musclecar sort of look. I think they will look perfect in a classic truck.

I would love to hear from anyone who has theses seats in their 60-66 pickup. Pictures of your install would be very helpful!

Power Brake & Front Disc Brake Upgrades

The truck came with the usual four wheel manual drum brakes and the original single-reservoir master cylinder. I definitely wanted to upgrade the master cylinder to a dual-reservoir. While I'm touching the master cylinder, I might as well add power brakes as well. If I'm going that far, I might as well upgrade to front disc brakes. If I'm digging into the front brakes, I might as well replace the worn out ball joints and front end bushings, etc. You can see how one thing leads to another.

So, I ordered up all of the following from Speedway Motors:

• CPP Front Disc Brake Conversion Kit
• Brake Booster Kit
• Booster Mounting Plate
• Front End Rebuild Kit

I plan to take the opportunity to run new brake lines while I have it all apart.

I would like to hear from anyone who has experience with these any of these brake parts, especially the CPP front disc brake conversion kit. Any hurdles I need to watch out for?

That should be enough to keep me busy for a while. Now, I just need winter to give way to warmer weather so I can get back out into the garage.

John

[SCOTI]

Lots of those kits out there so they're doing something right. I know more than one story of issues related to parts (missing; compatibility/fit; appearance; etc) but that's prob an industry wide as a whole issue & not solely a CPP issue.

In summary.... There might be an issue or two but they should be easy enough to overcome.