My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

That last pic reminded me of something...

I hate heat riser valves. You never know when they're going to seize in the closed position, or have the flapper break off inside your exhaust pipe. I wanted to remove mine, but then I'd have to deal with how to seal up the manifold/headpipe joint.

My solution was the remove and gut the heat riser and tap the shaft holes for a couple screws to seal the holes. I then bored the housing out to the gasket ID to get rid of any restriction that was there. My tired old 283 needs all the help it can get.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I got a great swap meet deal on a set of 88 to mid 90's 6-lug centre caps. Since my truck has the original 7/16-20 studs, I needed to buy aftermarket external thread lugnuts. No problem, I picked some up on ebay.

When tightening the lugnuts I noticed that the nuts were barely engaging the conical seats in my steel rally wheels. A closer look shows that theres a much bigger flat on the end of these nuts compared to the originals.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Fortunately, I'm able to give these a quick spin on a lathe to turn down the 60 degree tapered end. Just a few minutes to re-work the whole set of 24.

Finally... tomorrow will be wheels on, running, lowered, T5, and power brakes.

[Vincenthdfan]

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

My solution was the remove and gut the heat riser and tap the shaft holes for a couple screws to seal the holes. I then bored the housing out to the gasket ID to get rid of any restriction that was there. My tired old 283 needs all the help it can get.

Brilliant!

I'm going to steal your idea there.

I'm in the middle of swapping a crate 350 in place of my tired 283, but...like you, I didn't want to re-use that damn heat riser with my old ram horn manifolds.

That heat riser just looks like a problem waiting to happen.

[TJ's Chevy]

Looks good! Looking forward to tomorrow's progress.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by Vincenthdfan

Brilliant!

I'm going to steal your idea there.

Feel free! Its all about sharing ideas.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I was able to get a lot of little things finished up today. I had to shorten the Panhard Bar that I bought on ebay. A little too long, so I cut out the treaded bung, shortened the tube and re-welded.

I got the wheels on and the new centre caps installed. I like the way they look.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Pretty much ready to head out for a shakedown cruise... tomorrow. Curious to see how it handles and stops now. I haven't installed the sway bars yet. I want to compare before and after.

Here's a couple pics to compare the stance. 1st pic is on Daytona Beach when I first bought my C10, and 2nd pic is today. I did a 4-1/2" front - 5" rear drop. Same wheels & tires in both pics.

[FL71C10]

Lookin good, I like the stance!

[ibrown50]

Great thread, love the truck the new stance is just what I'm hoping to end up with, I'm going 2" drop springs with 2 1/2 inch drop spindles on the front with 4" drop springs on the rear, I'll use lowering blocks to get the rest. Would love to do a BBW conversion but finding one I the UK? There's definitely more giant pandas

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by FL71C10

Lookin good, I like the stance!

Thanks FL71C10! I'm pretty happy with it.

I see you're in Orlando. I purchased my C10 in Winter Park FL.

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Would love to do a BBW conversion but finding one I the UK?

Yes ibrown50, I can imagine. It took quite a bit of looking to find one in my area too. Not many around, and everything is so rusty.