"BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB--->SWB “Jumping Cholla”

[loudchevy]

After I got the bottom channel done, I moved on to the passenger bottom corner. These were a little bit more tricky since they had radius/dished corner.
Once I nailed down the process on the passenger side, I hit the repeat button for the drivers side. It took me a bit to figure out how to do the radius dish in the corner and settled on welding in a small piece and filling the edges with spot welds. Once I had the general shape, I took a carbide burr to it and got the final shape.

[loudchevy]

Lastly, I got the gas filler neck opening shaved as well. I used the passenger side to help shape the contour of the patch. As an old trim carpenter I knew once said "Little caulk, little paint, make it what it ain't". Some body filler should help smooth all these patches out.

Passenger cab corner is the last piece to replace before sand blasting and epoxy. I cut took much off when I did the drivers side a few weeks ago. It probably doesn't need to be cut out, but there is some rusty edges, I already have the patch panel, and might as well at this point. Definitely only gonna cut out as little as possible. The drivers side gave me a bit of frustration getting it lined up correctly.

[rodstored-72]

nice work... look forward to seeing it closer to finish as are you!! so did the miller can give you a better perspective?...LOL!!!! Also any build info on the '85 LS swap truck?? I have a build page on here of my '86 LS swap

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

nice work... look forward to seeing it closer to finish as are you!! so did the miller can give you a better perspective?...LOL!!!! Also any build info on the '85 LS swap truck?? I have a build page on here of my '86 LS swap

Thanks! Miller Lite cans always bring the perspective. I'll have to check out your build thread. Do you have a link to it?

As for the K5 LS swap, I had the build on a couple of different websites, but they're no longer up. The 85 K5 started out with a bone stock 305 that drank an entire radiator of coolant every time I drove it. I scored the 454 (same motor going in this C10) and swapped that BBC in some where around 2006 or 2007. The Blazer didn't deserve that 454, I mainly used it offroad and was looking to get something fuel injected to swap in its place. It's a go fast motor and belongs in a C10/Camaro/Nova/Chevelle. I picked up the LS from a cousin in 2008ish and swapped it in the K5. It already had the wiring harness modified and was ready to run with 5 wires. I picked up a 4L60E and used a spacer that changed the 6 bolt rear 4L60E to the 4 bolt 700R4 output and made the 4L60E the same length as a 700R4. The spacer also had a port for a VSS for the LS ECM to read. The spacer let me re-use the 700R4/NP208 transfer case adapter.

The NP208 is the only original part left in the K5. The rear 14B has a locker and 4:56 gears, the front has a newer 10B with 8 lug outers, 4:56 gears and an ARB locker. I have a D60 front with 5:13 gears (plus 5:13 gears sitting in a box for the 14B) installed on a spool sitting on my garage floor as well. It was DRW and I had the hubs machined down to SRW. I also have a NP205 sitting in my garage cabinet that I put twin stick rails in that I was going to use in a doubler transfer case. I just never got around to rebuilding the rest of the D60 axle and "FINISHING" the K5. Life got busy with a career and family and the K5 got ignored. Some day I'll get back to the K5 OR I'll take all the goodies off and swap them over to a 67-72 K truck once this C10 is finished

[loudchevy]

Yesterday afternoon I build a new trackbar for the rear suspension. The OG isn't adjustable and I didn't want to buy new bushings for it.

I've had a set of Rod Ends from Ruff Stuff https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/58REPARTS.html for years sitting in my garage. I was gonna use them for a front Panhard bar for the Blazer but never got around to it so I decided to put them to use in the C10. I already had a stick of 1-1/4" DOM .120" wall tubing as well. I had to shave down the misalignment spacer on the frame side to fit into the existing opening from the old piece. Once I could get the rod ends bolted in the frame pocket and on the differential stud, i was able to measure for the tube length and cut it to size. I just threw a couple of tack welds on the bung inserts for the time being and installed the new trackbar. I was able to adjust the bar to get equal measurements on each side of the frame to tire. Before putting the bar in, I had about a 1/2" difference between each side. I'm pretty excited how it came out even for something so small in the large scope of the project. I know it's way overkill/built for this application but it was basically free since I bought the parts with 2010 money

I'm not a huge fan of single sheer connections for suspension components, but the stud on the 12B will have to do since it's pretty beefy. I'll be adding some plate to the bottom axel u-bolts plates for the bottom of the shocks to get double sheer connections. I'll do the same for the front shocks on the top connection to the frame as well at some point (I think I've seen a kit somewhere so that should be an easy mod).

[rodstored-72]

NICE WORK Scott!! hope you have a good thanksgiving weekend

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

NICE WORK Scott!! hope you have a good thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving was good and it was nice to have some time off work. Hope yours was good as well.

I spent a lot of the weekend cleaning the middle of the frame. I had already cleaned up the front and rear frame when we did the suspensions. I had only painted the front rails at that time. So after the last of the 50 year crud was wired wheeled off, I got the middle and rear frame primed and painted in all black. I still need to cut off the last 8" of the rear frame and will do that once I get to shorting the bed.

I'm pretty happy with how the frame came out and ready to start putting clean parts back together in the coming weeks/months. The monster 700R4 is going to the builder today to get converted to 2WD. I want to get the engine and trans sitting on the frame so we can start laying out the exhaust, fuel, brake lines with the cab off to make it easy access to everything.

[yote1234]

just found this and am following your build. love the work and the name. i just cleared 15 acres of cholla cactus and it does jump when being mowed down with a loader. lol . im in Gold canyon az keep up the good work my AZ friend

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by yote1234

just found this and am following your build. love the work and the name. i just cleared 15 acres of cholla cactus and it does jump when being mowed down with a loader. lol . I'm in Gold canyon az keep up the good work my AZ friend

Thanks for following along!

For those non-desert dwellers, this is Jumping Cholla cactus. Pronounced 'choy' 'a'. In Spanish a double 'll' is a 'y' sound. When I cleaned out the cab and under the hood, there was cholla everywhere. It's pretty nasty stuff, it gets stuck to you just by looking at it.

[Shifty One]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

Thanks for following along!

For those non-desert dwellers, this is Jumping Cholla cactus. Pronounced 'choy' 'a'. In Spanish a double 'll' is a 'y' sound. When I cleaned out the cab and under the hood, there was cholla everywhere. It's pretty nasty stuff, it gets stuck to you just by looking at it.

They just want a hug....

[Stickman]

LOL , cholla, hate it and great work by the way.

[Tip70]

Nice work! Trucks turning out great!

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by Tip70

Nice work! Trucks turning out great!

Thanks!

[loudchevy]

Progress is slowly moving along. The holiday season is definitely taking up garage time and I've been NOT looking forward to cleaning the cab up and getting the last bit of 50 year old crud off the C10. My 700R4 (snowman) is back in my garage with its new 2wd output and a fresh rebuild with all the goodies. I was just going to get the builder to swap outputs but he tore it open and found a few things to upgrade so might as well do it now than later.

First thing I wanted to do was build a new cab stand to replace the quick and easy wood cart I built a few months ago to work on the rockers. This version is made of some 2" square tube and bolts to the cab mounts. It's much more stout than the wood version. I left an extra foot on the end rails so I could lift the front firewall and use the rails as a pivot to stand the cab upright to gain access the the bottom of the cab. With this new stand I can rotate the whole cab 90 degrees by myself. I just throw 2 pallets on the ground and tilt it back. Worked out perfectly.

I started scraping junk off the bottom yesterday and got a decent amount done and cleaned up. I only took a pic of the results of the first 20 mins of scrapping. In some spots the crud was 1/4" thick.

[loudchevy]

Slow moving the last month or so on the C10. Been stripping old paint from the cab, core support, and wheel wells. It a slow dirty process using a SCT and a hand grinder. I got the majority of the cab, core, and wells cleaned up. I didn't remove all the interior paint on the rear cab and ceiling. It's really not in terrible shape so I might just sand it and spray my primer over it. All the other smaller and hard to reach areas of the parts will be cleaned up with a sand blaster. Overall there is zero to no rust on the cab (all of the rust was removed when I did the rockers and adjacent floor). I plan on spraying this myself (it will be my first paint job) and I wanted to get the wheel wells cleaned up so I use those as practice before spraying the cab. Once primed, I'm gonna hit the under cab with some Raptorliner. I saw Chaparralman1974's cab with the raptor sprayed on and it looked great so I'm going to run with it as well. After cleaning up the core support, I removed the "pinch" folds on the top rail of the support. I cut some of the material out and hammered down the pinch for a nice clean look. I hope to get the cab in primer/raptor by the end of the month.

[loudchevy]

Here is a couple pics of the cab.

[clay68c10]

Nice work. My hands get tired just looking at those pics. That is a tough job.
I may do the core support pinch smoothing too.

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

Nice work. My hands get tired just looking at those pics. That is a tough job.
I may do the core support pinch smoothing too.

Thanks, those pics contain hours and hours of work.

The core support shave was super simple. I always hated seeing those pinches on the top rail when looking under the hood of these trucks.

[raggedjim]

Nice work, I have a core support that I want to remove those from also. I'm also thinking about lowering the support ribs in the front to allow me to use a filler panel between the support and grill.

[Stickman]

Nice work, makes my back hurt looking at some of the pics !

[loudchevy]

Progress update....Spent the last 2 weekends stripping body panels and parts. Last weekend I started on the front quarter panels and cowl. I picked up Harbor Freight's sandblaster to get all the hard to reach areas that my 4.5" stripping disc and wire wheel couldn't get. It actually worked very well. I used the fine media from Tractor Supply after putting it all through a strainer to remove some of the larger chucks to not clog the nozzle. I got the wheel wells, cowl, and the fenders all stripped and then spent hours sanding those and the core support to get ready for some Epoxy primer. I plugged the antenna hole and some 16 other screws holes that he PO had put in the sides of the cowl (I think they had dual CB antennas mounted, but that is just a guess). I also filled the holes for the trim molding on the front fenders. I'm not a fan of trim molding on my trucks, I always rip them off when I get a new truck. I actually have all the pieces for this C10, but they're all beat up, dented, scratched and the black paint is faded. I also got the seat sliders, hood hinges, and front core/grill brackets blasted and cleaned up too.

The cab still needs more work. I have some areas to still clean up, holes to fill weld, and sanding lots of sanding.

[Chaparralman1974]

The truck is looking great Scott! I am looking forward to seeing it in person. Are you going to raptor line the inner wheel wells? I am thinking about doing that on mine.


Clay

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by Chaparralman1974

The truck is looking great Scott! I am looking forward to seeing it in person. Are you going to raptor line the inner wheel wells? I am thinking about doing that on mine.
Clay

Thanks Clay!
Yes, I was hoping to get the raptor sprayed on the inners yesterday, but the outside of the wells took to long to dry and I ran out of time.

[loudchevy]

After spending Friday night and all day Saturday cleaning parts, Sunday (yesterday) was time to prime. I had never used a paint spray gun before so this is my first attempt at painting. I'm not gonna lie I was pretty nervous about it. My wife had a good point while I was telling her this, she said "If you mess it up, just strip it all down again LOL" I started out with the wheel wells to "practice". I am using the A610 LVLP spray gun. I've watched hours of YT videos of people using this LVLP gun with success, so I figured I would try it before I dropped a ton of money on a HVLP gun. I was really surprised how easy the process way. First coat went on wheel wells great! I gave it 30 mins of flash time and applied the second coat. I think I didn't add enough hardener to the mix, because the second coat on the outside of the wells took forever to dry. While I waited for the outside of the wells to dry, I got the core support covered in 2 coats, making sure to add just a little extra hardener in those mixes. The core dried faster than the wells. Overall I was super happy with how the 3 pieces came out and it gave me the confidence to continue learning the new skill of painting. I burned through 2 quarts of the Eastwood Epoxy for just these 3 parts. More epoxy is on the way!

Next parts to paint will be the fenders and cowl. Then I'll do the cab. I wanted some easy practice pieces before doing the cab. I know it will be a challenge to paint with all the surfaces in different planes

[MySons68C20]

Looking great very nice work!!