Project Ol Red-1978 Chevy C10 1/2 ton

[1974ChevyC10]

Ok this is the official start of my build thread.ive never done one of these before so im really excited.this is the first truck ive owned that i think is actually worth taking pictures of so i will hopefully be able to get lots of them.my wife who has like 5 cameras as it is and one of them is recently bought camera thats really nice so tonite she decided to give me 2 of her old ones.they just needed batteries.so tomorrow when i go to pick it up ill be sure to take lots of pics provided one of the two or both camera's work.

i bought the truck 3 days ago(03/04/2010)after seeing a craigslist ad for it.previous owner had parked it a month ago when it failed emissions and he he decided to start a V-8 project truck has a 250 I-6 and a 3 speed on the tree manual.previous owner got tired of the conversion and decided it was going to cost him too much money so he put it up for sale.so i buy it for 700 dollars after meeting with the previous owner.take keys and title go over to express dmv a 3rd party office who will title register and plate a vehicle for a small fee so you dont have to go to the actual dmv.im picking it up tomorrow either with my dad's help or with the help of a friend and im going to take alot of pics probably to the point of being annoying but what can i say im excited.ill add the pics i have from the craigslist ad so ya'all at least have an idea of the starting point of the truck.here goes the pics and ill post more on my plans for it later.

[STOCKISH]

Looks good man.

[Cherub]

is that trim or pinstriping in the first pic?

[1974ChevyC10]

Originally Posted by Cherub

is that trim or pinstriping in the first pic?

it is actually trim on the drivers side the piece from the start of the bed back is missing and on the passenger side from the piece of the cab forward is missing.its black in color and comes to a point in the front like an arrow.ive only seen this style trim on one other truck a 1977 my dad used to have.his was intact however.i knda like it i would like to find the missing pieces and complete it.

Plans for it go as follows
Put a V-8 in i have one ready to go
Either put a 700r4,use the TH350 i have or put a 4 spd in it havent decided for sure on this one
Change the wheels to my gm rallyes
New tires
New exhaust
Fix dent in rear bumper or replace with sport bumper
Change over to gm style sport mirrors for that vintage
Buff out the paint as this is the first truck ive owned that actually has a nice paint job on it
Check over all the mechanicals(brakes,front suspension,rear axle,steering,everything else necessary to check)before its initial voyage which will hopefully be this summer or early fall at the latest.

When i think of more as this truck is in pretty good shape ill let ya know what i come up with ideawise

[1974ChevyC10]

thanks to my best friend and my dad's help we got the truck over to my buddies house late monday night and so far have discovered the truck is in alot better shape than i thought.very straight bodywise and best of all no rust.only thing wrong with the body is the rear bumper is bent on both sides i will see what can be done to straighten it as it is a painted steel bumper so i will talk with my dad to see if it can be heated to straighten it without damaging the bumper.front bumper to me looks bent on one side but if it is i have a straight one on my other 78 so ill take that one if it comes down to it.interior wise the only damage is cracks on the dashpad and some minor tearing in the seat's upholstery.it has some weird nascar style wheels with p265/70/r16 tires.the rims are 16x8's.its not a really heavily optioned truck its a scottsdale series,metallic red in color,3.73 rear axle,f44(big 10)suspension,tan interior,a/c,p/s.heavy duty p/b,currently a 6 cyl/3 on the tree will be swapped for a 355 V-8/TH350 to get it running and tuned.i will get the a/c working as it looks like it has been retrofitted for R134 the pressure fitting caps on the high and low side lines are blue and red in color.will also get a new big block radiator from a truck with a/c,tranny cooler and heavy duty cooling.once its dialed in and i can save up for it then it will get a built 700r4 trans.i also intend to freshen up the 355 before it goes in and the TH350 as well.ol red is also getting the gm rally wheels from my other truck along with a set of p255/70/r15's unless i can get a good deal on some custom rim's like a set of american racing wheels,centerline's or maybe some cragar's.i really dont like the nascar styled wheels on it currently.also on the future plans is for a full set of autometer gauges.my friend whose house its currently parked at thinks he saw a sway bar on it so it may have a sway bar of some type.may go over to his house tomorrow and see for sure i was over there the other day but we were busy with other stuff so i didnt really look.i need to make a list of my immediate,future and really long term plans for this truck so i have a definitive plan for sure.when ol red is up and running then im going to get orange crush my other 78 up and running with the 6 cyl/3 spd stuff and i may sell it depending on the monetary situation or may keep it if things starting going well financially again.most likely will end up selling the olds as the tranny in it is starting to go and im not sure how much longer it will hold up.i got some more pics which ill post later when i get them loaded off my camera.

[Cherub]

Originally Posted by 1974ChevyC10

it is actually trim on the drivers side the piece from the start of the bed back is missing and on the passenger side from the piece of the cab forward is missing.its black in color and comes to a point in the front like an arrow.ive only seen this style trim on one other truck a 1977 my dad used to have.his was intact however.i knda like it i would like to find the missing pieces and complete it.

Cool cause ive never seen that before. glad its a solid truck dont find too many of those anymore

[Driveway Dreams]

Good find. I look forward to watching your progress. You seem to have a bunch planned for a solid truck. And that trim, please do find the rest & keep it on the truck. It is awesome and is very different from the norm.

[1974ChevyC10]

Originally Posted by Driveway Dreams

Good find. I look forward to watching your progress. You seem to have a bunch planned for a solid truck. And that trim, please do find the rest & keep it on the truck. It is awesome and is very different from the norm.

thanks for the positive thoughts i look forward to posting progress pics.im glad it has a solid rust free body ive owned 3 other square bodies all of which needed major body work i got tired of bodywork after awhile.the trim is one of the things that i immediately liked about ol red.i dont care for the trim used on 73-80 trucks with two tone paint the metal kind that is.i just ordered an lmc truck catalog hopefully they sell the trim pieces im missing.ill add some pics i took of ol red the other day when i was at my friends house helping him swap out front coil springs on his 77-po heated them so much they literally were bent almost in half.

[1974ChevyC10]

a couple more pics for the fun of it

pic 1 is my friends 77 the day before he put the new front springs in it.looks and rides alot better.front coils were heated and bent nearly in half.rear springs had HD rear springs po took out 6 leaves per pack all that was left was the overload spring and one leaf in each pack.we could stand on them and flex them till they were flat.ill post pics of them later.

pic 2 is a pic of the master of all this disaster me.it was really cold out that day hence why im wearing a jacket normally this time of year down here its usually warm outside

pic 3 is my friend expressing his frustration with the coil that was refusing to come out.we had been working on the front end for a couple hours by this point.

[GMC_KILLER]

Do it man

[1974ChevyC10]

in your signature how do you add the link to your build thread

[Cherub]

under userCP in the signiture tab, there will be a insert link button (globe with a chainlink) click that and insert your link from the top of your web browser. once you hit enter the link will paste in with a portion highlighted, thats when you type what you want people to see (ie. CHECK OUT MY BUILD) and it will take people to it. Cheers and good luck

[1974ChevyC10]

ttt to keep thread from dying.since the weather is clearing up where my donor truck is as we can finally start planning on getting both trucks in one location to commence with the engine swap.ill keep posted as more updates occur

[1974ChevyC10]

ok small progress update all of last week i was in the hospital due to a small wound on my right leg which on the morning of easter sunday started bleeding very profusely w/o any warning.went to ER to get checked up and was admitted.kept in for the entire week because they had to get my blood levels under control as they were way out of whack and come to find i also had a minor skin infection in the wound so they believe thats what caused it to split open and bleed so heavily.its heavily bandaged and under control now but while hospitalized my dad visited me and during his visit we discussed doing the engine swap and everything else over at his house up north in flagstaff since its cooler up there and summer is coming down in the phx area and it gets hot hot hot down here then.neither of us want to get a truck running in over 100 degree temps so it is going to take place in flagstaff.it will be easy as the donor truck is at my dad's already just need to get ol red up there.reason we havent started on the swap yet is that my dads house until a few weeks ago was literally buried under several feet of snow so we were waiting for that to melt down.they had a late winter season snowstorm down there that ended up lasting several weeks which dumped alot of snow.more pics to come once everything commences.

[1974ChevyC10]

i know progress has been kinda slow on this build at least the start of it due to a number of factors.first and foremost ive been recovering from a major surgery and several minor surgeries since january on top of having been hospitalized several times since these surgeries for various flareup's of kidney issues so alot of my focus has been geared towards that.well after me and my dad spoke on this at great lengths and due to the fact things arent going real well down here in phoenix for reasons mostly pertaining to my health as well as personal reasons and the very strong need and desire to get completely healthy again im going to go stay at my dad's up in flagstaff for awhile.of course the project is still on and since its no longer snowing in flagstaff some actual work can be done.my dad's friend up there george said we can do alot of the work at his house he has a garage.so there will be alot of pics of ol red,the harley my dad is slowly rebuilding and once the ol red project is in the finished stages then i will start posting progress on project orange crush which will become the backup/parts chaser/tow vehicle/all purpose type truck.stay tuned as things really begin to take shape.

[1974ChevyC10]

Ok some minor progress took place today.me and my dad went over to where my truck is and actually got started on it today.we brought some parts we need to get ol red running so we can drive it up to my dads to finish the project.we took apart and cleaned the carb,figuered out what brackets we need to buy to hook up the fan,alternator and power steering pump,started the motor very briefly to make sure it would crank and run.it started up and ran smooth except for a slight lifter tick. my dad also welded the exhaust pipe back together as the prior owner for some rreason cut the pipe .we were only there a couple hours so i only took a few pics but nonet the less oics are pics so here goes.i should mention my dad did most of today's work as i have a soft tissue injury to my lower back so wrenchin for awhile is out of the question for me unless its minor mechanical work.
pic 1 is of the carb
pic 2 is of my dad taking the carb apart
pic 3 is of the carb being put back together after being soaked in berryman's
pic 4 is of the 250 currently in ol red
pic 5 is of my dad putting the carb back together

[1974ChevyC10]

Ok some more good news-my dad just found all the parts needed to get the 6 cylinder to run so it can be driven up to flagstaff and then its on with the V-8 swap.tomorrow when we have the parts i will take pics of them as well as the other parts i have already for getting the 6 banger going and for the V-8 swap.pics to come and i cant wait for this project to go into full swing.

[1974ChevyC10]

As of friday night the 6 cyl lives.turned over fine and started up good.something is wrong with the carb however as a few seconds after it fired up it started running basically at WOT so we killed the motor waited a few seconds and fired it off again.same thing so we killed it again and then took air cleaner off and looked down carb.didn't see anything obvious obstructing fuel flow or anything binding/sticking in the throttle linkage so next week were going to pull the carb off and take it apart and see whats wrong if anything with the carb.the last time we pulled it apart and cleaned it up everything in the carb looked good,clean and free of most obstructions so were thinkin maybe some dirt from the fuel lines/tanks may have gotten into the carb.we shall see but for now the mighty 6 lives and now its onward with the V-8 swap.

[1974ChevyC10]

Ok a little bit of progress and some good news.truck and me are now in flagstaff been going on two weeks now.things more or less are going good had a few ups and downs but nothing i cant handle.havent done a whole lot to the truck the last few days because i came down with the flu on sunday and have had it off and on since.also have some medical problems i need to resume dealing with up here but ive found out i have an issue with my insurance i need to clear up before proceeding.ol red made it up here with little trouble.my dad told me my fathers day present from him is he will buy me a 700r4 transmission of my choosing and he will pay for the bodywork and paint to be done.havent fully decided yet but may paint the truck blue inside and out so might end callin him ol blue.will add some pics later of ol red at his new home and orange crush the truck who is donating his V-8 to the project.

[1974ChevyC10]

Sorry i havent posted alot of progress pics and progress updates as ive been hospitalized again for roughly the last seven weeks.as soon as i get all my affairs in order from being hospitalized for nearly 2 months i will get back on track with the truck plans.

[1974ChevyC10]

Well progress on Ol Red has come to a complete halt due mostly in part of the fact my dad has decided other things are worth pursuing versus helping put the engine and trans in like he promised.So i now have to get my best friend up here since he is very mechanically inclined and has alot of tools i dont for this sort of thing.I also have a broken lower left leg which is a orthopedic boot for the next 6 weeks at least so im kinda limited as to what im physically able to do.Progress on ol red will resume soon im just not sure when.Ill keep things posted once i know more about when progress will resume.