American in Austria 83 Build
 

Hey guys,

I figured I would start a build thread. I am an American living full time in Austria. I have owned 2 other 81-87 pickups, a c30 and a k20 (which is now a rock crawler)

Anyway, the truck I have here is a 83 C10 with a 305/700r4 and a cracked frame! That was extra. The truck is not in bad conditioning by any means, just some shautty ass work from the previous owner to fix frame cracks and some body damage. Check out some of the purty welding the last owner accomplished.

The plan for the truck, powder coat the frame, CCP front suspension (2" coils and spindles), the previous owner already put in 6'' shackles in the back (not sure what that gets me for lowered inches). Rebuild the 305 a bit, runs fine, but I am going to put a cam, heads, intake, headers, dual exhaust and probably go with EZ EFI. I am putting a boyd tank in the rear. Basically its a full resto with modifications. Going to run either 18's or 20's, probably the boss 338 wheels. I am also running all Wilwood brakes, front and year with their proportioning valve. Well No need to list any more, you will see as I go. I am pretty excited to get this going. I have a fair amount done so far. The Frame is at powder coating at the moment, so in the mean time its cleaning and painting.

I have wanted to do a restoration like this for many years, just didnt have the time or the place to do it. Who would of thought I would have the right place to do it living in Austria.

Enjoy guys.

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Some pics of the frame fix:

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Few more pics of the axle clean up. Its getting new bearings (going to run the all in one seal/bearing). Got a new diff cover with the load deflector thingers.

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Here are the pics

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Some pics of the 700r4 clean up and paint. Didnt take pics of it before I started cleaning it, but i thought it was already painted black! I found a cleaning product over here that said its to clean motors. I figured i would try that before brake clean. Works very well and doesnt dry instantly like brake clean does. You can see the difference in the first photo of the side I wiped down with the motor clean product and the side that wasn't. I finished it up with brake clean to get the residue off and shot it with primer and gloss black.

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

I got my frame back from powder coating and it looks perfect. I am very happy with the result. Today I was able to get all of the front suspension on. But I do have a concern. I was able to get the upper and lower control arm together without using a jack to compress the spring. So right now, I have the spindle all bolted together and I am able to still move the spring around. Is this normal? I figured it would be like stock where I needed to compress the spring in order to put the spindle and control arms together.

All of my front suspension products are direct from CPP, 2" drop springs and spindles with their control arms . Can someone enlighten me on this? Am I missing something, Pics of my set up are below.

The other thing, I put all of the camber shims back in as they came out. On the driver side I have almost twice as many shims and the diver side rear shims are stacked so much I have zero threads showing through the nut. I have also attached pics of this.

Last thing. the pass, side spring has even less tension on it than the driver side, it basically flops around. Why would the pass and driver side have a different amount of spring tension? Both castle nuts are tightened down completely.

Please enlighten me. Thank you!

Paul

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Alright back on track with this thread for now. Thanks to many people helping me understand a few things and bringing light to my questions.

So moving on. I have just about the entire brake assembly put together. I can't find red loctite here in Austria!???!?!! So I have to bring some back from the US when I go next week. Wilwood suggest using red loctite to secure the rotor hats to the rotor. Or maybe I just use blue loctite and also wire the bolts together.

But this weekend I hope to clean up my leaf springs and get some fresh paint on them and assemble the rear end.

I just got some timken bearing/seal set in the mail today, so those will also being going in.

I am waiting on my inch lb torque wrench to show up, so I can make sure my pinion pre load is where is should be. Right now I have it tighten down until I coudn't move the nut anymore (all done just by a ratchet). To be honest I think the preload feels good by spinning the pinion, but I figure since I am doing a complete restoration I might as well do everything the right way.

I should be picking up a few more parts from powder coating tomorrow or friday and then the frame will be all back together with crossmembers and motor mounts.

My Boyd tank should also be here friday, looking forward to mounting that bad boy up.

Ill get some pictures up tomorrow or so of the brake assembly.

Till next time

Paul

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Got a few more things done over the last couple days. Finished up installing the front Wilwood brakes. I need to order more shims to get the caliber centered on the rotor. I used all four that they provide but i need another 1 or 2 shims and should be good.

I got the new steering linkage installed, other than the steering box and pitman arm. I am thinking about getting a cpp 500 box to replace my stock box. Seems like there are many good reviews on the box. My box is leaking and has some play in it, so it might need a rebuild anyways.

I pulled the leaf springs apart, cleaned and painted them up. Put in new poly bushings. Also installed my boyd fuel cell. I still need to get some grade 8 bolts and some rubber to completely mount the cell.

Here are some pics

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Looks good are parts ready available over there how do you like it over austria

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Looks like you are doing a great job. Keep the pictures coming.

Parts are not available at all over here actually. I can't even get grade 8 standard bolts over here. **** I can't even find red loctite. I either have to order everything or I bring it back when me when I got to the us.

But it's nice living over here for sure. My girlfriend is from Tirol. We live in the mountains, it's a beautiful place actually.

It's funny when people saw my c10 they thought it was the biggest truck they have ever seen. Imagine if the saw my long bed 4 door f350 I have back in the U.S. Haha
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Thanks buddy. I am really excited about this build as I always wanted to do a full restoration. But never had the time nor the place to do it.

I am leaving to the us on Tuesday until x mass so nothing will get done. But I will
Be collecting some parts to bring back. Hopefully the steering box, oil pan, trans oil pan, rear main seal, grade 8 bolts and red loctite ha.
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Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Sounds like a nice place to live in I've thought about moving but i don't know if I could part with my trucks

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

its a different world there for sure ... i have spent many of year(s) living and working in europe ...

and not many people over there have ever seen or ever ridden in these vehicle(s). its like a luxury vehicle to a point if you ask me in having one of those over there ...

it would be neat to see the surrounding around that you live in ( as in these so called mountains ). could you post US some photo(s) =0)

When I get gone I will snap some pics. But if you google Austrian alps or the valley in live in "oetztal" you can see a bit of where I live. I am a ski coach so it works perfect for my job. We have a glacier we train on 15 minutes from my house. Soelden glacier.

Where did you live in Europe? I have been living here for a total of 6 years now. With a little break in between.
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Here is a pic of our town. I actually live in a small village (about 20 houses) off to the side.
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Ok this will be the last update until after Xmas. I'm heading back to the us for work until Xmas. Will give me sometime to collect parts to bring back.

Yesterday I switched my upper ball joints so they now sit on top of the control arm. It also helped to bring the two control arms closer together taking a lot of the slack out of the springs at full droop.

Also started cleaning up my 305. Just have the before pictures right now. It's an oily mess. But after a couple hours of motor cleaner and a steel brush I can see bare metal again.

I did some research on the cpp 500 steering box and it seemed to get more bad reviews than good reviews. So I am going to look into other options. Being in Europe I can't afford to not have the box not work properly.

Till next time.

Paul
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Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Build looks great and will be following!

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Thanks man!

paul

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Subscribed to Follow the EZ EFI Install. :metal:

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Right on bud. I have installed two of these kits already. Pretty straight forward.
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Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Hey guys, Was hoping to get a bit of help.

I need to get new bolts for the engine crossmember as well as the support that goes from the frame to the crossmember (what the engine mount bolts to), but I did not have time before I left to take those bolts out to check the size. I am back in the US and I can finally get some grade 8 bolts.

I believe the engine crossmember bolts are either 7/16 or 1/2" but I am not sure. I also need the length. Maybe 2.5" long.

And the support going to the crossmember, i believe they are 3/8", is that correct? Maybe 1 or 1.25" long?

Thanks guys

Paul

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

Nice work so far. I sat at a table and drank a few beers while my wife and kids went skiing there. Spent 3 years in Vienna, Austria. Tirol is a beautiful place.

Re: American in Austria 83 Build
 

No kidding, what were you doing in Wien for so many years? Its always a good time sitting down and getting a bit lose with the locals here. They drink like fish.