Henry - 1984 C10
 

Well its time to introduce our new project. My second son, Owen just turned 16 earlier this month and just got his DL. He is eager to start on this truck and we have done a few things to it at this point only to fix issues from when we first got it. Here are some pictures from last September after we purchased it.

I got the truck from a good friend of mine Mike Henry, it was his grandfather's truck since new. When Mike got it was in good shape but needed a few things. He put some money into it to fix a long list of things. He provided me all the paperwork of what he had done and all of the original factory manuals. As we go thru this build, I will detail out what he had done when we get to those parts of the rebuild. All in all its a great truck, no rust, minimal body damage and just typical wear and tear on the interior.

Ken (N2TRUX) looked it over at C10's in the Park last year and his evaluation of the truck was what pushed me over the edge to purchase this one for Owen. Thanks Ken for the push!

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

We had to do a little work on the carb to get it drivable, but it did run and drive fairly well. Everything works on this truck, although the power windows lack in speed, the driver side actually binds up. Closer inspection shows that the glass has jumped out of the track in the vent window assembly.

After driving it for about 200 miles, the fuel pump went out. So, Owen got to replace that for his first lesson on this old truck. He did it with very minimal assistance from me. I did end up having to take the hard line out of the pump that runs out to the carb. He had to take out the pump with that line still attached. That meant he had to remove a few extra parts to get it out. We got that part swapped and all was good again. While I was driving it in early June, the water pump went out.

Owen finally had time to work on that last week, he again did all the work without much help from me. I had to help him with the belt routing when he was putting it back together and give him some advise on doing that.

For his birthday, I had a set of rally wheels powder coated Bengal Silver, which is really close to the OE color. Korbin helped out and get the tires swapped over and got them back on the truck. I found some good trim rings at the Pate Swap Meet that Owen cleaned up and I found a guy on FB that had a great set of metal OE center caps.

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Looks like a gem! What's the build plan?

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Plan is pretty simple at this point. Lower it with spindles and a cut coil in front, switch the front rallys to 6.5" wide ones with 225/70-15 tires. Do a flip kit in the rear so that the truck sits right.

New dash pad, might change the color to camel instead of the OE dark brown. Recover the seat with new cloth. Update the stereo and speakers, Clean/Replace as needed the dash bezel, A/C vents and a new headliner. Front bumper is tweaked a bit, so we found a good driver quality one at Pate this year so that will get swapped on soon. Replace the rear bumper with the Suburban/Blazer bumper and add in a filler piece like the Suburban uses. The whole plan revolves around how much work we can get done over a weekend. What ever we do on the truck, it has to stay running and driving. No long term down time.

We plan to make it back to C10's in the Park with the new stance and wheels, and maybe the headliner and dash redone.

Ill post up picks as we get items checked off the list.

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Nice!!! I like the color. Can you post some interior pics?

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Interior pics...

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

The inside of the bed is one of the best I have seen around here, they are usually beat up cause most people use these trucks as trucks.

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Nice!! I agree on the dash panel. I would think it would look better to match the door panels.

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

that's a nice truck...

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

I have an 86 that has the same interior colours. My dash pad was also Cordova Brown and when it was replaced I refinished the new one to match the door panels. Looks fine. The dark brown looks fine too. Pick one you can't go wrong.

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Thanks guys!

We are having an issue with the cooling system now. Replaced the water pump and thermostat and refilled with coolant and water. Yesterday it spit it all out, $30 of coolant gone...Looked for an obvious leak, loose clamp, etc and found nothing. There is one pipe plug is questionable so we are going to replace it with new sealant. I refilled it with just water, ran the truck till the temp was up and the stat opened (verified this since the upper hose got hot). I let it idle for a while longer and no leaks can be seen, so we will watch it close for a few days.

Y'all have any ideas?

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Looks like the one pipe plug might be the culprit. Swapped it out and all seems to be good so far.

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Finally got the cooling system leaks figured out, Owen split the lower hose near the clamp when he put it back on. Got a new hose installed and that fixed it.

The tires we ordered for the new front wheel finally came in after multiple phone calls to the sellers customer service line. The last one showed up on Wednesday. Maybe tomorrow we can get them mounted on the rims.

Owen finished up a welding project in the shop and I need to finish the rear seat install on the boat. Once that is done, we will do a bit a shop clean up and then get some work done on Henry to make it into what Owen wants it to be.

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Can't wait to see how this one turns out!

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Owen is driving this one everyday now. He and I have decided hold off on any changes till after football season. He has a good chance at making the varsity team this year, so we are going to put off any changes till the Christmas Break. The only thing we will most likely do is get a new dash pad next month, that we can do over a weekend without much effort.

I will keep this thread updated as we get work done on Henry!

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Much better with the rallies.

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Owen continues to drive and enjoy this truck. We have all the tires and wheels now. We have drop spindles and a rear flip kit ready to install, we need to get a new set of shocks for it and we would be ready to lower this one.

While attending C10's in the Park, we met up with the guys from Cheyenne
Pickup Parts. After discussing our options and looking at their products, we purchased one of their replacement dash pads. We made the decision to change the color from the factory dark brown to his Camel colored pad. Owen likes the lighter color. He provided us with the SEM color code so that we can die all the interior plastics to match. We also grabbed one of his brushed aluminum overlays for the cluster bezel since the one in the truck has some stains we can't get out. It is a 3M vinyl that looks just like the real thing.

Here is a pick of the pad we bought and the color options that he offers. Great people to deal with and good products!

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

We plan to work on getting the lowering kit install over the Christmas break. Maybe work on the interior too.

Owen just got moved up to Varsity this week, and they are undefeated at this point, so the whole school is excited about football! He is so pumped to get the opportunity to play on the Varsity team. Football and school come before the truck so the updates will be few before Christmas break.

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Thats going to look NICE!!!

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Christmas break is coming up, are all the parts on hand for dropping this thing over the holidays?

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

We have pretty much everything on hand. Still need to pick up a few cans of SEM die for the interior a few small things, but we are on track. Thanks for checking in!

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Congratulations to Owen for making Varsity. I hope that their season is wrapping up great. I'm on board to watch you guys build another one, and I really like this truck. When I get one, I tell people that somebody else wore it out, and I'm going to do my best to wear it back in. This truck seems like a great candidate for that. No major issues just a lot of little things to tidy up along with a drop in altitude.

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Nice truck. Looking forward to seeing more!

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Owen's winter break starts on Dec. 21st. I have just a couple of things to round up before then, but we will start hopefully that Saturday and have it back on the road by New Years Day so he can get to school...

Re: Henry - 1984 C10
 

Man, where did the time go? Since my last post we had a few major changes at the house...Both of my kids changed schools for the spring, and my wife and I bought a rental property. Owen and I did not get anything done on his truck like we wanted, but he does not start at his new school until the 8th. Maybe we can get some of the work done before that...but today is not good for painting, it was 18 when I got up this morning and should only get to 34 today. Maybe this weekend, I can get the shop warm enough to paint, it should hit 50 on Saturday....