69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP

[68 TT]

Finally got my new compressor working so I can get back to work on my truck projects.

Turns out I had a bad start capacitor on the new compressor that mimicked poor voltage to the electric motor. Fixed the problem and it starts & runs great now.

I tied it into my old compressor tank so I now have 93 gallons of 150 psi air available to run my pneumatic tools. That should get the job done.

Just a little more work to do on the house then I can start back on the trucks again. Just in time for summer.

[fakerwade]

Better hurry,,,the heat is coming!! you'll have to get up at 5 in the morning to work on it.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by fakerwade

Better hurry,,,the heat is coming!! you'll have to get up at 5 in the morning to work on it.

I hear ya. 15 to 20 degrees above average in May isn't a good sign for this summer.

Just have to finish rebuilding the deck stairs & guardrail then I can get to work on the trucks.

[tantrumpipeline]

looks like a cool project and another stepper for me to follow for motivation

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by tantrumpipeline

looks like a cool project and another stepper for me to follow for motivation

Thanks. I ordered some parts for it finally. Got the super strength U-joints for my driveshaft and the leaf spring perches so I can do the axle over spring flip to get this thing lower to the ground. It looks like a 4x4 right now with the factory heavy duty spring package.

[68 TT]

Did a whole lot of digging through my parts stash and getting my priorities straight over the winter and during the lousy weather spring we had.

I am tired of my Malibu, I don't need it, my wife hates it and it really doesn't have much market value in good shape. It will barely bring $3000 in great shape so the nice under 2000 mile freshly rebuilt 4-bolt 400 engine from it is going into the stepside.

I ordered some cheap chambered mufflers to go onto the Malibu so the ceramic coated headers and 50-series delta flow Flowmaster mufflers from it can go onto the stepside too.

With the 400 engine the stepside can now have power brakes and power steering plus it will be getting some other street truck creature comforts to make it less like a tractor and more like a modern vehicle. After I get some of the other projects done it will get a 4L60 to replace the long tailshaft T-350 and the 400 will get one of the direct port fuel injection systems I have on the shelf. Not sure if I will go with the TPI intake or with a rear distributor converted LT1 intake but both systems will be run by the same 91 Z/28 ECM.

The 67 C10 is in need of too much body work and rust repair for anyone to want it around here and I really don't need three trucks so I am not going to put any more time or money into it. It is getting cannibalized for roof parts to fix the stepside cab, to donate the trailing arm suspension for the stepside to use down the road and to put a cheap drivetrain into the Malibu so it can go away with no regrets or loss of investment. The only good part of the fenders are the cup areas so they are getting cut up to use to fix the only bad areas on the fenders of the 69 K10. I might make a trailer out of the beat up bed to save the wear & tear on my other trucks when some real work has to be done too.

The 396 in the stepside now is going back into the Camaro where it belongs (until I get the funds together to finish building the new 496 short block for it). I order most of the parts I need to get the Camaro back on the road again. It got used as a cash machine when I got laid off ten years ago and I have been putting it back together ever since on a much smaller budget. This time around I am making it into a street / strip car instead of a pure drag car like it was before. The roll cage is gone and will not come back. I will limit the power to keep it in the 11.50 to 11.99 ET range so it will not need to have a roll bar by NHRA standards. It won't go to the track very often and will spend most of its time on the street so I can deal with the safety issue. My wife couldn't get in the car before because of her bad back and the back seat was unusable with the roll cage tubing in the way so it had to go. This way my whole family can go for a ride with me and enjoy it at the same time. I have mufflers and tail pipes on it now too. No more open headers. My neighbors will be much happier on Saturday mornings now I am building a big X-pipe with capped side exits that will bypass the mufflers if I want to uncork it at the track. The poor thing has been in primer since 1987 too so it is going to get painted

[VA72C10]

sounds like you got it all figured out!

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

sounds like you got it all figured out!

Now I just have to do all the work but that will be fun

[mcbassin]

Wow Mike you have a lot irons in the fire! I'm glad you have a plan to get it all done.
We're going to need some pictures now
Posted via Mobile Device

[fakerwade]

Priority's, priority's,,,,

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Wow Mike you have a lot irons in the fire! I'm glad you have a plan to get it all done.
We're going to need some pictures now

No kidding. I am trying to get my vehicular A.D.D. under control a bit and cutting two of my project vehicles out of the herd. I think three is enough

I figured I should start a rebuild thread on the Camaro too so here it is:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=528952

I have the order of the work I need to do nailed down pretty good on my to do list so I can be as efficient as possible with what time I have to get things done. I will be bouncing around on the vehicles a bit at first with all the engine swaps and parts transfer work but once that is done I can focus my energy on one vehicle at a time.

First I can get the 67 C10 cut up for the parts I need then put the Malibu together and send it on its way.

The funds from the sale of the Malibu will pay for the rest of the short block parts I need to finish my 496 short block for the Camaro. It is the easiest to get done and on the road as it needs no rust repair and very little body work before paint can go on. Just a little trailer, pit & storage rash here and there from 15 years of racing. It can also run & drive before the 496 is done and the paint can wait. I need to drive that car again soon. It has been undrivable for way too long.

The 396 runs fine and has new heads, cam, timing set, oil pump & bearings. It just smokes a bit because the block needs bored out to fix the cylinder wear. That is why I have a fully machined 454 block in the shed. I couldn't justify paying the money to rebuild a 396 when a 454 or 496 would cost about the same money. I just couldn't make up my mind on what engine to build until recently. I kept thinking about a 427 I built years ago that was a great street engine but pistons are tough to get for them now and cost so much I can't justify the expense. I can buy nice rods and pistons for a 496 for what a set of 427 pistons cost. I nearly scrapped the big block entirely and went with an LS engine swap & single turbo setup. It would cost about the same but there is just something really cool about a big block Camaro plus I have a ton of big block specific Camaro parts that I couldn't use elsewhere & wouldn't get my money back if I tried to sell them.

Stay tuned for more pics. The progress will come soon. The house projects are nearly done then I can get the real work under way.

[68 TT]

Pulled the manual disc master cylinder off the stepside. The flat clear coat sucks and failed in many spots I know had good coverage.

I cleaned it up and coated it with a stainless steel coating I found at a garage sale. Looks just like raw cast iron when dry. It is now on my Camaro.

I used the last of the can on the C2500 LD disc brake rock shields for the stepside. They were rusty, greasy & beat up. I cleaned them up in the parts washer, sand blasted the rust off then sprayed them with the stainless coating. They look pretty good compared to how ugly they were before.

The stepside will be getting power brakes now that it will be getting an engine that makes enough vacuum for them to work properly.

[fakerwade]

Looks pretty good! Nice to see some progress. Your Camaro is pretty bad a$$!! Hope you get it up and running soon too!

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by fakerwade

Looks pretty good! Nice to see some progress. Your Camaro is pretty bad a$$!! Hope you get it up and running soon too!

Thanks Wade. I hope to have the Camaro running & moving under its own power again soon with the stepside not far behind.

[68 TT]

Thinning the herd a bit and focusing on getting some major milestones completed. I really don't need or want a beater garbage hauler truck so the rust infested beat up and worn out 67 C10 is getting cannibalized for parts to fix the stepside. The K10 truck will not be too nice to use as a truck so it can pull double duty as a work rig and a daily driver truck.

The 67 C10 cab is getting the roof cut off to repair the stepsides roof damage from the original owners roof top mounted service light and the resulting water leak induced cancer in the inner roof skin. It will also be donating the good 69 front clip to the stepside as well as donating the black painted front bumper and the in-cab fuel tank.

I really like the 67/68 side trim that goes up and over the wheel arches and want it on my truck. It just wouldn't look right on a stepside so the 67/68 front clip will be going back onto the K10 truck.

The 4-bolt 350 from the 67 C10 will be going into the stepside as well. I was contemplating using the 400 from the Malibu but want something that will run a little cooler in traffic and is not so high strung. The 400 is built for a street/strip muscle car and just wouldn't be fun to drive in a daily driver truck so it is staying in the Malibu where it belongs.

I should have the 396 out of the stepside and back into the Camaro where it belongs in the next few days. After that I need to do some brake plumbing on the stepside and then can drop the 4-bolt 350 in.

I want to get the stepside running & driving before I break it down and do the rust repair to the cab & paint the truck. I have a bunch of fab work to do and hate having to work gingerly around a nice paint job.

[jlsanborn]

That's a lot of wrenching you've done there! Subscribed!

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

Thanks Wade. I hope to have the Camaro running & moving under its own power again soon with the stepside not far behind.

We'll need to see some video of this

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

We'll need to see some video of this

I'd like to see that too

This heat is killing me but I am working on it.

[68 TT]

As usual the Camaro got put on the back burner with the family coming first.

My need for a truck has also pushed the Camaro down the list too.

Got to work upgrading the steering and brakes on the stepside in preparation for the new engine. Installed the power steering gear box from my 67 C10 along with the Delco brake booster I had and a new power disc master cylinder I picked up.

Reconfigured and converted the drum brake hard lines from the distribution block to fit the disc brake proportioning valve with a couple reducer fittings from the parts store.

Also bent the 67 hard lines to match up with the different angle of the 69 flex hose mounting tabs.

Still more to do on the front brake conversion. I put it together the first time with the upper arms on the wrong sides to what the caster angle would be. The spindle angle measured out at 14 degrees this way. A bit too much without relocating the lower A-arms to bring it down. I will put the upper A-arms back on the stock side and relocate the lower arms instead to give me the 5 to 8 degrees of caster I want.

Started cutting the 67 cab apart to get the good roof inner & outer skins I need for the stepside. Man the bottom side of that 67 was rusty. Seattle weather and a leaky cowl area really took its toll on that poor truck.

A little more cutting on the 67 to get it out of the way so I have room to work.

After that I just need to yank the engine out of the Malibu and drop it into the stepside.

Lots of clean up and paint work to do but most of that will not happen until after I put the whole truck together. Pics to follow once I get them off the camera at home.

[68 TT]

Made a little progress the last couple days. Decided I wanted a freshly rebuilt engine in the stepside instead of an 80,000 mile 350.

Pulled the 400 out of the Malibu and hauled it over to the stepside. Decided to use the short tail shaft T-350 out of the Malibu too but after I had pulled the engine so I had to drop that by hand. Same with removing the long tail shaft T-350 from the stepside.

A little clean up to the stepside frame to do then the 400 & T-350 can get dropped in. I think the ceramic coated headers from the Malibu will fit the stepside. We will see for sure in the next couple days.

First pics are of the new power disc master cylinder and the power steering gearbox. Last pic is of my supervisor hard at work.

[68 TT]

Got the brake booster installed, fit the support brackets, drilled the lower support bracket hole that I didn't have, installed the new master cylinder, fit the disc brake proportioning valve and plumbed it to the master cylinder.

The drum brake fittings on the supply lines to the front & rear brakes are different sizes than the fittings on the disc brake prop valve. Bent the lines to fit and used a pair of inverted flare reducer fittings to make the conversion.

Got the organ donor 67 cab cut apart. It will never be a truck again but the parts it donated will help get both of my other trucks on the road.

[68 TT]

The engine & short tail shaft trans are in.

The headers from my 79 Malibu fit like a glove and give a whole lot more ground clearance than the headers I had on the truck before. As I expected the collectors exit right into the trans crossmember though. Re-purposed a tubular trans crossmember I built 20 years ago for my 70 Chevelle. Cut it down a little and reworked the frame mount brackets to fit the truck frame then gave it a coat of paint. Problem solved.

Next job will be to get the driveshaft in and check to see if I need to shift the engine any so it will fit right then I can drill the lower mount holes for the square body clam shell mount brackets. After that I will get the headers bolted up and start building the first half of the exhaust system.

[mcbassin]

Looks like good progress on this one. What's next>?

[jlsanborn]

Nice job man! How far back are you running the exhaust?

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Looks like good progress on this one. What's next>?

I need to fit the driveshaft, locate the engine to match and bolt down the frame mounts. After that the headers can be bolted up and the accessories installed.

I need to put a better driver side door on and install the new cab mount bushings then the cab can be bolted down and the front clip installed.

Install the fuel tank, put the seat frame onto the crew cab seat base and fit the shoulder belt retractors to the floor anchor points.

Reinstall the under dash harness and the rest of the dash parts so it is complete then install the front light harness and engine harness.

Do the rear axle flip to put it on top of the springs and cut the front coils down to match. Flip the upper A-arms side to side as the current configuration gives too much caster. Remove the lower A-arms and machine the cross shafts for 3/4" rearward placement to increase caster. When the funds come available it will get drop spindles & proper drop springs up front.

Make the emergency brake system complete and functional, finish plumbing the rear brakes and bleed the system so they work.

Cut the exhaust pass thru holes in the trailing arm crossmember and build the exhaust system.

After that I can put some gas in it and fire it up. Should move under its own power at that point.

Still a boat load of stuff to do after that point before it is ready to get blown apart, painted & reassembled. I may just hit it with a quick coat of satin black to knock the ugly off it. After this thing moves under its own power I will be getting back to work on the 4x4 project to get it to the same point.