72 lwb ongoing project (my 1st build thread/1st old school)

[fapfap72]

Glad to finally have a truck I can start a thread with, learned a lot already on here just browsing other builds. I'm 20 yrs old and bought my first old chevy a little over a month ago, It's a 72 lwb c10, was told it was a 383 but I checked the casting number about a week after my purchase and realized that it's a 305. I plan to either swap a 4bt cummins eventually or just a 350 for a while but in the meantime I plan to learn on this 305 and have it be my daily driver. Previous owners apparently had this truck in the family since it was new in 72 and said this motor and trans only had 800 miles on it but I have no idea if that's true. Motor doesn't look ancient tho and ran fine till the electrical started goin out. I'll fill in more info as I start gettin pics up but thanks in advance for advice & help, pics to come

[fapfap72]

first pic is the one from the craigslist ad, they removed the headache rack & toolbox. following pics were taken at PO's place

[fapfap72]

view of the motor at PO's place, couple shots out front of the house after I drove it home, 305 casting number 14010231 (78-86)

[fapfap72]

just some shots to document how this truck was treated electrically and in general before I got it. most of the wires on this truck are either spliced multiple times with electrical tape or run thru dangerous areas, new engine harness is in the mail now and I plan to do a custom dash harness and maybe do a stained birch dash or something with a custom gauge cluster. original dash parts all came in a box and they started an awful wooden one and lost interest. they even threw in the chrome trim LOL, this isn't a factory restoration project right now, just a custom daily project/learner for me, but not the usual idea of a custom vehicle with chrome trim and unrecognizable things that look awful, i just wanna do whatever i think will look nice to me, won't turn it into a donk tho I promise lmao

[fapfap72]

somehow the steering wheel got warped and u can see it from this angle, Grant 334 black wheel in the mail now, and idk what that rubber thing is supposed to be I guess some kind of makeshift gasket, just a chunk of rubber and that silver tube let out the back and stopped on top of the headers but didn't hook up anywhere, again I'm sorta new so please inform me on what this was supposed to be but it seems like an awful attempt at whatever it is

[fapfap72]

came with tilt steering wheel option, I'll post pics of the original gauges, dash parts, build sheet, etc.. they are in a box right now

[fapfap72]

current engine harness which I'm replacing and the new one is currently in the mail, and this return spring looks really janky, don't have much experience with these trucks or old motors but this looks pretty sketchy, please let me know what you would recommend to replace that or how u think I can take care of that

[fapfap72]

replaced the plastic fuel filter that was full of gunk, I was told the plastic ones are fire hazards and as u can see it was filthy anyway so I went ahead and swapped it for this new 4 dollar metal one from autozone.. also I'm using 1/0 power cable for the negative batt post to the ground on the alt bracket & for the run from the positive post to the starter, ran it cleanly under the frame so it sorta disappears and is ziptied out of sight till it veers off and bolts up to the starter, previous wires were run up under the fuel pump and all coiled & lengthy and as u can see they just clamped the raw wire to the terminal, hopefully the larger gauge & shorter runs well help it turn over a little quicker and get a little extra voltage, also the battery that was in this truck was pretty weak, I believe it was 625 ccas @ 32˚ Farenheit or something like that, seems a little small and with the awful wiring it's no wonder it had electrical problems

[502ms]

What a wiring nightmare! I can tell you that the wiring to the starter ay not be the culprit as much as the starter itself. Sometimes heat soak causes hard starts on the OEM sized starters. I recommend a mini hi-torque starter. They are pricey, but they get the job done!

The spring to your accelerator cable...mine had something like that, except it coiled to that clamp instead. Those wires....I wouldn't even try to make sense of them. Yank them out and go ATC style.
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[fapfap72]

Thanks for the feedback Leon, this isn't a permanent motor but I do need it to be a daily driver for a bit, I'll definitely look into a mini hi torque starter, & thanks for mentioning heatsoak that's something I wasn't aware of. My new engine harness in the mail & I plan on doing a custom dash harness so I can avoid spending like 400 on a new dash harness, I'm not going factory original on this anyway so it won't be as intensive of a harness to rebuild. But yes the current wire is a nightmare, serious hillbilly engineering all over this truck. Also thanks for mentioning ATC, I'll probably get some wire from them for the new dash hookups

[fapfap72]

and do you mean the spring to the accelerator on yours hooked to that hose clamp right there ?

[fapfap72]

couple random shots with the seat out and the dash hangin out while I redo this wiring & clean her up a bit

[Ol Blue K20]

Wow that poor truck! have fun learning it will be a challenge but well worth it

[fapfap72]

thanks ol blue, it was definitely not in very good hands but I'll take good care of it now, I'm like child protective services & picked up this mistreated truck and am now raising it lol

[fapfap72]

managed to somewhat reclaim the interior from dirt & trash that was under the seat & carpet, lotta junk in the bed too, lotta surface rust in the bed not eaten thru anywhere tho except a speck I saw a little daylight thru but not bad

[fapfap72]

this is the only rust spot eaten thru on the whole truck, this is at the passenger side door seal

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I now realize atc is the style of the newer fuses, my bad, anyway I'm thinkin about gettin the 18 circuit fuse panel from Painless & doing my own wiring to the dash

[fapfap72]

I'm not going to be using the aaw harness when it comes in the mail, I'm going to do a full Ron Francis Express kit & put the aaw engine harness up for sale on here for like 75 bucks

Like I said I'm sort of a rookie to older vehicles but I'm not doing a factory restoration here, so I was making too big of a deal out of having a connection thru the firewall. The customer service was great and really explained a lot for me about the history of firewall connectors and I thought it was worth sharing in case someone stumbled upon it in my thread, or if I want to reference it later on, I'll post the paragraph in the next post

[fapfap72]

From "Ron Francis Wiring" -------

Firewall Connectors

Publication # 124 Copyright RF 2001



"Fire wall connectors came into being about 1955 or so when the big three realized they were in need of a better way to add accessories to their vehicles yet not slow production time hand wiring the cars and trucks. The plastic connectors used first in the 1955 GM cars introduced a whole new way to assemble the car on the line without delays or mistakes. Since Hot Rods and Customs are not mass produced, my first thought is why use something that has little purpose if you are custom wiring the car.



Firewall connectors started off as simple 8-10 wire plugs located on each side of the firewall and allowed the engine to be pre-wired before it hit the line. Mistakes in this light we dramatically reduced. In the 1960s when accessories started drawing more juice, the firewall plug started to show more of its shortcomings. When ever you “un”wire a car for restoration, look at the wires and determine where the damage is. There will be some in the middle of a length of wire where some previous owner might have spliced something in. There will be some damage in the engine compartment where repair activity might have smashed a wire or damaged the insulation. Where is the worst? The burns, the melting? At the factory connectors and fire wall plugs



These firewall connectors have terminals made of brass and are pressed together with friction and held there by a plastic housing which is busy trying to hold up to 20 or 30 other wires in place. The result is three sources or trouble. One being the wire to the terminal, second the two terminals and third the other terminal to the last wire. The result is a clear source of trouble and proven by the melted housing. WIRE WORKS has learned from these indicators and manufacturers their harnesses with out the need for a connector. In a vehicle being wired one off the straight copper wire can produce up to 80 percent more current without the risk of failure.



Brass can only carry 12-16% of the amperage the a similar sized copper terminal can carry. Copper of course is too soft for use in smaller applications. Between the loss of capacity and the other crimps and connections, certainly a straight piece of copper wire (times the number of circuits in the plug) can work for you much better.



We have to use connectors in some locations between switches and wires or other sensors and wires but why use them where we don’t have to? I started my career wiring cars with the 1960s Mopar vehicles that had firewall plugs that failed in use. I spent a lot of time splicing around the firewall connections to reconnect circuits. Reproduction harness have the wonderful points but I suggest to you that unless you are trying to “reproduce a factory vehicle, the connectors in the firewall need to be considered. IF you want to make a more reliable system eliminate that plug. Check our catalog for cool grommets and firewall covers that really do the job.



Look at what made the original fail, look at age and technology of the fire wall plug AND the fuse box. Did the fuse box have some melted areas? Why put back the same technology that failed under less load than you intend to put it thru. Are you planning A/C? Power windows? Do you think the original fuses held up OK without these heavy options? Plan ahead and consider modern technology."





Thanks for listening

Ron

[fapfap72]

this really cleared a lot of things up for me so shout out to Ron Francis Wiring, looking forward to purchasing the kit and getting to work on my custom dash

as for the dash plans I am thinkin a Dolphin black face 6 gauge set, with birch layed across the current dash with cutouts for gauge & switch panel cutouts, without recessing the current dash any at all, possibly diamond plate with cutouts to match the birch & act as trim for the gauges and switch panel(s) but go all the way across where the glovebox cover would go, with non-textured black vinyl laminate to curve up and back where a dash pad would go .. thoughts ? still got plenty of ideas but that's the current plan..

[Warrens69GMC]

Wow, that is a rough one. Congrats to you for saving that one. It would probably went to the crusher if the PO had it stop running on him.

[fapfap72]

Thanks man I appreciate that, it'll be a gradual project, could be worse, could be better lol, but I was thinking the same thing, it may not have lived much longer

[fapfap72]

out with the old.. this is the PO's attempt at a custom wooden dash.. lol I'm no woodworking genius but I can do way better than this, when I bought the truck they even threw in the chrome trim lmao, no thanks.

[fapfap72]

gutted the rat nests today, ordering Ron Francis express kit in a day or two along with several other things such as a new ext. voltage regulator, maybe an anti theft relay or possibly battery disconnect remote system, switch panel, a couple 90˚ 1/0 cable lugs for my connection to the starter from the positive batt post, maybe some of the ron francis wire loom, firewall connector hole cover with 2 grommets, etc.. but 99% of all original wire from the engine bay & cab have been removed to make way for the new kit

[fapfap72]

picked up a set of 4 steelies yesterday, set of 4 15" 5 on 5, paid 150 for the set, these were in a storage lot but have a piece of paper taped to em that says they were on a 55 pontiac, I plan to clean em up, soak em in metal rescue rust remover, then paint em red & maybe get white wall tires