Shawley's 1969 C10 Project

[shawley]

I've previously just built imports, but I've wanted a 67-72 C10 for the past 10 years and this year was finally a viable option to buy and build one. My last build was a 1993 Toyota Chaser drift car powered by a LS1 from a 04 GTO, but since a back injury I am taking a break from drifting and going to build a cool cruiser.

I picked up this 1969 C10 from a used car lot here in Edmonton Alberta, where the previous owner had spent some money getting the rust all repaired properly and repainted. I can do pretty well everything but body work so this is exactly what I was looking for!

Plans are slam it with a Accuair E-Level, 5 lug conversion w/disc brakes on front fix up the interior, full stereo (as that's what I do for a living), new engine, new transmission, fuel tank relocation, hidden hitch, and wheels.

Gonna have build pics posted on my Instagram @shawleydrift with hastag #shawleysc10




The truck runs and drives, and I drove it like this for the last half of the summer, but that engine is coming out, same with the manual and I'm tossing a refreshed 350 with a 700R4 behind it.



Since I'm up here in Canada we order lots of our parts to a shipping depot in northern Montana then just drive down to pick them up to save on shipping and customs brokerage. I ordered a large order from Summit Racing and CPP.



Just a few weeks ago we got my garage cleared out, and got the bed off the truck to start installing the CPP bolt in C-notch



Borrowed a plasma cutter from a friend to get the fame cut out for the notch.



Got he exhaust out and started to take out the rear end



This rivets are such a pain in the ass to get out, had to get my buddies to come help with that



More plasma cutting



And finally installed





We still need to box and weld it in to make it extra strong

Also two of my last builds a LS1 Chaser and 1JZ Chaser pro drift cars that I ran in a series here in Western Canada DMCC West and Drift West

[shawley]

Finally installed my heater into my garage and got some work done yesterday.

We got my CPP Under Bed fuel tank mounted up



after removing the one cross member it went it very easily, was great to have a friend there to help out with lining it up and mounting it





At the same time we got my CPP Hidden hitch mounted up and bolted in!






I installed the flip up plate for the hitch too, however i need to clean it up and make the cut straight, it was 11:30 at night when I did this so I called it quits




Now onto the rear drop member, way too may rivets to take out haha

[shawley]

I started to scratch together a list in the garage on the white board



Then we got my friends little 110 Volt welder set up just to weld in the C-Notches to reinforce them, they say you don't need to weld them however lots of guys online recommend welding them in place if you plan to tow, just to make it stronger.




Not the best welds but did a pretty damn good job considering its a 110volt welder, tho it does still have gas too.



Also started getting ready to pull the engine out, got the battery pulled, the headers out, and just started taking stuff apart.

[bbcmudtruck]

Great start! Your making great progress, keep the details coming!

[shawley]

Got some more work done last night,

We finally got the factory rear cross member out, had to drill/grind/punch/chisel out 14 rivets





Thing was such a pain in the ass to get out,





Got the new CPP Rear Drop Member in there



Went in pretty smooth, way easier than it came out!




Then just did a little welding on the driver side C-Notch





And the air ride kit is supposed to be in at BagBarn.ca this weekend, so hopefully we can start installing that next week!

[shawley]

Well we got some good progress this weekend,

Got everything disconnected from the engine and I got the transmission pulled out



Since it was about +2 this weekend we were able to have the garage door open and pull the engine out



Engine bay is actually pretty clean already



Started to take apart the interior



Got the steering column out and cluster all out



Then pulled out the gas tank





Ripped out the carpet as I have a brand new carpet for the truck



Some things under it looked good



Others looked bad and will require some more work with new things added to the list, shouldn't be too bad



Prepped part of the floor/upperfirewall area and painted it

[Justin@EntropyRad]

Damn you guys and your chasers...cressida is the closest we got.

How much you want for those white Varrstoens? LOL

The C10 is going to be one of your favorite builds though!

[shawley]

Originally Posted by Justin@EntropyRad

Damn you guys and your chasers...cressida is the closest we got.

How much you want for those white Varrstoens? LOL

The C10 is going to be one of your favorite builds though!

Haha yea, the Chaser was tons of fun, also owned a Silvia S15 last year too, but sold it to originally buy this C10.

Good eye on the Varrstoens, lol, they are not mine, they are a friends,

So far I'm enjoying building this more than the Chaser, but the new owner of my Chaser said I can still drift it this summer

[Justin@EntropyRad]

I hear ya, have an S14 toy myself. When my wagon sells, it's going to be either a C10 or shoebox Nova for me next.

[shawley]

My Accuair kit came in from BagBarn.ca, If your looking for air ride in Canada talk to Steve there, hes super helpful and the product is extremely well built!

I forgot to take pics of the kit, but I did test fit the air tank where I want to put it, right behind the fuel tank and the hitch. Of course I'm going to mount it lower down, that was just mocked up by myself to see if it will fit between the rails




Decided to look a little more into the floor rust, ordered new floor pan and kick sil sheet metal, that will be here in 2-3 weeks, so I'm going to cut out all the rust and weld in new sheet metal.



For the time being, I'm stripping out all the small surface rust



Then I will end up cleaning the metal with a rust treatment and then repainting the floor when the time times then of course do a bunch of sound deadening from Focal




As of last night we got almost all of it stripped down, time to start mocking up the air ride!

[shawley]

Did a little work over the past few days, but didn't take many pics,

We got the old 4 speed shifter hole cut out properly,



Prepped it to be patched and closed up, I made a filler piece and then my friend Gary welded it in, but I don't have pics of it yet



Thanks to my buddy we changed around the mounting of my compressors, for a much cleaner look





I'm pretty happy with how it turned out



Then last night we filled all the holes in the tank, got the proper fittings, plumbed it up, and turned on the compressors and it held pressure no problem!



Time to clean it up now.

I'm still waiting on a ton of parts to arrive including floor panels so I can cut out the rust and weld in the replacement panels and start on my wiring of the truck

[mooseknuckles]

lookin good.

[JD'S 69]

Looks great.

[shawley]

Did some minor things not really picture worthy, mostly metal work in the cab but not finished yet, so no pics of that.

I took my American Auto Wire harness for the C10 and took it in the house and modified it to integrate with my Dakota Digital instrument cluster, my Accuair wiring, my alarm, and GPS speed sensor.





Pretty excited for this instrument panel from Dakota Digital



NOT A FINISHED PIC, just a picture of mounting the fuse box and starting to run wires



Ran all of the lines to the rear through braided wire loom



And the mess of wires I'm left with right now that I need to clean up, attached and put into plugs and such, I'll have it all cleaned up this week.



Lots more work to go, just waiting on my BAG MOUNTS from Bag Barn

[shawley]

Got some more progress this weekend,

Got the wiring cleaned up on the air setup at the back



Got the front bag cups mostly mocked up, just need to run the lines and bolt in, as well we replaced the lower ball joints and will be replacing the upper ball joints too.





Trying to take off the factory U-bolts I snaped a breaked bar



Got that replaced and got my blocks/shims in, the lower shock relocation brackets and then mounts for the adjustable traction bar installed



Pulled the 6 lug axels and replaced with my new 5 lug ones from CPP




New drums on


Test fit the new wheels on the rear! Damn I can't wait to get this thing rollin for this summer!



20x10 US Mags U201 wheels

[mooseknuckles]

looks gooood

[shawley]

Thanks!!

What a beautiful day it was outside yesterday, got to finally work with the garage door open! It was about 10 Celsius outside lol, and all the snow is melting finally!



Got tons done, we got the new CPP Brake Booster/Master installed with the built in proportioning valve and all the new brake lines installed. CPP has some awesome kits for these things.




Got the mounting plates in, and my bags all installed





Got he CPP 2.5' drop spindles in along with the new tie rods and ball joints in, now just need to get the hubs on and I'll be good to test it all out



Also got all my floor pans from Classic Performance in Calgary, so we started to cut out the rust in the floors and get ready for the new cab mount to be installed too.

[shawley]

Got some work done last night, more less my friends Kevin and Trever got a bunch of work done on the truck, and i just did some small things like put the diff back together.

New wheel cylinders ($10 each, so why not do them)



Driver side drum all put together with new pads, wheel cylinder, and adjuster, as my old adjusters were seized.



Thanks to my buddy Kevin for doing that, I hate assembling drums! Passenger side will get done next week.



Front disc's on





Time to test fit, max height



LOW



It will go a little lower once we have it on the ground

[88Stanger]

Damn fine ride coming along!!!!

[RRR18]

Nice. I'm watchin.

[shawley]

Been working on it, and actually getting lots done, just not taking tons of pics

Rear bag mounts needed to be modified to work, installed and ready to go



All of the air lines are run, sensor lines are routed, and main power wire hooked up for the compressors.



Installed the rear Accuair sensors, fronts we are working on now



Just did some L-brackets to make them work



And my buddy Gary is still working on the floor, and the new cab support, the replacement panels are a little off, typical over seas made ****, some massaging to work.



But we should have the one side done shortly, and then get the driver side done right after it.




We are pretty well ready to drop the engine/trans in within a week now, just have to finish up the front sensors and go from there

[shawley]

Got some more work done last night,

My buddy Gary got the passenger side floor welded up,









And we got both front level sensors installed, and shocks in too

[shawley]

Don't think I poster a photo of it sitting on the ground laid out, can't wait to get it going!!!!!




So we pulled the 350 out of my buddy Jay's truck, to use in mine



Cleaned it up



Then got it home, replaced all the seals and then painted it







Lined up the 700R4 auto transmission, with a new TCI torque converter



And got the motor and trans in last night!





So much more work to do, and I wanna have it on the road in a month

[RRR18]

Be runnin in no time.

[shawley]

Well after getting the motor in went on a little trip, got to do some boating in Phoenix



And check out how JL Audio builds all of their high end Car and Home subwoofers in Florida



Got back and we finished up the brake system, and got to test the Accuair set up



Thinks awesome, just still waiting on my Ride Tech shocks







Got the steering column in too