Last weekend, the weather warmed up enough to get the C10 out of winter hibernation and into the shop for some work/play.
Springtime Joy Ride
Since the truck hadn't been run in almost five months, I started by checking the fluids and reconnecting the battery. I parked it last fall with a full tank of fuel, treated with STA-BIL. After sitting for so long, I expected a dry carb and lots of engine cranking. To my surprise, the engine coughed once, then jumped to life. Oil pressure came up immediately and it idled well.
After a few minutes of warm up, I took the truck for a drive in the country to blow the cobwebs out. It really was nice to get the truck back out on the road. Old trucks are good for the soul.
New Fender-mounted Antenna
If you've been following along, you know that I installed a stereo last fall along with a hidden antenna. The hidden antenna worked great, as long as I was holding in free space in the middle of the cab. However, as soon as I set it down or tried to mount it, the reception fell apart completely. I was hoping The hidden antenna was intended to make it easier to cover and uncover the truck without fighting the after market fender-mounted antenna the previous owner had mounted. But, I just can't live with the lousy reception.
Over the winter, I found a better quality fender-mounted antenna on Amazon. This one is intended as a replacement for 1980's GM J-body's like the Chevy Celebrity and the Buick Century. There were two features that stood out. First, the antenna came with five different angled bases, allowing me to choose the right angle for the fender without any crazy pivot screws. Two, because the angled bases are fixed, the antenna mast unscrews from the base, just like a factory antenna would. When I want to throw the cover on the truck, I can easily unscrew the antenna mast to get it out of the way.
Metra 44-GM935:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The new antenna has MUCH better reception than the hidden antenna or the old antenna that was previously on the fender. Mission accomplished.
New Upper Radiator Hose
This seems like a simple maintenance item, but because the engine isn't original to the truck, finding a radiator that fit correctly was like solving a murder mystery. The previous owner installed a universal flexi-hose, which looked like garbage. I thought about trying a reproduction of the original steel tube-style hoses, but they're pretty pricey and I'm not sure I have the correct water neck angle. So, I went in search of a rubber replacement that might fit. Over the winter, I read a suggestion here on the forum. This hose was cheap (only $12) and it was almost a perfect fit.
Dayco 70344:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
If you have a later model small block in your truck with an original-style radiator, give this hose a try. I had to trim a couple of inches off of one end of the hose, and the radiator end was a tight fit, but the angle was perfect and it looks a whole lot better than the silly flexi-hose.
Bucket Seats (Part 1)
And now, the part you've all been waiting for. I started working on installing the new ProCar low back bucket seats. First off, I love the way these seats look. They have the perfect look for a classic truck. The only thing that would make them better is two-tone blue/white covers, like the factory bench seats. Maybe someday...
I started by removing the clapped out square body bench seat that the previous owner installed. It served the purpose, but they vinyl was torn, the springs were bent, and the foam padding was shot. Once I had the old seat out of the way, I found something I hadn't noticed when I had the seat out last fall. I found extra holes in the cab floor. Apparently, at some point in the past, somebody else had bucket seats in this truck. I wonder what happened to them?
With the cab emptied out, I set the new driver side bucket in place. As I expected, the slider mounts set the seat about 5" too low. So, I set about fabricating a set of seat risers. This turned out to be tougher than I expected.
Initially, I thought I could get away with four individual "uprights", one on each corner of the seat. But, this turned out to be too flimsy. There is enough flex in the sliders that the seat wiggled all over the place. Next, I tied the front and rear uprights together with a strip of bar stock. This gave me two risers, one for the left side of the seat, one for the right side of the seat. This eliminated the front-to-back flex, but there was still too much side-to-side flex. So, I added a two more strips of bar stock to tie the two sides together. This formed one solid riser for all four corners. The flex was all but eliminated. But, there was another problem.
With the uprights positioned directly below the four slider mounting points, the seat was too far to the left. The two right corners of the riser were sitting against the transmission tunnel. So, out came the cutting wheel. I moved the two right-side uprights toward the center of the seat by 1 1/2" and added 1 1/2 "ears to mount the seat to. Then, I tied the four uprights back together with bar stock. This allowed me to move the whole rig (seat, slider, and riser) closer to the center of the cab.
You can see the finished (but still unpainted) driver-side riser in the picture below. I'm pretty happy with the way the riser turned out. The seat sits high enough to be comfortable and there should be plenty of space under the seats for jumper cables, gloves, etc. I have all of the steel cut for the passenger-side riser, but I ran out of warm weather. We've been back down near freezing all week. As soon as we get some warm weather again, I will weld up the second riser and get the seats mounted in the cab. More to come...