!965 Chevy C-10 Take 2: Project Tanya

[kgmunro]

She is a cool looking truck for sure! What are the wheels off of?

[McMurphy]

You gotta take pics at the show too man !!
I cannot wait to see this thread at the top more.... you know, just sayin....

[fryer1979]

Originally Posted by kgmunro

She is a cool looking truck for sure! What are the wheels off of?

Thanks man. You know, I have no idea what the wheels are off of or what they even are. They were on the truck when I got it. I'm not really a big fan of them, but if I had the center caps that would probably make a big difference.

Originally Posted by McMurphy

You gotta take pics at the show too man !!
I cannot wait to see this thread at the top more.... you know, just sayin....

Of course I will. My girlfriend is huge into taking pictures so she helps remind me to take more. I'll post up some good show pictures here in my personal thread since there aren't likely to be many of our generation trucks there. I am trying to get Redneck6 to bring his '64 out though, he just got paint on his...we will see.

[fryer1979]

Oh, and speaking of pics, here are a couple of Tanya while I was working on her today. There wasn't anything special about the u-joint swap, so I never took any pictures of that....well, me and my good friend beating on the u-joints, and using random things to remove and reintall the center support bearing would have been good pictures....if there was someone else there.





The drive shaft is all installed now, and she is finally back on the road. She rides smooth as glass once again, man it feels so good to be behind her wheel again. I've got a lot of cleaning and prep work to do before the show on Saturday, so I'll try and get some more pictures as I get her cleaned up.

Oh, I got my new toy in the shop today.....rescued her from the crusher, litterally! The only reason she didn't get crushed is the crusher broke down when she was next in line. I found out about her while they were waiting for the parts to fix the crusher, and she was sitting 2 feet in front of it. I have a few pics from the salvage yard when we were loading her up, and i'll try to get them posted up here soon in an "Alternative Tinkerings" thread. The guy in one of the pictures is a very good friend of mine, and rents the shop right next to mine (also is a co-founder of my car club). He is the one who found out about the 'bird and let me know about her. He is building a '67 Cougar, and both cars will be built to resemble 60s style straight axle drag cars. We are hoping to have them on the road by next summer....Nothing on this body is permanent, the axle is a dana 60 we found just for the sake of moving the car and is held in place with rachet straps.

[Captainfab]

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me!.....They were going to crush a early Firebird? Congrats on saving it from an undeserving death. It doesn't look like it is in bad shape. Is it a '67?

Actually the body looks to be in better shape than my '68 Camaro

[fryer1979]

I wish like hell I was kidding, makes me shudder to think how many great 60's and earlier cars have gone through that yard that no one noticed or saved. I'm just happy that I found this little girl in time, and yes she is a '67. What is left of her isn't in too bad of shape, definitely buildable. Pretty much all that is there is a body, doors, and the front subframe. She's a ground up builder, but that's perfect for what we are doing with her. The 67s have always been my favorite first gen, because of the wing windows, but I have never had one before (even though I had a pretty cool but beat up 68 Camaro just after high school). I'm so excited to have this 'bird in my shop now, words just can't describe.

[fryer1979]

Where to start? Well this whole passed week and a half has been a crazy busy week for me out at my shop. It all started with a general ignition tune up at the beginning of last week. While I was in there doing the tune up I went ahead and installed the basic tach I have had sitting for months on my shelves waiting. I went to dial in the carb after the new ignition parts were installed, and I saw that the gasket between the carb base and fuel bowl was leaking pretty bad. So a rebuild kit was ordered. Meanwhile, I have always been aware of an exhaust leak at or around the manifold, so naturally I assumed it was the donut that sealed the downpipe to the manifold. At the same time I picked up the carb kit, I grabbed a new exhaust donut. After completing my carb rebuild, I took the exhaust pipe off the manifold only to have the pipe crumble from corrosion in my hands. So i went back to the parts house, picked up a stick of 2", a glass pack, and some misc supplies. stopped by the local exhaust shop and had them bend up my new down pipe, and my $65 exhaust kit was complete. Got all of that installed and was just putting on the finishing touches tonight when my buddy and I decided to swap out to my new HEI distributor. No big deal except I only had an hour and a half to work before I had to start getting ready for my regular job.... Turned out ok though, because the battery died from cranking the engine over and over through all the day's events today just 15 minutes short of my having to leave. So for now she sits, still not quite running but very close...hopefully tomorrow night we can get her dialed in and running tip-top. Oh, and that exhaust leak turned out to be a missing bolt in the manifold.....if you look at the picture that shows the new HEI distributor, you can see the stud we put in just in front of the carb (it is the bolt that is more rusty than anything else). The new exhaust does sound sweet though, love that glass pack on there.



Here are a couple shots of how she sat when we finished up for the day. In the more side view you can see my new exhaust pipe poking out from under the bed. I'm pretty stoked about my cheapie exhaust. I need to take the down pipe back off and take it back to the exhaust shop to have hime cut a couple inches off the top and re-flare the pipe because it hangs a bit too low for my taste.





Current engine shot. Once we are done with all of the dialing in I'm going to see what I can do about detailing the engine up a bit, I'm getting tired of the nasty engine compartment.



Most of my $65 exhaust kit:



And what was left of the old one still on the truck:

[fryer1979]

Found a picture of the exhaust tip my buddy and I made. It is our first sttempt and I guess it shows....but man that exhaust is LOUD! After this pic I spend some time trying to re-align it, so it does sit a little straighter now. I still think it came out sick for a couple rednecks letting their imaginations and welder run, .



Also, during my last run through the pick 'n pull in Sparks I came across this set of Caddy tail lights. Turns out it was a 50% off sale the day I was there, so I got the pair of tail lights for $25 total....yes all of the bulb connectors are there too. I picked them up because of the deal I got on them, but I'm really starting to lean towards some custom work on Tanya. Guess we'll see....



Oh, and we are working on a deal for a '61 cab from a guy around here that just wants his yard cleaned out.....

[fryer1979]

Oh and I did finally put my lettering kit on the grill I refinished last summer....sheesh. The grill and bumper are still in perfect shape so it all looks great....but of course I forgot to take a picture, . I also got the rear lights working again, just needed to clean the grounding surfaces on the tail light housings. She is almost ready for a cars show...

[66-PMD-GMC]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me!.....They were going to crush a early Firebird? Congrats on saving it from an undeserving death. It doesn't look like it is in bad shape. Is it a '67?

Actually the body looks to be in better shape than my '68 Camaro

67... wing windows... stupid people shouldn't reproduce and anyone that would crush an old Pontiac would be stupid in my book... GREAT save.. Do you have a pontiac engine? If not, I have an extra..

[McMurphy]

I figure you have to be a human that is motivated by something totally alien in order to run a crusher.
Like being a Mortician I suppose.