"BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB--->SWB “Jumping Cholla”

[loudchevy]

I have always wanted a 67-72 C10 since I was in high and saw the movie Dazed and Confused, loved that black C10. I had been looking for a truck on/off over the years and have been watching the prices climb and the quality of truck go down and amount of work needed to get the C10 driving on the road go way up.

My 15 year old son recently got heavily interested in cars (specifically import super cars) and had been asking about finding a project car to work on. He would send me overpriced crap that I would nix right away. He finally sent me an offer up link with something I didn’t hate. It was an hour away, so we dragged a trailer out and took a closer look. It wasn’t drivable, covered in AZ dust, mostly complete, and the price was right so we pulled the trigger and dragged it home!

All my previous builds and modification were done to square bodies so I wanted to document the rebuild with a build thread for this 1970 C10 LWB. I have used this site plenty of times since I created an account over a decade ago and I figured its about time to contribute something to the forum in return.

Plans for this C10 is to clean off the 53 years of dust and crud stuck to everything and slap some fresh paint on, upgrade to disc brakes all around, new steering components, new suspension bushings, 3” drop in the rear, 2" drop spindles in the front, vintage air A/C under the dash, relocate gas tank to the rear, and replace the motor and TH350 with a 454 and Monster built 700R4.

Thanks for looking and following along.

[loudchevy]

With it finally home, we got to work with some clean up. Had to get the toolbox off the bed and ditch the work truck side mirrors.

Next up was to clean the interior out and where the build thread got it’s title from. The previous tenant was a lovely Rat that decided to bring some security into the cab in the form of some Jumping Cholla cactus to protect it’s nest he built under the bench seat. Once we were done vacuuming the turds and Cholla (didn’t get any pics) out from under the bench everything was gutted minus the gas tank, which was removed later.

[LockDoc]

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Looks like a good start. If you are not going to use the tool box door don't trash it if it is in decent shape, they are worth some good cash.... Heck even bad ones sell for good money.

LockDoc

[loudchevy]

Thanks LockDoc. I could've used your skills to unlock the tool box. I had to drill out the lock cylinders!

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

Thanks LockDoc. I could've used your skills to unlock the tool box. I had to drill out the lock cylinders!

That's too bad. The lock cylinders are pretty much one of a kind and are worth $50-$70. It's actually pretty easy to get them open without damaging the lock cylinder. I have posted the instructions on here a few times.

LockDoc

[loudchevy]

Once the cab was rid of all the junk we moved focus to the rear of the truck. We pulled the bed and removed all the rear suspension and 12b rear end. After a proper clean up, we added some 3” drop springs, new trailing arm bushings, some new disc brakes, and some fresh black paint.

I’ve always had bad luck removing the center pin bolt from rear diffs. Luckily the break on this one was near the end of the threads and I was able to use a pick and turn the broken bolt out! I threw some welds along the seams of the trailing arms while we had them out and cleaned them up. We removed the auxiliary leaf spring from the rear and cleaned up the frame with a power washer for the big debris and a wire wheeled it. The rear of the frame with get a fresh coat of black paint once the cab gets pulled. We got everything installed and got her back on 4 tires.

[loudchevy]

Once the rear suspension and bed were back on the C10, we had to get a picture of the family Chevy truck lineup! 85 K5, 70 C10, 14 2500HD, 03 Tahoe. I meant to do this when we first got the C10 home but needed to get a pic before the C10 was gonna get blown apart for the next few months.

[loudchevy]

Back to work on Jumping Cholla. Next was the engine bay. I wanted to get that cleaned up to make it easier to pull the front clip to get to the engine and front suspension easier. This truck hasn’t been registered in AZ since 1996 and the engine pretty much confirmed this. We cleaned up all the hacked up wiring and hoses that went nowhere, pulled the hood off and removed the front clip in one piece.

[loudchevy]

We took over the garage, pushed the C10 in and pulled the old motor and TH350 out. I was told from the previous owner it was a 350, but when I looked up the motor casting number off the back of the block it was 330817, which is a 400SBC. Either way this motor is coming out and being replaced with a BBC. Once the motor was removed, we power washed the front and started tearing the suspension and steering out.

[loudchevy]

I went through and cleaned up all of the parts we’re going to reuse (coils, arms, and engine xmember) and hit them with some paint. Then I did the same treatment to the frame.

I laid out all the cleaned up reused parts, new disc brakes and drop spindles, and all the ball joints and tie rod ends in the bed to make it easy and organized for re-install. Everything went in really well and we got the C10 back on 4 wheels again.

[loudchevy]

Once we had a roller again, we moved the C10 back to the side of the house and let Mom have her parking space back in the garage. Next thing I wanted to do was to fire up the 454. This motor was originally in my 85 K5 over a decade ago before I pulled it and swapped in a LS. Since then, the 454 has been holding down my garage floor. I still have the 4wd output 700R4 that was built up with a Monster kit that i need to get converted to 2wd for this build. It should match up a little better with the 3:73 gears in the 12b rear instead of the 4:56 14bff that is in the K5.

I fab’d up a quick and simple run stand, changed the oil, rebuilt the carb, made a wiring harness, bolted the headers on, fed it some gas and it fired right up. Pretty good feeling, plus the boy got to finally hear the motor run that he walked by 1000 time in the garage. I don’t really have all the technical specs on the motor itself other than what i can see from the outside. When I had this in my lifted Blazer with 37” tires it hauled ass so I'm pretty excited to get it in this C10. I know it was installed in a 1969 C10 when I bought it from the previous owner. It’s got Aluminum Edelbrock RPM heads/Intake and a nice AC Delco serpentine kit. Under the valve covers there are aluminum rockers and it’s topped off with a 750CFM Edelbrock carb, hooker header long tubes and has a HEI distributor. Had to get an old vs new side by side pic as well. I'm not sure if the long tubes will fit in the C10, they barely fit in my 85K5. We'll see once we get it set on the frame.

Some more pics and a video on the run stand.
First run test
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ricbf...6bwdh52y2&dl=0

[Getter-Done]

Great Progress.

So you Like HF as much as I do?

Hope your Headers fit for you.

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

Great Progress.

So you Like HF as much as I do?

Hope your Headers fit for you.

Thanks. I like to use HF for basic tools/shop equipment. If this was my line of work as my profession, I would spend the money and buy better equipment. I spent the money on my MM252 years ago and it was well worth the investment. My HF 4.5" grinders are older than my 15 year old son and were only 15 bucks each, pretty good value. I'd rather spend higher dollar amounts on parts

Even if the long tube fit, I might still switch to shorty's to get pipes in line with the inside frame. I got a set of POL engine mounts on their way. Hopefully the 700R4 is getting converted to 2wd in the next few weeks. We'll see once I get it all mocked up.

[loudchevy]

I pulled the cab to start working on the minor rust repairs that will be needed. The only rust I’ve found so far is on both rockers and front pillar kick panels. Looking at what other guys have done on this site to remove the cab, I built a cab cart on wheels that I can move around in the garage and a lift with a low point to lift the cab off the frame. It was a little sketchy doing it solo, but I got it done. The plan is to cut out and replace the inner/outer rockers. This will be my first real go at sheet metal/bodywork and I’m looking forward to the challenge. While I got the cab off, I’ll fill in the existing AC/Heater openings (this was an original A/C cab truck) and round out the firewall for a clean look.

[nicklear36]

Looks like my truck when I started! Looking to see the 700r4 install. Good job

[Shifty One]

Dang, you work quick! I'm worn out looking at your pics, and need a beer.

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by Shifty One

Dang, you work quick! I'm worn out looking at your pics, and need a beer.

Thanks, Everything I have posted in the thread has already been done. I'm just playing catch up on the pics and posts. I'm one post away from being up to date on the build. My next update will be of cutting up my rockers. I've been trying to put in hours whenever I can to keep the project momentum going. It's not going to built itself

I should've added the dates to my original posts, but the timeline is below.

Bought and towed home 7/29/23
Rear suspension/brakes done 8/13/23
front clip pulled 8/29/23
Engine/Trans/suspension/steering pulled 9/3/23
Front suspension/steering/brakes installed 9/9/23
454 ran on test stand 9/14/23
Cab removed and put on cart 9/17/23
Passenger rocker started 9/21/23
Driver rocker started 9/26/23

[Shifty One]

Yeah....Speedy Gonzales quick....

[clay68c10]

Nice progress, you’re on a roll. Keep it up!
What engine fan will you be using? There’s not a lot of room front to rear once you have a BBC in these trucks. My last one had a 454 and it was tight. I wanted to run that serpentine setup but I didn’t want to run out of room. I think it would have cleared a trimmed Mk8 fan but I never pulled the trigger on it.

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

Nice progress, you’re on a roll. Keep it up!
What engine fan will you be using? There’s not a lot of room front to rear once you have a BBC in these trucks.

I had this dual electric fan setup (I think it's a Perma Cool) in front of the 454 when it was in my K5. I kept it on the K5 when I did my LS swap, but i think I'm going to steal it and put it on the C10. The K5 is in semi-retirement at this point, so it won't mind if I borrow some parts.

[loudchevy]

This post will bring the build up to date. The rocker replacement started a week and a half ago and I tackled the passenger side first. The rust wasn't terrible but and was really only isolated to rockers, toe kick, and the rear section of the front pillar. I ordered up some replacement panels from LMC and grabbed a fresh pack of cut off wheels and got to work. This is my first attempt at sheet metal/body work.

[loudchevy]

After getting the passenger inner rocker installed. I moved over to the drivers side and start cutting away to rot. The drivers side was the worst of the 2. I got more pics of the drivers side during the process. I was able to get the inner rocker,, pillar, and toe kick installed.

[loudchevy]

After I got the drivers side buttoned up, i moved back to the passenger to finish the toe kick and pillar.

This week I want to get the doors bolted back on to make sure I'm good on the inner rocker before doing anything with the outer. I ordered some Honda door deals based on some feedback from others recently on the forum. Once those come in, I'll trim and fit the outers and get them tacked and burned in place. I still have some pin holes that need to be filled and some grinding/sanding to do, but feel like I got 80% of the rockers done at this point.

[Shifty One]

Looks good for a first-timer!

[loudchevy]

Small update. Trying to keep busy while waiting for the door seals to come in (hopefully Monday). I started filling in the blower opening and rounding the passenger side firewall to match the drivers and covering the top channel on Monday night. Everything was tacked in place and burned in. I stitched welded the joint of the channel top to vertical firewall. I figured i can use body filler to float out any warpage and tacking was gonna take forever and be harder to clean up in the joint. The outer lip was all tacked and ground/sanded smooth. I Still have the stitch welds to clean up but diggin how it turned out. Next will be filling in the a/c openings and getting rid of that little bump on the top of the raised a/c panel so it matches the drivers side, cuz might as well.