New to me 87 c10. Some questions

[Dieselfume]

Hi all,

After of months of searching, I've settled on this clean 86 c10 that is an original Texas truck

1- the 305 has been changed over to a carbed vortec 350 with edelbrock carb. I have the original carb, but I'm unsure if the factory wiring and ecm are functional. Can the electronic q jet be run with out the electronics? I prefer the performance and mpg of the qjet.

Associated with this question, the factory cruise is there, but unhooked. Does this operate through the computer as well? Or can I supply vacuum to it and let it do its thing? It has a bunch of wires running to it.

2-does the th350c transmission lockup function work without the ecm on these pickups? Not sure if it's working or not yet.

3- I'm looking at led headlights for it as there are alot of deer in my area, and I drive alot of miles. Most of the LED replacements have a high and low beam built into each bulb. I'm concerned that won't work for thus rig since 2 lights come on for low, and 4 for high. What have you guys had good luck with?

4- paint. It's good, zero rust. But the passenger door is starting to fade faster than the rest of the body. When I rub on it a little I get color on my hand. Should I cut/ buff and wax? Or just wax? Or do nothing at all?

Thanks! I'm sure I'll have more questions to come

[SuperC10Tex]

Originally Posted by Dieselfume

Hi all,

After of months of searching, I've settled on this clean 86 c10 that is an original Texas truck

1- the 305 has been changed over to a carbed vortec 350 with edelbrock carb. I have the original carb, but I'm unsure if the factory wiring and ecm are functional. Can the electronic q jet be run with out the electronics? I prefer the performance and mpg of the qjet.

Associated with this question, the factory cruise is there, but unhooked. Does this operate through the computer as well? Or can I supply vacuum to it and let it do its thing? It has a bunch of wires running to it.

2-does the th350c transmission lockup function work without the ecm on these pickups? Not sure if it's working or not yet.

3- I'm looking at led headlights for it as there are alot of deer in my area, and I drive alot of miles. Most of the LED replacements have a high and low beam built into each bulb. I'm concerned that won't work for thus rig since 2 lights come on for low, and 4 for high. What have you guys had good luck with?

4- paint. It's good, zero rust. But the passenger door is starting to fade faster than the rest of the body. When I rub on it a little I get color on my hand. Should I cut/ buff and wax? Or just wax? Or do nothing at all?

Thanks! I'm sure I'll have more questions to come

Nice truck, and Congrats!!

3.) The links below is the setup I used for my 85, works great for LED!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F31V2CD...roduct_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XHD78DQ...roduct_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BDJR61P...roduct_details

4.) I would cut/buff and wax first to get rid of oxidation first!!

[TKCR]

That’s a nice lookin truck! Congrats.
On the LEDs, I just installed Holleys, from RetroBright. I can see at night now!
On the paint, I had a buddy of mine do a cut & buff. Then used UndrDog. Better than ceramic coating. Lasts a lot longer.

[Dieselfume]

What is "under dog"?

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Dieselfume

What is "under dog"?

https://youtu.be/tbxsClSzsEk

[SuperC10Tex]

You will be amazed what a good cut/buff and wax will do! Pictures of the 72 i brought back, not bad for 50 year old paint!!!

[LT7A]

Wow, that's a neat truck! Very cool that you are putting it back into regular service. I'm 98.34% certain that you can put that qjet on there with no problem. I would do some searching and read up. I have electronic spark control from 1982 but have left it intact on purpose. I don't know if you have interest in that, is the ECU gone? I like the idea that I can time it for performance, and have the timing retarded if I ever encounter pinging in the mountains or a batch of bad gas.

There are some spectacular results from cut and buff, but if your paint is chalking, it means also that it is going to be wearing thin. On these old rigs I do everything by hand. Maximum shine is less important to me than preserving the paint that's there. It gets shiny enough, and my target is good luster, rather than ultimate reflectivity. That said, I think once you get it cleaned well, one of the new sealer products like the ceramics may even bring the shine up a notch.

I recommend meguiar's number 7 as a treatment for your oxidized paint. Try to get some moisture back into it by hand.

For what it's worth, here's what I like to do, all by hand, panel by panel:

Careful wash
Iron decontamination
Clay bar
Meguiar's number 7 until it stops taking more product or changing in appearance
Meguiar's ultimate compound, but I might skip that step if paint is getting thin, possibly on your passenger door
Maguiar's ultimate polish
Meguiar's cleaner wax
Skip the last step if you're going to use some other type of sealer.

You can see more clarity and brightness in the paint with each step. It removes the minimum of paint and so it is something you can do every year, with just a wax or a reseal in between, without worrying about taking off too much paint.