Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

I also go the rear cab body mount removed and the holes drilled in the new location 12" back. I love removing rivets, they're so much fun! :lol: The rest of the frame will get painted to match the front. Then I need to pick up some fasteners and bolt the mounts into place.

Aftermath of the process.....Nice little pile of frame crud/dirt, wire wheel wires, and cut off wheel and sanding disc material. Miller Lite can gave it perspective.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

nice work... look forward to seeing it closer to finish as are you!! so did the miller can give you a better perspective?...LOL!!!! Also any build info on the '85 LS swap truck?? I have a build page on here of my '86 LS swap

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Thanks! Miller Lite cans always bring the perspective. I'll have to check out your build thread. Do you have a link to it?

As for the K5 LS swap, I had the build on a couple of different websites, but they're no longer up. The 85 K5 started out with a bone stock 305 that drank an entire radiator of coolant every time I drove it. I scored the 454 (same motor going in this C10) and swapped that BBC in some where around 2006 or 2007. The Blazer didn't deserve that 454, I mainly used it offroad and was looking to get something fuel injected to swap in its place. It's a go fast motor and belongs in a C10/Camaro/Nova/Chevelle. I picked up the LS from a cousin in 2008ish and swapped it in the K5. It already had the wiring harness modified and was ready to run with 5 wires. I picked up a 4L60E and used a spacer that changed the 6 bolt rear 4L60E to the 4 bolt 700R4 output and made the 4L60E the same length as a 700R4. The spacer also had a port for a VSS for the LS ECM to read. The spacer let me re-use the 700R4/NP208 transfer case adapter.

The NP208 is the only original part left in the K5. The rear 14B has a locker and 4:56 gears, the front has a newer 10B with 8 lug outers, 4:56 gears and an ARB locker. I have a D60 front with 5:13 gears (plus 5:13 gears sitting in a box for the 14B) installed on a spool sitting on my garage floor as well. It was DRW and I had the hubs machined down to SRW. I also have a NP205 sitting in my garage cabinet that I put twin stick rails in that I was going to use in a doubler transfer case. I just never got around to rebuilding the rest of the D60 axle and "FINISHING" the K5. Life got busy with a career and family and the K5 got ignored. Some day I'll get back to the K5 OR I'll take all the goodies off and swap them over to a 67-72 K truck once this C10 is finished :metal:

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Yesterday afternoon I build a new trackbar for the rear suspension. The OG isn't adjustable and I didn't want to buy new bushings for it.

I've had a set of Rod Ends from Ruff Stuff https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/58REPARTS.html for years sitting in my garage. I was gonna use them for a front Panhard bar for the Blazer but never got around to it so I decided to put them to use in the C10. I already had a stick of 1-1/4" DOM .120" wall tubing as well. I had to shave down the misalignment spacer on the frame side to fit into the existing opening from the old piece. Once I could get the rod ends bolted in the frame pocket and on the differential stud, i was able to measure for the tube length and cut it to size. I just threw a couple of tack welds on the bung inserts for the time being and installed the new trackbar. I was able to adjust the bar to get equal measurements on each side of the frame to tire. Before putting the bar in, I had about a 1/2" difference between each side. I'm pretty excited how it came out even for something so small in the large scope of the project. I know it's way overkill/built for this application but it was basically free since I bought the parts with 2010 money :lol:

I'm not a huge fan of single sheer connections for suspension components, but the stud on the 12B will have to do since it's pretty beefy. I'll be adding some plate to the bottom axel u-bolts plates for the bottom of the shocks to get double sheer connections. I'll do the same for the front shocks on the top connection to the frame as well at some point (I think I've seen a kit somewhere so that should be an easy mod).

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

NICE WORK Scott!! hope you have a good thanksgiving weekend ;)

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Thanksgiving was good and it was nice to have some time off work. Hope yours was good as well.

I spent a lot of the weekend cleaning the middle of the frame. I had already cleaned up the front and rear frame when we did the suspensions. I had only painted the front rails at that time. So after the last of the 50 year crud was wired wheeled off, I got the middle and rear frame primed and painted in all black. I still need to cut off the last 8" of the rear frame and will do that once I get to shorting the bed.

I'm pretty happy with how the frame came out and ready to start putting clean parts back together in the coming weeks/months. The monster 700R4 is going to the builder today to get converted to 2WD. I want to get the engine and trans sitting on the frame so we can start laying out the exhaust, fuel, brake lines with the cab off to make it easy access to everything.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

just found this and am following your build. love the work and the name. i just cleared 15 acres of cholla cactus and it does jump when being mowed down with a loader. lol . im in Gold canyon az keep up the good work my AZ friend

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Thanks for following along!

For those non-desert dwellers, this is Jumping Cholla cactus. Pronounced 'choy' 'a'. In Spanish a double 'll' is a 'y' sound. When I cleaned out the cab and under the hood, there was cholla everywhere. It's pretty nasty stuff, it gets stuck to you just by looking at it.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

They just want a hug....

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

And never let go! Needle nose pliers work best to remove them.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Or have a friend that is an absolute magnet lead the way, and clear them out for ya!

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

After a lifetime living in the AZ desert and 20+ years of mountain biking, I have actually found either a fork or a metal comb to be essential in getting cholla out! I hate that plant and wish it could be totally erradicated from the face of the planet! LOL

In all seriousness, Scott you are doing a fantastic job and at a record pace! That is going to be one sexy truck when you are done!



Clay

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Thanks, Clay! Progress has slowed a bit the last month, but I'm getting ready to jump back in and make some more progress.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

LOL!! I see what you did there! :lol:... agree nice progress! ;)

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

LOL , cholla, hate it and great work by the way.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Nice work! Trucks turning out great!

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Progress is slowly moving along. The holiday season is definitely taking up garage time and I've been NOT looking forward to cleaning the cab up and getting the last bit of 50 year old crud off the C10. My 700R4 (snowman) is back in my garage with its new 2wd output and a fresh rebuild with all the goodies. I was just going to get the builder to swap outputs but he tore it open and found a few things to upgrade so might as well do it now than later.

First thing I wanted to do was build a new cab stand to replace the quick and easy wood cart I built a few months ago to work on the rockers. This version is made of some 2" square tube and bolts to the cab mounts. It's much more stout than the wood version. I left an extra foot on the end rails so I could lift the front firewall and use the rails as a pivot to stand the cab upright to gain access the the bottom of the cab. With this new stand I can rotate the whole cab 90 degrees by myself. I just throw 2 pallets on the ground and tilt it back. Worked out perfectly.

I started scraping junk off the bottom yesterday and got a decent amount done and cleaned up. I only took a pic of the results of the first 20 mins of scrapping. In some spots the crud was 1/4" thick. :rolleyes:

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Thanks!

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Slow moving the last month or so on the C10. Been stripping old paint from the cab, core support, and wheel wells. It a slow dirty process using a SCT and a hand grinder. I got the majority of the cab, core, and wells cleaned up. I didn't remove all the interior paint on the rear cab and ceiling. It's really not in terrible shape so I might just sand it and spray my primer over it. All the other smaller and hard to reach areas of the parts will be cleaned up with a sand blaster. Overall there is zero to no rust on the cab (all of the rust was removed when I did the rockers and adjacent floor). I plan on spraying this myself (it will be my first paint job) and I wanted to get the wheel wells cleaned up so I use those as practice before spraying the cab. Once primed, I'm gonna hit the under cab with some Raptorliner. I saw Chaparralman1974's cab with the raptor sprayed on and it looked great so I'm going to run with it as well. After cleaning up the core support, I removed the "pinch" folds on the top rail of the support. I cut some of the material out and hammered down the pinch for a nice clean look. I hope to get the cab in primer/raptor by the end of the month.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Here is a couple pics of the cab.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Nice work. My hands get tired just looking at those pics. That is a tough job.
I may do the core support pinch smoothing too.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Thanks, those pics contain hours and hours of work.

The core support shave was super simple. I always hated seeing those pinches on the top rail when looking under the hood of these trucks.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Nice work, I have a core support that I want to remove those from also. I'm also thinking about lowering the support ribs in the front to allow me to use a filler panel between the support and grill.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Nice work, makes my back hurt looking at some of the pics !

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Progress update....Spent the last 2 weekends stripping body panels and parts. Last weekend I started on the front quarter panels and cowl. I picked up Harbor Freight's sandblaster to get all the hard to reach areas that my 4.5" stripping disc and wire wheel couldn't get. It actually worked very well. I used the fine media from Tractor Supply after putting it all through a strainer to remove some of the larger chucks to not clog the nozzle. I got the wheel wells, cowl, and the fenders all stripped and then spent hours sanding those and the core support to get ready for some Epoxy primer. I plugged the antenna hole and some 16 other screws holes that he PO had put in the sides of the cowl (I think they had dual CB antennas mounted, but that is just a guess). I also filled the holes for the trim molding on the front fenders. I'm not a fan of trim molding on my trucks, I always rip them off when I get a new truck. I actually have all the pieces for this C10, but they're all beat up, dented, scratched and the black paint is faded. I also got the seat sliders, hood hinges, and front core/grill brackets blasted and cleaned up too.

The cab still needs more work. I have some areas to still clean up, holes to fill weld, and sanding lots of sanding.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

The truck is looking great Scott! I am looking forward to seeing it in person. Are you going to raptor line the inner wheel wells? I am thinking about doing that on mine.


Clay

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

After spending Friday night and all day Saturday cleaning parts, Sunday (yesterday) was time to prime. I had never used a paint spray gun before so this is my first attempt at painting. I'm not gonna lie I was pretty nervous about it. My wife had a good point while I was telling her this, she said "If you mess it up, just strip it all down again LOL" I started out with the wheel wells to "practice". I am using the A610 LVLP spray gun. I've watched hours of YT videos of people using this LVLP gun with success, so I figured I would try it before I dropped a ton of money on a HVLP gun. I was really surprised how easy the process way. First coat went on wheel wells great! I gave it 30 mins of flash time and applied the second coat. I think I didn't add enough hardener to the mix, because the second coat on the outside of the wells took forever to dry. While I waited for the outside of the wells to dry, I got the core support covered in 2 coats, making sure to add just a little extra hardener in those mixes. The core dried faster than the wells. Overall I was super happy with how the 3 pieces came out and it gave me the confidence to continue learning the new skill of painting. I burned through 2 quarts of the Eastwood Epoxy for just these 3 parts. More epoxy is on the way!

Next parts to paint will be the fenders and cowl. Then I'll do the cab. I wanted some easy practice pieces before doing the cab. I know it will be a challenge to paint with all the surfaces in different planes

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Thanks Clay!
Yes, I was hoping to get the raptor sprayed on the inners yesterday, but the outside of the wells took to long to dry and I ran out of time.

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Looking great very nice work!!

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Excellent! Lesson: Don't fear the paint gun! :metal:

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Thanks!

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Not anymore. Grip it and rip it

Re: BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB “Jumping Cholla”
 

Hell yeah! :devil:

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

That's a lot of paint stripping :smoke: Great work

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

Tons of progress the last few weeks. This past weekend was a great feeling of accomplishment. Along with the wheel wells and core support, I now have the front fenders, cowl, and cab in epoxy primer. The bottom of the cab still needs primer and Raptor liner, but that will have to wait until next weekend. It was a pretty good feeling enjoying a few beers in the garage staring at the grey cab. I still need to strip the hood and both doors, but I'm pretty happy right now. The cab and fenders are really straight pieces. The primer definitely shows where the dings are in the sheet metal but the 50 year old steel is in very good condition. Hopefully it all comes back together with minimal filler.

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

Pics

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

You have brought that cab back to life. I dread doing mine!

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

just read through your build...outstanding ......you have lots of metal work talent and tackling a SWB conversion along the way great accomplishment and all this in less than 6 months ...and all that wire wheeling ....amazing..... looking forward to seeing more and the finish product

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

She is looking good Scott! You will have that truck back on the road in no time!! :-)

Clay

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

Thanks Gents :metal: