Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Feel free! Its all about sharing ideas. :c2:

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

I was able to get a lot of little things finished up today. I had to shorten the Panhard Bar that I bought on ebay. A little too long, so I cut out the treaded bung, shortened the tube and re-welded.

I got the wheels on and the new centre caps installed. I like the way they look.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Pretty much ready to head out for a shakedown cruise... tomorrow. Curious to see how it handles and stops now. I haven't installed the sway bars yet. I want to compare before and after.

Here's a couple pics to compare the stance. 1st pic is on Daytona Beach when I first bought my C10, and 2nd pic is today. I did a 4-1/2" front - 5" rear drop. Same wheels & tires in both pics.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Lookin good, I like the stance!

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Great thread, love the truck the new stance is just what I'm hoping to end up with, I'm going 2" drop springs with 2 1/2 inch drop spindles on the front with 4" drop springs on the rear, I'll use lowering blocks to get the rest. Would love to do a BBW conversion but finding one I the UK? There's definitely more giant pandas

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Thanks FL71C10! I'm pretty happy with it.

I see you're in Orlando. I purchased my C10 in Winter Park FL.


Yes ibrown50, I can imagine. It took quite a bit of looking to find one in my area too. Not many around, and everything is so rusty.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Ugh! Another setback. I'd picked up a double-adjustable Panhard Bar from CPP's ebay store for my '63. I was a little peeved when it turned out to be 3" too long. I shortened the bar, as I mentioned a couple posts back. When I mounted it, the Panhard Bar was going to hit the Diff Cover. WTF?

I did find it odd that when I removed the "original" bar, that the mounting stud was not perpendicular to the mounting bolt. I couldn't believe that Chevy would build something like that.

When I got home late last night I did some searching here, and came to the conclusion that my rear axle is not original. :cuss:

I learned from this thread... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=617923 ... that I have a 65-72 rear axle in my '63. Thanks Captain Fab! My axle housing has a Panhard mounting lug on the right side of the centre section. A '63 should have a welded bracket on the right axle tube.

Oh well... I guess I'll need to do some work. I have a pretty easy fix in mind.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

I got my Panhard Bar figured out. I made a new, 2 inches longer, tapered mounting stud to move the Panhard Bar away from the Diff Cover. To correct the misalignment between the rod end and the mounting stud, I made a new threaded piece with an 80 degree angle where it welds together.

1st pic shows the old stud and the new pieces. After some tig love, the 2nd pic shows it all assembled and ready to mount.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

The new Panhard Bar fit great. Everything lined up perfectly.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Another nice job, looks great :mm:

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

One of those jobs I need to d to my truck. Panhard rod.

Also like the Rallyes.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Just on catching up on about 100 threads as I have not logged on to the forum since probably February. You are knocking it out of the park buddy, truck looks great!

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Thanks Ian, Rian, and Craig.

Holy smokes, where did the month of July go?

I'll have to recap a few improvements I've made to my C10... but no time right now. I'm in the middle of a very busy weekend.

I went to a big car show put on by "Old Autos" (monthly paper) in Bothwell Ontario, and met up with Dale (known here as 65sub), and his lovely daughter Sarah. It was nice talking to both of them, and seeing Dale's 409 Suburban. There was lots of cool stuff done to it, and I'm sure the "Twisted Little Sister" will be more of the same... but better.

The drive to Bothwell was nearly 2 hours each way. After spending a few hours there, we rushed back to Kitchener (about 20 minutes from home) where the annual Blues Festival was taking place. I wanted to see Watermelon Slim perform at 5pm. He's awesome! Former truck driver turned Bluesman. He plays slide guitar using a sparkplug socket.

After that we zipped home to Cambridge where the annual Ribfest was on. We had overcooked :( ribs for supper, went home to grab some long sleeves, then back out to watch more Blues. A long but fun day.

That's it...I gotta go. I'm getting the evil eye. Apparently the grass needs cutting.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

I found this Short Throw T5 shifter mod posted by a Stovebolt member named Steppenwood. The instructions can be found here: http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/shifter/

Basically, the mod involves moving the shifter pivot pin 1" higher, then adding a 1" spacer so that the shifter will sit at the same height in relation to the T5's internal shift mechanism.

I should mention... I'm using a stock S10 that I straightened slightly in a hydraulic shop press to make it clear my bench seat.

After making a spacer out of 1" aluminum plate, I dismantled my S10 shifter. I pressed out the pivot pin, then drilled a new hole 1" further up the shifter handle. The original pin measured .309" diameter. Rather than spend a bunch of time creating an odd-sized hole, I simply replaced the pin with a 5/16" (.3125") dowel pin, and reamed the hole accordingly. I used a -.001" reamer.

I like it! The shifter feels much more "sporty" now.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Anyone else having a bad day? I pulled my rear diff cover to replace the lube and to confirm that I have a 3.73:1 gear ratio.

Guess what I found? A bunch of damage to the carrier from a previous blowup.

Back when I attached the driveshaft to the rear yoke, I noticed that there seemed to be more than the usual amount of play when rotating the pinion back and forth. Now I see why. The spider gear shaft (or whatever you call it) is loose in it's bore. The extra play I noticed is the shaft moving around.

There's nothing I can do about it right now, so down the road we go. I guess I'll start looking for a posi.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

No fun today. I had Carpal Tunnel surgery... so I won't be driving my C10 with manual steering, or riding the scooter for a few days. This hurts a lot more than I expected, and now I have to look forward to getting my other hand done. :(

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Great story on getting the truck. You have done a great job on fixing it up. Covered up shoty repairs are never fun to find. Sucks about your c/t surgery hope it feels better soon.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Thanks lower50's. My build is pretty simple compared to yours! By the way, I've got a 36" Princess Auto sheetmetal brake that you're welcome to borrow if you want.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Ya it's a lot of fun work. Thankyou very much for the offer. I'll let you know. How's the hand?

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

The hand's pretty sore, but better than yesterday. Couple more days it'll be fine. Thanks

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Wishing you a speedy recovery from the surgery :metal:. You don't want to miss too much summer riding :lol:

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Speedy recovery, and if I can give you advice, look after it as recommended by your team.

I suffer from my feet today, because when I was 17 I knew a lot better than the doctors and removed my plaster casts from my feet after a week......

Good luck with the next one too.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Thanks guys. I'm back at work this afternoon for a rush job. Aparently, cnc programming is the other thing you can do with one hand. ;)

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

cool build ya got goin on here. nice work.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Hey Johnny! What is the story on your Diferential? Waiting for the hand to heal?

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Thanks Mooseknuckles!


Hi Craig, I pulled the cover and found some old damage. I'm not going to worry about it too much for now... just keep driving and save up for a posi unit. My hand is getting better. Stitches come out on monday, but I'm starting to do some light work with it.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Hey John. I'm glad your hand is healing. Are you planning to buy a new posi or are you looking for a used one ? I recently bought a trailer made from the back half of a '65 pickup. According to the PO it's supposed to have a posi in it. If you're interested I can check it on Monday.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Hi Dale. Yes, my hand is better... thanks for asking. I got the stitches out yesterday.

That's pretty funny... a posi unit in a trailer! I certainly would be interested in it if you're looking to sell it. But no rush... I have lots of time.

I'm right there with ya brother. When you ain't welded in so long it takes a minute to get your skills back. Looks good though
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Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Thanks dwlambert1701.

About the welding... I need a few hundred hours of practice, but there never seem to be time for that.

You're in Concord NC. It must be pretty cool living near all the race shops and all the related businesses. A couple years ago I spent a day touring Hendrick's, Joe Gibbs, JRM, and the Dale Earnhardt museum. Good times!

Yeah I use to be all in to Nascar. I can't seem to pay much attention to it anymore. But I do have some friends that work in the shops that help me out from time to time.
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Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Hi John. As long as my trailer ends up mobile you can have the posi for free. If you want to swap your non posi fro my posi that would be fine. I think the axles might be a different spline too.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

It was really nice to meet up with you and your wife at the Northern showdown truck show John.
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Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Same here. Really good speaking to you and your GF. I'm looking forward to seeing your GMC.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Dale, you're like Marlon Brando in the Godfather... making me an offer I can't refuse!

I'm definitely interested. We'll have to come up with a plan to swap them. I'll PM you soon to figure something out. Thanks. :c2:

ps, a happy coincidence. My truck has a '65 rear axle, same as your trailer.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

No time for updates lately. I took off for a mid-week getaway with my wife to Gananoque (pronounced Gananokway) Ontario to celebrate our 29th anniversary. Last night was a nice dinner, then the Theatre. We took 2-1/2 hour boat cruise thru the Thousand Islands today, then she hit the spa. While she's doing "spa" things, it frees me up to do things like this. Dinner's at 7 tonight so I better hurry. :lol:

Just a couple updates... I installed my CPP sway bars. I was pretty disappointed with the vague instructions. The rear instructions include a diagram that looks nothing like a C10 frame.

The other thing I did, was make a couple brackets to lower my license plate. I made them out of 1" x 1/8" SS flat bar. I ended up welding some flathead mounting screws into them to allow me to centre the brackets on the licence plate, then mount it all to the bumper as an assembly. Pretty simple.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Here's what it looks like before and after...

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

she's a beauty!..:metal:

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Congratulations on your 29th - my wife and I just celebrated our 28th in late August.
Greg.

Re: My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project
 

Thanks mooseknuckles!


Thanks Greg63... and congrats to you too. We must be doing something right. It's that old saying..."Happy wife, happy life".