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

Productive 3 day weekend. The cab, hood, cowl, and glove box door got their Urethane primer. Feels good to have the cab forward completed on this step. I left the floor, rear lower wall, behind the dash, and A-pillar side walls in Epoxy primer. My plan is to Raptor Line those areas. I can see a few dings and pin holes that I missed filling before this coat, so I'll need to take care of them. The boy and I also need to pick a final color too.

Life gets busy the next few weeks, so zero progress will happen on the body. It will give the primer awhile longer to fully harden. My rear patio looks like a C10 bomb blew up right now. The frame is back in the garage and It's about time to start working on something other than bodywork. :metal:

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

Working on something other than bodywork has been a great change of pace. I started cleaning up the 454 the last few evenings. I was going to swap out the chrome oil pan that I never really cared for, but decided against it. It wasn't leaking so I told the "might as well" devil on my shoulder to piss off. I scrubbed the oil pan, block, heads, and intake down with some brushes and degreaser. It was pretty easy with all the practice of sanding of body panels I have been doing as of late. I scuffed up the old red paint, wiped it down, taped up everything and sprayed a few coats of Eastwood Chevy Orange high temp ceramic engine paint. It looks great against the alum heads and chrome oil pan. :metal:

Next up is to clean up the water pump and the rest of my serpentine accessories. I still need to buff out the alum valve covers at some point to really tie it all together.

Once the paint is dry on the block, I'll bolt it up to the 700R4 and get them sitting between the frame rails by the end of the weekend. I bought a set of POL engine mount brackets with some new poly motor mounts and a new tubular transmission xmember with a poly mount a while ago, so I have those to install as well. I want to test fit my long tube headers and see if they will work on the C10 frame. They fit perfect on my 85' K5 frame with this 454, so I hope this will be the same.

I would also like to drop the primered cab back on the frame just to make sure everything is good before (at some point) spraying some color on the body.

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

That's a fantastic place to hide a vintage Milodon pan....:metal:

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

I love some Big Block torque! I bet that’s a strong runner, and it looks great.

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

HA! I have too many other things to buy that are needed more than an upgrade at this point....something like a Boyd Welding gas tank ;)

Big Block torque is the best! It's a strong engine. It would move my lifted K5 with 37" tires and 4:56 gears too well. :devil:

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

Great looking build. I soon need to paint my roof, and am terrified as I am going to use an actual gun. Cant wait till its over. Good job on the seam sealer!

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

Scott, the day you fire that up in the '70 let me know! I will bring some adult beverages so that we can enjoy that awesome first start sound!!!


Clay

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

Aw, c'mon...admit it, some black crinkle M/T valve covers, or some old anodized Moroso's....:metal:

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

New valve covers might be needed to clear a brake booster.......

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

More progress this past weekend! We got the 700R4 temporarily bolted up to the back of the block and stuffed between the frame rails. The oil pan clears everything perfectly (I already knew it would as the BBC was pulled from a 1969 C10 when I bought it). The drivers side long tube slide in place with plenty of clearance. The Passenger side needed a little grinding on the upper and lower frame rails to get it to fit. I had to do the same grinding on the K5 as well. The drivetrain will get pulled again and the TC will get installed. When that is out, I'll clean up the grinding spots a little better and plug a frame hole that is really close to the trimming I had to do, then I put some touch up paint in those areas before putting the drivetrain in for the final time.

We threw the cab on the frame to make sure everything cleared on the firewall before final sanding and color. Plenty of clearance to the body, it's going to be close between the driver's valve cover and brake booster (which was the same issue I had on the K5, and it barely cleared it).

Life is going to get busy for the next few weeks so C10 work will slow. We already removed the cab from the frame. Next up will be some plumbing for brakes, fuel lines, gas tank, and then exhaust.

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

I can't wait to hear that thing come to life Scott! What are you going to do for wiring? Are you going to go with a new Painless harness or something else?


Clay

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

Ya, most likely a painless harness kit. I didn't even bother saving the harness I pulled out of the truck, it was so cut up and spliced. Looking forward to starting with something brand new and clean.

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

Yeah, I am in the same boat. I am still trying to find out which harness to go with.


Clay

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

Not a very big update, but I have started blocking/sanding all the high build panels this week. So far I got through both fenders with 400grit and then hit them with 600grit. A picture doesn't do any justice for the work it takes to make a piece straight and smooth. Still have the doors, hood, cowl, and cab to get to.

I ordered a new SS brake line kit from https://www.inlinetube.com/products/sctb67d4 on Monday and it should be here next week. I still need a new master cylinder and booster, but I'll hold off on those until I get the painted cab back on the frame for the final time.

I have been flip flopping on the gas tank fill config (top or side) and think I'm going to go with the side inlet. I'm going to steal the gas tank filler door from the blazer and graft it into the side of the C10 SWB bed (that I still need to cut down from it being a LWB:lol:). I've seen a few people do this setup (https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...18&postcount=6 and I like it better than having to drop the tailgate every time you fill up. It will also eliminate the chance of dripping gas on the bed/tailgate.

Next week I'll probably stop by Speedway Motors and pick up a 3" exhaust tube builders kit and some mufflers to start laying that out soon.

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

Hey Scott, so you started with 400 grit on the high build? Did it eat through it quickly? I was going to start with 320, but I am not thinking that may be a bit to aggressive.


Clay

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

The 400 grit felt good to start with on the big areas with my block. I was worried 320 would take too much to start with. I did use some 320 grit Duro-Gold pads wrapped around a 1" round Duro block for the inner corners/radius parts of the fender. Those seemed like it took off just as much the PSA 400 grit paper. For the 600 grit, I used the same Duro-Gold pads with a block behind it to finish all the areas of the fenders.