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

Wow that's a great treasure yard. By the looks of it I could spend a week there and still have more to see

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

That sounds like a great trip for you two. Sun, racing, wrecking yards, gators. Did You eat alligator tail? Taste like chicken from what I can remember. Heather and I love that kind of vacation.

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

Yep Bob, it was definitely my kind of vacation. Just the fact that I was away from the job for 17 days so relaxing.

I didn't eat any 'gator this time around, but I've had it before. I cant recall whether it tasted like chicken (too many beers :lol:), but I remember it being kinda "chewy".

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

Great update.

Thank you.

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

Great junk yard tour John. If I went I'd try to buy everything so I better stay away.

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

I am a bit late to the party , but good build thread . I love the scrap yard shots .

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

It's been a while, so here's a quick update.

I finally got around to reducing my brake pedal ratio, and at the same time lowered my brake and clutch pedals. My original plan was to add a bellcrank to the brake pedal rod, just like Chevyrestoguy did, but I gave up on it because I didn't have enough room due to flush-mounting my brake booster.

I ended up bending my actuating rod to re-align it with the brake booster, then added a welded gusset. Probably overkill. It worked out pretty well. I added an aluminum/bronze spacer to the spherical rod end at the brake pedal to stop the rod from wanting to flop sideways.

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

To lower the pedals I followed Jocko's thread, here... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=516070

I did mine a little different. During my lunch break, I stopped by the local hardware store near my work and grabbed some rubber chair/table feet to fit 3/4" tube. These were the smallest size they had, and being that I'm impatient, I just bought them. I soon realized that these were too big to fit snugly on the head of a 3/8" screw.

Instead of making adjustable spacers, I decided to keep them simple, and I rattled off a bunch of 3/4" OD aluminum spacers in 1/16" height increments, then just choose whatever length was suitable. I drilled and tapped them 3/8-16, and used a setscrew and shiny acorn nut to hold it all together.

My clutch pedal spacer ended up being 1" long, which lowered the pedal 1-1/2". The brake pedal spacer is 7/8".

I also welded my clutch pedal where the shaft is swaged in at the top. I noticed it was wiggling when I dismantled it.

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

Cool that should make it more comfortable to drive. Good job with the gusset over kill is never a bad idea.

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

I believe in the school of over engineering . Nice job, and I like the back stop idea as well

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

Haha, me too!

Sad thing is that it takes me weeks of hemming and hawing before I start any of these menial tasks. I am f**ked! :lol:

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

That's a great solution for the brake pedal, so much simpler than the bellcrank solution, have you driven it yet? Does it make much of a difference.

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

Ian, no I haven't driven on the street yet. It seemed ok back and forth in the shop. I think the lower pedals will make a big difference... probably not feel so "old truckish" any more.

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

Soon after getting my C10 I picked up a steel 1963 grille, with the intention of getting it chrome plated. :bling2:

At that time I inquired at our local (highly regarded for beautiful work) chroming shop, and got an estimate of $900 sight unseen. Lately I figured that if I stripped all the 50 year old paint off, I could show what great shape the grille is in and hopefully get a reduced price. I took my bare metal grille to the chromer and got an estimate of ... $1200 plus our 13% sales tax! I'm sure the time of year had some bearing on the cost... but needless to say, that wasn't going to happen.

So I took a chance and took it to be powdercoated... to hopefully look at least like the hard to find anodized aluminum grille. It looks a little dark, so it's hard to say what it'll look like on the truck against the chrome bumper. Hopefully I can get it together by no later than this weekend.

Also, I added headlight relays... but I still need to clean up the wiring a little bit.

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

Grille came out nice!

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

I think you did very well with the grille.

What was the price for it done then?

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

Good looking grille John. Your work on the pedals is interesting. I'd like to hear your thoughts after driving.

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

Thanks aerotruk63!

Rian, I got it done for $150.

Dale, I hope to get it out for a drive this weekend. I'll post my opinion...

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

The grill looks good $1200 is a crazy price, you can always get it done down the road tho. Headlight relays should work really good something I have been wanting to do in my Jeep for years.

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

Grill looks great in the pictures, was wondering how that came out.
Maybe I will get to see it in person this w/e....

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

Like others, love the grill.

Think the contrast between the chrome and the power coating will look good.

P. :D

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

Thanks, Guys!
I blacked out the area behind with some satin... then installed the grille. I realized afterward that I should've sparyed some black in the hood vents too. Oh well... next time.

I'm pretty happy with how it looks. Paul was correct, the contrast between the chrome and aluminum-ish powdercoat looks good.

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

One thing I learned was that my new Halogen tri-bar headlights don't fit into the original headlight buckets. A quick nibble and voila... headlights fit fine. I absolutely love these Bosch sheet metal nibblers. Probably 25 yrs old and they work great... and so handy.

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

Very nice, grille looks great and the headlamps too, blacking out behind the grille really makes it stand out

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

Johnny that looks absolutely bloody fantastic!

P. :D

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

:agree:

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

Hey the Brick had a super 3 day sale.;)














Grill looks nice.

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

Looking really good. got to try that powdercoat grill idea, saves a bunch of money and looks clean.

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

I like the contrasts one can create with matt black.

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

Guys, thank you all for the positive comments.


Bob... hahahahahaha!

I took a quick look at the forum when I got into work and saw your comment. I didn't know wtf you were talking about! I read back to see if I'd missed something, then the masking paper (newspaper)caught my eye.

Good one! :lol:

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

Thanks for sharing Johnny, The whole truck looks great. Grille is perfect! What if anything Did you change with rear upper shock mounts?....Ed.

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

Hi Ed. Thanks, but it really needs a good body and paint job.

I didn't change or relocate any mounts. I installed a CPP Grand Slam kit which included springs and shorter shocks.

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

;)
Looks really good John.

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

I'm not sure what they'll look like on a non-bagged truck... but I picked up some 22x9 transit wheels. They're HUGE.

I thought maybe to make them look a little sportier, I d cut some slots to make them look like 60-70's Corvette rally wheels. It took quite a few hours, but this is what they look like now. I'll hit them with some silver paint an mount some kind of cap. I tried a Sombrero cap, but it looks like it'll be too much work to figure out a way to mount them. I'd prefer a flatter cap anyway. If all else fails, I can use the same caps currently on the truck.

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

Johnny, looking forward to seeing it off the jack with the new wheels on.

Very nice work.

Please continue.

P. :D

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

Johnny, the wheels look brilliant, great job, you could have a side-line making them:lol:.

I've no idea how you would attach them, but they would look great with those sombrero hub caps.

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

Nice work on cutting the wheels, should make people do a double take.

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

Nice job on the custom wheels.

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

Nice job on the wheels

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

Thank you, Guys! Next to do is source some tires. I think I'll go with 265/35r22. Not to tall... not too rubber band-ish. Specs are 29.3" diameter & 10.4" wide.


A little update on the lowered brake and clutch pedals...

Every thing works fine. Changing the pedal ratio has mellowed the touchiness of the brakes, but i still need to be gentle on the pedal... especially when I have a passenger.

Clutch seems fine too. I actually moved the seat forward one notch now that there's a little more legroom. Now the steering wheel feels too close. Doh!