1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Bought my truck Dec 26 2019, been slowly working towards getting it ready for a powertrain.

I got it with lots of rust, missing most of the interior and a motor with a cracked block.

Have since replaced/patches all the rust save for drivers door bottom and the hood around turn signal. I am a novice welder and not at all a body repair man so my welds/bodywork dont look good....but happy to not have holes in the floors and roof anymore.

Converted to power disc front brakes and rebuilt rears. All new brake lines front to rear, 2.5" drop spindles and 5" rear drop coils, will likely put in 2" front coils as well. Swapped front steering/suspension for the 73-87 C10s all new parts including a power steering gearbox using Captanfabs bracket.

Going next week to get a 5.3L LM7 engine for it and will be working on that this fall, as well as fuel system, cooling system, body wiring harness install (have a new one) since my truck had no harness/fuse box in it.

Here is the link to my google photos album for my truck, already had almost 300 pictures before I was able to post here.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SbquYtDFiPTw88X48

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Dang looks like you are doing a great job to me.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

I feel your pain dude. We're like, brothers in rust....

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Plenty of rust for everyone lol, down to the last bit now though. Driver door and section of hood to repair for it to be back to ok shape. Repairs aint great but got rid of the holes that were everywhere I guess.

Just hope everything keeps lining up pretty well after I do my welds and patches lol.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Got my motor today, time to get it cleaned up and ready for some new seals and such.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Trying to verify vin on it, came off a pallet so didnt have the car to see it. Said its a 2004 LM7 from a suburban, thought the pcm had vin printed on it but didn't. Thought it was the kne printed but thats only 16 digits.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

I got the manifold broken bolts out today, not too difficult. Two were flush to heads so welded nuts on them after heating and shooting with pb blaster. Third one I got out after also using pb blaster/heat and a stud extractor I have.

Started taking the motor apart as well to see what shape it was in, looks to be in pretty good shape from what I can tell....although I have little experience with this lol.

Only plans are to replace the seals I need and go ahead and do rear main seal and oil pickup tube gasket. Will also clean out the oil pan while I have it off and the pickup tube screen, although its pretty clean.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

More pics from today, have ordered all the gaskets/seals I need to get motor back together after cleaning it up some more. Then will put my adapter plates on and see what it looks like sitting in truck. Oil pan looks worse in picks than it is, just a little build up in drain plug area but nothing bad at all after looking online at some.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Oil pan cleaned out and pickup tub as well, cam wear looks good and spark plugs are all looking good.

Now just waiting on seals to come in before I can reassemble, get off stand and do the rear main seal. Then will be picking up some adapter plates and sitting it down in my truck.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Looks like the engine isn't quite what I was told going off the injectors and pcm.

Doing a little research all the injectors are 25326903 which comes back for a 5.3L L59 Vin Z, flex fuel and the pcm is: 12576106 for 2003 Vortec Truck.

Now time to find a stand alone harness that will work with it.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Rear main seal, its cover gasket, pickup tube o-ring and oil pan gasket replaced with new ones today. Still need to do intake gasket, ordered some adapter plates and hope to be dropping it in for a test fit after the weekend.

The will order headers and probably order everything for fuel system.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Looks like you will need a harness with EV6 connectors for the injectors. Your PCM should be a Red/Blue connector and work with a DBC set up. If you are running a 4l60e trans, this harness will work for you, use just need to message them for the EV6 connectors:
https://www.amazon.com/1997-2006-STA...1672947&sr=8-9

If you are using a 4l80e this one will work for your application, again will need to message them about the EV6 connectors:
https://www.amazon.com/1997-2006-STA...1673274&sr=8-6

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

It does have ev6 injectors but with blue/green connectors and has dbw and pedal that I will use. Plan to run a 4l60e trans.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Might swap the truck pedal for a camero pedal and use the animal speed shop brackets. Or try to cut the truck pedal I got with the motor to work, camero pedal is pretty cheqp though.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

....

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Pulled diff cover today to see what gears I had for my pcm tune.

Numbers on ring gear:

3817778 1141gm 1163 2 27

Comes back as a 3.73 built 11/1963, don't know the last designation.

May pull axles later on and verify they are the 17 spline, happy with gearing but want to find a mini spool to run or maybe even a posi unit. Looking now for a compatible one of each.

Found the fill plug under some sludge buildup, definitely have to clean out and refill.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Found fill that other one must be a capped off vent...

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Yeah, that top one is for a vent. There's no drain plug unless it's been added. If getting new axles, you might have to get some that are specific to the 63-64 axle because of the axle bearings. My 63 already had a 65-70 axle swapped in, so I'm not exactly sure

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

If mine are the 17 spline I will be swapping in the 30 spline conversion eventually. However happy with the gearing so going to keep these until the truck is on the road and I have an issue or get tired of smoking just one tire.

Might come accross a newer carrier and gears for the 30 spline on marketplace and then just purchase new 30 spline axles.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Yours should be the 17 spline unless they've already been swapped out

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

With the ring gear having the 11/63 probably be the 17 spline. Looking for some cheap 65-69 axles and 65-82 carrie/gears to replace them with as I finish up more stuff on my truck.

Found a set of 69 30 spline axles on our local truck page for free if he still has them, fingers crossed. Then just need a carrier/gear set and I can swap everything out with new bearing and seals pretty cheap. There is a 77 at the local pull a part I can check the gearing on, hoping its 3.73s and I can get carrier and ring/pinion. If not can atleast get the carrier out of it and buy a new set of gears later on when I'm ready to install everything.

Edit:. Need to research a little more and see if I can use the ring/pinion/bearings/seals already in mine with the 69 axles and 65-82 carrier. If so that will save me a good bit.

From what I am finding 65-69 axles and 65-82 spider gears are the minimum needed to convert.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

That's correct. When buying new seals for your axle, make sure they are for the 63-64 axle. The 65-70 has a different seal on the axle tubes. Not sure if there's a difference on the pinion seal though

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Axles are 17 spline, axle tubes looked pretty bad on inside. Cleaned them both out and will have it completely rebuilt with 30 spline eventually.

Will do a posi carrier, 30 spline axles, all new bearings and seals and cleaned out better. Guy at work has 3 of his done by a guy who charges $200 for complete rebuild if you supply parts and pull out rear end and bring it. Says he does a really good job and he hasn't had an issue on any of his old cars.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Heck yeah, local guy in the chevy truck club says he has some 30 spline axles and a posi carrier oit of his 66 c10 I can have. Just need to replace bearing/seals and have the ring/pinion set up.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

That's nice of him!

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Yep, offered to buy them but he said I could have them. He swapped to 5 lug rear axles and didnt need them any more. Will not go to waist, saves me a couple hundred bucks I can use on other items to put into the truck. His truck looks really good as well, baby blue and white paint.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Picked up the 30 spline axles and carrier from the clube member today. They are 1966 C10 30 spline axles in really good shape and a posi carrier that he gave me with the ring and pinion 3.73's.

Also picked up my pcm that has been tuned to run my engine standalone. Got the vin pulled from it and it did turn out to be a 2003 Tahoe with L59 flex fuel.

Seller said around 150k miles which I was expecting to be incorrect, and it was vin came back with aution on Tahoe and it had 344k miles. But it was running and listed in copart aution as "Engine Atart Program"

No plans to rebuild it, will drop it in and get everything working, when it does give out I will replace it with a re-manufactured short/long block.

It could last several years in my truck or just a few minutes. So will be saving for a long-block while I am installing everything and just hope for the best for now.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Dang, that sucks on the mileage. It could be that the engine had been replaced at some point, but I'm not sure if there's a way that you could find out

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Sounds like a good plan. Get it up & running w/a better bullet for V.2.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Valves, oil pan and the rest of what I saw doesnt look like almost 350k. But maybe they just took care of it and changed oil regularly etc. At 350k miles I woild have expected a ton more sludge in oil and and buildup on valves.

Hoping its a lower mileage engine than the odometer showed in auction listing,no way to really tell since the block doesnt have the vin stamped anywhere on it I could find.

Either way, just ordered a psi harness and trans cross-member for it today and will order my headers later this week. Going to get the Speed Engineering long-tubes, just trying to figure out if I need the 10 or 12" plug wire set they offer. My stock wires are a tad over 10" from end to end for the manifolds it had.


Ready to get it in the truck and see how it runs.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Dug out a radiator I had for my last project, is for a 1998 C1500 5.7L 2wd. Going to test fit it and see if it will fit in my truck, going to look and see if I could mount a shroud on it and just use the mechanical fan on the motor as well.

Been looking at radiators and the ls swap ones are around $600, if this one fits will find a fan setup that fits and change over to e-fans later on.

....It doesnt fit, its about 8" too wide to fit between inner fenders. Guess I need to decide on a swap radiator that I can upgrade with e-fans later...or just buy the whole setup with fans, do not have the stock radiator to use.


Found this one I am going to look into

http://www.speedcooling.com/1963-196...um-Shroud.html

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Look on Summit for BeCool boneyard LS swap radiators. I had to make a couple mounts for it but fit great. Older t-bird fan off of rock auto fit prefect on the radiator as well. I can look up the part numbers of you like. Radiator was around $250, fan was $70ish.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

I will check it out, will be ordering one in a few weeks.

Just took my rear end stuff to the re-builder, need ring/pinion said mine would work but be noisy from the pitting, the axle had one pretty good pit that he said would kill a bearing at speed....

So ordered a new set of moser axles, May have gotten away with a repair bearing but no reason to skimp now I guess, $275 for new axles added on.

Luckily the carrier/spider gears and clutch pack in the unit were in great shape so can re-use them.

The axles and ring and pinion added a pretty good chunk to the rear end rebuild, just about doubled the cost.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Test fit the motor last week and the Speed Engineering LS swap headers fit beautifully. Had to cut out the manual trans cross member a couple days ago for them to fully fit and don't have pics of the motor in it and the cross member out but you get the idea from the pics.

Close to 1.5-2" of space between header and frame.

Going to wait until I get the trans on the motor before I put the motor back in for hopefully the final time.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

They are nice looking headers. Clearance does look good so that's nice as well.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Booster/master came in today so went ahead and got my brake limes finished. Need to get rear end done and back in the truck before I can bleed them.

Think I need to get the motor in my truck and loosen the suspension and let it squat under the weight and tighten everything back down. Installed all suspension/steering with no motpr in truck. Now even with 2.5" drop spindles it seems to sit higher than I would expect, maybe just the weight of the notor will settle it.

If not will put in some 2" drop coils as well.

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Having the engine out makes the truck look like an old gasser. On the suspension, the ball joints, tie rods, and other steering stuff is ok to torque down without weight on it. It's the control arm bushings that you want the full weight on before you torque them down, especially with poly or delrin stuff.

Your truck is lookin' good! I like the way the brake lines are routed away from where a lot of engine heat sits

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Control arms will definitely need to be loosened and re-tightened with the engine in. I think the fender bottom is higher than before the engine was in it and stock height.

Hoping to get a 2" gap between fender/tire, right now its closer to 5".

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

There's a big difference in height with the engine out vs. in.
Post #37 of my build thread shows my truck without an engine in it. Post #67 is how it looks with full weight in the engine bay

If you replaced the springs, they will settle a little bit as well

Re: 1964 C10 fleet side swb
 

Rear end dropped off for a full rebuild, only part I am using is the posi carrier I was thankfully gifted.

Think I will order fuel tank setup and transmission when I get the rear end back. Picked up some ot this month and would like to start making more progress.

Still hoping to start it before spring and maybe have it yard driving.