1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Hey guys, ive had this truck in my family for the past 18-19 years and was given to me as a highschool ride when i was 15. needless to say, i put it through hell for those few years, after highschool i drove it to work for a few years and finally bought a daily. then this year i had enough to get the it built how i always wanted. So i thought id share this with you guys, Yes i know its a longbed, yes its a leafspring truck, but that doesnt show itself as a problem, i see it as a challenge that would be fun to take on. so ill be keeping you guys updated for a while from suspension, steering, drive train, and paint.

I decided to go with cpp for the front suspension, i liked their products, as well as the customer service and the cost of their stuff, so i bought upper and lower control arms, tie rods, steering box, spindles,sway bars, springs, and some other small things, needless to say, everything installed super easy, and i love it,couldnt be more happy.

As far as brakes go, i went wilwood d52 kit for the front for the time being. im planning on having the d154 kit for the rear as well soon. got the pads bedded yesturday and wow i am amazed with the product as well as simplicity. the brake lines were a struggle to figure out because of the different sizes on the hard lines coming down to the cross member but i got it figured out. stops great.

Steering, i went simple, quick ratio box from cpp, installed it yesurday, and wow i am completely amazed in the difference, these guys know their stuff, if your not looking to get into a rack and pinion this is the next best thing. super stiff feeling, no slop and very good ratio.

shocks, easy for me, ridetech, hearing nothing but good about their hq series shocks, still waiting for those to come in, should be fairly soon.

wheels and tires, i wanted something cheaper, but can still take the beating, so i went with rocket booster wheels wrapped in potenza re11 tires, the look awesome and werent priced super crazy. love them.

ill keep you guys updated when i get my shocks and the rear sway bar in.

Thanks

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

got it aligned and put the steering box in

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

..

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

nice, how much drop is that in front?

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

3 1/2

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Looks good with those wheels. Nice choice!

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Still waiting on my shocks and rear sway bar 😑 ordering my rear brakes Friday and I got my gorilla lugs today!

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

My lady

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Looking good,what are the specs on the wheels and tires?

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Wheels: Rocket booster 18x9 5.25 bs

Tires: 275 40 18

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Got my rear brakes in along with proportioning valve, lines and fluid.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

You've got some very nice hardware going into this build - and daring to be different with the lwb pro-tourer. I'll be keeping an eye on this build.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

I remember those boxes. Brings back memories of my install. You'll love the look when you're done!

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Got my shocks in, and installed, I am very impressed. Love them!

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Truck handles amazingly!

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Went and finally put the suspension to work and it was awesome. posi and rear sway bar next.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Finally got my trutrac. Gearing is the next obstacle, I'll be running a 400hp sbc with a 700r4 on a 18" wheel with a 40 series tire of anyone has recommendations. I decided to pull the old 350/th350 this weekend and to start degreasing and undercoating the frame and under the body. The rear end is going off to get the ring and pinion installed soon. I will more than likely be running the stock axles seeing that I won't be making any crazy hp. I also got my shock brackets for the front from cpp.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

I have ~380 hp SBC with a 700R4 in my '71 stepside. I have 3.73 gears in the rear end w/ ~27" tire. With the tall 1st of the 700R4, you probably don't want too steep of a rear gear. With the 3.73, I'm out of first ~15-20 mph under normal acceleration. Under full throttle, you'll probably be out of 1st by ~35-40 mph depending on how high you let the motor rev. I'm toying around changing the rear end out, and I would still stay with ~3.70 gear. There are some shops that will put a shorter 1st gear in the 700R4 to get the 1-2 shift closer together. Good luck with it all. I'm jealous of the tru-trac. Curious how it goes in with the C-clips (I'm assuming you still have the c-clip axles).

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

The truck will be autocossed regularly and will still be driven on the street on the weekends. so I need all of the quick acceleration I can get, so a 3.73 might be what I end up getting. It will have a fuel injected sbc pushing about 430hp, Should see around 58-6k rpm. It also has a 26in tall tire. And I've heard good things about the trutrac so I'm excited to get it put in.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

72greenc10, I plugged your #'s into one of my spreadsheet calculators to give you some expected shift speeds based on a 5800 RPM shift point w/ 3:73:1 rear gears (using the stock 700R4 gear ratios and using a 275/40/18 which is ~26" "squished/loaded"). 1st - 39 mph, 2nd - 73 mph, 3rd - 119 mph, 4th - 170 mph. Those are of course theoretical speeds assuming no slip in the drivetrain. Generally, the calculator hits 1st and 2nd pretty good, but then drag effects starts to kick in and you start wishing you had more HP ;) . If you want to see any different rear end ratios just let me know and I can run them through my calculator or give you some equations you can use on your own.

On a side note, I too am working to make my truck more "pro-touring/autocross", although flipped flopped from you, more driver than racing. I'll definitely be following along on your progress. Haven't decided on my suspension just yet though. One day I'll start a build thread ... :metal:

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Awesome thank you for the help. I'm keeping that info for when I get my gears. As far as suspension goes, if you have any questions on stuff I am using feel free to ask, I'd be more than happy to help you, this Friday I am ordering my trailing arms and I am ditching the leafs.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

The truck will be getting torn apart this week to paint the whole bottom side of the truck. I put too much much time and money to leave it covered in grease and oil, clean makes the job easier in my opinion, especially when making repairs and adjustments to the truck. So I will be degreasing everything then taking a wire wheel to the underside of the truck, then paint, then assembly. I already got the trans and drive shafts out. They are getting sold. My goals for now are to get the trailing arms put on the truck, shocks relocated, trutrac and gears installed, fuel tank installed and go from there. I also took my 18's off and put my old steel wheels back on while it's getting torn apart and painted.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Hey man, how's things going? You tear into the rear end yet to toss the true trac in? Hope all is well.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Hey guys sorry I've been busy messing with the front end trying to get the alignment correct, I got early classic trailing arms, adjustable trailing arm brackets and hotchkis springs front and back. Just waiting on two more retainers for the rear springs. As for the tru trac that's coming up next, thanks guys!

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Great to hear you are still making progress!! Keep it up!

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

How is the steering with the CPP500 box, spindles, arms, and such? You've got the same setup as I do.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

So while I'm waiting on my track bar and sway bars I decided to start building my brake cooling ducts. I used stock dust shields and 3 inch pipe. I'll be putting the inlets in the bumper where the turn signals are and running the ducting to these, I'll be doing something similar on the rear.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

The steering is very good and as far as the arms are I wasn't happy with them. I had to switch back to stock hiegth spindles and 4in drop springs to achieve the alignment specs I wanted.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Got everything installed and ready to weld on the rear, and i took her out to let her get some sun. Stay tuned, hotchkis track bar and sway bars coming next.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Here are the pictures of the new front sway bar and pan hard bar set up. I decided to try to put the rear sway bar on this weekend and figured out that the crossmember directly past the one for the trailing arms is in the way, so this weekend i will be taking it out and hopefully be finally putting the rear in. Im guessing this is only a thing that long beds have because i have not seen one on a short bed. After this i will be focusing on the the upper shock mounts, rear end, fuel cell, and some frame boxing and bracing.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

So i ended up getting my gears, i went with richmond 3:73's, i am just waiting to get axle studs and a new diff cover then i can send it to get installed. I ended up getting a motor as well, i found a good deal on a 5.3 out of a 2008 tahoe with 60k on it. it has 243 heads already and i also hear that this one has good rods, so im gonna start building this. Planning on getting the heads and intake ported, and running a different cam, maybe lingenfelter or the gm asa grind, and long tubes and deleting the DOD.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

I tore into the motor this weekend so everything is inspected before i do cam/ heads/ springs/ pushrods ect.

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Cool truck, I dig it!

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

in

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Alright guys sorry ive been away for awhile, i have got alot of stuff done on the truck.

I contacted Ron Sutton to build be a brake package that can be used on a road course as well as be able to compete in autocross and still be used on the street He created a good set up that i like that utilizes the stock front rotors and can use most of my parts i ordered for the rear . I ended up getting rid of my D154 calipers that had the two smaller pistons because of their lack of clamping force. So i ended up Getting
-Wilwood D154r calipers for the rear (Has one 2" piston opposed to the two smaller pistons)
-Wilwood BP20 Pads (for Road course)
- Wilwood 7/8 tandem M/c
-Wilwood Pushrod kit

*He recommended The "E" pad for autocross, I didn't purchase this yet, before i go to good guys i will get a set.


Ron is a very Knowledgeable source when it comes to anything on from purpose built track cars to street cars. I will not hesitate to take any of my question to him. He does tech services for all kinds of suspension, brakes and engine set ups.

I finally had my 12 bolt built. I took it to a local shop that did an awesome job on everything, i ended up having the trutrac installed, gears, 1350 yoke, bearings and new axles with arp studs with a moser girdled cover.

I ended up getting rid of all of my cpp stuff, i wasnt too happy with it. So i ended up getting all hotchkis components to make a complete TVS kit. Upper and lower control arms, springs, panhard bar, sway bars, shock mounts, center link and tie rod adjuster. I didnt get their shocks because i already purchased Ridetech HQ's which i will get Ron's "secret sauce" valving once i get the engine and transmission in.

Next on the list to get finished is:
-Front modular drop spindles to use with the hotchkis control arms (they use 73-87 ball joints) Along with the Hotchkis 2in springs along with new pitman arm and tie rod ends (hotchkis tie rod adjusters uses 67-72 inner tie rods and 73-87 outers i believe)
-Cooler for the power steering with new lines
-Fuel cell
-Get rear cross member made for the shocks, along with fixing the front of the frame where we made room for a set of old headers that didn't fit properly and get the rear spring mounts plated.
-Get the brake line plumbed
-Move the battery to the rear
-Have a Full cage built or at least a roll bar with a cross bar for the harness's.

Thanks guys!

Re: 1972 C10 Pro Touring/Autocross build
 

Here are my brake calc sheets from Ron, the set up i had before was unsafe.
The new set up will work well for what i want to do.