1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

While trying to finish my 86 C-10 project, I was on marketplace and found this ad. It had some terrible pictures of a basket case truck and it was way to much money at $4k. So i decided I would watch it and if went down to around $2500 I would go look at it. I had it in my saved for a year and one day i checked it and it was $1750. I got ahold of the dude and hooked the trailer to go look at it. I thought it would probably be another truck to part out.

Re: 1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

When i got to the house this is the first thing i saw.(1st pic)
I always wanted a sport and i knew they weren't plentiful so, I checked the truck out it was a very clean southern truck. The owner had drove it to Michigan from Missouri and we he got up here he decided he wanted to paint it. He took it apart and had a body shop start painting it. The body shop went under and it sat for a long time. All the body work was done on the cab and the interior painted charcoal gray and the firewall and inside of the fenders copper. It had a machine shop fresh 350 sitting in it. I didn't even haggle and loaded it up. When i got it home i pulled the valve cover off of the fresh rebuild. I also went to the GM heritage site to confirm the options of the truck, and it was a Sport. More to come..

Re: 1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

Built in St Louis;

I see it has the LR60-15 tires with rally wheels on it originally. Those were the fattest tires you could get.

This is kind of what it would have looked like new (1980 non-Sport shown).


K

Re: 1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

Thanks Keith! That's great info and a good looking truck.
LR60-15 converts to a 275/60r15 and that is what the rear is getting for sure and hopefully I can fit them on the front. I know from the spec sheet this truck is supposed to have rally's on it, but i got this set of these pa6 wheels. I always thought these were cool on the sports.

Re: 1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

After picking it up and going through the cab full of parts, it got stuffed in the garage until I got the 86 going and ready for Power tour. After Power Tour I roughly threw the bed together and took off the haggard looking wheels. I also bolted a set of super clean blue doors I had on it. This gave me a better sense of what i had. Next it needed to have an altitude adjustment.

Re: 1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

I found this picture of a 1979 fleetside sport that has the color combo that my truck is supposed to have. This one even has the wheels I plan on running. I need to find a set of factory bed rails now. I really wish i had the correct front pumper also, that is going to be tough to find.

Re: 1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

Next was to lower it and try my PA6 wheels on it. I think it looked good. So I thought if this low was good and the ground would be great. I bought a Chassis Fab air ride kit way back when I started to put the 86 together and then decided against it on that truck. The kit was on the shelf still and this was the perfect candidate for it.

Re: 1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

Love me some stepper build! :metal:

Re: 1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

Last month i finally started on the front suspension. The ends of the front crossmember had to be trimmed and the brake hose boss had to be cut out and patched. There wasn't much info on the upper mount placement. I talked to other guys who installed this "kit" and got some pictures from them. I mocked it up and did a lot of measuring. When I thought it was close enough i burned it in.

Re: 1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

Once it was all welded up and painted, I bolted it back together. Then I had to see what it looked like air out. I had to shorten a much better .mp4 to .gif to get it to upload but you get the idea.

Re: 1979 C10 Sport step side on air
 

I bolted the front clip on it enough to flip it around and get started on the rear. I pulled the diff and springs out and shoved a tire in the wheel well to see what it will be like fully laid out. The truck had an open 2.76 12 bolt in it. So another market place score of a suburban rear G80 diff and 3.42 and big brakes. That brings us up to date. I am stripping down brackets on the rear to install the 4 link