The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post

JohnIL · 04-24-2023, 02:02 PM

It's been a productive week. The spring weather has been hit and miss, but it's been warm enough to knock out a few small projects on the C10.

Wheels and Tires
When I bought the truck last summer, it came with 12 year old dry rotting tires and steel wheels that had visible rust and were painted red. Replacing the tires gave me the opportunity to do something about the rust and the poor paint job. I put the truck on jack stands in the drive way a couple of weeks ago and had the old tires dismounted.

Then, I spent a week's worth of evenings stripping paint and rust. What a mess. Once the wheels were cleaned up, I shot them with high-build primer to help with the minor rust pitting. After a little sanding, I shot them with Rustoleum Steel wheel paint. The paint isn't perfect, but it fits the truck MUCH better than the old red color. There was more metal flake in the paint than I expected, but it looks pretty darn good.

While the paint was curing, I turned my attention to the baby moon hubcaps. They had some minor scratches and some spots of surface rust. I soaked them in CLR for five minutes and they cleaned up quite nicely. I gave them a couple of coats of spray wax in hopes of keeping the rust away for a while. Then, I applied a set of inexpensive CHEVROLET decals that makes them look like '47-'53 caps. Someday, I might spring for new wheels and proper '47-'53 caps. But, for now, they dress things up nicely.

With the wheels sorted, I ordered up a set of Mastercraft Stratus HT All-Season tires in 255/70/R16 and had them mounted by a local tire shop. The Mastercrafts are cheap, but they look the part and they ride nicer than the old all-terrains.

Bucket Seat Adjustment
I recently installed a set of ProCar low-back bucket seats, but they didn't "sit" quite right. I compared them to the modern buckets in my daily driver pickup and realized that the ProCars where sitting too flat. The front of the seats needed to be raised. Luckily, it was an easy fix. The ProCar slider/mounts have three mounting holes, at different heights. I had the foresight to mount them in the lowest holes. So, raising the front of each seat was as simple as removing the front bolts, lifting the seat front and rebolting using the highest holes. Now they sit at roughly the same angle as my daily driver. Much more comfortable now.

Temporary Center Console
With the bucket seats sorted, I wanted to do something with the space between the seats. I wanted some sort of storage console to corral small items and a couple of cup holders for the morning coffee. I went out to the woodshop and knocked together a console. Then, I blatantly stole an idea from the great minds here on the forum and welded up a set of exhaust pipe cup holders. I don't know who originated this idea, but it's genius!

the console isn't quite finished yet. I plan to install a cell phone charging pad in the recess in the console lid. Then, I'll give the whole thing a coat of paint to make it look a little nicer than raw MDF and steel. Someday, once the fuel tank has been relocated out of the cab and the speakers are moved behind the seats, I'll build more permanent console that extends back to the rear wall of the cab. Until the, this will keep my garbage from rolling around on the floor of the cab.

Alternator
Long time readers will know that I replaced the alternator a couple of months after I bought the truck. The replacement came from our local O'Reilly's. Luckily, it included a lifetime warranty, because this weekend, it stopped charging and left me stranded at a gas station. After a quick jumpstart, I headed back home.

O'Reilly's replaced the alternator, no questions asked, and it was an easy repair. The truck is back on the road and appears to be charging normally again. No harm done and only an afternoon lost.

Door Seals
I replaced the door seals last fall, but I wasn't happy with the way they fit. The doors were VERY hard to close, even after adjusting the striker and hinges. After a bit of reading here on the forum, I learned that this is a common problem with reproduction door seals. Some smart forum contributor found an elegant solution.

Apparently, Honda makes a set of door seals for a 2006-2001 Civic that fit these old trucks almost perfectly. And, they are more pliable than the reproductions. They're not cheap, but they were easy to install, they seal well, and the doors as much easier to close. It turns out that Honda makes pretty nice old truck parts.

Here are the Honda part numbers for the seals I used:

Left: 72355-SVA-A01ZA
Right: 72315-SVA-A01ZA

Headlight adjustment
When I bought the truck, it came with a set of old replacement headlight bulbs. One the high beams was burned out, so I used that as an excuse to upgrade the headlight wiring harness and install as set of halogen replacement bulbs. The new bulbs were better, but something still wasn't quite right. At night, the dims were pretty good, but the high beams were almost nonexistent. Onc night, driving outside of town, I figured it out. The headlights had been adjusted so high that the dims were where the high beams should be and the high beams were lighting up the treetops!

So, on Friday night, I drove the truck out to my parents place where I could shine the lights on the side of a large machine shed. I parked it next to my Dad's late model pickup for comparison. Whoa! These things were all messed up. Not only were the lights aimed at head level, but the passenger side was about three feet higher than the driver side. With both sides adjusted to match Dad's pickup, nighttime visibility is much improved.

More Carb Tuning
Frequent readers will know that the truck came to me with a poorly tuned Holley carb that has caused me much consternation. Last fall, I got it tuned well enough that it would run reliably and the exhaust fumes wouldn't burn your eyes. But, there was still an annoying stumble at partial throttle, pretty much every time I shifted gears.

Over the winter, I did some reading and formulated a plan of attack. Theorizing that I was dealing with a lean condition caused by a stingy power valve, I ordered a Holley 8.5 replacement power valve. The old power valve was a 4.5. The engine pulls almost 16" of vacuum at idle. Based on that, the 4.5 power valve was opening way too late when the throttle opens, thus causing the engine to faceplant on acceleration.

With the new 8.5 power valve installed, the throttle is much cleaner, but under heavy acceleration, there is still a slight hesitation. That leads me to believe that the primary jets are a bit too small. The carburetor came to me with #66 jets. I have a set of #68 jets on the way. Hopefully that will clean up the hesitation without overrichening the mixture. Fingers crossed....

04-24-2023, 02:02 PM	#81
JohnIL Registered User Join Date: Aug 2022 Location: Central Illinois Posts: 112	Updates and Stuff It's been a productive week. The spring weather has been hit and miss, but it's been warm enough to knock out a few small projects on the C10. Wheels and Tires When I bought the truck last summer, it came with 12 year old dry rotting tires and steel wheels that had visible rust and were painted red. Replacing the tires gave me the opportunity to do something about the rust and the poor paint job. I put the truck on jack stands in the drive way a couple of weeks ago and had the old tires dismounted. Then, I spent a week's worth of evenings stripping paint and rust. What a mess. Once the wheels were cleaned up, I shot them with high-build primer to help with the minor rust pitting. After a little sanding, I shot them with Rustoleum Steel wheel paint. The paint isn't perfect, but it fits the truck MUCH better than the old red color. There was more metal flake in the paint than I expected, but it looks pretty darn good. While the paint was curing, I turned my attention to the baby moon hubcaps. They had some minor scratches and some spots of surface rust. I soaked them in CLR for five minutes and they cleaned up quite nicely. I gave them a couple of coats of spray wax in hopes of keeping the rust away for a while. Then, I applied a set of inexpensive CHEVROLET decals that makes them look like '47-'53 caps. Someday, I might spring for new wheels and proper '47-'53 caps. But, for now, they dress things up nicely. With the wheels sorted, I ordered up a set of Mastercraft Stratus HT All-Season tires in 255/70/R16 and had them mounted by a local tire shop. The Mastercrafts are cheap, but they look the part and they ride nicer than the old all-terrains. Bucket Seat Adjustment I recently installed a set of ProCar low-back bucket seats, but they didn't "sit" quite right. I compared them to the modern buckets in my daily driver pickup and realized that the ProCars where sitting too flat. The front of the seats needed to be raised. Luckily, it was an easy fix. The ProCar slider/mounts have three mounting holes, at different heights. I had the foresight to mount them in the lowest holes. So, raising the front of each seat was as simple as removing the front bolts, lifting the seat front and rebolting using the highest holes. Now they sit at roughly the same angle as my daily driver. Much more comfortable now. Temporary Center Console With the bucket seats sorted, I wanted to do something with the space between the seats. I wanted some sort of storage console to corral small items and a couple of cup holders for the morning coffee. I went out to the woodshop and knocked together a console. Then, I blatantly stole an idea from the great minds here on the forum and welded up a set of exhaust pipe cup holders. I don't know who originated this idea, but it's genius! the console isn't quite finished yet. I plan to install a cell phone charging pad in the recess in the console lid. Then, I'll give the whole thing a coat of paint to make it look a little nicer than raw MDF and steel. Someday, once the fuel tank has been relocated out of the cab and the speakers are moved behind the seats, I'll build more permanent console that extends back to the rear wall of the cab. Until the, this will keep my garbage from rolling around on the floor of the cab. Alternator Long time readers will know that I replaced the alternator a couple of months after I bought the truck. The replacement came from our local O'Reilly's. Luckily, it included a lifetime warranty, because this weekend, it stopped charging and left me stranded at a gas station. After a quick jumpstart, I headed back home. O'Reilly's replaced the alternator, no questions asked, and it was an easy repair. The truck is back on the road and appears to be charging normally again. No harm done and only an afternoon lost. Door Seals I replaced the door seals last fall, but I wasn't happy with the way they fit. The doors were VERY hard to close, even after adjusting the striker and hinges. After a bit of reading here on the forum, I learned that this is a common problem with reproduction door seals. Some smart forum contributor found an elegant solution. Apparently, Honda makes a set of door seals for a 2006-2001 Civic that fit these old trucks almost perfectly. And, they are more pliable than the reproductions. They're not cheap, but they were easy to install, they seal well, and the doors as much easier to close. It turns out that Honda makes pretty nice old truck parts. Here are the Honda part numbers for the seals I used: Left: 72355-SVA-A01ZA Right: 72315-SVA-A01ZA Headlight adjustment When I bought the truck, it came with a set of old replacement headlight bulbs. One the high beams was burned out, so I used that as an excuse to upgrade the headlight wiring harness and install as set of halogen replacement bulbs. The new bulbs were better, but something still wasn't quite right. At night, the dims were pretty good, but the high beams were almost nonexistent. Onc night, driving outside of town, I figured it out. The headlights had been adjusted so high that the dims were where the high beams should be and the high beams were lighting up the treetops! So, on Friday night, I drove the truck out to my parents place where I could shine the lights on the side of a large machine shed. I parked it next to my Dad's late model pickup for comparison. Whoa! These things were all messed up. Not only were the lights aimed at head level, but the passenger side was about three feet higher than the driver side. With both sides adjusted to match Dad's pickup, nighttime visibility is much improved. More Carb Tuning Frequent readers will know that the truck came to me with a poorly tuned Holley carb that has caused me much consternation. Last fall, I got it tuned well enough that it would run reliably and the exhaust fumes wouldn't burn your eyes. But, there was still an annoying stumble at partial throttle, pretty much every time I shifted gears. Over the winter, I did some reading and formulated a plan of attack. Theorizing that I was dealing with a lean condition caused by a stingy power valve, I ordered a Holley 8.5 replacement power valve. The old power valve was a 4.5. The engine pulls almost 16" of vacuum at idle. Based on that, the 4.5 power valve was opening way too late when the throttle opens, thus causing the engine to faceplant on acceleration. With the new 8.5 power valve installed, the throttle is much cleaner, but under heavy acceleration, there is still a slight hesitation. That leads me to believe that the primary jets are a bit too small. The carburetor came to me with #66 jets. I have a set of #68 jets on the way. Hopefully that will clean up the hesitation without overrichening the mixture. Fingers crossed.... Attached Images __________________ 1965 C10 Long Bed Fleetside SBC 350 and Saginaw 4 Speed Build Thread: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=838676 Last edited by JohnIL; 04-24-2023 at 02:19 PM.