DoubleL's '66 Project

[DoubleL]

Well I should probably start a build thread I have certainly asked enough questions on these boards! In about April 2012 I decided to get rid of my ailing S-10 and get a small, economical truck. So.......I ended up with a 1966 C20 Custom Camper with a granny 4speed on the floor with 4:11 gears and a 292.

[DoubleL]

I had barely had the truck a week when I found a guy on CL with a new, never installed, Clifford manifold and Holley carb. He also had a set of long tube headers and an HEI for my truck. He only wanted $700 for the whole thing so I sweet talked my wife into taking the $700 and we drove almost 2 hours to get the stuff.

[DoubleL]

My first goal was to turn it into my daily driver. I ordered all new hoses, a belt, new spark plugs and new valve cover and side cover gaskets. Here are some before pictures. Like my fancy shop light?

[DoubleL]

It took me a couple days to get it cleaned up and all the new parts installed. I used a Remco gasket for the intake/exhaust. I cleaned the engine compartment and painted it up a little.

[DoubleL]

I decided pretty early on to put a 700r4 into it. I have a fairly short commute but it is all Highway and I needed another gear! Will add pics of that later.

[rcbildr]

Sweet!!!! Kind of ironic...a 66 3/4ton truck is "small and economical"

I think I pass by you on hwy 2 quite often. Usually, just west of monroe around 3pm ish. I'm heading westbound in a camaro with a rusty cowl induction hood....and I see a blue truck like yours heading eastbound.

[DoubleL]

I work in Lake Stevens and I'm headed home by 3:30! I'll keep an eye out for ya! I have a 3:73 posi I will be putting in it next week.

[jdl71]

Originally Posted by DoubleL

It took me a couple days to get it cleaned up and all the new parts installed. I used a Remco gasket for the intake/exhaust. I cleaned the engine compartment and painted it up a little.

Looks great! Love the 6's too, just wish I had one

[DoubleL]

Originally Posted by CRGRS 66

Love the 6's, nice looking truck!

Thanks man...you still looking for a clock for your cluster? PM me if you want

Originally Posted by jdl71

Looks great! Love the 6's too, just wish I had one

I really like the six too it's like me......a little different

[CRGRS 66]

Love the 6's, nice looking truck!

[DoubleL]

I also picked up some motor mounts. That's my next project. This week I actually wrote out a list with everything I wanted to do. I prioritized it into several categories. Safety and mechanical were first, then I went on with my wants and wishes. The list helped me get my priorities and not get overwhelmed. I will post pics of the motor mounts when I get to that project. My biggest project will be swapping out the rearend and it looks like that will be Mid-November. I'll get some pics of that too.

[Ta2Don]

IMHO The 66 is much cooler than an S10...

[DoubleL]

I agree!!

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

IMHO The 66 is much cooler than an S10...

[DoubleL]

Just ordered a new wiring harness for underdash as well as front harness (alternator, regulator and such) engine harness(gauges, starter, HEI, etc) gauge cluster harness and fuel sender harness. I am having some charging problems and had a small fire at my fuel gauge a while back. I think there is some hidden damage in the main wiring harness. I was going to trace everything out but decided to just rewire the truck. The wires are all going on 50 years old anyway and this gives me the change to go to full gauges as well.

[pdxhall]

Welcome to the forum. It looks like you're really moving right along. I also made a list of what I'm going to do, and then check things off as I go. I try to stay on track but I leave myself the options to stop and work on another phase of the build if I need a change and being able to look back on what's been checked off the list helps keep things in perspective as to what I've accomplished.

[Bomp]

Welcome
I had a list kinda once.
Your off to a great start.
Subscribed.

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[Terry12]

DoubleL, what have done as far as the exhaust now that you installed your new headers?
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[DoubleL]

Originally Posted by Terry12

DoubleL, what have done as far as the exhaust now that you installed your new headers?
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I'm actually running kind of a temp setup. I have both headers going into a 2 3/4 pipe with a glasspack. I am probably going to be putting the gas tank in the back and will eventually run dual pipes outside the framerails.

[DoubleL]

I want to accomplish two things on my 4 day weekend. Rewire the front and cab of the truck and come up with a plan for dealing with my interior leak and the rusty upper A-pillars on the cab. I have seen evidence of a lot of half-a## work by the PO.

[DoubleL]

Got my wire harnesses in the mail today! Rewiring is going to start in a couple days but first I wanted to get that carpet out and check out my cab. The back of the seat was pretty nice under the seat cover.....the bottom not so much.

[DoubleL]

The carpet had been laid down over the old rotten mat and a few shoddy repairs were made at some point. The rust in the cab is pretty bad. Disappointing but not really unexpected. This was rusted like this when I got it but wasn't visible from the outside. I think at some point the PO threw paint on it and put a carpet in to sell it. I hope I can fix this.

[DoubleL]

Yes, family is first. I'm four months out from seeing my daughter married. Then I'll have some extra money!

[DoubleL]

Well, I got my wiring finished up it took me three days but I wasn't working on it constantly. I am pretty happy with it, for my first time I was pretty pleased with the results. I am especially stoked about having full gauges now. I am hooking up the new temp sender when I install my water pump this weekend. I also am going to be installing the new oil pressure line as well.
The only wiring I didn't replace was the heater harness but after looking it over I went ahead and ordered a new one along with the resistor for the heater.
I think the best thing of all is I now have a working gas gauge for the first time. My first six months owning the truck I had no gas gauge and no speedometer.
The first pic is at the scary midpoint and the second one is of my new cluster.

[DoubleL]

I am hoping to get a few more things done on the truck in the next week. My valves are really noisy under load and I want to adjust them. I need to rig up some kind of splash shield because I want to adjust them while the motor is running.
I also need a new waterpump as the one on it is getting pretty noisy. I figured I would put a fan clutch on it at the same time.
The biggest thing I am tackling this weekend is swapping out the rearend. I'll post some write-ups on those later.

[eric67m]

Hello doublel. Nice looking truck.


Fellow monroe guy with an offer. I have a set of 16 clips that I got from summit at one point to adjust the valves on a small block with it running. If you want to borrow them along with my set of thin tappet wrenches for a couple of weeks.

By the way, were you also previously on my tractor forum.com?

If you are interested in borrowing those tools send me a pm.

Eric
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