1978 Chevy C10 Custom Deluxe

[Nick_R_23]

Yup, not much more than a week after picking up my ‘80 C10, I also found this one on marketplace just up the road from me, not even two miles away! It’s rough, but fairly complete, and best of all was only $200! I wasn’t going to pass on a 2wd shortbed for that price.

It has been sitting for a while, but apparently it drove to where it was parked. I’m not sure I believe that, but it does appear intact enough under the hood that it’s possible.

This is how I found it.





Pulled it out of its hole!





Surprisingly, all the tires held air but one (couldn’t get the bead to seat again), so I swapped it with a spare I had.





The core support identifies the truck as a 305 unit, but apparantly it’s been swapped out for a straight 6 sometime in its life, backed by a TH350.



Loaded on the trailer!



The GVWR is 5300lbs, so it’s not a Big 10, but it does still have a 12 bolt rear axle and the thicker spring pack.





She’s home, time to clean her up!

[straight6chevyguy]

Wow great deal, do you have any plans for it?

[Nick_R_23]

Probably nothing extreme, clean it up, straighten it out, get it running and drive it!

[rodstored-72]

nice I guess pretty good shape considering it's home (alaska)? I like your plan for it, keep us posted

[Nick_R_23]

It’s actually far better than it look, the pictures kind of don’t do it justice. The paint and dirt and crooked bumpers makes it look absolutely terrible, but I think once it has a single color of paint on it, it’ll look a lot better.

[straight6chevyguy]

Sounds like a good plan

[Nick_R_23]

I cleaned out the bed this weekend, to the tune of an $85 dump run. They sure had the back packed FULL. This wasn’t even all of it!



Also tinkered on the engine a bit. It was gently seized, but I tightened the belts and let it soak with a mix of ATF and diesel in the cylinders for about 30 minutes, and rocked the fan back and forth until it turned.



Added battery power, and jumped the solenoid with a screwdriver, and it cranks over really well!



Picked up some basic parts to get things started. Oil and filter, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, ignition coil, carb rebuild kit, waterpump, upper radiator hose, turn signal switch, ignition slider switch, and key switch.

[straight6chevyguy]

I noticed that your engine has the integrated head so must be a period correct engine.
I'm just curious if it is the 2 barrel or single barrel setup kinda hard to tell from the pics though judging by the exhaust piping it might be 2 barrel. Anyway just curious I'm a straight 6 enthusiast lol.

[Nick_R_23]

It’s a 1975 engine according to the numbers, and I’m 99% sure that it has the 1BBL carb, at least that’s what rebuild kit I bought, lol. I’ll be diving into it a little more in the next day or so.

[straight6chevyguy]

Ok the two barrels didn't come in till around 1978 or so.
I looked again at your pics I don't think that was the exhaust pipe I was seeing so never mind lol.

[Nick_R_23]

The rest of my tune up parts showed up last night! Gave her a new cap, rotor, plugs, wires, and have a new waterpump, thermostat, and radiator hoses ready to go on as well.



I did a quick wiring job to put power to the distributor, and she fired right up and idled!

[Nick_R_23]

https://youtu.be/3PxQMFEpJ9I

[straight6chevyguy]

Sweet!

[rodstored-72]

very cool!!!! nice job!

[Nick_R_23]

I found this fun little setback this weekend



It’s already broke. Let’s give it a shot lol

[straight6chevyguy]

Ouch, bummer . Hopefully the glue will fix it if not that's pretty disappointing. I've heard of that happening but had never seen it myself

[Nick_R_23]

If not, no big loss. I’ll yard it out of there and put a V8 back in.

[Nick_R_23]

Picked up a new radiator today! For some reason, I had to order an 80+ model year because it was a 19” tall radiator and the only options for 1978 were 17”. This also meant that I needed a matching upper hose because apparently the inlet size changed from the earlier years.



I also scored a grille for $60! It’s not correct, but does clean the front up a lot.

[straight6chevyguy]

It does look a lot better with the grille in it.

[Nick_R_23]

Finished installing the hoses and radiator and bled the system out. Ran it for about 30 minutes and seemed to do well! The carb definitely needs to be gone through because the throttle shaft is sticky, but it seems to operate decently.



My JB Weld repair also appears to be holding up, lol



I also “fabricated” a basic exhaust system with the muffler and piping cut off my ‘74 Nova last year.

[straight6chevyguy]

Well cool, hopefully it will last. I wonder if running some stop leak would give it any added protection? Probably not but it's a thought anyway.

Careful with those cinder blocks, those things like to break under weight without notice.

The truck is really looking better than where you started.

[Nick_R_23]

I would if I hadn’t just put a new radiator in. That stuff tends to also coat the inside of the radiator passages and hurts heat transfer.

Hopefully I’ll get the wheels back soon, and have it looking a whole lot better!

[Shifty One]

I wonder why I can't see your pics?

[Nick_R_23]

Next up on the list was to tackle the steering column. I had tried to put the original one back together, but unfortunately it was destroyed and had things literally ripped off of it. So I snagged a replacement from a t-boned Suburban!



I also picked up a few more replacement switches since the dash would be apart.



Brake light switch



Replaced the headlight switch and all the dash bulbs. The heater control is broken and the fan switch is missing, so I’ll be back in here later.



Dash cleaned and reassembled!



New steering column in with new turn signal switch, neutral switch, and ignition switch!



Replaced the missing spring and pin on the shifter linkage



The entire engine harness has been cut out, so I wired in the basic things to get it running.







As of last night, it now starts and runs off a key!

[Nick_R_23]

Took the front end back apart because I scored some new parts!



I found a brand new front valence on Marketplace for $35! Painted it red



I decided to make the truck look a little better. This will be a 50 footer for sure, but at least it will look like less of an abandoned vehicle in my driveway. Started sanding the body down, and knocked out some of the larger dents.







I didn’t like the black look of the grille, so I decided to paint it silver.



Started painting the rest of the truck! It will be red with a white roof and bumpers. I also found some brand new LMC headlight bezels for $50!







I ran out of paint so I’ll be picking more up tomorrow!