Project "Old Skool" V.3

[americanmusc1e]

It's time to document this build that has been a big part of my life for the past 10 years. Here's the one paragraph version of what's going on:

I got the truck when I was 15. My dad and I bondo'd all the rust and put it on the road for a 16 year old to drive. I drove the wheels off of it and put several motors, transmissions, and axles in it. Then i tore it down to do a 4wd conversion. I was nearly done when I just recently changed my mind and I'm taking it back to the roots as a 2wd 'daily driver' fun truck.

Plans are for a 5.3 LS swap mated to a Sm465 manual and a 12-bolt diff out back. I'll be using Megasquirt MS2 engine management because i already have it for the TBI conversion I was going to do on my SBC. A turbo may be in the truck's distant future. I got $3500 for my 4wd drivetrain. I'm planning on that being my budget to finish the truck.


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READ-ONLY GOOGLE SPREADSHEET THAT DOCUMENTS EXPENSES OF THIS BUILD

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...8SnMYQ/pubhtml
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but first. A little history..

[americanmusc1e]

Here is the truck sometime in 2004. It was a 1970 C10 with a 350/TH350 AC, and a side toolbox. It was a pretty high-optioned truck for not being a custom. When I got it, it had a worn pearl-white paint job. It was originally white/med bronze/ white I haven't seen very many medium bronze trucks, but I'm guessing they were an acquired taste The engine compartment was probably the worst-looking one I've ever seen too.

My dad and I bondo'd all the rust up and painted it rust oleum safety red and gloss white (unaware that a big trend of rolling on a rust oleum paint job that was developing). We fixed a few mechanical problems the truck had, and turned me loose in it. The truck wasn't entirely finished by my 16th birthday, but that didn't stop me from driving it with a yellow hood. My first modification was a foam air cleaner until someone told me how easily they catch fire.








here is the truck several months later all shined up with the maxxis mudder tires and still with front drum brakes. I can tell because my disk brake conversion left me with a newer looking set of the same wheels and 5 lugs up front (still have a 5/6 lug truck :/ )

[americanmusc1e]

First came a disk brake conversion when I was 17. I ebay'd a set of 72 c10 rotors, calipers and master cylinder and bought a set of mcgaughys conversion spindles. I did some things I regret now. My factory rubber lines were rubbing on my spindles for years. I'm lucky I'm not dead. Brake lines are something I will have to go through.

Then came time for a new motor! I pulled a 350 out of our 69 C10 parts truck and bought a harbor freight engine stand. I tore the motor down in my dad's shop. I was suprised to find a set of 4-bolt mains. I thought I was awesome. I got the block bored. (It was already .030 so we went 0.060), added a set of new dished pistons, vortec heads set up for screw-in studs and guideplates, a weiand manifold and a tiny cam. (sometime in there I traded the q-jet for a new holley 600cfm 4160). Finally got rid of the points with a HEI conversion





All was well and good until the added power and old age killed the front pump on the Th350. So I got a free 700r4 from a friend of mine and got it rebuilt ($1200). Overdrive was nice, but the mileage didn't improve. (Probably my 18 year old lead foot).

Sometime after that, I had an issue with the motor. A combination of improper break in, and excessive tightening of the hydraulic lifters killed a cam lobe. I didn't catch it soon enough and it sent enough metal through the engine for me to loose all oil pressure. Yay. time for a rebuild. The truck sat out my high school graduation while I saved up for a new motor.



The new motor was a beast. The same vortec heads with a scat 3.75" crank, H-beam rods, A moroso 6-qt oil pan ( the stock one wouldn't clear the rods). and a larger cam. I spec'd the motor with dished pistons, but unknown to me the motor was put together with flat top pistons netting a compression of 11:1. (I didn't build this one due to complications with the last one)

I also painted the engine compartment while the motor was out. White was a terrible idea no matter how good it looked at first.

[americanmusc1e]

The power of the motor was insane. Here I was a 19 year old kid with a farm truck that did a 14.0 quarter mile. It's a wonder I'm not dead. The truck hit 120mph racing a friend in a souped up Titan.


The truck also lost it's turbo mufflers. In their place was a set of 24" glasspacks. It was loud enough to set off car alarms rumbling through a parking lot.



Then came the pain of "high" HP. The 700r4 just wouldn't last. I blew it up within a few thousand miles. Lost 2nd gear first and then the rest slowly went away. I took it in under warranty and the guy who built it said it was "installer error" and insisted on charging me more for him to put it in ($400). It lasted a few more months and blew up again. I took it back and he rebuilt it and told me my warranty was over. The guy was a jerk so I ended up taking it to the guy who built my motor. I got it rebuilt again ($1500) and it lasted a few months before it went back out. I got it rebuilt a couple more times after that, but I grew tired of the problems. I almost built a stalled Th400, but decided to go manual in the end. To this day I hate 700r4s and automatic transmissions in general. My daily drivers are all manuals now. T

My parent's 2001 Silverado 2500 was my first experience with LS power. bone stock 6.0/4L80E 4x4 with 4.10 gears




The factory open-diff 12-bolt let go somewhere in here. It was a big bang on the highway. I threw in the 12-bolt out of our parts truck for a few months until I found a nice 3.73 12-bolt and eventually added a powertrax locker.



The v-belt system also didn't like 6000rpm. I blew through so many v-belts. Every other time the motor would hit 6000 the v-belt would come off. I got to where I could change them in 10 mins flat. The green "garden" v-belts would give me a couple of extra runs, but even they wouldn't last.



It was somewhere in this time period that Old Skool got her name. I was out one night racing a tundra. When I got back one of my buddies told me "everyone was standing on the sideline yelling OLD SKOOL'S GOT IT!" the name has stuck since then.



Then came the manual conversion. A $300 SM465 from an 89 C2500, and a new RAM billet flywheel and musclecar clutch.

[americanmusc1e]

Then came some low-compression 487 casting heads and a smaller cam. Quieter mufflers too. I was tired of getting in trouble with the truck. plus the high-spirited motor wasn't much fun with the slow-shifting sm645.



water started appearing on my carpet from where the rust holes in the cowling was speading. I pulled the truck down to fix this, and I ended up buying a K20 frame with a C30 cab on it. I decided to do a 4x4 conversion. That's what I've been working on the past 3 years. The facebook page has tons of info, but I'm going to give the short version. I also switched to the C30 cab because it was in slightly better shape (and had cab lights). I did a ton of welding and some crappy body work on top of it, and painted the entire truck flat black.














bought an 84 K10 for the lift, axles and tires





new Exhaust and serpentine conversion

[americanmusc1e]

Last weekend I sold the entire 4wd drivetrain.



It was a hard decision, but I don't live at home anymore. I live in Austin, my girlfriend is 3 hours north in Dallas and my family is 2 hours south in Victoria. I want a highway cruiser that i can actually take places and that does really well on the highway. I know from driving my C10 vs K10 that there was a notable difference. So I sold the k10 drivetrain. Now I have a mostly complete body, $3500 and my old C10 frame. Time for part 3

I've already started pressure washing my old frame. I'm about to put the order through on a 5.3. I still have my 2wd Sm645 and driveshaft. I'm ordering a 6.0 flywheel, BBC clutch and throwout with a LS7 pilot bearing.

[garmar]

Originally Posted by americanmusc1e

The v-belt system also didn't like 6000rpm. I blew through so many v-belts. Every other time the motor would hit 6000 the v-belt would come off. I got to where I could change them in 10 mins flat. The green "garden" v-belts would give me a couple of extra runs, but even they wouldn't last.



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You were blowing v-belts because they were put on upside down. The ribs go into the pulley groove.

[americanmusc1e]

Originally Posted by garmar

You were blowing v-belts because they were put on upside down. The ribs go into the pulley groove.

Yeah. I should have specified I know how a v-belt is supposed to go

I had the belt flip clean over on me and I took a picture of it. That was from running the vbelt too tight I think.

[Odaroloc]

Look great man! Keep it up!

[americanmusc1e]

Sorry for the lack of updates. Christmas was crazy, but I've been chipping away whenever I can.

Everything I've done:

1. All the brake lines are done and tied down.
2. put the fenders, hood and bed back on
3. modified my battery box hole in the bed to go around the 2wd crossmember. Still need to weld up the excess space
4. finished the wiring harness. It's functional but still plenty ugly right now.
5. wrapped the headers. Again, its a bit ugly, but I'm so frustrated with them that I might want to go a different header route.
6. New GMT400 radiator fits right in and the 2000 silverado hoses are the correct size.
7. Tons of little stuff. heater hose and steam line are hooked up.
8. Fuel return is nearly done. still have to run it into the tank. For temporary testing I just ran the hose into the fuel filler.
9. four new Cooper Cobra 275/60r15 tires
10. Ran the 0ga battery cable to my battery box. ran two 8ga cables from the starter to my wire junctions
11. Plugged in the harness and test fired! It runs! One of my coils was shorted directly to ground. I left it unplugged for the test. Also didn't have any coolant in it yet. didn't want to run it for too long.

don't use these headers if you have a manual trans


new tires


wrapping headers (painted them black first)


more wiring mess


0ga cable is massive. crimped it with a railroad spike, an anvil and a BFH


everything gets heat shrinks








I need to get some better shots of my power distro and fuse box. It's actually pretty legit. still have tons of wires to organize




The interior is nothing but storage right now

[americanmusc1e]

Now I really need to figure out exhaust and headers. I'm really out of budget and these headers don't have 3 bolt flanges. I want to do dual magnaflows and an x pipe. I might just be doing a pair of cheap turbo mufflers dumped for now ( I already have the mufflers)

Still need coolant, a hose for my MAP sensor, and I need to relocate my bungs for my O2 sensors so i can actually install them. with that, I should be able to run the motor long enough to confirm my clutch is going to work.

[americanmusc1e]

teaser shots. update to come..

[americanmusc1e]