!965 Chevy C-10 Take 2: Project Tanya

[fryer1979]

A couple other things going on at the same time as all the sanding.

Did some work on the grill area. I figured since the grill was so nice that I couldn't put it back on that nasty surround. Didn't take a before pic cuz there are quite a few shots here showing the front of Tanya as she was. Sorry this one is so bad, I couldn't tell on the cell and it's too late to re-take a shot now.


All masked up for the second paint pass, took longer than any other individual part.


And finally grill surround detail complete.


I have a 3 day weekend this weekend, so I would like to try and get the rest of the pickup sanded, and start working on getting her at least primed. Got a D/A sander from a buddy (thanks Susanville-Slam), so that should go a lot better than my old "by hand" method.

I also got into the rear end a little. Pulled the old bumper off, and re-mounted the license plate and light. I also took the old air shocks off and put new BellTech Nitrogen shocks on to match the front. She should ride much better now.

Just dropped rear bumper. "BOOOONNNNNGGGGGG"!!!!!!!!!!!


And all cleaned up with a custom fabbed bracket for the license plate light. MUCH more clean looking, now I just need a hinge and latch kit so I can ditch the chains.

[fryer1979]

A couple more pictures that I had that might be interesting to some. First one is of the bumper that came on my first '65. Never really looked quite right sitting on the old truck, and after spending some time with some fine steel wool and trying to install it on Tanya I saw why. There are slightly different mounts for the early 60's pickups versus the mid 60's. Oh well, cool picture anyway. I am now a steel wool convert after this one though.


And my last pic is the parts I have piled up for Tanya. The big box on the upper far left has plastic model kits in it, and the Hotchkis box beneath it has new front springs for my Camaro. Other than that it is all waiting for me to get to work.....well I guess all of it is waiting for that.....sheesh!

The only dent I have managed to put in that so far is the shocks in the middle are now on the truck.....man I need to get to work....

That's it for now......

[SulphuriousSam]

Wow...nice work on the grill surround. Looks good I wish I had a pile of parts like that in my garage! Lack of parts is what's holding me up right now Well, I can use that excuse anyway since I really don't have any parts

Keep it up Tanya is lookin' good

[Hotchkis]

Fryer1979 - nice truck project. Lots of boxes! The grill looks mean blacked out. Do you have pictures of your 1979 Camaro? How are the "big" mods coming? Are you turning it into an electric car or diesel power? We're trying to think outside the box. Can you give us a hint?

[fryer1979]

Originally Posted by Hotchkis

Fryer1979 - nice truck project. Lots of boxes! The grill looks mean blacked out. Do you have pictures of your 1979 Camaro? How are the "big" mods coming? Are you turning it into an electric car or diesel power? We're trying to think outside the box. Can you give us a hint?

It's going to be a while before I can do a whole lot of the "big" mods on the car. I would never do an electric car, but a diesel would be cool.....not really my style though (nice try with outside the box, I'll give ya some points there). I don't want to say too much about it, but it is going to be a big block, and it is not very commonly done. In fact I don't think I have ever seen it done, and certainly can't find one on the internet......it will piss off a lot of people though, hell even talking about it ruffles some big feathers. I'll just say it's one of those engine a lot of people say they have, but few actually do. I have to get a hold of a new body though, mine is really badly rusted out, and the aftermarket T-top inserts (car and concepts) won't hold up to the big torque. Once I get all the pieces gathered up and start work on it, I'll get a build thread going for it in the "alternate tinkerings" section. It'll be fun for sure. Here is the only couple pictures I have saved on this computer of the car, both are reasonably current (I am the only one who works on this car BTW, all work is done by me):

[Hotchkis]

Fryer1979 - We're intrigued. We'll keep our eyes peeled for some more details on your Camaro project in the future. Good luck!

[redneck6]

looking good brother , seems i am winning the fight with dmv title is in the mail . stoked will be able to drive it before snow falls .

[fryer1979]

Originally Posted by Hotchkis

Fryer1979 - We're intrigued. We'll keep our eyes peeled for some more details on your Camaro project in the future. Good luck!

I'm not really trying to keep it some big mystery or anything, I am only trying to keep my build thread from becoming a big debate. For real gearheads it's going to be a sick build, but the purists and "car guys" are gonna be upset. Once I get the parts together to start the build I'll get a build thread going and put a link in my signature. It's gonna be a blast. Thanks for the interest, I'll be fun to see the reactions to it.

[fryer1979]

Originally Posted by redneck6

looking good brother , seems i am winning the fight with dmv title is in the mail . stoked will be able to drive it before snow falls .

Sick dude, can't wait to see that thing on the road.

[chad64chevy]

so what big block are you talking about?? it's one of those engine a lot of people say they have, but few actually do!! a hemi, lol?? ive seen people but a ford motor in a chevy, and chevy in a ford, im very interested in what big block your talking about! but i can wait to see it in the alternate tinkering section!!

[fryer1979]

I gotta say that this big block is for the Camaro. Tanya is still getting a small block for driveability purposes. Just to answer the few PM's I got........

I got some work done on the bumper tonight. The old original bumper to Tanya has now gone from a faded paint, peeling chrome, and rusted hunk to a shiney piece of bare steel again. I got the underside all coated and painted, now I'm just letting that set while i sleep today for a few hours. I'll post up some pics once it is all done.

[chevyrestoguy]

I've got a pretty good guess about the engine for the Camaro, but I'll let Ryan spring that one on everybody. If it is what I think it is, it'll be really cool.

The truck is looking good, can't wait to see the pictures of the underside. I need to do that real soon on mine, but right now, it's about 105 with some humidity, and I just 'aint up to it.

By the way, you've got something coming your way, and it should be in Tuesday's mail.

[fryer1979]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

I've got a pretty good guess about the engine for the Camaro, but I'll let Ryan spring that one on everybody. If it is what I think it is, it'll be really cool.

The truck is looking good, can't wait to see the pictures of the underside. I need to do that real soon on mine, but right now, it's about 105 with some humidity, and I just 'aint up to it.

By the way, you've got something coming your way, and it should be in Tuesday's mail.

Wow, 105 and humidity.....ouch! I don't think I would leave an air conditioned building if it got like that here....we're only about 95 up here, but it's always really dry heat.

I just realized I wasn't very clear on what I meant by underside, I have only been working on the front bumper so it is the back side of the bumper that I got all smoothed and painted. The front of the bumper is all primed now, I wanted to let it set over night so I'll get back on it tomorrow evening. I should be able to post some pics by the weekend.

[fryer1979]

Here is the progress on the bumper so far:

Showing the bumper mostly ground down to bare metal. When I was finished grinding (with a flap disc of course), and running the D/A the whole thing looked about like corner closest to the camera. For an idea of what this thing looked like before I started look towards the top of the page. It was originally chrome that was badly rusted and peeling, then someone had painted over it with silver. Now even that silver had corroded so bad the whole thing looked terrible. Just getting it like this (front and back) made me a happy camper.



Next is showing the rust converter/blocker I painted on. After spraying I saw just how bad it still was so I went back to sand paper. After the sanding, reapplication of the rust blocker, primer, and some satin black paint, it still looks a lot like this (only a lot more smooth) so I didn't bother with another picture.



Here we are the next day after a little finish sanding and the coat of etching primer:



And then several coats of a high build primer. The metal has all kinds of pits and imperfections in it, so I was hoping the high buildd primer might help me smooth some out.



Now just today I got her sanded a bit and my white paint layed down. She is definitely a 5 footer job, mostly because the metal was so rough from all the rust on it. Doesn't seem worth it to me to spend all the time sanding and buffing it as most imperfections will still show through, besides it is just a bumper, and the whole truck is getting rattle canned as a "work in progress" paint job since I don't like the primer look. I'm really happy with it though, sure looks a hell of a lot better than it started.



Now I just need to wait for my bumper bolts to show up from LMC and I can put this puppy back on the truck.

[fryer1979]

The bumper is back on....for now. Still have a ton of work to get done, and the truck will see paint soon.

[fryer1979]

Couple pictures from my club's after show cruise through the Chester cemetary. just some neat shots.

[chad64chevy]

that caddy is sooo bada$$, my wife likes it too! so what color will you be painting the truck?? since you painted the grille and surrounding and the bumper it sits it off nicely!

[fryer1979]

Thanks man, my wife actually brought home a second place trophy for the Caddy at the show. Completely made her day!

I'm going to use just a standard Rustoleum white for the top (window base up), and I'll be using a color called Apline Green for the body. The Alpine Green is an engine paint in a spray can. Should come out decent, and will be close to the original colors (which is how I want it to stay). Plus it will give me cheap and easy paint to spray as I do the body work, not to mention an easy color to match.

[fryer1979]

I managed to get a little sanding work done on the hood yesterday. Man, I can't believe the P.O. would spray all that nesty primer over all this beautiful original paint. Hands down my favorite color for these trucks. I'll bet she had some really awesome patina from all the years she spent here in the high sierra desert, too bad that's lost now. Over the next few days I am going to try and get her all sanded down to her original color, and then shoot a fresh coat of a closely matching spray paint just she she is solid and protected while I am working on the body. When all the body work is done I will match the OE color as close as I can, and give her the proper painting she deserves. Here's how she sits after a couple hours work on the hood and grill surround (leaving my previous work in tact of course). Love this color!

[66-PMD-GMC]

here are a couple color charts for Chevy/GMC. My truck was originally the same color as your truck.
I found a ton of these on the internet.

[fryer1979]

Awesome! Thank you. Love that turquoise poly.......hmm

[66-PMD-GMC]

42749 Crystal Green is a dead ringer for my trucks color.
However, I am leaning heavy toward painting it cameo white with a fawn interior (stock color now)
Not sure where I am going with the 63 prostreet truck.

[fryer1979]

Spent a lot of time this weeken hanging with my car club, so I didn't get a whole lot of work done on the pickup. I did come across a very interesting proposition for an engine swap into the truck though....it came as a suggestion from a fellow club member and good friend after I told him I was just going to throw the 350 from my Camaro into the truck. I'm going to keep it under wraps for the time being in case it doesn't work out, but if it comes together it is gonna be sick, I promise you all that.

I did get a little time today before work to get some work done. I got the rear end pulled out of my parts truck and got started on cleaning it up to swap in my Tanya. Didn't get it all cleaned up yet, had to clean up to go to work, but I did make quite a dent in it. Here's a couple shots from today.

Just out of the parts truck:



And cleaned up a bit just before I left for the evening:



As always, more to come soon.....

[fryer1979]

Progress on Tanya has come to a halt for the time being (as if my progress is anything but severely slow to begin with). For the past couple of weeks my car club and I have been traveling out of town for some smaller car shows, and since Tanya can't hold speed above 60 MPH, I've been taking the Camaro with me. Also last weekend when we got back from the show I took Tanya out for a cruise, which included a stop in a local drive through for some late lunch. As I was placing my order Tanya was struck in the tailgate buy an older fellow in a Jeep. Neither myself or the old guy were injured and even his Jeep bumper seemed fine, however Tanya was no so lucky. She suffered a dented tailgate that is tweeked bad enough that it sits crooked in the bed and doesn't want to hinge properly anymore. Also the driver's window has been knocked of track (could be broken parts too, I haven't looked yet). So now she sits, waiting for the old fellow's insurance company to come out and tell me what they are going to do about it. I wish they would hurry up, I'm itching to get back to work and I need to get that bare metal covered back up before the snow start falling.

On the positive side, I had a friend give me a really good 4 bolt main 350 engine he used to run in his Camaro. Said when he pulled it out it was just beginning to smoke a little, and he was just putting a new crate motor in so he could sell the car. Of course this was a little over 10 years ago, but he has kept this engine well covered and stashed away through the years. He just said he wanted it gone and offered it to me. So I guess Tanya is going to get a SBC after all......

[fryer1979]

Oh, and for anyone I left hanging from that last post.....the engine proposition I got was a Caddy 500 and TH400 trans. Would have been cool, but the guy who offered it to me forgot he had already given it away a couple years ago. I like the idea though, a Caddy engine in my pickup would be sweet. If I stumble across another one before I start working on this new small block a Caddy engine still could be in Tanya's future.

Again: this was the engine swap for Tanya, the Camaro is still going to happen.