1966 C20 LWB onto 1977 Suburban C10 Chassis

[Nopocustoms]

So Someone may know this off the top of thier head - I hope so, I am back at home and already tying one on for old-glory, How big is the inside diamater of a factory 5X5 70's chevy 15X6 steel wheel - I want to order bullet push through caps from E-Pay.... Be cool if you knew - I still need to find a set of them around here!

[jonzcustomshop]

looks great!
when people ask about the 73-87 frame swap this will be a great thread to refer them to.

[McMurphy]

Man you work fast.... much faster than I can!!

Thanks for looking at my build too, hope your 3 week trip is a fun one, if not profitable !!!

[Nopocustoms]

Well I am back from my 3 weeks of fun travel and adventure, I hope to break free from honey-do's and get back to the truck so I can take it to a car show before the end of the summer... Time flys when your having fun!

I found a set of 15X6 5 on 5 steelies today, I really wanted the spider style caps, but cannot find them in 5 on 5. I guess I need to buy some wheels - measure the inside diameter and buy bullet lug nuts.

I did spend some time tonight crafting my custom whide-white-whall machine - Pics to follow, My little brother is testing the the first one I made on a buick to check for cracking/peeling - if my theory and failed honors chemistry class education works - I may have a technique for cheepo quality whitewalls....

[1stseries55]

I used 3.125" push through bullet caps....nothing that I could find was an exact fit, I had to grind a very small amount from the inside lip of the hole (on the wheel) to make them fit...

[Nopocustoms]

Outstanding - That's exactly the look I am going for - but on a 1,000 total build budget...

Thanks for the pictures!

Off to Ebay I go...

[Nopocustoms]

Well it isn't much, but I finally got back on it a little bit - I found a guy who was willing to give me 150 bucks and his old steelies for my 5X5 rallye wheels - so I prepped them pretty well and spray painted them black for now - and ordered the caps and lug nuts off of ebay - the last set never showed, I never check ebay but the other seller sold out - thus I never paid, so I didn't get ripped off or anything.

Hopefully the caps come soon, then I will try this technique

Homemade Wide WhiteWalls on a 1996 Buick Woody -...

it seems right on track for the budget build, after the scrapping of the burb, and selling the wheels I think I am at zero bucks....

[Nopocustoms]

The whitewall technique turned out pretty good, overall I am happy with it.

I did alot of tinkering stuff, adjusted the valves - re-routed the exhaust straight back - re-wired underhood, sadly someone stole my front bumper , which had the old blue licence plate on it.

[Bomp]

Can't help ya on the license plate but if you want a bumper I have one here in Keizer you can have.

[McMurphy]

Hmmmmm
About this time next year I hope to be driving my 66 stepside down and catching the ferry from Anchorage to Seattle. I dont think a side trip to Portland would be too far out of the way.
Would be awesome to meet some of you coastal guys !!

Glad to see you back at it Nopo!

[Nopocustoms]

Some of my pictures didn't come out so I will post a quick update, most of the work has just been nit-noid tinker things, but I have accomplished the following, none of which where worth documenting the process.

1: re-wiring - I still need to hook up the temp sender so my dummy light works - even though it's getting gauges I want it to be right.

2: I screwed down the boards in the bed, I used cheepo pine tounge and groove from Shur-Way, (the local discount lumber yard) but it looks so sharp it may stay or a while. I used coated steel self tapping screws from Lowes, 7.65 for 100. The De-Walt drywall screwgun was awesome I set the counter sink and drove 4 screws per board into 2 of the crossmembers.

3: I fought with the carb - it just didn't seem right, after a valve adjustment (4 loose and noisey 2 wayy tight) it ran pretty well. Then I set base and total timing, still didn't have much pull but drove around ok. My dad who has about 40 more years at it pushed on my accelrator pump - it didn't squirt or change the idle! Turns out the accelerator pump piston had come apart... after popping in a used one - it smokes the tires like it's going out o style - WAAAYYY too much torque for the 235-75 Light Truck Tires...

4: It was in need of an oil change, a trans filter, and a dose of Oldsmobile Engine Gold. (love it or hate it, I had to try something different).

5: I did some fitting changes and hooked up the heater hoses,fall is around the corner.

6: I replaced the choke stove and hooked the factory style choke up - it now starts on the first crank!


Other than that its been lightbulb replacement and ground clean up to make all the lghts work and the truck legal on the road.

I was amazed how different the truck looked with the whitewalls ground out!

[ole dollor]

i did my raised letter tires the same way.....i like it a lot....the truck is looking good, you have done some really nice work on your build, and its looking better every day...keep the pic's coming

[Nopocustoms]

Well it's been a while since I have done enough that it seemed worth posting anyting, First - thanks Bomp for the Bumper, it worked out great and gave me something to work with until the day I buy new (repop) bumpers for it following the repaint, which may be a few years - I really dig the look for now!.

I did extensive mock up, and broke out the measuring tape at the wrecking yard on a 65 with no front bumper, and did some basic angles with the plasma cutter and capped the front off with plate Bada Bing - Black bumper in place. To make it not stick out too much I used some white basecoat and catalyst, it's still too shiny and straight for the truck, but the gloss will fade with time. All in all it's awesome and I appreciate the free bumper, and Can tell Bomp is a hell of a fabricator, so I may be bringing some stuff by with some more beverages for welding assisantce...

[Nopocustoms]

A good trip over the mess with the DA and some white basecoat, It doesn't look like an orignal bumper from the same field the truck was sitting in, but it definatley hides the fact its on a 77 burb chassis!

[Nopocustoms]

On the 5th of December, I decided to check the antifreeze level on the old jewell, which was good, I used straight water to hang it together. I suppose I need to start looking for a radiator that can cool that big block - the 1980 El Camino 3.8 Litre Cross Flow I have zip tied in place is not ideal - however it didn't overheat in september - But its a pain to pull the cap off of, and just wrong looking, and a half kinked lower rad hose isn't ideal -

I digress, when I jumped in It fired right up, but I noticed the large amont of rat's nest all over the floor... I knew the seat was bad when I tossed a mexican blanket over it, but Now it's just plain gross.

I had seen aftermartket repo seat covers on LMC and At Dan's Classics - but that just didn't seem right for this build, and I can always do it later!

Step One - gather the equipment:

1. 20.00 Goodwill Kenmore Sewing machine form taiwan, and the 70's
2. a "Walking Foot" attachment - 15 bucks at the quilt supply store
3. A few Yard of Vinyl, and A few Yards of Cloth, and a few yards of Batting.

4. Bite off more than I can chew.

This all started when I looked at some other threads with new seats... I have never done more than a Motorcyle Seat with an air stapler... We were in uncharted territory!

Before any work - this is what we are dealing with .

[Nopocustoms]

A simple (which means royal pain in the ass) removal of the seat, half a can of PB Blaster and a torch later..... and placing it on one of my "Favorite" Work benches.

In all honesty, this is the handies thing I have ever done - I took 3 of my dads old rotten particle board folding tables, and bought 3/4 hardwood plywwod seconds from the local Shur-Way lumber center - Ripped into 2'X8' , routered the edges, and screwed them onto the legs and braces from the rotted particle board table - instant fold up workspace!

[Nopocustoms]

After removal of my Oh So temporary blanket (July 2010), and getting into how this comes apart for rebuild!


In the third picture you can see those cool little clips just pop off, I saved them and was thankful later!

[Nopocustoms]

After pulling all the clips, I gently pulled the corners off

The batting was shot, the foam was actually OK, and I layed it forward to see the burlap and wires.

[Nopocustoms]

You can see here that after popping off the foam, and checking things out it was waay worse than I imagnined, My dream of a 3 hour first time seat recover went out the window....

once this far apart - I sanded the seat frame, blew it all down and hit it with SEM rust killer paint, no one will ever see it, but I feel better hoping to give the springs a fighting chance!

[Nopocustoms]

Leaving paint to dry at 1000 AM, off to the local Store Fabric World in portland - if you ever get a chance to go there, You need to - the owner is over 90 years old, the selection sucks because they never replenish stocks - but if you need some legit New Old Stock 1972 Golf Pants, they can still be had for 1972 Retail prices!! It's a total time warp.

Off I went with my OG seat cover for inspiration, with no rules in mind....

[Nopocustoms]

After Returning with my materials, about 60 bucks worth will get you:

4 Heady Duty needles
1 Spool Nuetral Heavy duty upholstry thread
2 pack of Taylors Chalk (must Have)
A Pair of scissors
3 Yards 60" Vinyl
3 Yards 54" Cool 70's cloth
3 yards Heavy Nylon Batting
3 yards 90" Muslin
50 Feet of PVC Clothes line

That's all we needed.

She reccomended I didn't use Burlap on the seat cushions as it wears too quickly and encourages rodents, so I doubled up muslin - and .030 Mig Wire to make a new mesh, with the clothesline interwoven in the springs - see the bad picture - I could have measured it - but used the "it's better then it was" theory.

I then took a rough cut of the batting and sewed a single muslin layer to it, so it was workable - and didn't get stuck on everything. Still better than the cotton I hope.

[Nopocustoms]

This is where the low-budget work table shines, I tried to sew - and it was a pain the lift of the maching above the table was unbearable on the muslin/batting - so I broke out the saw, and Boom - semi-professional sewing table - I will be setting underneath and flush later - with a way to put the other piece back of course!

[Nopocustoms]

So after a carfeul disection of the old seat cover, I used it as a template for the new cover - Not as many good pictures as I hoped but this turned into a PROJECT!! the first 4 hours were fun, this part became stressful....

[Nopocustoms]

Using the old parts, and Masking tape as an effective margin - we went for it - the actual "front" or main body was done by copying the original piece - and makign two pieces one big piece - dont' let this seem to easy, the sitching is "straigt enough" and it took 5 or 6 samples to get the stiches tight and spaced right - what a pain!!! I loved it though - totally new - but a blast to try!


There MUST be some tips for corners, I sucked - but it's good enough for a first try -

Nest time I will just plop it on flat and mark it, add margin and cut it, and not bother with patterns -- things can shrink from 66 !!


I will post the bottom - With all the tinkering and truck time - this was about 8 hours of work... Yes it's cheaper to buy a new one, but the next ones will only be better

[62 Barnfind]

Seat coming along nice. I am trying to talk my wife in helping me do the seats in my 62. How hard is it? I have no sewing skills and I don't want to mess it up. Your tires came out good also. Did you do anything different from the video?