My 84 C10 SWB Build (aka "Shawty")

[hairlesshobo]

I picked this truck up back in October of 2010 as a replacement for my Trans Am that I wrecked. I have been working on it here and there, nothing too major, since I got the truck.

First thing I did when I got it was replace the seats. When I got the truck it had a blue bench seat in it that was only bolted down on the driver side. It was very annoying to hit the brakes and the seat slide forward. I replaced the seats with a set of captain chairs out of a CSX train. (yes, you read that right.. they are seats from an actual locomotive lol)

Just a couple days later I put a new stereo system in it. The truck had 3 blown speaker cones, 1 completely dead speaker, and a cd player - that was it. I couldn't stand listening to anything in it so it had to go. I replaced the front speakers with some cheap speakers from a local audio shop (man, it is hard to find 3.5" speakers nowadays). I left the rear speakers in it because I am holding out to buy the 6x9 brackets that one of the guys here sells. To top it off, I installed a 12" Pioneer sub that was previously in my Trans Am. I was able to find a sealed box that fit perfectly between the front seats. I pushed that sub with a 1200w Sony (I know.. it's Sony, but don't shoot me.. I only paid $20 for the thing ).

A couple months ago I decided to overhaul the system a little. I actually bolted down the sub, amp, and installed a 4 channel amp to push the front and rear speakers. Even though the front and rear speakers suck ass, it still sounds good because I have the low end cut out of the speakers with a crossover. This prevents them from breaking up and the low end is driven by the sub. I also installed a fuse block just to neaten things up a little. Oh and I ran new speaker wire to all speakers and ran the signal lines under the carpet instead of down the side of the truck by the door.

Also, I have replaced the passenger side vent window, repaired the broken power window switch and power door lock switch on the passenger side. I took the gauge cluster apart and sprayed the plastic reflector with a silver spray paint to help brighten up the gauges a little. I was going to buy LED bulbs for it but I decided to hold out and just get new gauges eventually.

I also replaced the cracked heater core and ran a new wire to the gas tank because the factory wire is pinched somewhere and I had no fuel gauge.

[CamaroChris]

Lets see some pictures! I ended up with my C10 from wrecking my camaro LOL

[hairlesshobo]

Pics of the truck when I purchased it. You can see that there was no trim on the gauge cluster or plastic cover over it. The dash pad is just sitting there (brand new, but not even bolted on), and you can see a little of the (i assume) factory bench seat...

[hairlesshobo]

Originally Posted by CamaroChris

Lets see some pictures! I ended up with my C10 from wrecking my camaro LOL

I'm getting there lol.

On a side note, I have finally decided to rebuild my trans am. I took the time and looked at it more closely and have determined that it IS something that can be repaired, just gonna take some time and some TLC.

[hairlesshobo]

Here you can see the new seats and the sub (in this picture, the sub and amp are both just sitting there not bolted down to anything.)

[hairlesshobo]

Here are some pics of the system after I bolted everything down and added in the second amp (it's kinda hard to see behind the passenger seat)

:edit: it's a shame that the sub is dry rotting on me around the cone. I guess the thing doesn't owe me anything.. it is about 8 years old nowadays and it always take whatever crap I throw at it. On a side note, anyone got any cool tricks to fix that rubber that is dry rotting. Or perhaps know of somewhere to get a new rubber surround to replace that one. Other than that, the sub is perfectly fine. I am waiting for the day that it blows to pieces.

[hairlesshobo]

Now, on to the fun stuff.. Back in September I finally got around to swapping motor and trans. The truck had a 305 crate motor and a TH350. I had a perfectly good 350 sitting in my Trans Am that was rotting. I had only built the motor about 6 months before I wrecked the car.

I took the oil pan off and flushed out the engine because I had gotten some water in the oil. I was an idiot and took my distributor out and then the engine sat in the car for a few months so it just leaked into it. After cleaning it thoroughly I haven't had any issues with the motor.

I replaced the 305 with a 350 4 bolt main, moderate cam, and Weiand aluminum intake (not a crazy power plant, but better than stock). The TH350 was replaced with a 700R4 that my dad gave me that only had 1 mile on it since it was completely overhauled.

[hairlesshobo]

More pics..

Also, with the new engine came new manifolds, which meant a good excuse to have a new exhaust welded in. I got dual 2" pipes through Thrush Mufflers and Chrome tips. Only cost me $200 for a custom exhaust job so I'm not complaining.

:edit: the second pic is the 305 and TH350 after we ripped them out. You can see half of my dad standing in that pic too lol

:edit2: I forgot to mention that we also dropped in a new 4 row copper core radiator. The little flimsy 2 row radiator in it was starting to leak anyways so I figured now was a good time to fab new brackets and drop it in there.

[hairlesshobo]

I had to take my Holley 600 off and put the Edelbrock 600 on there cause the Holley won't stop leaking. I finally got the money to order the parts to fix that, and those should be here today. Hopefully I will get my Holley back on there this weekend.

After getting my Holley back on it, I will be focusing on suspension (thanks to Rob's Make It Handle thread for making me get into suspension). Since the truck has about 190k miles on it and all suspension except the shocks are factory, I am rebuilding the entire suspension. Yesterday I ordered the following parts:

• Moog Inner & outer tie rod ends
• Moog Tie rod adjuster sleeves
• Moog Pittman arm
• Moog Idler arm
• Moog Upper & lower ball joints
• Energy Suspension control arm bushings
• Inner & Outer wheel bearings
• Inner wheel seals

And some other random, non suspension related parts that are on the way

• turn signal switch (in the column) & turn signal cam
• Trailer pigtail that plugs into the harness in the rear
• Door jamb switches
• dimmer switch (i'll finally have brights!!!)
• headlight adjuster screws
• Adjustable aluminum throttle bracket with return spring (the factory one doesn't work well with a high rise aluminum intake)
• TV cable bracket for above throttle bracket
• Holley 700R4 TV geometry adapter
• Holley fuel bowl Helicoil kit w/ tap
• Hawk Performance HPS brake pads

I will be replacing all the stuff in the list above, and have the front rotors and rear drums turned, and replace the rear pads as well. I am also planning to buy an adjustable proportioning valve to replace the defective combination valve that's on it now. I am going adjustable so that when I finally convert my rear to disc I won't have to change the valve again. I will try to post some pics when while I am working on the stuff above.

Oh yeah, once I finish my front end work I will align it and then I will be putting new tires all around. I am going to get the Firestone Firehawk GT 500 275/60/15 tires. I have always had excellent results with the Firehawks and the 55,000 warranty is pretty nice.

[hairlesshobo]

Just finished fixing the stripped holes in my Holley 600 main body. Drilling and tapping for the new helicoils was really easy. I hand drilled the holes out and then used the tap that came with the kit. Everything went great. Also, since I bought the carb (it was a remanufactured carb) I've had a fuel leak from the accelerator pump housing. I took a fine flat file to it because it looked to be a little warped. I look forward to seeing if it helped. Only problem is that one of the accelerator pump screws stripped a little. I hope this doesn't become a problem once its on there.

Also, I got off the phone with Justin from Scott's hot rods a few hours ago. I ordered a wilwood adjustable proportioning valve. Once I get it I am going to take the combination valve off and use a T for the front lines and insert it inline with the rear brakes. I think I am going to make things easy on myself for adjustments in the future and move the valve up to the master cylinder and just put a coupler where the combination valve was.
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[hairlesshobo]

Just got off the phone with my dad. He informed me that he still has the frame and suspension from under a 3/4 ton 77 burb. He took a look and found that its got the factory sway bar under the front. Since I don't have a sway bar at all, I am going to order some poly bushings for it and install it for now. I figure this aught to help with the handling quite a bit. Hopefully I will get it on there this weekend when I replace the front end components.

Also, I am going to take the front springs off the front of the burb and cut them for a little bit of a drop. I am going to hold off on putting those springs on for now though. I want to flip the rear end a flip the shackle af the same time. I don't want to drive around with my front inches lower than my rear.
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[hairlesshobo]

I finally got around to replacing my dimmer switch, headlights, headlight adjusters, and door jamb switches. I gotta say its nice to have hi beams for the first time since I got the truck!

I hope someone can help me out with this part... I can't adjust my headlights up where they should be. Right now they only shine about 4 ft in front of the truck. Every time I try to tighten the top adjusted, it just pops back to where it was immediately. I thought it was bad adjusters so ive replaced them twice and it keeps happening. I have no idea what the deal is but it almost seems that all the adjusters ive bought are stripped out of the box, but this cant be the case. Any ideas??
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[hairlesshobo]

Got a lot done on the truck this past weekend (been too busy this week to post the details).

We disassembled and replaced the following steering components: pittman arm, idler arm, inner and outer tie rod ends & sleeves. We took the upper and lower control arms off of both sides. While the hubs were off I took them and had them resurfaced. I torched out the factory rubber bushings from the control arms. I gotta say - these things are a pain in the ass! I spent about 90 minutes just torching out the bushings alone.

Once the rubber was out we ripped the balls joints out and I took the wire brush on the angle grinder to the arms. I wasn't worried about making them perfect, I just wanted to get the extra crud off. The lower arms had 1/2" - 5/8" thick crud on them in places. I actually had to take a chisel to parts of it to get it off cause the wire brush wasn't cutting through it. Anyways, I skipped on painting them because we didn't have the time to let it dry (remember, this is my daily driver and I only had Saturday and Sunday to get it all done).

We then started the lower control arm mod to gain extra caster..... FAIL. I cleaned up the cross shafts, we rotated them 90* and drilled new locating holes. Pressed in the new bushings and ball joints. I then ground down the back of the cross member so the control arm wouldn't hit. Started to reassemble and it wouldn't bolt up with the new holes. Turns out, the outer sleeve of the new bushings were hitting the saddle that the cross shaft sits in on the back side. Due to the time constraints I decided to roll the shaft back to factory and just bolt it back up as is for now.

Put all the steering components back on, the spindles, put in new wheel bearings and races and inner seal. New pads (hawks), freshly surfaced rotors, and also turned the rear drums and put new shoes on. Set the toe to 1/8" in and pulled out of the garage.

All I can say is WOW... I had NO idea how bad my front end was wore out. 188k miles and almost 30 years takes a tole on handling apparently. The truck rides so much smoother now, there is no play in the front end any more, and I can feel positive feedback from the road for the first time. Before the truck was very unsteady at speeds above 65, the front end would bounce whenever you hit any bump in the road, etc. Now there is no bounce and I've taken the truck up to about 90 and it just rides perfectly smooth and handles super tight now. I really can't wait to get my new tires (Firestone Firehawk GT 500 285 60/15), put on the front sway bar and replace the proportioning valve. I know the thing is really gonna handle like a "new" truck once that is all done.

Moral of the story - if you are running factory bushings, REPLACE THEM! I have never felt such a change in handling and ride quality before like I have with replacing those.

Anyways, for some pictures.. Before..

[hairlesshobo]

After... I forgot to take pics during assembly.

[hairlesshobo]

So you saw what I did on Saturday and Sunday, now for what I did the day before on Friday. I FINALLY got around to putting my Holley back on her. Nothing against Edelbrock, I just don't like them. I had to take the Holley off because a couple fuel bowl bolt holes stripped and I was losing fuel like crazy. I ordered the Holley heli coil kit and fixed that, also fixed the accelerator pump leak that I've had for years on the Holley. I discovered that the accelerator pump plate was a little warmed on the edges so I took a fine, flat file to it and solved that problem. Also, I've always wanted to replace the factory accelerator bracket (factory doesn't work well at all with a tall aluminum intake, I'm sure most of you already know that). Anyways, I bought the one that I've been eyeballing for years. The summit adjustable one that bolts to the base of the carb and works for Holley and Edelbrock.

Also, I discovered last week that the filter that was on my truck was a legit K&N! I thought it was a knockoff so I was planning to go out and buy a real K&N. Turns out, it was just so dirty that it had lost ALL red tint to it. Fortunately for me, I already had the cleaner and oil for the K&N so I just cleaned it up. Check out the pics.

The last pic is of the fuel pump and fuel line that I put on a few weeks ago.

[hairlesshobo]

So funds have become short due to life therefore I'm not gonna be able to do too much to the truck.. at least not things that cost any real money. The next thing I'm gonna do that shouldn't cost much is tune he carb and ignition. I need to throw a bigger accelerator pump shooter in it to help resolve an off idle stumble I'm feeling. I'm gonna rebuild the mechanical and vacuum advance in my distributor. Also I plan to do some swapping around wit the governor in my granny. My tyranny shifts too late at part throttle and too soon at WOT. Since ive got a couple transmissions at my disposal I'm gonna see which governor feels best. If I don't like any of them I will end up getting a kit down the road.
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[notyo_cheez]

A stupid question maybe? Did you try adjusting the TV cable when you re-installed the carb?

Slide up the clip on the backside of the bracket, open the throttle as wide as it'll go, snap clip down, return throttle to normal, done.

Had to ask since I wasn't there and didn't know.

[hairlesshobo]

Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask. Yes, I have done that already and the shift firmness feels much better but it doesn't shift where I want it to in relation to rpm and truck speed.
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[hairlesshobo]

I was having some issues with the carb not running right. the truck wanted to hesitate during light acceleration, sometimes backfire, and there was a strange stumble at about 3800 rpm on WOT. Not to mention the crazy annoying whistle at idle once the truck warmed up.

Well i have great news.. no whistle, no hesitation, no stumble, nothing. I took the carb off and reset the rear barrels so the transfer slot is square. I put the carb back on and started tuning. I was having trouble getting it tuned out like it should. I noticed something strange.. the engine was pulling roughly 19" of vacuum with the vacuum advance disconnected and 10° initial timing. As soon as I hooked the advance back up my vacuum dropped to roughly 15". I was under the idea that it would increase the vacuum, not decrease it. Just to double check, I started looking for a vacuum leak. Well, I found one...an important one too. The vacuum advance can was leaking. This was stopping it from pulling in the full advance, and was leaking a lot too. Lucky for me, I had another HEI distributor laying around with an AR23 can on it that was holding vacuum. I threw it on there and then I was finally able to tune the Carb like it should be. Now i am pulling about 21-22" vacuum at curb idle, and around 16" at cruise. Pre iously i couldnt get more than 10". I am so relieved that I finally got the thing running like it should be.

Next steps:
- Change power valve. Need one that comes in a little sooner since I have more vacuum.
- Play around with governor.
- Plug front oil filler neck so that PCV valve can relieve back pressure.
- Find a pair of valve covers that I actually like.. none of those molded thin ones.
- Change proportioning valve. Already have tthe new one, gotta stop being lazy.
- Lots more I'm sure.

Stay tuned for more later

-Steve
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