1970 C10 Long Bed Build

[1970_Chevy]

I have viewed my build threads on here but have never posted (so hopefully all my pictures appear). I own a 1970 C10 LWB that I am just starting to build. The direction is still a little unclear as there are so many options and so many things that have been done. As you can see in the pictures the body of the truck leaves a lot to be desired. The one thing I do know is I would like to be able to use this truck as a truck. I enjoy looking at high end pro touring style builds but I do not intend on auto-crossing this truck.

The truck is currently equipped with a 250CI incline 6 and 3 speed manual that has been moved to the floor. I currently own a 5.3 LS style engine, 454 gen 5 big block, and a 5.9L 12v p-pump cummins. I have yet to decide on the drive train, including transmission and axle(s). I live in Iowa so the thought has crossed my mind about a 4 wheel drive conversion of some type.

I do know that the truck will not being stay 4 wheel drum brakes. I also know that it will be significant work to numerous body panel, body mounts, and normal wear items.

This project is going to be a long project as I also have a 1967 Camaro (nearing completion) and a recently purchased house. I look forward to sharing my progress here while hopefully gaining and sharing some knowledge.

[1970_Chevy]

As I stated I am converting the truck to disc brakes (at least in the front for now). I also would like to be able to use the truck as a truck is intended. For these reason I decided to drop the entire front suspension and replace it with a c20 assembly with disc brakes.

Besides working in the dirt in an old junkyard with limited tools everything went fairly smooth during the removal. I was able to float the engine while removing the front suspension it was then set on blocks.

At this point the truck is going to be staying 2wd. However, in the future, I may be swapping to 4wd. I will just have to see where this build takes me, but for now I will proceed with truck as 2wd.

I did not have jack stands at the junkyard so I used the biggest logs I could find to hold the truck up. Yes this is not the most safe but jack stands would have sunk in the ground and I kept the jack under the car at all times.

[1970_Chevy]

So I may have found an engine for my c10! I brought a 5.3L L83 (LT family) engine. It is not set in stone that this is going into my truck, I still have to tear the engine down and see what kind of condition it is in. I should have more information on this soon when I begin to tear the engine down.





In the mean time to continue the progress on the truck. I have the new front end rebuild with c20 spring, all new bushing and ball joints. I also did a basic disc brake upgrade. Nothing to fancy at this point but all OEM parts that are easily attainable.

The next step is going to be to paint this entire front end assembly. I am going to use POR15 since there is some surface rust. Once painted I will install the new front end.

[1970_Chevy]

I know I have been absent for a while on this but that does not mean that work has not been done on this truck. Since my last post I have made some progress and made a lot of choices on components.

Engine: 5.3L LS engine with BTR truck norris cam and terminator x max efi
Transmission: 4l80e
transfer case: NP205 with ORD design adapter
Rear Axle: 14 Bolt with disc brake conversion
Front Axle: Dana 44 rebuilt with new disc brakes
Suspension: Leaf spring front and rear
Wiring Harness: American Autowire

The first thing I did was build the LS and locate a 4l80e transmission. I did have the transmission built by a local shop. I rebuilt the engine myself after having the block machined locally. If I can locate more pictures of rebuilding the engine I will post those but at this time I cannot seem to find any of them.



While waiting for those components to be completed at the machine shops I found a NP 205 Transfer case. I did have to do a full rebuild on the transfer case in addition to changing the input shaft to mate with the 4L80. I also needed to do some significant frame repair to eliminate all the rust. While doing the frame modification I decided that I was going to convert this truck to a 1 ton. This conversion includes some custom designed parts and a lot of fabrication. Look for all of that in an upcoming post!

[1970_Chevy]

As I mentioned previously significant frame repair and modifications were required to make my frame usable. This is actually the second frame for this project. The first frame that came with the truck was in even worse shape!

I started with replacing the rusted sections of the frame. Being from Iowa rust is always a problem!

Section above the rear axle:




Section removed and template made to make a replacement:




New section of frame rail welding in place:



After doing this to both sides of the underside of the frame, I decided to replace the rear frame section because it was full of holes and would never have been as strong as I wanted.

[1970_Chevy]

To follow the previous post, I removed the back portion of the frame and replaced with square tubing. I cannot actually claim this idea as I took inspiration from a member of this site, "ryanroo", the work he did to his frame was a great inspiration for a lot of this build.

I cut off the rear section that was full of holes. The replacement section was fabricated on a welding table then install on the truck. The crossmember was located to allow spacer for a rear mounted fuel tank in the future.





Unfortunately, I don't have a 220v welder at my house so just had to do the best I could with my little 110v welder. For some future projects I tacked the parts together at home and used the welder at work.





Next step was to get this rear section welded to the existing frame. For that I needed to order a few laser cut fish plate. This would allow from more welded surface between the existing frame and the new section.



My next post will cover the installation of the rear frame section, how it is welded in and how the fish plates were installed.

[1970_Chevy]

The next step was obviously to attach the near reason section to the existing frame.





This is also where the fish plates came in to play. One fish plate on the outside of each seam and one on the inside welded to a plate that is the beginning of me boxing the frame. I also drilled holes and welded in sleeves to mount a rear gas tank. The sleeves were not needed to get the tube from collapsing but I figured they would help keep water and debris out of the frame.

[1970_Chevy]

Now it is time to box the frame. I boxed everything up to the carrier bearing crossmember then from the cross member forward to the location of the front leaf spring rear hanger.

You will notice in the first three pictures here that the truck still has the factory 2wd front suspension.







I did order the and install a 4wd LS swap cross member. This is the initial installation and test fit.



While adding a lot of strength, boxing the from does present many challenges when it comes to mounting components on the frame. For this reason I did design and produce 2 variations of bolt sleeves one that is threaded and one that is not, both designs have a flange to make welding easier since I don't have access to a tig welder. These bolt sleeves will be used to mount things like leaf springs hangers which I have been working on designing while boxing the frame. I will discuss those more in my next post but for now I have included a pictures of the solid model as a teaser....

[1970_Chevy]

Unfortunately I was not able to take many pictures of getting the rear axle ready, I do have some installed pictures though. I am using a 14 bolt with a disc brake conversion and pinion guard.







While working on the rear axle and waiting for the brakes to arrive I picked up a np205 transfer case. I used an adapter from Offroad Design to adapt the transfer case to the 4l80e transmission. Thus far I have nothing but good things to say about ORD and their products they have been very helpful and the products simply work! I torn the transfer case all the way down to its case. I had the case machined locally since I did not have the proper work holding at work to accomplish the required machining

[1970_Chevy]

In my pervious post I showed the rear axle in the chassis, the mounted used in that picture were the first prototype of my design for the front leaf spring mount. The mount was a little to tight on the eye of the leaf spring for my liking so I decided to bite the bullet and modify the design then have new parts cut and bent.



Please feel free to provide feed back on these mounts. I thought about producing them for sale but the installation is a real pain. If anyone is really interested and willing to accept the challenge of installation I might be willing to sell these parts. The backing plate that attached to the same using existing holes as alignment holes to drill the 4 perimeter mounting holes.

Since my frame is entirely boxed that meant drilling a 3/4" hole thru the entire frame so that I could weld a sleeve in. This actually proved to be a benefit because of the curvature of the frame I weld the sleeve flange out on the top two holes and flange in on the bottom two holes. Doing so allowed for the mount to sit plumb.

I did design a lateral support to bolt to the bottom side of the frame but I have not decided if I want to used that or make a triangulated support to a cross member that I have welded in. More to come on that in a future post when I make that decision.

[raggedjim]

Nice work so far. These things take time and far more effort than most people realize, keep at it!

Good luck, Rg

[1970_Chevy]

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback. My next step was to move forward to the front leaf spring/core support mounts. I am using ORD rear hangers but I knew I could make something cheaper than what's on the market for the for the front hanger.

I used the existing holes in the frame. Because I wanted a little bit of adjustability I put 3 holes in the mount. I will see where I end up when the body and fenders get put back on the truck.



I will admit that I made a little mistake on these. What your seeing is actually the second iteration. The first iteration, had the holes in the incorrect location in relation to the core support bushing mount. The iteration shown in these pictures still wasn't 100% correct, that's why the mount are on a Bridgeport mill table.



If you have a really keen eye you can also see that I forgot to add the mount for the bumper supports. I will admit that was a complete oversight. I will add those later when I have the brackets back off. I also have to finish weld both mounts before powder coat





Overall the brackets turned out alight, not perfect but definitely learned a lot doing this project. These are another part that I might be willing to sell at some point if there is any interest but I do want to make sure they function and location the axle properly before I get to that point.

These projects do take a long time especially when your building a lot of your own parts but to me that is the rewarding part. My theory has been if I can make it at least as good and for a reasonable price I am sure going to try doing so. My background as a machinist and current job as an engineer helps with access to the modeling software and a machine shop.