1970 C10 LWB "Blu"

[NC_John]

I guess its time to start my own build thread.

I got "blu" two weeks ago. I found her on craigslist and once I saw her knew I had to adopt her.

I was searching for an unmolested 64-72 southern truck (nothing registered north of NC- there is a huge difference in a lot of VA trucks as far as rust) with original paint and drivetrain. Blu was a three owner truck, staying within 12 miles of the original owner until I found her. 115K miles on the clock, original 350 4BBL, 3 on the tree Saginaw. A true farm truck with original paint, a few dents and dings but no bodywork anywhere. Only mods were dual exhaust, recovered bench seat and a Camaro steering wheel. Very clean underneath so I made the deal.

Here is the craigslist ad photo:



The interior:



Loaded up for the trip to her new home:



And finally, taking up her bay in the garage (sorry honey, the Tahoe's going outside for a little while!):



The plan is to do a mechanical restoration (which should be easy as she's a driver now) and freshen up the exterior and interior while maintaining her classic patina. They are only original once! And of course the farm truck is going to lose the cowboy hat and overalls and get a little more contemporary by getting lowered. My bank account will never be the same.....

[flashed]

Looks prety solid ,congrats .

[NC_John]

Originally Posted by flashed

Looks prety solid ,congrats .

Thanks! If I'm home my wife knows I'm either in the garage working on Blu or on the computer looking at parts for Blu.... Its going to be an obsession for a little while. Seems like I'm in good company on this forum though....

[NC_John]

Once I got it home I started snooping around and cleaning up. It had the typical cowl packed full of leaves and pine needles:



And as it was a legit farm truck, everything underneath was covered in copious amounts of NC clay:



The floor pan, frame, cab mounts and everything underneath is in very good shape though (one of the reasons I brought her home). Super clean floorpans and inner rockers:



Really solid underneath:



very solid cab mounts and supports underneath:



and really clean floor pan:



The only rust of concern isn't of much concern at all. Very minor pinholes in the outer rockers and cab corners. Some minor pinholes in the bottom of the kick panels at the floor and the usual bottoms of the front fenders. Nothing that needs to be fixed now though I am thinking if one of my painters can match the patina'd white, it might get fixed sooner than I originally thought.

[custom97]

Great start. All these new finds is pissing me off. I gotta find me mine. . . .

[NC_John]

Originally Posted by custom97

Great start. All these new finds is pissing me off. I gotta find me mine. . . .

I would think you've got a good truck hunting ground in TX unless they've already been picked clean and hauled north!

There seems to be old C-10s in every second yard out here in rural NC but like a buddy said "Most of those owners don't know how to use the internet to sell them so they'll never end up on Craigslist."

[custom97]

Understand. So far the ones I've gone to see are a bit too far gone for what I want, and they're pricing them out of my range. I found one today, it's about 5hrs from me, if it's still available this weekend I might make a run for it. Unmolested original paint. . . . .

[flashed]

You got extremely lucky on the small amount of damage on your truck ,mine was a North Carolina truck too but it was eat up pretty bad in the typical cab areas . Congrats again ,you did good .

[SuperC10Tex]

Good lookin Truck!! Keep the pics coming......

[Hardesty454]

I like this truck for some reason. good start. Lets keep on that progress!

[NC_John]

Thanks guys- this forum is a great source of inspiration to build something great.
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[builtbyKane]

What a great looking project. Keep us posted

[NC_John]

The project continues with the initial cleanup and evaluation. I brought home a 3,800 PSI pressure washer and spent last weekend degreasing and blasting off the mud and rust from underneath.



I got whatever undercoating was on the inner fenders, front and rear and spent hours with degreaser, scrapers and toothbrushes detail cleaning everything underneath. I put a solid 14 hrs into it. I told my wife - "they don't show you this part of the project on the hot-rod build TV shows." (notice the brand new radials- I installed a new interstate battery too- both were cooked from sitting too long at her last home):



On Sunday I decided to finally go after that terrible farm bumper hanging off the hind end. What an eyesore.



Two days of soaking it with PB Blaster finally allowed me to get the bolts off with an impact gun. Then I noticed some idiot had welded it on as well. Whoever did it wasn't much of fabricator as far as looks but he was a hell of a good welder. There was a good bead on the three sides of the bracket.



It took two grinding wheels, an hour or so, a gallon or so of drinking water (it was 100 degrees with the humidity) and one ruined t-shirt (full of holes now from sparks) to get it off but it came off. I think the truck looks 100% better now even without a rear bumper. The plan is to get a factory chrome one on there. I'll have to get the brackets, tag set and everything since all the stuff I cut off was homemade. Since that'll be $$$, I'll just hang the tag underneath ghetto style while the bumper goes on the wish list.



After a good bath the white came out pretty nice and the blue brightened up.
I'm tempted now to rush the replacement of the rockers and cab corners IF and ONLY IF my painter can match the patina of the rest of the white. (Note the black sky in the background- I was racing against summer thunderstorms every afternoon)



I found a bit more rust with the pressure washer. Some minor holes in the bed around the wheel wells at the bed floor. Maybe another one or two in the cab corners and rockers but I was working the metal deliberately hard with the pressure washer to see how bad things were. Still not bad.

[flashed]

Even with the new stuff you found ,you are way ahead of what I started with rustwise .Hopefully the bodyshop is almost finished with the rust repair on my cab. Good luck and keep the pics coming .

[alsriv2]

Very nice looking truck. Congratulations on getting it and bringing it home.
I was wondering if these trucks fit on a UHaul trailer, your pic proves it does!

[NC_John]

Originally Posted by alsriv2

I was wondering if these trucks fit on a UHaul trailer, your pic proves it does!

yes, but you can see- its a tight fit!

[NC_John]

Progress is going good. My work schedule has me working from home this week so I am getting some extra time on Blu this week.

Yesterday I removed the old dash pad and prepped for the new one.



It looked like the blue between the dash pad and the windshield has already been messed with so I figured I would freshen it up (and paint it black like I think I saw on AJ's!). Got it masked and prepped (just cleaned really, really well) and then sprayed it with rattlecan plastidip.



I am happy with how it came out- its not perfect but I can redo it when I change out the windshield. This stuff is a rubber-type of coating and you can actually peel it right off and have the original finish intact. The matte black goes well with the dash pad I think.



I cleaned up the instrument panel/cluster and changed out all the bulbs to LED. It looks good at night. Cleaned my headlight switch and sanded the contacts so the dimmer works like it should. Still need to finish cleaning out my heater box (to make sure there are no more leaves) and hook up the new hoses to the new dash defrost vents. The dash is just screaming for the correct steering wheel now....

I cut my screen for the cowl. I duct-taped it to hold it in place but when I installed it, the front edge was sagging down. I pulled it and used both silicone and JB Weld to "glue" the screen to the cowl. It came out nice- thanks to you guys on here for the DIY tip.



So the cowl is back on. I reinstalled the wiper arms and put on new blades (wish they were the original style metal ones but oh well, its a driver). I finally got to test the wiper motor and washer pump (both functioning properly). That's another couple of tasks scratched off the long list.

Today I'm treating some rusted areas with POR-15 and removing a cracked exhaust manifold..... When the POR-15 I applied on the cab floor dries, I can start fitting my new flooring.

[KSWes]

looks like a nice find. And good progress getting things started!

[Bhelton]

Looks like a great start! Super clean for age
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[NC_John]

Thanks for the kind words guys....

So far I'm pretty pleased with it. I've not found anything I missed during the buying (except for the cracked exhaust manifold but that is minor).
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[NC_John]

The mechanical restoration continues... The goal being to be 100% functional mechanically, then start making it pretty... It'll be a while before this ugly duckling is a looker

I pulled the heater box (inside and out), cleaned out the crazy amount of leaves and debris, washed everything inside and out and then put it back together with all new seals.



I'm glad I went through the trouble of taking the entire system apart- it was pretty nasty and had a ton of dirt in it from the farm-truck days.



When I got it back together I flushed and refilled the system with fresh coolant. New thermostat, rad cap etc... Trying to build something reliable here...

Yesterday I got started on the door seals. New channels, fuzzies, etc. Driver's door in done - what a pain. It looks and works great but man was that a lot of work. The passenger side should go a lot quicker now that I know what I am doing (factory service manual has little to no detail on the job).



Gave everything a really good cleanup while it was apart and lubed the hell out of the window crank and door latch/handle/lock assemblies. Everything works like new on the drivers side now and the door is a lot quieter when I have to slam it for the new weatherstrip on the cab....

[bobbydigital]

looking nice so far, subscribing

[jmorri34]

Looks sweet man, Im in!! Keep up the good work

[lolife99]

Great looking truck and great thread!

[NC_John]

Originally Posted by bobbydigital

looking nice so far, subscribing

Originally Posted by jmorri34

Looks sweet man, Im in!! Keep up the good work

Originally Posted by lolife99

Great looking truck and great thread!

thank ya, thank ya!