72 C10 for my 25th wedding anniversary

[sfont66]

While waiting for parts to arrive, I decided to install the shifter boot that came with my transmission kit. I was a bit disappointed with it at first, especially since they charged $79.95. I couldn’t really find much for instructions online, nothing came with it. Not that it was particularly difficult, just thought there would be some tips on how to make the boot look better on top, not so bunched up and puckered. In the end I just went for it, if it still bothers me , perhaps I will change it out later. It’s not a show truck, just a fun Hot Rod.
I ended up turning the boot inside out, inverting it on the shifter, then used wire to secure it to the shifter. I then folded the boot back over the wire. I do see some shifters have a trim ring to cover the top, but I haven’t found one for a rectangle shifter, only round.
I used a large nail heated with a torch to burn the holes in the carpet, so the bezel screws would not catch the carpet fibers.

Many of the parts I ordered are arriving today, so hopefully I can get more done this weekend.

[MDPotter]

Looks great to me! We're in the same boat on our project; waiting for a bellhousing (a Holley product). Can't do much drivetrain work without it.

[sfont66]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

Looks great to me! We're in the same boat on our project; waiting for a bellhousing (a Holley product). Can't do much drivetrain work without it.

Thanks, I guess it’s fine for now, especially since I have so much to finish in order to drive it this spring.

You mention a bell housing, is this for the 1993 with the turbo? What transmission did you decide to go with? I haven’t found your new build thread. Not sure if you started one yet

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by sfont66

Thanks, I guess it’s fine for now, especially since I have so much to finish in order to drive it this spring.

You mention a bell housing, is this for the 1993 with the turbo? What transmission did you decide to go with? I haven’t found your new build thread. Not sure if you started one yet

Yes, it's for the OBS truck. T56 magnum. I haven't started a build thread for it.

[sfont66]

A handful of items arrived, among them is a fan wiring kit from BP automotive. It will allow both fans to start on low, and both fans to switch on high if needed. The fans will be controlled by the Holley terminator Ecu. I chose to mount the relays in the area formerly occupied by the voltage regulator.

I also went With a Painless fuse block, to take some of the load off the original fuse block. I mounted the Painless fuse block next to the original fuse block, after removing the horn relay to make room for it.

I would have liked to have purchased a new Ls radiator and fan combo, but the prices and availability for everything has gone up so much! I decided to try the ford windstar fans, at $95.00 from Rockauto they are cheap enough, and are said to pull a lot of air. I am going to mount them to the aluminum Champion radiator I had when running the 350 Sbc.
I’ve been working on trying to make the wiring a bit more tidy, and removing circuits that are no longer needed, such as the voltage regulator wiring.
More tomorrow….

[sfont66]

When measuring for a driveshaft, I noticed the pinion seal was leaking, upon further investigation I found that the yolk could be moved ever so slightly. I decided I should change the seal . I made marks on the pinion, nut, yolk, and rear end with a chisel. I proceeded to back the nut off counting the turns, and made note of how many threads were showing so I could put everything back exactly as it was before. The nut backed of easily, with a 1/2” ratchet , I was expecting it to be a lot tighter. Anyway i pried the old seal out ,cleaned up the yolk, nut, and pinion, and pressed in a new seal. I packed the back side of the seal with a bit of grease to help the spring stay in place while being forced into place.
I put everything back as it was, aligning the chisel marks, and counting the turns as I went, I put some blue loctite on the pinion threads just for reassurance. Everything went well. I can’t help but think that it may be possible either the pinion nut had backed off just slightly, or the bearing and races could be worn just enough to have made the yoke a bit loose?
I have no idea if anyone had done the seal on this truck before, the rear end never made any noise, so hopefully it will last another year or 2. I would like to replace it with a Moser or Currie 9” sometime in the future.

[sfont66]

The windstar fans fit the champion radiator pretty good out of the box. I chose to keep the original mounting tabs, and to weld some bosses to the tanks of the radiator to hold the fans in place. I had my son tig weld the bosses in place, as I never learned to tig weld, or to weld aluminum.
I did use a heat gun and a large socket to form the area by the upper radiator hose a bit better, and provide a little more clearance. Then a little notch for the drain plug, and a little trim on the mounting tabs. And that’s about it, they fit pretty good.

Next I need to finish more wiring, I don’t enjoy wiring at all, but it needs to be done.

[MDPotter]

Oh no, a Ford part on a Chevy! Clean work on the install though, looks factory.

I wouldn't expect the pinion nut to be gorilla tight after a lot of miles, but not loose like you mentioned. When replacing the pinion bearings and races, usually a new crush sleeve is installed which takes a huge amount of torque on the pinion nut to get to the 12-15 in/lbs of rotational torque on the pinion itself. That nut is manufactured to not just thread on with your fingers though, it's somewhat of a locking nut.

I'm that the BP kit includes the 3-relay fan setup? I think the two-speed fan setup is the best if you have 2-speed fans. My SPAL fans aren't intended for two-speed so I either have one or two fans running full speed.

[sfont66]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

Oh no, a Ford part on a Chevy! Clean work on the install though, looks factory.

I wouldn't expect the pinion nut to be gorilla tight after a lot of miles, but not loose like you mentioned. When replacing the pinion bearings and races, usually a new crush sleeve is installed which takes a huge amount of torque on the pinion nut to get to the 12-15 in/lbs of rotational torque on the pinion itself. That nut is manufactured to not just thread on with your fingers though, it's somewhat of a locking nut.

I'm that the BP kit includes the 3-relay fan setup? I think the two-speed fan setup is the best if you have 2-speed fans. My SPAL fans aren't intended for two-speed so I either have one or two fans running full speed.

Yes the BP kit does have 3 relays, I do wish they could have made it more compact. It seems unnecessarily large.
I hope the fans and BP kit work well for a while, if not , they aren’t very expensive when compared to some of the other after market fans. But then, as the saying goes, “ you get what you pay for”. So we shall see.

[sfont66]

Small progress lately…..
I was kicked out of the shop for a while, my wife wanted to use the shop space to host a party that she felt she didn’t have room for in the house. It wasn’t all bad though, she cleaned the overhead doors, walls, cabinets, everything!

When checking the drive line angles, I found I would need to shim the rear axle to align better with the transmission. I found the shims i needed at Speedway motors. After adding the shims I remeasured the length needed for a new driveshaft. The measurement only changed 1/16th of an inch. I was then able to call the shop with my numbers. The new shaft should be here late next week.

I tried, but was unable to find a upper radiator hose that fit correctly, so I had to make one out of 2 pieces of hose and a junction that joins the 1 1/4” to 1 1/2” . Again I found the aluminum adapter tube at Speedway motors. I did find them at Summit, but they were out of stock until 6/5/22.
I have finished the wiring, for the most part, I will probably try to tidy it up more, once I’m certain all the circuits are correct and functional.
I did add a catch can can, and a air intake as well.
Small progress, but getting closer to being able to fire this truck up!

[sfont66]

Again quite a bit of time has passed since the last update. This spring has been very busy. And the events bittersweet. We had a death in the family that brings with it much sorrow and heartache, and then we had the wedding of my youngest son, and new daughter in law, and the joy that this union brings .

Back to the C10.
Many weeks back I ordered the drive shaft from Silver Sport Transmission, it came within a week’s time. I guess silver sport doesn’t do their own, because the shaft was drop shipped from Dynotech Driveshafts. Either way, the length is correct, and the quality seems very good. I did upgrade the yolks to 1350 which added another $100 to the cost.
By now I was getting close enough to firing the engine, but it had been sitting fo over a year, so I also wanted to prime the oil galleries. I made a simple setup from a garden sprayer, and a couple of fittings, 1 from ICT that I already had on hand, the other is a brass hose barb from the hardware store. I removed the oil gallery plug on the front of the engine, and screwed the fitting in place. The garden sprayer produced plenty of pressure to prime the engine, enough that it even showed on the gauge in the dashboard. I pumped in approximately 4 quarts, making sure to stop before the tank was empty, so I wouldn’t push air in.
Worked great. And I had a little peace of mind, knowing I had full oil pressure…..

More in a bit.

[sfont66]

Last week, I did fire the engine up just briefly, it ran, had good oil pressure, but didn’t run well. It turns out 2 of the original Ls 6 injectors would stick at random.
I didn’t know this at the time, I had cleaned them, and they really seemed good before I installed them. I just thought I had the wrong injector data. The terminator x came with a 3.5” display, that is limited as far as being able to enter data. I decided to order the USB to CAN harness so I could use a laptop and the tuning software from Holley. I believed at the time that this would help me better tune the injectors.
As it turns out, 1 or 2 of the original ls6 injectors had stuck open when I had shut the engine off. When I went start the engine again it was so full of fuel it would not turn over. I had to pull the spark plugs, drain the oil, remove the injectors, and try to test and clean them again. When cleaning and testing This time, 2 of them would stick open at random times, not good…
I decided to order new injectors that already had data loaded in, and were compatible with the terminator x.
They are actually too big for my current needs, but will support the mods coming later this fall.
The new Holley injectors fit perfectly, and once the new data was loaded to the ECU, the engine fired instantly, but tried to idle at 2500rpm. The IAC had failed and I needed a new one. Once replaced the engine fired and settled in perfect, no leaks , great oil pressure, it came up to temp, and the fans came on, everything seems to be right.
Now to get it out on the road, and let the terminator x learn …..

[MDPotter]

Well this is exciting, the first startup! I can't wait to be where you're at with our project.

It's ironic, after months of waiting for our Terminator to show up it's still just sitting on a shelf in the shop as we wait for the Holley bellhousing.

[sfont66]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

Well this is exciting, the first startup! I can't wait to be where you're at with our project.

It's ironic, after months of waiting for our Terminator to show up it's still just sitting on a shelf in the shop as we wait for the Holley bellhousing.

Yeah, it really is a good feeling! So many parts to blend together, and they all seem to be working well. I’m happy to be done with the electrical part, and all circuits are working.
So far I’m happy with the terminator x, and would definitely buy it again. It was easier than I had thought it would be, as I said before, I hate wiring, but it all turned out pretty good.

Waiting for key components to arrive is very frustrating! Many companies still are short staffed, and many more still claim supply chain issues. The same is true for the company I work for.
I feel your pain, hopefully you won’t have to wait too much longer.

[sfont66]

I have been driving the truck around for the last 5 or 6 weeks on nice days. It has been very reliable, starts instantly, idles great, goes down the road straight, no vibrations, no leaks or overheating. Everything is working as it should.

In 6th it will cruise at approximately 2300RPM at 80 mph on freeway, which is nice. I was only able to put maybe 20 miles on the fresh engine and transmission swap before this years Street machine nationals car show in St Paul MN. We try to go each year. This year we wanted to drive there each day. It’s approximately 80 miles one way, so I was a bit nervous about breaking down or overheating the first day. As it turns out, the truck made it without any issues. We drove to St.Paul and back home each day(Friday & Saturday) so I figured we put on over 320 miles in those 2 days alone. I probably have over 500 miles on the truck now. I checked the mileage twice and I averaged 16 miles per gallon with some city and freeway miles combined.

It was recommended to break in the clutch and transmission for 500-1000 miles, so I have been trying to take it easy on it for a while.
The truck is a blast to drive, but I seem to think I need more HP, and I’m wondering if ported heads with bigger valves, and a heathy cam , larger throttle body, will be enough?
I’ve been looking for a nice 6.0, but the prices are very close to the 6.2’s I find .
One good thing about a 6.0 is , I can use a lot of the stuff that I already have…..
For now though it’s running, and it’s fun!

[MDPotter]

Let's see some pictures!

As for more HP, a cam would wake it up a bit. I have a stage 2 truck cam from BTR in my 6.0 and it's a good cam. If I were to do another LS swap, I would look for a Gen V LT engine - either a 5.3 (355 HP) or a 6.2 (420 HP). Those engines are a little less friendly to swap, but they make great power and I've seen 5.3/6 or 8 spd trans combos going for $3500 plus shipping or 6.2/6 or 8 speeds going for $6500 plus shipping.

[sfont66]

A few pics…
My truck doesn’t compare well to some of the others at the show……..yet.
A few pics just after getting the truck back in one piece, and one at the show just to prove we made it. Actually I didn’t take the pic of my truck at the show, a friend saw it there, and sent me the pic
For a bunch of pics of trucks from the show, I shared them in a thread under General discussion: 2022 continental tire Street Machine Nationals, St.Paul Mn.
I deleted some photos, but I still have a bunch from this year and last year, some nice , some junk ….
I forget how to post a link at the moment

[MDPotter]

Looks pretty clean! If your bed was in the same condition as the cab and front clip, it would be ready to drive!

[sfont66]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

Looks pretty clean! If your bed was in the same condition as the cab and front clip, it would be ready to drive!

Yeah, the box sides and wheel tubs need some color. I will most likely spray them Medium bronze to match the rest of the truck this fall,or next spring.
I am probably a couple years away from being able to pull the entire truck back apart to do a color change to Hugger orange.

[sfont66]

I pulled the bed off the truck again, it’s cold outside, but warm in the shop. So , I thought I would get back to work on the truck again.
For many years I have had a hole in the floor of the bed where the gas filler neck is on the Boyd tank. Recently I decided to do something about it. Boyd Welding had a Black Friday sale, so I purchased their flush mount bed floor fill kit.
My truck came from California and was in pretty good shape as far as rust, but it was used hard on a ranch, so it has had its share of bumps , bangs and dents.
The bed floor shows the result of using a truck as a truck for many years prior to me owning it.
Anyway, I disassembled the bed again, so I could work on the floor. I started with the gas filler. I didn’t want the filler to sit on top of the ribs, but more recessed, I marked out a circle about 3/8” larger in diameter than the filler. I then cut the ribs along that line and hammered that portion flat. Then I welded the gaps between the ribs and the floor closed ( forgot to take a pic) most welding was done from the underside. A little grinding, and a skim of filler…..
more in a bit

[sfont66]

The area around the gas filler would need more work if I was going to paint the floor.
But after working on pounding dents and trying to pull some out with a stud gun, and flipping the floor over , pounding more dents, and flipping the floor back, I could see that I was not able to get at the dents where the cross sills were.
So now I am thinking I may sandblast, epoxy prime and then spray just the floor of the bed with Raptor liner or Line-X or something similar to hide some of the sin. I will still paint the other portions of the bed.

[88Stanger]

Awesome build!
I too am running the Terminator X Max kit. I started with a PSI kit, it was nice and work good, but I really am sold on the Holley kit! With that said, please note that I had a crazy issue this past month with mine Holley kit. I went to start it and it was running so damn rich and crazy idle issue. I tried and tried to figure it out. So I got ahold of the tuner I used (Andrew whom does the tune all while he is in a different state than i am via my laptop) and within 3 min he found an issue with a vacuum leak and was able to direct me to the vacuum line that is tied into the back of the Holley ECU. The little clear Vacuum connector that is attached to the little blue line just broke in Half, thus a massive vacuum leak. The only thing we can figure is that vibrations caused an issue because this is not the first time he has seen this. So, maybe take a look at this on yours. I called Holley and they do not have a part number for it, BUT they are shipping me a new one for free, Thank you Holley. My plan is to cut a larger diameter rubber hose in half long ways and cover the hoses and fitting with this. Anyways, just passing on info i have from mine. Otherwise, love the kit! great work on yours!!!

[sfont66]

Originally Posted by 88Stanger

Awesome build!
I too am running the Terminator X Max kit. I started with a PSI kit, it was nice and work good, but I really am sold on the Holley kit! With that said, please note that I had a crazy issue this past month with mine Holley kit. I went to start it and it was running so damn rich and crazy idle issue. I tried and tried to figure it out. So I got ahold of the tuner I used (Andrew whom does the tune all while he is in a different state than i am via my laptop) and within 3 min he found an issue with a vacuum leak and was able to direct me to the vacuum line that is tied into the back of the Holley ECU. The little clear Vacuum connector that is attached to the little blue line just broke in Half, thus a massive vacuum leak. The only thing we can figure is that vibrations caused an issue because this is not the first time he has seen this. So, maybe take a look at this on yours. I called Holley and they do not have a part number for it, BUT they are shipping me a new one for free, Thank you Holley. My plan is to cut a larger diameter rubber hose in half long ways and cover the hoses and fitting with this. Anyways, just passing on info i have from mine. Otherwise, love the kit! great work on yours!!!

Thanks for the kind words
And thanks for the heads up on the vacuum line connection. I do agree that Holley could have done a better job with that particular connector. I will keep an eye on it.
As for the rest of the Holley Terminator system, I think the quality is excellent for the price. I would buy it again .

[sfont66]

Small update:
Progress was slow this past winter, I had planned to send the 799 heads off to Texas Speed and have them ported, larger valves installed, better springs, etc…
I had also planned to install a larger cam and upgrade throttle body. But the company I worked for, for 12 years closed without notice or much explanation, very lousy deal. So I put any extra expenses on hold.

The Good news is the weather has warmed up enough to sandblast and epoxy prime the bed floor. I filled some of the larger dents with Duraglas fiberglass filler. I then wanted to protect the filler from the sandblasting process a bit, so I put a couple of layers of duct tape over the places with filler before I blasted the floor.
I did both sides, the underside actually blasted easier than the top. It took quite a while to blast everything with my little sandblasting pot. Used just over 200 pounds of sand.
I guess I forgot to take a pic of the underside, but it actually cleaned up better than the top.
Next I sprayed 2 coats of epoxy primer on both sides. Seeing the floor in black epoxy showed a lot of the little dents, and I had some reservations as to how well the Raptor liner I was planning to use would cover them.
I forgot a picture of the epoxy primer……

[sfont66]

After the epoxy cured, I sprayed on the Raptor liner. I had purchased a 1 gallon kit, but only used 2 quarts to cover the top of the floor. I thought it was a very easy process. Hopefully it is fairly durable, although it won’t see much abuse.
I was impressed with how well it covered the smaller dents, and am now debating on if I want to spray more than just the floor of the bed.
My rear lights were in rough shape, one backup lamp housing had wiring issues, and one taillight housing had a wood screw holding the lens in.(This was an old ranch truck and someone used what they had) anyway I ordered all new complete assemblies from GMCPAULS Truck Parts.
The gas filler previously purchased from Boyd Welding was originally intended to be used with a wood floor, but I think it worked out OK, the top of the nozzle on the tank, and the throat of the filler are extremely close, almost touching, just a small 3” section of rubber hose connects one to the other.

I had sprayed the bedsides and wheel tubs in my garage the week prior when the weather was nice, before all the bugs came out, and the cottonwood trees started dropping fluff. It was just the typical scuff, prime and shoot the same terrible matching color of paint. Wish it was Hugger orange, but that will be some time in the future when I can tear the truck apart and do it right.