My 1st C10 build with a 454TBI resto-mod

[steel horse]

Well lets see where to start. Im a mechanic, have done alot of "wierd" mechanic jobs (worked in Iraq, work currently on handicapped vans with all kinds of crazy mods, owned a hotrod shop etc.). I say all that to say this....IM NO EXPERT so if you got input or advice, by all means please post it cause anybody who thinks they know it all (in my experience) really knows nothing.

That said, this is my 1st c10 or truck build & i just found this site after already completing quite a bit of work but ill try to make my posts in order that i did the work. The truck came to me as a running and sorta moving c10 shortbed with a strait 6 and a 400 tranny (that was beyond smoked). The body was pretty good at 1st look but after having it soda blasted to bare metal, it was a different story.

Also I got a 95 suburban with a TBI 454 and 4l80 in it in perfect working order (complete truck but wrecked with no title). Sooo I figured well theres my drivetrain and thats how this got started. And i also got a 95 chevy stepside bed for it (would rather have an original fleetside but it had no bed and this was cheap...er uh free actually).

My vision for the truck is to go flatblack, make it loud, go with 20in hotrod style rims and do sort of a tribute tothe 454SS 90's ck trucks, in fact i actually have some 454ss bed stickers and valve cover logos for it.

So heres the pics of the truck when i got it...

[steel horse]

So 1st, I blew it apart and soda blasted had the body soda blasted. This revealed alot of rust in the lower rocker areas on both sides (this went all the way into the panels behind the rocker as well, there was A TON of holes in the "straight" doors from about 5 different sets of mirrors over the years plus the doors had rust in the lower corners and had been "expertly" filled with bondo as was the cab corners.

[steel horse]

so heres the new replacement panels welded in (what a pain to get some of those old spot welds out). Plus the guy used bondo, fibreglass AND pieces of plastic in his original "repair" of these panels .

[longbed67]

Looks like you have got a start! Now just follow through to the end and you will have a heck of a ride! Good luck and Welcome!

[SCHRUMGMC]

Get rid of the bed and go original ..Just my .2 cents

[steel horse]

So after that there was some obvious cab cleanup and ALOT of work taking the entire wiring harness (including inside the dash...good thing i was scraping the rest of the truck, thank you air saw ) out of the suburban also the motor/trans/trans brace came out along with the front clip (side note, i aprted out the rest of the burb and actually "made $50 off the deal lol). then I cleaned the motor up (it was my friends and only had about 30k verifiable miles on it but looked like alot more before cleaning) and yes there was one valve cover I hadnt painted yet(GM back wrinkle finish and dont be fooled by the "wrinkle finish" stuff thinking it will cover flaws because it wont...ask me how I know...did it 3 times) in this photo.

Got the motor mounts from the "car and truck shop" out in Cali and they are really good quality tubular ones that were a straight bolt-in (or as much as a "bolt-in as you can get when doing stuff like this anyway).

And this is the trial fitting...




Oh and what the photos dont show was the week of chasing down all the wires using the lowest grade wiring diagrams known to man, haveto say if yu ever attempt this on your own, do yourself a favor and dont get the most FULLY LOADED suburban with all kinds of crap (dual ac, radios, power everything...you get the idea)

[steel horse]

Originally Posted by SCHRUMGMC

Get rid of the bed and go original ..Just my .2 cents

Yea like i said, I would prefer a stock fleetside bed but that would run me anywhere from 2-3grand depending on whether i go old original or new repo and this bed was a good price...free. So thats where im at now, maybe later tho if one comes my way cheap.

[steel horse]

Originally Posted by longbed67

Looks like you have got a start! Now just follow through to the end and you will have a heck of a ride! Good luck and Welcome!

thanks man, im workin on it

[steel horse]

so this is just a trial fit of the wheels which again I came across a good deal so even tho they werent quite what i wanted I think they will look good in the end, plus its REALLY hard to find a good deal on "6lug" rims, if you want 5 lug, you get the world for options...not the same for 6 lug.




Oh and Im not really into huge rims and I know these "look" bigger in the pics but really they are only 20's they just have tires a little too big for them since they came from a tahoe

[steel horse]

So the fiance got transfered from phoenix to orlando. So what that meant to the truck is that I had to put some paint on it with the quickness and get it back together to get ready to be moved to florida on a flatbed (company paid for ).

So here it is with 3 coats of Omni black "3k" primer (and yes not a typo, its actually pretty cool stuff and easier to use than 2k).

[steel horse]

ok so here the craziness of the move is over (and my 30hourdrive in a 27ft uhaul w/trailer) and now the work is continuing. So basically I used a fuel pump from a 80 280z and got the original radiator back installed (with a long hose search over) and I actually fired it up with just the open long tubes and no exhaust....sounded like thunder . Also I just picked up some summit 3in in 3in out turbo mufflers to bring the nooise down some before my new neighbors burn my house down.






Ps if you want part numbers for any of this stuff just ask and ill post'em but i didnt want to bore you guys with'em unless you want them.

Oh and one other thing if you do a tranplant like this dont be stupid like me and "forget" that the truck originally had a external oil cooler cause if you do youll have that same big spot that you see under the truck in the picks when it "shoots" all 5 quarts of its oil out in about 5 seconds all over your driveway like mine....guess we'll call it breaking in my new house ...

[steel horse]

So now Im to the point i think i need some kind of an exhaust (if nothing else just so the new neighbors dont come up with an more names for me other than "yankee").

I got some 3" turbo mufflers off of a friend of mine and just bought some tubing from pep boys to make something quick that i can easily weld an o2 bung in and quiet it down a bit so i can actually hear the motor since last time i ran it (only for a few seconds to maybe 2mins max) i thought i heard some tapping coming from the valve covers but cant be sure since my head felt like it was gonna explode getting that close to it.

Then Im just gonna play around with my dash bazel. I left the factory burb wiring harness so complete in the dash area that it dawned on me, "why not use the burbs guage cluster and save myself aton of $ on custom guages".

I think this plan will work but not sure. the way I see it is since it has all the sensors intact, all the guages "should" work except the fuel guage. My reasoning is that the speed sensor is in the 4l80, the oil/temp/rpm sensors are all on the motor so "in theory" they should light right up when i plug it in.

Please correct me tho if im wrong on this as "it sounded like a good idea over a couple of coronas with my buddies" meaning-im prob wrong.

[SCHRUMGMC]

Yeah man it looks nice..Hope you find a Original Bed soon

[steel horse]

Originally Posted by SCHRUMGMC

Yeah man it looks nice..Hope you find a Original Bed soon

Thanks man, the good news on the bed is- im gonna paint it flat black so when i do find a bed for it "paint matching" it wont be a problem. Buuut Im trying to do this on self imposed "budget build" idea to how good I can make it with how little of money. and so far im right on track with it coming in right under 5 grand with it all done and painted.

[SCHRUMGMC]

Lord I didnt know it costed that much for a Paint job :/ Sorta discourages me to get my '59 (SOON TO BE MINE AGAIN) Re painted :/

[steel horse]

Originally Posted by SCHRUMGMC

Lord I didnt know it costed that much for a Paint job :/ Sorta discourages me to get my '59 (SOON TO BE MINE AGAIN) Re painted :/

LMAO no brother it costs alot more than that, im painting this myself (paint/supplies cost about 500, i meant that ill have 5grand in the "whole truck")

But your totally in luck cause with a truck that old you can totally get away with the whole ratrod look...just let rust out and itll be custom

[SCHRUMGMC]

Oh alright
I hope my Truck doesn't cost too much with everything

[clay68c10]

Looking good! I kinda miss mine.

[steel horse]

Just an update im working on the gauge cluster now and i actually posted a separate thread just in case people had questions but here it is...the original cluster merged with the burb cluster
THE STOCK CLUSTER FROM THE BURB


The cluster with the "face plate" and needles removed (my advice here is patience, the glue is old and will give but dont pry to much or you could damage the plate. i used a really dull butter knife)


back of the cluster


cluster emptied with circuit board removed since itll have to be relocated to fit (dont pry too hard again), and the front next to it for mock up, also the donor original cluster


Back of the original cluster after cutting down the back edges


Inside of the burb cluster


Original cut out (not sure if itll stay this "shape" but we'll see)


Clusters just laid on top of each other for mockup with the top face plate of the burb cluster already cut out (bottom which is the hard part still to come). this gives you a basic idea of what it'll look like tho


And heres the burb guage overlay im gonna use when its done


and i might use this stainless overlay on top of that but id like your opinions on that please cause im not sure (plus its a $100 so thats not really a "budget gauge" then so im not sure)


im planning on using fiberglass resin to fill in the rest of the panel completely and smooth it out then paint (prob gonna be ALOT of sanding).

[SCHRUMGMC]

I am a Stock and Original type of guy

[Hardesty454]

Looks good. Not a fan of the bed, but if it saves money who am I to judge!
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[steel horse]

Originally Posted by SCHRUMGMC

I am a Stock and Original type of guy

what?? it is stock and original...to a suburban lol.

and yea i hear ya tho especially about the bed but until i can find a used one that someone doesnt think is made of gold, im kinda goin with what i got...It is pretty damn annoying tho that i could buy a WHOLE longbed truck for less than just the cost of a fleetside shorty bed...