How to: Ruin a perfectly good C10

[gringoloco]

I finally decided to log my journey with my old truck that led me to this forum and the addiction to it. Having always had an affinity for the 67-72 body style, I hoped to one day have a nice one, but as you all know, they're tough to find in decent shape for a decent price.

I had always been a sports car guy, dealing mostly with Trans-Ams, Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs and the like. It was this hobby that led me to my first 67-72 truck. I was surfing a local racing car club's forums one day when I saw a post about a guy wanting to sell or trade his '70 C10. Intrigued, I contacted him about the truck. He wanted cash or a trade for a street bike. Just so happened, I had a 1000cc Honda sitting in my garage taking up space, since I had recently given up riding having just had my first child, a daughter. Seeing your baby girl looking up at you, relying on you for absolutely everything, has a way of putting things in perspective...

It seemed to be a fairly solid truck, having been fairly recently 'restored' with a '90s step side bed, good paint, and updated suspension. After some bartering, we struck a deal for a straight-up trade- bike for truck. Sweet!

Attached are the pics he posted on the car club forum...

[68jewel]

How do you plan on ruining it? LOL!! What are your plans for it?

[gringoloco]

I stumbled across 67-72chevytrucks.com's forums in my search for more information on these trucks. What I found was a wealth of information, way more than I ever expected, and some truly knowledgeable (maybe a little obsessed) and friendly people. So, even before I took receipt of the truck, I already had in mind some things I wanted to do to it to make it 'better'.

First thing to go were the plastic AutoZone mirrors. I don't think they lasted five minutes The truck was also riddled with many other 'custom' touches as you can see in the preceding pics, many of which have made their way to the trash can, or to other people's projects.

One of these was the fuel tank, which had happily been removed from the cab; unfortunately, it was relocated to a tool box in the bed, using a marine fuel cell. Not the worst I've seen, but not the kind of thing I usually like. It was fun, however, watching the look on people's faces as I filled up my tool box... The obvious solution to me, after looking around the forums, was a Blazer tank, which I found on eBay for cheap (apparently no one was watching it but me)


And so began the process of 'ruining' a perfectly good truck, a little bit at a time...

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by 68jewel

How do you plan on ruining it? LOL!! What are your plans for it?

Haha- stay tuned. It has been ruined already, according to many people. I like to think I've been making upgrades, but the uninitiated masses tend not to agree. The 67-72 faithful here, though, generally back my decisions...

[gringoloco]

The next modification, and probably the one that got me hooked on the 'ruin-ification' process, was a lowering job.

I just so happened to come across a guy who wanted to raise his lowered '81 short-box back up to stock height. Luckily for me, when the 'restoration' was done on my truck, they used 73-87 suspension parts. We worked out a, get this, straight-up swap for my stock height spindles and springs. All I had to do was the labor to exchange the parts. Uuuuummmm... OK!

He also hooked me up with the flip kit from his truck, since he wouldn't be needing it anymore. I think I ended up buying him a caliper, since one of them was frozen, so I was $13 and a little time into a 4/6 drop kit!

[gringoloco]

Next on the list was to do away with one of the other 'custom' touches, which was an aftermarket set of AutoZone gauges and a column mounted SunPro tach. They were perfectly functional, but didn't look very good, in my opinion, so I changed them out for another mod I had seen around the forums.

I decided to build a new gauge cluster with a Camaro tach, and a voltmeter in place of the stock ammeter, all while keeping it looking stock. Basically went from what you see in the first pic, to what you see in the second and third. I also felt compelled to give something back to the board that had given me so many great ideas, so I created my first FAQ.

There were bits and pieces of info on the Camaro tach conversion on the board, but no concise instructions, so I carefully documented the process as I installed mine. The FAQ can be found here:

Gringoloco's Camaro tach install

[Slick67]

Hellz yes!!! I'm a little more traditional with the bed choices but WOW that really looks nice! Keep ruining it, I'll keep watchin!

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by Slick67

Hellz yes!!! I'm a little more traditional with the bed choices but WOW that really looks nice! Keep ruining it, I'll keep watchin!

Haha- meeeee tooooo... That bed always bugged me...

[gringoloco]

So, somewhere along the way, I decided that the 73-87 leaf spring setup installed during the first 'restoration' was just not going to cut it anymore. After some research around the forum (noticing a trend here?), I found that it would be pretty easy to swap from leaves to trailing arms, and restore this truck to its once and former glory. Well, with a few modifications

I started gathering the needed parts for the transformation, trailing arms and a center crossmember, from member 70CSTShortWide on the 67-72 parts board, and sent them off to the powder-coater for some satin black, but not before making some clearance for the exhaust to pass through I also grabbed a 'rare', 1970 only, wide, 6-lug trailing arm axle from member HuggerCST, and set about ruining it by installing 73-87 axles, converting it to 5-lug, and effectively making it a 71-72 rear.

[gringoloco]

Finally got to work one weekend and stripped the rear of the truck of all of its parts, including the bed...

Most of it came apart relatively quickly and easily with the help of an impact, with the exception of the center trailing arm crossmember. Man, that thing was a BEAST to get out of there! A grinder, cut-off wheel, air-chisel, a BFH, and copious amounts of words you wouldn't say in front of your mother were all used in its removal In the second pic you can see some of the carnage from dis-assembly on the other side of the driveway.

[lolife99]

I've always liked this truck!
Glad to see your documenting your build.
Subscribing to this one!

[gringoloco]

Figured if I was going to do trailing arms, I might as well install air bags in the process. Made sense to me So, I picked up some parts, again from a board member, this time 67Fleet was going lower on his truck, so I scored a set of CPP bolt-in notches, lowering blocks, and an adjustable track bar from him. I also picked up a new set of Slam Specialties RE7s from *****************. Also installed a set of ECE shock relocators while I was in there...

I'm one of those clean and paint everything while you have it apart types, so the rear half of the truck got the once-over. Even with all of this dis-assembly, cleaning, drilling holes, and re-assembly, this little project only took a weekend. Due to plenty of research and planning before attempting the conversion, there was even time for a few beer-breaks in there too

I will say that drilling the holes for the fittings for the air bags was my least favorite part of the entire process. Even worse than the trailing arm crossmember removal. Lying on your back, drilling upwards through 3/4" of steel with scorching bits of metal shards falling down your shirt collar is NOT fun. Basically, if you want help when it's time to drill your frame, don't call me

[RCbowtie69]

looking great & keep up the work & pictures coming :metaL:

[gringoloco]

When it came time to bolt the bed back on, it was time for yet another change. This is where the outsiders start thinking I'm crazy

Instead of reinstalling the 90s stepper, I decided an era-correct fleetside would look MUCH better Again, I looked to a board member, and picked up parts to assemble a decent condition bed from HuggerCST. It needed a little patch repair for the stock auxiliary tanks and those useless stake pockets

Instead of just bolting it in place (that would be too easy), I set to work making a few subtle modifications to the bed to make it work better for what I needed. First thing was to find a way to add fuel to my rear-mounted tank. I went back-and-forth and even tried a few different combinations before ultimately deciding to graft in a round fuel door. There are still drawbacks and concessions to doing it this way, but I won't have to worry about the problems that the taillight and marker light guys do, like the fuel pump handle at the filling station possibly not fitting, or slow filling, etc.

The other was to raise the bed floor 3". I did this to gain a little room under the bed for the rear axle, which would contact the floor, room for the blazer tank, exhaust, and possibly a sway bar. This would also leave room if I ever wanted to go lower

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by lolife99

I've always liked this truck!
Glad to see your documenting your build.
Subscribing to this one!

Originally Posted by RCbowtie69

looking great & keep up the work & pictures coming :metaL:

Thanks guys! I'm hoping this thread will provide some of the motivation needed to get this project going. Maybe provide some inspiration for others to ruin their own trucks

[n2billet]

I'm in! Please type and post faster!

[gringoloco]

Once I had the floor mounted, it became clear that it would require extra support over the axle. At stock height, the floor would rest on the frame here, but now had a 3" space. I set to work adding an extra mounting point by carefully measuring and drilling for a new carriage bolt, and making the hole square using my jigsaw. Luckily I had a couple of extra Jeep body lift spacers left over. Most will never even notice the extra bolt...

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by n2billet

I'm in! Please type and post faster!

Hey, I'm trying to do laundry here!

[gringoloco]

Here's some semi-final raised floor shots. Still needs some tweaking, but the overall functionality is there. Looking at these, I wonder how many trucks had to die so that this one can live- I count at least four in the bed panels alone

[spike38]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

Hey, I'm trying to do laundry here!

So am I, But you got me waiting for the next post.

Nice truck

Spike

[gringoloco]

Somewhere around this point is when I picked up my other 67-72: A '72 2wd Blazer. It was a 4wd convert, but a super-clean, rust free California truck. It distracted me from the C10 for a while. The Blazer build can be followed here: How to: Ruin a perfectly good Blazer

I'll go ahead and warn you- it doesn't end well- at least not for me. But hey, life happens and you can always get more stuff...

[gringoloco]

The Blazer's spirit lives on in the C10, which received its 350ci heart with a serpentine setup and a rebuilt 700r4. There is Classic Auto Air in the box ready to install, and an ECE hitch already installed. I have also been collecting goodies here and there as I see them at a good price...

[72BlckButy]

Lovin' the 'new' project gringoloco!

Glad to see you back on the build and I'm really digging the bed floor.

[gringoloco]

And here's how she sits as of now. You can see where I welded the mirror holes in the doors and put epoxy seam sealer in the cab drip rail where there previously was none. It is also wearing a no antenna hole cowl panel. Perfectly ruined

I've been tinkering a little bit, making some minor modifications to the Blazer tank to fix some of the things that bug me about the setup. I'll post some progress when I get it together...

[72BlckButy]

It's always nice to see that Yukon in the pictures too... I love that thing!