1970 C10 LWB "Blu"

[NC_John]

Originally Posted by Mister-B

Looking really good. Nice work.

What's this about the cab being small though? Do you have your bench seat all the way back against the tank? I'm 6' 270 with broad shoulders and long legs, and fit just fine with the stock bench and steering wheel/column. If you need belly room, I've heard of guys pulling the steering column in towards the engine. You might just be comparing it to modern trucks, that are SUV's with a small bed. Don't do that. Appreciate it for what it is.

Also, I meant to post this photo on this page, but mistakenly added it to a different page. I saw this car yesterday at a car show. I think your truck would look great clear coated

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No belly problems but I'm 6'-6" and there just isn't much leg room.... Its alright, I'm not planning on any cross-country trips with it.

That bug does look cool!

[Mister-B]

Originally Posted by NC_John

No belly problems but I'm 6'-6" and there just isn't much leg room.... Its alright, I'm not planning on any cross-country trips with it.

That bug does look cool!

Lol. Ok, 6'6"... You get a pass to say the interior is small
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[NC_John]

Been working on the truck whenever I have time- been travelling a lot for work..

Here's the latest (nothing really picture-worthy), mostly mickey-mouse type of stuff:

Gave up on the quadrajet (the donor carb was junk and corroded beyond being of any use, even after soaking for a week in carb cleaner) and bought an edelbrock 600 cfm, vac secondaries, electric choke. Autozone had the carb in stock and it was supposed to be a direct fit but I start reading through the book at home and discover I need an adapter plate for it to mount on the stock intake which of course needs to be ordered. Grrr.. so the truck will sit for the weekend.

I took the time to finish cleaning the backside of the intake and engine and got it detailed pretty good. Nothing but bare cast iron and what's left of the original chevy orange paint now.

I installed the window seals on the passenger side. Much easier. The driver's side was learning side and was a PITA. The passenger side went it in less than half the time and with a minimum of profanity. I am still having to slam the doors with ridiculous force to get them closed. If this keeps up I am trying a different seal. This is embarrassing and unnecessarily beating the heck out of the truck.

I had to drill out one of the bottom screws on the door panels on each side (seized and then stripped the head, even with the impact driver). The driver side drilled out clean and the nut was re-useable. Not so lucky on the passenger side- In the battle to get the screw out, the nut welded/tacked to the backside of the door skin came loose. I need to "glue" a nut on the backside maybe to snug a screw in there. I got replacement screws from LMC. I also got some escutcheons for the door handles and window cranks. They seem to work well but look goofy- they look like big plastic donuts with an odd shade of blue. I'm keeping them on for now as they eliminate any door rattles (important with all the door slamming!) but will get something else when I go to black panels. So for now, the doors are freshened up and done.

I bought an aftermarket lap belt from LMC so I can go three wide on the bench. It doesn't look factory but will do the job for now. Got black too, as that is the way the interior is going so its mismatched, but oh well. It was a PITA to install with the bench seat in, even with my gorilla length arms.

I got my headlight bezels painted flat black. Look nice.... Makes the grill look older... Cleaned up my grounds on the headlight wiring. One side was loose. Headlights are both coming on with full brightness now. Check that off the list.

I drilled out, tapped and replaced by gas pedal ball studs. I got the spacing too far off (it was tough to drill out the broken screws) so I had to elongate one of the holes and put a nut on the other side of the firewall. I spaced up the studs with some washers to compensate for the added thickness of the new carpet and underpad and the pedal seems to be good now.

I'm using my tap and die set a lot on this truck... Glad I have a good one (MAC Tools kit).

Finally yesterday I made an attempt to change the transmission tailsection extension gasket and rear seal. Everything came apart easy except I quickly learned that the tailsection will not come off the tranny body without opening it up (should have googled that first dang-it). Bolted it all back up and refilled it with new gear oil. I hope the gasket that is in there doesn't leak worse now or that tranny has to come out. Bummer... The factory service manual isn't very helpful for this truck. There is very little detail or even mention of most jobs I have had to do. I hate to say it but I might need to get the chiltons book too.

I am running out of these basic maintenance/road worthiness issues to do on the truck (not even sure what to do on it today- my wife is shocked). I need to start driving it....

I think I'll drill out my factory air cleaner today. I am going to retain it to keep everything looking stock but want better airflow so I am going to drill out the bottom and the firewall side to open it up.

[NC_John]

Not much going on with the truck lately- been working on the driveability and getting the bugs out. I gave up on the quadrajet and put on an edelbrock carb. As soon as the carb got fuel the truck fired up and ran great. The first test drive (picking up my little guy from after-school care) went great with no problems. I got brave that evening and took the truck out to a church event. Ran fine there. Not so good coming back. On the drive home it started popping and farting under load. I'd have to back off the go-pedal and let it clear then go again. It kept getting worse and worse until it finally died a mile from the house. Crank-crank-crank but not even trying to fire.

I got a buddy to tow me back to the house with his suburban (at least it was another chevy). Starting fluid wouldn't do anything so that told me I had an ignition problem. I had 12V at the distributor (HEI) but nothing at the plugs. I guessed the coil was gone so pulled the cap to remove it. I figured I'd inspect the rest. Underneath the rotor was complete crap. Corrosion everywhere. The mechanical advance was seized from rust, the vacuum advance wasn't working. I'm surprised it ran as well as it did as long as it did. The previous owner put a new cap, rotor and wires on a distributor that was completely shot.

It was so far gone I just ordered a new one from Jegs. Should be at the house when I get back from this work trip and we'll see what's next.... I'm going to be nervous about going out in it without a chase vehicle (my wife) for a little while.

Oh well, that's why I got it- to work on it. I just wasn't planning on so much exercise from pushing it so much (off the road, in and out of the garage....)

[NC_John]

And hey- good news! My custom painter buddy saw the truck and said they could match the patina when I replace the rockers and cab corners. He's got a satin clear that he says will preserve the existing finish without adding any shine. Sounds like a winner.....

[NC_John]

New distributor is on. Once I had the timing right (its been a longggg time since I did a distributor swap and I was out too many teeth), it fired right up. I got brave and took the truck out and it ran good. I thought I heard some pinging under load so I checked the manual for the timing spec (I had put it at 8 degrees when I set it). Factory spec for my engine is 0 degrees so I backed it down to 2 and its much better. Fixed an exhaust leak off the RS manifold and quieted that down. Went for another ride today and apart from finding a minor fuel leak at the pump fittings, all was good.

I drilled out my factory air cleaner everywhere its not visible (back side by the firewall and underneath) to improve air flow but still look stock. I spent way too much time wetsanding it with 400 paper and spray bombed it with Plastikote Hot Rod Black Lacquer. It came out pretty good. I need to get some factory decals to finish it off. Having some new parts on there is making me anxious to pull the engine, freshen it up internally and really make it look purty under the hood.

I'm going to keep driving it now, get it reliable enough to go anywhere, anytime and just work on little things here and there. I have to slow down the spending for a bit until I am sure I won't need any more mechanical stuff. Like said elsewhere on the board. I don't want to be a dumbass and blow my budget on new marker light lenses and decals only to have something else go on the engine. I'm starting a big, extended duration project next week at work where I can bank some extra money that will go towards lowering with spindles, coils and blocks.

[NC_John]

The latest.... Chased after a misfire/stumble under load with a set of new wires and plugs this morning. Ran the wires behind the manifolds. It was a huge pain in the rump but looks great finished. Still a bit of a bird nest up by the distributor (why don't the wires ever come in the proper length?) but I think I can straighten it out some more. Need to replace that crappy looking temporary fuel line and the vacuum advance hose now.





Test drove it and its running PERFECT. Nice and smooth throughout the RPM range in all three gears. If it didn't leak oil as much as it does I would leave it alone and just drive it.

Next step is to back off the parts spending a bit and just drive it. I've got about a hundred miles on it now since the last problem so maybe I've got the bugs worked out. I'm starting a major power plant outage tomorrow that will have me out of town for weeks but will give me a chance to bank a bunch of extra money. Money to lower it or get ready for the rebuild. Maybe some of both...