Fianlly bought it! need to learn a lot!! air ride and rust question

[hotrodv]

Finally after have looking for months I've take my decison and deicide to bought this e c10addicted 64 from Berlin! The owner bring it to me trough 1200km on a trailer and under the snow!!Amazing guy!!
Now it sit in my garage, I've still not had the possiility to try it well but I love it! Find out some history from the builder to the previous owner in the Usa, nice.

Now I think I will need help and I've start reading a lot..
The truck air suspension work good but I've noticed that it raise up and go down very slowly compared to video I've seen of truck and cars that go up and down very fast, it has a viair compressor from whaat I know, what I'll do for have it moving faster? new compressor? bigger diameter hose? I really dont know nothing about this thing and you wont find lot over there..

Another thing is the cooling system ,from what I've seen it heat up very fast, did I need maybe a electric fan? different radiator?

Also the start of the engine is a little hard, it take sometimes before stay on regular, it doesnt have choke and has a mechanical fuel pump, any tips?

I apologize for the probably stupid answer, just need to learn some basic I think..

and..some pics!

[joedoh]

fast airbags: both tank pressure and valve size affect speed.
does the system have a gauge to tell you the reserve tank pressure after the viair compressor runs and stops? a 200psi system will operate faster than a 150 psi system because of the higher reserve starting pressure.
what kind of valves does the system have? are they electric, do you click an electric switch to operate them? are they manual, do you act directly on the switch?

likely the orifice size is what is limiting your speed, either in the valves or sometimes the air line size. if the truck has a 1/4" tube system with manual "paddle" valves, it is considered one of the simplest systems but is also regarded as very slow. if the truck has a 1/2" tube system with very small electric valves, the system speed will still be regarded as slow because the smallest orifice in the system is limiting flow.

the entire system must be sized for what you want. so if you the valves and or the airline have small orifices and you upgrade them to larger parts, the reserve tank may not be large enough to provide the volume for lifting, and the compressor may not have the recovery time to allow you to raise and lower the truck more than one time before needing a long recovery time.

my truck, as an example, has a 180psi 6 gallon reserve tank and an engine driven compressor from an old ford car air conditioning system. Recovery time (time to fill the tank back up from after the valves fill the airbags) is about 23 seconds. This would take 3-5 minutes for an electric compressor, and 2-3 minutes for two electric compressors. when the tank is completely empty (after sitting a long period), it takes about 55 seconds to fill from 0-psi to 180psi. my valves are large orifice manual valves, the orifice is about 3/8" and they are operated by toggles. the air line is 3/8" in size. It is not as fast as some I have seen but it will still raise the front to 90psi in less than 2 seconds and the rear to 35 psi in under a second, and will drop the truck fast enough to make the frame "clunk" on the pavement. every component in the system is sized for this 3/8" orifice size, so that there is no restriction.

If the system had 1/2" orifice valves, you would expect to use 1/2" air line, and the system would be so fast at 180psi operating pressure it would be very difficult to set the ride height without a precise valve control system such as accuair or ridetech e-level. when using large valves, some people use speed controls on the dump outlets to prevent slamming the truck down on the highway when attempting to make a small height adjustment.

so figure out what you would like the system to do. the 1/4" manual paddle valve system may not be as fast as you would like, but it does allow very precise adjustment and does not require huge compressor and reserve tank systems. The 1/2" valve and 1/2" line systems are fun for about 30 seconds in my opinion, and are hard to adjust on the highway without danger. in order to play with any system, you will need a recovery tank large enough to fill the air bags multiple times, and a compressor system able to fill that recovery tank quickly.

electronic control systems like accuair and e-level will allow precise control of speed and ride height, the only drawbacks are the cost and complexity, the additional sensors must be installed so the system has feedback on the actual height of the suspension.

engine heat up: as long as it doesnt overheat, I would say you dont need any additional fans or radiator. a V8 will warm up pretty quickly as a general rule.

hard starting: if you have a carburetor, it must be adjusted for the altitude and conditions where you live. if the carburetor has an electric choke, make sure it is closing fully when cold and opening fully when hot. if it just stumbles a bit in cold weather and needs you to stay in the truck while warming up, well, welcome to owning a carburetor truck. it will never perform like a fuel injected vehicle, where you just start it and patiently wait 30 seconds before driving away, a carb engine must be warm and ready to run before driving in cold weather.

good luck, I remember seeing the truck here in the past, very nice truck! I actually used this truck as a reference on the rake I wanted for my own!

[dougf]

Great post, and what a beautiful truck! I would make it mechanically sound and not touch a single thing cosmetically

[Mathew21]

Congrats, Great looking truck!

[Slow Build]

Congrats. That truck is one of my personal favorites on this forum.

[awbrown]

Where is Modena???

[OldGMJon]

Originally Posted by awbrown

Where is Modena???

The signs in his shop look Italian

[Slow Build]

Originally Posted by awbrown

Where is Modena???

The birthplace of Enzo Ferrari.

[Mackie]

Slow Build, your posted pics look amazingly identical (with a Stateside background) to the OP's truck.

[endlessearth]

That's cool! That sweet pick up just travelled from Germany to Italy. I wonder how it got to Germany. Is it really the same pick up as was featured in that article? It does look quite similar.

[amueller454]

awesome truck. perfect stance

[murdoc]

auguri!!!

[OldGMJon]

Originally Posted by endlessearth

That's cool! That sweet pick up just travelled from Germany to Italy. I wonder how it got to Germany. Is it really the same pick up as was featured in that article? It does look quite similar.

same truck...the patina on the hood and scrape on the front bumper are identical. Hey slow build...who did you sell it to?

[Slow Build]

Originally Posted by OldGMJon

Hey slow build...who did you sell it to?

Wasn't mine. c10addict owned it. Here is his ad that he had on the forum when he was selling the truck back in 2009.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/c...urgh-pa&cat=11

[OldGMJon]

Wow! 6 years later its now Italian

[c10addict]

Hey hey!! Yes all that is my old truck! So cool to see it go from Germany to Italy espically because I am German / Italian! Lol ... The air system is slow because it's 1/4" line and manual valves .. The truck needs bigger line and Accuair or if you want to keep manual valves I love the Little Larrys valves! As far as the other issues , they were not in the past so not sure what to tell you.. That was me driving in the pics at Columbus Goodguys... That was a great truck with one of the first few dropmembers ever released !! Good luck with it and take good care of her!! I wish I would have never of sold it !!

[sambrutay]

@c10addict That was the first 60-66 c10 that made me drop everything I was doing and take notice. I was always a 67-72 guy. I must have looked at your truck 30 times @ Columbus GG.

[hotrodv]

Originally Posted by joedoh

fast airbags:

Originally Posted by c10addict

Hey hey!! Yes all that is my old truck! So cool to see it go from Germany to Italy espically because I am German / Italian! Lol ... The air system is slow because it's 1/4" line and manual valves .. The truck needs bigger line and Accuair or if you want to keep manual valves I love the Little Larrys valves! As far as the other issues , they were not in the past so not sure what to tell you.. That was me driving in the pics at Columbus Goodguys... That was a great truck with one of the first few dropmembers ever released !! Good luck with it and take good care of her!! I wish I would have never of sold it !!

Thanks all guys!
@joedoh, amazing post!!! even if I've just understand a quarter of all the things I've read! I really need to learn more on airbags!!

@c10addict I'll take care of it dont worry, I'm really in love with this truck!
What I need to do for stay with those manual valve, that I love and make it a bit faster?

Things I think I would like to do is some for hood hinge, hood is so heavy and hinge really work bad..will a new original one help? this one dont has any spring.. and there's a really bad rust on the front hood patch panel lower , that I've seen is possible to order the spare parts.. and I've some on the up of the windshiled, in the interior..but I think repaior that will mean almost take out the cab and do a very big work..

[4mulaSvaliant]

Hotrodv: Beautiful truck!

If your hood does not currently have springs, then that is your problem. The hood hinges have tension on them via the springs that not only hold the hood open, but aide you in lifting it.

Rust repair: Depending on where your rust is, you can typically do most repairs with the cab on the frame.
Some repairs may be a bit more difficult, like the cab mounts, but most are possible without removing the cab.