My 83 needs a little TLC

[TwinTurbo]

other side done also

[TwinTurbo]

Got some better pics now...bought a new camera, couldn't stand the phone pics anymore











when the mufflers rust out I will replace them with some stainless ones, those are the only part that is not stainless ...well apart from the hideous hanger bracket the guy who did the exhaust for me years ago made... another reason to do everything yourself and not farm it out... people take short cuts

Got both tanks out, one had a pinhole the other has some rut also but it's not leaking. I repaired the pinholed one. The other is still airing out gas fumes



When I get it back it will all be nicely powdercoated.

[TwinTurbo]

Finally picked up the contents of my container shipment. Apart from a bunch of parts for my various other cars (projects) the stuff for the truck was in there, some rust free fenders off an ambulance, a bumper with driving lights that I'll shave and put fog lights in and the remainder of parts needed to finish some stuff here and there (and the missing tank for the dually)

Powdercoater already had part of the parts batch done but not the tanks themselves so hopefully those will be done this week, same for the last batch of bolts and nuts from the plater...then it's time to rock & roll and get this thing together. With the fenders mocked up and the inners in place I will be able to finish the fuel system and finish my swirl pot for the EFI pump

For the rest there's a bunch of small stuff and trim pieces that came off the same parts car the fenders came off... and a whole bunch of parts for another one of my projects including a 495LSX short block.

Also got a slightly larger radiator for it. It's a used cup radiator. Probably needs mods to make it fit though


thank you amberlamps for donating these fenders






as it sits now

[cletis]

This looks like a fun little truck.

[TwinTurbo]

That puny little radiator needed to go so I took 1 of my spare racing radiators (have similar ones in my 82 vette and 82 trans am), it's a dual pass. Only drawback is it's for a Y plumbed setup normally so it has 2 -12 inlets. I will fab a custom thermostat housing for it. Not a real big problem. This should keep things nice and cool and will plumb the oil bypass directly to the -12 oil to water heat exchanger ports, possible w/ a remote filter (have all those parts in spares for other cars)

This system also uses a remote pressure release valce (have it, also a C&R piece) and a reservoir. Will only be able to mount that after mounting the fenders, inner fenders, fuel surge tank and main fuel pump

[Billy81]

Wow i wish my 83 was that nice. That is gonna be one fast truck when your finished.

[TwinTurbo]

Long time nothing new but I finally got my tanks back and got it all assembled again.

I had them back earlier and when I was cleaning them I found out they were coated poorly, the primer coat was showing through in some spots making for a cloudy whitish hue.



Back they went and they came back looking good...only problem..I forgot the locking rings OOPS. They were in a bucket with zinc plated parts that I didn't take with me...crap.





Also had to tacke the cooling system since the nifty rad I have in it has a dual -12 hookup instead of a big 20 or 24 (or a normal hose bung) so I had to fabricate something and decided to cut up and modify one of those cheap swivel neck thermostat things. Next time I'm buying a C&R billet one because this chinese POS is cast from something like bird doodoo.. I could not get a clean weld on it. The only cleanly welded part is the 2 an bungs welded together.. they are a clean aluminum alloy. The other stuff more resembles potmetal (welded that a couple of times when fixing headlight frames on C3 corvettes) what a royal pain. What left to do? Grind till it's semi clean. Hope it's not porous/leaking.





it even fits under the intake ducting





Next problem is my fuel system. Decided to put a mech pump back on the block, retain the low pressure switching valve system and have the pump fill a surge tank that will feed my aeromotive/paxton EFI pump.

This is the surge tank w/ hookups. Top most is the vent to the tank so it burps air out. The 2 others are feed from mech pump and return from EFI pump. The EFI feed is on the bottom. The large one on the top sticking out sideways will be plugged.





getting fuller and fuller in there

[Greenlee]

Nice work!
Posted via Mobile Device

[TwinTurbo]

Tanks are in. Boy what a wrestling match getting these in without scratching them uo. These things are made to go on with the cab off. Not a fun job at all. Also when I had 1 in I realized the rear brackets were not the same and sure enough I had them mixed up

complete tank with sender retainer ring this time



installed... glad I had them done in black and not gunmetal or argent silver like I normally do. These show and that would have messed up the blacked out look



inner fenders back on. Soon I will fire this thing up for the 1st time

[TwinTurbo]

This is the fuel system as I will run it. A 550HP capable mech pump filling a surge tank. The surge tank feeds the large electric pump for the EFI (it's a paxton branded aeromotive A1000) This way I can retain the stock pickups in the tank and the stock switching valve (which works flawless on mine) without having to source one of those hard to find higher pressure models and having to baffle the tanks and run 2 in tank electric pumps.



Next was the tranny cooler...



Decided to install my tranny cooler here because I have no room up front. For a moment I contemplated drilling large round holes in the bumper and mounting it behind that but I figured this was easier and I have some other cars where I set it up like this, a rear mounted cooler and they work just fine

soon I will fire this thing up, hopefully in a couple of weeks (waiting on some small bits to come in from Summit)

[jpnh]

nicetruck/goodluck-jeff

[TwinTurbo]

It's alive SC is disconnected because of setting min idle and static timing...and it has a small oil leak in the hose feeding the SC with oil. It leaks right onto the water pump but that's an easy fix.

http://youtu.be/S6UBS5Vpp6E

[jpnh]

Wow, sounds good-jeff

[TwinTurbo]

Well, it all went too smooth. Crap was bound to happen. Sure enough I had no fuel going to my surge tank. After checking the hoses, the pump and everything I decided to do a test on the tank lines and sure enough blocked and partial blocked. The reason is I took the tanks off but there is no room to work there so I left the hoses a little longer to be able to connect the hard lines with the tanks dropped down a little. This kinked the hoses when the tanks were back in place because the hard lines are pretty close together. With no room to work I had no choice but to lift the bed and redo them with the little cramped space under the cab available. Took some cussing and swearing but got it done. Also painted the rear lamp frames black because the aluminum was oxidizing and I hate polishing stuff.



hier moet je dus lekker zitten pielen en dat aan beide kanten


^%$#^%^#%$^#$%^caramba!!


blacked out


Now the pressure remains nice and constant and the surge tank is always full

1983 Chevrolet C10 Stepside Supercharged - YouTube

[jpnh]

nice work. i like the exhaust tips-jeff

[TwinTurbo]

All done. I may end up swapping to 32lbs injectors because I need more fuel and may be maing out these injectors even out of the boost range. Got some 32s lying in the truck so I can swap them out sometime soon. For the rest it drives fine, and smooth. Love the OD, it does an easy 80mph @ 2500 or so rpm.

Put a moroso crank case evac system on it to keep the yucky filth out of the intake



new washer reservoir, custom expansion tank & acoompanying overflow for the rad



WBO2, chose this style because the gauge most closely matches the stock ones. (ignore dust)


interior all back together


Done





Glad to be driving in it again... it really is one of the must fun cars to drive... it's rattle free, lots of room and now plenty of oomph.

[mooseknuckles]

sweet truck!

[TwinTurbo]

Well, I've been battling the fuel system again after the inital hurray that it was working. Turns out, it's not The Kinsler Vapor Separator does not like to feed the A1000 pump at all. The pump draws a vacuum even when the VST is pressurized to 5psi. Somehow the internal workings of this thing block proper flow the the pump, causing vacuum on the suction side leading to cavitation and a hot running pump.

I finally decided to just give up on the kinsler unit and welded up my own (twice as tall) surge tank without a vapor separator but with a -10 feed on the bottom.

This is it, with heat shielding since it's next to the radiator. I deisned it so that the fresh cold fuel from the tank pushed up the return from the fuel pump and the bubbles and hot fuel are returned to the tank via the vent/return on the top. The can is always very cool to the touch, even with the hot radiator next to it. The fuel pump also does not get hot anymore.



I replaced the pump with another A1000 this time using a controller to trim down the pump speed at lower rpm.
This shows the controller functioning and the engine is finally getting ample fuel.

1983 C10 Stepside Procharged Aeromotive A1000...

This sure turned out to be a much bigger nightmare than I had anticipated.

[Big Rat]

Not sure how I missed this one but love the truck! And all the other cars too!

[ol'blazer]

how much boost are you running? sorry if you mentioned it

[TwinTurbo]

About 8psi

I'm driving the truck again. Took a bunch more tinkering and eliminating small problems. Have the efi pretty much dialed in. Tcc working after some rewiring and messing with the tune. It's running strong. Made a shirt walkaround vid.

https://youtu.be/sDecpd7mdrY

Going to put a posi in the rear. Im one wheel peeling at 80mph when going wot and off the line traction is nill. May go to 19 inch wheels and modern tires. Have adapters but may just build fronts for 1le hubs and using c6z06 brakes and put a 9 bolt f body axle in the rear with tq arm setup and coil overs. For now I'll just run the snot out of it.