Life's constants: Gravity, and Murphy's Law

[oleCrazyEyes]

Like many before me and many that will follow me I have wonderful luck in life. I have always wanted something of my own to build and drive. I was looking for many many years at rusty, rotted, junk, terrible cars and trucks. *Finally* I found this, a '78 Chevy C10 Silverado. I found it on CL it seemed perfect for me. A pretty well optioned truck with a 454, TH400, 12 bolt, AC, PS, PB, PW, and cruise control!

The truck seems to be completely rust free which is amazing for coming from Erie, PA in the middle of the rustiest place on Earth. I got the truck home and was immediately enamored with it. I finally had a project that didn't need a crazy amount of work that I could drive and enjoy! I felt like the luckiest kid in the world and I didn't care what anyone said about it. Until my luck and my life's most constant law came into play and therefore named the truck, Murphy's Law strikes once again...

[Dads79GMC]

Best of luck! Truck looks excellent!!

[Advanced Design]

Welcome ole crazy eyes. Nice truck....and I gotta follow along to see what Murphy brought. Hopefully nothing too bad!

[Whamo]

I am tuned in...

[oleCrazyEyes]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Welcome ole crazy eyes. Nice truck....and I gotta follow along to see what Murphy brought. Hopefully nothing too bad!

I wish it wasn't but its pretty bad.

[oleCrazyEyes]

Well just to keep my first and only thread going better than my build is going I better post some wonderful photos to update everyone to show how Murphy got his name... I got the truck and drove it for two weeks as my daily! I drove it 600 miles days after I bought it. It never had an issue what-so-ever. It never got hot, it never lost power and it was always driving fine without a hint of losing power. Well then I got the bright idea to drive it to work. I drove it to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday no problems at all, I even got to attend a show in my truck Tuesday night! I didn't think it was worthy of being driven there but I was happy my manager pressured me into taking it I didn't get a ton of attention but it was fun to have something of my own there. Well, two days after it's first show, in probably 15 years, I was driving down the highway and next thing I know I hear some wonderful noises and all of a sudden the truck shudders and shuts off. I pull over and steam billows out from under the hood so I yank the hood open and there was coolant blasting out from under the radiator cap and the wiring harness was on fire behind the engine... Thankfully I got to work, but that was the day my daily turned into a serious project.

[oleCrazyEyes]

So a few weeks after the wonderful incident on the side of the highway, one of my college buddies drove 7+ hours across the state to help me come evacuate the engine. After I got it towed home and I finally got home from work I started it and the 454 was making some awesome noises. It had a super bad knock coming from somewhere. So after pulling the belts and checking to make sure it wasn't a pulley making the noise I decided to drain the oil and see if the filter could tell me anything. Well I didn't have to pull the filter to tell it wasn't good. I pulled the drain plug and it looked like a silver Camry had emptied it's paint into my oil pan cause it was shiny! I determined the engine was hurt and it wasn't worth hurting further. I had it towed to my my parent's driveway to pull the engine. After removing the engine, the truck sat as a gutted roller for months before I got to tearing into the engine. During the engine removal I did see quite a few things I wanted to change on the truck, shoddy wiring and the interior being rougher than I am really happy with. So months later I finally tear into Murphy's loud and injured heart... well the prognosis isn't good... yes that's a oil pickup with no not leaves but thin nearly inch long pieces of bearing stuck to it. And the silver on the mains is the silicone that was used as assembly lube... So for anyone looking to assemble an engine with silicone as assembly lube it lasts 999.9 miles. I was a tenth of a mile from Murphy rolling over 41,000 miles.

[v30crewcab]

ouch

[daddyjeep]

Wow... I have never seen bearings look quite like that. Good luck getting it back together.

[Low Elco]

Smells like LS swap in here!

[aggie91]

Dang, How does the crank and rods look?

[oleCrazyEyes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Smells like LS swap in here!

Originally Posted by aggie91

Dang, How does the crank and rods look?

Low Elco, I seriously seriously considered it but the time it would have taken me to acquire the parts and the 5.3 like I wanted I would have ran out of time plus I just bought a 350 and 700r4 off of my boss for a price I couldn't pass up. Maybe next year after some weight loss and some length loss

aggie91, I havent pulled the mains or the rod ends yet to check out the bearings but I will soon.

Hopefully this upcoming weekend will be nice enough to be able to pull the cab and bed off to wire, plumb, and clean up the chassis. But being in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania the weather isn't even close to being predictable.

[Palf70Step]

Sorry to hear about the luck on Murphy. Hope to see more and postive notes with your next posts.

[oleCrazyEyes]

I apologize now this is a long post...

Sooo after a serious hiatus I have some updates, news, questions and ideas on a way to go with this truck. I realize after months and months this turd has sat in my parents driveway I need to both get my butt in gear both working on the truck and running side work to pay for everything I want to do to it! I may live in Pennsylvania but I am a huge fan of an influenced heavily by the Southwest C10 scene. Porterbuilt dropmember and rear 4-link, a custom/stock appearing interior, budget LS, and Air Lift Performance controller are the goal but I have a couple questions I hope someone here can point me in the directions to the answers either on the forums or online articles.

My first question is my truck is obviously a long bed 2wd. I am looking at a 77 K10 Scottsdale fleetside short bed. Is it worth swapping cabs, front sheet metal, beds, and suspensions to build a 2wd short bed 1978 Silverado and a 4wd long bed 1977 Scottdsdale? I would pull them both apart and have both frames blasted and powdercoated at the same time and would probably go through and build one truck or the other. The 77 is complete and runs with a 400sbc and is surprisingly rot free for a NWPA/SWNY truck. As one gets done the other will *very slowly* get done.

My other questions pertain to a 2wd slammed truck, what does everyone who has built and everyone who has owned a slammed C10 with a serious step notch do for there beds? What do people who build and own these trucks prefer or wish they did? The big trend I am seeing on Instagram and Facebook pages is raised bed floors. I am a fan of the look but I would love to know if anyone who has regretted raising there bed floor and wish they went with a step notch cover in the bed, I especially want to hear from people who have gone on long road trips with lowered trucks.

The next question I have definitely is focused to the professional paint and body guys and gals who have painted 73-80 trucks in recent years. I was curious as to what was done with the VIN tag and the other documentation on the inside of the driver's door jamb. Do you remove them and re-rivet them? Mask them off as you strip/paint the doors and cab?

Hopefully I will be able to work on some side work projects to pay for all these insane truck ideas I have stashed in my head! I am going to try and see if I can make something to build on the side to drum up cash, if anyone has any ideas on items they have experience selling or have ever wanted to buy but didn't want to make please mention them or let me know!

[Palf70Step]

If you plan on keeping both trucks I personally am not sure if it is worth the effort to have a SWB Silverado. Been a while since I was in PA and delt with their laws, but most places leave the VIN and paint around it or over it when they are in the jams. To "legally" remove, repaint and have them reinstalled was a pain. Again I been out of state a few (30ish) years, but have not heard of that changing much. I would talk with a good/trusted paint shop and see what they say to do. Many newer shops wiuth younger folks may not know how or care to look into it since they don't have to do that now days. You may need to go to DMV/State police for the legal way.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by oleCrazyEyes

I apologize now this is a long post...

Sooo after a serious hiatus I have some updates, news, questions and ideas on a way to go with this truck. I realize after months and months this turd has sat in my parents driveway I need to both get my butt in gear both working on the truck and running side work to pay for everything I want to do to it! I may live in Pennsylvania but I am a huge fan of an influenced heavily by the Southwest C10 scene. Porterbuilt dropmember and rear 4-link, a custom/stock appearing interior, budget LS, and Air Lift Performance controller are the goal but I have a couple questions I hope someone here can point me in the directions to the answers either on the forums or online articles.

My first question is my truck is obviously a long bed 2wd. I am looking at a 77 K10 Scottsdale fleetside short bed. Is it worth swapping cabs, front sheet metal, beds, and suspensions to build a 2wd short bed 1978 Silverado and a 4wd long bed 1977 Scottdsdale? I would pull them both apart and have both frames blasted and powdercoated at the same time and would probably go through and build one truck or the other. The 77 is complete and runs with a 400sbc and is surprisingly rot free for a NWPA/SWNY truck. As one gets done the other will *very slowly* get done.

My other questions pertain to a 2wd slammed truck, what does everyone who has built and everyone who has owned a slammed C10 with a serious step notch do for there beds? What do people who build and own these trucks prefer or wish they did? The big trend I am seeing on Instagram and Facebook pages is raised bed floors. I am a fan of the look but I would love to know if anyone who has regretted raising there bed floor and wish they went with a step notch cover in the bed, I especially want to hear from people who have gone on long road trips with lowered trucks.

'Slammed' trucks are great when everything clears which is why the bed floors get raised or the step-notch covers are used (or, some just leave them open). Stock floors limit the amount of clearance one can achieve when aggressively dropping a C10.

In my opinion, raising the floor on a square-body is EZ & allows plenty of room. Some go more than others so it's really based on individual needs.