Picked up a "new" C20 to add to the fleet!

[Mykids69]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

I believe the bracket is not a factory item. Who does your machine work?

I have the original engine from the 69 over at Main Machine in Concord, I have known the owner for 30+ years. It has been there for 3 months already. He had a 6 month back up. Its just Curt and 1 guy helping.

I checked George's machine shop in Vallejo and he said he can do just a block in an 8 week turnaround. 3 months for heads. The new owner is just working by himself.

Machine shops are slowly disappearing. I remember at least 2 where I grew up that are gone now. Shelldust, and Rigsby. The ones that are still around have long waits. I asked Morgan's in Walnut Creek and they said they are 12 months out right now and aren't even taking anything in!

I pulled this one apart at work and re-honed it myself, cleaned it up and put new bearings and rings in it, changed the heads with some spares I had and threw it back together and painted it. This one is just a temporary fix ($120 in parts) just to get it running. Rings, bearings, paint, engine mounts, carb rebuild kit, and plugs! I just ordered replacement harnesses and they cost more than the rebuild!

I found a used front harness, paid for it, and when I laid it out and started installing it, the wires were so bad that some of them fell apart when I straightened them out! I was told it was a 68 C10 harness, but when it was all stretched out and laying in the truck, I realized it was a GMC harness with 4 headlight connectors and side marker lights.

When I get the original 69 engine back and put it together, I will put it back in the 69 I brought by your place, and take the engine that is in the 69 now and go through it and put that one in the 68.

It will be like musical engines!

The one in the 69 now has the bad cam, so I will tear it down and make sure its still good and go from there.

Once the 68 is running and the Fleet Manager finishes his 66 Mustang in our shop at work, we will get the 68 in to be sanded down and repainted the factory color. What looks like some good faded factory paint is a repaint of light blue metallic which is flaking off. The fuel doors and side tanks will get removed from the bed, extra holes in the doors and bed will be filled and smoothed, then paint.

It was solid Medium Blue with a White grill, so that is how it will end up.

I am hoping to be done with both trucks for the September car show at Budweiser!

[stsalvage]

Originally Posted by Mykids69

Did some cleaning today on the 68. Figured out the wiring damage goes all the way into the cab. Heat transfer from the engine side of the harnesses melted most of the wires just inside the cab........... Now need under the dash and both under hood harnesses, just keeps getting better!

I stripped all of the melted parts out and started cleaning up. Ended the day removing the valve covers and intake. I cleaned the Edelbrock intake in the bead blaster, guess what? It's a Torquer 2! Yeah for me!

And a shot of the SPID.

Me I run over www.truckandcarshop.com and buy the new M&H re-pop harness. But on my 1968 longhorn, I like how the 1971-72 side blinkers blink so I will use the 1972 front light harness so I can have that one Option other then that i replace all the harness and wires if your going to give it to one of your kids.

[Mykids69]

Been a long time since I have updated so now is the time. She is still not running, I made the mistake of digging into what i thought was a solid cab floor. Boy was I in for a few repairs. After reading countless threads and looking at what seems like a million and 1 pictures of everyone else's repairs, I dove into the floor, rockers and kick panels. I know how to weld, but had to learn about welding sheet metal. All in all it turned out great, but it just took forever. Seeing how the truck is at my work and I have been there for 24 years, it made it nice to have access to all of the things I needed to do the repairs. I have a quiet corner of the shop to keep it in and work on it in my "spare" time. The time is few and far between, but it beats trying to do it in my driveway at home!

pulled the seat, carpet and started cleaning some spots up. I was shocked to see only a small amount of rust on the passenger side floor......... hahaha, yeah, right!

Check out the photos to see the rest......

[Mykids69]

Start the digging......

[Mykids69]

And it keeps going....

[Mykids69]

Found some Red Oxide primer.... Hung the door and the Passenger side is done, for the most part!

[Mykids69]

I decided to check out the Driver's side and it ended up being worse than the Passenger side. I have seen some of the repairs on this site and mine are by far not the worst rust damage I have seen you guys repair. This was just unexpected and learning how to do it was the best part. Call me a little strange, but it is actually relaxing and satisfying to get the rust out and repair the old girl to her former glory!

[Mykids69]

So what I learned from the passenger side was that instead of getting a floor section and the inner rocker, there is the whole side of the floor pan that can be ordered. That's what I did. My only complaint about it is that it did no line up with the "groove" stamped in the original floor like the section i did on the Passenger side, but it is going to be under the carpet and nobody will know except me, and of course, you guys!

[Mykids69]

Even though the damage on the Driver's side was a lot worse than the Passenger side, it felt like it went a lot smoother and easier! Primer, install Rocker and hang the door!

[Mykids69]

Now that the rust repairs were completed, I found, through searching on this amazing site, a company in Louisiana that has touch up paint in a spray can. So I took a chance and ordered one to see if it matches. It doesn't have to be an exact match because a friend at work brought in some rubbing compound and his buffer and this is what I have been up to the past week........


What do you think of the old oxidized paint now?

The oxidized paint polished right up and then started revealing the original paint underneath. I would have never guessed that it was possible to bring the original paint back from under what may be a 20 something year old repaint. So far, looks to be a very thin single stage paint job directly over the original.

Front end is shaping up nicely, I think!

[landarts]

Nice work on the metal replacement. I feel you on nothing fitting, every piece I have replaced on the last three trucks had to be modified to work. It is part of the process I figure now double time for each item. Again, nice work on the truck.

[68Gold/white]

Job(s) very well done!!! I need to haul one of mine out to you and stay a week or so, and have you show me how to properly "Relax"...LOL
Thin "repaints" are common place. body shops committing the absolute minimum materials and labor to squeak out to max profit...

So, I guess you plan to clean off the thin paint job and retain what's left of the original paint, for now?

[Mykids69]

Originally Posted by landarts

Nice work on the metal replacement. I feel you on nothing fitting, every piece I have replaced on the last three trucks had to be modified to work. It is part of the process I figure now double time for each item. Again, nice work on the truck.

Thanks, Landarts. It has been fun learning the ins and outs of replacing panels and getting them to fit properly!

Now time to get the doors figured out! I took the ugly mirrors off and threw them out. Going to put in the small round mirrors using the factory 3 holes. I counted and there are 15 extra holes in the Drivers door and 17 extra holes in the Passenger side from different mirrors over the years!

And the 2 holes on each side for the camper badges!

I figured I will weld the holes up that I don't need and try to blend them out so when the outside is buffed out, it may look like just another spot that is worn down to the bare metal, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. I may just start and see what happens!

[Mykids69]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

Job(s) very well done!!! I need to haul one of mine out to you and stay a week or so, and have you show me how to properly "Relax"...LOL
Thin "repaints" are common place. body shops committing the absolute minimum materials and labor to squeak out to max profit...

So, I guess you plan to clean off the thin paint job and retain what's left of the original paint, for now?

I really like how its turning out, and I will take the grill out and see if I can get the original white to come back too. If it turns out like I have it pictured in my head, I would like to keep as much of the original paint as possible. Time will tell!

[Steeveedee]

You're doing a great job on this! I have to ask, how many kinds of mirrors need to be mounted to a truck!? All those holes! One thing I would recommend is to replace the master cylinder when you get to it. Who knows what the heat from the fire did, and it's only like $30. It's easy for me to spend other people's money.

[Ol Blue K20]

Nice job on the rust repairs. I'm going to have to have you relax with Blue....lol

[Mykids69]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

You're doing a great job on this! I have to ask, how many kinds of mirrors need to be mounted to a truck!? All those holes! One thing I would recommend is to replace the master cylinder when you get to it. Who knows what the heat from the fire did, and it's only like $30. It's easy for me to spend other people's money.

I will be replacing it soon. Going to have to put this on hold for a little bit so I can get the new, original, 1969 engine back in my son's C10. He is coming to visit in February from Dyess AFB and wants to drive it back when he leaves. New engine, rebuilding the original TH400, and going through the front suspension to replace everything including doing a disc swap! So I have a lot of work to do in a very short amount of time!

Nice thing is that I put a C20 master in his truck before he went to the Air Force and his truck is getting the disc upgrade, so dad gets a almost new master! Win/win!

[Mykids69]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Nice job on the rust repairs. I'm going to have to have you relax with Blue....lol

Thanks Dale. Anytime after March, I would be happy to relax with Blue!

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by Mykids69

Thanks Dale. Anytime after March, I would be happy to relax with Blue!

Cool, we should have a beer or two soon.

[Mykids69]

Found a place that makes a factory 506 color in a rattle can out of Louisiana that matches pretty good. I will be able to fade in the new and old together with the buffing wheel on the outside. Its just for the rockers, so at $27 a took a chance!

Microfinish LLC is where the paint came from, $19 for the paint and $8 to ship. www.automotivetouchup.com

1 can did both rockers and the repair work on the kick panels. The kick panels will eventually get covered with carpet so i am not that worried about them.


..................and I started putting the insulation in and laying out the carpet.

It's starting to look like a truck again on the inside!

[Mykids69]

A few more of the progress.....


Going to use black on the firewall and against the back of the cab.

[Mykids69]

I also heard back from SMS and they have the correct material to remake my factory seat cover!

$695.......OUCH!

It will be worth it though, I love the metallic Blue look to the factory seat.

The first 4 pictures are of the factory cover, I found wadded up in the truck box in the bed of the truck.

The last picture is the matching material from SMS. (You can't really tell from the picture, cause I took it inside, while the other pictures were taken outside in the sunlight. But it matched perfectly!)

[Redneck Rydes]

Freind bought a truck once, guy said it was rebuilt,I took a good look at the corners of the oil pan, still had some grease in there,told him it was a "rattle can" rebuild,he asked what was that,I said,qiuck power wash and 2 cans of spray bomb,his heart sank,after what he paid for this truck with a rebuilt engine.

[68bowtie]

Wow this is coming along nicely!

[Ol Blue K20]

The seat will be cool despite being pricey. The spray bomb paint looks very nice!