Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10

[cornerstone]

Well, here we go. I've been watching some seriously talented guys on this fine forum for almost 6 years occasionally showing portions of my project usually on the "What did you do to your truck today" thread. I often comment on my favorite builds and actually consider many of you friends, in spite of never even meeting you.

I had just moved to Texas in 1991 and was attending UTA when I met my future wife, Susan, who lived with her cousin, aunt and uncle. While dating Susan, I had the good fortune to get to her know extended family. After about a year I had to move out of the house I was co-renting since my room mate was getting married, and 3 is a crowd. By then the relationship with my girlfriend and her family was strong. The Stephens offered their guest house for me to rent at a stupid cheap price of 50 bucks a month, which they would never accept since I helped with the work around their 3 acre lot. I became very close to my wife's Uncle Loyd, he worked days as a Lineman for Ma Bell, and evenings and weekends in his own business, a lawnmower repair shop on his property. These were some of my "good ol'days" I remember many trips to the landfill with a londbed full of tree limbs, and constant runs to the parts house for his business. The first time I got a ride in Loyd's C10 the truck was 20 years old, and ran like sewing machine. As he got up into his mid 70's I noticed he had a harder time turning the non power steering wheel, so he let me add that to the truck. Loyd knew the quadrajet like the back of his hand and would rebuild it every other year. I don't think it even needed it, but he loved to do it so he found a reason.

After Loyd passed on, Laura sold his truck to me. I drove it for several years just as it was, but eventually lowered it, changed out the wheels and tires and added a rear roll pan. I bought myself a new RCSB Silverado in 2005, and loaned the 72 to an employee to drive for a few months. That's when it got the dents on the passenger fender and bedside. That employee moved on and I let another use it for over a year and a half. Eventually the motor developed a hard miss and a nasty sound coming from the valve train. That's when I parked it for good.

I had been working on a 69 fastback Mustang for a couple of years when I came across this forum and instantly the fire was lit again. I officially started the disassembly in July of 2016. The plan was a quick ls swap. After all I had done this before on a replica 65' Cobra. As I continued to frequent this site, I became more and more infected with the common disease, scope creep. I blame every one of you who's build thread blew me away. You know who you are....

I've got a ton of pictures to share, but since I type with 2 fingers, its going to take me some time to get y'all caught up to where the build is currently.
Please feel free to tell me what you think, it may not be too late for me to make changes. I'm pretty used to that.

Brian

P.S. I'm someone who just can't come up with a name for their truck. So I took the easy way out and titled the thread what I've always called it, but I am open to names for it if you've got something I like.

[Speedracer39]

I’m sure Loyd is looking down with a big grin just knowing that the truck is still in the family and your still tinkering with it.

[cornerstone]

Sometime in the early 2000's I wanted it lower and didn't want to spend a buck to do it right. I took a torch to the springs and watched it drop. Instantly it looked way better to me, but would bottom out easily. This time I want it done right. Some of the other plans during the swap, are to change the color. I know there are Ochre fans out there, but I am definitely not one. I always called it baby poop yellow. In addition to a color change I also wanted a short bed, air ride, and a full interior change. As you can see, my quick LS swap was turning into an all out "now is the time" restomod. I always figured this would be the perfect truck as a starting point for me to customize exactly how I wanted. It's probably the least optioned, most prolific base model truck in the worst possible color choice. (Sorry Ochre lovers!) Here are some more pics of the tear down and prep/ clean up of parts. I love the Snap-On Dealer sticker on the SPID... way back in time, we used to only have to dial 7 numbers to make a call kids! And service was important too, so much so that you get his home phone number!

[cornerstone]

I got a call from a buddy one day telling me he found a very low mile 2014 L83 5.3 and 6L80e for $2500. He had wanted to buy it but realized he wasn't ready to pull the trigger on his project so he gave me the guys number. I went over to check it out and sure enough, it was all there including computer, harness, motor mounts, air box with ducting, even the radiator with trans cooler, from oilpan to intake. It came out of a Z71 crew cab, so it was set up for 4 wheel drive. I didn't want the transmission and offered him $1500. and I loaded it up and took it home that day. The next day I realized I could change the trans to a 2 wheel drive so I went back and scooped that up also.

[cornerstone]

A few more pictures during tear down, and cleaning of parts.

[cornerstone]

Travis at ProPerformance is the man if you have questions about what lowering components work the best to achieve your goals. I knew I wanted to try air ride, but didn't want to drop the coin to do it fully automated with the high dollar parts. I wanted to ride in a bagged truck but didn't know a single person I felt comfortable enough to grill with my questions. Again, I had been driving on clapped out springs bottoming out on occasion. I remember his first question to find out what parts to sell me... "How low do you want to go?" I told him about specific trucks I liked and he knew exactly what was needed.

The last pic shows a small mod I did in an effort to add strength to the trailing arms after I installed new bushings.

[cornerstone]

I had difficulty deciding where to put these. This is where I ended up. I built these shields to protect the compressors from rocks thrown from the rear tires or possibly covering them in shredded rubber.

Of course I wanted a high quality fuel tank, so Boyds Welding it was.

[cornerstone]

Mounting bracket for air tank.

[kingsolver72]

I’m in. Loyd is coming along nicely. Stay after it and the shop man!
I’m one of those guys that loves ochre.
I didn’t at first but, I grew fond of Sally’s mellow yellow tone.
I wanted some of the same things as you, I cut 2 coils off the front coils with a cut off wheel and 4” drop springs and 2” drop blocks in the the back. Originally I wanted a short bed.The idea when I bought that truck was to have it painted. It definitely grew on me and now it’s probably one of my favorite colors for 67-72s.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by kingsolver72

I’m in. Loyd is coming along nicely. Stay after it and the shop man!
I’m one of those guys that loves ochre.
I didn’t at first but, I grew fond of Sally’s mellow yellow tone.
I wanted some of the same things as you, I cut 2 coils off the front coils with a cut off wheel and 4” drop springs and 2” drop blocks in the the back. Originally I wanted a short bed.The idea when I bought that truck was to have it painted. It definitely grew on me and now it’s probably one of my favorite colors for 67-72s.

Sally looks like a clean and straight truck! Do you still own her? In the coming posts about the journey with my truck, you'll see me change my opinion about the color... It's grown on me now also. Particularly the 2 tone ochre and white. I'm still planning on a change but at the pace it's going I may come full circle and end up right back where I started.

[kingsolver72]

No Brian, I sold the truck 6 or 7 years ago. One of those “I wish I never sold it”.
Local guy had been after me to sell. Eventually I sold it to him and he had it painted a 2 tone. Blue and silver. I see it around once in a while. It ain’t the same truck.

[sprint_9]

Looking forward to following along.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by kingsolver72

No Brian, I sold the truck 6 or 7 years ago. One of those “I wish I never sold it”.
Local guy had been after me to sell. Eventually I sold it to him and he had it painted a 2 tone. Blue and silver. I see it around once in a while. It ain’t the same truck.

I have a couple of those myself. Mostly my 65 SS Impala and the only brand new vehicle I ever purchased, an 05 SWB Black Silverado. Thank God I never was so broke I took any of the offers on my 72.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by sprint_9

Looking forward to following along.

That's what I was worried about I've got some big shoes to fill. Yours is one of the many quality builds I aspire to.

[cornerstone]

I test fit the new motor and trans with the cab on many times trying to get it to fit with the stock L83 oil pan. The best I could manage would have not allowed the motor to be low enough in the chassis without the pan being way to low below the frame. One speed bump would have been the death of it.

I cut away enough of the front crossmember so the motor would sit low enough in the truck for me to be relatively happy. Then I added ribs inside the newly opened cavity to add rigidity. After that came a cover plate with slots cut into it so the ribs could be welded top and bottom inside the crossmember, finally I boxed in the sides of the opening, cleaned it all up and repainted it.

Back when I started this part of the work Holley had not yet come out with their 302-02 oil pan. Eventually I bought it and all this work turned out to not be necessary. Oh well...

[cornerstone]

I think it was about this time that I made the decision to jump on the shortbed band wagon. I fully intend to keep this truck for the rest of my days on Gods green earth, and I figured I'd enjoy it better. After I read every article I could find I went for it, with any luck I'll still be rolling on all 4 wheels when it's all said and done. I did add some plate to box the frame aslo.

[cornerstone]

I had the suspension all back together with all new Moog parts sometime along in this time frame. The oak tree directly in front of my garage makes it easy to lift or set the cab with a chain hoist. This was the first time I had the cab back on the newly shortened chassis with the motor in its proper spot, and it's the first time I was able to really see what it looked like at maximum drop.

[YBNORML]

Looking awesome, reminds me a lot of my 67’ long box. It almost got chopped down but I decided to build the yellow 68’ instead and just keep the 67’ as a dropped longbox cruiser.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Nice work! Keep the posts coming.

[sfont66]

This is a great story, love the history. Also you should be proud, very nice build, high quality work for sure. I will be following, keep up the good work!

[cornerstone]

Thank y'all for the kind words!

Even though I now had the motor sitting in a place I thought would work, I wasn't happy with the multiple brackets, shims, adapter plates and general mess that the mounts had become. It looked like a birds nest in there, and would have made it harder to have access to the headers later on when the truck is completed, if the need arises. While searching Fleabay I found a set of weld in Metaltek motor mounts for the newer style L83. It took me a while to figure out how to hold the motor up with no mounts in the way while I trimmed the new ones to fit in the right spot. It took some finagling but I got it done. I made a replica of the new mounts from cardboard and a piece of plastic tubing from an empty tube of caulk. This helped because I could trim the cardboard to get the right fit much easier than grinding a little, test fit, grind some more, test fit.....

Now Metaltek makes a set of mounts specifically for the L83 to bolt up to the 67-72 truck. If I were to do this again, I'd buy those instead of their generic style mounts.

The factory mounts form a triangle between the frame rail, motor and crossmember. Do you guys think what I have currently will be strong enough, or do you think I should add another bolt in piece from the rail to the motor mount for additional strength? I'm on the fence, I do like the open space for looks but obviously that takes a back seat over durability.

[sprint_9]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

That's what I was worried about I've got some big shoes to fill. Yours is one of the many quality builds I aspire to.

You are doing great. Im honored you liked my build, thank you.

[cornerstone]

I realized that the factory stock trans crossmember would force my exhaust to be routed to low for my liking. Plus, the 6L80e is way bigger than the th350 that was in it so I made my own crossmember that accommodated for both problems. It was decent overall, but allowed the trans to bounce up and down when I would try to move it. Since I soon found out that Metaltek made one designed specifically for this application. I made the decision to just get the one professionally made as opposed to spending another half a day strengthening mine.

[TA_C10]

Dude, it's nice to finally see you with your own thread bro! Love the story. And your doing a great job man, can't wait for your next 2 finger posts cuz I know your a lot further than this haha.

I'd be cautious of those motor mounts too btw. But I will wait to comment yet, I'm sure you have more to post. I'm in for the ride!

[cornerstone]

Sway bars were a must.