Travis' Tribute Truck - 65 Chevy C-10 Camper Special

[scottofksu]

Cab support games or How I made myself excited to do the rockers... Fitting Chinese metal to American iron is no fun. I took great pains to ensure the support perfectly aligned to what remains of the inner rocker. This included making a relief cut to allow me to rotate to rocker facing face of the support to be perfectly flush. I then cut a patch for the gap in the support that was created from rotating the cab support face to align with the inner rocker.

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Pics

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Patch for relief cut. I’ll put some diamond cut support patches on the inside to add extra support.

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Cab support welded and done, and outer rocker removed!

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A little fab before inner fender

[scottofksu]

I am back after a long absence predicated by two realities.
1) I made the mistake of buying a Jeep and it has been gobbling up massive amounts of my time.
2) My dad began suffering medical (e.g., vascular issues and dementia) issues about the time I stopped posting. As his behavior became increasingly erratic, I feared finishing the truck only to have it lost due to his financial situation due to his being the last living person named on the title for the vehicle following my brother, Travis', passing in 1999. My father passed in July of 2021. I am now working to get the truck titled in my name.

Prior to getting the title situation sorted out, I intend to complete the body work on the drivers side as the passenger side is essentially complete. After the title is in my name and the last cab body work is done, I intend to start putting the truck back together. One of the first things I need to do is to prepare the 14 bolt semifloating 6 lug rearend I purchased last year for installation and handling the abuse that the 575ft/lbs of torque the engine will be sending its way. I purchased Captainfab's awesome 14 bolt mounts and will be using these to get the new axle installed. More as it develops! It is GREAT to be back!

[scottofksu]

Reading back through the thread I realize earlier beliefs that I have "plenty of time" before my son, Travis, turns 16 have not aged well as he is now 14 and the truck is no closer to running than when I had "plenty of time"!

Small updates on "recent" progress:

My comment about the pain of messing with Chinese cab supports exciting me to install rockers was misplaced... I had to section out the rockers just slightly less than I did the cab supports! That said, the passenger side is in and the door gaps look great!

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by scottofksu

I am back after a long absence predicated by two realities.
1) I made the mistake of buying a Jeep and it has been gobbling up massive amounts of my time.
2) My dad began suffering medical (e.g., vascular issues and dementia) issues about the time I stopped posting. As his behavior became increasingly erratic, I feared finishing the truck only to have it lost due to his financial situation due to his being the last living person named on the title for the vehicle following my brother, Travis', passing in 1999. My father passed in July of 2021. I am now working to get the truck titled in my name.

Prior to getting the title situation sorted out, I intend to complete the body work on the drivers side as the passenger side is essentially complete. After the title is in my name and the last cab body work is done, I intend to start putting the truck back together. One of the first things I need to do is to prepare the 14 bolt semifloating 6 lug rearend I purchased last year for installation and handling the abuse that the 575ft/lbs of torque the engine will be sending its way. I purchased Captainfab's awesome 14 bolt mounts and will be using these to get the new axle installed. More as it develops! It is GREAT to be back!

Not on here much these days but got an email notice about your thread response. Unfortunately, that’s about the only way I’ve been continuing to follow older build threads. Just wanted to stop in and say I’m sorry to hear about your dad. Glad you’re back at it though and hope you continue making good progress.

[scottofksu]

Originally Posted by likaroc13

Not on here much these days but got an email notice about your thread response. Unfortunately, that’s about the only way I’ve been continuing to follow older build threads. Just wanted to stop in and say I’m sorry to hear about your dad. Glad you’re back at it though and hope you continue making good progress.

Thanks, Brother! At 43 I am just finally learning that I cannot "process" my way through grief. I just have to live through it! I am getting by and am glad to be shifting my focus back to getting this truck back on the road. I inherited a 2001 D*dge 2500 Ram Cummins from my dad when he passed and spent a couple months fixing nearly every major system on it to make it road worthy again. Dealing with rusty old bolts on the '01 has made me really excited to get to bolt on new parts to freshly chased threads on the '65!

Thanks for hopping on and sharing your words of encouragement! You've been here with me since the beginning and I greatly appreciate that.

All the best to you and yours!

Scott

[scottofksu]

Minor update: I am finally getting a clutch and the motor will be going in hopefully this winter! The next figure out will be the rear axle... I have the stock, posi, 12 bolt in currently, but also acquired a 90's 6-lug, 9.5 inch ring geared, 14b semifloat and Captainfabs brackets to make it work in the '65. I need to determine the gear ratio in the 14b but suspect it is a 3.73/3.75 like the 12 bolt already in the truck. Given the ratios in my T56, I am thinking I may need to bump the final drive ratio up to 4.10 to reduce the possibility of chattering from my clutch and make 6th gear useful. That said, my thinking is to just clean up the 12b and run it initially while I break in clutch, trans, and engine. I can decide thereafter if an axle and or gear change is needed.

[scottofksu]

In response to my regrets for launching into a full frame off restoration of the truck versus a "rolling restoration" (AKA: Freiburger Method) I am currently focusing on getting the truck moving on its own power. As such, I have shifted my focus on getting the finishing touches put on the drivetrain. To this end, I first spent a lovely evening in my man cave assembling the stack of gaskets and heat deflectors trial assembled so I could measure what I needed the length of my carb studs to be. Then I took the stack to the garage and placed it on the motor as I awaited carb studs which I ordered the night of assembly from ARP. I then attached the carb to the motor, installed a throttle bracket, and attached a 36" universal throttle cable that I will shorten once I get the motor installed and the Lokar pedal in place. To this end, I am thinking I will go with the XSG-6016. I have also acquired the necessary allthread and heim joints to create bell cranks for my clutch and brake pedal. I am going this route to allow me to get the pedal ratios perfect while also maintaining alignment to the master cylinder/booster. It will also allow me to adjust my pedals distance from the firewall after I get my seat installed. I have pictures of all of this but no sight to host them as it appears that is the only way to share pictures now.

[scottofksu]

Ok, new day, fresh brain, and I figured out the picture thing! LOL

This is the stack after I got it all situated and measured.

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After ordering studs for a 2" spacer, I got the carb assembly installed to the motor. Stack includes a 1/2 inch rubber gasket that came with the Holley Heat shield which comes next followed by a 1/2 inch spacer and with gaskets between every layer.

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Lastly, I put a fresh coat of paint on the block. In the many years since I built this motor the crappy spray can rustoleum engine paint I used had started to peal just sitting in the garage! I used a knotted wire brush on a drimmel tool to clean off the old paint wherever it could be seen after tarping and taping the top end of the engine and sealing all holes. I then did every darn step of POR15's prep process and layered on some of their engine paint. This stuff is awesome! Adheres excellent and only took 3 light coats to give it a good covering. Hoping my luck is better with this paint!

[scottofksu]

One more! My throttle cable setup prior to my adjusting and straightening everything out.
I used a Lokar cable with a S-0134 to attach the cable to the carb and a knockoff Holley throttle bracket. I originally bought the Holly unit but then found this one for over half the price less. I ordered it and compared it to the Holly unit. The only difference seemed to be the Holley script so I returned the Holley bracket and am running this cheap one.

[350TacoZilla]

Hey good to see someone getting back into a project no matter how long it took. Hope you get it together and have plenty of fun with it and the family.

[Pick121]

Wow what a journey, and tribute to your bro, glad you are still making progress! Just spent 45 minutes tonight reading through the build, I just found it when you updated it and so I am very impressed with your fab/welding skills it gives me hope for my projects. Keep hammering so you will have it done for your son! We are all rooting for you
Also I recently adopted your direction, get my truck on the road and have fun with it stop waiting for the perfect time, just get it going!

[scottofksu]

Hey, thanks gents!

Pick121 - I could barely even weld when I started restoring this truck. Anything I know now was learned on this truck. Primarily what I have learned is that, if I hold myself to only calling a repair "complete" if it meets a level of quality that I feel a true professional would deliver. I have created, welded, grinded, and then cut out and repeated so many repairs, but this is how I learned (e.g., to value preparation, to be patient).

Having spent years fighting for even 30 minutes to work on the truck, I am rapidly approaching "emptynester" status. Heck, Travis graduates from High School this year and you see how small he was when I started! He will join his older brother and sister out in the real world and will leave only his little brother Hunter, who is a Sophomore, still in high school. My ex has the boys every other week; so I am already tasting what life will soon be like all the time minus repairing the older boys vehicles all the time while trying to teach them as well - making everything take at least twice as long. LOL

Add to this, I am building a garage crew of the kids of folks I work with and their friends. Over the last several years I have helped them as well with their vehicles and taught them what little I know beyond you just have to persist. Two of them have since graduated high school and became real life mechanics! It is so nice to have young backs and hungry minds around! Helps a guy feel like he is leaving a legacy similar to those that saw something in me worth developing.

Next on the truck:

I need to get an engine hoist as mine was loaned out and never came home. Then I intend to put the engine on Motofeet engine stands that only connect to the motormounts so I can bolt on the bits for the transmission and then install both engine and trans in the truck! After that I will worry about a radiator. I am so excited to fire this thing up and get to stop rotating the engine over every month by hand! LOL

[scottofksu]

Little T then and now! He just turned 18 last week! Where on Earth does the time go... At 6'3" he is now the tallest person in our household.