sprint_9's 72 C10 Project

[Snake72]

Cannot wait to see this truck put together, very inspiring!

[rustytruck50]

Wow, wow, wow!!! Looks great...that paint is a knockout!!

[Bennett68C10]

Really Really nice buddy, I’ll probably say it a thousand times, I really love that Grabber Blue!!! Definitely will be the color I use if I ever repaint my Suburban!

[sprint_9]

Thanks everyone.

[sprint_9]

Figure I should update as its been quite a while. Im going to skip over some less than stellar moments Ive had as of late, but in any case Ive made some good progress. Id hoped to maybe have a mock up test drive this fall but that pretty much went out the window due to some of those moments mentioned above. Ill just shoot for having it complete on the shake down next spring and not pieced together.

Based on kind of where I left off, my vent windows ended up getting shelved, and a new rebuilt set ordered from Rogerkoop, he's great to work with and has a great product by the way. We got the steering column rebuilt, and its since been installed. Rear window installed, tires mounted and made it a roller. A bunch of other things finshed up as well, alot of wiring, stuff like that I didnt take many pictures of.

I took pretty much all of my interior to be redone, it is almost complete. Pretty happy with how it came out based on the pictures.

[gringoloco]

Really liking the diamond stitch

[1971Stepside]

Great build. Love the color. What wheels did you end up going with. I saw that you mentioned the size, but I couldn't tell the brand/style. Thanks.

[sprint_9]

Thanks.

Wheels are Raceline Hooligan

[builtbyKane]

Looks gorgeous. It's amazing how rewarding it is when it becomes a fresh roller. Work becomes a little cleaner meaning most of the messy work is behind you. And you get the visual motivation. Going to be a sharp truck for sure.

[SierraMtns]

Originally Posted by sprint_9

Once we had the frame shorted we started mocking up my Eng/Trans. I wanted to get all of the frame work, or all that we could think of done before paint. I decided to use engine mounts out of the 73-87 trucks, C20 specifically, they proved much harder to find than I thought they would. It was worth it though they fit great and were only $30. Using an aftermarket Trans cross member, not sure on the brand (ECE I think), bought it used a few years back. Headers were from Speed Engineering, I must say for the price I am very impressed with them.

After we had the power train installed we set the cab on to check clearances, and everything looked good. Never got a pic of that though.

Sweet build. Do you like the 73-87 motor mounts. I want to switch out to those just because they are so much easier to unbolt the engine. The stock 67 ones are just a pain.

[Jason7121]

Haven't been on the forum lately to see your progress. Looks really nice and loving all the detail.

[sprint_9]

Originally Posted by SierraMtns

Sweet build. Do you like the 73-87 motor mounts. I want to switch out to those just because they are so much easier to unbolt the engine. The stock 67 ones are just a pain.

Yes I like them, I feel like they are a much better mount, the stock style is fine, but these 73 on up ones are just a little nicer design. The one thing I dont care for with them is the fact that I feel the front of my engine is a little higher than I would like, but its manageable. I used the short frame plates, they measure about 10 inches long, the long plates are about 12 for reference. I think both will work, but Im not 100 percent sure.

Originally Posted by Jason7121

Haven't been on the forum lately to see your progress. Looks really nice and loving all the detail.

Thanks, I haven't been updating much as alot of small stuff is about all I get done.

Ive been meaning to do an update but haven't gotten around to it. One of the things I wanted to show was my dash speakers. I really wanted to do some kind of speaker in the dash other than the center one that was stock. The main issue with it is the fact that there isnt much room, and getting it to look decent. I initially was going to use an actual speaker screen but I didnt think it would fit. I did alot of searching and brainstorming but I ended up using a 4 inch drain screen for a speaker grille, a piece of osb is the speaker mount and it is bonded to the dash from the bottom so I dont have any screws through the dash to worry about.

[sprint_9]

A few other things Ive worked on over the past few weeks.

I got my hood painted, it was an absolute pain. Unfortunately Im not sure if I will use it, I think my blaster damaged it. I tried working on it but ran out of talent, Im kind of waiting until I mount it before I make a final decision. Sucks because I have alot of time into it trying to get it right.

Another thing I finally got done was my air intake, it also took a good while to have it fit just right, but Im really happy with it.

Currently Im test fitting things trying to get a design down for a subwoofer box to cover the back of the cab

[builtbyKane]

Way to think outside the box on the speaker dilemma. It all looks like it is coming together great even if you have to do another hood it's still progress.

[sprint_9]

Originally Posted by builtbyKane

Way to think outside the box on the speaker dilemma. It all looks like it is coming together great even if you have to do another hood it's still progress.

Thanks, the good thing about it being the hood is it comes off with 4 bolts if I change my mind, and when I get to that point the truck would still be drivable.

[sprint_9]

Update for the last month, making some headway now. Its really exciting to see it come together and put some finishing touches on a few things, it seems like such a long time coming, but well worth the wait.

I finished up the sound system today, even fired it up. It sounds absolutely fantastic, Im really happy with my box and how it finishes off the back of the cab. It took a good bit of work to figure out all the angles and get it just right so everything fit with as much room as possible for the seats. I chose to do two separate boxes with kickback in the middle so my center seat would fit better, and so I have a small storage area.

I ended up actually being surprised by how good it sounded. My dash speakers really turned out much better than I thought they would have. I was concerned about them being too close together but it doesnt seem to matter as they sound great.

[sprint_9]

Also got the windshield in, what a bear that was. I ended up with new glass for the front, rear, and vent windows, going to try and reuse the door glass. Master cylinder on but havent bleed yet.

As it stands now the plan is to bolt the seats in this weekend, and then the doors shortly after when we tidy up a few things, Im really excited for those next two steps.

[ChuckLee]

Looking amazing! So would you do your own windshield install again or pay someone else? Why was it so hard?

[sprint_9]

Originally Posted by ChuckLee

Looking amazing! So would you do your own windshield install again or pay someone else? Why was it so hard?

Id absolutely do it again, Ive seen too many horror stories of people hiring it done and having it go bad. The only time I would hire it is if I knew the guy or he came highly recommended at doing these older windshields.

I think the main reason we had trouble was the rope we started with was too big, 1/8 or 3/16 is the way to go and I think it did make a difference. The other two things that helped was getting a little more aggressive at working the gasket into the grove so it was seated, and leaving the gasket on the windshield over night. As far as being aggressive, we werent beating on the glass at all, more pushing and getting a good hook with a ball end hook tool to pull the gasket the rest of the way over the pinch weld while using pressure from the outside to seat it.

If you get a hook tool wrap it with something to protect your paint, I wrapped mine with cloth electrical tape leaving only a half inch on the ball end unwrapped.

[cornerstone]

Any updates on one of my favorite builds? I went through your thread again and I think I found a picture that answers my question, but I might as well ask. Did you cut out the factory firewall metal behind the filler panel for the Vintage Air? I'm getting started on smoothing mine now...
Thanks!

[sprint_9]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Any updates on one of my favorite builds? I went through your thread again and I think I found a picture that answers my question, but I might as well ask. Did you cut out the factory firewall metal behind the filler panel for the Vintage Air? I'm getting started on smoothing mine now...
Thanks!

Funny you should ask about an update, Ive had this pulled up in a tab meaning to do one for about a week now.

I left the factory panel complete and welded the VA panel right on top. I cleaned up both panels really good, sprayed some weld through primer on them for an extra coat of corrosion protection and welded the perimeter and any unused holes. Once welded fully I smoothed everything out with flap wheel so it looks like a solid piece.

One thing I would recommend if you are using the stock VA hose arrangement is to figure out what kind of heater hose you will be using. Once you have that mock up one of the heater hose lines and make sure they fit through the firewall nicely. Mine ended up being really tight, but I used formed heater hoses. If I would have mocked it up I could have opened it up just a touch to allow them to slide in easier and farther. It needs to be tight to seal off nice from the engine bay, but mine were too tight and it was a real battle to get them through even a 1/4 inch.

[sprint_9]

Ill see if I can get one update posted up quick, I have quite a lot to cover as Ive gotten a lot of stuff done. Finally done with some of the tedious stuff so its fun to move on to a few quicker more appearance oriented things.

Starting where I left off next up was installing the seats and starting to hang the doors. All of that went pretty good, mocking up stuff really pays off when it comes to final assembly. My seats dropped right in and bolted up without issues. I took really detailed pictures of my door hinges before I took everything apart to have it blasted and with those pictures I was able to get the door side of hinge right back where it needed. The rest was fairly easy fitting the door to the opening.

I was really happy with how my door jamb and hinges turned out. I fully rebuilt the hinges, blasted them, and painted them separately. They looked really nice with the black bolts, which are re plated factory originals, almost sad to cover all that up with the fender. My door conduit also turned out pretty good, the passenger side kinked up a bit for some reason but it operates really nice.

Last pic I thought I would include to show my rebuilt heater control. I disassembled, cleaned, masked it off and painted the chrome trim black. I then used an old air kit to re install the levers. The shiny back ground is factory, it was really dingy but cleaned up really good. Im really happy how it turned out, it was a lot of thinking, but it matches everything pretty good with the added black.

[sprint_9]

With the passenger door on I couldn't resist not putting a fender on, especially with the sun glistening in a bit.

[cornerstone]

Thanks. I've seen it done both ways on very nice builds, so I guess it is one of those personal preference things. I'll be on the lookout for the heater hose issue ahead of time now.

I've already told you that Grabber blue is a top contender color choice for my truck... because of seeing it on your truck. I am pretty sure I want to do a white roof and the sides as well. If you were to pick a white to add to your truck, what would you go with? Its hard for me to envision whether it would look better, with a bright white, or an off white of some sort. Have you ever thought about this?

Thanks man
Brian

[sprint_9]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

I've already told you that Grabber blue is a top contender color choice for my truck... because of seeing it on your truck. I am pretty sure I want to do a white roof and the sides as well. If you were to pick a white to add to your truck, what would you go with? Its hard for me to envision whether it would look better, with a bright white, or an off white of some sort. Have you ever thought about this?

Thanks man
Brian

That's a tough one. I thought about it a little bit but ruled it out pretty quick because I didn't want to deal with all the masking on my first paint job.

I think if I were to do it I would go with a bright white. Reason being is the Grabber Blue is a really bright blue, especially in the sun.