1966 C10 Project Truck

[joe dirt]

hey you still got them orange valve covers?...also what are your plans for the old 12bolt?...truck is turning out sweet man!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by joe dirt

hey you still got them orange valve covers?...also what are your plans for the old 12bolt?...truck is turning out sweet man!

I do have them still and plans for the 12 bolt are to sell it. It's got some good parts with it, 5 or 6 lug capable, but it needs a carrier because I welded it up.

[scoot_mcgrute]

It's been a crazy last few months for me so I haven't gotten to work on the old girl at all yet to get it prepped for the start of race season. I did sign up for the 3 day autocross pack at LSFest West this year so work on the Army Truck will start very soon! I've got a lot of work to do in not a whole lot of time but I will get it done. Here's what will be happening in the next month or so:

Install Porterbuilt trailing arm crossmember
Install 8.8
C-notch the frame
Taller upper balljoints
Caster modification
LS6 valley pan
Kirkey bucket seats
Dyno tune?????

Going to be an awesome time prepping the truck this year

[scoot_mcgrute]

Work for LS Fest has started! My buddy was in town and bored so we took the opportunity to get my garage cleaned up again, it's amazing how much crap a garage can accumulate





The 8.8 is getting ready to go in, I'm sending the axles and rotors to Dutchman this week to get redrilled for 5x5 and cutting all the Mustang brackets off. Couldn't have come at a better time, the 12 bolt is done

[scoot_mcgrute]

With my new work schedule, I don't have as much time after work as before but I can still make a lot of noise for an hour or so. I got the factory brackets cut off the 8.8 last night and noticed that it will need axle seals and it looks like a pinion seal as well. I also sent the axle shafts and brake rotors off to Dutchman to get them redrilled to 5x5 pattern.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Started tearing into it yesterday, pulled the 12 bolt and mocked the 8.8 up. Everything seems to be fitting nice and it hasn't fought me yet.





8.8 mocked up, driveline looks like it will work which is awesome. The exhaust doesn't like my new panhard bar so I'll be cutting it right after the rear axle




And the best part about working on a pickup, as we all know, storage space

[67pete300]

Where did you get those taillights? Looking for something similar.

Awesome truck.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by 67pete300

Where did you get those taillights? Looking for something similar.

Awesome truck.

Thank you!

I'm not sure on the taillights, a buddy bought them 20 years ago at a shop in Arizona and gave them to me when I bought the pickup.

[The Rocknrod]

Maybe these with a blue dot:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1956-1...xW3f88&vxp=mtr

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Maybe these with a blue dot:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1956-1...xW3f88&vxp=mtr

I agree. That is the style I was thinking they are.

[forestb]

Originally Posted by aggie91

I agree. That is the style I was thinking they are.

You can use the same brackets for those as the ones for the 60-66. A vary easy swap.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Maybe these with a blue dot:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1956-1...xW3f88&vxp=mtr

Those are pretty close!

I reached out to my buddy that gave them to me to see if remembers anything about them. I never really thought much about them but they sure catch a lot of attention.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Sounds like he bought them from Grumpy's Truck Parts in Arizona but a quick search shows that they closed their doors a few years back

[scoot_mcgrute]

Weekend progress update. Had a couple friends come over and we knocked out flipping the trailing arm mounts, set the pinion angle and burned in the perches, put the Mustang pinion flange on my driveline and pulled the bench seat to start getting the buckets installed. I also found a leaking injector o-ring so I'll take care of that soon as well. All in all, a great day working on the old pickup!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Army Truck weekend report:

Saturday I did a winch install on a Mitsubishi Delica and it turned out pretty good.


Sunday, my buddy came up and we got the c-notches done, they were a bit of a pain but we got em done! My axle shafts and rotors should be here this week so I'll get it all buttoned up after work and hopefully on the trailer Thursday night for a weekend of racing

[scoot_mcgrute]

Good news everyone! Last night, I had a buddy come over and we made the truck a roller again . My shafts showed up from Dutchman but the rotors didn't make the ride but they will be here tomorrow. Tomorrow night, I'll be finishing up the install and taking it for some hot laps before my first autocross this year .

Brake lines all plumbed


Axle shafts in and diff filled


Nice new diff cover color matched to the truck


Axle going together, I installed the No Limit shock relocation kit, I don't think my rear sway bar will fit anymore but I'm happy having the shocks back there.


And a shot of it sitting on the ground. Can't wait to rip it up again

[shearjs]

Looking good! What do you gain by flipping the trailing arm brackets? Keep up the good work!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by shearjs

Looking good! What do you gain by flipping the trailing arm brackets? Keep up the good work!

You gain anti-squat. When you lower a truck down with the truck arms, you lose a little anti-squat; in my case, I lost a lot. I could light the tires up no problem and while that's fun every once in a while, when you need to put power down it gets old fast. Flipping the brackets put the arms back to stock-ish angles which increases traction everywhere (straight line, corner exit, etc) for me.

[shearjs]

That's good to know. I'd seen others do that on other build threads, but never really knew why. Thanks for enlightening me!

[Blue666(2)]

Do you have an estimate of how much anti squat gain is made by flipping trailing arm mount brackets? For the costs of grade 8 bolts and a few grinder discs, that could be one of the best low cost suspension upgrades ever.

I love that your truck is ready to get down & dirty on the road & no worries about perfect paint/chrome. Great truck & build thread.

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by Blue666(2)

Do you have an estimate of how much anti squat gain is made by flipping trailing arm mount brackets? For the costs of grade 8 bolts and a few grinder discs, that could be one of the best low cost suspension upgrades ever.

I love that your truck is ready to get down & dirty on the road & no worries about perfect paint/chrome. Great truck & build thread.

Thanks man, I appreciate it! I'm not sure on actual numbers but it really helped my corner exit traction. Definitely a great low cost upgrade!

My first autocross of the year was last weekend, I loaded the truck on the trailer without rear rotors on it, got those by lunch on Friday, headed South to my buddy's house in Eugene, installed the rotors and bled the brakes Friday night. Saturday, showed up and immediately failed tech due to my wheel studs being too short. I was bummed but there was a Firestone right next to the track that helped me out to get everything together and able to run with my group . I did terrible on Saturday, the truck was pushing really bad and I was having a hard time figuring it out. I almost didn't go back on Sunday but at the last minute decided to go and increase the rear tire pressure to see if that would help. It did and minus the long waiting time to get to run, I had a really good time. I got my cousin to take a break from homework and ride with me for a couple laps, he had a great time! I'm pleased with the old girl but it needs some more work before I'm happy with it again

[Pinchecharlie]

Holly crap your a badas@! You had helped me before and I appreciate it and your truck is awsome Just curious now that the racing bug has caught ya what your plan s are for the suspension? See that you have adopted the no limit philosophy a bit which is cool. Are you gonna drop member it ? Raise the rear rails? Hope your doing good in all life's adventures and Can t wait to see what's next!

[scoot_mcgrute]

Originally Posted by Pinchecharlie

Holly crap your a badas@! You had helped me before and I appreciate it and your truck is awsome Just curious now that the racing bug has caught ya what your plan s are for the suspension? See that you have adopted the no limit philosophy a bit which is cool. Are you gonna drop member it ? Raise the rear rails? Hope your doing good in all life's adventures and Can t wait to see what's next!

Thanks man! I feel that I have hit the upper limit of the suspension already this year; I still have to install the taller balljoints and do the caster mod to the front. I really want to get a set of arms on the front and go coilovers all around but that will have to wait for a little while. I think I will be happy with the rear suspension when I can get my rear sway bar back on, I'm hoping to tackle that during lunch tomorrow.

I was able to get the truck on the dyno at work for some tuning and I'm very happy with the results. Baseline was 257 at the tires but running super rich. Our tuner changed the MAF tables from the LS1 to the OEM truck tables and picked up 18 wheel horsepower and after some time playing with the fuel tables, the final numbers were 281HP and 310 ftlbs. Not too bad for a junkyard NA 5.3!







And the video of the final pull. I need to figure out the smoking issue but I think the LS6 valley cover will help that out a little bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNUxMAkkeqI

Hoping to hit up and autocross this weekend for some more seat time!

[aggie91]

Not bad at all.

[Pinchecharlie]

Man that's great and you haven't even started with speed parts. If you watch ls1 tech forum classified you can score cams and lifters and throttle bodies pretty cheap/affordable. Of course there are rotating assemblies and all manor of parts to make you broke too. Maybe add a 100 horses with bolt ons? I hear ya about the coil overs and arms. Would be nice. The qa1 c10 stuff offers just the lower and the mounting stuff but I dunno if the gains would be there or not? But it's "affordable" compared to whole kits? Sad day when you think 2k is "a good price" lol. I did the caster drill hole in lower mount thing. At the time ididnt want to clearance the crossmember so I machined the new locate hole 5/8 from stock. After alignment I got 4° of caster. Iam no guru but that was with no headaches and they where off so a win I guess. Now I am looking at the front end apart again and thinking the fabricated arms look soooo much better. Who knows maybe we will win the Powerball and have all the goodies! Sure enjoyed watching you do your truck and have fun racing!