1963 C-10 in NC

[TJ's Chevy]

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

thanks. your dads truck sounds like a real screamer. ill probably sell the polished covers currently on the engine

Wonder if they will fit the 496...Dad might be interested. Let me know if you do end up selling them and i'll talk to him. Gotta say I think they would look sweet on the 496! Thanks!

[TJ's Chevy]

Gotta say. 4th time I have read this build thread and it is still just to cool! Probably cause of the spare tire carrier! Probably cause I'm starting to drool over the look! HAHAHA!!!

[bj383ss]

Those Edelbrock Valve covers are to die for. I have never seen ones with Chevy on them. How cool. I wonder if they made ones like that for SBC.

Bret

[1963c-10]

bj383ss....I have seen them for the sbc also, but you have to find vintage covers, not the repops that edelbrock is currently making. Ill see if I can find a pic. I have also seen vintage Moroso and Mickey Thompson valve covers with either the bowtie or Chevrolet writing for both bbc & sbc

[TJ's Chevy]

Some awesome valve covers! the M/T valves covers I saw one on a inline 6. Think it was cut and fabricated though.

[1963c-10]

Got the auxiliary springs in. Went out to mock up last night. Good thing is the frame is predrilled for half the holes. So at least it can be mounted fairly easy. Hard part will be the trailing arm mounts. Ill post some pics tonight. Did get the new rubber bumpers installed in the brackets. The old bumpers were hard and very compressed....3/4" difference between the old bumpers and the new ones.

[TJ's Chevy]

Cool! nice progress! Look forward to pictures....

[1963c-10]

Temp went from 70* to 39* last night, so I just didn't get anything done outside. I did start the work on the valve covers. I love keeping a few inside jobs around for those foul weather days or days where I'd rather just stay in.

Started with a good scrub in hot soapy water to remove what dirt, oil & grease I could. Then went to the paint stripper since I know they have been painted prior. Which as I was cleaning off the stripper I found to be several layers of paint. Found 2 coats of silver, a coat of black and of coarse a coat of chevy orange. With them being 40+ years old, it didn't surprise me. After removing the stripper w/hot water and a medium brush, I went to cleaner and steel wool. Another rinse, and they are ready for the 2nd coat of stripper. Finally getting down to some good clean aluminum now. Will take at least one more coat of stripper if not two to get them removed of all the paint. Good news is that the castings are real nice and not very porous like a lot of cast aluminum covers. Looks like they will polish up nicely once I get to raw aluminum.

I plan to polish, then do the same color as the engine for the interior fin work. The bowtie I will detail out in the same color exterior red and do the lettering as polished. I expect probably another 10-15 hours to get them where I want them. About what I had in the 1st pair I did. This is a very time consuming project for those who have never done it before. Ive done several sets and you just have to be patient with the process. If the temps stay above 60* today, I may et another coat of stripper on tonight and be able to do some polishing tonight.

[1963c-10]

Ive got a collection of the "Chevrolets Accessories" tins and added a new one to the collection. I've only seen a few others in this color and script, I'm guessing late 50's early 60's. I see the GM fuse containers alot, but rarely the Chevy.

[1963c-10]

Spent what few hours I could going to the local car/truck show on Saturday. Only maybe 30 vehicles there. 1/2 of what it normally is.

Spent the other few hours I had completing the stripping on the covers. Sent the pass side cover to my Dads so he can mill out the breather opening. Did a quick polish on the driver side cover so I can see how my sanding is going and to look at the casting imperfections. Imperfections were minor, but fixable...so back to the sanding. I'll get some more done tonight and some pictures.

[1963c-10]

And of coarse my window regulator goes to crap w/the window down and its sprinkling out w/rain to follow. Options are to get the window up manually or swap out for my donar door which is complete and functioning.......fun fun fun.

[TJ's Chevy]

Sometimes I realize that I am lucky mine even has a window regulator!

[1963c-10]

Well, I got the window in the up position. I have a buddy coming over Wednesday to help swap the door out. I have a very nice rust free original to replace this one with. My current door needs complete lower replacement, and now with the regulator shot...door swap is in order.

I've always removed the hinges w/the door, but may give it a shot with leaving the hinges in place and just swapping the door to see how close it is on alignment.

[1963c-10]

Got the donar swapped in today from the 61. Two hours from start to finish. Alignment looks great and opening/closing better than ever. Will get some pics up later.

[1963c-10]

Also got the NPT - AN fitting for the water pump & intake so I can start making the heater hoses for the big block. Got the engine fittings installed, so hose fab tonight then back in the box until install.

[1963c-10]

Also have been working on the driver side valce cover for the big block. The pass side is at my dads machine shop having the brather port milled out. Have around 4-5 hours so far just in the driver side. About done with the block sanding, so polishing wont be far off the paint and polish again. I figure 15 hours per cover to get them where I want them to be. But I knew polishing sand cast covers that are 40+ years old was going to be intensive. They are looking good though.

[1963c-10]

A few pics of the door. Could still go about 1/16 to the left on the bottom and 1/32 in on the top of the pass side. But sealed up tight and opens/locks with ease. Also I need to take 1 shim out of the top left fender extension. But other than that it was pretty painless.

[1963c-10]

Last pic of the door install

[1963c-10]

Heres the progress on the valve cover. Still have some finish sanding left to do. But a long way from starting with 4 coats of paint.

[TJ's Chevy]

Looking good! Keep it up!

[C@rnut001]

I love your plans for your truck. It will be great with the big block. Good luck on getting it together. Thanks for all of the great pictures and updates that you continually do for us as well. Your attention to detail is amazing as well, keep it up!

[1963c-10]

Thank you C@rnut001....I appreciate it. Im glad that others can enjoy the pics and maybe get some help on the long hours of parts searching.

[1963c-10]

Paint stripper x4 coats, 150, 220, 400, 500, 600, 800....im down to 1000 & 1200 grit then a lot of polishing on the 1st cover.

[1963c-10]

Finally to the point where i can quit sanding. I think for cast aluminum they came out pretty good. There are some casting flaws that will be there, but nothing big or bad and lets face it, they are 40+ years old and i still want some of the scars there. I'll put it on the buffing wheel this weekend and see what I can get to shine. The paint and back on the wheel again.

The bowtie and script took alot of work to get all the little nooks cleaned out. I plan to detail the script, background and bowtie seperate. Will end up doing most of this by hand due to the size.

PO chipped the pcv hole a bit, but with a new gasket test fit after filing the burrs off the opening, its barely noticeable. Other option is to use this post as the breather and place the pcv on the passenger side.

[TJ's Chevy]

Can't wait to see how they turn out!