My 84 C/10 Progress Thread

[SulphurDave]

Not sure if this was mentioned already but I swapped everything over from my 72 Nova onto this truck like the motor / trans and one of the other things I wanna do is swap the rear end under the truck as well. The Nova obviously had leaf springs and a factory 10 bolt but then had a Ford 9" with a spool and racing axles modified to fit under there. So they had some leaf spring pads welded underneath to sit on top of the leaf springs on the Nova. Same situation on my truck. I wanna take that old 10 bolt out and set that Ford 9" on top of the leaf springs and bolt everything up just like the Nova including the traction bars. I measured and everything seems to be the exact on both. 42.5" from center of pad on the 9" to the center of pad on the other side and 42.5" to the center of the leaf springs on the truck. Or 45" from outer leaf spring edge to the other side. This in turn will also be considered a "flip kit" because I'm going from the axle under the leaf springs to on top. How much is this going to lower the rear of the truck 6"? If it's just like a flip kit swap then it should be around 6" then that tells me I should lower the front 4" right? 2" spindles and 2" coils?

Here's a pic of how it was on my Nova:

[Srubydo1986]

nice, What year nova? plus i like your on the bottom thats great.

[SulphurDave]

Originally Posted by Srubydo1986

nice, What year nova? plus i like your on the bottom thats great.

I'm not too sure how I wanna respond to this?!? Did you even read what I put? And what's the comment about how you like how I am on the bottom? You gay?

[slugish]

your truck makes me proud that I HAVE A 84 SWB THAT Iinherited from my dad like you . Im sorry your dad passed at such an early age. Mine was 80 yrs old when he passed away with cancer in 2002 . Im 60 yrs old (a little bit older than you , ha) but to see atruck like yours , keeps me going in fixing mine up . your ride is awesome , dont ever let the 67-72 crowd tell youany different. Personally the 67-72 era trucks are the most sought after & bring the most money, but yours with the old school styling & a little new school is a great blend . Iwill post some pictures of mine if IEVER FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT . Imnot too computer literate, but I WILL GET ONE OF MY SONS (Ihave 3) to help me . My oldest is really in to imports , but thats cool , I m into it all & he appreciates old school stuff.

[Srubydo1986]

lol na not gay no i mean "I spend money I don't have, on things I don't need, to impress people I don't know", I found it true and funny at the same time.

And the reason for the nova question is I have a 73 hatchback nova.

Guess i should have read it 3 times. Now i dont feel so smart but thats cool after reading it a 3rd time i see it says 72.

Sorry for being to damn stupid to read clearly. (o well)

[SulphurDave]

Originally Posted by Srubydo1986

lol na not gay no i mean "I spend money I don't have, on things I don't need, to impress people I don't know", I found it true and funny at the same time.

gotcha

[SulphurDave]

Nobody has any comments on my above post?

[fourty1]

....?.....,
I really like the Tribute color scheme,... way to go ..
-41-

[SulphurDave]

Is it true that they don't make Weld Draglites or Prostars for our trucks anymore? I'm gonna have a Ford pattern on the rear so I don't think I would have problems there. Except the fact that I want like a 12" wide wheel or whatever I can fit under there. The front I'm not sure how that's gonna work.

[knightlife]

holy crap bro! thats tight...wanna paint mine? lol

[garysouthlake]

Wow !! I love the paint scheme. You had the right 'vision' when you started on this one and it looks like it really paid off. Congratulations..........

[SulphurDave]

Originally Posted by garysouthlake

Wow !! I love the paint scheme. You had the right 'vision' when you started on this one and it looks like it really paid off. Congratulations..........

Yea I think I did good with keeping the original color on top because like I said this used to be my Dad's truck and everyone around town and his friends knew that old beat up work truck. That was the point because I wanted his friends to recognize the truck when I eventually get to drive it. I run a small business out of a shop on my property and yesterday a customer showed up that ended up being a guy that worked with my Dad and when he saw the truck and asked my last name he just put 2 & 2 together I guess and asked if that was my Dad's truck. That right there makes it all worth it.

[SulphurDave]

Here's another heart warming story for those interested...

About 5 years ago I made my Dad a license plate to put on the front of his truck. Back then I had a semi quick car but my Dad would always brag about how his Camaro would smoke me lol. He didn't have one at the time but he was referring to one of a couple 69 Camaros he had before I was born. Well actually the one I'm talking about he had until I was about 5 years old because I have a few faint memories of riding in the passenger seat of it. Anyway, he never put the licenes plate on the truck because it looked too good and I guess he thought his truck didn't so he ended up putting it on a shelf in his shop. After I got the truck painted I went in his shop and took the plate and put it on the truck because that's where it was meant to go and that's just where it's gonna stay. Here's a picture of it. Now you can see another reason why I painted the top half of the truck beige so it would match the plate. The picture of the car is his actual car that he had and I had it digitally printed on vinyl. That picture is about 30 years old.

[Mr79C10]

Nice work!

[hiway]

Man that looks good! So your gonna flip it....with a full leaf pack, it should be about 6". And yes to the 2" coils and 2" spindles. Or you could do the lower control arms for 2". I've seen trucks with the narrower Nova/Camaro rears installed. Most box the frame oposite the hangers and then swap the spring/hanger setup from side to side. (right side goes to the left inside, left goes to the right inside) Double your inner fenders and your set for ProStreet.

[SulphurDave]

Scored me some seats out of a Suburban this weekend. I modified the seat brackets to fit. Not sure about the front inside bracket though. I'll have to see how everyone else is getting that one to fit right. I'm taking them this week to have them reupholstered in beige leather or vinyl or something, not sure yet.

[SulphurDave]

Updated pics from last weekend 5/27/07

Installed oil cooler, radiator & a couple of 14" electric fans


Installed carpet & ratchet shifter


Installed Ford 9" rear end, c-notched the frame, traction bars, welded shock mounts, installed driveshaft & fuel cell.

[Captkaos]

Originally Posted by SulphurDave

Not sure about the front inside bracket though. I'll have to see how everyone else is getting that one to fit right.

Did you get the mount off the floorboard that goes with the buckets?

[SulphurDave]

Originally Posted by Captkaos

Did you get the mount off the floorboard that goes with the buckets?

Oh I definitely seen them there when I pulled the seats but I'm sure they were welded to the floor of the cab. That would have been perfect though. I heated up the tabs on the back of the seat brackets and bent them up at a 45 to accomodate the factory holes so I'm only missing that one inside corner on both. Any suggestions other than that bracket on the floor of the Suburban?

[82c10]

Originally Posted by SulphurDave

Oh I definitely seen them there when I pulled the seats but I'm sure they were welded to the floor of the cab. That would have been perfect though. I heated up the tabs on the back of the seat brackets and bent them up at a 45 to accomodate the factory holes so I'm only missing that one inside corner on both. Any suggestions other than that bracket on the floor of the Suburban?

build it, there is a template on that one website

[Captkaos]

Originally Posted by SulphurDave

Oh I definitely seen them there when I pulled the seats but I'm sure they were welded to the floor of the cab. That would have been perfect though. I heated up the tabs on the back of the seat brackets and bent them up at a 45 to accomodate the factory holes so I'm only missing that one inside corner on both. Any suggestions other than that bracket on the floor of the Suburban?

The are definitely spot welded. But they are definitely the correct piece for the application. you could drilll out the spot welds and pry them off.

This is the link to the fullsize bracket template:
http://73-87.com/7387garage/interior...b_template.jpg

[boatpuller]

coming along good..............you get your rake figured out yet?

[SulphurDave]

Originally Posted by boatpuller

coming along good..............you get your rake figured out yet?

Not exactly. There's a lot of unanswered questions I have about the whole setup actually. I need to know what size tires to run to know many things like what will benefit my gear ratio, where will the height of the truck sit since I did the Ford 9" swap on top of the leaf springs (basically a flip kit)... things like that. Once I get the bed back on and measure backspacing to figure out how much rim/tire I can fit in the fender, I'm tempted to throw the rims/tires on to see where it sits in the rear to know exactly how low to go in the front. I already know I need to tub the rear fenders. The Ford rear end is 3.5" more narrow on each side than the 10 bolt that was in it totalling 7" more narrow. So I can fit a 12" wide wheel? 14"? I don't know yet. And I'm not exactly an expert at gear ratios either, like what RPM will the motor turn at what speed, etc. I'm thinking I need a 31" tall tire in the rear. I'm running a 411 gear with a TH350. I don't want to be turning a lot of RPMs at a 60-70 cruising speed. I'm guessing with a 31" tall tire and 411 gear at 70 mph it'll turn roughly 4k RPMs? Maybe somebody can help me out with that. The motor is built to rev easily to 8k. But then again that gear will allow the truck to haul some ass in 1st and 2nd gear

[SulphurDave]

I know the accuracy of where the wheels are compared to the ground is a little off in this pic because it's photoshopped but this is about where I want the truck to sit and the rake I want. Maybe a hair higher though.

[st1]

seems you been busy on that thing, keep posting the pics. looking good....