Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

[VA72C10]

Keep at it....getting closer!!!

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Keep at it....getting closer!!!

Baby steps right? My wife told me last night I have OCD. Obsessive Chevy Disorder. There is no known treatment at this time, so please send donations to the HGs_Notes OCD Therapy Institute and Research Center (my garage).

[Dieselwrencher]

I'd love to help ya, but I can't keep my own charitable donations a float. By the way I'll be in Owatonna tomorrow. Is that anywhere near you?

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

I'd love to help ya, but I can't keep my own charitable donations a float. By the way I'll be in Owatonna tomorrow. Is that anywhere near you?

If you can't send cash, send parts! I'm about 80 miles due west of Owatonna on hwy 14.

Really struggling to tune this thing up. I double checked everything on the timing marks, pulled a spark plug and turned the engine near tdc and I could feel the piston move at just the right spot, then pulled the valve cover and checked the valve motion. That was all good. Borrowed a vac pump and checked the vac advance on the dizzy, test sat. When I had the dizzy cap off I figured I would install the new adjustable vac advance and springs so I pulled the rotor off and noticed the end of the electrode part was bent badly. No idea how it would have happened, but I put a new one on. Then while moving the plug wires around a couple of the ends came off the cap, so I swapped in another cap also. I put it all back together and fired it up. Eventually I got it to idle long enough to set the initial timing, but it still backfires and pops waaaayyyy too much and doesn't have consistant idle. I think tomorrow I'll hook up the vacuum gage and see what that says. It only has a couple vac lines and they are all pretty much new, but maybe I have a valve or 2 turned too tight.

After that continued frustration I thought I better get something done so I could feel better about my progress. I looked my tail light harness over and decided it wasn't worth the work to fix it. The one in the Jimmy has a few splices, but why pull that out. I have my 2wd blazer project sitting in a friends weeds, so I drove out to check that one. The lights all looked like hell, the insides even had black overspray on them, but the harness was great. It actually looks like a more recent replacement judging by the tape tage that were still on it. So I pulled that and put it on the truck. Decided to use some small carriage bolts (actually left overs from the bed) to hold the splash pans on. I had a UPS box on the step this morning with bumper bolts, so I was able to get that on. Also found my glove box button/latch in my tool bag today, which was nice.So other than exhaust pipes, light assemblies and the license plate holder and tightening a few bolts, the back half is almost done.

The UPS box also had new center caps and lug nuts. I have a lot of sanding and polishing to do yet before I put them on. Maybe I'll put my new steering wheel on tomorrow too.

I really feel like once it's tuned and running good that I'll have finally turned the corner and will be in the home stretch. Right now that's really bothering me.

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Keep at it....getting closer!!!

You'll get it figured out....We have faith in you....

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Sheesh, alright already...nag, nag, nag


New valve covers


This should look better

[67cheby]

NICE..looks great

[VA72C10]

Looking good!!! Thanks for the pix fix

[hgs_notes]

Today I got the new steering wheel on, which should have been a piece of cake, but wasn't. I had the grant install kit, but the instructions are a generic one not specific to anything. The parts didn't really fit my tilt column and a few mods needed to be done. First, the horn kit was wrong and instructions no help at all. I eventually figured it out and used a grinder to reduce the size of the little wire that goes into the sprung horn button thing under the wheel. Then the horn button itself was just not going to work right with the parts from the kit. I had to use washers as spacers for the screws that hold the fiber disk the horn button attaches to so it would allow the horn button to both be on the wheel and actually move in and out. I also had to cut the horn button spring down because it had too much pressure for the button to stay on the wheel. Probably spent 3 hours on the steering wheel. The grant install kit was a joke.

Then I worked on the rear wheels. After a lot of reading I decided to try acid cleaning the wheels. I got some muiatic acid and dilouted it about 8:1, but that did almost nothing. Went to a 50/50 mix which worked well. Maybe too well. There are some real small pits in the metal that need to be sanded out. The cast areas really cleaned up though, and the pitting isn't any worse than the oxidation that was already there. So I went to a 4:1 ratio next and that worked pretty good.

I used simple green to do the initial cleaning. Followed up with a stiff plastic floor scrub brush. Then used a brass wire brush on the cast areas, and sprayed some acid on. Let it work for a few minutes and hose it off. Next I'll sand the machined areas smooth and then polish that with mothers mini ball and polish compound. Should bring the wheels back to a near new finish, maybe even better. It's a lot of sanding though. I might need to see about using some tool to help out.

Pics...


Wheel just after washing


The one I've been experimenting on, it gets better all the time...


The other rear wheel after acid cleaning.


You can see the pitting in the finish of the machined areas which is just where the oxidation was. That will all sand out and get polished. My old school wheels should be good for a while anyway.

[mcbassin]

Nice work on the wheels. You are making a lot of progress on this project. You'll be driving this pup in no time

[VA72C10]

Steering wheel looks good and wheels looking better and better. What about taping the polished parts and spraying the darker rally color (name escapes me now) or possibly body color? Might be a way to make the wheels really pop w/out much $$$ or new wheels

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Nice work on the wheels. You are making a lot of progress on this project. You'll be driving this pup in no time

Thanks. That's the plan.

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Steering wheel looks good and wheels looking better and better. What about taping the polished parts and spraying the darker rally color (name escapes me now) or possibly body color? Might be a way to make the wheels really pop w/out much $$$ or new wheels

Thought about that. One of my body guys stopped by yesterday and we talked about that. He said they used to do it all the time and I would be better off doing as much as I can to clean them up rather than go that route. The muriatic acid was his suggestion. Once they are cleaned up real good I'll use a sealer product that should keep them nice, or at least easier to clean later.

How many people can say they have 25 year old aluminum wheels on their ride? All those nice shiny new wheels out there will see their share of road grime, brake dust, salt, hard water and aggressive soaps at car washes, peeling clear coat, etc. and will need serious recovery efforts some time down the road. I'm just there now and hopefully my efforts will help someone else out like some of the threads on this board and elsewhere have helped me.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php?p=3373377
http://www.englishcustompolishing.co...aluminum1.html

[hgs_notes]

I was nervous about sanding on my wheels and not convinced I'd be happy with the results. I'm happy to say it'll turn out alright or maybe even better than that. Started with another cleaning, then started with some 320 grit paper, dry. I wanted to find some kind of detail sander that would speed things along, and even tried making my own. It wasn't a complete failure, but didn't work as well as I had hoped.

Anyway, this is after the 320...


Then I wet sanded with 400...


Then again with 600, followed by 1000 grit...


Then used 1500 grit...



Then finally used a mothers mini ball with mothers mag polish...



This was after just a few minutes and I ran out of polish. So I'll go over it again and then I have some mothers aluminum sealer that will go on last. I am real happy with the results. WARNING!! This took almost 4 hours, not including the time acid washing. The worst part is the initial 320 to remove the machine grooves. After that it goes pretty quick.

[VA72C10]

AWESOME! Nice work! I know how time consuming that can be. Polished a machined radio back plate and it took me almost 3 hours...

[Palf70Step]

Very nice and I am sure very nerve racking during the process. I always have to catch myself from trying to rush it.

[72C20RestoMod]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Post #700. Wow.

So I was trying to set the fuel pressure as instructed and it wasn't working. The adjuster was out but the pressure was way to high. So for a temporary fix I hooked up my other holley pressure regulator and set that. The engine runs, but I can't get the timing right. I think my damper timing mark is wrong and I plan on testing that theory tomorrow. When the distributor was turned to where it run ok the timing mark was around the 10 o'clock position, at idle. When I tried to retard the timing it would just stall and would barely turn over, like it was fighting the ignition. Until I know the ignition timing is close it hardly pays to try and adjust the rest of it. So I'm a little disappointed, but I'll figure it out. I have to check my fuel return line also to make sure it's flowing freely back to the tank. That could be the cause of the high pressure on the inlet side. I hope all this troubleshooting is worth it in the end. I just want it to be reliable and consistant. Heres a couple pics. One showing my regulator set up (getting a 0-30# gage soon, runs at 15 psi) and the other showing the new wire loom.

What set of spark plug wires do you have?

[hgs_notes]

Just a summit set. They were fine with my old wire looms, but with this style I need a few inches longer or maybe one of those fancy caps that have the wires for one side of the block off that side of the cap.

[mcbassin]

The wheels look great! I know that took some elbow grease and time.
Nice!

[hgs_notes]

Some of my new parts showed up and I got a little time to install some tonight. I started with the new door handles. The holes in the door skins needed to be filed a bit for the bolts to work. Thats not a scratch by the lock, just a reflexion of the handle from the flash.


Got the glove box door latch on finally. Got tired of it dropping open all the time.


Went through the stack of gage clusters I had and picked the one that had the orangest needles and seemed to be in good shape. Once I had it apart I cleaned it up a little and found it was an 80 psi oil press gage, which was nice. The new lense is for a vac/tach cluster which I plan to upgrade to. Standard black and chrome bezel. Ran out of time to get it installed, but it won't be long.


Another upgrade was the pair of 12" fans for the radiator. I might try and make a good sheetmetal mount or maybe just some small square tubing or angles. Haven't decided yet.

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Some of my new parts showed up and I got a little time to install some tonight. I started with the new door handles. The holes in the door skins needed to be filed a bit for the bolts to work. Thats not a scratch by the lock, just a reflexion of the handle from the flash.


Got the glove box door latch on finally. Got tired of it dropping open all the time.


Went through the stack of gage clusters I had and picked the one that had the orangest needles and seemed to be in good shape. Once I had it apart I cleaned it up a little and found it was an 80 psi oil press gage, which was nice. The new lense is for a vac/tach cluster which I plan to upgrade to. Standard black and chrome bezel. Ran out of time to get it installed, but it won't be long.


Another upgrade was the pair of 12" fans for the radiator. I might try and make a good sheetmetal mount or maybe just some small square tubing or angles. Haven't decided yet.

Oh man, im RIGHT THERE with you. My handles came back from the powdercoater and one of them didnt come out well so i had to order a new one. I also was installing my grill and have to repaint that, going to powdercoat it.

WE are neck and neck.

Idea on the fans. You could put them on the front of the radiator with those holddowns that go through the radiator. You wouldnt have to make a mount and it would look just as clean. Just a thought...

Keep up the good work man. This sept. is my 4 year anniversary on workin on the truck. Funny i could of had it finished in a year, but i NEVER worked on it.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by lyrikz

Oh man, im RIGHT THERE with you. My handles came back from the powdercoater and one of them didnt come out well so i had to order a new one. I also was installing my grill and have to repaint that, going to powdercoat it.

WE are neck and neck.

Idea on the fans. You could put them on the front of the radiator with those holddowns that go through the radiator. You wouldnt have to make a mount and it would look just as clean. Just a thought...

Keep up the good work man. This sept. is my 4 year anniversary on workin on the truck. Funny i could of had it finished in a year, but i NEVER worked on it.

I might go that way with the fans. I'm pretty sure they are reversable. You actually thought it could be done in a year? So did you quit taking crack cold turkey or was it a 4 year weening? j/k I think my build could have gone faster if I hadn't tore a biceps tendon, but not much. It's a lot of work.

Only one picture today, but it was plenty of work. And I found a few more problems in the process. I may end up just replacing the column. I tried to do a rebuild, which basically meant just taking it apart, cleaning and rattle can paint. The wire harness was spliced, the plastic where the blinker handle attaches has a new crack, the shifter is a bit loose, and it needs repainted. It'll do for now but I'll probably look for something better and sell this one.

I got the light and wiper switches in, re-routed the oil pressure line and got it through the firewall grommet, found the knobs and screws, etc for the cluster and got it mounted. It looks good, but I haven't tested anything yet. Planning on the vac/tach upgrade in the future, maybe LED's also. I think everything is hooked up except the speedo.


Found the screws for the door mirror and got it mounted. Found the little rubber stops for the glove box and put those in. Found my door locks, one is kinda dinged up and the key doesn't match, so I left them out for now. I'll have to contact lock doc about getting a matched set to the ignition. And I found the door lock knobs and put those in. A little more polishing on the one wheel I have and I'll mount that up and start sanding the next one.

One more puzzle to figure out was found while bolting the bed down to the frame. I could only reach 6 out of 8 bolts. The ones that are by the gas tank I can't reach and not sure how I'm going to get those in. My arms are to big to fit between the frame and bed, or between the tank and frame. I might have to cut an access hole in the side of the frame to get a wrench in there from outside the frame rail.

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

I might go that way with the fans. I'm pretty sure they are reversable. You actually thought it could be done in a year? So did you quit taking crack cold turkey or was it a 4 year weening? j/k I think my build could have gone faster if I hadn't tore a biceps tendon, but not much. It's a lot of work.

Only one picture today, but it was plenty of work. And I found a few more problems in the process. I may end up just replacing the column. I tried to do a rebuild, which basically meant just taking it apart, cleaning and rattle can paint. The wire harness was spliced, the plastic where the blinker handle attaches has a new crack, the shifter is a bit loose, and it needs repainted. It'll do for now but I'll probably look for something better and sell this one.

I got the light and wiper switches in, re-routed the oil pressure line and got it through the firewall grommet, found the knobs and screws, etc for the cluster and got it mounted. It looks good, but I haven't tested anything yet. Planning on the vac/tach upgrade in the future, maybe LED's also. I think everything is hooked up except the speedo.


Found the screws for the door mirror and got it mounted. Found the little rubber stops for the glove box and put those in. Found my door locks, one is kinda dinged up and the key doesn't match, so I left them out for now. I'll have to contact lock doc about getting a matched set to the ignition. And I found the door lock knobs and put those in. A little more polishing on the one wheel I have and I'll mount that up and start sanding the next one.

One more puzzle to figure out was found while bolting the bed down to the frame. I could only reach 6 out of 8 bolts. The ones that are by the gas tank I can't reach and not sure how I'm going to get those in. My arms are to big to fit between the frame and bed, or between the tank and frame. I might have to cut an access hole in the side of the frame to get a wrench in there from outside the frame rail.

ahaha. Yes, crack cold turkey. lol

Well, i worked on it like once a week, once every two weeks. Sometimes i would go a month without doing anything. sometimes more. So a year seemed about right. oh well.

Hey, some tips and a quick note. Your going to have to remove your cluster to put your dash pad in. ahaha I just did this.. You can get it in, but its kind of a ***** to do it.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by lyrikz

Your going to have to remove your cluster to put your dash pad in. ahaha I just did this.. You can get it in, but its kind of a ***** to do it.

Yep, I knew that. My pad will need to be recovered and the cluster will probably go in and out more than once in the next few months. I wanted it in for 2 main reasons. 1st I just wanted to see it. 2nd is that it's much safer in there than anywhere else in my garage. I did sell an engine today which made more space, but I need to get a bunch of other things listed and gone. I have most of a 2wd blazer that I think I'll be parting out.

[litew8]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

How many people can say they have 25 year old aluminum wheels on their ride?

Mine are 20 years old.
Performance brand from Australia I think.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by litew8

Mine are 20 years old.
Performance brand from Australia I think.

I kinda like those. Looks like they could use some of the same work I'm doing to mine.

I didn't do much with the truck today. Finished buffing up the one wheel and got it mounted. I'll probably work on a front wheel next so it looks good from one side. I put some clamps on the exhaust to hold it together for now. I plan on welding it later, but may have to tweak some tubing for fit better than it is now.

Still trying to figure out the tuning. It's been too rich and backfiring, so today I turned the idle setting all the way down and turned the choke down about half. It would start great, then die. Over and over. But less back firing and sounded more normal. I think tomorrow I'm going to turn the main and other settings down also. I think it's kinda flooding it as is. I could keep it running by pumping the pedal or revving it, but it would die a couple seconds after I stopped that. Crossing my fingers for better results this weekend. Once it's running normal and consistant I'll add the closed loop O2 sensor to the exhaust and it will fine tune itself after that. I still need to make sure the fuel return line is working also.

And yet another pic of a wheel, but hey this one is mounted and has a nice shiny cap and lug nuts...


Note to self,
grill and bumper, clean and buff
check diff fluid level
vent windows
door glass, felts and chanels
temp gage sensor
heater controls
heater box
fat mat
seat bolting plates
hook up e-brake cable
speedo cable
wire tie wiring on frame
battery hold down clamps
headlight buckets, clean and paint, adjusters?
seat belts
tailgate letters
rearview mirror and visors
door panel upper trim and panel screws (need to order)
Cowl screws
kick panel vents, paint and mount
rear window and windshield
wiper/washer test (will probably need new pump)
horn
inner fenders (need new nuts, paint bolts)
fusible link in wire harness for gage
gas gage reads high
manual throttle