Creamsicle: My 70 K10 SWB is about to get sweeter

[derotoreut]

Since I was moving the fuel tank to the rear of the truck, I kicked around what type of fuel fill I wanted. I looked at everything from bed fill, to side fill, license plate, side marker, tail light, and on and on. I didn't want to make this too complicated so I opted for the bed fill. I didn't want to have to do a bunch of body work and repaint the bed, since my bed floor isn't the greatest to start with. So I decided to install a bed kit in order to mount the Boyds 2" fuel fill connection. Since I'm calling this my Creamsicle build, I wanted to add a special touch to the bed floor.

Installing the aluminum bed rails onto bed floor.


Laying down the bed floor.




Ready to install the stainless bed strips.


Just need to cut in and install fuel fill, then bolt everything down.

[derotoreut]

Worked on installing the Boyd's 2" bed floor fill kit https://fueltankparts.com/products/b...60b74118&_ss=r

First I drilled the hole in the bed directly above the Rick's tank filler connection (touched up around the hole where I drilled later).


Laid out the hole for the fill kit.


Used my hole saw to cut out the large hole, then drilled all mounting bolt holes.


Moved into position and attached connection line.


Finished product!

[First c10]

Hey Dan that bed set up is pretty nice looking.... where did you get it?
I like the decal!!!!

[derotoreut]

Originally Posted by First c10

Hey Dan that bed set up is pretty nice looking.... where did you get it?
I like the decal!!!!

I got the bed kit through Smokey Road Rod Shop. Frank and Rhonda are great people to work with. Check them out.

https://www.smokeyroadrodshop.com/

[derotoreut]

I'm going to try to route my AC and heater hose lines through the passenger side fresh air vent. In order to make the routing easier, I cut away some of the edge on the vent opening. This will give more room for the hoses. This vent will be closed off anyway due to the Vintage Air installation.

[C.I.Blazer]

Great project. I may have missed it, but what headers did you end up using to replace the Doug Thorley's?

[derotoreut]

The headers I'm using are Speed Engineering model 25-1021. They are kind of a short-to-mid length header. I was considering their long tube headers, but their website specifically states they do not fit 4WD. I didn't want to chance it.

I fit up the headers and so far they look good. I'm happy with the choice because I'll have to custom fit the exhaust around the transfer case cross member anyway. If I went with long tubes, I believe they would have come down lower and pointed directly at the cross member and it may have been more difficult to pipe around.

https://www.speed-engineering.com/fe...c10-truck.html

[C.I.Blazer]

Looks like a lot of people have had luck with these on their 4WD swaps. I am going to order a set and give them a try. Thanks for the help! Keep up the great work.

[derotoreut]

Since I'm going with a 4L60E transmission and column shift, I had to modify a high hump for my transfer case shifter only. Found a good high hump and cleaned it up and painted it. Then marked out for my transfer case shifter arm and made the cut.

[derotoreut]

I am planning to mount my PCM under the passenger seat. The seat will be used with a set of Blazer seat tilt brackets. I drilled a hole and put a grommet in the area where the center console hump meets the floor pan. You can see I'm using rivet nuts to mount my console. I used them for my bucket seat mounts too, in the areas where I didn't have the stock mounting nuts.

[derotoreut]

More updates: Worked on installing my Quiet Ride Solutions, AcoustiShield Thermal Acoustic Insulation Kit. https://www.quietride.com/

The Kit includes Dynamat strips to stop body panel vibration and HeatShield to trap the sound and insulate the interior. I also bought their Street Rod series Firewall insulator.

Installed the cowl thermal and acoustic shield. You can see original truck color above the hump area.


Installed the Dynamat strips on the floor.


Getting started with installing the acoustishield on the floor.


The kit instructions called for the hump to be installed and then shield wrapped over the hump and floor. I decided to wrap the high hump separately... Just in case.


Dynamat strips on the back wall.

[derotoreut]

More:

High hump wrapped separately from the floor.


Back wall done.


Front done.

[derotoreut]

My new carpet was delivered. I also ordered about a yard of the same carpet for the back wall. I laid it out flat for a few days, then put it in the truck for a few more. My plan for the back wall is to use a piece of thin fiberboard and some contact adhesive. I will make some type of custom fit piece.

[DWilbur]

Your installation of the insulation look good was it difficult to get the stuff to lay down and fit the curves of the floor.

[derotoreut]

Originally Posted by DWilbur

Your installation of the insulation look good was it difficult to get the stuff to lay down and fit the curves of the floor.

No it wasn't too bad. The Quiet Ride Solutions kit was pre-cut, but does require some trimming. I found that the best way to accomplish this was to lay out all pieces first, and trim as needed. I pushed down on the higher spots, like seat ribs and where the floor drops off near the doors. I actually cut slits in the insulation, and trimmed some away, so it would lay better. All edges get sealed with aluminum tape, so there's no harm in making cuts. You can also fill in gaps and tape over as need be. I found it was easier to work with it by cutting some of the pieces into smaller sections. I used a marker pen to outline where pieces would lay on the floor. Adhesive spray gets applied to both surfaces. Once the adhesive dries, you then lay down the insulation. It is extremely sticky upon contact so you only have one shot at laying it down properly. Once this stuff is down there is no going back. It would be very difficult to remove this from a floor once its installed.

[derotoreut]

I wanted to convert my power steering lines over to -6AN. The low pressure line on the power steering pump had a hose stop that was fairly close to the end of the tubing, so I decided to cut the line back past the elbow. I've seen guys use aluminum adapter fittings with brass or aluminum ferrules for this type of tube. Those might be good on soft fuel line tubing, but not on steel tubing IMO. I decided to spend a bit more and buy a stainless steel fitting with SS ferrule. I don't want to experience a failure on my PS pump. I'm also planning to use power steering hose and fittings and NOT the PTFE type hose/fittings. Don't get me wrong, many guys have used them, but again I don't want to chance a pressure spike and having these blow. Again this is only my opinion.

Low pressure line with hose stop.


I cut the tube back behind the elbow.




This is the Titan SS tubing fitting I bought to adapt from 3/8" tube to -6AN.


Tubing fitting now installed.

[Bigdually]

That, and your whole truck for that matter, looks great! I use those stainless Swagelok type fittings at work all the time on high pressure natural gas signal lines at up to 1600 psi. They're rated for much more, you'll definitely be on the safe side with your setup.

[derotoreut]

Originally Posted by Bigdually

That, and your whole truck for that matter, looks great! I use those stainless Swagelok type fittings at work all the time on high pressure natural gas signal lines at up to 1600 psi. They're rated for much more, you'll definitely be on the safe side with your setup.

Thank you for the compliments. Yes we use a lot of Swagelok fittings on the industrial compressor packages we buy. Did you realize that there is actually a Go/No Go gauge for tightening up those fittings? Many of the guys in industry don't know that and they just tighten up them up to where they think is right and never check them with the gauge.

Here is the Go/No Go gauge in action.

[derotoreut]

Now that my acoustic & thermal insulation is down and my carpet rough fit, it was time to make a rear cab piece. I bought a 4'x8' piece of thin fiberboard from Home Depot for about $14. I cut it to the shape of the back cab wall. I then cut the bulk carpet to fit the same shape and glued it to the fiberboard using contact adhesive.

[derotoreut]

I needed to come up with a way to get the wall carpet to stay in place, so this is where I got creative, Lol. I used an old stainless tailgate protector cap that I had on my '71 C10. I cut it lengthwise, so when I tightened it in place, it would push against the carpet. I drilled holes in the same locations used to mount the original gas tank.

I cut the tailgate cap lengthwise to almost a 90-degree bend.


I bolted it in where the original fuel tank hold down bolts were.


Not too bad!!

[derotoreut]

I started to lay out some of the wiring. I wanted to get the PCM harness installed in the cab. I already drilled the hole in the floor and installed a grommet. Now I have to cut the carpet and feed all the harness wiring through it. The PCM and fuse/relay box will be under the passenger seat. I have a Blazer tilt bracket for that seat, so it will be easy access to the PCM and OBD port. I thought about running the OBD up under the carpet to a location under the dash somewhere, but I think I'll just leave it under the seat.

PCM harness and cab wiring harness.


Getting ready to route PCM harness.


PCM put in place and harness routing completed.


PCM pretty close to Blazer tilt bracket, but it should fit.


Test fit the seat and console in place.

[derotoreut]

More updates: I bought Lokar engine and transmission dipsticks. I'm a little concerned about the length of the engine dipstick. You can see in the pictures that the Lokar engine dipstick is quite a bit shorter then the stock 5.3L dipstick. I'm using the Pacific Fab/Tilden oil pan, which is different then the stock pan. According to folks at Pacific Fab/Tilden Motorsports this is the proper dipstick to use with their oil pan (and 6-quarts of oil). I'll have to confirm the length once I fill the engine with oil.

Lokar XTD-34L60EFM transmission dipstick for 4L60E


Lokar XED-5008 LS series engine dipstick


Comparing length of stock dipstick versus the Lokar

[derotoreut]

I finished installing my gas pedal and routing the throttle cable through the firewall insulation pad. The pedal was tough to install over the firewall insulation pad. I used Quiet Ride Solutions street rod firewall kit. The street rod kit is a firewall insulation pad made of ABS plastic with insulation on the back side of it. The street rod version has no holes cut in it. All holes have to be drilled by the user. They also make a stock pad that is pre-cut, but I didn't want that one.

I drilled the three matching mounting holes in ABS pad and had to really push on the firewall pad to try to get the pedal bolts started. The bolts didn't reach and I had to go with longer bolts. Even then I couldn't get the pedal to fit right. I ended up adding three 1/2" long nylon spacers to the back of the three pedal stand-offs. Making the pedal stick out a little and using longer bolts seemed to work. It'll push the pedal a bit toward the driver, but not that much. I was able to get the bolts through and started.

Gas pedal mounted through the street rod firewall pad


Street Rod Firewall Pad installed




I put in a grommet and cut down the sides of a SS button head screw to use as a throttle cable mount.

[derotoreut]

I routed some of my wiring through a grommet in the firewall insulation pad.



These are two studs welded to the firewall where I'll mount my Vintage Air evaporator.

[derotoreut]

I bought some rear speaker brackets from board member "Bigblock73". I bought the ones that were already cut for 6x9 speakers. I installed both brackets and drilled all holes. I also drilled holes for my speakers. I then removed and painted both brackets to match cab color.



I installed both brackets and speakers. I'm very happy in how they turned out.