Project Goldilocks, '66 C10 SWB BBW Build

[redneck6]

there is a company called usa 6x6 that make wheel centers for hummvee rims , and a few others like great lakes offroad or such , may give them a call and see what they can do for you . some are pressed centers and some a cut centers i would look in to pressed if it was me .

[padresag]

Originally Posted by redneck6

there is a company called usa 6x6 that make wheel centers for hummvee rims , and a few others like great lakes offroad or such , may give them a call and see what they can do for you . some are pressed centers and some a cut centers i would look in to pressed if it was me .

I think that he went out of business a few years back. I think that a few didn't get their product that they had paid for
ron

[66redw/white]

i dont know the exact measurements but wasnt it on the cab and chassy trucks that the rear end was more narrow? narrow enough to fit dually wheels under a fleet side bed. probably alittle overkill but hey if you could find one cheap that might be the way to go

[theastronaut]

The centers I have will work, its just that the drop center of the rims are so close to the edge that they have either too much or too little backspacing. Just gotta find a couple 18" rims with the drop center closer to the center of the rim. I've asked around and found a local guy that can respline my axles so I'll use the rims I have for the rear an narrow the axle to match. I'm kinda diggin the deep lip look for the rear.
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[66redw/white]

i think that the wheels you have might work if you roll the inner lip. that sucker is huge! its at least an inch. maybe even inch and a quarter

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by 66redw/white

i think that the wheels you have might work if you roll the inner lip. that sucker is huge! its at least an inch. maybe even inch and a quarter

I'm going to look into that, will be taking some measurements of the rear axle, and the inside of the bed between the wheel openings tomorrow. Still not sure that I want to alter the sheetmetal though...
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[theastronaut]

Just compared one of the stock wheels with the one I flipped and there's 3.5 inches less backspacing. So going by 66redw/white's photo, they won't fit without narrowing the rear end. Add in some sidewall buldge, and I'll have to narrow it atleast two or two and a half inches per side.

[theastronaut]

Just laid the bed wood out and found that the outer boards aren't wide enough. Whoever made them grooved both sides just like an inner board. I'll have to get more cut to fit under the inner bedsides. Otherwise, they look good and measure out fine, other than being about an 1/8" too long (going by classicheartbeat.com's measurements). Better than being too short though!

I've decided to paint the wood low gloss black like I did with the '65. Even after taking more time to prep the wood better, and adding coat after coat of stain, I couldn't get it as dark as I wanted it. And once I got the wood laid out today, I'm not that crazy about the grain pattern anyways. Painting it black will look more original, and I've had to remind myself that I'm leaving the truck as stock/original as possible, other than lowering it.




Had an extra cross mount to check the fit of the wood strips with. Looks about right.




The outer planks with the both ends milled for wear strips.

[theastronaut]

Just got the first piece sanded and primed.

Pretty straight but has some grooves from when it was planed.




Guide coated and ready to block.




Used my air long board and 80 grit paper.




Blocked til the guide coat was gone and sanded smooth with 120 grit on a 6" DA. Turned out pretty straight.




Primed with one wet coat of Benjamin Moore's Fresh Start Latex primer, thinned with water to soak in and raise the grain better. I'll let this dry and lightly knock the top down with 120 grit and reprime it.

[XtechX]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

Just laid the bed wood out and found that the outer boards aren't wide enough. Whoever made them grooved both sides just like an inner board. I'll have to get more cut to fit under the inner bedsides. Otherwise, they look good and measure out fine, other than being about an 1/8" too long (going by classicheartbeat.com's measurements). Better than being too short though!

I've decided to paint the wood low gloss black like I did with the '65. Even after taking more time to prep the wood better, and adding coat after coat of stain, I couldn't get it as dark as I wanted it. And once I got the wood laid out today, I'm not that crazy about the grain pattern anyways. Painting it black will look more original, and I've had to remind myself that I'm leaving the truck as stock/original as possible, other than lowering it.




Had an extra cross mount to check the fit of the wood strips with. Looks about right.



The outer planks with the both ends milled for wear strips.

I am getting ready to make my own bed wood and I was looking at pics of yours. I can't be totally sure, but it looks like you didn't dado bed strip grooves in your wood. Will that be enough to hold the wood where it's suppose to be? If so, that will make my wood working alot easier, all I have to do is router the shelf in the edges of the planks, right? I also must say that the black wood in your other truck looks awsome!!! I'm still torn between the everyday cleared oak or the stock but different than most black.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by XtechX

I am getting ready to make my own bed wood and I was looking at pics of yours. I can't be totally sure, but it looks like you didn't dado bed strip grooves in your wood. Will that be enough to hold the wood where it's suppose to be? If so, that will make my wood working alot easier, all I have to do is router the shelf in the edges of the planks, right? I also must say that the black wood in your other truck looks awsome!!! I'm still torn between the everyday cleared oak or the stock but different than most black.

It doesn't have the step on the edge like it should have. I'll post back about how well the strips fit up when I test fit everthing. I'm sure it will work, might take a little more work to line everything up before the bolts are tightened down though. The correct extra grooves let the edge of the wear strips drop down and lock in place.
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[72BlckButy]

Lookin' good!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by 72BlckButy

Lookin' good!

Thanks!!

Got the primed plank sanded yesterday, forgot to post pics. Even with thinning the primer out with water, the grain didn't raise any. So there probably won't be any grain showing through the paint like there was with the blue '65.








The wood for the '65 was oak and had alot rougher grain. I primed it and sanded it with 80 grit to get it fairly smooth, then sprayed more primer on it and lightly sanded it just enough to get it ready to spray. You can see the difference in texture pretty well between the two pics.

[theastronaut]

Came across this pic today, guess I'm not the first to have the idea of using moon disc over just the wheel centers to make a smoothie wheel. Mine will have more lip sticking out though, especially on the rear wheels.

(Edit, can't find the pic to add back here.)

[Vernski]

Very nice work Astro I'm subscribed....Vernski

[csa daddy]

what grit paper was you using to sand the wood before you stained it. if you get the wood to slick the stain will stand on to of the wood an wont penetrate. if thats the case you need the boards to be a little ruffer dont sand with anything over 120 before staining the wood.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by Vernski

Very nice work Astro I'm subscribed....Vernski

Thanks Vernski!!

Originally Posted by csa daddy

what grit paper was you using to sand the wood before you stained it. if you get the wood to slick the stain will stand on to of the wood an wont penetrate. if thats the case you need the boards to be a little ruffer dont sand with anything over 120 before staining the wood.

I used 150 grit, after about 6 coats of stain the pores of the wood were full and adding more coats had no effect. Like I said, I don't know anything about working with wood. I'm going to go ahead and paint it black instead since thats more original anyways. Looking foward to meeting you!
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[theastronaut]

I got the rest of the boards primed. I'll mock up the strips to mark where to drill the perimeter bolts and the where to cut the fenderwell openings. I also figured out a way to use the four outer short boards I've got. Dad had some leftover wood from one of his projects that's the same thickness as the groove's depth so I used exterior wood glue to bond them in the unneeded groove. I'm hoping the seam will be hidden by the bed lip but if it isn't I can use some wood filler and sand it smooth before I prime and paint them.











I'll be buying the rear bags for it in the next couple weeks; pretty much decided to use Airlift D2600 bags on it. They're rated at 600 psi so I'll be able to add more air and actually use it as a truck if I want to haul or tow something. That was my biggest problem with 5" or jeep springs, everybody says they're soft and won't carry any extra load.

Thinking hard about staying home from one of the bigger VW shows in the southeast this weekend to work on getting the C notches and frame braces in place... the VW club guys are gunna think I've lost my mind but I'm getting tired of the extremely low quality of most VW parts and the general cheapskate mentality of the VW enthusiast that's killed the hobby for guys that are willing to pay for good quality parts. Even at the bigger shows, there's usually only about 10 cars that are really done well. The rest are thrown together as cheap as possible, and aren't worth spending my time to go look at them. The biggest reason I've been going is for the swaps to find good original VW parts. I might go and wait til I have the bags to do the whole rear end at once though...

[csa daddy]

i got a set of firestone bags if ya interested. an yes i cant wait to meet up. i know my oldest daughter is going to flip over your bug she really likes them.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by csa daddy

i got a set of firestone bags if ya interested. an yes i cant wait to meet up. i know my oldest daughter is going to flip over your bug she really likes them.

I've found a kit I'm going to use, four Airlift D2600 bags and mounting plates/cups. Appreciate the offer though.

'Nuther update on the project. I sold the crate engine that came with the truck, turned out to be a 260 horse instead of the 290hp I thought it was, so I didn't get as much out of it as I thought I would. Still though, selling it freed up some cash to buy a bag kit and a possibly long term-temporary engine to get it going. Dad told me about a guy that came across an original 1966 250 inline 6 and three speed and was wanting to get rid of it. Supposedly ran great when pulled, only had about 60k miles on it. Called him today and made a deal; he's going to deliver it tomorrow for a grand total of -wait for it- $125 bucks!! I'll leave it stock for now just to get the truck going, and swap in a Vortec 4200 out of a Trailblazer later on. I tried to track down the original matching numbers engine out of the truck, but it's been sold a couple times since the guy I got it from had it. Also picked up the original rear axle for the truck yesterday so I'll have an extra one to narrow to fit the wheels I'm making.

I wish I had some work done to show, but atleast I'm getting the parts in place to get it back together.

[slammed427]

I'm gonna tag along on this one. I want to do one of these after I'm done with my squares, or maybe start on it before I'm done with my squares.

Oh and I dunno if I missed it or not, but the Dodge 20x8 steelies are 1: A serious PITA to find, and 2: are 5x5.5. I've talked to Stockton Wheel, and they said it was best to run adaptors on them, they didn't have any interest in swapping out the bolt circle.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by slammed427

I'm gonna tag along on this one. I want to do one of these after I'm done with my squares, or maybe start on it before I'm done with my squares.

Oh and I dunno if I missed it or not, but the Dodge 20x8 steelies are 1: A serious PITA to find, and 2: are 5x5.5. I've talked to Stockton Wheel, and they said it was best to run adaptors on them, they didn't have any interest in swapping out the bolt circle.

You'll definitly love a 60-66 truck! Start a build thread if you get one!

If the Dodge 20's offset is anything like the Titan steelies I have, there's going to be way too much backspacing, so adapters wouldn't be a bad idea to get the wheels spaced out some.

Nissan Murano's have an 18x4" steel spare wheel, not sure of the bolt spacing (it's 5 lug) though. I'm thinking about getting a couple, using my Titan 6 lug centers, and getting the 4" Murano rims banded out a couple inches wider front and rear to 8" wide, which would let me get about 4" backspacing. Wouldn't have to narrow my axle that way, and I got a local guy that can band the rims.

[66redw/white]

the 250 is where its at man. i love the one in mine. sucker runs like a champ! i plan on heatin it up alittle bit one day.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by 66redw/white

the 250 is where its at man. i love the one in mine. sucker runs like a champ! i plan on heatin it up alittle bit one day.

I've thought about keeping the 250, boring it, stroking it with a 292 crank, do some head work, add a 5 speed, and putting a turbo on it. I really want to do a Vortec 4200 swap though!

I got what was left of the old bed wood and wear strips out last night.







And found some chalk markings from the assembly line on the front of the bed header panel.

[theastronaut]

Here's a few shots of the engine. I'm not sure which three speed it has; weren't there two different three speeds? I pulled the valve cover and one of the pushrod covers off and it looks pretty clean so the 60k mile story might be right. I'll tune it up, reseal it, and detail it for now without doing a complete teardown and rebuild.









Found some original paint on one of the valve cover hold-downs. I'll get some enamel mixed up to match to repaint everything.