How to: Ruin a perfectly good C10

[VA72C10]

I'll be here to remind you whever you are slacking!

Congrats on the upcoming marriage!!!!

[sourkraut]

nice build, will be watching

[yukon ratrod]

very nice project! was going to build a daily driver, but somewhere got sucked in to going the full mile. keep up the progress.

[gringoloco]

Managed a half a day off work today so I decided to spend some time rebuilding the front suspension. It was filthy from a trip to the metal scrap yard on a rainy day- I will NEVER make that mistake again. The majority of my time was spent cleaning and painting everything; if it wasn't so disgusting, the job would have gone much faster.

The first couple of pics show the state of the front end when I started. Also some pics of the carnage. The lower arms are actually the ones that were removed from my old Blazer when the DM went in. I used them on the truck after I 'accidentally' bent the right side doing a little off-roading. This truck has been neglected for entirely too long...

[gringoloco]

Here's a few more of the progress, including a crappy cell phone pic of the truck on stands that I sent to my fiance when she asked what I was doing today

The 'new' parts were cleaned, painted with rust encapsulator and chassis black, and rebuilt today. The lowers are a set I picked up a while back which got new balljoints; the uppers are actually the same ones from the previous post that I removed earlier today, just cleaned, painted and with new Moog offset cross-shafts and balljoints. The 1.25" anti-sway bar, poly bushings, and ECE lowered mounts are more hand-me-downs from the Blazer that have been sitting on the shelf for a while.

The springs are new Moog 6102s that I picked up on Amazon for $40! I love me some free super saver shipping! They will be losing a full round tomorrow before installation Don't mind the rusty calipers, they will be getting the treatment tomorrow along with the spindles and rotors. Time to flip the lever on the ratchet the other way and start installing some of this stuff...

[CheyenneShop]

nice work

[VA72C10]

Nice! Love a clean undercarriage!!!

[gringoloco]

Painted the spindles, calipers, rotors, and other miscellaneous stuff. Had to get a shot of the brake dust shields since I have way more time than I care to share in cleaning them

Also lopped a full coil off of the brand new springs (cheaper than new drop springs) and got the driver's side assembled. I'll get it on the ground tomorrow and see if I need to trim the springs any more. Also had an upper control arm stud start spinning on me, so I need to do something about that before it goes out for alignment...

The before/after shot makes it all worth it

[VA72C10]

Very nice work! Did you clear the cross shafts or paint them? What colors? Wanting to paint my suspension parts the correct colors....

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Very nice work! Did you clear the cross shafts or paint them? What colors? Wanting to paint my suspension parts the correct colors....

I don't think clear would hold up on bare metal very well. Maybe try a cast iron grey- I'm sure Eastwood (or somewhere cheaper) has some. Colors I used were rust encapsulator black, chassis black, caliper black(on the spindles), and a grey caliper paint.

[gringoloco]

Got the suspension reassembled and put her back on the ground. Forgot just how low she actually sits when not on jackstands I ended up using the Belltech drop coils that were previously installed since I couldn't get the Moogs to seat properly??? I dunno- the Belltechs dropped right in. Still need to do a little more clearancing on the LCAs; since I'm running van rallies with 3" drop spindles, they rub the wheels when turning sharply.

Once it was on the ground, I started work on the underhood area. There's tons of little things that needed to be done starting with fixing a couple of little coolant leaks, one at the thermo housing and one at the radiator petcock.

First I pulled the radiator to install the new petcock and cleaned up a bunch more mud from the scrap yard run. *I will NEVER drive this truck in mud again. What a pain* While the rad was out, I figured I'd put a coat of paint on it... and figured since I was gonna paint it, I might as well install the correct fan shroud(thanks tll74, as described, arrived in perfect condition)... and figured while the radiator is out, I'll fix the wiring up front... and while I'm fixing wiring, I'll install a new battery... oh, wait, Mar-K has powder-coated trays on sale(a thing of beauty, too nice for my truck)- mine's rusted out, sooo...

Long story even longer: My little project snowballed A simple leak fix turned into a detailed renovation of the underhood area. All is well, it's things I've been meaning to do anyway, just had a severe case of the 'while I'm in theres'.

Last pic is an eBay score I got in the mail today I like the black and gold California style they have instead of the black on white of 'normal' passenger car plates of this vintage. Now if I can just get the state to let me register them...

[VA72C10]

Nice work....


...those "might as well's" will get ya every time!

Going to be worth it though!

[Dinos63]

NICE AND CLEAN ,

[67cheby]

looks good

[gringoloco]

Did a little more work on my underhood cleanup tonight, though wasn't able to finish due to distractions and cold weather causing paint to dry sloooooowly...

Got a package in the mail today from boardmember 'otsenre'. Came well packaged as have all parts I have received from him. I got to work straight away making the booster cosmetically acceptable for bolting into my truck. I hope to be able to use the 67-70 C20 booster and bracket assembly to get the benefit of dual diaphragm while still being able to use the C10 style master. Hopefully it all fits the way I think it will

Here's some before and during disassembly pics:

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Nice work...

Originally Posted by Dinos63

NICE AND CLEAN ,

Originally Posted by 67cheby

looks good

Thanks for checking in fellas! Nice to be back working on the old girl

[gringoloco]

Spent a bunch of time sanding, cleaning, and prepping for paint. I love seeing before/after pics, but unfortunately only get to show 'during' pics as paint was still tacky on the booster when I came inside

[VA72C10]

Parts are looking good. And I love the flatz blue!!!

[67cheby]

cant wait to see it painted

[CheyenneShop]

Love the plate - nice work too

[gringoloco]

Almost zero progress- assembled the booster...

[VA72C10]

better than zero

[gringoloco]

Finally (I think) settled on a seat covering. Doing the Mexican blanket thing since it's a) cheap, and b) easy which are both things I could use more of due to the limited budget and time frame. Went through a few different ones ordered off of eBay, which turned out to be NOT what was pictured and crazy (orange and then purple!) color schemes, before settling on what's in there now. Actually found them at a truck stop for $13

[gringoloco]

My fiance scored me a sweet new 'toolbox' on eBay (I love this woman). Also received a new toy in the form of an Eastwood welder. I've laid a few beads with it, but the jury is still out on this one- it definitely welds, but I'm not sure it is up to par with the major brands. For $299 with the gas kit and free shipping included, it should do what I need it to, at least.

Also received a box o' goodies from The Truck Shop, one of which is a pair of new dash speakers that should sound better than the ones they're replacing

Last two are before shots of the 'new' wheels I'm picking up from a board member to replace my front 6.5" van rallies. I don't feel comfortable cutting any more from the lower control arms, so I will have the 7" wheels sandblasted and powder coated. They have 3/8" less backspacing, so they should clear my suspension with the 3" Belltech drop spindles...

I'll likely do a comparo/write-up/FAQ on the different types of 5-lug rally wheels (6.5, 7, and 8 inch) describing the differences between them, since I will have one of each on hand. This is one of those questions I see asked frequently and only recently did I really come to understand the differences between them and how to properly identify them, so I hope my efforts might help other members.

[brn agn]

Everything is looking good. I think you definitely got your use out of the old speaker!