Restoring 1980 C10 big ten.

[jgorzitza]

Cab is coming off tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

[jgorzitza]

Success, that was one heck of a long day. Both with some good news, and some bad news....

First the floor looks to be not to bad of shape so one less thing to weld in. Still need cab corners, rockers, ect.

Bad one of the body bolts broke a nut off, how do you get in there to weld it back please tell me there is some trick without having to perform major surgery.

If the weather holds I should be able to get the front of the frame prepped and painted.

[cottonme173]

What fun! You are exactly where I am at on my '77. sure is fun getting in there. I don't know anything about your cab mounting nut though. Hopefully not a big deal!

[jgorzitza]

It was a productive weekend, Removed the steering components and finished cleaning the frame. Even was nice enough out to get the rust seal on. Another hour or so and I should be able to top coat.

Still need to clean and paint the steering components and install new bushings, ball joints, tie rods ect. But progress. YAY

[Bloodhound]

Wow, you're getting me motivated! I'm in the same spot you were as far as removing the cab and stripping the front end. I need to pick up the progress!

[jgorzitza]

Originally Posted by Bloodhound

Wow, you're getting me motivated! I'm in the same spot you were as far as removing the cab and stripping the front end. I need to pick up the progress!

Don't feel to bad, this has been a multi year expedition for me.

[cottonme173]

What was your procedure on the frame? It looks great BTW.

[jgorzitza]

Originally Posted by cottonme173

What was your procedure on the frame? It looks great BTW.

I did the frame in two steps, previous posts show me doing the back end with the box removed. I did the front half once I got the cab/clip off. Pretty straight forward wire wheeled off the old undercoating, dirt, grime and loose paint. I used a hobby sandblaster in areas that were tough to get at with the wire wheel that I picked up at princess auto $40 (kind of like harbor freight in the US).
Once cleaned I used a product called KBS rust seal, it's very similar to POR15 and other rust type paints. I followed the instructions they provide so clean with De-greaser, use metal prep product (this is phosphoric acid and some other stuff), and finally apply the coating.

I Top coated with princess auto flat black anti rust paint just to provide some UV protection and I preferred the flat black look.

Seems to be holding up well as I have had wrenches slip on me, kid run into it with his bike, outside in the elements for over a year.

[jgorzitza]

Next Steps

I have ordered new steering components, wheel bearings, brake hoses, and finally my sheet metal for fixing the cab.

I figure the order of operations will be

- Clean and paint the Control Arms, springs, front steering stuff ect following the same process as the frame.
- Install the new steering components, brake stuff, and mount the wheels
- Get the motor and transmission put back, ensure the drive train is all lined up.
- Paint the cab floor with the rust seal up to the area where the rockers will be cut out.
- Install cab on frame before repairing cab corners and rockers - Cab floor looks good. (thoughts on doing it this way vs repairing while off frame?)
- Get box transferred from donor
- Get front fenders ect. transferred from donor.

All of this is good news on the progress front.

[JohnJ@RideTech]

Looks like its coming right along.

[Tervill]

Looking good! I live in Lethbridge too and I got a lot of my parts from Gary's Auto Wreckers in Raymond. He has a lot of C10's there and most are in pretty decent shape.

[jgorzitza]

Originally Posted by Tervill

Looking good! I live in Lethbridge too and I got a lot of my parts from Gary's Auto Wreckers in Raymond. He has a lot of C10's there and most are in pretty decent shape.

Ill have to check them out thanks.

[jgorzitza]

Today's project... it took way to long to get this thing cleaned. So many cavities that were a paint to get to. During painting i managed to get a nice glob of rust seal on my forehead...whoops.

Anyways I'll finish painting this puppy tomorrow and the A arms. Need to get the bushings out... I have a feeling that won't be a fun job either.

[jgorzitza]

Clean, Prep, Paint repeat. Such is my life these days

[jgorzitza]

I hate bushings... That is all. Totally wrecked a control arm trying to get one out. Luckily I can steal one from the donor. It just had to be the last one that needed to come out to be a pain.

[Jstock85]

looks great! keep the pics coming. i didn't dig as deep as you have but i wire wheeled and painted a lot of my front end as well. if you are replacing control arm bushings good luck! that was by far the biggest pain in the ass for me.

[jgorzitza]

Originally Posted by Jstock85

looks great! keep the pics coming. i didn't dig as deep as you have but i wire wheeled and painted a lot of my front end as well. if you are replacing control arm bushings good luck! that was by far the biggest pain in the ass for me.

Yeah control arm bushings suck.. I managed to get the uppers stripped today. Used an air chisel on the bushings and it worked not bad. On account of my damaging one of my lower control arms trying to get the bushing out I need to go and strip one from my donor. Tomorrow comes some more cleaning and painting and then I can throw it back together.

[jgorzitza]

Oh what's this, more truck surgery.

But why tear that engine down when you have so much else to do?

Well I ordered some full rollers and needed to get the roller tipped ones off so I could sell them.
I also wanted to get a better suited head gasket to get the quench in line.
Originally I had used a fel-pro 1003 squish size 0.041
Flat tops in the hole 0.014
A little on the large size for ideal quench.

New head gaskets 0.026 resulting in an ideal final endearment of 0.040.
Once the gaskets come I'll get it all put back together.

I still have a control arm to pull off the donor and all the control arms need to be painted.

[cottonme173]

Originally Posted by jgorzitza

But why tear that engine down when you have so much else to do?

That's the story of my life! My truck has turned into the same project, so I love this thread.

I wanted to just replace the old Quadra jet on my 454...then maybe manifold....then, why not just pull the motor and freshen it up....

that turned into a full block up rebuild after boring .030 over....

THEN Well I have the motor out maybe I should do rust repair...

Now I have a fully disassembled Cab in my garage on a cab stand...

THEN well, this is a 2WB and my buddy has a lifted 4x4 frame from a '66 he wants to get rid of...

So, a full restore swapping a '77 cab to a '66 frame all started from a carb swap...

[jgorzitza]

Ohhhhhh.. New Hardware FANCY FANCY.

Some new grade 8 bolts for the cross members.

[jgorzitza]

Clean, prep, paint, repeat. Yeah more of that.

[jgorzitza]

Got the front cross member installed and put back together one of the upper control arms, 3 more to go.

[jgorzitza]

New goodies arrived today.... Scored a smoking deal summit price matched to Advance auto with a 30% off coupon. It shipped from within Canada which is a first for me with summit.
I'm still waiting on my thinner head gaskets which I ordered to get the quench right and once they come in I can put the motor back together.

All the control arms are painted and ready to go back on so next steps are.

Install bushings, ball joints, Tie Rod assembly, and put it back on the truck.

Then clean up the motor mounts and paint.
Clean up transmission and transmission mount.
Install motor and transmission link driveshaft.
Start body work (this should be interesting)

[blazer2007]

any reason they shipped from Can. would be nice if they started doing that with some stuff

[MrTenery]

Looking good man i hope to start on mine this summer ive had the truck since 2015 saving money takes a while since im in college. Look forward to seeing more of your progress