1980 Chevy C10 - Ugly but Functional

[808_67C10]

Okay, I know it isnt 4 letter S word up there right now... where is the updates?

[skyphix]

You might be surprised - we got some flurries on last Monday!

In all honestly all I have are excuses. Daily drivers have been sucking up my car money. I still could be yanking engines and prepping the truck so there's no excuse. I am dead set on driving it with the LS in a month so there will be updates soon. Also selling my motorcycle to make the financial part easier.

[skyphix]

An actual update! Sold my 4runner, so once thats out of its parking spot the Yukon will go into it and I can make it immobile and start stripping the engine out of it.

Picked up a GM Replacement 4L80E with under 5k miles on it out of an 06 Van that was used for Appliance service, so light duty, for $600... should have that mid June once the guy gets it pulled out. Van was still driving around just fine and got retired for rust.

Also will be ordering a bunch more parts here in the next week or so; engine mounts, Flexplate, power steering line adapter.

All thats left after that is the fuel system (hemming and hawing on modern vinyl fuel lines like in new production vehicles, which would be around $100 + tool purchase, or just going braided stainless for $260 for ease of purchase and expediency) and the wiring. I have two complete wiring harnesses for a DBW installation - the one in my Yukon, and one that came on my spare LM7. I'm tempted to try the re-wire myself but its also pretty daunting to think about. I'll also need my driveshaft setup for the 4L80E but there is a local company that does it that's on a 2 week turn around, so I want to get the engine/trans mounted and in place so that I can have the driveshaft sent out while I either wire it or have it wired by the semi-local place that does it.

After that it will be driveable. I'll still need an axle bearing, and a set of tires for my 17's, but those are easy enough to knock off. This engine/trans swap is whats killing me.

Money is the only thing holding me back right now... so if anyone wants a good beginner motorcycle that isn't so boring you'll want to get rid of it in a year, let me know

[superdav]

Originally Posted by 2drpost

Nice truck! I've got the Hella's in mine and love them. Got them on relays. Our truck projects and plans are very similar, need to start a build thread on mine.

love the cover, where'd you get it?

[skyphix]

Waiting on delivery of the trans - I told the guy I got it from there wasn't a huge rush, I have plenty of work to do.

Got the engine mounts, Flexplate, and picking up the PS line adapter either today or tomorrow depending on time.

... but my current daily driver also just broke - object in a tire close to the shoulder so we'll see if it can be repaired, and one of my calipers is leaking pretty bad. So, I guess I should fix that.

I also am likely going to end up attempting the wiring harness modifications myself. My motorcycle isn't selling and I really want to drive my truck this summer. The harness is really the last swap related piece besides labor and small odds and ends.

[skyphix]

While I wait I decided to start digging into the wiring. It was a huge mess from a bad stereo install and just generally how many people have puts hands on this truck. I am not going to use any of the original gauges (except fuel, initially, but that will get replaced as well eventually) - I am doing a custom dash based on an android tablet with minimal physical gauges - I am contemplating removing (or at least coiling up) a good chunk of that wiring as well just to further simplify. I also plan this week on figuring out something to do with my dash - its horrific right now. I may just remove the plastic cover and strip off the padded dash and leave it naked for a while.


Took these out from behind the seats and stripped the wiring out...


Removed this rats nest from under the dash and wrapped around the pedals - these drove me nutty all last fall...


Much cleaner. The only bad bit of wiring left is the addition of a dome light that is a spade terminal shoved into the fuse block - I am considering adding a small fuse block next to the factory one to run the accessories I'll be adding (like properly terminating the dome light, multiple USB charging ports hidden and exposed.)

[808_67C10]

MMMM ya, that was a rats nest. Feels good to clean all that up. I had the same issues with my truck. Still chasing down a hard short in my dash lights. I love the idea of an additional fuse box for accessories. I love clean wiring... it looks so nice and you don't have to stress about spontaneous combustion! LOL

[skyphix]

Originally Posted by 808_67C10

MMMM ya, that was a rats nest. Feels good to clean all that up. I had the same issues with my truck. Still chasing down a hard short in my dash lights. I love the idea of an additional fuse box for accessories. I love clean wiring... it looks so nice and you don't have to stress about spontaneous combustion! LOL

I have no intention of restoring this truck so I'd ultimately like to replace the wiring harness completely with a minimal race-style harness but thats a ways down the road. The factory wiring, thankfully, is in really good shape... Besides some massive grounding issues that I traced back to basically every ground everywhere being frayed, brittle, and undersized, including the one that runs from the negative battery terminal to the body.

I pick my trans up this weekend and for various reasons this weekend will end up being the perfect time to tear the 350/th350 out, and get the 5.3 out of my Yukon hopefully. Not doing much to the 5.3 besides cleaning it and swapping the exhaust manifolds over to Trailblazer manifolds. While the 350/th350 is out I'll clean up and paint the engine bay and core support - just a degrease, pressure wash, rust converter, then rattle can. Again, not a restoration, just trying to keep rust at bay and clean up what is convenient to clean up.

I also need to order up an axle bearing, and while I have it apart I'll likely just do both sides for peace of mind. Then I can adjust the rear brakes and re-bleed all of them, again, just for peace of mind. That's not a big deal though.

[skyphix]

Finally made some solid progress on the truck this past weekend. Picked up my 4L80E.



Pulled my awful dashpad and the plastic cover over it (severely sun warped)


Dash pad itself had been painted or dyed at one time


Stripped all the foam and sanded it as smooth as I could


Gave it a couple of coats of rust converter


And threw it back together.


Its not exactly pretty, but it looks better than it did for now.


Also stripped out pretty much everything I could to get ready to pull the engine and trans. All thats left is to unhook the shift linkage and drop the driveshaft and it can come out.




So hopefully that will happen this weekend. Pretty sure I already have a buyer for the engine and trans, too (guy I picked the 4L80E up from needs a basic small block for his 55 daily driver) so hopefully that puts me a little closer to picking up the harness.

I decided to source a harness and ECU from PSI, even though I have two good harnesses and ECU's here at the house already. Its just quicker once I have the money to order it and the same cost as having a local company convert the harness. Would prefer to use the local company, but time has become tight. I'll have them convert one of the harnesses I have for a future project.

So, finally an actual update. If the weather holds off this weekend I should have the engine and trans out and have the engine bay cleaned up and sprayed. Next up is repeating this process to get the 5.3 out of the Yukon and on the stand for some clean up and to swap the exhaust manifolds.

[skyphix]

No photos but the projects not dead;

Garage is reorganized so I can finally pull both the Yukon engine and the old 350/th350 in my truck.

Have my wiring harness and PCM, including fan relay harness

Also picked up a 2 position brake switch for proper lockup TC function

Started on some minor body work to make it a little more presentable... still not pretty.

Verified I do NOT in fact have bad axle bearings... but do have a dragging brake drum. Easy enough.

I now have everything I need, minus the driveshaft modifications, to drive this thing under LS power. Hoping to do that mid-Septemberish, now that all the financial stuff is out of the way and I can just get to work. 350/TH350 out this weekend... maybe the Yukon engine if my health holds up. Probably going to just pull the yukon engine and leave the trans for the scrapper unless its easier to pull it all together. Going to pull the core support to get that one out since its only a few bolts and saves me a bunch of headaches.

I'm way behind schedule... but its looking like I'll get it back on the road before snow flies at least.

[skyphix]

Finally... progress.







TBSS Manifolds - just painting them to delay corrosion.

[skyphix]

Yukon is finally getting torn apart. Dodged rain showers yesterday after traveling both nice days over the weekend, but managed to get the harness mostly stripped out, only having to cut one wire (ground that connects to one of the bellhousing bolts) - I still have one sensor to disconnect behind the intake manifold, and the transmission branch to disconnect and pull back. Should be able to make more progress tonight, get the radiator out, drain the fluids from the engine and trans, etc.

I see on the Yukon that the Y pipe has the cats REALLY close to the O2 sensor bung, so the exhaust might end up trickier than I had hoped. I was hoping to be able to assemble it mostly with clamps until I could get it into the performance exhaust shop either late this fall or next spring... but it looks like I'll be teaching myself to weld and trying to cob together some down pipes to try to connect into the old exhaust thats on the truck.

Anyone that might be reading this, feel free to post your exhaust setup using stock (well, I'm using TBSS/Envoy/Rainier/HHR manifolds) manifolds for some ideas.

[skyphix]

Test fitting the radiator and fans. I decided I'm going to order a new radiator because someone boogered up one of the trans cooler line fittings and I suspect the tank will crack before I get the old fitting out. Replacing them with AN fittings and braided lines. I just need to figure out some mounting tabs to bolt the radiator and fans to the core support.



Also changed direction on pulling the engine from the Yukon. The bottom side is so rusty and nasty, I decided to leave the trans in the Yukon when I pull it rather than pulling everything out together, so I had to remove the intake to get to the top bellhousing bolts. I ran out of day light shortly after this and the radiator/core support seems to be rusted in place, so the sawzall will come out and I'll just cut it. Its going to the scrapper after I get everything out anyway.

[skyphix]

I spent a dozen or so hours this weekend wrenching on stuff...

Got the pedal mounted at least enough to drive this fall. I'll eventually try to rig up a better bracket so the position is a little less angled but it feels comfortable where it is and I get full range on it. I ended up cutting the bottom of the pedal off to clear the floorboard. I'll eventually build an offset mounting bracket so its less ugly... but it works.



The Yukon has been battling me just constantly trying to get this engine out. I tried to save the harness but that wasn't happening, so I finally just cut it out of the way. Now I've got a bunch of scrap wiring for when I need it, so that's not a bad thing either. I'm down to the torque converter bolts (late 4L60E so I have to go in at the starter) and bellhousing bolts. If its not pouring rain after work today I'm going to try to at least take a stab at this, probably take most of the bell housing bolts out at the very least.




No photos but I also dropped my trans crossmember out. My crossmember has a support bracket that runs from the upper part of the frame rail down to the crossmember itself... well, it looks like whoever did the 350/th350 swap, when they moved the crossmember forward, did it with the cab off... they put the bolts in top down with the nut on the bottom, so there's no way to get the bolts out without lifting the cab. I can still move that brace, so not that big of a deal... but given that 5 of the 9 bolts that hold that crossmember on were less than finger tight, and really, really poor quality hardware, I am glad I am reassembling all of this. I've already gone through and made sure the front and rear suspension bolts are all actually tight and not finger tight.

[skyphix]

Finally.



And my hoist long ram now leaks down pretty badly, so ordered an upgraded replacement. Trying to push the pace and maximize what little time I do have to work on this.

Today; swapping flex plate and engine mounts since its raining. Once the rain stops this week; fuel system, figuring out where I am going to put the PCM even temporarily.

I've never even seen anyone build PTFE lined braided fuel lines or braided high pressure trans lines... so that is the next hurdle to jump.

[skyphix]

Went to bolt the engine to the trans and drop it in on Saturday... one of the alignment dowels is stuck in the 4L60E and no amount of heat or hammering would remove it. Called around, and the only GM dealer that stocks part within an hour of me wouldn't have it until Friday... so I ordered some billet ones on Amazon and I'll have them today. Its absolutely downpouring so I'll try to get the engine and trans bolted together in the garage so I can drop them in tomorrow after work before it gets dark.

Tool repair comes first


Then a little degreasing and scraping of the 5.3. I didn't spend a lot of time on this, just get the thick goopy stuff off. Its all going to get pulled and painted in about a year but I want to work out any kinks and figure out if there are any leaks first.


Got the 4L80E flexplate bolted on and just barely snugged up the DirtyDingo engine mounts. I'll torque them properly once I know where I want them. Trying to avoid buying a different trans crossmember but the one I have has bolt holes up between the frame and the body so I dont know how I'd drill those without removing the cab. If it comes to that, I'll just order the summit tubular one and make that work. I still had some daylight so I finally swapped out the super blown out front shocks with some BellTech drop shocks. They're a tad short with the stock springs in but I have 2" drop springs to install... sometime.

The old Gabriel Red Riders had seen better days...



More update photos to come - even if I don't get the trans bolted to the engine tonight the plan is to start assembling my fuel tank, pump, and pickup stuff. It will be my first time messing with AN fittings and braided fuel lines so that will be exciting. Here goes nothing.

[LT7A]

You're making good progress.

[skyphix]

Ran into a few snags getting the engine and trans bolted together initially - couldn't get the alignment dowel to budge with heat or hammer. After I had ordered a new set of alignments dowels someone mentioned using liquid nitrogen (or an upside down air can) to try to cool them enough to get them to pop out. I'll try that next time. My issue is that one stuck in the 4L60E in the Yukon donor. $15 had a new set of billet ones to my house in two days so only a little hold up.









Yep - finally in its resting place. Still a big list of stuff to do but this was one of the biggest steps.

[skyphix]

Wasnt feeling great today but by the end of the day I was able to go out and tinker a bit. Managed to remove the trans crossmember support that was put on with the cab off, so had to leave the bolts in and just tighten the nuts down onto them so they dont rattle.

I could have made my trans crossmember work but the side that goes up the outside of the frame rail gets into the fuel tank on the passenger side - probably could have trimmed it off but I still would have had to battle drilling holes at an awkward angle and probably messing them up so I jsut gave in and ordered the dirty dingo adjustable trans mount.

I've got the engine mounted as far forward in the bay as the dirty dingo mounts allow so the trans mount lines up with the flat part of the frame rails - so I wanted to make sure everything fit with enough clearance and I could still do maintenance. Also for a little motivation. Everything is super dirty - I'll clean it next year since I'll probably drive this thing on dry days this winter.



Gotta figure out how I am going to mount the coolant overflow, any ideas? Same with the airbox. Maybe I will reuse my original battery tray support for that.

Plenty of room even with the fans in place. Everything is just sitting there - still need to cut apart the radiator support from the donor Yukon to make the top radiator mount.



And with the lid on - almost looks like it came from the factory that way.

[skyphix]

Still progress being made...

Done so far:
Fuel system bench built
Driveline angle set with the DirtyDingo adjustable trans crossmember
Starter installed (though I'll likely have to remove it to get to the sensor behind it, I wanted to make sure everything lined up correctly with the new flexplate)
Exhaust manifolds installed
Starting to mock up the actual exhaust - going to attempt to build a Y pipe and if that doesnt work out, I'll run just straight dual exhausts to mufflers that dump out before the rear tires.
Ran my torque wrench across everything critical - torque converter bolts, engine mount brackets, exhaust manifolds, etc.
Installed the trans dipstick which fit like a factory piece. Super awesome (out of a 2004 2500HD with a 4L80E trans)

Easy to do:
Install the wiring harness - Took tomorrow off to do this since we have snow coming the end of the week...
radiator top mount - waiting for pay day then just need to get some aluminum to build this out.
Drop the existing fuel tank and remove as much of the existing fuel lines as I can get out of the way. Waiting on a couple of weatherpack connectors to come this week so I can wire it the right way. Just need to run a hot wire from the fuel pump relay down to the fuel pump but want to do it with a weathertight connector.
Reinstall the old battery support on the passenger side to support the airbox.
Install my new radiator
Make the trans cooler lines (braided with AN fittings,) attach the trans breather tubes up on the firewall, fill the trans up once I can run it so it pumps fluid through the new radiator
Front accessory drive. I literally just need to bolt this on and transfer the power steering lines to the LS PS pump with the adapter. I also need to figure out the plug size for the hydroboost feed since its a hydroboost pump and I am not running any power assist brakes.




Things that I am either waiting on or have yet to figure out:
Have to drill the holes to mount the drivers side battery tray... just haven't figured out exactly where I want to put them though its pretty obvious, I was sort of hoping this would just bolt in rather than have to drill new holes. Not too big of a deal in the end
How I am going to mount the radiator surge tank. Honestly, no idea how I am going to do this... maybe some angle iron or angle aluminum on top of the passenger inner fender.
Exhaust... just a welding challenge for me. Not that big of a deal but I suspect I'll screw it up and end up running something simpler. Never know though.



Hoping to get to a point to to be able to fire it this weekend. It wont be driving because I still need to get the driveshaft shortened but just to hear it run would be amazing. The guy that helped me get the truck (picked it up in SC for me since he lives there) is coming to visit the second week of December, and I really want to be able to give him a ride while he's here since he drove it before the swap. So the crunch is on... plus winter is fast approaching and I dont really want to work on the truck in a snowy/icy driveway if I can avoid it. I've also got a non-truck related project that has some sentimental value and needs to take priority over the winter... so the truck needs to be on the road! It will get driven through the winter - not daily, but on dry(ish) days. I'll be liberally applying WD40 (or fluid film if I can get a deal on it) to the underside several times through the winter and come spring will be doing floorboard repair anyway...

[skyphix]

Got the harness run yesterday - I still need to wire it into the truck, mount and wire my fan relays, and do my 2 position brake switch conversion, but that all should be pretty quick work this weekend. I'm pretty happy with the PSI harness for now - I am bit by the common complaint that the MAF connector branch is no where near long enough (and on the drivers side of the engine harness...) so I'll be getting a MAF harness extension. I know I could just extend the wires, but I'd prefer not to cut my brand new harness.





I also need to figure out what I am going to do for the oil pressure gauge. Gen 3 the oil pressure doesn't run to the PCM, just the gauge... I know there are some conversion options, I just need to research them. I'll probably replace my water temp gauge (aftermarket) with an oil pressure gauge and be done.

[LT7A]

This looks like a Halloween picture to me.

[skyphix]

Originally Posted by LT7A

This looks like a Halloween picture to me.

Now that you mention it, it does! I was just excited to FINALLY have the engine sitting in the truck... and the hood back on.

[skyphix]

Cold day working on the truck today


Dropped the old gas tank - going to swap over the filler neck, bracket and straps tomorrow. Need to grab something to put between the straps and the tank (probably bike tubes.)



Bolted on the exhaust stubs and hooked up my not-tested O2 sensors (I have new ones) for a first fire up this weekend. Also mounted the accessory drive (missing one of the bracket bolts... gotta find one of those,) hooked up the power steering with an adapter... though I still need to plug the hydroboost return, I have everything I need for that... got the oil dipstick back in (barely fit around the dirty dingo mounts in the position I have them in but it did fit. Had to use some old engine oil to get it to fully seat.) Supposed to rain and snow tomorrow so it will be a day indoors - I'll go measure out the fuel feed line and get that made up, I'll make a handful of ground wires (that I'll replace with straps down the road,) get the tank ready to install, and make the simple top mount for the radiator. Saturday should be the day - slap everything in, run a few wires, and start it up.


I still need to figure out my shift linkage but I have a decent idea on that, and haven't had a second set of hands to help me measure out my drive shaft, but I should this weekend. Deadline of December 9th is quickly approaching...

[skyphix]

Progress this weekend...

Tackled the wiring. It was some of the worst wiring in what was a functional vehicle that I've seen... not sure how I didnt burn down on my trip up the eastern seaboard.






Coiled up what I didnt think I'd need. Ended up taking a couple of wires out of this coil but not much...




I also hooked up the purple wire to the starter solenoid but realized without good grounding in the chassis and cab, it was never going to send voltage to the starter solenoid. Without any heavy wire for a good solid engine to frame ground, I went on a search for some grounding strap. Managed to find some but not until it was pouring rain/snow/ice mix, so not installed yet.

I also snapped the solenoid stud off the starter that was on my 5.3. Replacement starters are $200ish around here, but I happen to have a 5.3 with the starter still attached sitting in my driveway. Paid $150 for it as a rebuildable core thats going to get built fairly aggressively this winter.




So I swapped that one on





And since I had to test to see if the junk engine starter worked or not, I hot wired the solenoid and got the engine to crank over for the first time in my truck. I don't have the PCM connected, and while my fuel system is done, I haven't leak tested it or anything yet, so its not hooked up... so no fire, but its good to hear it crank. I need to buy a new battery too - this is jump started off of our 4Runner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABSt4PyXm7E