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Old 09-30-2011, 12:15 AM   #1
mcbassin
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

very nice parts! You're just that much closer.
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Old 09-30-2011, 07:43 AM   #2
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

As usual I am running slow with my comments, but your work leaves me awestruck. I am going to have to keep that harmonic balancer in mind as I redo mine.
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Old 10-02-2011, 11:55 AM   #3
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Wonder if this may have affected how I timed my truck. I always ended up doing it by ear and feel and vacuum because using the marks made it run like crap. Only off by 10*. This is with the key ways lined up.


The new one is not quite on yet, about 1/2" to go. Here's the story, in most cases installing the balancer is pretty straight forward. Just use the bolt in the end of the crank and pull it on, or when the engine is on the stand you can beat it on with a mallet. In my case I have an oddball crank that never had a threaded hole in the end of it. The balancer was just installed and left that way. Until now it was never a problem because I only worked on that part with the engine on a stand. Hammering a balancer on with it in the truck is just not happening, and don't think I didn't try. I even lifted the radiator up and used a piece of flat stock through the grill onto a piece of plywood, but it wouldn't budge.

So yesterday I got my drill angle adapter out and started drilling the crack end out. There was a shallow hole there already, I just had to deepen it and tap it out. That took a little over an hour. Then tapped it and started installing the balancer. The threads stripped. So I drill it out for the next size up and tap it again. But I don't have that size bolt around and the local stores that would have it are now closed. My neighbor had one that was about 2 inches too long, but I made it work with a stack of washers. Then the threads on the bolt started to strip so I stopped right away and pulled it out. It was a softer bolt so today I'm waiting for the stores to open so I can get a good hardened bolt and pull it in the last 1/2".

The new power steering pump is set in place, just need to attach the hoses and tighten it down when the pulley can go back on. I should have just done this back when the engine was out or the front clip was off. What a pain.
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Old 10-02-2011, 12:11 PM   #4
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

That mighta had somethin to do wit it



Did you make that mark?
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Old 10-02-2011, 01:01 PM   #5
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

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Did you make that mark?
I just highlighted it. Got my bolt, trying to finish it up now.
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Old 10-02-2011, 07:28 PM   #6
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Just using the crank bolt to install it might have worked, but having friends that are mechanics and have the right tool for the job is priceless. So the balancer is on, the power steering pump is replaced and it steers better, but still growls and is harder turning right for some reason. Hard to blame the pump. I also replaced the return tube because it looked like it was colapsing a bit. The supply line is good, so maybe I'll have to look at the steering box. Any ideas are appreciated.

I didn't check the timing yet. It's been too many days so when it was back together I just drove it. I stopped at a local scale a couple weeks back and with a full tank of gas and me in it at 250 lbs it weighed 4020. I checked again today and it was still the same. It weighs less than my taurus I drive for work. Here are a few pics from the drive, oh and triple digits on the speedo are obtainable.



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Old 10-02-2011, 08:06 PM   #7
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Very Nice!
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Old 10-02-2011, 08:32 PM   #8
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

looks BEAUTIFUL, CONGRATS
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Old 10-02-2011, 09:49 PM   #9
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Looking good....but it just hit me....gray centered coys or boss 338's.....just sayin
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Old 10-02-2011, 10:57 PM   #10
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

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Very Nice!
Thanks!
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looks BEAUTIFUL, CONGRATS
Doesn't it though?
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Looking good....but it just hit me....gray centered coys or boss 338's.....just sayin
Everyone has those.

I went through the old photo albums and found a bunch of my truck from back in the day. I'll post 'em up later. Humble beginnings is a generous statement.
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Old 10-02-2011, 11:24 PM   #11
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

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Everyone has those.
you know there's a reason for that
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Old 10-03-2011, 12:08 AM   #12
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

At the beginning of the thread I have a short story about the history of my truck. I found some of my old photos, scanned them and want to share them with you.

This first one is the oldest one I have found. It should be 1984, not long after I got my license. It had a hard life to this point. My dad got it around 1975 and it was the family vehicle for a while, and it was used to haul wood and garbage for several years. It was never garaged that I can remember. The front got smashed when I rear ended a car a few weeks after getting my license. Dig the smiley face?


Then in 1987, I was in the Navy and transferred to Idaho Falls, ID for nuclear plant training. I had my own little apartment and I had some money, or what seemed like it at the time, a credit card and a motorcycle. I also had a neighbor who said he did bodywork. We worked out a deal where he would fix the rust and get it in primer and take my bike in trade. Turns out he was crap at bodywork, but did sorta do the job. I really didn't know how bad it was until years later when I needed to fix some things. These are pics from right after he was done. I had already lowered it with 3.5" drop coils, added dual exhaust and header and bought the new wheels and tires before I drove it from MN to ID. I was ahead of my time I think with the lowered and flat black look. So many things I see in these pics can start another story. The little thingy hangig from the mirror is a plastic state of MN keychain I made in 8th grade in Mr. Phillippe's (pronounced flippy) class. My dad had him as a shop teacher also. It still hangs from my mirror. That wood gage bezel I made in shop class my Sr year. We had a CNC lathe and milling machine I wrote my own programs for. This was my mill project and I still have it. It'll go on the garage wall someday soon.




The girl I met the day before my birthday in 1987 ended up getting married to me. We were introduced by the gal in the car behind my truck there. I worked with her husband, she worked with my future wife. We met, had some drinks, danced. I went to another bar to play some pool. The gal and my wife followed after me and found me by finding my truck. Turns out she kinda liked it. And me too.


Then I had to go to nuclear welding school in San Diego. I parked the truck at my parents place and bought a 1983 Toyota Celica GT for my drive SW. I loved the truck but needed something a little easier on gas and dependable. I'd had a few breakdowns with the suped up truck and after spending a few hours in the middle of a mountain pass in WY in December you get a different perspective on what you drive and why. I stored the wheels and tires in the garage and set it on blocks in the backyard. Yech. It ended up staying there for a couple years.



Next stop was Bangor, WA. Now married and both working, no kids (DINK...duel income no kids we used to call it) we bought our one and only ever new vehicle. A 1989 Toyota SR5 extended cab with the V-6 and 5 spd and 31" tires. We loved that truck and put almost 100,000 on it before selling it because there wasn't enough room in it for the extra kids the wife was dropping out. So we drove the 2 toys, but I missed my truck. I had my dad get the wheels back on it and arranged for it to be transported out to WA. I started looking in junkyards for better body parts. Got a wild hair up my butt and decided to clean it up and paint the frame and stuff like a real show truck I thought it was at the time (I was clueless btw).







This was my friend Damon helping me out. All my work back then was done in the yard. Didn't even have a shade tree. We put the hoist on some plywood. It sorta worked but the ground was uneven and the wheels sunk and the whole thing wanted to tip over. Note the tow strap from bumper to hoist.



I was going with a blue look. I had some blue hammerite paint and was going to do everything I could reach. That stuff actually held up well. My trailing arms still have it on there after all these years. That axle is under the 2wd blazer I'm parting out.




This last pic has my pal in it. I bought him as a pup from a classmate in highschool. He loved to go for rides. He also like to run like hell and not come back if he ever got out of the house or yard. The only way we could get him back was to get in one of the vehicles and find him, then open the door and call him. He'd jump in everytime. He was put down a few years later but I still think of him often.

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Old 10-03-2011, 12:46 AM   #13
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Very cool! Love the back story! Makes me appreciate the build even more
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Old 10-08-2011, 08:20 PM   #14
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Been a while since I had an update. My garage time has been lacking and what I did get I was using to get parts together for sale or shipping. Today though started with the wife wanting to go to a local auction. Farm, estate auctions are going on around here about every weekend and it's one of the things we both like to do. There was a snowblower and yard sweeper listed that I thought might be useful so we took the truck. It was about a 8 mile drive each way and she loved it. I took care of a few things that annoyed her the last time. We're both really looking forward to next spring and taking it on some cruises and shows. Didn't like what we saw at the auction, so we didn't stay.

After taking care of the other family chores I got some garage time. I wanted to get the reverse lights working. The problem was that the neutral safety switch was for the van tilt and the wire plug is different, so it wasn't plugged in. I bought a new switch for a truck, but when I took out the van one the tab that goes into the hole inside the column shift tube was different. The truck switch has a much sorter tab and didn't reach the hole in the tube.

Truck switch...


So rather than try and finagle that one in I tried using a couple small jumpers to go from the van switch to the truck plug. The jumpers worked, the switch, not so much. It would power the lights when in low and no matter how much adjustment I tried it just wasn't right. The neutral safety circuit wasn't working according to the shift pattern either, so that was a waste.

Back to using the new switch. In the pic you can see a small groove in the tab that goes into the column. I cut a small piece of plastic, sawed a groove into that, found a piece of scrap metel that fit the grooves and put them together. It's actually pretty tight. The worst that could happen is the plastic extender would come off and the switch would quit moving and would need to be jumpered in an emergency.


Had some difficulty getting it adjusted properly. The holes for the switch mount screws were too far out of wack. Remember this is a van tilt and needed to be modified to fit. So rather than try and drill new holes for the screws I just used a hose clamp. Hell of a lot easier than trying to use those screws up under the dash. Infinite adjustability also. Anyway, reverse lights work.


Had some more time so I worked on the manual throttle cable. The original cable has a steel thingy on it that locks it to the firewall. Well that bit wasn't working anymore. I tried using some short pieces of vacuum tubing slid onto the cable on both sides of the firewall, but they slid, no dice. I wanted something that would look better than some clamp or whatever on there and finally found this...
Amazon.com: Kreg KJSC/MICROBIT Micro Depth Collar... Amazon.com: Kreg KJSC/MICROBIT Micro Depth Collar...
It's a collar with a set screw used to hold a certain depth on a drill bit. In this case I have one on both sides of the firewall clamped to the cable and it holds it there and looks pretty good also.


The test drive went great. Sat at 65 mph without my foot on the pedal. Poor mans cruise control.


I also took a few minutes to install some new technology. A button programmed to open and close the garage door just like the fancy one in my wifes denali. Just the old school version...


One other thing, if any of you ever drive in the rain, ever, you have to use rain-x. I've used it for years and it works as advertised. You hardly need wipers at all. I only mention it because I did that this morning also, we had a chance for rain.
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Old 10-08-2011, 11:09 PM   #15
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Nice work on the nss...glad you got reverse lights....so you're completely legal now?
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Old 10-09-2011, 08:22 AM   #16
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

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Nice work on the nss...glad you got reverse lights....so you're completely legal now?
Actually, no. I don't have a working horn yet. I think these are allowed as a substitute though...
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Old 10-09-2011, 11:40 AM   #17
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

I have plenty of that style horn on the right for my students (motivational tool ). I need to get out on both of mine now and do something. Found a bunch of little things that needs tweaking on the 83 after driving it this week.

Keep hacking away at yours it looks great. Love the history photos!!
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Old 10-09-2011, 12:14 PM   #18
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Nice work on the balancer install. I had a 350 that someone broke the bolt on it so they just welded it to the crank

Thanks for sharing those old pictures. Your truck has a bunch of history.
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Old 10-09-2011, 07:57 PM   #19
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

This morning I installed the new kickdown cable bracket. Wasn't able to get the cable adjusted properly yet. I'll probably have to move the stud on the throttle linkage to get it where it will actually kick down. One of those little niggly problems from swapping to the EFI. Also changed the fan belt, had some cracks and a lot of wear on the old one. Added more power steering fluid and the growling finally went away. I think I got all the air out of the system finally.

I was hauling some junk parts from the garage and my parts blazer out to a friends place for his scrap pile and came across this...


I'd seen it around the last month or so but never got a look at who was driving. Turns out to be someone I sorta know. He had some of these old chevys in the past and never got around to restoring one, so he decided to buy one that was already fixed up. It's a pro streeter and not bad at all. A lot of work and money thrown into this truck. Corvette seats and console, ford 9" rear end, c notched and custum frame back half, lot of custom touches inside and out. Needs a little body work and paint but he wants to just enjoy it for now.



Then I move about 150' east to my friends shop and find this beasty...


I haven't talked to him yet about it. Not sure he's just scrapping it or making it a runner. Probably scrap though. I looked at it this last spring, it was just on the west end of town. Well drilling rig.


You can see the blue one in the background.


Then I did the acid wash on my front wheels. No sanding or polishing yet but it at least looks better.


Punch list:
Front bumper top brackets (paint)
Polish other wheels
heater box
fat mat (almost there)
adjust e-brake cable
eustations to match panels
horn
inner fenders (need new nuts, paint bolts)
Cowl shims
Washer pump
finish exhaust
carpet/pad
upholstory recovered
alignment

Last edited by hgs_notes; 10-11-2011 at 04:39 PM.
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Old 10-09-2011, 08:11 PM   #20
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

I really like those wheels. They so belong on that truck!!
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Old 10-09-2011, 10:00 PM   #21
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

looking great !!
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Old 10-11-2011, 04:39 PM   #22
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Had a few things taken care of at the body shop today. First was getting the tailgate letters on...


I think it looks good. They also put some seam sealer in the cab corners and sprayed some rust proofing into the cab supports. They did the rockers during the paint job.

And I finally sprayed paint on the little front bumper brackets. I'm going to try and bolt those in tonight.
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Old 10-11-2011, 04:42 PM   #23
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Looks good! Really sets off the gate!
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Old 10-14-2011, 06:49 AM   #24
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

Congrats on all your hard work!! took me about 3 days to read this whole thread..lol

Truck is looking great !!!!
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Old 10-14-2011, 07:51 AM   #25
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Re: Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

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Congrats on all your hard work!! took me about 3 days to read this whole thread..lol

Truck is looking great !!!!
Thanks! It took me about 3 days to finally get those bumper brackets in.

I special ordered a cut pile turquoise carpet for it yesterday and I'm working on getting seat belts made. There are a bunch of companies out there that do full restoration of seat belts or make their own sets using a ton of different colors. My plan is to use 3 point retractor set ups from an 88 and newer chevy truck with buckles from the 68-72 truck and webbing that matches the rest of my interior (I've got a couple swatches coming to me). The floor boots will get painted or dyed to match the rest of the interior.

So in my case it won't really be a restoration, just stitching the old style buckles onto new webbing installed on used retractors that are cleaned up and in good working order. I'll post how that goes, or doesn't go if there are flaws in my plan.
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