Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

[VA72C10]

Nice work on the nss...glad you got reverse lights....so you're completely legal now?

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

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...

[Palf70Step]

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!!

[mcbassin]

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.

[hgs_notes]

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

[Palf70Step]

I really like those wheels. They so belong on that truck!!

[67cheby]

looking great !!

[hgs_notes]

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.

[VA72C10]

Looks good! Really sets off the gate!

[EZ SPEED]

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

Truck is looking great !!!!

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by EZ SPEED

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.

[EZ SPEED]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

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

Yeah , i know how that is!!

I keep reading all these great build threads..I need to do one on my 67. Well I call it mine...I do all the work on it and my step-dad drives it..LOL
It will be handed down to me one day..so thats another reason I call it mine.

[VA72C10]

Like the plan for the belts! Interested to see how they look when done and how much you invest in them at that point vs. buying a new three point option...

[hgs_notes]

It's been awhile since I had an update. I had to go back to the 2nd page of my subscribed threads to find it. I haven't really done anything new yet, but I'm working on it.

I've been investigating my interior options and bought some of the vinyl die paint stuff to try out. They don't list an aqua or tuquoise in the catalogs specific to our trucks so I took a chance and found dark aqua for another GM car of the same era. I sprayed an extra rear view mirror plastic cover I had and it looks like a great match to the seat belt boots I have in the original color. I think I'm going to try it out on a set of visors I have and the door handle eustasions. Pics will get posted when it happens.

As for a vinyl material, I got a sample from classic industries for one of the truck parts they have and I think it is a good match to my door panels. Now I just need to see if they will sell me a few yards of the material to recover my dash pad, arm rests, seats, etc. Somebody is producing it I just need to find out who. I'm undecided on whether or not I'll install a headliner. I have one in black to use if I want.

I got a sample of turquoise and aqua seat belt webbing from an ebay seller and the turquoise one will be perfect. The aqua was a match to some 68 belts I had and is much lighter than the turquoise. I looked at some seat belts in a few trucks over the past week or so and may need to re-think my use of original buckles. The shoulder belts male buckle piece is either rounded with 2 rounded slots in it for the 2 belts to attach to or square but has a slot on 2 sides for the belts. I'll have to see if an old style male belt end could be modified for the 2 belts to attach to.

The other 2 options is to just buy a new set of universal belts in the color I want or just use the donor belts regular buckles but have the new webbing sewn into them. I have all winter to decide or longer if I just use what I have in it now.

And finally, the carpet. I just received my custom ordered carpet today and couldn't be happier. I can't wait to get it in and see how it looks with new sills, etc. I ordered it direct from auto custom carpets on ebay. The color selection chart shows a turquoise cut pile carpet but for 1974 and newer vehicles. I just asked them if they could do that for my truck and they said no problem. Didn't even have to pay any extra and it was just $148 shipped.

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

I got the clutch delete plate installed. Other than that, I just oggled my new parts.

Do you know where i can get one of those clutch deletes??

[VA72C10]

Glad to hear you're getting the interior buttoned up! Looking forward to the pictures with it together!

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by lyrikz

Do you know where i can get one of those clutch deletes??

I might have an extra. I'll let you know.

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Glad to hear you're getting the interior buttoned up! Looking forward to the pictures with it together!

Me too.

[nuke1]

OK, I really am at a loss for words, I just spent the last while catching up on the build as you told me too. WOW!!!! I am so D#MN impressed with you right now!!! The truck turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I would love to come over, sit down on a chair with you and have a beer and admire your work, cause you did a fabulous job!! good going and enjoy her!!

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by nuke1

OK, I really am at a loss for words, I just spent the last while catching up on the build as you told me too. WOW!!!! I am so D#MN impressed with you right now!!! The truck turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I would love to come over, sit down on a chair with you and have a beer and admire your work, cause you did a fabulous job!! good going and enjoy her!!

James, thank you for saying that. I knew you'd like it. Now I need to work on my spraying because I had no consistancy at all when it came to that.

My home is always open to you if you ever get down this way. I only keep good quality beer in my fridge and I have a heated garage.

[hgs_notes]

It's been very busy around here lately and having two projects to work on doesn't help. I finally got back to work on this one though. I've been trying to finish up the fat mat install and as you can see I used just about every square inch I had. This is all that was left...


It turned out ok, but you can tell I'm no pro with this stuff.



Couple things I learned. It will stick to just about anything except a dusty piece of metal you are trying to attach it to. I also learned that a heat gun is your friend. If you warm it up and then roll it on it will stick even if it's covered in dust. Also, you can't use it in a 50F garage. Too stiff. I warmed the garage, but for working on this I put a small space heater under the cab in the area I was working on.

Once that was done, I pulled out the other insulation to lay over it. It's basically styrofoam with an aluminum coating front and back. You use aluminum tape for the seams or to attach it. It was cheap and I figured it wouldn't hurt for more sound deadening and some insulating for the firewall and floor.



With that done, I could at least lay the carpet down for the first time. It's not a perfect fit, it'll need a little work but it aint that bad. First time my truck has ever had carpet.

[VA72C10]

Looks great! And should be nice and quiet!

[67chevy1series]

beautiful!

[nuke1]

Gotta love that!! there is always a first for everything. This truck is gonna be super nice to ride in.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Looks great! And should be nice and quiet!

The mufflers under the cab area create a resonance (sp?) so loud that the rear window buzzes and that was with 3/4 of the cab having fat mat installed. I'll move the mufflers to under the bed and maybe go to a sonic turbo style rather than the flow masters. I like that it sounds like a hotrod, but not window rattling loud.

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

beautiful!

Yep and it's a perfect match for the dark aqua paint I bought and the turquoise seat belt webbing.

Originally Posted by nuke1

Gotta love that!! there is always a first for everything. This truck is gonna be super nice to ride in.

It already is super nice to ride in. Those 15" wheels and fat rubber, soft coils and cheap shocks make a smooth ride.

I've been reading the "make it handle" thread and the other No Limit threads and will be incorporating some of the simpler tweaks to this truck over the coming year also. I'll probably add a 1" block to the rear, move the lower control arm forward for better caster, flip the front trailing arm mount for better squat transfer, find a rear sway bar, and maybe get a larger one for the front with improved mounting. I can't drop the front anymore without also having to drop the rear the same amount and for now I am avoiding a C notch. I love the way it cruises down the highway but want the improved handling without sacrificing the ride. If you haven't read this thread, you really need to...

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=419251

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

The mufflers under the cab area create a resonance (sp?) so loud that the rear window buzzes and that was with 3/4 of the cab having fat mat installed. I'll move the mufflers to under the bed and maybe go to a sonic turbo style rather than the flow masters. I like that it sounds like a hotrod, but not window rattling loud.


Yep and it's a perfect match for the dark aqua paint I bought and the turquoise seat belt webbing.


It already is super nice to ride in. Those 15" wheels and fat rubber, soft coils and cheap shocks make a smooth ride.

I've been reading the "make it handle" thread and te other No Limit threads and will be incorporating some of the simpler tweaks to this truck over the coming year also. I'll probably add a 1" block to the rear, move the lower control arm forward for better caster, flip the front trailing arm mount for better squat, find a rear sway bar, and maybe get a larger one for the front with improved mounting. I can't drop te front anymore without also having to drop the rear the same amount and for now I am avoiding a C notch. I love the way it cruises down the highway but want the improved handling without sacrificing the ride. If you haven't read this thread, you really need to...

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=419251

Wait until you bolt your seat down. ahaha That was a pita. looks good.