The English are coming! Or..another C10 in the Motherland.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Hi Paul, that looks like a nice solid truck... seems like it runs pretty well too. You've done some nice mods. Thanks for the burnout video!

I had to chuckle when I saw your selfie. I immediately thought of Mad Max. You weren't an actor back in the '80s were you?

[midnight rambler]

Nice truck looks like its coming along nicely

[Paul Y]

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

Hi Paul, that looks like a nice solid truck... seems like it runs pretty well too. You've done some nice mods. Thanks for the burnout video!

I had to chuckle when I saw your selfie. I immediately thought of Mad Max. You weren't an actor back in the '80s were you?

Oh Damn and Blast! My secret is out.... Tell me where you want the autograph sent and whom I should make it out too...

If you want to see my 15 minutes of fame I did appear on the US version of the UK Top Gear about 11 or so years ago, a tale best told over a beer and BBQ!

P.

[Jferrante]

first time reading through this great stuff - awesome that you are ricking the Jersey plates since that is where I am

[chad64chevy]

Paul great thread, I like to read your guys post from over seas! since I know how hard it is to get part an shipping at that, but you guys still get things done!

so you never told the story about the red rash on the bed!! what happened?? did you fix it yet? also have you got the rear sway bar on yet? if not, then it will have better handling for the body roll going in an out of corners

I'll be watching your thread for updates

[plainred65]

Great thread Paul, caught this awhile back and have been trying to find it since. Glad you're back.

[clemdaddy]

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

Paul great thread, I like to read your guys post from over seas! since I know how hard it is to get part an shipping at that, but you guys still get things done!

I'll be watching your thread for updates

I agree and me too...

[Wasted Income]

Great, and very entertaining thread. Just saw it today for the first time and read thru it all.

Subscribed.....because there is nothing more fun than a turbo LS sleeper truck.

[Paul Y]

So about that red rash….



When I purchased Woody I knew that he had been involved in a slight fracas on the drivers side, slightly difficult to see from the pictures but the original owner was up front about it so no foul.

Problem was that, whilst I like the general ‘patina’ I am not a fan of actual damage and the more time I spent with the new member of our family the more it began to bother me…

Never mind! My good friend and demon spring slasher ( a whole other story involving 5 sets of springs a grinder and pulling cats eyes out of a newly surfaced road…) Jay to the rescue!.

Jay restores Porsches for a living so he is quite handy at body work so, one warm summers evening, he turns up with his trusty grinder and knot brush and proceeds to look into the problem…



Ah…



Slight Fracas?



In the words of the immortal James May… Oh Cock…

Never Mind! I had a hot lead on a bed side a mere 10 miles from my front door Only problem was Martin had bought the whole thing. But, as with all things C10 in the UK the circle of life was completed and I ended up buying a repair panel from his old bedside that would serve duty on Woody.



Fast forward a few weeks and I hear that Martin had a new cab and was parting out his old one. So, as the damage to poor old Woody was not confined to the bed a deal was done to purchase the B pillar.



Martin at play with his favourite toy.



And the end result which will be used to repair…





Now I am no body man but after being quoted quite a lot of cold hard cash to have this repaired I thought, I am going to have a go at that simply because It cant be any worse than it is now!

With a Hammer and dolly set purchased I have been slowly beating out the bed side to get it to a point where I can cut it out and have a good straight (ish) panel to weld Martins bed bit onto. I will be asking questions before cutting!

Same goes for the B Pillar but the more I look at that the smaller the repair is getting…

And that is the reason that Woody has a red rash on his bed.

More to come once I actually stop using my truck as a truck.

P. 😃

[Paul Y]

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

Paul great thread, I like to read your guys post from over seas! since I know how hard it is to get part an shipping at that, but you guys still get things done!

so you never told the story about the red rash on the bed!! what happened?? did you fix it yet? also have you got the rear sway bar on yet? if not, then it will have better handling for the body roll going in an out of corners

I'll be watching your thread for updates

Rear sway bar fitted along with the caster mod and 1" taller upper ball joints which has made a huge difference to the handling, more noticeable on exit rather than entrance. Plan is still to brace the chassis come big tear down time but that is 10-12 months away, got a lot of fun to have before then!



Bar fitted the first time upside down, Doh!

P.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

"I get by with a little help from my friends"

That bedside was a mess... but its nice to see that you guys help each other parts-wise.

[Palf70Step]

Looking good. Glad all y'all over there are gettting together to make the C10 world happen!

[Paul Y]

Its fun to share as my Mummy always told me! Plus this would be a pretty miserable hobby if you spent it, like a hermit, in your garage.

Best thing about any sort of car or bike ownership is the friendships and experiences you share along the way, plus you learn some stuff as well.

Guess my Mum was right.

P.

[chad64chevy]

Originally Posted by Paul Y

Its fun to share as my Mummy always told me! Plus this would be a pretty miserable hobby if you spent it, like a hermit, in your garage.

Best thing about any sort of car or bike ownership is the friendships and experiences you share along the way, plus you learn some stuff as well.

Guess my Mum was right.

P.

I would have to agree, the friends I have made an all the things I have learned it worth it!!

[Paul Y]

Ok, for those paying attention what is the difference between this picture and the last garage view?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Let me give you a little clue.

3.

No. Ok what about this.



Bit of a give away that one.

Yup so I have finally fitted Woody’s new shoes.



Well the front ones anyway.

In order to achieve this I have finally fitted the 2 ½ dropped spindles, disks and the 5 stud conversion.

The end result.



And the money shot.




Which made me realise that the front tyre is too short.



Which, to be honest I already knew which is why I have just bought a pair of 235/65/15’s

Anyway, lets just drag it out into the daylight and have a better look.


Yup, a taller tyre is going to make that look just about right.

And just because it made me laugh a random picture that occurred whilst taking the picture above.



So, now just got to plumb in the disk conversion and we will be good to go.

P. 😃

[Grizz1963]

Woody looked good before, now he is even better.

That looks ace Paul.

Well done.

Next time give me a shout if you need company.

[Paul Y]

Thanks Rian,

Will look better with a bigger tyre, the 215's are only 25" tall and are lost in the arch!

235's work out at 27 so will bring the front up slightly and visually make it look...right...

P.

[Palf70Step]

Looking good mate!

[plainred65]

Nice stance Paul, I agree with the tire decision, big fan of the tall ones. Love the shot with the dogs doing what dogs do best.

[Paul Y]

Those of you still interested in my ramblings will remember the above from a year ago.

Well I was getting pretty bored of thumping panels with a bit of twig and a rock so decided to progress things along with the instrument cluster.

Started off by separating the vacuum gauge from its home of the past 40+ years



A bit of gentle pressure with my favourite screw driver



And we have separation!



A quick position in its new place and….ahh…



Thats when one of the most informative and useful threads happened to come into play, thank you Mr Chevyrestoguy who outlined how to take a Pontiac vacuum gauge and make it fit a C10 cluster!

Amazing that all this stuff just fits….

Anyway, with that bit done I turned my attention to the rev counter. Not going to bore you with pictures of me prying the backing off but here is the mock up once the face was removed.



And a random mock up picture before the vacuum gauge was made to fit.

[URL=http://s615.photobucket.com/user/Paul-Y/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-03/45ACFD0D-D71B-4512-87B0-9ED7D4D8BCBA_1.jpg.html][/.URL]

I think that is going to look rather spiffing



Armed with these I started the rather easy process of applying the new decals to the gauges, have to admit it did look rather good…



Before.



After.



Random picture of the needles after painting.



When fitting the rev counter it became very clear that the needle was not going to clear the gauge face and there was also the slight issue of how to retain it.

Now, Mr Astronaut did provide me with a couple of extra ‘bits’ and a diagram that would enable me to fashion a retainer for the rev counter but, because I always fail the tests that ask you to put the square peg in the round hole,true to form, I could not work out how to insert tab A in slot B so had to resort to CAD (Cardboard Aided Design)



So with a rough template made and transferred to the sides of an old washing machine I made this wonderful bit of tat.




Which when mated with



Enabled me to mount the rev counter so that it missed the gauge face and was nice and secure. Huzzah!

Next on the list was to instal a volt meter in place of the Ammeter.

So, again thanks to Mr Chevyrestoguy I learnt that a Voltmeter from a late 70’s C10 can be made to fit the 66 cluster.



Bit lacking in pictures as it was taking a lot longer than I had hoped but here is the disassembled gauge with a spacer made from a suitable piece of copper pipe



Reason for the spacer? The old gauge holder has to be drilled out to allow the new gauge to fit in the correct place. The spacer is just that, a spacer to hold it in the right relative position.



Here you can see the support made to hold it in place along with the hole required.



And here is the complete cluster, all done apart from the wiring.

This is the original cluster that Woody arrived with



And the new one mocked in place just because I needed to see something shiny…



First time I have had to use a Sawsall to remove an instrument cluster but that is another story all together…

Next will be wiring it up.

And on that bombshell….

P.

[mjh1965]

Very nice work Paul . Looks really good and a great improvement having a rev counter built into the cluster .

[clemdaddy]

I also think you did a great job... very clever install on the cluster.
whats up with woodys bed side, thought that got fixed?

[Grizz1963]

You continue to surprise me.......


That looks lovely.

[Paul Y]

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

I also think you did a great job... very clever install on the cluster.
whats up with woodys bed side, thought that got fixed?

Clem,

I have all the bits I need to fix the bed side, now just need to grow the Cojones....

Going to finish the disk upgrade and then take the bed off to fix it. Should be in the next few weeks bit don't hold me to it!

P.

[Paul Y]

Looking back at the pictures i have realised that I have changed the Ammeter for....an Ammeter!

What a plum.....

Never mind, the fitting will be the same just have to get a voltmeter. Anybody go one hanging around?

P.