My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

That last pic reminded me of something...

I hate heat riser valves. You never know when they're going to seize in the closed position, or have the flapper break off inside your exhaust pipe. I wanted to remove mine, but then I'd have to deal with how to seal up the manifold/headpipe joint.

My solution was the remove and gut the heat riser and tap the shaft holes for a couple screws to seal the holes. I then bored the housing out to the gasket ID to get rid of any restriction that was there. My tired old 283 needs all the help it can get.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I got a great swap meet deal on a set of 88 to mid 90's 6-lug centre caps. Since my truck has the original 7/16-20 studs, I needed to buy aftermarket external thread lugnuts. No problem, I picked some up on ebay.

When tightening the lugnuts I noticed that the nuts were barely engaging the conical seats in my steel rally wheels. A closer look shows that theres a much bigger flat on the end of these nuts compared to the originals.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Fortunately, I'm able to give these a quick spin on a lathe to turn down the 60 degree tapered end. Just a few minutes to re-work the whole set of 24.

Finally... tomorrow will be wheels on, running, lowered, T5, and power brakes.

[Vincenthdfan]

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

My solution was the remove and gut the heat riser and tap the shaft holes for a couple screws to seal the holes. I then bored the housing out to the gasket ID to get rid of any restriction that was there. My tired old 283 needs all the help it can get.

Brilliant!

I'm going to steal your idea there.

I'm in the middle of swapping a crate 350 in place of my tired 283, but...like you, I didn't want to re-use that damn heat riser with my old ram horn manifolds.

That heat riser just looks like a problem waiting to happen.

[TJ's Chevy]

Looks good! Looking forward to tomorrow's progress.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by Vincenthdfan

Brilliant!

I'm going to steal your idea there.

Feel free! Its all about sharing ideas.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I was able to get a lot of little things finished up today. I had to shorten the Panhard Bar that I bought on ebay. A little too long, so I cut out the treaded bung, shortened the tube and re-welded.

I got the wheels on and the new centre caps installed. I like the way they look.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Pretty much ready to head out for a shakedown cruise... tomorrow. Curious to see how it handles and stops now. I haven't installed the sway bars yet. I want to compare before and after.

Here's a couple pics to compare the stance. 1st pic is on Daytona Beach when I first bought my C10, and 2nd pic is today. I did a 4-1/2" front - 5" rear drop. Same wheels & tires in both pics.

[FL71C10]

Lookin good, I like the stance!

[ibrown50]

Great thread, love the truck the new stance is just what I'm hoping to end up with, I'm going 2" drop springs with 2 1/2 inch drop spindles on the front with 4" drop springs on the rear, I'll use lowering blocks to get the rest. Would love to do a BBW conversion but finding one I the UK? There's definitely more giant pandas

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by FL71C10

Lookin good, I like the stance!

Thanks FL71C10! I'm pretty happy with it.

I see you're in Orlando. I purchased my C10 in Winter Park FL.

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Would love to do a BBW conversion but finding one I the UK?

Yes ibrown50, I can imagine. It took quite a bit of looking to find one in my area too. Not many around, and everything is so rusty.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Ugh! Another setback. I'd picked up a double-adjustable Panhard Bar from CPP's ebay store for my '63. I was a little peeved when it turned out to be 3" too long. I shortened the bar, as I mentioned a couple posts back. When I mounted it, the Panhard Bar was going to hit the Diff Cover. WTF?

I did find it odd that when I removed the "original" bar, that the mounting stud was not perpendicular to the mounting bolt. I couldn't believe that Chevy would build something like that.

When I got home late last night I did some searching here, and came to the conclusion that my rear axle is not original.

I learned from this thread... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=617923 ... that I have a 65-72 rear axle in my '63. Thanks Captain Fab! My axle housing has a Panhard mounting lug on the right side of the centre section. A '63 should have a welded bracket on the right axle tube.

Oh well... I guess I'll need to do some work. I have a pretty easy fix in mind.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I got my Panhard Bar figured out. I made a new, 2 inches longer, tapered mounting stud to move the Panhard Bar away from the Diff Cover. To correct the misalignment between the rod end and the mounting stud, I made a new threaded piece with an 80 degree angle where it welds together.

1st pic shows the old stud and the new pieces. After some tig love, the 2nd pic shows it all assembled and ready to mount.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

The new Panhard Bar fit great. Everything lined up perfectly.

[ibrown50]

Another nice job, looks great

[Grizz1963]

One of those jobs I need to d to my truck. Panhard rod.

Also like the Rallyes.

[CRGRS 66]

Just on catching up on about 100 threads as I have not logged on to the forum since probably February. You are knocking it out of the park buddy, truck looks great!

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Thanks Ian, Rian, and Craig.

Holy smokes, where did the month of July go?

I'll have to recap a few improvements I've made to my C10... but no time right now. I'm in the middle of a very busy weekend.

I went to a big car show put on by "Old Autos" (monthly paper) in Bothwell Ontario, and met up with Dale (known here as 65sub), and his lovely daughter Sarah. It was nice talking to both of them, and seeing Dale's 409 Suburban. There was lots of cool stuff done to it, and I'm sure the "Twisted Little Sister" will be more of the same... but better.

The drive to Bothwell was nearly 2 hours each way. After spending a few hours there, we rushed back to Kitchener (about 20 minutes from home) where the annual Blues Festival was taking place. I wanted to see Watermelon Slim perform at 5pm. He's awesome! Former truck driver turned Bluesman. He plays slide guitar using a sparkplug socket.

After that we zipped home to Cambridge where the annual Ribfest was on. We had overcooked ribs for supper, went home to grab some long sleeves, then back out to watch more Blues. A long but fun day.

That's it...I gotta go. I'm getting the evil eye. Apparently the grass needs cutting.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I found this Short Throw T5 shifter mod posted by a Stovebolt member named Steppenwood. The instructions can be found here: http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/shifter/

Basically, the mod involves moving the shifter pivot pin 1" higher, then adding a 1" spacer so that the shifter will sit at the same height in relation to the T5's internal shift mechanism.

I should mention... I'm using a stock S10 that I straightened slightly in a hydraulic shop press to make it clear my bench seat.

After making a spacer out of 1" aluminum plate, I dismantled my S10 shifter. I pressed out the pivot pin, then drilled a new hole 1" further up the shifter handle. The original pin measured .309" diameter. Rather than spend a bunch of time creating an odd-sized hole, I simply replaced the pin with a 5/16" (.3125") dowel pin, and reamed the hole accordingly. I used a -.001" reamer.

I like it! The shifter feels much more "sporty" now.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Anyone else having a bad day? I pulled my rear diff cover to replace the lube and to confirm that I have a 3.73:1 gear ratio.

Guess what I found? A bunch of damage to the carrier from a previous blowup.

Back when I attached the driveshaft to the rear yoke, I noticed that there seemed to be more than the usual amount of play when rotating the pinion back and forth. Now I see why. The spider gear shaft (or whatever you call it) is loose in it's bore. The extra play I noticed is the shaft moving around.

There's nothing I can do about it right now, so down the road we go. I guess I'll start looking for a posi.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

No fun today. I had Carpal Tunnel surgery... so I won't be driving my C10 with manual steering, or riding the scooter for a few days. This hurts a lot more than I expected, and now I have to look forward to getting my other hand done.

[lower50's]

Great story on getting the truck. You have done a great job on fixing it up. Covered up shoty repairs are never fun to find. Sucks about your c/t surgery hope it feels better soon.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Thanks lower50's. My build is pretty simple compared to yours! By the way, I've got a 36" Princess Auto sheetmetal brake that you're welcome to borrow if you want.

[lower50's]

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

Thanks lower50's. My build is pretty simple compared to yours! By the way, I've got a 36" Princess Auto sheetmetal brake that you're welcome to borrow if you want.

Ya it's a lot of fun work. Thankyou very much for the offer. I'll let you know. How's the hand?

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

The hand's pretty sore, but better than yesterday. Couple more days it'll be fine. Thanks