Omodified's 1970 SWB Custom/10

[VA72C10]

Looking good!!!

[gcburdic]

Always glad to help....keep up the progress...whne are ya gonna be driving this thing again??

[omodified]

So, my daughter is spending the night with a friend tonight, which gave my wife and I some time to ourselves. She wanted to go see a movie which we don't get to do much. Dinner was first on her list. Lowes was second. Third, work on the truck to pass some time until the movie starts...for real??? I had a few things I wanted to do anyway. One thing, I needed her help with too. So off we went to the garage. Many reasons I have always said that she is a great woman, this is just another to add to the list!

So, a few weeks ago, I mocked up the stock throttle rod with the Edelbrock adapter. For one thing, I wasn't real happy with the looks of it. Another thing, after researching here, people have complained about them binding up and making the throttle stick. Well, I didn't want that happening to me. So, I took some time to collect some ideas. I found a thread here that discussed this subject and a member had a threaded rod with heims on the end. It looked really nice, but I wasn't a big fan of all the exposed threads. Plus, you know me by now, always worried about corrosion. On top of this find, I also discovered that the rod I have was a 4x4 rod or something and it was bent to shorten so it would fit this truck. Oh, it had to go now!

While I was at the GoodGuys show, I met the owner of a real nice silver 1968 C10. It was parked on pit road. He had really nice throttle rod with no exposed threads. The only threads were on the ends for the heims. The rest was nice and smooth. So, I asked him where he came up with that setup. From his Harley Davidson! It was the shifting rod that he had replaced with a chrome piece a while back and it was the perfect length. Sounded good to me. I came home and found one on Ebay that was black powdercoated. I put it together with some rod ends that I had at work. He was right, the length is absolutely perfect! Looks perfect too.


Wife got me while I was installing it.





The finished product...

[omodified]

Geoff, I am hoping to prime and time this weekend, but we shall see...

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Nice update to the old throttle assembly..

[1970ChevyChamp]

Any updates?

[omodified]

Ugh...updates. Well, I have been busy as heck at work. Most people in my industry slow down this time of year, but my work ramps up to triple time. Lots of work in the shop and lots of work on the road. Needless to say, there hasn't been much time for the old truck. Can't wait to get back to it!!!

[67cheby]

boy arent you just a total show off !!! LOL, wow, totally JEALOUS !!

[omodified]

Got some large parts in today. I figured if I was tripping over these all the time, that it would push me to finish the job. According to Dave's Truck Parts, these are direct bolt. Cost a bit more money, but no headaches trying to line them up. We shall see...

[omodified]

Time to get this thing running!!! Had an interesting problem come up right off the bat. Was preparing to drop the distributor in. Needed to turn the motor over to TDC. Guess what, motor seized up. I tried to turn the block either direction using the crank bolt. Wouldn't budge. Unbelievable. Not the time to panic. Think, think. Ok, took the inspection cover off of the flywheel. Used a prybar to turn the flywheel. It won't turn forward. Dang it!!! Might as well try backwards. It worked. Got it to spin 360 degrees. Now it will turn forward too. I can't think of anything that would have caused this. There is absolutely no way that something is lodged in one of the cylinders. Motor turned over several times when the cylinders were pressurized to install the valve springs. Just doesn't make sense. The only thing I can think of is that I seem to remember the new fuel pump said that it needed primed prior to installation and I forgot to do that. I did attempt to prime it by hand at first but it wouldn't budge. So maybe that cause it all to seize up. I'm a little nervous to proceed, but I don't want to tear down after all that has been done. Gotta move forward and hope for a little luck. Compression seem decent now that is is turning , so that's a good sign. No clanking noises...

[omodified]

TDC is set and the distributor is in. Time to run the wires.





After careful consideration and reading how most people have run their wires, I decided to use the factory routing method. I plan to run the ramhorns for a while and this look is just a cleaner look (minus the rust, I know). One day I may decide to run headers, but until then, this is the best looking IMO.

[omodified]

Ugh, more problems!!! Good news is, the motor turns over by use of the starter and no unexpected noises. Bad news is, it won't fire. Checked the plug wires and it's getting spark. Fuel is entering the filter and carb, so it's getting fuel. Pulled distributor cap off and distributor wasn't quite matched up to TDC. Repositioned the distributor and tried to start again. Engine tried to fire but wouldn't quite start. Pulled the plugs and boy were they fuel fouled. Cleaned the plugs with carb cleaner and dried them off. Turned the motor over to clear out the cylinders. Hopefully it will fire tomorrow.

[lolife99]

Congrats on getting it fired up.
Your truck is still one of my favorite trucks here,...

[omodified]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Congrats on getting it fired up.
Your truck is still one of my favorite trucks here,...

Wow, thanks a lot Keith! I never expected to hear that considering how many nice trucks there are here.

[omodified]

I decided to venture into the world of NOS on Ebay. I am just curious what was out there. Interesting how little there is. I did come across some deluxe side markers. I have been wanting replace mine, but I was worried because I kept hearing about about the trim falling off the repops. Anyways, this Chevy dealer had them for sale in Oregon.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/69-72-CHEVY-...item4cfd3c3603

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-72-CHEV...item5647e7693e

They seemed reasonably priced, so I went for it. I got them in today. I didn't realize how bad off mine really were. They are deformed (heat I guess) and the black bezel is missing. I never even noticed that before. Anyways, they look great and I am very happy with this purchase.

[omodified]

I sure was getting tired of looking at this thing everytime I opened the hood, and I opened and closed that hood a bunch on the recent engine project.




Fortunately, I hooked up with member t_korinek and he sold me a really nice driver replacement. It needed a bit of polishing, but it cleaned up really nice!

[omodified]

Well, I'm gonna have to figure out how to stay out of NOS world. I found my self there again on Ebay and found a good deal on front turn signal marker lenses. I got them in today. I attempted to clean and polish the originals awhile back. As you can see, there is no comparison to new ones.





Here they are installed. Beautiful!

[lolife99]

Do you have a link to the Trico blades?

You did good buying the NOS marker lights.
The repop version of these suck.
I've bought 3 rear marker lights because the "chrome trim" flies off going down the road.

Keep up the progress!

[omodified]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Do you have a link to the Trico blades?

You did good buying the NOS marker lights.
The repop version of these suck.
I've bought 3 rear marker lights because the "chrome trim" flies off going down the road.

Keep up the progress!

Here ya go Keith...looks like they have more.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370515996708...84.m1497.l2649

[lolife99]

Originally Posted by omodified

Here ya go Keith...looks like they have more.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370515996708...84.m1497.l2649

Thank you!

[omodified]

Alright, the blades came in today and it was good timing too. We had just removed the wiper arms so we could start installing the new antenna.




Here is the antenna that we are removing. This obviously isn't original, but the worst it that the adjustment will not stay tight at the base and it keeps falling back onto the A-post. Plus the chrome is gone!




Here is what we found under the cowl once it was removed. Lots of Georgia dirt! Plus the wiper transmission arms are really rusted.

[KRUSTY 51]

Very nice...reading your thread, I really need to start documenting on film the work on my own truck.

[omodified]

Well, we tore in a bit deeper today. I thought since I would be removing the wiper transmission linkage, that it might be a good time to investigate why the washer pump doesn't work. I removed the gauge cluster and the defrost hoses/vent. That gave me access to the wiper motor and washer pump. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I broke the defrost vent due to it being welded to the hose (?!?!). It's ok though, because it was originally brown and the PO had painted it black. I pulled the hoses into the cab and ran them into a bucket. I primed the pump. It made a heck of a loud noise and kept getting louder. However, nothing ever came out of the hoses. I have seen the rebuild kits for these, but I haven't heard many success stories. So, time to remove the two units and get a closer look.

When I was testing the pump, I noticed how loud the wiper motor and everything attached to it really is. Lots of squeaks. I removed the wiper transmission linkage and most of the squeaking was coming from this thing. Hopefully after the cleanup, I can lube everything and quiet it down. Linkage off and cowl cleaned...




I got the old units out and onto the bench. The motor had a large mud clump stuck to the top of it. Apparently the mud clump used to be somebody's home. Now it's a tomb. Time to get two new units...yuck!

[omodified]

So, I took the wiper linkage to work today and clean it all up. Put some fresh primer/paint on it and brought it home. I ran the hose and mounted the linkage back up to the truck. I did manage to get some lithium grease in the tight spots and I will be sure to grease everything when I connect it back to the new pump. So far nothing is squeaking.

[omodified]

Today, I ordered the parts I will need to finish this interior/wiper motor/washer project. My local Advance Auto Parts had the wiper motor and washer pump in stock, so I went and picked those up. The motor is a reman. Still says Delco, made in Dayton, Ohio right on the case. The pump is brand new, made right here in the USA. Cool! Hopefully this all works cause I don't want to have to take it all apart again.