1965 Stepside, The LST Challenge

[aggie91]

No real work on the truck as taken place since my last post except that we got the fenders lined up with the doors so that the doors do not hit them when opened. Mounted the cowl extension panels and got the hood on. The grille made its way into the shop and was disassembled. I plan on taking the head light mounts to the powder coater this week along with a set of wheel for Owen's truck this week.

I had to move it again in the yard, so this time I noticed that I have brake lights and that the turn indicators are on (not sure they go out when you apply the brakes, I was not paying attention to that). I think that they stay on since I do not have the front turn signal harness ran and hooked up...

I am not happy with the way I did the PHB mount on the frame. It needs some stiffening up to work for me. That will be one of the first things to address when it gets back in the shop along with the rear shock mounts.

On a side note, I picked up another LS engine while I was at the scrap yard last week. I have no idea if it is any good yet, but it was a long block with coils and was only $145, but after the credit for the scrap I brought to sell, it was mine for $99.35. Its on a stand in the shop and whenever I decide to open it up, I will find out if I have gold or fool's gold for my efforts...

[aggie91]

In between working on the boat and other jobs I need to do around the house, I got a bit of time to pull apart the grill and headlight mounts. All of the hardware on the buckets was junk and the two retaining rings did not match. The headlight brackets where rusty and in need of refurbishment.

Part of what we are doing with Henry (Owen's '84 C10) is swapping to factory style rallies when we lower it. I took a full set to get powder coated for his birthday. While doing that, I dropped off the two headlight mounts for my truck too. They did a good job, but one of them had some serious rust pitting and it really shows on that one. Its on the back side so it will work for me. I personally would like it smooth, but I am resisting the OCD in me to redo it. I want to drive this thing and in the end, you won't even see this part when it is all together.



So now I am waiting on my parts from Classic Parts that I ordered to restore the headlight mounts with new hardware. I ordered all the screws, springs, adjusters and new stainless retaining rings. I just need to clean up the headlight buckets and repaint them once the parts arrive.

[Bomp]

Sorry to see you got hit by the Photosuckit bomb too.

[aggie91]

Crap...I have been having such good luck with them too...

Looks like I will be moving my photos to somewhere else...

Just got on photosuckit...they want $40 a month to be able to use 3rd party hosting of my pictures. you can get a discount if you pay it annually...$400 per year.

No thanks! that's just not worth it anymore...

[aggie91]

Just testing out a way to add photos...

I am thinking of buying this from my cousin and building a tow pig out of it...

[SCOTI]

Huh? What's to think about?

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Huh? What's to think about?

Well, let's see...The wife's boat (I get to keep it running), the daughter's gymnastics, the son's truck, the son's football, all three kid's college funds. Should I go on...


I really doubt he will sell it before I could actually think about building it anyway...

[aggie91]

OK, well I am going to try to get this thing to C10's in the Park. This weekend is the goal to get it ready for that event. It might not be pretty, but that's not the main goal.

Got the new fuel pump in the mail this week, so that is first on the list to replace. If it fixes my pressure problem then we will move on to the headlights, grille and front bumper. Don't hold your breath, but I hope to make it there....

[aggie91]

Here is a picture of the last time I worked on it...I had just got the headlight brackets back from powder coating. Did them in a satin black.

[aggie91]

OK, I was all pumped to get this thing ready for C10's in the Park, but my daily truck is giving me fits and I would need it to haul this one to the event...So instead of working on this one last week, I did trouble shooting on my '06 Duramax for "Reduced Engine Power" on the DIC. Not codes thrown in the pcm so that was no help. Decided to take it in on Monday, they can't get to it that day. Head back there this morning, they can work it in, SO now I am waiting on them to tell me what's wrong and how many arms and legs I am going to need to pay to get it fixed. Oh Well such is life.

So, I have been doing a few things to get the '65 finished up enough to take it to the Park if my tow pig is fixed. I needed to get the headlights put back together...

SO, took my adjuster buckets and spent some time in the blast cabinet, got them all cleaned up and painted. Use a stainless steel color, They look ok for a part that you can't see once it is all together. Pictures 1-3.

Next, once they where dry, I used all new hardware to reassembly the brackets and buckets. Picture 4 & 5

[aggie91]

One more, notice anything wrong with this picture...

[aggie91]

Next up was new bulbs, new stainless retaining rings and new screws. This completes the headlight assemblies. Next up is to refinish the grille and attach these assemblies to the grille with stainless #10 hardware.

The last pic shows what's wrong from the previous post. Spring is now in the correct location.

These simple job turned out really nice. Probably the nicest part that will be on the whole truck for quite a while...

[aggie91]

Tonight I hope to have sometime to prep and paint the grille and maybe work on the new wiring for the headlights using relays. Just a couple of nights left before C10's in the Park, but two of them are filled with football...

[aggie91]

Well, I made it to C10's in the Park!

I got to drive it into the show, that was the first time I had driven the truck since the spring of 2000. What a great feeling!

Its not running right, but I does run and move under its own power. Fuel pump was only making 35 psi (minimum for a LS engine to just idle), so that was replaced. Still does not idle correctly, it might be the IAC motor sticking, I will swap out that and see what happens. If that is not it, then we will hook up HP Tuners and really get into it...

For now here is a picture that someone else took at the show, that alone made me feel good that someone else liked it enough to take a picture and share on FB. I would have never thought it was picture worthy compared to many of the other 751 trucks at that show!

[greg65]

nice work Karl and congratulation on getting to drive it again. Makes all the hard work worth it.

[aggie91]

The '62 next to me belongs to an old friend, Don Debenport. He and I used to be part of a car club called Rose City Street Machines back in the late '80's thru the early/mid '90's. We attended many shows together with the other of that club. This is the first time these two trucks have been at the same show since propably 1988 or 1989. The green on his truck was sprayed in about 1991/1992... Here is a picture of that truck from the show.

[aggie91]

One more pic to share, this is from 1988 at the Waco Street Machine Mini Nat's that was held over Memorial Day weekend back in the day.

In this picture, my truck is behind all of us, and Don's is to the right in the photo, I think you can see the top of his bed and rear fender, it was white and blue back then and mine was code 23 blue...

You guys will have to guess which one of us is who in the pic...

I just noticed this one little thing, Back then his truck was lower than mine, now mine is lower than his...

[Bennett68C10]

Awesome Karl, glad you were able to make it to the show and enjoy driving the truck.

[aggie91]

Got home last night and had a little time to mess with the truck. I pulled my spare IAC out of the intake in the shop, cleaned it up and swapped it out. BINGO! Truck now starts and settles into a nice idle! Now, I just need to fix the fuel bleed down issue and get the OBDII port wired back in along with the check engine light.

Took my wife for a spin around the block, other than how load it was, she enjoyed it. If was the first time she and I had gone for a ride together in this truck since we lived in San Antonio about 17 years ago. Now clean up the last few items and get this thing registered and insured so that I can drive it!

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

Awesome Karl, glad you were able to make it to the show and enjoy driving the truck.

Thanks Keith! Now I just need your new suburban to make it my tow pig!

[aggie91]

Finally figured out my fuel pressure issue and it bleeding down after you shut off the engine. I broke down and bought a new FP regulator on Black Friday since AZ had a special and free shipping. Got a few extra parts I needed for my DD since I had to spend $125 to get $25 off and a $20 AZ gift card...All in that works out to $80 that I needed to spend.

Got the regulator installed is past week, BINGO it now holds 58psi at idle and does not bleed down after shutting off the engine. Next step is the OBDII port. Hoping that I can actually make it to LST 2018 with this thing and Owen's truck!

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Finally figured out my fuel pressure issue and it bleeding down after you shut off the engine. I broke down and bought a new FP regulator on Black Friday since AZ had a special and free shipping. Got a few extra parts I needed for my DD since I had to spend $125 to get $25 off and a $20 AZ gift card...All in that works out to $80 that I needed to spend.

Got the regulator installed is past week, BINGO it now holds 58psi at idle and does not bleed down after shutting off the engine. Next step is the OBDII port. Hoping that I can actually make it to LST 2018 with this thing and Owen's truck!

Progress!

[aggie91]

Just a quick update...

I have this thing registered to be at LST along with Owen's "Henry". It is not really where I wanted it to be for taking it there, so I am a bit on the fence about taking it now. I might just swap it's registration to a buddy so that he can take his truck. I just don't have the time to get it where I want it to be.

I have messed with it some, but truthfully, I have not been very motivated to work on it. I go out there, but just don't feel like doing what I need to do which in reality is not much...We have been putting more focus on Owen's truck to get it ready for LST.

Anyway, while wasting time on You Tube, I stumbled across a video from Bowtie Junkies that they put together of C10's in the Park 2017. I made someone's video! Here is a snippit from it...

[regan wilson]

I havent look at your thread in awhile. The truck is looking good. I passed Don on his way to that event while on way to Stephenville. That old pic from Waco is funny.

[aggie91]

thanks for checking in Regan. The truck has sat most of the time since that event last year. I do have it running better, but it still needs some wiring done to make it street legal. Selling/Buying a house and going thru a separation and possible divorce has it set aside again.