The 65 C30 Farm Truck

[350TacoZilla]

Looks great man! I also like the 2nd pic best out of ones shown, only other combo I might try if I was you would be the long bottom board like pic #1&2 and the short top board like pic #5

[69 C10 LWB]

I finally got a chance to install my new idler arm yesterday. I took a chance on the one sold by LMC. Made in china but looks stronger than the factory part. I tried NAPA , Carquest and Oreillys but they all quoted me $250+. Greased all the zerks on the front end and she drives pretty good now. Judging a car show with some guys from work today so probably wont get much else done this weekend.

[69 C10 LWB]

I ordered a remain starter for my truck last weekend. New was not an option so I had to settle for a Chinese reman. The first one was in the wrong box so I had to wait for the right one. I installed it only to find the nose cone was about 1/8 thicker in most dimensions and it hit the flywheel. They sent my old one out to get rebuilt and hopefully I can pick it up tonight. I also noticed under all the grease and oil I’ve still got good paint on the bellhousing

[69 C10 LWB]

Last weekend I made some progress on the bed. I think Ive changed my mind about the sides again. I saved all the original hardware and kind of like the look of 2 boards with the removable steel spacer. Also had to take a minute to get approval from a couple of my friends.

[69 C10 LWB]

I got the sides mounted on the truck today. I still need to clean up the stakes a little bit and paint everything but I think its lookin pretty good. I made the front boards from 2X6s to protect the back of the cab if anything slides forward and the sides match the original 1x6s so I can keep the metal strips from the original bed. It lines up perfectly with the body line on the back of the cab. Im going to use the brackets from the fold up sides to reinforce the front corners. Im also going to weld washers to the front stakes and use that for antenna mounts. Also found out that the shifter boot from a B&M Megashifter fits the park brake pretty well and should help keep some of the fumes out of the cab.

[69 C10 LWB]

One of the only things I didn't like about the fuel cell was that the cap was almost impossible to get off without a screwdriver. I found a replacement from Summit Racing that is much better. Instead of a sheet metal ring on top it is a thick aluminum ring and it is sealed with an oring. I got some stainless bolts to mount it and it makes a huge difference. I highly recommend this to anyone that needs a new cap for their fuel cell.

[69 C10 LWB]

More snow on the roads means more salt and a longer hibernation. Ive got a new oil line and oil pressure gauge but Im still waiting to find an air tank before I start messing with gauges again. My narrow garage makes it hard to do much so I thought Id start on a project I actually have some room for. Ive seen a few people post about small diecast trucks and models theyve built so Im taking a little inspiration from them.

[straight6chevyguy]

I always thought about making a model of my 65 doing the same thing your doing but I've never done it.

Should look great when your done.

[69 C10 LWB]

I don’t know if it will look great but it will atleast satisfy the 60-66 addiction until the salt is gone off the roads and it warms up a little.

[69 C10 LWB]

Thanks to a brief break in winter I was able to get out and enjoy the day. I spent the morning at the junkyard looking for new seats for the truck. The original bench is still usable but not in great shape. The cover is ripped, half the foam is gone thanks to the little four legged critters that called it home for a while and half of the springs on the driver side are broken. I walked the yard 3 times looking for a truck that still had all the windows up. I was willing to use off brand seats but thankfully discovered these in a 99 Silverado. One of the things that pushed me to these seats was the built in belts. The aftermarket seat belts I put in my truck are uncomfortable and kind of a pain to deal with so these will be much better. I will have to modify the brackets for the center jump seat a little to clear the trans tunnel but these seats fit great and are much more comfortable.

[straight6chevyguy]

I generally don't like the look of newer seats in old truck but yours actually look pretty good.

[SBPage1]

Looks like it coming along great!!!

[69 C10 LWB]

I generally prefer the original bench as well but mine needed so much work and the seat belts I put in were so uncomfortable I was willing to give these a shot. I specifically looked for non power seats in honor of the original and I think once I get the center jump seat in it will look more like a bench and more original.

[350TacoZilla]

Looks good! Same seats I plan to use in my truck out of my parts 99 sierra lol, I mainly wanted the built in shoulder belts and like the console\seat for 3 up if needed. Hows the driving position with them sitting in there like the pic?

[ElReeso]

I prefer a bench seat but yours is looking really good.. mine currently has bucket seats out of a 65 chrysler. I might go the same route as you and use newer seats

[69 C10 LWB]

The driving position is pretty good. I prefer to sit pretty straight so others that prefer to lean back more probably wouldn’t be happy. My original seat was in rough shape but I think it is probably similar to a stock seat that still has foam and no broken springs. I have long legs and it’s a little tight but nothing I can’t live with.

[69 C10 LWB]

A little mid week update thanks to a few early days and some slightly warmer weather. Ive been working on upgrading all the dash lights to leds. I ordered 8 of the 5 LED tower lights for the main lights and 2 red and 3 green single LED lights for the blinkers and warning lights. If anyone needs LED lights I highly recommend superbrightleds.com. I ordered the lights at 5am and they were ready for pick up that night (I only live 5 mi from their warehouse). I kept the original bulb for the gen light since the alternator needs it. The results are pretty good in the garage, hopefully they will be as good in the truck. I also took this opportunity to work on the wiring a little bit as well. My alternator is on the passenger side and the wiring was on the driver side so I ran a new wire into the factory connector for the engine and I moved the wire under the dash also. I am going to run a wire for the tach in the same connector and remove the wire for the oil light. Not sure what Ill use the oil light for but I will keep it as a spare for now. I started working on a gauge panel for the aftermarket gauges I added. Im not a fan of the add on gauges under the dash and I wanted something a little different. I will also need a place to mount my radio since I had to get rid of the console on the floor to make room for the new seats.

[69 C10 LWB]

Need opinions on exhaust. I got a screaming deal on some 4” pipe. If I do it there will be 2. What do you think? Yes or no?


Also how the heck do you get pictures straight. I tried to rotate them 90 and they were still sideways. All 3 were taken the same way and now 1 is different from the others.

[straight6chevyguy]

Hard to tell with the pics being crooked but seems to look pretty good.
People like to say that only diesels should have stacks but to me that's total nonsense.
I say go for it! (But remember unless you like it really loud inside the cab I would be running some kind of mufflers LOL)

[69 C10 LWB]

Here is a picture from my computer. Tried several times to get them straight from my phone and every one of them was turned to one side or the other. Seems like smart phones aren't all that smart. Rant over, back to truck stuff.

Ill try to get a better picture but for now the engine harness is on my bench getting redone and the dash and gauges are sitting next to it. Kinda hard to back it out of the garage for good pictures when you take all 6 wires off the engine.

[straight6chevyguy]

Looks great!

[69 C10 LWB]

This weeks update includes a helpful tech tip. I cant take any credit for this, my grandpa showed me this many years ago and I dont know if he came up with it or if someone else did.

Hockey pucks are a surprisingly handy tool. My grandpa liked wood working and liked to tinker with just about anything. One of his favorites was powder activated hole punchers. He was always trying to drive out roll pins and just drive out grooved parts. His solution was to cut a groove in a hockey puck and then drill a few holes. The holes allow the pins to be driven to the bottom and the groove holds round parts from rolling away while you're doing it. This also works well for distributors when your trying to drive the pin out to remove the gear.

I installed a pertonix this weekend and had to pull the distributor shaft to shim it. The hockey worked great to support the gear during disassembly and reassembly. I installed the pertronix to eliminate the points(and resistor wire). Now the truck has a brand new custom made engine harness.

Also got the truck out in the sunlight for the first time in a while and got a picture of the new exhaust mocked into place. The bottom half of the pipe will be painted black to hide it.

[69 C10 LWB]

Monday my boss told me I should work from home and even said I could work on my truck between calls. I answer tech calls for heavy equipment techs so as long as I have access to a phone and my computer I can work. Turns out during a normal week I have no free time, big surprise there. I did finally get a chance to spend some time in the garage this weekend. I started working on my tail light harness. My original plan was to run my harness to the back and use the plug for my trailer lights as a junction block. After I got the harness made and run to the back of the truck I realized there was no way I could get all the wires into the plug so I am going to make a junction box and run everything through that. I was able to pull the terminals out of the original firewall plug and put new wires in it with some spare terminals I had. I also ran a wire to the big plug on the firewall that I will use for my brake controller when I get it installed. I removed wires for the alternator from that plug so I have a few open spots and I ordered some factory style terminals from American Autowire.

[350TacoZilla]

Good to see you plugging away at it making progress here and there man. If it was me I might look into one of those little universal fuse box's that has like 8-10 fuses and 2-4 relay spots and start wiring new stuff to it. The blade fuses are so much easier to find cheap and its kinda peace of mind to know where everything is routed\labeled.

[69 C10 LWB]

I thought about a new fuse box but thankfully the wiring in this truck was all original and in great shape. Ive gone through the cab harness and didnt find anything bad and the engine and tail light harnesses are all new now. I still have a couple boxes of the glass fuses so no issue there. I managed to get the box mounted for my junction block this afternoon. I still need to wire in the trailer plug but atleast now I have tail lights again and can drive it. I have a cover for the junction block it just isn't on yet. I need to get a plate to cover the fuel tank and the back of the frame so I wont mount the trailer plug until that is done. I am also going to get some clamps for the frame to finish securing the harness, it is zip tied up for now, but I used metal clamps for my brake and fuel lines and I want to get some for the harness to make everything match.