Jim's 1969 Custom/20

[treveiger]

Hey thanks, the service manual at times can be confusing
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[bollybib]

69 WHITE SADDLE

Originally Posted by bollybib

Hi,

I saw the pic of your truck in Post#32 of the "Why we do it?" thread. There are pics of a few other 69 White/saddle fleetsides like yours and mine posted throughout my Project thread. I would like to add your truck's profile pic to my thread with your permission or you could post a pic yourself if you like.

You have a cool truck. Sounds like you got a great deal on it. I'm glad you drive it a lot and get it the attention it deserves.

Jim

Originally Posted by Forum4130rl

Hello Jim,

I'm in the Army and was out and about doing "army stuff", so I haven't been on here for a while... So forgive my tardiness. Yeah, feel free to post my truck in there or send me a link to the thread and I will jump in there.

I keep thinking about removing all the trim and painting it, but there is just something about that color scheme that I love even though it's old and "tired"...

Rob

Rob owns this good looking 69 Custom/10 in White/saddle that I thought would be a nice addition to the other 69 white/saddles that have found their way to this thread. Thank you, Rob.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...6&postcount=32

In addition to mine and Rob's, these are the other 69 White/saddles so far.
Post #34: Owner, 69-72, http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...2&postcount=34
Post #54: Owner, yuccales, http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...9&postcount=54
Post #70: Owner, Sicklajoie (repainted orange), http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...5&postcount=70
Post #88: Owner, plummen, http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...2&postcount=88

[thirdstreettito]

Great build! Love the writeups! The way build thread should be! Very nice!

[bollybib]

Originally Posted by thirdstreettito

Great build! Love the writeups! The way build thread should be! Very nice!

Thanks for your post. I get a charge out of it when young enthusiasts like yourself post comments here. Looks like you're having a lot of fun with your machines, too.

[thirdstreettito]

Hey wait a second, how do you know I'm young? Am I that handsome?

[bollybib]

REFERENCE BOOKS (1 OF 2)

These are the published sources of information on the operation, service, and repair of my 69 C20 that I’ve obtained and used for reference. There is much more available, of course, but I think these cover just about everything you need to know to get one up and running again. eBay, amazon, and the Parts Board are all economical sources to obtain them.


1969 Chevrolet Truck Chassis Service Manual, Series 10-60
Contains information on nearly every aspect of truck service and minor repairs.



1969 Chevrolet Truck Chassis Overhaul Manual, Series 10-60
Full blown descriptions and pics on major overhaul items like engines, transmissions and so on.



1969 Chevrolet Truck Owner’s and Driver’s Manual, Series 10-30
This one is an excellent source of information describing how things like locks, lights, heating and A/C, etc., should work.

Chevrolet Truck Parts Catalog for 1946-1972 Series 10 thru 30, September 1972 edition (on CD)
It takes a while to figure out how to use, but every part on your truck can be found in here somewhere. My CD doesn’t have .pdf search capability and I recommend you obtain one with the search feature so you can find stuff easier. I’ve been making up my own table of contents as I go along.



1969 Chevrolet Pickups, chassis-cabs and 4-wheel drives
Chevrolet catalog of light trucks for the 1969 model year. Contains good information on available options and many interesting pics of brand new 1969 trucks.



Haynes Repair Manual, Chevrolet & GMC Pick-ups 1967 thru 1987, 2WD and 4WD
This book covers a lot of years but has some good info and pics not found in the GM manuals

[bollybib]

REFERENCE BOOKS (2 OF 2)


1967-1972 Chev/GMC Truck Factory Assembly Instruction Manual (AIM)
This manual has been heavily edited. The AIM for each of the six years had many pages removed and then all six years were combined into one volume. Important information like part numbers and title blocks have been removed, making the many cross references and tables of contents undecipherable. A true AIM would have all the information intact and be for one year only. I originally bought a brand new AIM and was extremely unhappy with it, so I returned it. I later found a used one that I bought here in the Parts Board for a lot less money.


This is a pic of a typical truck AIM page, title block and part numbers have been obliterated.


For comparison, this is a pic of an AIM page showing a similar system for a 1967 Corvette, title block and part numbers are intact.


I also bought a 1971 Service Manual several months before I bought my truck. I needed something to educate me about the mechanics of these trucks while I was searching for one to buy.

Service Manual 1969………………......…..$.13.94
Overhaul Manual 1969……………….......…..10.95
Owner's Manual 1969………………........……12.95
Truck Parts Catalog……………………..........12.49
Sales Brochure……………………….........…...13.99
Factory AIM (shipping cost to return)…..13.06
Factory AIM (Parts Board)……………........30.95
Service Manual 1971…………….........………15.62
Total…………………………………...............$.123.95

[bollybib]

Originally Posted by thirdstreettito

Hey wait a second, how do you know I'm young? Am I that handsome?

Can't say about your looks but your profile was a clue to your age

[thirdstreettito]

Yeah well, someones resourceful. Thanks for reminding me about my profile picture. Been here almost 4 years and never put one up. :P

[bollybib]

Originally Posted by thirdstreettito

Yeah well, someones resourceful. Thanks for reminding me about my profile picture. Been here almost 4 years and never put one up. :P

ya, i think most people don't pay any attention to profiles here

[bollybib]

TACH (1 OF 1)

Now that this beasty boy is running good, I’ll be using it as a daily driver and watching how the engine and transmission behave. I thought it would be beneficial to have a tach in the cab to monitor the RPMs while I drive. I found this discussion going on recently that helped me decide what tach to install.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=481747

After rummaging thru old threads, it looks like a factory tach for my truck would have been up to 5000 rpm.

So I decided on a 0-4K RPM AutoMeter 2890 - - - > http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ATM-2890/?rtype=10

I ordered the tach from Summit and it arrived in just two days. With it, I also got a $50 certificate for future purchases and free stickers, what a great deal ! It took me a couple of days to install and it was a fun job to do. I had to buy some electrical connectors and that’s about it. To protect the paint on the steering column, I lined the inner surface of a hose clamp I had on hand. I also set 1/8" diameter wire shims near the wireway on the bottom of the steering column so I wouldnt crush the wireway. I used a piece of fuel hose for a conduit to get the wiring off the steering column and under the dash. I used a lot of plastic tie wraps to secure everything but I had lots of those already.

The 4K range seemed kinda short at first, but so far I haven’t pegged it. The trigger plugs directly into the tach connection on my MSD ignition and no adapter is needed (unlike some other tachs I looked at). The needle hangs out at around 2K for most of my driving which is smack dab in midrange. The light at night fits in well with the stock lighting on the dash, too.

Here is the finished installation. It looks like it belongs there, that’s always a plus.



After driving around for a while, here are some of the RPM figures I’ve come up with (under light throttle).

MPH……....…RPM
20………....….900
40…………...1800
60…………...2700
70……….…..3150
Idle (in D)...650

I’ll be back to edit this post when I obtain mo bettah RPM data.

All in all, its a cool little tach.


AutoMeter LoRev Tach...................$.101.90
Electrical parts for tach installation........2.69
Total..........................................$.104.59

[treveiger]

I've been looking at the same one, does it ever go higher then 4?
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[bollybib]

Highest I've seen it go so far is about 3300 RPM and that's almost 80 mph which I don't plan on doing hardly ever. Even when I lay into the throttle off the line it stays below 3000. My kickdown is disconnected so I don't know what I'd see if it were able to downshift for passing. I can rev it in neutral and get it near 4K and could probably push it to peg.,,..but I have no reason to do that.

[treveiger]

Does the motor wind up pretty high around 3200. I really like the way that tac looks in our trucks.
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[oldblue1968chevy]

Gee lol I rev mine up to 5K+

I like that tach

[bollybib]

It does look nice. 5K+ would probably be a better range but I drive with a light foot. I just got back from the store. I punched it hard and it only went as far as 3500. The gas gauge moved in the opposite direction nearly as far haha.

[treveiger]

Originally Posted by bollybib

It does look nice. 5K+ would probably be a better range but I drive with a light foot. I just got back from the store. I punched it hard and it only went as far as 3500. The gas gauge moved in the opposite direction nearly as far haha.

Ya mine seems to move too like that
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[bollybib]

COST$ TO DATE (1 OF 1)
September 18, 2011


Before Jim Bought a 1969 Custom/20
Three Grand + Tools
Ready to make offer on a 67
(327 turned out to be a 283 so no offer)

If you‘ve been reading my posts, you know I’ve been keeping track of the costs. Here is a summary of everything I’ve spent on this beast up until now.

COST BASIS……………………..……$.1,952.04
Includes purchase price, transport,
insurance, and registration.

Brakes…………..$.392.87
Drive Train……….324.34
Fuel……………….245.94
Engine…………….405.85
Suspension…….….102.18
Transmission….…..13.92
Electrical…….…….32.75
Body……….……..296.48
Steering……..………9.56
Exhaust…….…….461.79
PARTS………………………………….$.2,285.68
Includes all parts, labor, and materials needed
to complete the work I’ve described in
the foregoing posts.

DOCUMENTS………………………..….$.123.95
Reference materials I felt were necessary
to perform the work.

.....................................___________

TOTAL……………………….…………$.4,361.67

The total is interesting. When I was looking for a truck to buy, the highest priced one that I considered was about $3,800, 500 miles away, and with known issues. Although it took about ten months to get mine into good driving condition, now I have a decent driver with no major issues facing me for a few hundred more than that. I performed nearly all the work myself, so the cost of labor was essentially zero.

In addition, I spent $539.28 on tools that I purchased for specific tasks that I needed to do on the truck. Most can be used for other tasks.

Right now I have a to-do list that amounts to about $1,000. This includes new rear brake drums, new seat foam and covers, and a few other miscellaneous appearance items.

The body and trim could use freshening, but I’m kinda glad it’s a little beat-up so I won’t become suicidal upon the occurrence of future Scratches and Dings. I want to move on and do some engine work that I need to work out a plan for, too. That will eat up a lot of dough in a future budget.

Thanks for reading & Keep On Truckin'

[VA72C10]

Nice detailed writeup!!! Great info for others considering a purchase!

[treveiger]

It adds up fast don't it! But the crazy thing is the list to do adds up faster
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[thirdstreettito]

That is a great total cost Jim! I was expecting more like $5,000. You've done real well doing it all yourself. Good job!

[bollybib]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Nice detailed writeup!!! Great info for others considering a purchase!

Thanks. That's what I had in mind when I began collecting all this cost info.

Originally Posted by treveiger

It adds up fast don't it! But the crazy thing is the list to do adds up faster
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There are so many temptations out there luring one to do this and that to a truck. Thankfully I'm older (for sure) and wiser (I hope) and I've learned to keep my wish list in sync with my budget.

Originally Posted by thirdstreettito

That is a great total cost Jim! I was expecting more like $5,000. You've done real well doing it all yourself. Good job!

It does add up, no doubt about it. I think I got a good return in both job satisfaction and being able to drive this unique vehicle. Thanks for the compliment.

[bollybib]

I've been trying to figure out what steering wheel would look and feel good. So this morning I took the wheel out of my 67 Vette and put it in my truck.



Kinda blew me away it looked so good. When I build the seat foam back up to normal I'll be closer to the wheel so I think this size wheel is still a little too big (D=16, Offset = 5 1/2) so I'm considering a slightly smaller Grant wheel (D = 14 1/2, Offset (with Vette hub) = 4 1/2). The stock wheel is D = 17, Offset = 5.

This one in dark mahogany
http://grantproducts.com/products/view/101/

or this one in light walnut
http://grantproducts.com/products/view/102/

I'm gonna drive it around with the Vette wheel on for a few days and see how it feels.

[treveiger]

That looks awesome! You'll have to tell us how it feels.
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[bollybib]

I drove my truck from Carlsbad up to LA and back September 27-28, 2011 for a dawn patrol urban surf session at El Porto with my buddy. Put about 280 miles round trip on the rumbling beast with no complaints, a lot of freeway driving at 60-65 mph most of the time. Everything ran bi+chen.

The steering wheel not only looks cool, but felt OK, too. The rim is a little thin and the circumference seems a bit large for my hands to rest on it comfortably in the 10-2 oclock positions, that's my harshest criticism. Lots of room to get in and out of the truck, more so than the stock wheel, it's offset slightly more (1/2"). Now I'm thinking in terms of a repro 67 Vette wheel and horn button rather than a Grant. Looks like about $500 to change it over the way I want, so I'll be deferring this for a while. I can just swap with the Vette now and again, it isnt too difficult to do. Maybe I should try using the stock truck wheel in the Vette, that would look pretty dumb I bet haha. (maybe I'll edit a pic of that in here later for fun).

Peace