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

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Hello, and I hope everyone had a good Christmas! After a long hiatus, I'm getting a little bit done on my C10.

After a very busy few days at home with lots of family visiting, I've whisked my wife off to a "romantic" night away. I'm camped out at a Fairfield Suites beside the Buffalo NY airport. Don't tell my wife, but the over-nighter was just a ploy to get some after-xmas deals at Harbor Freight, and what ever else I can find.

In the past few days, I finally got around to disconnecting and discarding my voltage regulator. I followed Sharps40's detailed instructions here: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=599559

Junk...

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Another thing In haven't gotten around to doing is to reduce the brake pedal leverage since converting to Power Brakes. Pretty touchy, it is.

I was very impressed with how Chevyrestoguy dealt with the misalignment of the pedal pushrod, starting with post #324 here... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...446527&page=13

I spent a couple hours in the woods looking for and retrieving a pedal assembly to pillage for my "bellcrank" mod. After getting it home and dismantling it, I took a look under my dash and realized that I may not have enough room !
I flush-mounted my master/booster, so it sits back a few inches more than normal. Oh well, I'll see what I can figure out when I get back to it.

[65sub]

Happy New Year John. Good to see some progress

[ibrown50]

Happy New year John, I have a the same brake pedal lever problem so the link was really helpful , looking forward to seeing how you fix yours.

[clemdaddy]

just read your thread and i think that truck has the right owner… good clean solutions to every problem. love the stance and the rallys and the cool blue color, the shifter on the T5 change was well explained and something definitely worth doing.
thanks for the info… subscribed for the ride.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Dale & Ian, Happy New Year to you guys, and everyone else on the forum.

Hi Clem, thanks for the kind words. I don't know if I'll ever build a truck to the high standards that you and many other talented builders on this forum do on a daily basis. For now I'm happy to have a cool C10 driver that I can improve a little at a time.

[Grizz1963]

Sometimes a driver is 100x more fun than a show queen where you worry about the next idiot with a belt buckle getting too close.

You have certainly built the right truck.

[lower50's]

A little bit here and there and soon it will be just the way you want it, till tomorrow.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

You have certainly built the right truck.

Thanks Rian.

Originally Posted by lower50's

A little bit here and there and soon it will be just the way you want it, till tomorrow.

Yep Bob, that's how I see it.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I started the changeover to Power steering. Thanks to Captainfab's adapter plate, mounting the Steering Box was quick and easy. I aligned the supplied template to the original mounting holes by shining a small flashlight from the inside of the frame rail, thru each hole. It worked well. After drilling the new holes, I cleaned up the frame and sprayed it and the back side of the adapter plate with weld-thru zinc primer. I welded the plate in place and mounted the steering box.

For the steering column, I cut the rag-joint flange off the same donor truck that I pulled the steering box from. I bored it out until it would just slip over the steering shaft. I drilled two holes for plug-welds, and welded around the shaft as well. A little satin-black paint, and that's that.

Now to get the pump, and pulleys sorted out. I have a bunch of random parts to choose from.

[ibrown50]

That's a really neat installation, great idea boring the old rag joint, looks great

[lower50's]

MMM power steering cool. Umm if you wanted to paint your hand it works better if your not holding anything

[65sub]

Originally Posted by lower50's

MMM power steering cool. Umm if you wanted to paint your hand it works better if your not holding anything

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I'm finally getting back on to the C10. I had a rough stretch at work... overwhelmed with work, and lots of stress preparing tooling for a site job at a power plant. Then, just after getting thru that, we had a surprise safety inspection by a Ministry of Labour rep. These inspections are never fun, but we got thru it relatively unscathed.

On a happier note, three weeks ago I gave away my eldest daughter. Funny thing is, I've never spent so much to "give" something away . We all had a great time at the wedding. So nice seeing family and friends from all over.

Here's a pic of the beautiful bride and her always proud daddy.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I was working on the power steering, trying to put a pump and bracket together from a bunch of odds and ends. I decided that I hate the way the factory brackets looked, so I threw something together from some 1/4" stainless steel plate. It took a couple tries, but I have something that looks pretty good and lines up nicely with the existing pulley.

The weather was so balmy last sunday that I wheeled my "stand on" polishing setup and shined up my new bracket. We're back to winter weather again, -25C this morning (that's 13 below in Fahrenheit).

[Grizz1963]

Congratulations on losing a daughter, but hopefully gaining a man to speak to..... Am sure that like most men, you need that. Sometimes.

I love that stand on polisher.

It may just be an idea for future copying.

Your machining looks excellent.

Ohhhh, and -25'C ? That is just crazy. I was driving last night and my car showed 2'C and I thought it was chilly.

[ibrown50]

Glad the wedding went well and they're always a great excuse for a "knees up" with family and friends

Great job on the bracket, it looks fantastic, funny my throw togethers never look that good what's the story with the hard tail (sporty?) in the background with rear slick, I'm intrigued

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Congratulations on losing a daughter, but hopefully gaining a man to speak to..... Am sure that like most men, you need that. Sometimes.

I love that stand on polisher.

Thanks Rian, and you're absolutely right. And better yet, my new son-in-law has some interest in cars and motorcycles. He bought a mid 70's Fiat 124 Spider to work on with his dad. It hasn't gone very smoothly... he's had lots of electrical problems, and broken bottom end parts after failing to properly time the auxiliary shaft that runs the fuel pump. After repairing the engine, the car is still notoriously unreliable.
I like to poke fun... here's an exerp from my speech at their wedding:
"If you’re in the area next summer, keep an eye out for a little red Fiat Spider. It’ll likely be at the side of the road with the hazard lights on, waiting for a tow truck. I'm sorry Eric, I’m exaggerating... the hazard lights probably don’t work either." It got a few laughs.

I made a couple of those rolling pedestals. They're very handy. The bottom plate and the top is made from stainless. We had a bunch of surplus 1/4" 304 stainless plate at my work that they decided to scrap. I hid as much as I could for future projects, like the ps pump bracket I just made.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

what's the story with the hard tail (sporty?) in the background with rear slick, I'm intrigued

I hope you won't be disappointed Ian, but there's not much to it. A buddy gave me the bare frame. Its a '64 Sportster that he got in trade for something or other. I found the motor on ebay in Burton Michigan. It was completely in pieces, as was the tranny, piled into 3 boxes. I picked it up for $300 and drove 3 hrs each way to pick it up. The motor is a 1000cc '74 Sporty so the shifter was on the right. I say was, because I've changed it to the left side. I compared the differences in the shifter assemblies, then machined the cases to accept the newer '77 & up shifter.

I picked up a Tig welder a few years ago, so that's when I started really working at the bike... mostly for welding practice, lol. I made all the pieces for that hard tail, and a frame jig to align things. I narrowed a trailer fender, made the oil tank, seat and seat hinge out of stainless, narrowed some Electraglide bars, and mounted some late Sporty mid controls.

The rear tire isn't a drag slick, its actually a drag front tire for a car. I saw some chopped Harleys in Japan running these kind of tires and I like the way they look. I wanted a 15" rear wheel, but I couldn't find one to match up with a Harley hub. Harley hubs are 40-spoke, and all the Japanese wheels seem to be 36-spoke. Then one day I found a 40-spoke hoop on ebay. It came off a 2003 Triumph Bonneville America. I found some spokes to marry the rim and hub together and got it laced up... a first for me. Don't laugh, but my first plan was a rat-chopper with an early VW Beetle sized snow tire on the back. I eventually went with the Hoosier. It has a pretty round profile, so the bike should at least be rideable. We'll see...

[Paul Y]

Johnny,

As good as this site is sometimes it is too big and moves too fast so you miss great builds. Glad you took the time to comment on my ramblings which meant i found yours!.

Really impressed with your work and, like Rian, will be borrowing your idea for the standable stand.

Congratulation on your daughters wedding, I have a long time to wait until I walk Beaker down the aisle. Or at least that what I tell myself, she might have other ideas!

Keep warm.

P.

[lower50's]

Congrats John. Looks like a good time. Your ps bracket turned out great. You should definitely put the bike in the back of your truck for some car shows next summer that thing is sweet.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by Paul Y

Johnny,

As good as this site is sometimes it is too big and moves too fast...

P.

Thanks Paul.
Yes its hard to keep up with everything on this forum, and it can be very time consuming, lol. For me, its all about sharing ideas and learning from others.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Congrats John. Looks like a good time. Your ps bracket turned out great. You should definitely put the bike in the back of your truck for some car shows next summer that thing is sweet.

Bob,
Ha ha that was my plan. I meant to take the bike and C10 to the Unfinished Nationals last year, but I didn't have my truck together in time. I'll see you there this year.

I'm pretty sure you'll be bringing home some awards!

[ibrown50]

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

I hope you won't be disappointed Ian, but there's not much to it. A buddy gave me the bare frame. Its a '64 Sportster that he got in trade for something or other. I found the motor on ebay in Burton Michigan. It was completely in pieces, as was the tranny, piled into 3 boxes. I picked it up for $300 and drove 3 hrs each way to pick it up. The motor is a 1000cc '74 Sporty so the shifter was on the right. I say was, because I've changed it to the left side. I compared the differences in the shifter assemblies, then machined the cases to accept the newer '77 & up shifter.

I picked up a Tig welder a few years ago, so that's when I started really working at the bike... mostly for welding practice, lol. I made all the pieces for that hard tail, and a frame jig to align things. I narrowed a trailer fender, made the oil tank, seat and seat hinge out of stainless, narrowed some Electraglide bars, and mounted some late Sporty mid controls.

The rear tire isn't a drag slick, its actually a drag front tire for a car. I saw some chopped Harleys in Japan running these kind of tires and I like the way they look. I wanted a 15" rear wheel, but I couldn't find one to match up with a Harley hub. Harley hubs are 40-spoke, and all the Japanese wheels seem to be 36-spoke. Then one day I found a 40-spoke hoop on ebay. It came off a 2003 Triumph Bonneville America. I found some spokes to marry the rim and hub together and got it laced up... a first for me. Don't laugh, but my first plan was a rat-chopper with an early VW Beetle sized snow tire on the back. I eventually went with the Hoosier. It has a pretty round profile, so the bike should at least be rideable. We'll see...

Wow $300, you'd just about get the tank and triple trees for that in the UK. I love the 15" rear wheel and Hoosier, it's so hard to get a tall motorcycle tyre that works (I may copy your idea). Looks great on the back of the truck, there's something really appealing (to me anyway) about part built bikes.

[lower50's]

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

Bob,
Ha ha that was my plan. I meant to take the bike and C10 to the Unfinished Nationals last year, but I didn't have my truck together in time. I'll see you there this year.

I'm pretty sure you'll be bringing home some awards!

Sweet!! We should meet up and roll down there together.