How to: Ruin a perfectly good C10

[gringoloco]

...and while the fenders are off and the backsides accessible, I remembered to drill out the (bondoed over by the PO) holes for these guys:

[smbrouss70]

Looks good to me!

[rustytruck50]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

3 steps forward, 2 steps back is still progress, right?

I do believe you are correct, Sir!
You have learned much young grasshopper

[sprint_9]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

3 steps forward, 2 steps back is still progress, right?

At least you took steps forward, I just spin in circles as of late.

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

Looks good to me!

It just wants to be like your Blazer when it grows up

Originally Posted by rustytruck50

I do believe you are correct, Sir!
You have learned much young grasshopper

Just keep swimming...

Originally Posted by sprint_9

At least you took steps forward, I just spin in circles as of late.

I feel this way, too. In my mind I have it all figured out, but when I start working it all falls apart

[gringoloco]

I opened a stink bomb in the garage this weekend. Amazing how funky used gear oil smells

[gringoloco]

Since it was so smelly, I used my fresh air paint booth

[gringoloco]

...to paint the brackets for the Corvette C5 rear discs. After spending waaaaaay too much time trying to get the drum-in-hat-parking-brake to work, I finally succumbed to the fact that it won’t fit on a stock truck axle :cry: Calipers look good, though, and they the pass the “credit card thickness” clearance to the wheel test, but just barely. I’ll have to figure something else out for a parking brake...

[mcbassin]

Very nice upgrade to the brakes! I can smell it now just thinking about that gear oil....

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

...to paint the brackets for the Corvette C5 rear discs. After spending waaaaaay too much time trying to get the drum-in-hat-parking-brake to work, I finally succumbed to the fact that it won’t fit on a stock truck axle :cry: Calipers look good, though, and they the pass the “credit card thickness” clearance to the wheel test, but just barely. I’ll have to figure something else out for a parking brake...

Not sure why you could not get the drum in hat parking brake to work with the truck axle. I did it on the Red (Sunburn) truck we built. I used a different set of brackets to mount the caliper though...

[smbrouss70]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

It just wants to be like your Blazer when it grows up.

Yeah well... I thought it was the other way around. This weekend that 700-R4 just broke the camel's back, & I'm on the hunt for a manual. Valve bodies and torque converters are the devil!

Who's brake setup is that on the rear? Kore3?

[rwade]

“Fresh air paint booth”,LOL. I use mine all the time

Wade

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Very nice upgrade to the brakes! I can smell it now just thinking about that gear oil....

Thanks, just wish I could get the parking brake to fit

Originally Posted by aggie91

Not sure why you could not get the drum in hat parking brake to work with the truck axle. I did it on the Red (Sunburn) truck we built. I used a different set of brackets to mount the caliper though...

Details, please. I’ll go peruse the thread

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

Yeah well... I thought it was the other way around. This weekend that 700-R4 just broke the camel's back, & I'm on the hunt for a manual. Valve bodies and torque converters are the devil!

Who's brake setup is that on the rear? Kore3?

I agree, effum. Did it leak, not shifting right, or?

Not Kore3, he doesn’t make a DIHPB kit for trucks, says it won’t fit. Silly, me, I thought I could outsmart Tobin and had a set custom made. There’s just not enough room between the axle flange and housing flange to squeeze the mechanism in. The car axles are offset an additional 1/4” or so, just enough to fit.

That does give me an idea, though. Maybe I can have my adapter bracket milled down 1/4”. Hmmmm... need to take some measurements

Originally Posted by rwade

“Fresh air paint booth”,LOL. I use mine all the time

Wade

It’s one of my favorite tools

[smbrouss70]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

I agree, effum. Did it leak, not shifting right, or?

It decided to quit upshifting. It still pulls and the fluid looks good. Probably something simple, I'll dig into it this weekend to try and finish off the year. But, I won't be able to trust it on a 3,000+ mile road trip come June 2019.
I've got quotes coming in for manual upgrades already.

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

It decided to quit upshifting. It still pulls and the fluid looks good. Probably something simple, I'll dig into it this weekend to try and finish off the year. But, I won't be able to trust it on a 3,000+ mile road trip come June 2019.
I've got quotes coming in for manual upgrades already.

I’ll be watching which route you go. Dunno how long I’ll survive with 3:73s and no overdrive...

In other news, I got the DIHPB to work!

Well, it works in mock-up with a stack of washers. What a difference an 1/8” makes. Clearances are tighter than a gnat’s ass everywhere, but no rubs and it functions beautifully.

Big thanks to aggie91 and 87chevy.com for the ideas on getting everything to work together. Now I just need to have my spacers milled down or find/make 3/8” spacers, then on to the next project. This was supposed to be a bolt-together deal, now on day three and counting...

[smbrouss70]

Does the drum of the rotor cover the brake shoe? On my setup the flange of the axle is just barely outside of the metal of the shoe. The flange actually fits inside the shoe to get the c-clips on in the diff.

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

Does the drum of the rotor cover the brake shoe? On my setup the flange of the axle is just barely outside of the metal of the shoe. The flange actually fits inside the shoe to get the c-clips on in the diff.

Yup, it’s as deep in there as it will go without contacting anything. I actually moved the backing plate out another 1/16th after taking this picture with no interference. It is as close as I’m comfortable with at the back of the studs/lever mechanism area. The contact surface of the shoe is fully within the drum, but just barely. Thankfully, it’s just a parking brake and (knock on wood) will never see any real braking action, else I’d like to see the shoe better centered in the drum.

When I put it together for the last time, I will have to slide the axles in, install the c-clips, then final assemble the parking brake setup to the axle housing. Using car pattern axles is definitely the way to go to make this easy. Maybe when I get ready to buy wheels I’ll swap to 5x4.75. For some reason, I feel like a set of 315/35-20s would fill out the rear nicely

[gringoloco]

Welp, I got the brakes all final assembled and working, but it turns out my 40-something year old axles’ flanges are bent. Allowable runout is around .003 when running discs and mine are visibly wobbling, which causes the rotors to knock the pads back in the calipers, resulting in soft pedal. No thanks. Add to that the very slight rub of the parking shoes inside the drums once per revolution, and the subsequent noise that would drive me crazy and I ended up buying new axles...

While I wait for Summit to deliver, I thought I’d take care of some things that have been bothering me for a while. Since I have the interior torn down, now is a good time to go about fixing my cut for DIN dash. I used some measurements I found here in the forum (sure hope they were right). I had it all bodyworked and primed, then my spot putty had a reaction with the primer, so I’m starting over on it tomorrow. Color and clear, soon.

[gringoloco]

Since I had some paint mixed up, hoping to shoot the dash, I went ahead and primed and base-coated the A/C vents, ashtray, and radio delete plate (might run it ‘til I find a radio). Much better than the chrome look, I think. They still need cleared, but look pretty good and the color is a good match to the dash

[smbrouss70]

Looks nice, Chris!

Find an original AM radio and send it in to get converted. Nothing else looks "right" in these dashes to me. Here's a video of one of my friend's radio before the guy shipped it back to him. I'm hoping to be sending mine in to be done somewhat soon.

1968 Chevrolet C10 original AM radio - YouTube

[gringoloco]

Looks really nice, have you priced one? For now, I grabbed a Retrosound Laguna to stick in the hole (and verify my measurements). If I hate it, delete plate gets installed...

[smbrouss70]

Yeah, for the full conversion with BT, USB, etc. they are about $650, but it doesn't seem out of line for what you get.

I have a single DIN radio and the same universal mounting kit that you used on the Highlander Blazer, but I don't think I want to have to open the console everytime I want to fiddle with the radio. I'm not in a rush to do it... I haven't had a radio in the Blazer in the 4.5 years that I've had it.

[gringoloco]

This one will almost fool you, about $300:

Edit: upon further review, it appears they are junk. Too bad, looks nearly like an AM/FM

[smbrouss70]

I looked at that one before, the reviews are a resounding "meh..."

Bart seems to be real happy with his conversion, when I get around to needing a radio, I'll probably get mine re-done.

Sorry for cluttering up your thread.

[mcbassin]

Nice work on the radio repair Chris!