'65 Chevy C10 Long Fleet Retrospective Build Thread

[theastronaut]

Took it to the local Father's Day show again. Doesn't seem like it's been finished for a little over five years now.

[duallyjams]

still looks amazing

[Bomp]

5 yr old restoration and still looks better than when it rolled of the line.

Great looking truck.

[GMDad]

Truly amazing restoration. Just found it tonight and read thru it. We did our 65 back in 2000 and then at Christmas time we pulled it apart to freshen it up. Identical color (except for a white roof) and I am using a 292 six cylinder. Has to be a dozen pictures that look like they were taken of my truck as we did the frame and skirts same as you did and under the hood and rad support but just not the detail you have done. Have it bookmarked for reference. Any new projects on the go?

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

still looks amazing

Originally Posted by Bomp

5 yr old restoration and still looks better than when it rolled of the line.

Great looking truck.

Thanks dudes!

Originally Posted by GMDad

Truly amazing restoration. Just found it tonight and read thru it. We did our 65 back in 2000 and then at Christmas time we pulled it apart to freshen it up. Identical color (except for a white roof) and I am using a 292 six cylinder. Has to be a dozen pictures that look like they were taken of my truck as we did the frame and skirts same as you did and under the hood and rad support but just not the detail you have done. Have it bookmarked for reference. Any new projects on the go?

Thanks for commenting! I'm currently throwing together my '63 VW convertible, then I'll start back on my '66 C10.

[GMDad]

Not sure if I missed it but what do you put on your bare steel brake lines so they stay looking good?

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by GMDad

Not sure if I missed it but what do you put on your bare steel brake lines so they stay looking good?

We almost always use stainless hard lines for brakes, but we have used zinc plated steel lines for fuel lines and haven't had problems with them rusting.

[theastronaut]

If you've been keeping up with my current F100 build in the off topic section you might've noticed that the '65 is back in the shop. The truck was passed down to family member a few years ago who has decided to sell it. They brought it back to let us check it over, detail it, and handle listing it for them. It has been accepted to be listed on Bring A Trailer and will be up for auction soon.





The first thing that needed addressing was new tires. The set on it were 16 years old and had deep cracks.




I picked out a set of Power King 7.00-15 tires, highway tread for the front and high traction tread for the rear to copy the look the truck had when the truck was being driven by the grandfather that bought it back in '66. I scrubbed the waxy mold release coating off the tires after they were mounted and balanced, then soaked the sidewalls with 303 Protectant.






The hubcaps had spots that I polished out. The orange paint had dulled out so I used 3M Finesse-It polish and Meguiars #7 Show Car Glaze to bring them back to better than new.










The paint shows no signs of aging, it's just a little dusty from being stored. The weather should be dry tomorrow so I'll wash it, then go over it with Griot's Garage Perfecting Cream and Liquid Gloss Poly Wax. These pics were taken of the truck exactly as it was delivered to me, they've done a great job of keeping the truck in good condition since the restoration.










The heater core seems to be the only big problem so far. At some point it started leaking which stripped the paint off. I'll pull the entire box to strip and repaint it, and install a new heater core.





A couple smaller details that need addressing to make the truck 100%:


The door seals are still very stiff which makes the doors hard to close; we thought they would settle in over time but they haven't. I'll try the Honda seals that others have posted about that are softer.

The reproduction inner door latch handles have never fit correctly and are a little loose. I'm pretty sure I have a NOS pair, if so I'll swap them on.

The outer door handles have similar spotting as the hubcaps, I'll polish those out.




The exhaust manifold needs touching up; I've ordered a fresh package of Calyx dressing for that.

[joesscamaro]

Such a clean truck! Also, if you haven't checked out his thread on the F-100 he's doing...you need to! Insane attention to detail.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by joesscamaro

Such a clean truck! Also, if you haven't checked out his thread on the F-100 he's doing...you need to! Insane attention to detail.

Thanks!


I needed fresh pics for Bring A Trailer so I took these today.



















The bias plies weren't the smoothest riding on the way to the farm to take pics, I'll check them for excessive runout tomorrow. After a few years of searching I finally found and bought an Amermac tire truer and tire warmer back in March so I'll be able to shave down any high spots if needed. The tire warmer uses driven rollers and an air cylinder to load the sidewalls so any flat spots are worked out before loading the tire into the truer. The process is from way before my time but from reading forums it was common practice shave out of round new bias ply tires before radials were commonplace.

[cwcarpenter98]

Those are some great pictures!

[youngrodder]

That truck is stupid clean (in a good way of course).

Very nicely done.

Marc

[clemdaddy]

Very nice work, and appreciate the detailed info... inspired by your skill and vision.

[pdxhall]

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

Very nice work, and appreciate the detailed info... inspired by your skill and vision.

I totally agree with you. I've been following him for a long time and his skills have always inspired me to try and do the best I can, even though I will never match his skills.
Thank you John.

[Russell Ashley]

I remember when hey would shave the tread to make the tire perfectly round, but I never knew about a tire warming machine like that. The label says it was made in Georgia.. Surprising that I didn't know about them. BTW, I think I caught a glimpse of the beautiful blue truck in a clip of the C10 Nationals.

[jmarkha1]

Amazingly clean build on both eh Ford and Chevy trucks.
The simplicity of a non-deluxe truck is very appealing - especially when this clean.

you're setting a very high benchmark for the rest of us to aim for :-)

[LEEVON]

Man those machines are in amazing condition for their age. And all the accessories are present, what a find! I'm looking forward to seeing how they work for you.

[theastronaut]

The truck is now live on BAT, the auction will end on March 1st at 2:47 PM Pacific time.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...c10-pickup-43/

[theastronaut]

I pulled the heater box, stripped and repainted it, and assembled it with a new heater core. I replaced the heater hoses as well since they were halfway off already. The overflow fitting on the radiator had loosened up so I had it brazed in place and repainted it as well. For good measure I flushed the cooling system and filled it with fresh 50/50 antifreeze mix. The gas tank was drained, the inline filter under the cab was changed for a new one, and the fuel hose was replaced.




The exhaust manifold needed touching up with Calyx, and the alternator housing had lightly oxidized so I cleaned it up with a stainless bristle brush by hand.






I shot some videos of the tire truing process but got carried away with the actual shaving and didn't get vids of that, it's fairly involved and I forgot to set up a tripod so I'd have both hands free. The tires start out with a flat spot from sitting, the warmer works out the flat spot, then shaving can begin. The tire in the vid had around .040" overall runout at the start, not counting the flat spot. Tape was stretched over the tread so the dial indicator has a smooth/continuous surface to measure from. After shaving the tire has around .005" runout. On the test drive after truing all four the difference was very noticable; no shakes, wobbles, or vibrations- just smooth rolling.

I did a practice run on a junk tire first and found that the depth feed screw had a ton of play in it, and I couldn't achieve a steady depth of cut. The split brass nut was adjustable to take out the slack when the threads wear but the threads were worn paper thin and had split in a few places. I bored out the original block and made a threaded insert along with a new nut to adjust out play in the future.










My truer can be adjusted to match the profile across the tread and comes with a set of gauges to make it easy to set up.




This was the pile of shavings from the practice tire and four tires for the C10. It looks like a lot but they're so thin that it looks like more than is actually taken off. The videos I linked below shows how little is taken off vs how big the shavings look.

Truing Bias Ply Tires - YouTube

A couple of vids that show the truing process better than what I captured.

Amermac 711 Tire Truer Machine from All Tire...

Tire Truing and/or Tire Shaving - YouTube

[likaroc13]

Even though I'm not much of a long bed fan, there are certain ones that I would definitely not mind owning. That blue truck is one of those. Did it ever sell?

Also, curious to know what you used for painting the heater box?

On another note, even though I'm not doing a total resto, maybe I could've talked you into fixing up my '66 a bit. As I mentioned on Facebook, it's been 5 years now at the current location! Love your work man!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by likaroc13

Even though I'm not much of a long bed fan, there are certain ones that I would definitely not mind owning. That blue truck is one of those. Did it ever sell?

Also, curious to know what you used for painting the heater box?

On another note, even though I'm not doing a total resto, maybe I could've talked you into fixing up my '66 a bit. As I mentioned on Facebook, it's been 5 years now at the current location! Love your work man!

It didn't meet reserve on BAT, and we couldn't get together with the high bidder afterward. The owner is looking to get $32k for it. I don't remember the exact brand/color used but it was a hammertone finish to replicate the original paint.

I'm planning on scaling back from full restos after the F100 project is done to focus more on metalwork and small jobs, let me know what you need done.

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

It didn't meet reserve on BAT, and we couldn't get together with the high bidder afterward. The owner is looking to get $32k for it. I don't remember the exact brand/color used but it was a hammertone finish to replicate the original paint.

I'm planning on scaling back from full restos after the F100 project is done to focus more on metalwork and small jobs, let me know what you need done.

Bummer on the sale! No worries on the paint. Thanks for the info.

I gave the ultimatum on mine, and he offered no excuses other than procrastination. He said he was going to pull it back in and get going. I ordered a few things to be sent. We’ll see where things go for a bit longer I guess. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll definitely get with you about possibly helping.

[LostChord]

As a new member of the forum, just found this thread and read the entire thing.

Out. Stand. Ing. !

Thank you for sharing this part of your journey. Amazing work.

[LT7A]

I am a detail guy too. Lately I have added the idea of how to detail something, keeping its character and the fact that it's gone through life with some bumps and bruises. But perfecting the paint and metal finishes like you did was fascinating to watch. It sounds like your shop is doing well. And you are now choosing the type of work that you take on? Congratulations. I also liked hearing about your faith.

[accusedslacker]

I had the good fortune of buying this truck and it looks just as good in person. Thanks for all your hard work John.