Project "Old Skool" V.3

[americanmusc1e]

It's time to document this build that has been a big part of my life for the past 10 years. Here's the one paragraph version of what's going on:

I got the truck when I was 15. My dad and I bondo'd all the rust and put it on the road for a 16 year old to drive. I drove the wheels off of it and put several motors, transmissions, and axles in it. Then i tore it down to do a 4wd conversion. I was nearly done when I just recently changed my mind and I'm taking it back to the roots as a 2wd 'daily driver' fun truck.

Plans are for a 5.3 LS swap mated to a Sm465 manual and a 12-bolt diff out back. I'll be using Megasquirt MS2 engine management because i already have it for the TBI conversion I was going to do on my SBC. A turbo may be in the truck's distant future. I got $3500 for my 4wd drivetrain. I'm planning on that being my budget to finish the truck.


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READ-ONLY GOOGLE SPREADSHEET THAT DOCUMENTS EXPENSES OF THIS BUILD

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...8SnMYQ/pubhtml
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but first. A little history..

[americanmusc1e]

Here is the truck sometime in 2004. It was a 1970 C10 with a 350/TH350 AC, and a side toolbox. It was a pretty high-optioned truck for not being a custom. When I got it, it had a worn pearl-white paint job. It was originally white/med bronze/ white I haven't seen very many medium bronze trucks, but I'm guessing they were an acquired taste The engine compartment was probably the worst-looking one I've ever seen too.

My dad and I bondo'd all the rust up and painted it rust oleum safety red and gloss white (unaware that a big trend of rolling on a rust oleum paint job that was developing). We fixed a few mechanical problems the truck had, and turned me loose in it. The truck wasn't entirely finished by my 16th birthday, but that didn't stop me from driving it with a yellow hood. My first modification was a foam air cleaner until someone told me how easily they catch fire.








here is the truck several months later all shined up with the maxxis mudder tires and still with front drum brakes. I can tell because my disk brake conversion left me with a newer looking set of the same wheels and 5 lugs up front (still have a 5/6 lug truck :/ )

[americanmusc1e]

First came a disk brake conversion when I was 17. I ebay'd a set of 72 c10 rotors, calipers and master cylinder and bought a set of mcgaughys conversion spindles. I did some things I regret now. My factory rubber lines were rubbing on my spindles for years. I'm lucky I'm not dead. Brake lines are something I will have to go through.

Then came time for a new motor! I pulled a 350 out of our 69 C10 parts truck and bought a harbor freight engine stand. I tore the motor down in my dad's shop. I was suprised to find a set of 4-bolt mains. I thought I was awesome. I got the block bored. (It was already .030 so we went 0.060), added a set of new dished pistons, vortec heads set up for screw-in studs and guideplates, a weiand manifold and a tiny cam. (sometime in there I traded the q-jet for a new holley 600cfm 4160). Finally got rid of the points with a HEI conversion





All was well and good until the added power and old age killed the front pump on the Th350. So I got a free 700r4 from a friend of mine and got it rebuilt ($1200). Overdrive was nice, but the mileage didn't improve. (Probably my 18 year old lead foot).

Sometime after that, I had an issue with the motor. A combination of improper break in, and excessive tightening of the hydraulic lifters killed a cam lobe. I didn't catch it soon enough and it sent enough metal through the engine for me to loose all oil pressure. Yay. time for a rebuild. The truck sat out my high school graduation while I saved up for a new motor.



The new motor was a beast. The same vortec heads with a scat 3.75" crank, H-beam rods, A moroso 6-qt oil pan ( the stock one wouldn't clear the rods). and a larger cam. I spec'd the motor with dished pistons, but unknown to me the motor was put together with flat top pistons netting a compression of 11:1. (I didn't build this one due to complications with the last one)

I also painted the engine compartment while the motor was out. White was a terrible idea no matter how good it looked at first.

[americanmusc1e]

The power of the motor was insane. Here I was a 19 year old kid with a farm truck that did a 14.0 quarter mile. It's a wonder I'm not dead. The truck hit 120mph racing a friend in a souped up Titan.


The truck also lost it's turbo mufflers. In their place was a set of 24" glasspacks. It was loud enough to set off car alarms rumbling through a parking lot.



Then came the pain of "high" HP. The 700r4 just wouldn't last. I blew it up within a few thousand miles. Lost 2nd gear first and then the rest slowly went away. I took it in under warranty and the guy who built it said it was "installer error" and insisted on charging me more for him to put it in ($400). It lasted a few more months and blew up again. I took it back and he rebuilt it and told me my warranty was over. The guy was a jerk so I ended up taking it to the guy who built my motor. I got it rebuilt again ($1500) and it lasted a few months before it went back out. I got it rebuilt a couple more times after that, but I grew tired of the problems. I almost built a stalled Th400, but decided to go manual in the end. To this day I hate 700r4s and automatic transmissions in general. My daily drivers are all manuals now. T

My parent's 2001 Silverado 2500 was my first experience with LS power. bone stock 6.0/4L80E 4x4 with 4.10 gears




The factory open-diff 12-bolt let go somewhere in here. It was a big bang on the highway. I threw in the 12-bolt out of our parts truck for a few months until I found a nice 3.73 12-bolt and eventually added a powertrax locker.



The v-belt system also didn't like 6000rpm. I blew through so many v-belts. Every other time the motor would hit 6000 the v-belt would come off. I got to where I could change them in 10 mins flat. The green "garden" v-belts would give me a couple of extra runs, but even they wouldn't last.



It was somewhere in this time period that Old Skool got her name. I was out one night racing a tundra. When I got back one of my buddies told me "everyone was standing on the sideline yelling OLD SKOOL'S GOT IT!" the name has stuck since then.



Then came the manual conversion. A $300 SM465 from an 89 C2500, and a new RAM billet flywheel and musclecar clutch.

[americanmusc1e]

Then came some low-compression 487 casting heads and a smaller cam. Quieter mufflers too. I was tired of getting in trouble with the truck. plus the high-spirited motor wasn't much fun with the slow-shifting sm645.



water started appearing on my carpet from where the rust holes in the cowling was speading. I pulled the truck down to fix this, and I ended up buying a K20 frame with a C30 cab on it. I decided to do a 4x4 conversion. That's what I've been working on the past 3 years. The facebook page has tons of info, but I'm going to give the short version. I also switched to the C30 cab because it was in slightly better shape (and had cab lights). I did a ton of welding and some crappy body work on top of it, and painted the entire truck flat black.














bought an 84 K10 for the lift, axles and tires





new Exhaust and serpentine conversion

[americanmusc1e]

Last weekend I sold the entire 4wd drivetrain.



It was a hard decision, but I don't live at home anymore. I live in Austin, my girlfriend is 3 hours north in Dallas and my family is 2 hours south in Victoria. I want a highway cruiser that i can actually take places and that does really well on the highway. I know from driving my C10 vs K10 that there was a notable difference. So I sold the k10 drivetrain. Now I have a mostly complete body, $3500 and my old C10 frame. Time for part 3

I've already started pressure washing my old frame. I'm about to put the order through on a 5.3. I still have my 2wd Sm645 and driveshaft. I'm ordering a 6.0 flywheel, BBC clutch and throwout with a LS7 pilot bearing.

[americanmusc1e]

I bought an engine today. And a set of motor mount adapters, LS7 pilot bushing, GM crank and pressure plate bushings and some new shocks. Can't wait to start putting this thing together. I have a few days off over thanksgiving. hoping to have the motor and transmission mounted by the end of November.

[americanmusc1e]

Ordered a set of ebay F-body longtubes hoping they fit

[americanmusc1e]

Alright! I got some serious progress this weekend! We started with a bare, rusty frame, and a motor on a pallet. Saturday the frame got sanded and painted, and the motor got pressure-washed and degreased. Then we pulled the manifolds and coil packs off the motor and started working on the motor mounts and flywheel. The motor mount adapters I bought kinda sucked. The holes didn't quite line up with the holes on the 5.3. I ended up having to drill the holes in the plate a bit oversize, but everything went together feeling plenty sturdy. Also, Next time I install a motor in factory 67-72 stands. I think I'll drill the hole in the stand a bit oversize and use a big thick washer on the motor mount. I had a heck of a time getting the motor mounts to line up as always. I did have to move the motor stands back a couple of inches to get close to where my driveshaft already fits. I will have to move my transmission crossmember back an inch or two and modify my custom carrier bearing adapter.


the frame when I started


hours of sanding later


straight off the crate


pressurewashed. attaching the 6.0 flywheel




1972 K20 402 clutch


first time in the frame. Motor stands were moved back




Test fitting the headers







the collectors will need work




Pulled the wiring harness




My carrier bearing adapter


clutch fork. I'm worried at how far the clutch fingers went in when I tightened the pressure plate down


Need to move the crossmember a bit.


not sure what this is


or this

[garmar]

Originally Posted by americanmusc1e

The v-belt system also didn't like 6000rpm. I blew through so many v-belts. Every other time the motor would hit 6000 the v-belt would come off. I got to where I could change them in 10 mins flat. The green "garden" v-belts would give me a couple of extra runs, but even they wouldn't last.



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You were blowing v-belts because they were put on upside down. The ribs go into the pulley groove.

[americanmusc1e]

Originally Posted by garmar

You were blowing v-belts because they were put on upside down. The ribs go into the pulley groove.

Yeah. I should have specified I know how a v-belt is supposed to go

I had the belt flip clean over on me and I took a picture of it. That was from running the vbelt too tight I think.

[americanmusc1e]

Got some more things done over thanksgiving weekend.

The original truck harness. It was cut by the wrecking yard.


The harness after removing all wires I don't need. Since I'm using a megasquirt MS2 I have removed even more wires than a normal LS swap with the GM PCM. The MS2 has no provision for MAF, knock sensors, or oil level sensor for example


Finally got the Driveshaft hooked up to the trans and the transmission crossmember bolted down.


Started working on a hydrualic clutch slave mount since I'm not using a hydro bellhousing. I have two aluminum non-hydro bellhousings. The plasma wasn't working so I had to do it all with a torch and a grinder


Semi finished product. Probably going to have to do a version 2 because now my DS header wont' clear it at all.


My 12-bolt didn't have any brakes. they went with the other 12-bolt that I sold with my 4x4 driveline. So i grabbed the 12-bolt out of the 84 K10 parts truck. The axle was shot, but it had a mostly complete set of 11x2.75" big drums. I pulled the axles off and took the backing plates off with all hardware and swapped them out. The 84 12-bolt was so screwed up that the spider gear pin wouldn't come out of the diff. I had to end up torching the pin out. One side looked like it had gear oil leaking in it for ages. Took 5 cans of brakeclean to get it looking good enough to use. I added new wheel cylinders and shoes but I didn't snap a picture.


We were going to run the brake lines but we decided it would be easier to do with the master cylinder in place and the cab back on. It's sitting crooked in this picture because I found out that the 3/4 ton cab mounts won't work with a 1/2 ton frame


Here is why. Here are the rear cab mounts side by side. I put on the old ones for now and ordered a new set on Brother's cyber monday sale. I also picked up some sweet high-hump red carpet


Here it is with the correct height cab mounts


I haven't updated my price spreadsheet yet, but I think i spent $800 bucks this weekend at auto parts stores.

[americanmusc1e]

More parts and more fun this week!

First off, I worked on setting up the megasquirt to work with my 5.3. I had some ignition mods done to it to support TBI. I removed those and then realized that the MS2 doesn't support waste fire in it's base configuration. I only has one ignition output without mods. So I went on a late night run to Radio Shack and grabbed some 4k7 resistors and a transistor and worked on the necessary mods. For those of you interested in modding your megasquirt. I used the logic level outputs listed here.. http://www.msextra.com/doc/general/sparkout-v30.html

Actual Progress on the truck was slow this weekend. The weather was super nice for once, but I just feel like I was spinning my wheels more than normal. I got all the brake lines done excluding the rear axle lines. I still have to anchor them down in a couple places. I also fixed my front brake hose situation. The truck previously had the brake hoses not going through their retainer tabs (17yo me did that) and I cut the factory drum tabs off, welded them to a small tab, and bolted them in the front of the crossmember like they are supposed to be. I got the clutch slave to clear the headers finally. I had to modify my bracket and my slave. I also got the alignment to the clutch fork a little better. I got my loose rear shock bracket mounted and both rear shocks on. I got the new bushings in the tracking arm and attached it. I installed a new power steering pulley because mine was bent from shipping. And finally, I got the fuel pump mounted and pump to engine hose made up. I'm using a truck engine with the regulator built into the fuel rail (as opposed to a returnless used on 2004+) I'm using AN from the fuel pump to the engine and everything else will be rubber line. This was my first time ever using AN line. It took me 4 tries to get the first hose fitting, but after that everything went smooth. I bought 15ft of braided hose and used 5 feet. I have enough to do the pump to tank run, but my tank just has a barbed fitting. I'll probably just run rubber lines. I mounted the pump (a Walbro 255 external) under the drivers side seat on the top of the frame. I hope its not insanely noisy there. I used existing crossmember holes instead of drilling new ones.

I also realized that we put the backing plates on the differential the wrong way. My parking brake cables face to the rear of the truck. Now I have to drain all the oil out and pull the axles to flip the backing plates.

I also welded up the EGR bungs on my headers and I brought them back with me to wrap this week sometime

[americanmusc1e]

It rained all weekend. I got a minimal amount accomplished. I got the backing plates switched around on the axle, got the brake booster and clutch master mounted to the firewall. Got my rear brake drums together, got my power steering lines hooked up, and got my throttle cable situation figured out.

I didn't take many pictures. For the power steering, I was able to use the stock lines from the 70. I had to pull the fitting out of the back of my old pump and swap it with the newer pump, but it worked like a charm! the pressure line fit with minimal bending.

for the throttle cable I followed lockdoc's advice in this thread:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=691155
It's not nearly as close to the fuel rail as it looks in the picture, but I may want to do a revision 2 just to clean up the look and make sure it doesn't get caught on anything if the motor flexes


Late model GM trucks have combination MAF/IAT sensor in the intake tube. I didn't need a MAF (MS2 doesn't support GM MAF) so I followed this guide and popped a 2000 Buick lesabre IAT in the intake. I ordered the correct connector for it, but it hasn't arrived yet. https://sites.google.com/site/sloppy...n-truck-intake


the core support is on and the the radiator hoses off of the 2000 silverado seem to be a direct fit.

[Odaroloc]

Look great man! Keep it up!

[americanmusc1e]

Sorry for the lack of updates. Christmas was crazy, but I've been chipping away whenever I can.

Everything I've done:

1. All the brake lines are done and tied down.
2. put the fenders, hood and bed back on
3. modified my battery box hole in the bed to go around the 2wd crossmember. Still need to weld up the excess space
4. finished the wiring harness. It's functional but still plenty ugly right now.
5. wrapped the headers. Again, its a bit ugly, but I'm so frustrated with them that I might want to go a different header route.
6. New GMT400 radiator fits right in and the 2000 silverado hoses are the correct size.
7. Tons of little stuff. heater hose and steam line are hooked up.
8. Fuel return is nearly done. still have to run it into the tank. For temporary testing I just ran the hose into the fuel filler.
9. four new Cooper Cobra 275/60r15 tires
10. Ran the 0ga battery cable to my battery box. ran two 8ga cables from the starter to my wire junctions
11. Plugged in the harness and test fired! It runs! One of my coils was shorted directly to ground. I left it unplugged for the test. Also didn't have any coolant in it yet. didn't want to run it for too long.

don't use these headers if you have a manual trans


new tires


wrapping headers (painted them black first)


more wiring mess


0ga cable is massive. crimped it with a railroad spike, an anvil and a BFH


everything gets heat shrinks








I need to get some better shots of my power distro and fuse box. It's actually pretty legit. still have tons of wires to organize




The interior is nothing but storage right now

[americanmusc1e]

Now I really need to figure out exhaust and headers. I'm really out of budget and these headers don't have 3 bolt flanges. I want to do dual magnaflows and an x pipe. I might just be doing a pair of cheap turbo mufflers dumped for now ( I already have the mufflers)

Still need coolant, a hose for my MAP sensor, and I need to relocate my bungs for my O2 sensors so i can actually install them. with that, I should be able to run the motor long enough to confirm my clutch is going to work.

[americanmusc1e]

teaser shots. update to come..

[americanmusc1e]

[americanmusc1e]

I FINALLY got a chance to do some serious work on the truck. I went down this weekend and did a bunch of little stuff that needed to be done. The truck finally has an air filter, the battery relocation is done, the alternator charges the battery, the ECM controls the fans, and the tune is 100% better (but not perfect).

My goal now is to make the truck ready for inspection so I can put it back on the road. Even if the interior is still very Spartan. I spent a lot of time working on the electrical of the truck, but I'm only about halfway done. I have headlights and parking lights, but no brake lights or turn signals (I need a brake switch and new flashers).

We did finally take the truck out for a short road test, and even though the tune wasn't perfect, the truck has a surprising amount of power. It has 3.08 gears in the rear and a 5.3, and it honestly felt as powerful as my old 383 with 3.73 gears. I'm not sure what to say there other than the part-throttle power may be better.

I took Monday and Tuesday off next week. So I will have four days to work on my truck. I'm planning on making some serious headway.

[americanmusc1e]

Wow! Six months without an update. The truck is still going strong. I got it licensed in early May, and have since moved it to a rented garage in Austin with me.

I drove it a lot when I first got it up here, but it had to sit for a while when work got really busy late summer. After a couple months hiatus, I'm back at it.

I didn't make too many big changes yet. I added a 2/4 drop and reworked the front suspension with all new ball joints and tie rods. I also got rid of the pipe front bumper in favor of a painted stocker. I've made several trips from Austin to Victoria with no issues at all.

[americanmusc1e]

[americanmusc1e]

also my interior is still very spartan. I've picked up two NV3500 transmissions. one is a close ratio (would be great with lower gears) and the other is a wide ratio. One of them is going in soon. I also have a lead on a 12-bolt with 3.73s finally

[americanmusc1e]

Boy i screwed myself on the new rear-end. The guy wanted $250 for it and I got there just around dark. I looked at it and it didn't have any signs of water intrusion, but the drums were locked up. I offered him $200 if I could just take it as is.

Turns out that was a bad deal. it's a 3.73, but the ring gear has rust pits, one wheel bearing is shot (axle shaft is damaged too) and the carrier cross pin is galled. I payed $200 for a housing and one good axle shaft (the other one might be ok with a repair bearing).

I really could have used the $200 to re-gear my 3.07 rear end. For now I guess I'll keep the axle and rebuild it after my trans swap is done and I have more funds available.

[americanmusc1e]

Well after much thinking about building a 700r4/4L60e to go behind my 5.3, I just changed the transmission. And the rear main seal, and the oil pan gasket, and insulated my cab. oh and new carpet


The easiest part was swapping the transmission. The only oddity i found was that the C/K1500 NV3500s use a th400 style slip yoke and the s10 models take a th350 style slip yoke. I ordered a long th400 yoke and the driveshaft bolted right in.

The 12" BBC clutch works just fine with the modern hydraulic TOB. I added these fittings to a stock 98 chevy hydraulic TOB and then added a piece of short -3an line to my hardline going to my 89 C2500 clutch master.

Also the shifter off the S10 transmission doesn't fit the C/K1500 shift tower, so I had to make do with my transmission jack handle for testing.