"Midnight Rider" 1970 C10 SWB Fleetside

[MDPotter]

You sir have are good at finding things and have a lot of patience. I can only imagine how nicely a pair of NOS fenders and core support fit. Did all the holes line up and gaps look good?

[lunatic1968]

Congrats on finding all the new old stock parts, I could only dream of finding some NOS fenders. I'll be following along.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

You sir have are good at finding things and have a lot of patience. I can only imagine how nicely a pair of NOS fenders and core support fit. Did all the holes line up and gaps look good?

The fit was pretty good. Actually, I couldn't ask for anything better on the driver's side. The holes lined up perfect and so do the lines. The gap is good too!




The passenger side is going to need a little love. The holes lined up perfect, but as you can see from this picture, the body line is off slightly and the fender is sticking out slightly. A small modification will get this corrected. The gap is as good as the drivers side and it fits flush with the door at the top and bottom. I assume after GM produced so many RH fenders, the stamping die got worn out. The other RH fender I have, fit the exact same way. Overall, I'm pretty happy so far!

[cj847]

Question:

If that is not the frame you are going to use, aren't you somewhat wasting time with detailed alignment/fitment? Frames have some pretty wide tolerances.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by cj847

Question:

If that is not the frame you are going to use, aren't you somewhat wasting time with detailed alignment/fitment? Frames have some pretty wide tolerances.

I somewhat agree. Not making any fine adjustments here, but rather just making sure it wasn't miles off. That's why I just torqued to minimums. This exercise showed me at least that the RH fender needs adjusted now. We wanted to test fit this stuff to make sure no adjustments needed to be done to the cab before it gets painted. Once it does, we can handle smaller adjustments on my frame.

[omodified]

Next thing to test fit was the inner fenders. Barn find! Haha, actually, these are the one thing that I had stored outside, in my barn. Sorry for the dust. I actually picked these up on one of a couple trips to Alabama to see forum member MikeCofield. Mike always has the good stuff. He had a couple sets of these at the time, and this early bird got the worm.

RH inner fender - 3882650
LH inner fender - 6270855







They actually fit pretty nice. Much nicer than the set of aftermarket ones I bought years ago. I can't believe how flush they are to the fender. The driver side bolted right together.




The passenger side, due to the fitment issue with the fender, took some manipulating. The holes toward the front all lined up well. The holes near the back had to be pulled toward the fender slightly. I think once the fender is fixed, these last holes will line up much better.




Last thing to do was to check the gap behind inner fender where it attaches to the cab with the big ass fender washer. My gap was same on both sides. GM says it might take between two and four f-key shims to fill this gap. It looks like mine will take 3 per side.






Six of these f shims would cost me around $75. Plus, when things flex, they will probably make a squeaky noise. So, I made some spacers out of Delrin to replace them.






Just a few more things to mock up. Stay tuned...




.

[MDPotter]

Beautiful as always! You have more patience than I do.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

Beautiful as always! You have more patience than I do.

Thanks MD! Patience is indeed a struggle.

[omodified]

Trying to get the rear end housing installed and I have run into a problem right off the bat. I never gave any thought to the 3/4 ton trailing arms that I'm using being different enough that it would affect the trac bar mount fitment. The trac bar setup I am using is a CPP CP32021B. As I mentioned before, the 3/4 ton trailing arms have reinforcement plates on top and bottom. The trac bar mount that comes with this kit does not account for the extra thickness at the trailing arm. Also, the 3/4 trailing arm has these fancy tabs on the sides where the mount needs to go. Looks like some modifications will be needed.






1/2 ton trailing arm, no tabs




3/4 ton trailing arm, with tabs

[omodified]

Working on this trac bar mount. Here is what I went with...

Decided to work on the bottom side since it will be seen less. Cut the bottom off right at the bend.



Found a piece of angled steel that is the same thickness as the original mount. I traced the piece I cut off onto the new angled piece. This gives me a roughly close piece to start with. I drilled out the holes for the U-bolt with a step bit. Then, I cut the side length down so when I combine it with the original piece, I get close to the clearance I need for the 3/4 trailing arm. Here is the original mount with aluminum spacers the exact length I need for clearance.



Here is the new piece, ready to be welded in place.




This is after a pass on both sides. Now I need to check the fit and see what clearance I need on the trailing arm tabs now!

[omodified]

The fit of the modified bracket works well. I needed to grind quite a bit of these tabs away to get the holes to all line up. Here is the trailing arm after grinding and touching up the paint. Now, I just need to clean up the bracket and get it painted.

[tutone]

I took the time to go back and read your build thread in it's entirety. Very good work on your truck. I will be watching your continued progress.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by tutone

I took the time to go back and read your build thread in it's entirety. Very good work on your truck. I will be watching your continued progress.

Thanks for joining in tutone. I checked out your build too. I hope you can bring that original cab back in mix. I love that black and white combo. Admiring your fab skills too!

[omodified]

Working on getting the rear end housing mounted up today. I grabbed some new coated U-bolts from SRI Performace a while back. I pre-calculated the length I need so I wouldn't have too much thread sticking out of the bottom. Like the upper shock mounts, I am reusing the lower shock mounts from my previous build. They are still in really nice shape. I'm using my modified trac bar mount on the right side and the CPP supplied spacer on the left side. I'm also shoving the 4° two inch lowering blocks in there too. I have new nickel plated 3/4" nuts and washers to hold it all together. Installing loose for now...

[omodified]

I received the parts back from the nickel plater, so I took the time to organize it all today.



Included in the parts was the hardware I needed to install the rear springs. I actually had the 4 inch bolts that came with the spring retainers. However, those weren't long enough to work with the 3/4 ton truck arms because of the reinforcement plates. So, I had to use 5 inch bolts instead. For the rear springs, I decided to use my old CPP 5 inch drop springs (RCS603-5). They didn't have many miles on them and were still in great shape. The spring retainers that I previously used were black oxide coated and were a bit faded. I bought a brand new set (RCR-K) that were nicely powder coated from board member Lee72.




Installing the rear springs, I followed the service manual suggestions. I installed the lower retainers first, paying close attention to the clocking of the retainer and the spring pigtail. I torqued the bottom retainers to 45 lb/ft. I clocked the upper spring retainers the same as the lowers and torqued them to 50 lb/ft. It's nice to see the rear end supporting itself and to have some floor space back!

[cangim]

This continues to look really sharp! Nice work, I am enjoying following this build.

[omodified]

Crazy that it has been six months since my last post. I've been waiting on a spot to open up again at the body shop. Unfortunately, not much else has gone on. Well, not really. I was on a roll back in December and then I hit a dead end pretty hard.

Since I discovered my love for these trucks, the vision for my truck has always been with the 15" 73-87 truck rally wheels and white letter tires. I don't know why but I just love the look. I know there are more modern wheels now and everybody is doing 19, 20 and 22's. Those all just look too big to me. This truck has been my inspiration for wheels and stance (thanks leddzepp).



When choosing my brakes, I had to choose something that would work with my 15" rally wheels. I did my research and and I decided on the Wilwood D52 calipers. Everything I read said this would work with 15" 6-lug 4x4 rally wheels. I found a front/rear kit on EBAY offered by CPP. It came with rotors, calipers, brake hoses, brackets. Basically everything I need to install. The downside to running D52 calipers on the rear is that there is no emergency brake. This was ok, because Wilwood also makes a universal e-brake caliper for both rears. All I would have to do is to fab a few brackets for them. So, I started to test fit the rears. I got it all bolted together and it looks great!





Unfortunately, when I try to bolt the wheel on, the caliper hits the weld where the wheel center mates to the rim. This was very disappointing. I spent the next few months researching what went wrong and weighing my options. I found out that the 4x4 6-lug wheel that folks where referring to was actually one that originally came on the 67-72 trucks, otherwise known as a 4 nub. These wheels are pretty hard to come by. I did find where somebody was reproducing them, but it seems they have stopped. They had a few similar styles but warned about brake caliper clearance. So, I decided to look at other avenues. Some guys shaved their D52 calipers to fit the rally wheel. I didn't feel comfortable with messing with the structural integrity of my brakes nor the hassle of having to re-powder coat and figure out the Wilwood logo. Then, there was longer studs and wheel spacers. I tried adding washers to see how thick the wheel spacer would need to be. Half inch was way too much to feel comfortable with. So, I figured my only other option was to increase my wheel size. I kicked this around for months, feeling disgusted and defeated. I thought maybe I could get away with 18" wheels not looking so big. I was ready to settle on Detroit Steel wheels, since my center caps would still work with those. Then, I stuggled finding a tire size in 18" that was 28" in diameter. I can't go any shorter than that because of where my scrub line is with the 5" drop springs and 2" blocks. Do I just do a 6" drop with a shorter tire? Naw, that won't look right. Driving me crazy. Then, I stumbled upon this new Wilwood product...the answer to all of my issues.






This eliminates the need for the external e-brake and having to fab brackets. The Willwood measurements say this will clear my 15" rally wheels with no issues!!!




Now a 6-8 week wait to get them...ugh. Time to check the front wheel clearance.



.

[omodified]

Happy to report that the Wilwood D52 does clear the front wheel with no issues. Keeping the wheel dream alive!

[Chevys4life]

Great job, photos and instructions on the vent windows!!!!

[schovil69]

Nice writeup, some good tips in there!

[omodified]

Originally Posted by Chevys4life

Great job, photos and instructions on the vent windows!!!!

Originally Posted by schovil69

Nice writeup, some good tips in there!

Thank you both. I try to leave some details in here in case I ever have to do it again. Maybe somebody else can benefit from it as well. Stick around while I finish up the vent windows...and everything else lol.

[omodified]

Now that the cab is out of my garage, it freed up the space where I will assemble the bed and check fitment. Before I can do that, the body shop will need to finish my panels obviously. I also need a stand of some sort to make the work easier. I kicked around building something myself. In then end, to save time, I decided on a DJS Fabrication truck bed dolly. It is already designed and made for the application. I just added some roll bar padding for extra protection. Can't wait to start using it.

[omodified]

Working on finishing the vent windows. Next step is to clean the division bars. I originally bought NOS division bars to use. After seeing the condition that these originals are in, I couldn't see a reason not to just restore them. This meant scraping the window seal out of the channel. I used a small flathead screwdriver to pry the old seal out. It's brittle but it mostly came out in one piece. I used a putty knife to scrape out any larger pieces that were left behind. I softened the remaining glue with acetone and used a stainless steel wire brush to clean it up. I made a final wipe with acetone and a rag. Last thing to do was polish the stainless beads with the dremel and polish. This thing looks better than the NOS pieces that I have in the closet!!!






Now that the division bars are ready, it's time for assembly with rivets. The remaining steps aren't for the faint of heart. It is tedious work but can be done with a helper and some patience. There were several places I found on the internet that I used as references to help with these steps. One thing I learned was about using a specialty tool to compress the rivets instead of the typical tool that is supplied with the rivets that you use with a hammer. In the end, I used this tool along with the standard tool. I probably could've gotten away with using the standard tool for the whole project.










I removed the chrome division bar trim to polish it in a previous step. This piece was actually in really good shape with only a few minor spots in the chrome. The biggest spot to repair was where the handles slide across to lock the window to the frame. The dremel did a great job with these spots and they almost look new again. I need to reinstall these to the frame for the next step.




Next up is installing the vent post seal. It was impossible to find an original so I went with the next best thing. Precision VPW 1110 67. Since they will be visible, I'll be using stainless rivets to make the install.










Position the seal on top of the chrome trim. Push each rivet through the hole and tape the heads down inside the division bar channel. Square the tool onto the rivet and crush in place.









The next thing to do is install the vent window seal to the frame. I can't do that on this round due to the condition of the vent windows seals that I have. I found NOS seals a while back. The packaging wasn't great but the seals were still soft and pliable. GM uses a mold release powder on these. It has stayed on too long and now it's dried up and is rather hard to get off. I will let these soak in some soapy water overnight and wash them down. Hopefully they will look brand new again.

[omodified]

It took a little elbow grease but the seals are looking brand new. I found that the easiest way to get the stuff off was to just rub it off between my fingers with soapy water. Now I can install them to the frame, which is the hardest part of the whole rebuild.








Every video I watched, guys had different recommendations for this step. Use Windex, use oil, use a screwdriver etc. I'm lucky I found this lubricant from Precision. With just a little extra effort I was able to basically push these seals into the frame by hand. Then I installed the frame onto the division bar. What was difficult here was getting both ends of the vent seal up under the division bar seal. This lubricant really helped with that. I used a plastic window tool to help tuck the hardest parts.










Getting close to the end. The next step is to install the vent window assembly to the frame. First I need to install the vent window handle. I was able to find nice NOS handles and studs. The chrome on both turned out really nice after I hit it with the dremel. The rest of the parts are from a vent window handle rebuild kit I bought from LMC. Once the handle is installed, you are ready to install the window assembly. Slide the window post through the bottom hole in the frame. As you do, make sure you are installing the original washers back in the correct order that you removed them in. I messed this up on my original attempt, but I caught it and fixed it later. Next, install the tension springs and retaining nut and locking washer. I used NOS tension springs that I found on EBAY. The rest of the post hardware is the original stuff I cleaned up and soaked in Evaporust. Don't tightened all the way. Use the handle to lock the window in place. This is your last chance to get the glass depth correct. Check to make sure the window is make a good seal against the division bar seal and that the rivets aren't interfering. Adjust the window in the sash if needed. Install the vent window hinge rivet. You may have to tweak on the vent window frame bit to get everything lined up better. I needed a helper for this last rivet install.
















The very last thing to do before I store these away was to install the division bar channel seal. Again, I couldn't find originals so I went with the Precision GRB 1111 60. I applied 3M weatherstrip adhesive to the back of the seals and to the division bar channels. I installed the seals and push them up until they were flush with the top edge of the channel. This will ensure no air will get by and create a whistle.







Well, this little project is finished. What to do next?

[MDPotter]

I can appreciate (and also not be at all envious) of the amount of time it takes to get all of the gaps in that particular spot to look so good.