71 c10, upgrades/rebuild-my first truck

[bigyellow]

So I'm 20 years old i've had my truck since i was 15. She's my baby. I bought her when she was to say the very least-rough. I wanted to learn how to do bodywork and make cool hot rod kinda stuff. So I mowed yards, did whatever it took to make money and after much searching I found my first vehicle. My dad and grandpa taught me how to do bodywork and painting, now i know alot more than i did i wanna repaint it but from a distance doesn't look bad, just has alot of rock chips, a dent from an idiot friend of mine in the passenger fender =/, and a couple paint bubbles. but i still love my old chevy.

After replacing u-joints, brakes, a couple belts, a carb, new tune up parts, and a clutch she still runs great. Straight 6 250 all stock, bolted to a muncie sm420 with a 3.08 gear (gettin about 17 mpg right now ) haha

All through high school I took it EVERYWHERE old dirt roads, road trips, i mean everywhere and that was when I still had the 3:73s in the back

after graduating high school i ended up going to coastal carolina university which i drove to and from every other week at 65 mph 260 miles one way at ohhh 3500 rpm haha, gotta love it.

anyway what i'm gettin at is i'm ready for some upgrades. I wanna bolt up a t5 s10 trans with the adapter plate, put ECE 2/4 drop kit, front sway bar from a 1 ton chevy, and a rear sway bar from a 80's camaro. I figure if i put the 3:73s back in it'll be pretty quick for an old straight six. The 3:08s leave a lil to be desired. I also wanna do the headlight relays, led instrument cluster bulbs, and put some cragars on it. It's going to be kind of an odd combo all together but idc it's mine and i like my big yellow truck (btw so do girls )

soo give me some feedback on what u think it'll be like, any tips would be nice, or any ideas on other cool upgrades that'll make my truck a lil different than the rest running around, but remember i am a college student so i dont have gobs of money lol

[bigyellow]

some more pics =)

http://youtu.be/mYCJXFI1PBI

[bigyellow]

bump- you guys gotta have some sort of feedback.

[bbadfred]

Originally Posted by bigyellow

some more pics =)

http://youtu.be/mYCJXFI1PBI

I sure like your choice of color, maybe lower it a lil bit?

[bigyellow]

has a 3.5/5 drop now on 17" Torque thrusts now just haven't uploaded pics yet lol

good looking truck you got

[bigyellow]

LONG OVER DUE PICTURE UPDATE!!!!!!!!

here you guys go for your viewing pleasure. let me know what ya think.

[PanelDeland]

Nice truck.The upgrades look like they took.The plans you have should be well within your skill set.I will tell you that odd combo or not,"You should build what you want" it';s your truck after all.

[FLDBRED]

That's a great story! The best tip I can give you is to NEVER SELL THAT TRUCK.you have a lot of cool memories that right now might not seem like a lot but years from now they will be priceless!

You and I know someday soon a small block will find it's way in your truck!So why pro-long it! LOL. CHEVY RUNS DEEP,doesn't it!

Oh... and she sure is a beauty!

[50bomb]

I say keep on a truckin. Good to see you kept it this long and I say keep it till the end of times. I wish I still kept my first truck 64 chevy short fleet I am still hurtin deep down. Ima go sit in the 67 now haha

[70cst]

Looks way You all have done a fine job thus far. As been said...look at other trucks and then do what makes you happy and also within your skills or what you can afford. Again...nice truck

[jhwkns]

Way to go! Good for you, doing it all yourself. You've got my respect.

[Beat68CST]

Lower it?!

[bigyellow]

thanks everybody and trust me this truck isn't going anywhere. EVER. lol and i've got a built 350 sittin in the shop but it's going in the vega wagon...w/ a powerglide and 4.10s. gonna be wicked

and if i do upgrade to a v8 it's definitely going to be a big block. no sense screwin around lol. I know at the end of the day it's not like my buddy's f-350 dually, he can buy ALL of his parts off the shelf and they bolt right on. doing these kinds of projects takes a lil bit more enginering on our part.

also does anybody know where the hell i can find a air breather for my monojet that is bigger than those lil pieces of crap ones you buy at advanced?

[bigyellow]

it's lowered a lil bit not much, and it was done the wrong way...yeah i know a torch isn't the best way to do it but it was the cheapest way.

My truck came with heavy duty rear suspension so how much higher did that make the truck sit? cause even after torchin the springs my truck doesn't sit much lower than my friends 69 c10. and his is all stock.

[bigyellow]

sooo i got the headlight relay install done today. wasn't too bad just kind of tedious because i wanted to get it right the first time and not blow up my headlights lol

turned out pretty good. when you open the hood nothing looks butchered in or anything like that. the relays and circuit breaker and mounted on the rad support on the driver side next to the head light bucket

turned out pretty badass, can't wait til it gets dark to check out the difference

as always i like feedback =)

[Andy4639]

Well I think I may have seen your truck around Liberty SC. Did you go to Daniels HS. My son is Ryan Fisher just gradutated this past June.
I have a 71 truck and have done a lot of mods to it.



Give me a call sometime and we can talk. 864 419 2928 I live in Liberty SC.Would be more than happy to show you stuff and help out.
Glad to see you younger guy's picking up the older stuff to drive. Colman Merck has a 68,69,70 truck also. It's Blue.

[wilbilt]

It sounds like you are shopping for a hose, then. Are there any brake parts supply houses near you? These would be the places that sell to the automotive shops. They would be more likely to have one or a cross reference to another number that would work.

[bigyellow]

nope. i can order one thru advance auto parts but it won't be here until tomorrow and that doesn't get me on the road and its 60 bucks for some reason. so looks like i've gotta borrow dad's car to get to work tonight...can't really complain tho its a 2010 camaro lol i just don't like askin to borrow it.

[bigyellow]

ok time to do a lil boasting on my steal haha

so i just picked up my t5 =) its out of an 86 s10. i decoded it and it has the 3.78 first gear, and the .72 5th gear. 150 dollars i think i did pretty good. it also came with the shifter. so now i gotta have the input shaft trimmed down. get my clutch disk and pressure plate then put it in. buttt tthats gotta wait til like christmas break from school cause the driveshaft will have to get cut, cause i drive it to school everyday.

i can't wait to take it out on the highway for the first time. i'm gonna leave my 3.08s in it and see how it does =)

[bigyellow]

it's been one of them days. to start out with it's a monday and i have school. but on the way to school my brakes decided to come apart. not exactly sure whats wrong with them but i know drivin down the road they make t his really awesome sound... and at slow speeds they grab really hard then let go and makes a clunking noise. soo i have one more class then i get to take my brakes apart in the school parking lot...imma look so cool while all the rich kids drive by in their bmw's.

fml.

[bigyellow]

sooo turns out it wasn't my brakes it was my lug nuts...i took the center cap off and down comes all 5 of them. not totally sure how this happened but i got it fixed. i'm not sure how long i was driving without lugnuts haha. i'm glad i have rims with a center cap that covers the lugs.

and well now i can say i've drove my truck to wheels fell off...well as close as i wanna get haha

[bigyellow]

Today I got another steal on some parts for my truck. I traded my old rims and tires and 80 dollars for a full set of 17" torq thrusts with good tires. 255 60 17s

pretty happy, just put them on they fit and look great. and i don't think i could beat the price.

i'll post pics of them on the truck tmrw when it's day light.

[brad_man_72]

ds needs cut, straightened, welded, straightened and ballanced
if you give the DRIVELINE shop (not machine or muffler shop) a heads up they should be able to get you in and out in less than 2 hrs

[RCbowtie69]

Hey from N.C. Nice truck & i have to say you have come long ways with your build,keep the pictures coming & keep on Truckin'

[bigyellow]

didn't get anything big done this weekend to the truck, but i fixed my exhaust leak and put on a new air breather. i got rid of the 4" breather and bought a 9" and the adapter. this will have to do til i find the right 250 air breather. and after lookin around some i'm going to try and find new power steering brackets cause i've determined that my brackets are for the integrated head.

also sway bar is in the mail and should be here tomorrow =) i'm pretty excited about that. i'll get some pics up when i'm done. and after that and i save up a bit more money i think i'm giong to buy a new power steering box cause mine leaks and is just wore out(i got all the power steering stuff for free so i can't really complain lol)

just some updates incase ya'll wanted to know