72 C10 winter budget build

[c10vortec]

Hello All,

This is my first build thread for the forum and I'm excited to finally take part in the action. I'll start from the beginning with the truck details- and also prepare for a lot of pictures!

I picked up this blue and white c10 locally when I was about 16. Dad didn't want a project for a first vehicle of mine, but when the seller hit the key and we heard the cam hit through the flowmasters we brought it home!









It started with a rebuilt 350 bored .040, with a small cam of unknown specs. We soon discovered that it averaged 8 mpg and used about a quart of oil every 2 tanks of gas. with this being my daily to school I was filling up every 4 days
Here is a link to a running video of the old motor- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpQ6NcJDGDQ
sorry about the video quality, but it's for sound purposes only!

The rust is actually not bad for a Ky. truck. It has the usual cab corner rot, but the rockers are solid. There is rust in the lower part of the driver door and the cab supports on the floorpan are rusted through. The bed has spots on the inner side panels and floor. The tailgate was somehow mangled and crushed together in the center so we removed it and put a tailgate net on for time being. I have better pics ready for when I get the thread caught up to my current progress.

It has a power steering, power brakes, and a/c options. The a/c compressor was not installed when we bought it and the PO claimed that it worked at some point when he owned it, although some of the flared lines on the firewall unit have been cut.

[Blue/72]

Looks like a nice start! I'm also 16 and have a blue and white 72 that is my daily driver to school! Picture attached. What are you plans for it?

[c10vortec]

About a year after buying the 72, we were tired of fighting some of its gremlins. The main problem was the 350. It was was extremely hard to start once it was at operating temp and would die in traffic if the idle was set too low. On top of the oil consumption we were lead to search for a new powerplant.

We had a sbc 350 in the barn from a 95 Z71 with fuel injection that we were really tempted to install, but we stumbled across a local guy who was an excellent mechanic that had a reputation for his LS swaps. You can see where this is going! It didn't take many joy rides in his previous swapped builds to convince us. So over spring break we sent the truck to him and swapped the 350/350 turbo combo for a LM7 Iron Block 5.3 backed by a 700r4 from one of our parts cars. We dropped the truck off on a Sunday night with the trans in the bed and on Wednesday morning he handed us the keys.



The donor for this engine was a 2003 Chevy Avalanche in a scrapyard with about 100k on the odometer, a 2003 was selected so we could still have the drive by wire unit.



This is his aftermarket ECU set up. It has a diagnostic port and the Smog, evap, and torque management deleted.





The 350 was sold to a friend who raced dirt track cars. He built the engine for his next car and told us the cam lobes were pretty worn. He had us come look at it after the top end rebuild and it sounded wicked! I wish I had a video of that motor running also, but He blew it up about 3/4 of the way through the season.

This motor by far has been the best thing we have done to this truck. It's smooth idling and in power delivery. Through the same exact exhaust system it has a much more mellow idle, but an awesome raspy backbite when revving. If you couldn't hear the fuel pump you would never know it was an LS swap. The power difference was also amazing, this stock 5.3 had more power in every range than the old 350 could dream of. The mpg's have been 17-18 now in all around driving and since 2011 this engine hasn't given us a single problem.

The transmission was a different story. The First 700r4 from our camaro parts car was a little tired. It slipped under WOT, and the installer told us if it was his truck the trans would be blown up before the weekend. I was able to get another year and a half out of it before 3rd gear stopped pulling on the way to town one day. We got the trans rebuilt and re-installed and it still had slipped under WOT, as of now it is still in the truck but we are currently getting a 4l60e built to fix this problem. We also used a recommended builder from the mechanic who did the engine swap

At the time of the swap we installed an aluminum tank in the frame of the truck. The tank is 18 gallons and comes from SoKyClassics here in Bowling Green. Ill have some pics of his later on also.

[c10vortec]

Blue/72- beautiful truck man! I have a soft spot for the blue white and that truck looks great.

I just finished rebuilding the front and rear suspension of the truck. It's now sitting in my shop with all of the body removed awaiting a frame chop. My short term goal is to get the frame cut, new trans in, rear axle rebuilt, then run it at Ls fest this Fall. I've been the past two years and can't take spectating anymore haha!

After college I'm planning a more extensive restoration. The truck desperately needed help in the suspension department before it saw any more miles, so I started this project for the winter to get it road worthy again.

[c10vortec]

Fast forwarding to now, I am 20 and in the engineering program at WKU. I haven't been driving the truck as much through college because of the 40 min commute and the aging suspension of the truck. It seemed that during every drive this year I found a new squeak or rattle in the 72. Since the motor install we have had to install brakes and rotors and a master cylinder to keep it on the road. This is not to mention how TERRIBLY this truck handles. I suspect the PO heated the front springs in an attempt to drop the front, because there are spacers in the springs as it sits now.

I once read a description of a member's truck handling to be like "a pig in slop" or my personal favorite "my door handles scrape the ground the ground in the turns" I laughed at that description because it was so true to my truck. So i decided it was time for a change.

Before Christmas break I ordered all new front and rear suspension components and pieced together a drop kit of 2 1/2" and 4". I got the works- All new ball joints, bushings, tie rods, idler and pitman arms, and front and rear springs and drop spindles. I also got new rubber cab mounts and an adjustable track bar. So when the break started it was time for the build!





We live on a small farm so I am lucky to have access to a wide variety of tools. With the tractor I was able to remove the bed on my own.


This is a decent shot of the placement of the 18 gal aluminum tank. The only downside is the location of the filler neck, It must come through the bed floor. It doesn't bother us at all though, and it's nice to be able to pull up to both sides of the pump.




These are just some shots of the condition of the bed. There are a lot of small holes from rust throughout.

[tommys72]

nice project

[c10vortec]

Please excuse the mess in the shop, we have collected all kinds of things for the farm and from my dad's previous years of trucking- and we've never gotten around to organizing it

I started with the back end because it was the easiest. The spring cups and spring cup bolts were rusted solid. Since i had new springs and hardware we used a cutting torch to simplify the removal process!



I didn't realize then how often I would need heat to remove old parts. I had to remove the trailing arms to install the pro-performance brand polyurethane bushings. I cleaned up the old nasty arms with a wire wheel and shot them with some black enamel. I forgot to get a picture of the driver's side arm before I started cleaning it. It had a rust build up between to the two halves that had separated the arm about a 1/4. I removed the build up and drew the halves back together with some grade 8 bolts before painting them. I thought it was odd seeing rust build up in that way without much damage to the arm itself.





I pressed the bushings in with a bench vice and had to do some prying to get the arms back into the crossmember brackets. After that point assembly was a breeze with the new hardware.





The rear springs are 4" drop springs from CPP and the trac bar is from CPP as well. With some help, we used three hands to turn the bar while it was bolted in to center the rear axle. I didn't purchase a trac bar or shock relocation kit since it was only a 4" drop. If it feels like it needs it later I will invest in them. The shocks on the truck now are under a year old so we'll see how it does.

[c10vortec]

Thanks Tommys72

Here is a shot of it outside at the new rear height. I was in love with the new height immediately, I didn't think I would notice the drop as much before putting the bed back on. Now it was time to turn it around and start the front end rebuild.





I believe I'm going to resume the thread updating tomorrow or Monday as it's getting late. Class starts back Monday also so it may be Monday night before I'm able to resume it. My progress will slow down some because I live off campus with some friends and can only make It back home on weekends. But I already have plans set up for the truck on the first weekend that I get back so I will try to keep the progress going as quickly as possible.

[c10vortec]

With the truck turned around in the shop and some help from my roommate, we pulled off the hood, grill, fenders, and inner fender wells. The process was straight forward, but almost every inner fender clip was rusted and most of the square nuts welded to them broke free also. This tripled the removal time. After it was all said and done we made a trip to SoKyClassics again and bought a front fender assembly hardware kit for $25. All the clips were redesigned with hex nuts also. Hopefully the re-assembly won't be as painful.





I'll spare the in-depth front end rebuild details, there are many excellent threads on here that detail the process already. I'll post some pictures of various points throughout the disassembly to show the condition of the parts that were coming off.



Luckily the ball joints have been replaced at least once, but the nuts were facing down on the passenger side so the boot had to be in rough shape anyway. And if you can't tell from the pics, it's been a while since someone has touched the front end


I can't forget my helper, Blue

[c10vortec]

Please excuse the mess once again, but I waited to clean the floor until I finished cleaning the frame and the front crossmember



This pic shows all of control arms that were on the truck. The driver side lower arm had been previously replaced by a 73-87 arm. I asked a question about it here on the forum a few weeks back. I had shafts in the mail for the original 72 arms so we set off for a local salvage yard. I also picked up a 73-87 front swaybar in the process. From the beginning I've read that this was the single best handling improvement for these trucks. I got the arm and sway bar for $60 from the yard.

I thought I would show our first snow also. I was disassembling the front end In 15 degree weather, but like a normal Ky winter, I was able to find a few 50 degree days for painting.



I spent a full day with a wire wheel grinding the crap off of the control arms, drag link, and swaybar




I believe I'll stop here for today and finish updating the thread tomorrow, I need to pack up head down to the house before school tomorrow.

[c10vortec]

Some details I forgot to mention about the disassembly-
I didn't take any pictures of It but I removed the lower ball joints from the control arms while they were still mounted to the frame. I rented a ball joint press kit and pickle fork kit from Advance Auto Parts for around $210. I used advance because they didn't have a limit on the rent time and they had a full refund. The other stores in town had time limits on the rental periods of 48 hours.

The toughest parts of the disassembly were the idler arm removal and the removal of the U-bolts holding on the control arm shafts. The idler arm took a rotation of my dad and I swapping hits on a pickle fork with a sledge. It finally surrendered. I ended up cutting off one of the U-bolts also to remove it.

The next big task while the primer dried was cleaning up the front crossmember and the frame rails up front. I removed the old P/S gearbox because it made a nice groan when turning and leaked profusely. I bought a re-man box from O'reilly along with some new U-bolts.


That blue bucket was empty before I started taking the gunk off...


The U-bolt replacement I feel is worth sharing, I found this thread before I started my build:http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=543800
I discovered that my u-bolts were loose during the removal and feel pretty lucky that one didn't break earlier. I replaced them with Dorman Help part #13503 as pictured. These are grade 8 replacements and are the thicker bolts made for a 73-87 truck. The man from the thread had to drill out the holes for the new bolts, but mine fit without any modification (maybe a difference between body styles?). Either way I wanted these on the truck.



At this point I wanted to preserve my clean up with some paint, so I spent some time covering everything up.

[c10vortec]

And Finally the fun part- at least in my opinion! I let the paint dry a few days and started bolting on the new Control arm shafts, bushings, and Ball joints-All parts were MOOG also. I had more blue and yellow problem solver boxes than I knew what to do with. I wish I had pics of the parts pile at the beginning but that doesn't really matter.


I labeled the camber shims during disassembly so I would know where they belonged. I also installed the top ball joints on the bench. I installed the harder press-fit lower joints while on the truck. Both lower joints snugged up quite nicely so I'm not worried about them working loose.


I know the paint line sticks out and may seem odd, but I'm not in the financial position to clean the whole frame like I would want to. And despite What everyone says, This will NOT be the last time I take the truck apart! there will be time for a true frame-off later


These are my MOOG full height springs compared to what was removed, there is a spacer on the backside of the old spring thats hard to see





The spring install was really easy, I did not use a spring compressor. We installed the spring after bolting the spindle to the top ball joint only. Then we put a floor jack under the end of the arm and gently raised the arm until we could put the nut on the bottom of the spindle. In 10 minutes we had both springs installed. This is also the first look at my McGaughy's 2 1/2" drop spindles.

[c10vortec]

Finishing up the suspension was pretty easy. I measured the old tie rods and set the new MOOG rods at the same length. They needed some adjustment though with the new drop spindles. I discovered I bought a steering box that was too new to use my old P/S lines. I will need to get some unions and change the line ends to the O-ring style, I bought a more recent box for the quicker ratio.


The shocks are less than a year old So I just wiped them off and bolted them back up



After finishing the front up I started mounting up swaybars. I finished the back first. The bar Is a 7/8" bar from the back of an 86 Camaro Z28. I didn't search for an Iroc bar because we have 2 Camaro parts cars. The black frame brackets came from the Camaro. Everything else is Energy Suspension urethane from Autozone. The top holes for the frame brackets were factory holes, After that there was a lot of drilling.

[c10vortec]

The front bar fought me some, but after a trip to the forum I discovered it was upside down. After that It didn't take much persuasion for it to mount up with the polyurethane mounts. The mounts are CPP lowered mounts. All of the bolts for the front and rear bars are grade 8 from Fastenal.





This is our awesome donor car for the rear sway bar, I drug it from the fence row to use air tools for the removal


I'm planning on taking the cab off so I removed the seat and the tank, I still hadn't removed it since the new tank install....



We were pleasantly surprised with the floor pan, it wasn't as bad as we were expecting. the cab supports on the bottom need some attention also

[Hogshooter]

Great start, you have coverred alot of ground in a hurry!

[c10vortec]

Originally Posted by Hogshooter

Great start, you have coverred alot of ground in a hurry!

Thank you, I was in a race against time to finish the suspension before my break was over. I had hoped to get the frame cut but didn't quite make it in 6 weeks. I do have solid plans with our welder for saturday, so it should be another big day! After that progress will probably slow some. I'm trying to get the truck back on the road before the semester is over though.


As I got the front end assembled we made another stop by our mechanic's place and found his unused, rough and rusty short bed for a 67. He is building a LQ9 swap to sell and wants all new sheet metal. I handed him $100 and took the old bed off of his hands. It's not pretty, and the wood floor is rotted, but I will clean It up some before the install. I'll get better pics of it this weekend now that It is at our place.

even though it lacks the correct trim mounts and side marker light holes, I needed a bed to drive it again. For the final plans we are considering the SoKyClassics kit. At $2300 it's not in the cards just yet.

The most recent update I have is removing the cab, this took place last Thursday. With the help of the tractor and another friend of mine, we removed the cab in about 30 minutes. The hard part was making sure everything was disconnected.


I have had one fitment issue with the drop spindles, they hit the wheel balancing weights. Before we could make a decision we just pulled the truck out with our skidsteer and set it back on the jackstands

[c10vortec]

We put the cab on a small tiltop to keep It mobile. I don't have enough garage space to house both inside at one time. for now the cab is sitting in our breezeway beside the shop. I do plan on removing the mess that the PO left as far as the A/C system goes.

Other than the cleaning up the firewall, the only thing standing in my way for re-assembly will be deciding what to do about the floor pan. I think i may sell my old bed and put it toward the patch panel fund.


I currently have the wheels re-installed. I just removed the wheel weights for now. we will find an alternate solution to fitting the steel rims around the spindle when it's ready to drive again. you can also see my stockpile of removed body panels. The bench seat is in ok condition with one big hole in the driver's side. I may recover the bottom before installing it back but we'll see what happens

It's hard to see but Dad and I stumbled across this seat during the swaybar search. It is a really nice looking 60-40 seat from a 2008 Ford Ranger. We didn't measure it, but I will be considering this in the future when browsing the seat options. I would also appreciate input on this seat If anyone knows anything about it. I have spent a good bit of time reading about the seat swaps others have done.


And Lastly, to catch up the thread completely, We started removing the rear cab mounts to lay out the cut lines. They were the toughest rivets that we have found on the truck. After grinding the head off we had to heat the rivets cherry red with a suttelene torch and air hammer all of them out. A sledge and punch wouldn't touch them. I started removing the brake and gas lines in the other rail but haven't finished.


My next update should be Friday night. I will be removing all of the lines from the frame rails and then drawing the cut lines on the frame.

[c10vortec]

Well time got away from me, but I am very happy to report that I finished everything I had planned on the truck by early summer and I have been enjoying every second of time behind the wheel of my SWB!!

So to try and pick up where I left off....

The frame cut went smoothly. I spent a few hours drawing and double checking my measurements for the frame cut. ( 12" in the center and 8" off of the back)



Then with the help of a friend with a lot of welding experience we made the plunge





Everything went smooth and lined up well. We measured a few different points on the frame as well as some points diagonally before welding it back together.

[c10vortec]

After this point it was time to work on the drive shaft shortening and also the new transmission. Our mechanic helped us install the new 4l60e, PTC 2800 stahl converter, and Earl's fittings for the fuel lines. The 4l60e hooked straight into the existing engine controller and was ready to go. The drive shaft was sourced from our mechanic's 67 C10 with an LS powertrain that was being parted out. We also took this opportunity to have him rebuild the old 12 bolt axle and install a set of 3.73 gears with an Eaton clutch type posi


I was against painting the frame because of the quality I was going to be able to complete the task with, but after some convincing and help from my father, the frame was wire-wheeled and painted in a weekend. For now we just covered the outside, and any possible rust spots on the inside.






Then came the process of measuring and re-mounting the rear cab mounts. All the measurements I used through out this process of cutting the frame came from the forum.



During this time we also finished up re-plumbing the brake lines in the middle of the frame, changing the power steering fittings to match our o-ring gear box, and shortening the parking brake cable.

[c10vortec]

At this point it was finally time to start installing the body back onto the chassis. I started by installing the cab onto the frame with some new cab mounts from SOKY Classics. I used the tractor again to do the heavy lifting and had the task completed in an evening. Before Installing the cab I spent some time degreasing the firewall and also removing the remnants of my A/C system.




After a morning of wrenching we propped the radiator away from the fan with a stick to drive the truck up the road to test out the new transmission and other new components. Everything ran well on this test and it also boosted our moral a bit after slaving away on this truck over the winter.



During the last trip to SOKY classics I also picked up a full bolt kit for the entire front assembly of the truck's body panels. With this in hand I went into overdrive trying to complete the truck.

[71Sleeper]

nice work, sub'ed

[Aus69c20]

Great work!

[CURSED GEARS]

I enjoyed this. good work!

[RRR18]

following

[WarMonger]

great thread