Newbie to C10 crew - A matched pair of 69s

[will69camaro]

As a little background to the introduction, I'll start by saying i'm no newbie to old cars. I still have my first car which is a 69 camaro. Over the last 10 years, i've been building an over the top pro-touring setup that snowballed out of control! That's exactly what I'm planning NOT to do with the C10!

69 camaro mentioned above is a LSX 427, twin turbo, Detroit Speed suspension ground up build.

I just started driving it last year and have taken it to few meets and one national event (LS Fest) where I "competed" in the grand champion event. I say "competed" cause mostly it was me trying to keep the car running and shaking the bugs out.





Enough of that car, why am I HERE?

Well two weeks ago i was out of town for work and saw a perfect candidate pop up on a facebook page and immediately went to work figuring out how to pick it up.

The truck in question is a 1969 Chevy SWB. It's got a 67 front and bed on it. It's going to be a good match for the Camaro!





Its not perfect, paint is decent driver which is what I wanted, and it's powered (currently) by a 350/700R4. Has 3.73 rear gears and 20" american racing "rallye style" wheels in 20x8 and 20x9.5.

I made the deal and flew to OK to inspect and pick up the truck just a little over a week later. Rented a car in OKC and picked up some car parts from JetHot while I was there. Drove down to Duncan and saw it for the first time. It was love at first sight.







I did the deal and started my 450mi drive back home. It was a quick turnaround given I was scheduled to go offshore the following day and had dogs that needed to be let out!

Fueled up and ready to go!


Welcome to Texas!




One good thing on the way back was after a full tank of 75mph cruising with some vicious side winds as well as some tail wind, It manged to get 17.3mpg!


OK enough with the photo-whoring,now with the build plans!!!

Driveline:
LY6/6L90e is the current engine in mind. Have some prospects, we will see if still available when i'm back from offshore. With this I'll be moving the tank to the rear and removing it from the cab.

Suspension:
Looking for budget bag setup controlled with Accuair e-level kit.
For brakes I have my eyes on a Kore3 kit with C6 calipers and rotors. I have some interest in trying to make 5th gen camaro brakes and building my own brackets but we'll see how that goes.

On top of that I plan to re-do the wiring to update it a bit, some minor interior upgrades and a mild stereo. I want a nice, reliable cruiser that I can do some mild towing with.

William

[FRCvette]

That is an awesom pair you have.

[will69camaro]

Originally Posted by FRCvette

That is an awesom pair you have.

Appreciate it, should look good getting pulled on the aluminum tilt deck i got

[flashed]

Man , I love orange .

[will69camaro]

Originally Posted by flashed

Man , I love orange .

ME TOO! Factory color on the camaro, not sure factory color on the truck.

[Low Elco]

Nice lookin pair!

[Bennett68C10]

Very nice truck you picked up, love the Camaro too!

[will69camaro]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Nice lookin pair!

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

Very nice truck you picked up, love the Camaro too!

Thanks guys.

And yea the camaro i've had for nearly 21 years now. First car and finally 95% finished with my "dream build." so it was time to get something cool to cruise with it. Camaro isn't much of a fun "around town" car anymore. Too much power, it's an event any time i want to take it out, feel like the checklist is taking off in an airplane. Truck will be something I can jump in and cruise to work a little easier.

[will69camaro]

Garage Goals:

[will69camaro]

Proceeded to drive the truck and do "truck things" with it for the last 2-3 years.


TX2K19


As it sits, I've put probably 8k miles on the truck in 3 years. some off time while it's in storage working on Camaro (tight garage fitment to work on one and keep the other as you see above).

I'm ready to take it another step and add some LS power and reliability!
LS Starter kit:


Picked up a LS2 (190k miles) from a good friends TBSS, and the same day found a take out 4L80e from another friends 68 Camaro and a NNBS truck intake. Busy Saturday for sure!

Luckily i came across some good deals on parts so have already collected a bit of the swap: Holley Swap kit, Mid Mount accessories, speed engineering headers, dakota digital gauges and modules (still on order). I have a AAW universal 22circuit kit I'll use, and some other misc parts.

Now I'm at a bit of a cross-roads. Engine needs to be bored, so stock pistons not going back in (was the original goal to save some cash). So I'm fighting an internal battle on whether to stroke it or not as i'm already doing some machine work above expected cleanup.

Contemplating a 408 build (.030 LS2, i know) and having the 243 CNC'd by local person in Houston. Cam selection will be focused on driver performance and occasional towing. By occasional, i mean 1-2 times a year to local track (100mi round trip). Trans will likely end up a Jakes Stage 2 with Circle D converter, and looking around 3000rpm.

I'm headed offshore soon, and plan to amass more parts and make some decisions on the engine so I can put it together this summer (May was the goal, but backordered parks makes it look more like June/July). I'll be doing a short video series when I put it together with some friends and try to turn it around in a couple weeks.

[will69camaro]

Parts are continuing to show up while i'm away for work.

I have the engine rebuild kit for the LS2, and a date with the machine shop next monday.

Vaporworx fuel controller has been returned and ready to go.

Fuel pump for the Boyd tank has arrived.

Boyd Tank, Radiator, Vintage Air, etc will all be ordered next week as well as a Circle D converter.

Still waiting on my Holley 302-3 oil pan and EVERYTHING from Dakota Digital (gauges and modules).

[will69camaro]

Been a bit since an update. I spent a month out of the country and then was lazy with the Texas heat to get much done in garage.

LS2 was machined by a local place and i picked it up and brought it home to assemble myself. Heads were CNC ported by Hooper's Heads here in Houston and Parts supplied primarily from Texas Speed for engine related, and a shop called Matt's Classic Bowties for all the swap/classic parts.

Block returned and on a stand ready for some work:




With the help of Joseph Potak's LS Book I set crank and measured all bearing clearances and thrust and moved onto filing rings and installing the pistons.


Cam and timing set was installed:


After that the Heads were installed, and I checked PTV and pushrod length. Luckily i had a few diff length pushrods to choose from and my measurement matched with a set I had and within the allowable lifter preload.


While I was checking the valvetrain, i noticed the rockers were 1) nasty and 2) bushed trunnion upgrade was severely worn (came with the motor).




Quick call to Trevor at TSP and the trunnion issue was sorted and some Chem Tool sorted the rocker grime/grit.






Next up was installing the oil pump, and front and rear covers. I pulled apart the melling pump that came with the motor to inspect and happy that I did. It definitely showed some wear, so a new OEM style replacement went in it's place.




Covers were cleaned up with some brake clean and a tooth brush to get any grime out of the small crevices and all looks good as new! Also installed the holley valve covers while i was at it to "seal up" the motor. Tape now covers the intake and exhaust ports until it's installed in the truck, and it's been bagged each time I leave the garage.


Oil pan will go on today, i was waiting on some windage tray, hardware and oil pump hardware. I waited for the Holley 302-3 for about 6-7 weeks and decided to cancel that order and go with the knockoff available off ebay. I'm all for supporting Holley but considering I got the same pan, with all hardware and gasket for about $150 less than they sell theirs for, and it was available to ship same day, its hard to justify the continued wait.

While This was all taking place, I got a deal on a Circle D 258mm converter and took it by Circle D to have it freshened up and gone through. What I received back was a brand new looking converter, and some swag. Very happy with the service and quick turnaround from those guys. It's a 258mm Billet Triple w/ 3200 stall. More converter than this little truck needs, but no kill like overkill.




I'll be bringing the C10 back to my house this weekend and starting the disassembly process. Have some time off from work coming up around 4th July so hoping to make some serious strides. Only thing at this point NOT in my possession is the guages (just celebrated my 16th week anniversary of ordering them yesterday) and a driveshaft that'll be measured when I get the setup in the truck.

I'll be more regular with updates when work starts actually taking place.

[lunatic1968]

Nice rides, following !

[justKIDn]

Nice!

[will69camaro]

Thanks guys. Motor was finished up today. I’ll start cleaning up the 4l80e and install the converter tomorrow. May bring the truck back to the house and put camaro away for the time being. Garage not big enough to work and have both in there.

[72Teeroy]

Very nice rides keep the post and pictures coming

[will69camaro]

Originally Posted by 72Teeroy

Very nice rides keep the post and pictures coming

Will do. Got the c10 back at the house now. Long day of back and forth to storage and didn’t get nearly as much accomplished as I’d have liked.

[will69camaro]

https://youtu.be/Il9t3Gm_M8Q

Buddy came over and did a little video of the disassembly. Got some time off end of this week for about 2 weeks. Hope to knock a LARGE portion of this project out in that timeframe.