Project: SRS BSNS

[t300]

Hi all. I recently picked up a 1970 c10 lwb as my first domestic vehicle project since I got my 1966 Mustang when I was 16. 20ish years ago! man time flies. Been involved more in imports, euros, and snowmobiles since then but I figured it was time I bought a real truck. My 07 F150 is great and all, but the 5.5foot box just isn't quite adequate.

So this leads me to the c10. I wanted something that had original paint, was LWB, and I could still use 'as a truck'. I found this truck an hour away from me and grabbed it. The SPID was unfortunately gone a long time ago, and I didn't find a build sheet under the seat. It shows 86,000 miles on the odometer, and the balljoints were still riveted/original and in okay shape, so the mileage may actually be accurate. Has a 350/350, power steering, the 'over ride' springs in the back (not sure what they are called), but that seems to be about it for options. Front bumper is a replacement from 10 years ago (and was banged up since then)

So the name of the game is get the brakes, suspension, etc in order, and drive it for a few months until the cold Canadian winter arrives, and then look for a 5.3 or 6.0 vortec to drop into it. I wanted to lower it, but still be able to haul a load of dirt, tow something, etc. I ended up with a new brakes all around including discs in front, manual airbag setup, shocks, misc bushings, a Curt hitch, and a few other things. Basically if I touched it and it wasn't up to par, it got repaired or replaced. Cab supports need to be done but I'll run it as is until winter then pop the cab off and deal with that. Still have some exhaust work to do which is frustrating the heck out of me but I digress. On to the pics!

[t300]

As it looked before work started

[t300]

2" lowering blocks milled down to around 1.5" height (can't remember exactly) with 2degree angle

[t300]

Had some powercoat lying around that was a close match to the original paint, so tacked together the 2 gauge panels and coated it, didn't use clear. bolted it under the dash. Looks okay for now. It actually matches a lot better in person, the flash from the camera makes the panel look way too bright.

[t300]

Made an adjustable track bar with misc pieces I had laying around in the shop. One end was from original panhard bar, the other was part of an aftermarket control arm from an Acura Integra, and the trailing arm mount I made up on the plasma table and welded it up. Add in some round tubing I had and off to the races. Pic doesn't show the clean up (shortening the ubolts, properly bending the brake line, proper bolt in the trailing arm trac bar mount, etc)

[t300]

Add in small airtank, SS7 bags, small pipe notch and some reinforcement, viair compressor. crossmember opened up to run the exhaust through. Made my own bag plates. Front also got drop spindles.

[Hardesty454]

Lookin good!
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[t300]

And how it sits today. I may spray the wheels silver, not sure if I'm feeling the black but I'll do one side and see how I like it. I'd like to find some 17" FJ cruiser steel rims but no such luck around here as of yet. I still need to properly route the exhaust, current setup is just temporary. Loud, and it stinks. Don't have a bunch of time in August so I may just get the local exhaust shop to throw something in. I really want a quiet, single out behind the passenger rear wheel. Its kinda cramped in the back with the bags, brake hose, trac bar, etc. If I go the 5.3/6.0 in winter then I'll build a proper stainless exhaust for it at that time.

[t300]

So been putting on some miles, all good so far (mostly). Not a fan of the lack of overdrive trans, but I can live with it until this winter's powertrain swap. Also after a hard rain the other day I found water on the drivers floorboard, so it seems I have a small leak somewhere I'll have to track down.

Fairly happy with the ride, but its a bit more bouncy than I'd like. Running ss7 bags with around 65-70psi in front and 45-50psi in the rear. KYB excel lowering shocks with the ECE relocation kit in the rear. From what I read here, the air pressures I am running are pretty much in the sweet spot, so not sure if I should be blaming the shocks or what. Any ideas? It seems to be equally bouncy in both the front and rear. Maybe after running a fully built suspension (with Bilsteins) on my last project, my standards are a bit too high? It is a truck after all

[STOCKISH]

That looks great. Perfect shop truck/ parts hauler. Nice work. Especially on the home made stuff!

[t300]

thanks!

finally after ?? years she is working again. throw a bit of air in the back and she is none the wiser

[t300]

So far the truck hasn't let me down, and has proven to be quite versatile. No more dragging out the trailer to bring the 'snowplow' to my shop. Just use the c10! Interesting thing about the air'ing it up in cold weather though, it was about -10c, and I couldn't get the air to build up more than 60psi of pressure. The viair 380 just ran continuously. So I went into my garage and tried that compressor (2 or 3hp oiled compressor) and same thing, it wouldn't build more than around 60psi. I ended up filling up a portable air tank to 100psi with my shop compressor and used that to get the airbag pressures up. after driving a mile I tried the viair again, and then it started filling properly. I'm guessing water in lines and compressor that turned to ice? Anyone run airbags with an electric compressor in below freezing temps? Note the week before it was -20c, so, definitely COLD!

[t300]

Not much progress since my last post, just been driving it, love the truck, sure don't make em like this anymore. Pulled the engine a couple weeks ago, have a 6.0lq4 waiting to go in, just need to find a transmission. a 2wd transmission is like hens teeth up here in the Great White North, guess I shouldn't have sold my 4wd trans that I didn't want to convert. oh well.

[t300]

Just before waking up from winter sleep

[t300]

Borrowed ls71nova's fantastic idea and made engine mounts of out the factory '01 sierra motor stands and some plate. will be able to keep truck manifolds with a little bit of frame shaping, sorry forgot to take pics of final product

[t300]

mounted up. 4L60e bolted up with trans crossmember in original location. Would have preferred to have the engine a bit further back but thats how it worked out and not about to make another set. next step to take engine and trans back out to clean up a few things then back in and start fuel or wiring, not looking forward to either of those. Was going to make an aluminum tank for the back and use factory 01 sierra fuel pump but to get this thing going for winter I'll just use factory tank and a Walbro pump. .... right after I replace the motor on my Ingersoll air compressor that just died in a fiery ball of flames &#*(#$

[t300]

been hammering down on this the last few weeks. Project philosophy has been to use donor or stock parts as much as possible, make parts as opposed to buying them. Keep costs low and more importantly make it easy to find and replace components when they fail. Next step was wiring. Was pretty daunting but turned out to be not that bad considering I hate wiring. I ran harness to pcm on front drivers side. In hindsight I wish I would have ran all wiring back off the engine into the cab. I ended up with this big run of cable to the front which looks kind of ugly

[t300]

One of the reasons I wanted to make my own engine mounts was so I could fit the stock LS exhaust manifolds. I accomplished that, then I ended up with these cheap Speed Engineering shorties. Needed some bling. Oh well. They clear fairly well after the 'nubs' on the block are ground down.

[t300]

Against every forum post known to man I decided to shorten my driveshaft myself. Local shop was $500+ and no other options locally (blame Canada). Ended up taking about 3.75" out of it. I ground down the goober welds, put a hose clamp on it to keep my zip cuts straight. A little heat and everything came apart. Spin it a while until the dial indicator stops moving and TIG it up in a root and final pass. If it doesn't work out I'll get a 1piece made from Dennys.

[t300]

My core support was rusted out so found a local one for cheap that was a better candidate. I had to replace the bottom sills on each side. Thank goodness for a CNC plasma table. draw up the patches in CAD, hit the GO button, a bit of metal bashing and welderup! Those BUD can's seemed appropriate for paint stands.

[t300]

Had a heck of a time with the PS hoses. Got some new inner fenders and they just seemed to be in the way. So I cut a chunk out and life was good. Need to get some satin black paint, I always seem to have flat, gloss, semi gloss, crinkle, all kinds of powdercoat powders, rockerguard, basically everything but satin paint. Oh well. Pics shows general hose layout, they were tweaked a bit after that to fit properly.

[t300]

got the factory donor PS cooler mounted. Worked out okay using new factory '70 lines, had to shorten the return and tweak the pressure one. Hung the fenders on to give me some motivation. Next step, fuel and trans lines, my most hated of all jobs, never seems to work out for me

[t300]

Used a Bussman block plus fuses and relays from the donor truck. All weatherpacked up. Had this thing bouncing around in the engine bay for a couple weeks while I worked around it and one of my connections already pulled out, not good. It was the first one I did however so hopefully I got better with the rest of them. Will be reviewing all of the weatherpack crimps. I still hate wiring.

[t300]

So.... this. Not the Bonneville G's that I'd like but should do the trick for now

[t300]

Well I thought making the fuel and trans cooler lines would be a long evening and done. A couple weeks later I am still stuck. Started off trying to use the donor lines, couldn't tweak them to get them to fit right. Then had the wrong fittings to mate to my walbro pump and gf822 filter. Gave up on that route and got a bunch of stainless braided line and AN fittings in. missed a couple fittings. another order, screwed up my shopping cart and missed a couple of more fittings. Up here in eh canada not a lot is available local so I'm always waiting for that Summit order to come in. Now I have a mastercool tool on the way with both 45 and 37 dies. Hopefully I can throw it all together, close my eyes make a wish and the lines will be done. Getting close to winter here, if its not on the road soon it will be waiting till May.