New '70 Chevy C10 owner

[CaddyMatt]

Hi everyone

Yesterday, a friend of mine told me of a project Chevy truck that his buddy was selling because he had fallen on hard times, and he wanted $500 for it so I went ahead and scooped it up. I am completely new to the world of hot rodding and street performance (I'm used to driving a Caddy so you can imagine the difference) so I hope to learn much here from all you knowledgeable folks

It is a '70 C10, a little rough on the outside, but it has a 455 Oldmobile big block/tranny swap sittin under the hood . We're not entirely sure what car the engine might've come out of, maybe a Cutlass around that year range. The Holley carb on it has just been rebuilt, along with a new water pump, distributor, fuel filter, plugs, wires, starter, fan, and drive belt.

I'm having some difficulty getting it to start, I think the Holley carb is just temperamental (it will run for a few moments and cut off) so I'm going to try and investigate that today. The man who sold it to me said he had it running fine yesterday. What I know is wrong with the car is that the entire brake system needs to be replaced, the transmission cooler lines need to be replaced, and the speedo needs to be retrofitted to that particular transmission...

Like I said, the outside is a little rough, but nothing that a good DA, plenty of sandpaper, primer, and time can't fix... the bed is rusty, and the wood is non-existant there; the redneck who had it before the previous owner got ahold of some green spray paint and tagged up the hood; the roof is dented in several places; the windshield is cracked; one side mirror is missing and the other is shattered; most of the knobs/levers are showing age and resist movement.

But I am looking at this as a clean slate, and a long term project car (so expect plenty of noob questions OK )







I will try and post some more pictures soon

[cerjio]

Hey Congrats on you new ride. At least yours is a driver. I bought mine a year ago, in parts an bought 2 more for parts, an I am slowly putting it back together. As far as brakes you can get all new, I like the 6 lug brakes an was happy to learn i can get Disc brakes in 6 lug pattern, I pulled the front end off a 72 an have it under mine but it has a five lug pattern , I will soon be replacing . there an easy truck to work on an lots of information on the net to get help with , I really like this site for that reason,

[CaddyMatt]

I've heard that from a few people, including the guy who sold it to me (converting the front end and rear end to five lug). That's something I will definitely look into.

As far as the brakes, he told me that it just doesn't hold brake fluid, and a look at the master cylinder revealed quite a mess, so I'm thinking just to get it running, cleaning up the drums, possible wheel cylinder rebuilds, new shoes, new lines, new M/C and see how we go from there... someone patched the transmission cooler lines with about 4 different types of hoses so it's no wonder that fluid is leaking out of there.

[retselgerg]

disc brake conversions are pretty simple if ya can find a 71-87 donar...you should be able to find a good how to on here....looks like a nice project....find ya local wreck yard or junkyard and you should some nice stuff to help out...IMO i would look for a nice Qjet to have rebuilt...coz holleys are WERID...but i really like the start keep that big ole ugly motor lol

[ChevLoRay]

Those Olds engines will produce some torque....like there's no substitute for cubic inches. I have a nephew who replaced the 403 in his '79 T/A with a 455 that was bored to 468. Then, he converted it to electronic fuel injection and uses FoMoCo injectors while retaining the Q-Jet as a throttle body for the air it needs for combustion. Yeah, it's "healthy". Oh, he got the plans for the conversion off of the internet.

As for the brakes, I'd definitely do a disc conversion on the front. Early Classic Enterprises uses stock GM 12-inch rotors in 5 or 6 lug styles. Since yours is a '70, the rear axle is wider than the '60-69 and the 71-72 axles are supposed to be a simple swap for your 6-lug axles. This assumes the rear end is still from the '70.

You guys in south Texas seem to be able to find all the rust-free and clean (relatively speaking) trucks that you want. That sucks for us who can't.

Oh, and welcome to the board from the Heart of Arkansas!

[CaddyMatt]

Originally Posted by retselgerg

disc brake conversions are pretty simple if ya can find a 71-87 donar...you should be able to find a good how to on here....looks like a nice project....find ya local wreck yard or junkyard and you should some nice stuff to help out...IMO i would look for a nice Qjet to have rebuilt...coz holleys are WERID...but i really like the start keep that big ole ugly motor lol

Yeah everyone's been telling me Holleys are real temperamental, I had a QJet on my '88 Brougham and it ran like a charm... I'll have to look into that.

Again, being new to all of this... is there a particular QJet carb I should be looking at for this motor? I mean, one off of a 350 or some other motor wouldn't work right?

Originally Posted by ChevLoRay

Those Olds engines will produce some torque....like there's no substitute for cubic inches. I have a nephew who replaced the 403 in his '79 T/A with a 455 that was bored to 468. Then, he converted it to electronic fuel injection and uses FoMoCo injectors while retaining the Q-Jet as a throttle body for the air it needs for combustion. Yeah, it's "healthy". Oh, he got the plans for the conversion off of the internet.

Sounds like a beast

As for the brakes, I'd definitely do a disc conversion on the front. Early Classic Enterprises uses stock GM 12-inch rotors in 5 or 6 lug styles. Since yours is a '70, the rear axle is wider than the '60-69 and the 71-72 axles are supposed to be a simple swap for your 6-lug axles. This assumes the rear end is still from the '70.

Do you know what changing out the 6 lug for 5 lug in the front would entail? The guy who sold it to me mentioned something about changing out the control arms and spindles from a little later model trunk ('73 onward I'm guessing). And he mentioned just that about the axle swap, being how simple it is.

While I'm getting the truck ready to drive and fixing the brake system, would you recommend I go ahead and make those swaps?

You guys in south Texas seem to be able to find all the rust-free and clean (relatively speaking) trucks that you want. That sucks for us who can't.

Oh, and welcome to the board from the Heart of Arkansas!

And that's surprising seeing as how the car's been down in Corpus for a while... but thanks for the warm welcome

[72BlckButy]

Welcome to the sicknes...

Great looking truck!

[jbristo67]

Easiest way is to get you some spindles especially if you plan to drop it anyway. Then go to a junk yard and get you some 5 lug rotors off of one of their trucks. I got my rotors for 20 dollars and got them turned for another 20. Rotors through LMC will cost about 120. 73 to 87 will use mostly 1 inch rotors and 88 to 98 will use inch and a quarter. When you order your spindles you will need to tell them if you plan to use 1 inch or 1 1/4 rotors. Let me know if you have any more questions