My First Super!

[colinlx]

Hi all,
I wanted to share the progress of my build so far.
First though, I have to say that this forum is awesome! Though I haven’t posted much myself, I’ve read and searched countless posts from other members. I really appreciate the time and effort you guru’s put in to help guys like me who hardly have a clue what I’m doing, a thousand thanks! Maybe one of these days I can actually contribute something.

I found my ’72 C10 Super on a farm about an hour east of Calgary. The front tire was off the rim, and I didn’t think we’d get it started; it had been sitting there for over a year. We got a tire on and after removing some of the mouse “debris” she finally fired up. I took it for a little spin on the dirt roads out there and was amazed that just about everything worked! I gave the guy $900 CAD and drove it back to the city!

I took it to a friend of mine who used to own his own garage. I paid $500 for a few parts and labor for him to safety it. After that I drove it around for about 500 miles before the winter came. The three pics are taken right after I brought it home from the garage.

My plan with this truck has been to “restore” it on the go. I don’t have a big garage or gobs of cash to spend on it, so it will be slow going. I just want to enjoy the truck while fixing it up. I had to replace the rad core support (see in the first pic how the driver’s side headlight is recessed a bit, and the different fender) so that winter I took the front end off. I ended up cleaning up the firewall and most of the frame, I was just going to shoot a coat of paint on the engine (original 350) right in the truck.

So I’m ready to put the new HEI distributor in and I get my garage buddy to come over and give me a hand. He says: “you know you can buy a cam and lifters for about $150 right?” I didn’t think it would be that cheap. Then he says: “why don’t you pull the motor, you are 90% there and clean it up right?” Next thing I know, the engine and tranny are out on the floor!! The new plan was to stuff a mild cam in there with new lifters. I cleaned up the bearing journals a little and put in new bearings and rear main seal, new timing chain, oil pump gaskets etc.

So I’m ready to degree the cam and my garage buddy calls me up: “boy have I got a deal for you!” I think to myself, oh no, I’m never going to get this thing on the road. Long story short a friend of his was selling an ’85 Silverado with a new 383 (less than 15000 kms), for $1400!!! So I buy the whole darn truck! I took out the engine and exhaust and sold the rest of the truck with the 700r4 for $650. I ended up paying $750 for the engine, exhaust and a posi 3:73!!! Now I’m getting excited!!

Just the other day I got it started, after putting the plug wires on right! Lol. Now I’m ready to clue up a few things in the engine bay and start putting the parts back on.

I'll post another couple pics of the completed engine bay, and a little video if I can figure out how to post it later tonight.

[killer71]

interesting story...sounds like the project got outta hand as we all know they can do! Keep us posted on the updates!

[colinlx]

Here's a couple pics of the engine as it sits today. Everything pan to air cleaner (except spacer and valve covers) is off the '85. I just put the fenders and grill on so I can line up the headlight brackets and get them welded in place. (Took the rad support off a 71 GMC)

Here's a short video of the truck running, I've since brought the idle down to around 600 when warmed up. No power brakes or power steering right now so not too much load on when in gear with foot on the brake.

http://s744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/colinhc3/?...

I'm probably most excited about the exhaust. It's a pretty cheap set up made from a few pieces of pipe clamped together. I didn't have any faith in it whatsoever when I clamped it up, figured for sure it would leak all over the place. (especially after all the backfiring from trying to start it with the plug wires on wrong ) But, I think it sounds pretty good, no major leaks at all. I'll just keep checking the torque on the header bolts.

Can't wait to start driving this thing around!

[colinlx]

So since I've started the truck I've been noticing a transmission leak. I got up in under it last night and found this. Has anyone ever replaced this seal with the shaft in place? Do I have any other options to reduce the leakage rate?

[chevy_mike]

Originally Posted by colinlx

So since I've started the truck I've been noticing a transmission leak. I got up in under it last night and found this. Has anyone ever replaced this seal with the shaft in place? Do I have any other options to reduce the leakage rate?

Having just replaced the seal (and all the other external seals) on my TH400, I don't think you can get that shaft seal out without pulling the shaft. Even with it out, of all the seals I replaced, it was the hardest because it was so small. All of my pullers were too big. I think I used a chisel and cut it in two and removed the pieces. Install was easy as I just used the correct size socket and popped it back in.

Good luck and nice score on the project.

[colinlx]

I got the headlights figured out this weekend, after a bit of trial and error. They seem to line up pretty good. I put the fenders on to help line it up. Once I got them on there it seemed a shame not to take it for a spin around the block. Man, what a tease that was! (I still have to take it all apart again for paint)

[colinlx]

I'm getting to the point now where I'll need to start thinking about paint. I still have some work to do in the engine bay, (paint inside of fenders, wheel wells, some grill hardware) but I expect to have all this done by this weekend.

I do have some body work that I want to get done too, but I'm going to be pretty slow at that because I don't have much experience with body work.

That being said, I figure I will just shoot it with some flat black, or grey or red primer. I don't want to put a good paint job on it at this point because I'm going to be hacking it up a bit to repair the body work.

What are your guy's opinions? Should I leave it like it is and go for the ratty shop look? Paint it flat black? Paint it primer grey or red?

[Switch163]

leave it the way it is. It is the cheapest way to go. Looks good great progress