Project: 69 C10 "Junk Yard Dog"

[frednoah]

A little background since I'm new. I am a big time classic car nut. Something about an old v8 with dual exhaust just gets me going... I work at a scrap metal yard, hence the project name.

I've been into Buick Skylark/GS's for about 10 years, and finally stepped up to a very nice example last year. Problem is I don't drive it as much as I should, because I'm always worried someone is going to open a door into it or something in the parking lot.

Well fast forward to beginning of the year and we sold our lifted 07 Silverado to buy the wife/little one a new GMC Terrain as a daily. I sold my old beater 72 Skylark, and told her I wanted to get a classic pickup.

A few weeks back, she gave me the go ahead and I went to test drive a few trucks. I ended up buying this 69. It has some issues, but runs well and is pretty solid.

First picture is the night I bought it. Next is yesterday with the new wheels. I just wasn't feeling the 20's. I'll get more pictures up tomorrow.

[oldblue1968chevy]

nice truck welcome and what're the plans! more pics please lol

[QKENUF4U]

nice... im a skylark fan myself... my dad fixed up his old 69 skylark for me to run back and forth to work when i got home from AZ. in 91... that car had the nicest/smoothest shifting trans of any car ive ever been in (old and new) sold it to a collector/restorer that was gonna redo the car..... wonder if he ever did ?
nice truck.... really wish i could find one in my neck of the woods i could afford.. ya saved yourself a ton of money in tires by getting rid of the 20's.....

[68 Stepside]

Nice looking truck, and great choice on the wheels. Let's see more pics of your truck and pics of the Buick too!!

[frednoah]

My overall plan for the truck is to have a decent driver that I won't be afraid to drive and enjoy. I also plan on using it as a truck when needed.

Current drivetrain consists of a 350 with a fresh top end, a turbo 400 with a 2000 stall converter, and 3.73 open rear.

First thing I fixed was inside the truck. I bought the proper hardware and anchored the seat to the floor with more than the 2 bolts that were holding it when I bought it.

I also added 3 brand new seat belts so my wife and daughter can ride with me once I deem it roadworthy.

Next up on the list is the biggest concern of mine right now. BRAKES... More on that in tomorrow's post.

[frednoah]

Here is the Buick, and the Silverado that was sold to buy the SUV.

[gcburdic]

aboard Fred.....I'm just down the street from you....glad you switched out the wheels on that one....I wasn't a big fan either....definitely need to get those brakes taken care of....you gonna upgrade to disc??

[QKENUF4U]

so thats what a "OLD 72 BEATER SKYLARK" looks like huh ?? ill take 3 please..... is it a real GSX ? looks pretty dam nice to me....

[frednoah]

Originally Posted by QKENUF4U

so thats what a "OLD 72 BEATER SKYLARK" looks like huh ?? ill take 3 please..... is it a real GSX ? looks pretty dam nice to me....

Nah, this is the one that replaced the beater. It is the one I mentioned not driving enough because I'm scared of it getting dinged up.

Its a 71 Skylark, with a 350-4 and stock peg leg 2.56 rear. Smoothest riding cruiser I've ever had. Guy before me did the paint and put a brand new bucket seat interior in it.

[frednoah]

Originally Posted by gcburdic

aboard Fred.....I'm just down the street from you....glad you switched out the wheels on that one....I wasn't a big fan either....definitely need to get those brakes taken care of....you gonna upgrade to disc??

Thanks for the welcome. Nice to see a local guy on board. I wish I could find someone with a Tahoe or Escalade to buy those 20's. Would make the bank account feel better after the new rallys and tires last week.

For now, I'm sticking with the drums. Going manual to try and get the truck roadworthy. Disc upgrade is a down the road project. My old 72 Skylark had manual drums that worked well, so that's my motivation for now.

[1LoC10]

truck looks good

[frednoah]

As promised, more pictures of the gory details...

Interior - Not much to do here. Armrests for doors, get gauges working, lose the monster tach. Maybe find a better steering wheel down the road.


Gas filler - I have the grommet for this, is it possible to install with the tank installed? Think I need a new cap too, some gas smell in the cab.


Underhood - Have a few leaks to chase, doesn't make a lot of vacuum, but runs well so far.


Rust- Truck will need rockers and cab corners down the road. Will drive as is for now.




Doors - Replace down the road. Week at the bottoms, and hacked into for the speakers...



Bed- In stellar shape. The rough look is from water, it was raining when I took all these pics. I was expecting a nightmare under that mat, but to my surprise, it is in excellent shape.



"Shaved" mirrors and antenna- Need some pics of what would've came stock?

[gcburdic]

Gas neck grommet can be put on without removing the tank.....make sure you get it a little more pliable by leaving in the sun....I also used some soap and some twine to help seat it.

You might want to pick up an Factory assembly manual...usually about $35 online...it'll give you some measurements for that mirror location...for the cowl, you should be able to take that off and see where the antenna hole was.....hope this helps ya out a little!

[red69ss]

love the skylark and the truck is nice too . the bed looks in really good shape and the tailgate looks nice what I can see of it ,deffinently uncommon to see a bed and gate in good shape on these trucks .

[frednoah]

First up on the list of things to do: BRAKES

Truck had power brakes, and no where near enough vacuum to run them. Pedal was low and very hard. I decided to convert to manual. I bought a 1" bore master and fabbed a new push rod.

Bent a dozen or so brake lines replacing the front one I kinked relocating it. Finally got one I liked, and went to bleed the brakes. Fronts bled ok, I've got some stopping power now. Can't get a drop of anything out of the rear bleeders.

I've got no idea what the condition of the system is, I have only had the truck a few weeks. I did a search for "no fluid to rear brakes" and the results point to a stuck proportioning valve.

I've got a valve below my master, but I don't think it's a proportioning valve. My truck has 4 wheel drums, so what does that valve do? Could it be stuck like a proportioning valve causing me to lose the fluid flow to the back brakes?

My other suspect is the rubber hose ahead of the T out back. It looks newer than most of the other rubber under the truck, so I assumed at first it should be ok.

I drove the truck along the back roads to park it at my mother in laws house while i figure things out. Pedal goes almost to the floor on the first push, but pumping them 2-3 more times gets me enough pressure to stop the truck in about a 1/4 mile.

I bench bled the master before it went on the truck. I don't want to pull that valve off unless getting it fixed will allow me to bleed the rears and move on from there with any needed repairs.

Anyone have ideas?

[gcburdic]

Fred,

I'm assuming you know bleeding the furtherest drum from the MC first is best?!?!.....(Which I believe would of been the driver side rear??)....did you just gravity bleed the whole system?....would you happen to have access to a vacuum bleed kit??.....got any pics of the existing P vlave??

[frednoah]

Originally Posted by gcburdic

Fred,

I'm assuming you know bleeding the furtherest drum from the MC first is best?!?!.....(Which I believe would of been the driver side rear??)....did you just gravity bleed the whole system?....would you happen to have access to a vacuum bleed kit??.....got any pics of the existing P vlave??

Yeah Geoff, I've got a mityvac kit. Started at the rear and couldn't pull any fluid out of either bleeder with it. My current suspect is the rubber brake hose at the rear T.

Truck is on its way via AAA to my fathers house in Charlotte this afternoon. Going to pull the bed off and change that hose. I can't access it where the truck is currently sitting, and I can't jack it up because my driveway sits at a 45 degree angle.

If that doesn't solve things, I'll have plenty of room to bend new brake lines without laying on my back in 95 degree heat on my concrete driveway.

Man I'd kill for a good shop to work in...

[gcburdic]

Originally Posted by frednoah

Man I'd kill for a good shop to work in...

Cool....I saw you posted in the other forum and got your answers for the brake issues.....

Maybe we should find a garage to rent out....cuz I'm in the same boat!!!

[frednoah]

Update:

Spent part of the last two days working on the truck. We now have brakes.

I ended up removing the bed so that I could gain access to the rear hose.


Got it removed pretty easily with the help of my old man and the cherry picker. Sat it out of the way and got down to business.


Tracked down my lack of fluid to this point. New rubber hose and I've got fluid at both rear bleeders.

[frednoah]

After the hose was changed, I proceeded to rebleed the brakes. The back wheels went pretty well, but when I made my way up front I noticed fluid dripping out of the bottom of a drum. Figured it was a wheel cylinder, so we took the wheel and drum off to get a look.

The left front wheel cylinder was shot, and the shoes were all spider cracked. I figured if one wheel looked that bad, they were all going to be in sad shape. After inspection, the drums were in great shape, and we were able to reuse them without needing to have them turned. $100 and a trip to NAPA later, I had new wheel cylinders and shoes for all four corners.

Got the new goodies installed, made 2 more full rounds of bleeding, and hit the road. SUCCESS! Slammed on the brakes from about 35mph in a vacant parking lot, and it woah'ed right down like I knew it was capable of.

[gcburdic]

Nice progress Frednoah....boy those rear shocks looked laid out....might want to think about getting some shock relocators to stand those up more....I think they are like $59 from ECE....do you know how much it's been lower in the rear??

[frednoah]

I've got a few things still nagging me before I get it on the road full time.

-I had to make a brake pedal rod when I converted to manual, and it's still not where I'd like it to be. Going to lengthen it a bit and flip it to the other side of the pedal so it is more centered in the master cylinder bore.

-Brake light, turn signal, and reverse light on the passenger side aren't working like they should. There is something up with the lower socket, as it just doesn't feel "right" when you go to twist the bulb in. I think the upper socket is a wiring issue, as my trucks PO was a hack.

-Truck runs great, but it leaking a ton of oil. I think it's the rear main. Probably going to farm this out.

[oldblue1968chevy]

Hey man trucks lookin good

your breather for your rearend is a lil short, proly a good idea to get a longer hose and filter on that..

springs sorta look heated maybe?..

[frednoah]

Not sure on the springs. Heated wouldn't surprise me any. It really doesn't sit that low, but I don't have a stock height truck laying around to compare.

I can still slide up under the truck with it sitting with the tires on the ground.

[dagwood]

nice looking truck.. wish my 72 was half that nice