Bagged 82 from New Zealand

[NZSquare]

I thought Id better do a build thread, most of the info I got was from this forum and has been a massive help, so if someone reads this and learns from what I copied off others job done.

So I got me an 82 longbed c10, brush painted with red-oxide primer and a thrown together 350 in it, I was overseas at the time so my cousin went to look at it and when I called him to see what he saw he had bought it.




It was going to be a few months before I got back to NZ and hes an engineer/ hot rodder so he started it, my instructions were bag it and 4 link it, it needs to be low and sent him some pics, after a year or so I got back and he had it looking like this:

[NZSquare]

I was super happy with the work, they had pulled everything off it and it drove awesome, fully rebuilt the motor and all but it wasnt low enough for me so I re-did the back :

[NZSquare]

Few more shots of the back



extended and raised the guards



and slapped them in



covered the notch



SO it sat like this for a while ( a month )




more to come !!

[NZSquare]

So then it was time for a sectioned front crossmember, I had looked at the bolt in route but couldnt justify the expense (shipping near doubled the cost), I didnt have a problem with my steering or track width, and didnt need to lay out on a 22" wheel. So I went with Captain Kaos's instructions and they worked a treat. I should add the main reason I went for this and not a Z is I will probably go the bolt in option one day.



I used steering Universals sent from Scotts Hot Rods, pic taken before the bearing support went in



The only issue I really ran into with the crossmember was the lower arms, Ive heard of people on here trimming them for clearance but in my opinion the amount required would render them unsafe so I sucked it up and got some CPP tubular arms and am stoked with them



I trimmed the bumpstop mount pad down about 3/4" from stock, to allow them to sit flatter and me to run a decent height bumpstop



they sure fixed my steering/ arm clearance issues.

[NZSquare]

So then to the donk (engine in NZ not monte carlo on 28's as it is there I guess)
My plan from the start had always been to go diesel, we have a bunch of cheap used import engines that make good power and I want to have a crack at refining my own fuel for it, the rebuilt 350 in the truck was great fun and sounded fantastic but I never used all the power it had.
The engine I went for is a toyota (remembering duramax's are made by Isuzu) 1KZTE, 3.0 litre turbo 4 holer. I ripped all the electrickery off and had a guy build me a mechanical fuel control which allows for more tuneability and power increase, without being to fussy on what sort of fuel you're running through it ( diesel, kerosene, waste oil, biodiesel etc)
Stock the power numbers are pretty pitiful but they go good, it'll still do burnouts. torque and HP is identical to 6.2 chev at 500 rpm higher or something. With the mods this one will make a fair bit more.
Gearbox is a 3 speed with OD, factory toyota box which they use in the twin turbo supras etc, and same as the a340LE in jeep cherokees. It is normally controlled via the engine ECU so I made a control box and now its manually shifted through the chev column shifter



My cousin wasnt to happy but I'll keep the 350 for a boat.

New box crossmember



Here she is all done with york mounted



ALl I have to do is add an electric fan and an intercooler which will clean the engine bay up a heap, I dont like that intake crossover pipe

[NZSquare]

I dont have any decent photos but I also put a 16 gallon summit fuel cell between the frame rails at the back ( Like how the performance online ones sit) after my stock tank had an argument with a rock and lost. I also added and accuair vu-4 to replace the POS chassis-tech manifold that was in there, gone from dropping 10psi in 5 minutes to losing 5 overnight, its a very nice bit of gear that vu-4.

So then on went the wheels, 20" dodge steelies I got from Ebay, shipped them to a wheel builder here in NZ and he cut the centres out and made and fitted new ones with the right hub diameter, BCD and nut taper, they came out fantastic in my opinion, just the look I was after



The truck is still sitting about 1" high out back and 2" up front, when I get to it I'll install the drop spindles and it'll lay out front and back no problem.

I may get the tyres striped to, what do you guys reckon ?



Overall Im real happy with how its coming along, its drives awesome and stops traffic, there's nothing like it round where I live.

Once again thanks to all those who have posted on this message board for all to see, I'd be lost without your guidance.

[NZSquare]

What did I do to get thumbs down ? man tough crowd, or did I mash the keys wrong ?

[Restrorob]

Not a tough crowd at all, You clicked on the thumbs down below your first post reply box..... Contact a moderator and they can change it for you.

Nice job and good looking rig !!!

[Pop's C-10]

plus ypu posted in tha middle of tha night..not much traffic around here @ 2 a.m.

[menace121978]

nice build bud! heck of a transformation

[lolife99]

COOL truck!
Totally different from trucks here.

So,... what's next?

[babyJay]

Nice. Is that a naked girl in the truck?

[harnalien]

Looks great. I like the wheels a lot!
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[bharrison1]

Very cool!!!!!

[54Caddy]

nice i say get the stripes on the tires it looks clean. good work man.

[tazman87]

some nice thick white walls would do the trick.

truck looks amazing good job!

[NZSquare]

Thanks guys,

I drive the thing a fair bit and didn't want to have to worry about the paint to much hence the black (its a PPG 2 pack satin), I may spray it the factory brown one day like that 'brown bag' truck was.

And yes she does look naked, but I think shes just wearing her bikini.

That shot is from a govt subsidized biodiesel pump we have in town, its a publicity gimmick but I care not as the fuel is alot cheaper than from the gas station, we pay around $5.75 US a gallon for 96 octane, diesel about $4 US a gallon.

As far as next goes I need to tidy up the engine bay, remove the a/c, make some better inner guards (just trailer ones in there now), but I need something fast to tow behind it, and am think a turbine powered drag car, Im a helicopter engineer by trade and am alot more comfortable working on turbines than on piston engines.

[thirdstreettito]

Awesome truck! Lovin the Dodge steelies!

[mooseknuckles]

awesome truck.....very cool build!

[3r!c84]

looks good man!!!

[kev2809]

i like it! def stripe the tires. what did you use to paint the rims?

[NZSquare]

Thanks again,

The rims are just powdercoated, I mucked around painting the last set and they looked good but not that much better than these ones powdercoated.

I think next time i'll do something similar to these from the porterbuilt site

http://porterbuiltstreetrods.com/sit...DSCN3409-2.jpg

I actually have a set of what I think are called 'dog dish' hubcaps from an astro van, these wheels obviously have no provision for attaching them, anyone know the best way to go about doing it ? I havent had any luck finding spring clips or something like them.

[SS Delux]

What about fabbing up a tin plate with tabs that bolts to the wheel and then to the hubcap. Any pics of em ?

[NZSquare]

That may be what I need to do, the wheels have no holes for mounting such a thing and I want to avoid drilling into them if possible just in case I get sick of the caps.

The 'dog dish' ones are like this (not my truck )



And what I have now is like this, the centre caps from the 15's



I was thinking I may be able to put an anchor nut on the inside of the stock centre covers and bolt the astro covers to that with a small black countersunk screw, It would be pretty inconspicuous I think but security might be an issue.

[nbpro]

sweet truck