'70 C10: Not a Project Truck...Ya Right!

[Amenson]

Hello Chevy Truck World!
I recently purchased a '70 C10 as a work truck for building my new garage addition.

Truck Details from the PO:
It is a 3 speed on the tree, manual brakes all 4 drums, and manual steering. the truck has a little over 85000 miles on it. It has a 355ci with a little over 5200 miles. It has new brakes, springs, all suspension parts, bushings, all steering parts, radiator, heater core, gas tank, and it has excellent leather bench seat is out of a 71 C10 . The cab is rusty but i have another original 1970 cab with NO rust in primer with the floor pans rhino lined.

Extra parts:
back glass, window glass, and wing windows
wiring harness
grill and headlight bezel
steering column and wheel
door panels
many of interior parts like glove boxes and ashtrays ( 3 rubbermaid tubs full)
new chrome rear bumper
both doors in primer

The engine specs:
350 4 bolt main .30 over
speedpro pistons and rings
gm pink rods balanced, resized, shot peen, and arp bolts
stock cam and valvetrain
double roller timing chain
all new bearings, oil plugs tapped and line bored
Heads are gm 195cc double humps bored to 202cc, 64cc chambers, screw in studs, stainless steel valves, and new valve seals
edelbrock performer intake
600cfm carb
new high output hei distributor
msd wires
cast iron manifold but i do have headers


The expectation is that it is not to be a project truck but thanks you you guys, I already have a series of upgrades planned.

First on the list, to improve drive-ability, is to swap to power brakes/front disks and add power steering. I have read a load of threads on the forum about both of the swaps. Recently an '85 C10 popped up on Craigslist with a blown motor and rusty body for next to no money. I am considering purchasing it for the front end to get disk brakes and also power steering as both are reported to be recently serviced.

I have a question regarding the power steering pump. The potential donor truck has a 4.3l V6. Will the alternator and power steering brackets work on my 350?

My truck is a 6 lug and the '85 just happens to come with Ralley's which I intended swap to eventually anyways. I am assuming (please confirm) that the leaf spring rear end will not work with trailing arms. Any chance that the 5 lug rear axles will swap into my 6 lug rear end?

I am reasonably adventurous (Other Project) when it comes to swaps/upgrades but want to limit the truck to mostly mostly bolt projects for the time-being...at least until my garage is up.

Thanks for all of the great info on this forum

Cheers,
Scott

[ETsC10]

Welcome to the forum! You are going to feel right at home here!

Sounds like you've gotten yourself a good solid platform to build on there
and, as witnessed by your link, ample skills to pull off nearly anything you set
your mind to. Pretty amazing to see such low miles on a truck these days.

IMHO, for a quick & simple swap on the disc fe, go with a full setup from a '71-'72.

I don't personally know about the late model fe/re compatibility but getting
the modern safety, parts availability & engineering advantages would be nice.

Welcome again to the family and looking forward to pics of your new project!

[Amenson]

Thank you for the kind welcome.

Well, I ended up making a deal on the '84 parts truck.
It is coming home Friday!

I did a bit more research into my questions and found the following.
Rear End:
The truck has a 10 bolt leaf spring rear end so the axles will not work in my 12 bolt.

Power Steering:
The 4.3l V6 is apparently just a 350 with the front 2 cylinders removed. The power steering and alternator brackets should carry over.

Any other parts that I should grab while I have it?

Cheers,
Scott

[Square_78]

Wheres the pics!?

[PanelDeland]

I would swap in the front suspension and trade the scrap for a rear end with appropriate gearing and bolt pattern.

[Amenson]

So, sorry for the lack of Pic's, have been a little busy the last two weeks with my other project!
We broke ground on our garage expansion on Saturday.



The previous week I brought home the ’85 Scottsdale donor truck.



I pulled the front suspension, master cylinder, booster, front brake lines, power steering pump/brackets/box, alternator/brackets, water pump/crank pulleys, auto transmission, steering wheel and a few other misc, things.

I had also picked up a ’71 power brake booster and master cylinder. I installed the booster/master cylinder and made the lines to make it work with the drum brakes.
What a difference, with the larger master cylinder piston and a little boost the brakes feel and work really great. Don’t feel the need to immediately swap to disks any more.

I would like to get the power steering swapped over but am having some trouble.
The previous owner installed the alternator where the power steering pump needs to go so I intend to use the setup from the donor truck (4.3l v6).
I installed a long water pump and what I think are the alternator brackets.
The heads and brackets were removed from the donor truck before I picked it up so I am using pictures from the internet to try to figure out how to put it back together.
Is this what it should look like?



This is my setup.



My heads are lacking the top outer bolt holes but even if they were there it does not look like the lower bracket hole would line up with it.
My head does have a little bracket that appears to put a threaded whole about where it should be in the head

Here is a shot of the alternator and the other brackets.

What am I missing?

Cheers,
Scott

[Secret Squirrel]

LOL it happens to the best of us, I found it is very hard to stop bringing home strays! Enjoy that truck! Oh, and Welcome to the forum from North Louisiana

[Bomp]

Welcome.
Seems like your filling up your stable before its done being built. I dig it
Note: Build shop tall, able to hang future projects that way.

[Amenson]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Welcome.
Seems like your filling up your stable before its done being built. I dig it
Note: Build shop tall, able to hang future projects that way.

The stable is filling faster than I expected...the C10 takes up a load of space. I could park two race/sports cars in the same space! I am going to have to convert it to a short bed so that I can park something in front of it and lower it so that I can stack something above it!



I have been know to hang stuff from the ceiling. I had to store my racecar that way in my single car garage years ago.


Funny thing, I went through your build thread for the first time two days ago and chuckled when I saw the Camaro hanging!
Great project by the way, you are fearless with an angle grinder in your hand.

Cheers,
Scott

[Bomp]

Happened to get a chance to stop by your build/shop/hanging race car thread.
Any progress? Looking forward to new info.

[CParnell]

I have been know to hang stuff from the ceiling. I had to store my racecar that way in my single car garage years ago.

That is just straight up awesome there.

[In The Ten Ring]

Wow man, I wish I knew half of what you seem to know! I hope this works out for you....and I wish I could help instead of just supporting you.