64 C30 Questions - Advice desired...

[CJR444]

Hello! New to the community...bought a pretty clean 64 C30. Now I need to know what to do with it. (Drive it! I Know!).

A few naive questions...

It's a C30 so its more heavy duty, correct? What is different? Is this a towing truck?

• If I want to upgrade this to a daily driver/cruiser, should I have started with a C10? Or is this doable (everything is doable, I Know!)

• How can I tell what motor it has! (See, I told you, naive. When I look at the LMS catalog it looks like the exhaust manifold might be different from a 283 or a 327. (https://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cbe/full.aspx?Page=31). I need to know because I need the valve cover gasket and it looks like its different depending on the motor. Anyone know if this is true?

• So these Chevy motors and trannys are all interchangeable huh? Awesome!!! So my buddy is suggesting I go with a 350 and a M21 trans...but I'm wondering if I already have a M21 since I have a 4 speed? All I know is when I drove it home I sure wished it wasn't running such a high RPM at 60 MPH. Suggestions? (Don't drive it at 60 on the fwy?)

• I need a few items. a Bed would be nice...but I'm in no hurry. What I really want is a pair of 64 "Custom" Chrome Cab placards. Gotta get the most important parts first!

• I am also curious about lowering this thing a little...and I know nothing about bagging these things...or just standard lowering. Any suggestions?

• Disc breaks, there has to be a good thread on this. What is a good cheap option for stealing from something in a junkyard and having some good disc brakes?

Hopefully my pictures work. I can handle the small stuff..but this is my first jump into Chevy territory.


Thanks!
Clint

[CJR444]

Let's try that again...

[66Submarine]

Neat truck. I drive my '65 C-30 as a daily driver. You have pretty short tires on your truck, and may not have 4.10 gears. (4.57 or 5.14 is what they came with new) You very probably have an SM420 Muncie four speed--if it has a very low first gear and you shift 2-3-4 that's what it is. M21 will only make the gears closer together. Disk brakes can be taken from a 71-87 3/4-1 ton, or burb up to '91.

[66Submarine]

The biggest complaint I have with mine as a DD is fuel mileage. I don't go real easy on it and drive with traffic (something like 55-65MPH, normally around 55), and in a big, heavy truck with what a lot would consider deep gears that means I seem to average around 12.75MPG; although driving easier/slower I saw 14.5MPG, so I'd guess an OD trans would help a good bit. The lighter C-10's seem to get a good bit better mileage, although I haven't done an A-B-A comparison to say exactly how much.

[notsolo]

Nice ride C30's were 1 ton trucks. Some were used for tow trucks, 1 Ton dump trucks etc. Some were dual Rear wheels, I had a 66 C30 single wheel long bed step side. C30 had heavier axles, leaf springs had extra set of helper springs, lower gear ratio. engine tends to howl at 60mph. 283/327 was common, valve cover gaskets should interchange. 350 will also interchange, but won't be any better on the hwy. Swap all the running gear you could use C10 parts disk brakes up thru 1987. then add drop spindles.

[66Submarine]

BTW, welcome to the forum.

[Gargoyle]

To get the gear ratio to a more highway friendly range you could swap the gears or even swap out the complete rear end. Use something like a 14 bolt 70's rear out of a pickup with 4.11's. Or you could keep the stock rear end and find some of the 19.5 inch rims like the old bread trucks used which would require a taller tire, essentially lowering the rpm's. Those rims can be hard to find, I'm looking around now for a set to use on my '62 dually.