1965 C10 Uncle's truck

[wildearp]

My uncle bought this truck used in 1966 and drove it daily until 1985. In that time frame I did some body work on it and painted it this light blue for him. It sat on blocks outside for several years and then in a barn for a while. I finally got my hands on it to keep it in the family:



Here is where the project is going:

[wildearp]

So far, I have put on the Fatman front end with 2" drop spindles. I filled the firewall holes and removed some of the embossed areas around the heater. I installed the big back window conversion. I am currently working on the rear Fatman universal 4-link. I am awaiting a 9" Ford rear end housing that is being built at a local shop.

This truck will have a 355 Chevy NASCAR SPEC engine with super T-10 4 speed. 9" steel billet posi with 3.89 gears. Strange nodular housing and Strange 31 spline axles. 12" Wilwood brakes with 4 piston calipers all around. Wheels are 16x8 and 18x9.5 American Racing Salt Flat Specials. Howe Aluminum radiator. FanMan 18" electric fan. Bills Brackets. I will run hydroboost with a CPP dual master cylinder with a Wilwood remote distribution/proportioning valve.

This weekend I will set in the engine and trans mounts and add some boxing plates. I already fixed the rot in the front fenders. The hood will have Eddies Motorsport billet hinges.


More pictures to come

[4shongo]

Nice truck. Looks sharp!

[RockinKees]

Nice project!
Keep the pictures coming!

[1963c-10]

Very nice.....cool project

[markeb01]

Nice to see it staying in the family!

[65Gregg]

First horse I've seen drinking gin, must work you're making great progress. How about some pics of the Fatman front suspension?

[wildearp]

These were some shots I took when checking clearances:

[wildearp]

Here is the Fatman universal 4-link cross member tacked in. I punched it through the frame to get the ride height I needed. There are lots of ways to install this kit. In the end, I changed to Wilwood 12" 4 piston Dynalite brakes from Ford Mustang single piston 10.5" brakes, which allowed me to move the mounting points out 1/2" more than in this photo. Everything is still tacked until my 9" housing comes back from final welding. The front brakes are also changed from 11" GM to the same Wilwoods.

[wildearp]

This clears the roadblocks. Full speed ahead on this project. I will retest fit this and measure for a driveshaft. Then comes final welding, c-notch, frame reinforcement, and then some paint. Good things happen after that. Parts are bolted on and stay on!

[TJ's Chevy]

Looks good! Careful on them speed bump now.

[wildearp]

My 48 Willys had lower hanging stuff. I am keeping these things in mind, I hope

[Lokin4AReason]

looks like it ll be a fun project ...

[Monte's62]

Wildearp let me first say I love the salt flats. Best looking wheels made IMO. This is gonna be an awesome build with some nice suspension pieces and a killer small block. Reminds me a lot of LVphotos build, really nice. Good luck and I'll be watching.

[wildearp]

Originally Posted by Monte's62

Wildearp let me first say I love the salt flats. Best looking wheels made IMO. This is gonna be an awesome build with some nice suspension pieces and a killer small block. Reminds me a lot of LVphotos build, really nice. Good luck and I'll be watching.

I hear you. I really didn't want to buy another set because they were already on the wife's car:



I went with the unpolished centers to be a little different. Unfortunately there is no cost savings in that.

[wildearp]

Everything looks like it is fitting. Got the housing, third member, and axles plugged together with brakes. Driveshaft was retoobed and balanced same day service. I plan to c-notch it tomorrow and fit the steering u-joints if I have enough time.









Rear sway bar is a new bolt on Hellwig for a 79 Ford 1/2 ton. I also found the fatman QA-1 coil overs all 4 are 10". The 600 pound springs are for the front, not the 225 pound.

[lolife99]

Very cool!

[wildearp]

I will get some more photos up soon. I finished the frame notch and have painted the underbody and frame. Steering is routed. I fired the engine for my first time on Friday night. After the math, I figure this spec motor was run on our local paved 3/8 mile banked oval. It has a Braswell 390 that I freshly rebuilt. With open headers, it won't idle below 1800 rpm and won't run without a bunch of timing advance. I probably won't be able to drive it on the street at all without a cam and carb change.

I put some single chamber flowmasters on it Monday and it did not like them at all. The carb has holes drilled in all four butterflys and has 4 corner idle adjust and air bleeds to add to the full picture.

It is one wicked sounding engine.

I wrestled around for hours setting up the hydraulic throwout spacing and getting the clutch aligned. Those plastic alignment tools are worthless. I am going to have to find a more accurate method. I even used the trans input shaft without the bell housing, but when I tightened the clutch, I couldn't pull out the trans to install the bell. I took a beating that afternoon.

[wildearp]

Here are some updates. I changed the cam to a Comp Thumpr series, changed lifters, intake, carb, and now it idles with a nice lope at around 850. I have started on the bodywork, but it has been too hot to work in the shop long.

[wildearp]

[TJ's Chevy]

Perrty cool!

[mooseknuckles]

nice!

[Justin@EntropyRad]

really diggin this so far!

[Bomp]

Nice build.
Sub'd

[aggie91]

Nice work so far. This is going to be one nice truck!