C10 Short Bed Fleetside V8 Automatic

[aotte1]

Starting a C10, Fleetside, short bed, V8 with automatic, along with A/C project.
The truck was purchased some time ago, and placed in a storage unit. Getting it out to restore as a original driver, mostly. Plan is to preserve its originality, with a few upgrades, that can be reversed. May have a few points of historical value. Saving original parts that will be changed out. It is an AZ truck, with little rust, more ware from daily use, and gadigts added. The frame looks to be fairly original as to brake and fuel lines, wire harness, etc.
Below are a few photos of when in storage unit. Their is a lot of dirt on the frame that came off when pressure washed. Once cleaned some back paint is present.

Les

[aotte1]

The seat with build sheet and possible seat tag photos.

[aotte1]

Steam Cleaning Parts

Took a lot of the suspension, frame and rear axle tub, etc. parts to be steam cleaned, as pressure washer alone was not removing some of the grease. The steam pressure washer removed the grease, etc. Once cleaned some of the overspray and paint marking was visible. Green on the front springs before cleaning. Blue on the steering pitman arm. On the inside of the rear wheel tubs their is color overspray, maybe from the factory color body paint. A few photos below.

[aotte1]

Another photo of inspection paint on the steering gear box. Also the automatic transmission frame cross member for a turbo 400 only in 1966.

[JamieGallien]

Looking forward to the build. Love the brake line routing in that first suspension pic! LOL!

[aotte1]

Next took most of the truck in pieces to be dipped in a non acid process. This process leaves the metal cleaned, without opening the pores of the metal. It is a three step process, followed by protective coating against oxidation.

[aotte1]

A few more photos of the cleaned parts. The next to last photo after the hood has some type of digital gray color tone change, that I can not remove???? Also a few of he parts are for a 1964 K10 project, like high hump.

The bed side was perfect before an employee step on it, kind of upset.

[aotte1]

A couple more photos, including wheels sizes 17.5 6 lug and 19.5 8 lug for another project. The high hump is an original K10 item. Include the extra parts with all the other truck parts.

Les

[Rusty63]

wow that dip makes it look like new! great project,good starting point! looking forward to progress!

[Captainfab]

I'm glad to see you start a build thread for this truck, Les. This is a very nice and straight truck you have. I am curious as to the dipping process that is not an acid. Those parts turned out beautiful!

[aotte1]

Jamie, Rusty, John,
Thanks for the encouragement on the project.

John,
It is done by a company in Evansville IN, they are an Industrial Cleaning Company that does work for smelting and similar processes. They clean residual materials off manufacturing molds, pots, etc. The vehicle cleaning is a side line they do, when not doing industrial cleaning.

The rust removal part of the process is a caustic solution, that is heated, along with electrolysis. Not sure what the earlier processes are that remove the crud- paint, grease, etc. It is done in big tanks.

Following the dipping process, the parts go to a industrial power coat facility. The strangest item they are coating while I visited, was helecopter bodies and the blades. Not sure what material they use for these parts. They do all kinds of coatings. This where I learned to do ceramic coating, which I use on certain parts, as it is very hard. Also corrosion resistance is high if
done correctly in a controlled environment

Les

[61K10]

Les---another build, makes my backache just thinking about it. K truck on the back burner? New project looks nice. Nothing like clean sheet metal to work with.

kimble

[aggie91]

Sheet metal looks great after the dipping.

I spoke with the chemist that developed Evapo-Rust at LST over the weekend. They have a 2000 gallon tank that can hold a complete cab. They had a mid 50's ford on display that was dipped in that tank. Results where similar, but did not remove everything, if there was paint, it stayed on the metal. Only the rust was removed...They are planning a 9000 gallon tank that would hold a complete car...

[aotte1]

Kimble,

64' K10 truck waiting on the painter for ever, over a year. Wish I could do it, health keeps me away from painting it, chemicals now are very toxic to me. Dr says no contact at all. So idle hands needed something to work and focus on. Had this truck in storage unit for several years. Took it apart to make it fit, the frame was the biggest piece. Storage unit was 8'x 12 or 15', good thing not a long bed. This way storage was not very much, and kept the truck inside.

Purchased a four post lift to help my back and neck, makes a big difference. Also the C10 for me is much simpler, easier, and less time to build then a K truck, so many more components to rebuild.

The super clean sheet metal is what I need to do the builds now at my age. Need it to be simple and less work.

Carl,

This company uses a first stage that removes paint etc. Once in a while they use a stripper for really tough spots.
The process their sounds great for you, and can always remove paint first.

Les

[aotte1]

Powder Coating

Most of the parts following the dipping were taken directly to be power coated.
Pretty much did everything ,except the cab and interior parts, in semi gloss black. Cab stuff done in fawn color. A few photos of the parts coated heading home.
On one of the trailing arms you cane see manufactures marking, "S" in a circle.

[Modges'66]

Wow!!!
I am impressed so far!!!

[Jferrante]

nice work so far - sent ya a message on the high hump piece

[aotte1]

Modges,

Thanks for the complement, your build has come a long way with lots,of great work.

Les

[pdxhall]

Very nice truck. I wish I would have had access to that stripping place. It would have saved me a couple years work on mine.

[aotte1]

Pdxhall,

Feel very lucky to have this process available to me. It sure does make restoring them very easy, along with powder coating. Use powder coating as first primer.

Thanks,
Les

[Captainfab]

Be careful with that. Most all powder coating is a type of plastic. Automotive primers and paints are not designed to be applied over plastic.

Originally Posted by aotte1

Pdxhall,

Feel very lucky to have this process available to me. It sure does make restoring them very easy, along with powder coating. Use powder coating as first primer.

Thanks,
Les

[aotte1]

John,

Thanks for the heads up on powder coating uses, and to consider the properties of the materials being used (compatibility), very important.

For me, use an industrial company that is local for the different coatings used. Stay within one system, do not mix and match systems, and use recommendations of their knowledgeable professionals. They know their state of the art materials. I am a totally one system/process person, again no mixing of different systems. Lucky that this industrial company, is owned and managed by car guys, and are friends with them. Also, find the properties of these newer materials of interest to me, like the speciality epoxies, ceramics.
Some of the materials comparable with specified epoxy powder coat, are newer from Germany. Some of it is expensive too.
Again, I let professional knowledgeable of materials choose products to use, along with history of success.

[aotte1]

Suspension and other parts being added to frame. A few of items shown are power assist steering frame bracket, front sway bar, and automatic transmission crossmember.

[aotte1]

Added front disk brakes to stock front suspension, by replacing the front spindles and using after market rotors. Used 1990 suburban c10 spindles, many other years will also work. Requirement- c10 spindles need to be from vehicle with 1 1/4" rotors. Earlier trucks had these standard, in the 80s GM used some 1" rotors on certain trucks. Another way to be sure spindles are 1 1/4 is if truck has the JB5 brake option. Several members here, have provided detail instructions on this conversion, listing parts to be changed, when retaining stock front control arms. Mainly need to use newer ball joints, and outer tie rods to match newer spindles. A conversion
part, tie rod sleeve, is used to connect the new larger outer tie rod to the original steering. This conversion uses stock calipers, (NOTE: calipers need to match the year of spindles being used, to fit without some grinding. Think GM cast them a little different as they made changes to caliper upgrades).
Will talk more later about conversion brake hoses for the calipers.

Note: suspension is still being installed, and is not complete.

[aotte1]

Coating the suspension parts and e-brake handle. Using as a place to hang wet coated parts, our K10 frame that is waiting for the body panels to be painted for ever. Used a cold ceramic coating on these parts, that do not fit in a oven. You need to be familiar with safety/health requirements when using ceramic coatings. Use it when a very hard, durable, and good corrosion protection coating is needed. Also requires special material preparation, followed by immediate coating application in low humidity. The applied coating is a very thin layer, using specific air pressure, gun tip size, and one pass.