1964 C10 Survivor

[caseyjones]

Another lots-of-time-at-home build. I had been planning to get my 55 shipped or delivered this spring but circumstances prevented that from happening. I knew I'd need a project of some kind to avoid going crazy so I picked up a 1964 C10 LWB on Mother's Day weekend. It had been posted on OfferUp for a year, I decided to send a message on the long shot that it was still available and I got lucky. It's been an Oregon truck since new, and had less than a handful of owners. It's a 292, 4 speed truck. The plan was to get it running and figure out what it needed through the rest of the summer.

These are how it looked when it got home.

[caseyjones]

The previous owner said he was driving the truck and it just died, and he never tried to get it running again. I decided to start with fuel and see what would happen. New battery and an inline fuel filter first, then I ran a line to a gas can and the truck fired right up. From what I can tell, something must have gotten gummed up in the fuel lines and he basically just ran out of fuel. The engine ran great, no bad noises or smoke.
I started going through the rest of the fuel system - the truck had aftermarket saddle tanks that were full of a water-gas mixture. I thought the original tank looked like it was in good shape so I started pouring fuel...and it filled up my shoe. Big rust hole.

I knew I wanted to have a rear-mounted tank anyway so this accelerated that project.

[caseyjones]

I did my research and decided I didn't like how low the Blazer tanks hang below the frame, and found a couple of examples of the 52-54 Chevy sedan tanks being used. I bought the Tanks Inc fuel injection-ready 18gal kit from Speedway and got to work.



I must have missed a few fabrication details on the other installs for this tank because I assumed the fill pipe would run over the frame rail. I decided that since this section of the frame really doesn't carry much load that I would run the fill through the frame rail. This avoids having to raise the bed floor and still raises the tank enough to hide it really well behind the bumper.

I temporarily routed the fill through the bed floor - I'm planning to design a hidden filler behind the tail light like a few guys have done here.

[The Rocknrod]

Nice truck, your doing great work. Thanks for the updates and keep em coming.

[Captainfab]

That's a pretty clean truck. I'll be following along

[bsarts]

Nice score!

[caseyjones]

Thanks for the kind words everybody.
I found a better picture of the finished tank install. I flipped and slid the rear crossmember back just enough to fit the tank. I also trimmed the bottoms of the frame rails a little bit, maybe a 1/2", to let the front of the tank fit. I just held the tank up the bottom of the frame with a floor jack and marked where to cut, and snuck up on it. I cut the hole for the fill neck with a big hole saw. Then I put the tank in position and bent a couple of flat bars to serve as the top supports for the tank.
I used a universal Speedway sender knowing I had to modify it. I ended up cutting it way down, but it seems to be working. You might be better off just buying a specific sender for this application though.

[caseyjones]

Once I had fuel and the truck was running I could start working through the other things that would keep it off the road. I found a set of lightly used 255/70-15 tires as the ones on it were 20 years old and dry rotted. The electrical system was really hit or miss - tail and brake light issues, dash lights not working, dome not working, etc. I replaced the headlight switch hoping that was the cause but no such luck. I knew the fuse block was questionable so i decided to dig in:

some of the fuse holders were breaking off as I worked with it, so it was time to go. I was getting to know the Speedway website well - I ordered their wiring kit along with some of the original-style Packard terminals from Mouser. I removed the original connector shells from the main cab harness and used the new terminals to connect again to all of the under hood and rear harness connectors. I have extra wiring for the power windows/locks/etc that come with the 21 circuit kit bundled up under the dash just in case someone wants to add that stuff later.

I replaced the broken turn signal switch, the broken temp gauge, all of the dash bulbs and the license plate bulb. I left the ammeter disconnected and bought a little USB charger/voltmeter to plug into the cigarette lighter. This way I can see what's happening when I drive but hide it when I want the interior to look stock. So far no problems.

[caseyjones]

With the electrical system up to snuff I started digging into brakes and suspension. I replaced a bad wheel cylinder but otherwise the brakes seemed to be in good shape. The truck had a bit of a lean to the right, and it didn't take long to figure out why:

The original spring had broken. The whole front of the frame and suspension was covered in years of oil, grease and dirt. I ordered 2" drop springs from...Speedway and popped them in. Between saggy and broken orignal springs, it didn't end up lowering the truck at all. But at least it was safe. I also replaced the front shocks with stock length Monroe Magnum replacements.


I did a tune-up on the engine, flushed the cooling system, and drove it to work and on a longer drive to return the borrowed engine hoist. The truck ran great but definitely leaned a lot in the corners. I hit the PickNPull and grabbed a sway bar and A-arm brackets from a square body truck and bought the lowered version of the frame mounting brackets from CPP. I bought MOOG bushings too. The bar made a dramatic difference and was totally worth it. I did some truck things with my truck, hauling mulch and putting miles on it to see what else it needed.

[caseyjones]

The truck had been repainted at least once, and the top layer had been sprayed with no prep, so it was flaking off and really oxidized. I tried to polish it a little bit but it still looked awful. Thinking that i couldn't do much harm, I tried the old Easy-Off oven cleaner on a spot and it took the top layer of paint right off. I decided we'd see what was under there. I even got the kid into the act.


There was some bodywork and repaint done on the left side door and box.

The right side seems like OG paint though.

The roof had been painted white a couple of times. Hard to tell but it looks like it wasn't white from the factory. I like it though so I kept as much as I could.


The hood was probably most disappointing. I'm not sure what I'll be doing with this.

[caseyjones]

While I was stripping paint I decided that I wanted to put disc brakes on it and really finish the suspension. I installed 4" drop rear springs while I waited for the drop spindle disc brake kit so it was kind of nose-up for a little bit. I ended up piecing together the front by ordering the 2.5" drop spindles and the rotors individually and getting the rest of the parts from Rockauto. New MOOG joints all around.

I used the Speedway master cylinder/booster spacer and their 55-57 Chevy MC/booster. I didn't read the details and got a 1" bore MC, this was a mistake. I ended up buying a 1.125" bore MC for a squarebody truck and that improved the touchiness of the brakes a ton. I also drilled a new pushrod hole on the brake pedal about an inch below the original. I replaced all the brake lines with an Inline Tube kit and only had to chase a couple of little leaks.



I relocated the rear shocks by flipping and redrilling the lower rear shock mounts and used stock length front shocks. I used the same Monroe Magnum shocks and had to grind away some of the trailing arms to make room for the shock bodies. This worked out great. The truck rides so much better with the new shocks.

I've done some other stuff, like all new window weather stripping and a new windshield, replaced the busted original speaker with a pair of 4" speakers in the dash, replaced the old defroster ductwork, installed new sun visors and a new window regulator on the driver's side. I replaced the rear main seal and oil pan gaskets but it still leaks, which is a bummer. I installed stock side and rear view mirrors, too.

Here's a little before-and-after. This is how it sits today.

[caseyjones]

Next steps: One of the reasons I bought this truck is because I had a 1965 GMC SWB when I was in high school. I've always loved the short box on these trucks, but prices have obviously inflated. My plan from the start was to shorten this truck.

I'm planning to drive it until the weather really turns to crap here (in about a month) and then blow it apart to shorten the frame and bedsides. At the same time, I plan to install an A833 4-speed overdrive that I found this summer. I'll pull the engine and reseal it at the same time.

I don't really want to take the truck off the road for long but I feel like it makes the most sense to shorten the driveshaft once. I don't plan to do a bunch of paint and polish while I'm in there either. I guess we'll see how it goes!

[Katrina/10]

Really nice work, are you keeping the rally wheels? I think they look good on it.

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by Katrina/10

Really nice work, are you keeping the rally wheels? I think they look good on it.

Thanks! I’m planning to keep the wheels for a while. I stayed with the 6 lug pattern because I already had wheels that would fit the disc brakes and I didn’t want to pay to convert the rear to 5-lug yet. If I came across the 7” wide version of these wheels for the fronts I’d probably keep them for the long term.

[Katrina/10]

I've never seen any GM 7 inch 6 lug rallys, but you could possibly find some aftermarket. I have 8s all around on mine, and run the same size tires so they can be rotated. I like the look of 15 inch wheels.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by Katrina/10

I've never seen any GM 7 inch 6 lug rallys, but you could possibly find some aftermarket. I have 8s all around on mine, and run the same size tires so they can be rotated. I like the look of 15 inch wheels.

Yes, the 7" versions do exist. I had a set of four that I bought for the caps and trim rings. Already sold the wheels, but I was surprised after I had the tires removed to find 7 stamped in all 4

[Katrina/10]

Well, I'll be! Seen 7 inch in 5 lug, but not 6 lug. Only thing I didn't like about the 6 lug wheels are the factory 4wd center caps, they just looked too big and flat in the center. I made some adapters and put stock 55 hub caps on.

[Corts60]

Sweet truck! I love the stance!

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by Katrina/10

Well, I'll be! Seen 7 inch in 5 lug, but not 6 lug. Only thing I didn't like about the 6 lug wheels are the factory 4wd center caps, they just looked too big and flat in the center. I made some adapters and put stock 55 hub caps on.

I’d love to see how you made the adapters. Adding some cooler center caps would do a lot for these wheels.

[cwcarpenter98]

In my opinion, the stock center caps with no trim rings look better than with no center caps or trim rings at all. If I didn't have all the rusty scratches from trim rings going on and off over the years on my wheels, I would have just run the center caps. Also, what tire size are you running at the moment?

The silver works really well with the green on your truck

[LostMy65]

Scrolling I just stopped and took a double take.
For some reason I instantly notice if a pic looks northwestern.

[Corts60]

Yeah that looks like Columbia Park in NoPo. I miss the Mockcrest Tavern....

[Katrina/10]

Originally Posted by caseyjones

I’d love to see how you made the adapters. Adding some cooler center caps would do a lot for these wheels.

I'll see if I can take a picture today. The ones I made use the old spring clips to hold pre-56 hub caps to the wheels, they don't work with anything else. I have seen some people use the chrome plastic 88-up 6 lug caps with rally wheels, but I'm not sure how they did it.

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by Corts60

Yeah that looks like Columbia Park in NoPo. I miss the Mockcrest Tavern....

Bingo!

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

Also, what tire size are you running at the moment?

These are 255/70-15 all around.