Ratiki Redo

[Slimegreeeeeen]

Twelve years ago, Ratiki was born. A mild custom 65 Chevy Suburban with AirRide suspension, a 383 stroker engine, 700 R4, and 12-bolt with 3.73 Auburn gears.

Dave's Perfection Automotive (Ronnie Whitehead, seen below), Twomey's Auto Body (Don Twomey), and DB Rods and Miniz (suspension guru John Henson), all had a big hand in the work done to my Austin-based Suburban.

Mario's, Fat Lucky's, and I, all had a hand in creating the tiki-fied interior. Everett Byrom custom-built one helluva roof rack.

But perhaps the most significant contributor was none other than Cindy "CRASH!" Rasche (seen below painting the roof rack), who sadly passed unexpectedly a few years ago.

After we lost CRASH!, I lost my passion for Ratiki. My battery died. The truck sat in my garage collecting dust and further atrophying as I pursued other projects. The engine needed replacement -- a long, sad story involving a Waco-engine builder who disappeared after sending me half the engine I paid for.

Ratiki picked up little dings. I almost traded her away but something told me I needed to keep it for that one day I'd feel fired up again.

That day has finally come. With COVID in full swing and my love of C10's fueled largely by magazines and this site, I've found my fire again.

I'm going to return Ratiki to the road and proudly show off the handiwork of one of the finest artists I've ver known.

Ratiki 2.0 is in full swing. I even started a blog (in my signature below) to follow the rebuild of my truck which is off to a good start with a spanking new Smeding Hot Rod series engine with Sniper EFI.

As part of the process, I've been compiling old shots of the buildup and being reminded how many things are already done, and quite well. The value of having good talent work on it and the grunt work I happily did the first time around. Sand-blasting. Undercoating. Rewiring. You name it.

With technology and suspension being more advanced now, I'm embracing the opportunity to make this truck what it was always intended to be. A daily driver. And in the process, I'm going to make upgrades without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I've had discussions with Porterbuilt, GSI fab, and Texas-based Chopping Block dealer Clyde Blankenship (owner of 817Motorsports.com and the coolest Cragar SS-equipped '65 C10 I've ever seen) about how to lower the front end to a more respectable ride level.

I've torn the front end down to the frame rails and am doing a deep detailing to make the underhood look as presentable as the engine and ordered a big batch of Eastwood products to do it with.

Luckily, I have dedicated space and no deadline so I'll take the time to do it right. It's my intent to get the truck to drive as close as possible to the lowered ride height in the pictures below.

I don't pretend it's going to be cheap or fast, so I'm going to try and have fun with it and ask a lot of questions along the way. I apologize in advance if that involves you.

So there you are and here we go.

[Clyde65]

Nice burb!
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[doobiebro]

Kool can't wait to see the progress.