Winter Beater Build 2.0- '66 Short/Fleet BBW

[theastronaut]

Remember that time back in 2013 when I bought a second '66 truck to drive while the first '66 was apart? This is going to be a rerun of that, except I'm not planning on selling this one.

Ever since I've been into C10s dad has mentioned that he knew a guy that bought a blue and white '66 new and still had it. Dad had occasionally asked if it could be bought but the guy never wanted to sell it. That guy passed away about ten years ago and not long after his wife asked us about restoring the truck, but she wasn't expecting a full restoration to cost so much. She let a neighbor take the truck to get it running and redo the brakes to make it driveable again but he never did anything to it. I had kept up with the truck up until 2018, then it went missing from the neighbor's yard.

Fast forward to last December, I went down a road that I hadn't been on in awhile to avoid Main Street, which had developed a ton of potholes from all the rain we had last fall. I spotted a blue 60-66 bed corner barely sticking out from beside a building on a side road so I made a U turn and went back to check it out and it turned out to be the same '66. No one seemed to be home that day so I started checking back every few days until I caught the owner out in his yard. At first he said he didn't want to sell it but the more we talked we figured out that he had been to our shop for glass work in the past, so then he seemed to be more comfortable about talking to me about the truck. I showed him pics of the other C10s I've had, he talked about his other cars, I ended up staying there probably thirty minutes. Before I left I made an offer and left my number in case he ever changed his mind, and this week I got the call saying that he was ready to sell it.


This was it back in 2018 before it went missing from the neighbor's yard. I had friends that lived in that neighborhood back then so I would see it often.




The spot it was sitting when I found it in December. Since it was between those buildings only the very corner of the bed was barely visible from the main road. As much as I complain about how bad our roads are, SC DOT's slack road maintenance on Main Street gets credit for me taking a different route and finding the truck again




As found, after loading it. He had a set of 8" truck rally wheels and new tires that went with the truck and had already mounted two on the front to replace the old flat tires.




Back at the shop I immediately swapped a couple tires on the original rims and mounted them to rid it of the rally wheels.- I can't stand those things











Digging into it I found the original owners manual, protection plan booklet with protect-o-plate, the SPID, plastic storage sleeve, and old receipts and registration cards. It was registered up until 2000. The engine was rebuilt in 1990 and driven another 13,000 miles before being parked. It's pretty much original everywhere except for a repaint, seat cover, and it had a steel bed floor welded in.















Short term plans are to redo the brakes, fuel system, cooling system, and install a bed floor kit replace the steel floor. Pretty much just do whats needed to make it reliable and drive it as is for now. I'd like to get all that done in time to take it to Run to the Sun in March. After that I'll copy the suspension setup I used on the first winter beater '66, except I'll use air bags in the rear for added load capacity and add CPP 500 series power steering. Long term plans are still pretty simple, I don't want to do anything irreversible. Right now I'm thinking (*subject to change ) A/C, swap in taller rear gears, add a tach, hidden hitch, rebuild/lump port a spare cylinder head, Aussiespeed four barrel intake, Sniper efi, 6-1 header, and a small turbo that spools at low rpm. Basically build it into something that is more comfortable than our '79 C30 flatbed for light duty towing. I already have a set of old aftermarket chrome reverse wheels like I used on the last blue '66, but I'm also looking into 17" or 18" four slot/hubcap wheels and Diamondback Radial thin whitewalls.



I pulled all the drums off today to disassemble the fronts and adjust the rears in make it roll easier, the left front was starting to get sticky. The rear self adjusters were still free and easily adjusted.

[Braunschweiger]

A long hunt that paid off, what a great truck.

[Grizz1963]

Excellent “find”

And glad you managed to get it.

One of my favourite colours too for these trucks.

Original wheels look so much nicer on it, despite me loving Rallye wheels.

[clemdaddy]

Good to know that they're still out there. 66 real custom cab shortie in the best color combo. Congrats and excellent detective work.

[The Rocknrod]

Wow great find.

[cwcarpenter98]

Dadgum, that's nice. I like that turbo idea

[Paul Y]

That is a great find!

Ever so slightly jealous.....

Turbo 6 sounds like an absolutely wonderful idea.

P.

[plainred65]

Enjoyed the story behind the truck and how you found it again. It sure is a beauty!

[pdxhall]

That's a real nice truck. I'll be following your magic on this one.

[jhrusk]

Congrats John.

[aggie91]

What a find. Will follow to see what you do with this one.

[SCOTI]

I'm in to see what happens

[theastronaut]

Made a little bit of progress. Got pretty much everything for the brakes, fuel, ignition, cooling, and charging systems either here or on the way. I'm just missing an alternator, radiator, carb, and a few gaskets to get it running. The drop spindle/disc kit will be here tomorrow. I found the new tank locally for $50 and already had the old chrome reverse wheels, air bags for the rear, and bumper guards with matching patina. When I sold the other blue '66 I kept the '66 Farm Truck tag that I had on the front of it, so I'll reuse it on this one.




I pulled the tank and cleaned up the back of the cab where the old tank had leaked. I soaked it in Purple Power, scrubbed/rinsed, then scrubbed off the surface rust using CLR and steel wool. I'll coat it with Penetrol to seal it back up and bring back some color before the tank goes in.










I pulled everything that was going to be replaced and did a quick scrub down of the engine compartment. The firewall and engine need to be repainted but I'll make sure the engine is good first.






A couple of bolts were stubborn and broke off so I had to weld washers and nuts on what was left to extract them.








Mating surfaces cleaned up with a wire wheel, then flattened with a file.




Bolt holes chased and flushed with brake cleaner. Gasket surface cleaned to bare metal with a wire wheel.




I still consider myself an aircooled VW guy so all this water pump/radiator stuff is still kinda strange to me I used Permatex Aviation on the gaskets, it keeps oil in a VW block and it seems to be working on the watercooled stuff I've used it on so far.




The carb is a lost cause. I'm looking into using a newer Rochester Monojet instead.








I've had a pair of old aftermarket chrome reverse 8" wheels for a few years, plus a single 6" and single 7" but never could find a either a 6 or 7 to make a front pair even after running multiple wanted ads. We had a leftover pair of 8" barrels so I started cutting the centers out of rusty original wheels to swap into the 8" barrels.








I pressed the centers in pretty much all the way to the front edge of the drop center so they'll have about 1.25" more backspacing than the rear pair for a staggered look. That's still more lip than I wanted up front so I might find a pair of 7" hoops instead. I want the big and little look but with a wider width to stretch/support the sidewalls better than the stock wheels. I also don't like the way the wheel center is more inset in the drop center on the rear pair- that shrouds the hubcap, so I might build one more 8" like this, use those on the rear, and build two 7's for the front.

[SCOTI]

I dig the wheel tweaks.

I guess the Permatex Aviation is like Gasgacinch?

[Paul Y]

Very clever on the wheels.

P.

[The Rocknrod]

Great work you do.

[joesscamaro]

Can’t wait to see the progression. I always really enjoy your builds and the level of quality and detail you put into your work.

[Braunschweiger]

Great work, great ideas.

[youngrodder]

Nice progess....following along on this one.

Marc

[kitsbeach]

Always wondered how people did the wheels in the old days- thanks for posting this.!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

I dig the wheel tweaks.

I guess the Permatex Aviation is like Gasgacinch?

Not at all, Gasgacinch seems to just be contact adhesive, it smells and acts the same as DAP Weldwood for vinyl tops. Permatex Aviation isn't sticky like Gasgacinch so you can reposition gaskets if needed and it never sets up all the way hard so it's easy to clean off later.

[theastronaut]

I found loose lower ball joints when I pulled the original spindles, which lead to ripping out everything except the crossmember and steering parts. The pitman and idler arms feel tight and I adjusted the play out of the steering box so those should be good to go until I piece together power steering parts. I'm undecided between a CPP 500 series box or a normal ratio squarebody box. I liked the CPP box we used in the '68 Chevelle we built but I'd like to see some long term reviews before buying one. Redhead Gear was another option I've looked into but their reviews have been iffy lately. The slightly slower squarebody ratio box might be a better option for interstate trips and backing a trailer, the Chevelle steering ratio was almost too fast. If anyone has feedback on what box they're using let me know.


Before completely disassembling everything I mounted the wheel to check clearances front and back. Fender clearance is great, ball joint and tie rod clearance is kinda close. I may need to run a 1/4 spacer.







Everything underneath was caked with grease and red clay. This mixture sets up hard enough that the pressure washer would barely touch it. I ended up soaking the arms in a container with old gas which dissolved the original paint and took the grime off with it after some scrubbing.











I used a pallet jack to roll the truck out of the stall so I could pressure wash the crossmember and wheelwells.







After the arms were stripped of most of the paint and grime I drilled out the spot welds holding the bump stops on, pressed out the ball joints, and removed the cross shafts. The old cross shafts were still tight and in good condition but the seals were rotting and coming apart.







I mocked up one of the lower arms to check the clearance between the arm and crossmember, I wanted to see how much further forward the arm could be mounted to add caster.





Adding a new dimple to relocate the arm 3/4" forward.





Crossmember cleaned up and painted.





All of the new parts are painted/assembled and are ready to go back on, just need the LCA U bolts that won't be here until Tuesday. I also cleaned up and painted the stock springs after cutting one coil off.





I pulled the rear brakes apart, pulled the axles and flushed out the diff to prepare for new axle bearings/seals, and repainted the backing plates.











New tank is in, lines are flushed. I bought a Monojet carb from a late 60's/early 70's C10 since I'm more familiar with setting those up, but it arrived with a bent idle mixture screw and the wrong needle and jet so I have those parts ordered to get it ready to mount. I also ordered an aluminum radiator but it ended up having a monor defect and it's replacement was damaged during shipping. I'm hoping to have everything under the hood mostly finished up this week so I can start it for the first time.

[lolife99]

You sir do excellent work.
You attention to detail is perfect.

[youngrodder]

Its hard to tell which pics are the before and which are the after....bha ha ha.
Your attention to detail is next level.

Marc

[jhrusk]

John did you have any interference with the front wheel and lower control arm with the dropped spindle?