Customs Losthope's 1966 c10 low buck build!

Well i figured i start a thread on the progress of my 66' ive been working to replace the 65' i wrecked here:

i totaled the above 65 c10 truck,shattered my heal and fractured some other bones...

keep in mind this is a poor mans build and was just the plan to get it running until a later date and im also working on my 54 ford at the same time i just couldnt pass this truck up and love the 60-66 c10's

So while i was layed up on crutch's and in a cast after the accident i was surfing Craigslist at trucks just for the hell of it i ran across a add that was listed weird like "chevy truck" in the part's section with no pictures for $500....so i said what the hell will just go look at it.I wasnt planning on buying another truck but thought i have the motor from the 65( that might run it was a crap shoot) and if i can build a truck for under $2500 i would do it since i could just buy a running driving truck around this area for $3000 no problem....when i got there this is what i saw:





no motor no trans,1966 , new rubbers and ball joints up front,power steering conversion,new radiator in box,new heater blower motor,black and yellow plates,registered,have the front chrome bumper and straight tailgate and headlight buckets in bed, chrome cab trim pieces, he also through in a eldebrock 4bbl,rebuilt holley double pumper,headman headers,new habor freight sawzall in box.He was moving and had found a 1952 chevy sedan ,and the wife said the truck or the car. I told him id buy it on the spot for $400 he said ya and we signed the papers and i towed it to my pops back forty:

A couple of my buddys came over to my pop's house before i bought the 66 and pulled the 350 crate motor out of the 65' and i let them scrap the truck and one guy have the trans,So i dropped in the 350 motor in the 66' on crutches and had it towed to my house and now in need of a trans since i wasnt planning on buying a truck.

then driving down a street i saw a set of wheels at the end of a drive way with a note that said leave $20 bucks in the mail box and take all four,they were 6 lug and assumed they were off the 68 gmc in the drivewayand i need them to get truck rolling since the rusted out spokes and flat tires werent cutting it!:

so the first thing i did was rewire the engine compartment and installed a manual master cylinder untill i can buy a power setup:

i got the brakes bleed and it stops pretty good for now,I then headed out to my cousin "Glendale"'s and had him weld the steering shaft for the power steering setup step 1. make sure you wear your safety approved flip-flops:

Step 2. set the shaft on our custom made welding jig:

step 3. weld! notice the pro flip-flop weding stance! spread feet wide apart so no sparks get ya!!

hows the weld look? "glendale's" flip flop weld pass's with A+

installed:


There's some guys that strip and sell 67-72 chevy trucks out in orangevale ca. Ray and Joe and sell parts on craigslist they are great guys and i buy parts from them every so often and picked up the power steering pump i needed for my long water pump setup for $65...

mocking it up still need to clean it up and paint it..

i didnt get a picture but i found a th350 on craigslist for $75 and i replaced the filter and gasket and had the kid next door help me install it...

 

then i messed with the tail gate that was bent :

put the straight one that came with the truck on:

sanded it a little and painted it red with some spray cans just to get it looking the same as truck for now:

here i painted my cast to look like my shoe, but by this time i was in a walking boot and crutchs still:

Started messing with the interior a little ,the dash knobs were old and just sitting on the headlight switch and the wiper switch and the blower motor switch was gone altogether, and it came with a chevy II steering wheel with a broken horn ring,and aftermarket gauges missing stuff and not hooked up:

so i added the chrome knob bullets from the 65 to the dash,and made my own custom horn ring and added chrome under dash gauges:


the radio holder was already screwed to the bottom of the dash so i just figured i use it for now...i had the old cd player from the 65 and put it in:

put the stock style chrome bumper on but one of the frame horns is tweaked by 3/4 of a inch so im going to try and heat and use a bottle jack to get it back over so i can put the other two bolts in:

then put the chrome bullets from the 65 on the grill...i have a future plan to cut the grill part out and make the bullets look like they are floating in there but thats a future project:

Started breaking the old wheels of the stock steelies i already had, the old school way!:


I live in the ghetto area of town and this is the hood dog that roams the street named "Cheese" he comes and checks on the trucks progress everyday and loves him some treats!!!!:

My buddy i trade car parts with all the time gave me two 15" tires with white lettering for three stock steelies i had and i took them to Hooten tire here in sacramento and had them shaved:

Greg the owner gave me a great deal two tires shaved mounted and balanced and new valve stems for $60 i still need to find two more of the same size tires with white letters and go back,,greag says to use the tires with white lettering they make a bigger whitewall then the pinner whitewall tires.

they came out great !!!!!!straight lines no lettering marks....i think i will never buy real white walls again!!! i still need to paint the rims i was in a hurry and had no time or money to get them sandblasted so i just scuffed them up and will rattle can them for now:

getting ready to cut the front springs i just cut the backs for now until i buy rear bags and a c-notch and adjustable panhard bar:

heres the last pic for now hope you like it i do!:


The truck runs still need to fine tune some stuff and find some more parts but im still under the $2000 mark with the purchase and tow,and trading and using parts i already had,im now walking with a hiking boot on my foot with a shattered heal with a limp but i guess thats good for now!

 

Me likey . Course I've seen your stuff on another site before but I'll follow your thread here too!

 

what power steering box did you use?I am getting a 65 soon and want power steering after motor swap.

 

its a 73 chevy c10 box and pump with a adapter that bolts the steering box to the frame, you cut stock shaft and weld the rag joint in,you can buy the adapter from a number of different companys or ebay but have a guy on chevy truck forum that makes the best one for a great price and also bracket that mounts to firewall to use later model power brake dual master cylinder if you are inetrested.

 

All I can say is you are one tough sombitch welding in those flip flops....I'd be doing a rain dance.

 

haha that is my cousin welding "glendale" here on the hamb! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/member.php?u=124 i couldnt belive it i had to take a picture of him! LOL

 

lookin good. the thing i love about these trucks is they can be done pretty cheap.

 

pictures of the new wheel color ,the plan is to run some chrome trim rings and push thur caps with bullet lug nuts later on:

 

good job on the parts hauler , the painted sneaker cast , made me laugh to funny

 

Dude, you stay busy!

Good job, Timmy. Loved the cast. I'm stoked you got a new truck. Try to avoid trees in this one!!!

 

Awesome man! First car I had was a '64 chev truck. I have a '63 waiting in the wings to be done. Too many projects. Mike

 

Thank guys on the complements!!

One of the previous owners had cut some holes in the doors for speakers and i had a set of 6x9's that i bought for cheap at the local farmers market and auction for my car project so i ended up putting them in the truck and will have to repair doors later, have had three of these trucks and all had speaker holes in the doors i just dont get it,is the one speaker under the dash not loud enought for the cab?..They just so happened to be red accented like the rest of the truck i didnt plan that:


The inside of the cab just seems to white:


So i painted the inner door panel's and used some rubberized black paint to paint the arm rest's:

 

Ya gotta make due with what you can... You Sir are doing it well. I hope nothing but good luck comes to you after the accident.

 

What killer little truck. I love seeing these budget builds.
Great job dude!

 

that's what hot roddin' is about!

workin' with what ya got and making the best of it
cool truck
~Mark

 

man you are a message board whore!lookin good little buddy

 

Look'in good son, You sure are a motivated little shit

 

great build thread, nothing like making due with what you have.... the painted cast was cool dude ,but i think you have too much time on your hands! good luck

 

Not much progress besides getting the other two tires i needed and shaved so the truck has all four shaved whites now,And painted the steering wheel and added a new shift knob to add to my bullet theme i got going on!

 

Cool, the wheel looks great. Where did you get the shift knob?

 

Just curious, how did you cut the rear springs? Aren't they tapered top and bottom?

 

the shift knob is from so-cal speed shop...

i just cut the top of coil off spring ...yes they are pig tailed from factory ,but the spring is so wide the frame will always land on it when springs are cut so short but i did use a u-bolt and drilled the frame so the u-bolt holds the coil in position.

 

Well I have been busy with life so i just ordered headlight parts instead of hunting them down at a pick-n-pull, so yesterday my box from LMC Trucks came with the headlight parts i needed, buckets, adjuster clips and screws, springs,bulb retaining rings and all the screws and clips...pretty pricey $106 and thats not the bulbs or headlight bezels treat all those small screws and clips like gold.....heres a picture with "eye balls" now,I had a pair of painted headlight bezel's in my parts pile i just spray canned white doesnt match the off white the truck has but will do for now:

 

I been wanting to make a floating grill since the 65 truck but never got around to it until now so here it goes:
First i went to home depot and bought some long bolts and drawer knobs and a metal bar , i bought a fence tension bar it was smaller wide and half the price of the 1/8 flat stock bar they sell. I already had the bullets(i bought bullets for two different place's and they used different bolt sizes so i suggest buying all the bullets from one place to make it easy getting longer bolts) so parts cost me $16:



First i cut out the expanded metal part of the grill i still need to buy a file or a grinding disk for grinder and clean up around the opening where the expanded metal was cut out!(when i took grill off truck i cut the center support from the back side):






Next i layed out a pattern i liked and then evenly spaced and marked the bar i measured and cut it came out to 4' in between headlight buckets:



Then i drilled the bar accordingly to the marks i made with the diffrent size drill bits and tightened the bolts to bar i used lock-tight on the nuts because i forgot to buy lockwashers (had to use three diffrent size drill bits because of the two diffrent size bolts on bullets and the knob size bolt):


Then i mocked up the bullets and held the bar in place in center of grill opening and marked a mounting point on each end and drilled a hole:


These always help bed is full of empty Amp cans!:


Then i pulled it all apart and painted the bar and bolts black:


next step was to pull grill and cut the center support and then i scuffed up and cleaned the backsplash and taped and painted it black:




Painted the brackets on the backside of the headlights black:


Painted the grill white:


Put the bolt bar in and drilled and bolted it in(painted the bolt heads black) and then used black zip ties to hold center of bar to the crossed bar grill support of radiator on the to bars:



And here it is installed i am thinking im going to build some spacers and space it out a little farther an i need to clean up where the expanded metal was cut out in grill opening but the general look:


you can pull out the bullet grill bar without pulling the the main grill off truck or vise-verse.....Hope you guys like it!!!!

 

Nice!!!

 

Truck looks good.

 

Very cool grill. Sweet truck.

 

Latest update:

well my birthday was oct-29th and i always ask for car parts or tools for holidays so my girl and some family members got me some wheel accessories:
\

i went to the hardware store and picked up some tools to clearence the stock wheel hole to except the bullet push-thur cap:


The stacked cut off wheels on a drill arbor worked the best and i suggest using this if your going to do it yourself;


and what the wheels look like now,I might get the smaller chrome beauty ring that pops onto the nubs near the lug nuts like a dogdish hubcap would do:

 

I like it. Turning out to be a nice truck, I look forward to what you do next.