Projects After 4 years my truck gets a little love

I bought my 63 C10 from fellow HAMBer Anderson 4 years ago. Since Eric had already dropped the truck and did a disc brake swap, I didn’t feel the need to do much to it. Other than swapping the tired old 3-speed for a T5, I’ve just been driving it. It was my daily driver for the first few years. After that, my son drove it to high school until he got his Falcon on the road. The old truck served us pretty well, but there were some nagging issues. Eventually it let us down a few times and I let it sit most of last summer.

The wiring was kind of a mess and the old 230 six banger was really tired. My original plan was to rebuild a 250 and make the swap. At the same time I planned to rewire the truck with a Rebel Wire kit. Well, things changed a bit and I let my project creep a little. I’m about to wrap this up and thought I’d share it with you all. It’s not a full-blown build thread, just kind of a “how I spent my summer” report.

Oh yeah, I entered the truck in the HAMB Drags thinking that would be enough incentive to get the thing done. I missed my goal, but went to the Drags without the truck. Oh well, next year.

In case you haven’t seen it before, here’s where I started.



Like I said, the old six-banger was tired. The leaky single barrel carb didn’t help.



Out with the old.







Pulled the seat out to make the wiring job easier.



Did I mention the wiring was a mess?







So I ripped out all that crap.



And cut a piece for mounting the new fuse block.









I think this is better, huh?

 

Nice work, and I like the truck a lot too.

 

Sweet!

 

The grill had kind of a nasty ding in it. Not really bad, but a few years ago I scored another grill. So why not swap ‘em?







I never have liked step bumpers and this one always bugged me. The front bumper was a little tweaked. I found a pair of straight chrome bumpers that were a slight improvement. Since I didn’t want new ones, these worked perfectly.







Thought I had a picture of the front bumper. Guess not. Oh well, it will show up later.

Another thing that I always wanted to change was the bed floor. While it looked pretty good and was very serviceable, it weighed a freakin’ ton. Quarter inch diamond plate had been welded in place over the rotted out wooden floor. The biggest problem was that all the original bolts were still in place. Every time I drove over a bump or railroad tracks, it sounded like the truck was going to fall apart.











Lightened it up a bit, but kind of screwed up the rake.

 

So, now that the bed floor is out of the way, why not relocate the gas tank and re-plumb the rear brake lines? I did mention that I let the project creep a little, right?

Scored this gas tank kit on ebay. It fit perfectly, as you can see.









New brake lines and fuel lines.







Wood bed floor kit. I’m very pleased with the quality of the material.



I took a lot of heat for this, but I decided to paint the wood rather than use a clear finish. I did a lot of research on this and simply couldn’t find a clear finish that was going to hold up. The bottom line is that I plan to use this truck, not pamper it. So black it is.



There’s something like 98 carriage bolts in this kit. I was having a heck of a time putting all the washers and nuts on without pushing the bolt out. Then it dawned on me, stick a magnet on top of the carriage bolt, holding it to the steel strip, then the washer sticks. Simple!



Took a while, but I’m pleased with the results.

 

Cool - what else would you do if you gave it alotta love?

 

I did say this was going to be about an engine swap. So here it is. I had planned to rebuild another six banger. Then it dawned on me that it didn’t make much sense to do that since I already had a fresh 350 at my disposal. I started this engine many years ago. In fact, it was 1990 when a buddy of mine put together the short block for my 68 Camaro project. Needless to say, many things have changed for me in the past 23 years. The Camaro is gone, but I’ve managed to hold on to the engine. It was eventually going to go in my Model A. But the truck needs power now.





So you want to use NOS speed parts? Easy, buy them 23 years ago and store them in the garage until you need them.









Anybody need a dual point distributer?





Eelco vents on the Cal Custom valve covers.



Going with the T5 again. I got one out of a V8 Camaro this time. I’ll use the S10 tail housing to move the shifter where it needs to be.

 

Nice looking truck! Great looking work too. I didn't know orange on that series would look so good, but it's really nice.

 

I ran the S10 T5 behind the six with no problems. That trans had an electronic speedo pickup. When I installed it a few years back, I made a gauge panel for some old VDO gauges that I had lying around. I found an electronic speedo that matched. Everything worked well except the ammeter and fuel gauge. See wiring issues above.



I want to keep the gauge panel. So the electric speedo stays. But now I have a problem, and this one took some serious thought. The Camaro trans had a mechanical speedo gear. The S10 trans donor has an electronic speedo reluctor gear. So I needed to figure out how to adapt the reluctor gear to the Camaro trans. I think I got it.

S10 tailshaft:



Camaro tailshaft with reluctor gear (right) and mechanical speedo gear (left):



Turned a sleeve and collar on my lathe.





Hogged out the inside of the reluctor gear.







Drilled and tapped holes for set screws.





Split the sleeve.



Fit the sleeve halves over the tail shaft, drove the reluctor gear over the sleeve halves and then the collar over the same. Ran set screws in the threaded holes with lock tite, then peened the holes over. It’s not going anywhere.



Buttoned up the trans and installed a shifter. It’s an ebay setup for a Mustang. Had to alter it to fit, then made a little adapter for the Hurst stick.

 

This is where I am today. Engine and trans are finally ready to drop in. Unfortunately, school’s back in session and my boy is running cross country. So my weekends are pretty busy for the next few months. Oh well, I’ll work on it when I can.

 

Rust repair. Just can't bring myself to do that yet since I really like the way it looks now. It will probably never get shiny paint as long as I own it.

I still don't have a lot of warm fuzzies about the T5 behind the 350. If it fails I'm going to move up to a Tremec.

I have set of aluminum slots for it. Still debating that one. Seeing trailers for the Snake & Mongoose movie has me looking at this truck like an old speed shop parts truck that may have spent its weekends at the drag strip.

 

Good stuff Lee. I'll be looking for it next year at MoKan to be hauling some sweet pin striped bit of old time coolness. Hopefully I'll be doing a similar thread soon on my heap. Keep it going.

 

Very cool project. My Dad had a similar one about 25 years ago, those are great trucks.

 

Wow! It's amazing the things that get done when you put a little love into it! Coming on well.

 

Great work on a sweet truck!

 

You do good work! What's your plans for exhaust?

 

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I'm pretty fond of the old truck. Almost seems like part of the family now. As for exhaust, the plan is for a pair of Porter steel packs. I think I'm gonna turn the pipes out just behind the rear wheels.




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Send it back to Texas and I'll finish it for you :-D

That was a cool truck and I still miss it a little. I didn't think it was going to be reliable enough for daily service so after I lowered it and did the brakes I sold it...then you proved me wrong! Looking great Lee.

 

Thanks Eric. In your defense, it hasn't made too many long hauls. My commute is about a 30 minute drive and Jesse usually put about 20 miles a day on it. I took it to the Rust Revival once (about 3 hours). The old 3 speed was toast. So none of this happened until after the trans swap.

If all goes well and my schedule lines up, I hope to drive it to the next Roundup as sort of a homecoming. It will be coming back home with me though. It's a keeper now.


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Looking great. I love those early 60s Chevy pickups, and that bed looks perfect, what a good decision.

 

Engine is ready. We'll drop it in Wednesday.


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Thanks Eric. I hadn't seen those pics.


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Man I liked it before, I love it now! Nice work as always Lee.

 

Lotta good work going on there. It'll be ready for a lot more use after this.

Would have liked it better w/ a 292 inline in there, but the V8'll be just fine.


Later, Kinky6

 

Thanks guys. I really wanted to build a six banger for it. Even started collecting parts for the build. In the long run it just didn't make sense. I had the 350 almost ready to go. Haven't had to buy much to finish this off. I think it will be good when I'm done.


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Great progress.
It is coming together nicely.
I'm sure you will be happy with the engine choice.

 

Nice truck! i had one in high school but was a 62. Wish i had mine back. Great work on yours. !!

 

Nice truck, hope you have as much fun with it as I've had with mine. If that old grill is in the way you can send it my way.

 

Nice Job Lee. My pile of pics from "What I did this YEAR". doesn't show that much progress.

 

Nice work, love the truck!