61 c10 Build

BetsyRed63

BetsyRed63

Well-Known Member
I guess this can kind of be my build thread. It may go stale a lot and take 10 years to finish...
I've got a rusty 61 c10 short bed big window that is on a 63 frame. I always just say it's a 63.
The truck was used in the movie "My All American" with Aaron Eckhart. I don't believe it's been released. I bought the truck from a set designer.
IHZFsXx.jpg

CF2g9cT.jpg


So, I've learned a lot from this site in my short time here. Turns out I know way less than I thought I did...

I dropped the 383 in my truck for the time being just to have something fun to drive around while I practice my welding skills and many other skills, and read up on everything I can here. It was a fresh build I got for $1200 but if I had to do it again I probably wouldn't go the same route.
Breakdown of my 383 with the crappy heads.

Cylinder Heads are GM Cast Iron 72cc Chamber
1.940 In valves
1.500 Ex valves
3/8 rocker studs
7 degree keepers
1.25 valve springs

Block was line honed
Block was honed with honing plates
Lifter bores are honed
Keith Black .030 coated pistons
.030 Filt Fit Moly Rings
Scat 5140 Cast steel crank
Engine is balanced to a 400 wt
Stock rods 5.7 long
Stock style oil pan
Clev 77 large radius Main and rod bearings
Seal Power cam bearings
Brass Freeze Plugs
Set of Hyd. Lifters
Stock Rocker arms
Mell oil pump and drive
Mell oil pump pickup
ARP head & main bolts
Double Roller timing set
A mild street cam 480 lift 112 cen 224 dur at 50 (I hate that I don't have more info or a brand on this)
Rpm air gap, edelbrock 650 vac sec. elec. choke (First edelbrock carb, not sure I like it)
TH350
12 bolt with 3.55 gears, 26" diameter tires.

The body has some pretty bad rust which I plan to fix myself once I get confident with my welds. I'm really confident I can handle it. The frame however has no rust at all which is nice.
It's a junker but I love it!

Replaced the ball joints, shocks and springs, brakes, new wiring harness, all new door and window mechanics. New glove box, windshield wiper motor and arms... a lot of little stuff here and there.
I will be doing my own interior since I do upholstery in my furniture business, and my own unique wood bed floor.

I've realized I really should upgrade my suspension and maybe get some power steering.
I've read it's a fairly easy task to swap in a front clip from a later model truck, (72-84 maybe). Seems like an affordable way to get disk brakes going on this thing. Seems like I would have a better variety of spindles and rotors etc...
I'm not positive if the rear end would be as easy, I haven't looked into it quiet yet. I do like the trailing arms on it now and I assume it may require relocating those brackets to the newer rear end, IF I can't simply switch the axles to have disk brakes all around.

Everything I am doing now will be in plans to support a mildly built big block in the future. I miss the big block. My first car was a 71 gmc sprint with a 454. Had big plans for it, stripped it to the frame and had to move out of town so I had to get rid of it.
Built an 85 chevy short bed after it and with help built a 468 for it. I still regret selling it, but I bought a new truck and a fishing boat and started a construction business... Fishing and work is all I made time for.

I guess my big question is this...
Would it be worth it to buy a later model truck with a big block. That way I can use the front clip and the motor? I believe I could use some of the accessories as well and brackets or fabricate my own ( I would rather fabricate things than buy one when possible and reasonable within my skill set)
Then maybe part the rest of the truck out to cover some of the cost.

I don't have thousands of dollars to dump in my truck in a short time so it will take me some time.
Have a lot of back issues I've been dealing with for the last 8-10 years. Back pain doesn't just kill your body, kills your bank account too ha.
I'll tell you what though, working on this truck really relaxes me and gets my mind off the pain for a bit.
 
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looks like a really nice project, that should not cost you an arm & a leg to complete and yet still youll have something really nice once its done!
congrats and how can we help?
btw I live with constant back pain issues also, so I know the problem and how it tends to slow you down, making even little jobs take longer.
and yes you have the option of buying a newer truck and personally I like BBC engines a bit more but its certainly not something I'd rush to do as long as you like the looks of the current truck as its obviously going to cost money to do that you might want to spend elseware, on the plus side, finding used parts in better condition with less wear and rust would be much easier if the truck you were working on was mid 1970s-1990s and yes more money, but probably far more options plus the BBC engine.
and yeah everyone in this hobby needs a truck to tow a car trailer, a truck to transport parts, and generally a truck because they tend to be far easier than almost any van and many cars to access parts on.


BTW
Scat 5140 Cast ?? steel crank
Ive got a bit of good news
5140 is a decent quality FORGED STEEL

http://www.store.speedmaster79.com/...5&cadevice=c&gclid=CJy2_YCD3cYCFQoLaQod0QICNg


personally I have always like the crew cab NON dual rear wheel long bed 4x4 trucks,( SIMILAR TO THIS ONE BELOW)but Id have used a bit larger wheel/tire size, maybe 30% larger without raising the truck further, maybe opened the wheel wells to gain clearance rather than lifting the truck
1990_Chevy_Crew_Cab.jpg

more like this but not raised as much
96231588.jpg
 
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BetsyRed63 said:
So, I've learned a lot from this site in my short time here. Turns out I know way less than I thought I did...
Click to expand...
Chuckling ....... we have all been in that position and more than once!!! LOL

BetsyRed63 said:
Would it be worth it to buy a later model truck with a big block. That way I can use the front clip and the motor? I believe I could use some of the accessories as well and brackets or fabricate my own ( I would rather fabricate things than buy one when possible and reasonable within my skill set)
Click to expand...
Not sure anyone can give you an answer on this one. All depends on what you find and the price. I would sure keep my eyes open for just the right deal, since this project is not going to be done over night.

Keep us informed and ask lots of questions! Oh and lots of pics please!
 
Grumpy said:
looks like a really nice project, that should not cost you an arm & a leg to complete and yet still youll have something really nice once its done!
congrats and how can we help?
btw I live with constant back pain issues also, so I know the problem and how it tends to slow you down, making even little jobs take longer.
and yes you have the option of buying a newer truck and personally I like BBC engines a bit more but its certainly not something I'd rush to do as long as you like the looks of the current truck as its obviously going to cost money to do that you might want to spend elseware, on the plus side, finding used parts in better condition with less wear and rust would be much easier if the truck you were working on was mid 1970s-1990s and yes more money, but probably far more options plus the BBC engine.
and yeah everyone in this hobby needs a truck to tow a car trailer, a truck to transport parts, and generally a truck because they tend to be far easier than almost any van and many cars to access parts on.


BTW
Scat 5140 Cast ?? steel crank
Ive got a bit of good news
5140 is a decent quality FORGED STEEL

http://www.store.speedmaster79.com/...5&cadevice=c&gclid=CJy2_YCD3cYCFQoLaQod0QICNg


personally I have always like the crew cab NON dual rear wheel long bed 4x4 trucks,( SIMILAR TO THIS ONE BELOW)but Id have used a bit larger wheel/tire size, maybe 30% larger without raising the truck further, maybe opened the wheel wells to gain clearance rather than lifting the truck
1990_Chevy_Crew_Cab.jpg
Click to expand...
Well, I do have another truck I use to grab parts and haul lumber with. We mainly drive the wife's 4 runner. So, I don't really need this project truck to be super economical, but it will probably never see a track either. Just a vehicle I can take pride in and have some fun in. I basically want the newer truck to rob parts from to modernize the old c10 a bit.
I definitely want to take care of all of the major issues such as suspension, steering etc... before I progress to the big block. There is so much room under the hood it's just screaming for a big block to fill it up. Nice thing is I can stand in there and do anything I need to do.
I really hate the heads that are on the 383 but that's not priority at the moment. I thought an affordable upgrade would be some vortec heads. But they would bring my compression to 10.5 or 10.6 though (I believe). Not sure I can run pump gas safely then or not.

Good news about the crank! I did read a little about it before I bought the motor.
 
Indycars said:
Chuckling ....... we have all been in that position and more than once!!! LOL


Not sure anyone can give you an answer on this one. All depends on what you find and the price. I would sure keep my eyes open for just the right deal, since this project is not going to be done over night.

Keep us informed and ask lots of questions! Oh and lots of pics please!
Click to expand...
I will definitely be looking for just the right deal and not jump on the first thing that comes a long. I've planned on it being a long process so I am prepared to wait.
 
Pulled my spark plugs out the other day and realized they gave me the wrong set. I asked for AC Delco R45ts and they gave me CR45ts.
Also found 2 burned wires. They were pretty bad and I could swear I heard something weird from the exhaust, like a miss.
Got some new wires and plugs. Lesson learned... check EVERYTHING. Not sure how I overlooked it while I was setting the gaps but I did.

Got some tuning to do now.
 
I actually had the wires off trying to figure the best way to run them. I had them over the exhaust with plastic separators and tied pretty tight where they were pretty stationary and didn't sag down on the exhaust. Well, except #6, I can barely even get it on, and when on it presses against the exhaust. It burned even with the exhaust being wrapped. I had the taylor spiro pro wires with the 45 degree boot. I think a 90 degree may be a little better there.
I haven't picked out any wire looms yet. I had some that attached with bolts in the valve covers. The way these new covers are I don't want to bolt anything to the top of these covers.
 
The ones I have are from billet specialties and work well I am sure you could get something similar for cheaper than billet specialties price. But they attach to the outer valve cover bolts and run over the header.
 
Sent me the wrong wires... I ordered the Taylor spiro pro series in teal with 90 degree boots but they sent 180 degree boots. I noticed the ThunderVolt series 40 ohm wires are on sale for the same price. So I am thinking of sacrificing the teal I want for red.
Ordered some boots as well.
I like those wire looms Strictly Attitude, but my valve cover bolts are counter sunk down in the top of the cover and I wouldn't like the look of the loom being up that high.
jlIzDA9m.jpg

I almost got the set with the accessory holes but liked the look of these better. I bet there is some sort of bracket to drop the loom down to the side, or I could fabricate one...
I'll see what I can find.
Thanks!
 
Grumpy said:
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/installing-hard-to-access-plugs.962/

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ition-wires-getting-the-header-clearance.840/
Click to expand...
Great info to get those tricky plugs. I can get them in and out really easy. The problem I have is getting the boot on, but only on #6, the rest of the plugs have a lot of clearance. I may need to get shorter plugs. Something like these maybe... http://www.summitracing.com/parts/acc-8199
 
Cool fact about the truck. I bought it from a set designer. They actually used the truck in the movie "My All American" with Aaron Eckhart. I don't believe it's been released though. They just used it as some scenery.

Edit: Looks like it is scheduled for release Oct. 9 2015. Will be cool to see my truck in the movie.
 
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