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1970 C10 project

Drummer79

Drummer79

Red Skull Member
Joined
May 22, 2020
Member Number
1208
Messages
414
Loc
Washington, NC
I've mentioned this truck a couple times in SNLC threads. I first found it it late August, I was hauling an excavator for a friend's father in law, and when i got to his house, saw the truck there in the yard. I asked about it, he said he'd probably sell it for 800 to 1000 dollars, so to grease the wheels I only charged him a hundred bucks to haul the excavator. Then life got in the way for a while, got busy at work, etc.. but never forgot the truck. Early December he gets his son to text me asking to come over and talk about the truck. I went, and we made an agreement to trade him 4 loads of topsoil for the truck :grinpimp:. I had to pay for the dirt, but not the fuel, etc.. so I paid basically $60 for it and a Saturday of labor driving a dump truck.
It's got some rust and all, in typical spots, but I've already gotten it to run for a minute on gas dumped in the carb. Wired in new ignition switch, battery cables, etc.. planning this Saturday to hook the stock tank back up and see if it'll run on its own without dumping gas in the carb. I need to take a ton more pics, but I keep forgetting to when i'm busy working on it.
First pics are how I found it, still sitting in his yard, then a pic of it on the rollback the day after Christmas getting towed home to work on it, then a short video of it cranking with no plugs in it to build oil pressure and blow out all the Marvel Mystery oil I'd put down the cylinders to be sure the rings weren't stuck.
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Forgot to mention, the distributor is already upgraded (if you want to call it that) to a HEI, but apparently a wheel cylinder or brake line in both the front and back have popped or rotted away, because the master cylinder is bone dry. One day I intend to really dig in and fix the rust and everything and make it super nice like it used to be, working factory AC, etc.. but for now the goal is get it running and driving for a while. So as tempting as it is to go at it like Derek in Vice Grip Garage on youtube, and just get it good enough, I'll probably go ahead and replace all wheel cylinders, master cylinder, and rubber brake lines so that I can hopefully commute this thing soonish. The company I used to work for sold right before Christmas, so my nice company truck got sold off with that deal, but i did get to keep the 1992 crew cab long bed 3500 that I sold my college commuter car to buy to help start the company 21 years ago. It's got 424,350 ish miles on it now though, so I'd like to give the ODB (old dirty bastard) a rest as soon as I can.
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Takes me back.... my first trucks were a '69 C20 and a '66 C10.

Before you spend a lot on overhauling old stuff, realize you can swap a whole disc suspension in from 71-87. Another cool rear axle is the 5x5" pattern disc 9" from a late 70's mark 5 or Tbird. I had this stuff lined up before I lost most of my chevy fleet in divorce.
 
u2slow said:
Takes me back.... my first trucks were a '69 C20 and a '66 C10.

Before you spend a lot on overhauling old stuff, realize you can swap a whole disc suspension in from 73-87. Another cool rear axle is the 5x5" pattern disc 9" from a late 70's mark 5 or Tbird. I had this stuff lined up before I lost most of my chevy fleet in divorce.
Click to expand...
I have no intent of replacing the drums. My grandfather's old farm truck was like this except the color, and I don't intend to make it some bad ass muscle machine, so drum brakes all around works. It's got the coil spring rear suspension with overload springs that aren't on the data sticker in the glove box, but gonna leave all that alone as well. I'll fix the rust and all eventually, otherwise restore it to original :smokin:
 
Fair enough. Maybe verify if you can get all that drum stuff still. A colleague ran into brake sourcing issues with his 70 C20 this year.

I admit, I worked my C10 pretty hard and heavy at times. Thankfully it had the sm420 4spd so the brakes didn't matter so much.
 
u2slow said:
Fair enough. Maybe verify if you can get all that drum stuff still. A colleague ran into brake sourcing issues with his 70 C20 this year.

I admit, I worked my C10 pretty hard and heavy at times. Thankfully it had the sm420 4spd so the brakes didn't matter so much.
Click to expand...
Seems I can get the master cylinder, soft brake lines, and wheel cylinders all from Oreilly's.
 
Worked on the truck more today. Took a vacuum tank deal for sucking oil out of boat motors to prime the fuel system from the factory tank, and suck out any trash or bad gas left in it first, then tried to crank it but no luck. Float was stuck. a little tapping on the carb while sucking and blowing into the fuel line popped it free then it fired right up. Let it run over an hour and thermostat works, etc.. also took apart one of the brakes to see what size wheel cylinders I needed, because there's apparently two different sizes for them. Brakes don't work but that's ok cus they're stuck anyway for now, but the truck will also drive forward and backwards a little bit, so that's promising as well. More pics of the truck from today, and a video of it running
:smokin:
Edit: the smoke seen in the video is the oil burning off that was dumped in the cylinders before I ever tried to crank it. Once that cleared up it ran fine for over an hour, but needs a carb rebuild kit for sure. It's running richer than Oprah.

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Digging this thread….

This is identical to my Grandpa’s truck…. BB though….
He gave it to some laborers who did 2 days work on his house, without telling anyone!!!


Edit: his must have been a C20!!!
 
so did you get the drum brakes fixed and working? I’d just swap rear axles if it’s as easy at the internet makes it sound.

The rust repair would make me so frustrated until I accept painting the truck as part of this repair.
 
That's a 10K truck, as it was. Good deal for everyone involved.

The rear coils would not be on the SPID.
 
Ok I have a question that's semi related to some suggestions from above about converting to disk brakes. Is there a way to convert to disk brakes and yet keep the 6 lug pattern? If there is I've not found it by googling, but sometimes my google fu sucks. From looking at the 67-72 chevy truck forums, I can't find any mention of it there either, and I put this truck over there too with a project thread, and honestly alot more traffic here and I trust the info given here more than I would from anywhere else.
 
The expensive way...

Holley Classic Trucks B0003-67 Holley Classic Trucks FRONT DISC BRAKE KIT - 6 LUG

63-70 Chevy and GMC Pickup and Suburban; 69-70 Blazer and Jimmy 6 Lug Front Disc Brake Kit 6-Lug. Includes new rotors calipers bearings seals hoses hardware banjo bolts and dust caps. Will not work with 67-70 stock spindles. Use our S0022 for stock height or our S0020 for 2-1/2 drop. FRONT DISC...
www.holley.com www.holley.com
 
M92PV4U said:
The expensive way...

Holley Classic Trucks B0003-67 Holley Classic Trucks FRONT DISC BRAKE KIT - 6 LUG

63-70 Chevy and GMC Pickup and Suburban; 69-70 Blazer and Jimmy 6 Lug Front Disc Brake Kit 6-Lug. Includes new rotors calipers bearings seals hoses hardware banjo bolts and dust caps. Will not work with 67-70 stock spindles. Use our S0022 for stock height or our S0020 for 2-1/2 drop. FRONT DISC...
www.holley.com www.holley.com
Click to expand...
Lol yeah about 800 bucks all told with the spindle set and all. Sticking with original plan for now to rebuild drum brakes and roll with that for a while lol.
 
Drummer79 said:
Lol yeah about 800 bucks all told with the spindle set and all. Sticking with original plan for now to rebuild drum brakes and roll with that for a while lol.
Click to expand...
73+ had big 10 & sierra grande six lug truck, I'd start there.
 
for now with a a sailboat that's a constant money suck as well, and recovering from 3 weeks jobless over the Christmas holiday, etc.. I can replace wheel cylinders and drums and shoes and master cylinder and get this thing to at least drive far cheaper by rebuilding the drums for now. I'll look into that for the future though.
 
M92PV4U said:
73+ had big 10 & sierra grande six lug truck, I'd start there.
Click to expand...
And again, I appreciate the advice and help in here, as i said, a forum that you'd think would jump on a project truck like this that I got for 60 bucks, all I get over there is comments on how nice it was that i got it for 60 bucks and no tech help lol. it's why i've always loved this site. a bunch of good folks in here, even if we're assholes sometimes :flipoff2:
 
Drummer79 said:
And again, I appreciate the advice and help in here, as i said, a forum that you'd think would jump on a project truck like this that I got for 60 bucks, all I get over there is comments on how nice it was that i got it for 60 bucks and no tech help lol. it's why i've always loved this site. a bunch of good folks in here, even if we're assholes sometimes :flipoff2:
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Man I did some digging, I can't find any new six lug parts for the square body that I'm talking about :homer:. If you lived in California I could drag you around looking for another parts truck :laughing:.
 
Drummer79 said:
for now with a a sailboat that's a constant money suck as well, and recovering from 3 weeks jobless over the Christmas holiday, etc.. I can replace wheel cylinders and drums and shoes and master cylinder and get this thing to at least drive far cheaper by rebuilding the drums for now. I'll look into that for the future though.
Click to expand...
And when working and lubricated properly there's nothing wrong with four wheel drums.
 
Is it common to do a rear axle swap? Something more common like a newer gm 10 bolt with disc brakes?


Edit: found a $500 option

azproperformance.com

Little Shop Mfg. Rear Disc Kit - 64-87 C10 (6-Lug)

Finally, a rear disc brake conversion that doesn't break the bank. Installation is simple, requires no welding, and it's not necessary to pull out the axle shafts. All serviceable parts are also available individually.
azproperformance.com azproperformance.com


Another choice might be something like the 14 bolt disc brake conversions where you weld/bolt on the brackets holding the new calipers. Something like this. Just with brackets for your axle tube diameter.

www.ruffstuffspecialties.com

Ford 9" Weld On Disc Brake Conversion Kit, 3.5" Axle Tube

Check out the deal on Ford 9" Weld On Disc Brake Conversion Kit, 3.5" Axle Tube at RuffStuff Specialties
www.ruffstuffspecialties.com www.ruffstuffspecialties.com
 
Last edited:
RunningProblem said:
Is it common to do a rear axle swap? Something more common like a newer gm 10 bolt with disc brakes?


Edit: found a $500 option

azproperformance.com

Little Shop Mfg. Rear Disc Kit - 64-87 C10 (6-Lug)

Finally, a rear disc brake conversion that doesn't break the bank. Installation is simple, requires no welding, and it's not necessary to pull out the axle shafts. All serviceable parts are also available individually.
azproperformance.com azproperformance.com


Another choice might be something like the 14 bolt disc brake conversions where you weld/bolt on the brackets holding the new calipers. Something like this. Just with brackets for your axle tube diameter.

www.ruffstuffspecialties.com

Ford 9" Weld On Disc Brake Conversion Kit, 3.5" Axle Tube

Check out the deal on Ford 9" Weld On Disc Brake Conversion Kit, 3.5" Axle Tube at RuffStuff Specialties
www.ruffstuffspecialties.com www.ruffstuffspecialties.com
Click to expand...
the rear can stay drums, it's not the rear i care about. lol. and if i were to go down that rabbit hole it would be an eaton HO52 or 72 and give it 1 tons axles for it's era
 
M92PV4U said:
These trucks have a wierd rear suspension set up, it's a little more work than just moving spring perches.
Click to expand...
My Google Fu must suck as well because all I can find is rear suspension upgrades and replacements. If you aren’t bagging it and body dropping it you’re apparently removing the whole rear suspension and upgrading it for pro touring.

So the answer is…it needs more triangulation (4 link). 🖕😃🖕
 
Drummer79 said:
the rear can stay drums, it's not the rear i care about. lol. and if i were to go down that rabbit hole it would be an eaton HO52 or 72 and give it 1 tons axles for it's era
Click to expand...
One tons are where it’s at. Once you finish the 1 tons swap your can put in an LS engine in it.
 
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