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Figured I would post up my truck.
'62 Chevy C10 Longbox 2wd. 283, Saginaw 3spd. with Column shift. Straight budget build.
Bought it running on 7 cyls. with a flat cam. Tore the oil pan off to find a nice cross-hatch on the cylinders, bearings in near-new condition, etc. etc. My guess is the engine was re-built but the cam not broken in properly.
Decided to go for a "quickie" re-build. What's cool about the early 60-63 Chevy trucks is they had torsion bar front suspension, so the crossmember is nicely out of the way. You can drop the oil pan, crank, EVERYTHING out of the engine with the block still in the truck!
Installed a Speed-Pro reproduction 30-30 cam, Melling high pressure pump, cloyes double-roller timing chain, got a gasket kit and threw 'er back together. Topped it off with an old four-barrel stock GM intake I had lying around, some cheap chrome valvecovers that were all the local parts house had (original "chevrolet" script covers were bent beyond all help) and a Holley 650 Mechanical-secondary double-pumper I fished out of the trash when a co-worker decided "he'd had enough of trying to tune a Holley." I kept trying to tell him it was just a blown power valve... he wouldn't listen. Oh well, free carb for me. ;D
Also did the HEI swap just 'cause I hate setting points, and for extra reliability.
Breathes through stock Rams-horns (nobody makes headers that will work with the three-on-the-tree, other than block huggers, and I hate those things... they cook starters) to 2-1/2" pipes with 40-series flowmasters, dumping in front of the rear wheels.
Wheels are just some old six-lug steelies I had lying around in front, and the rears are 8" ultra-deep offset reversies. Baby moons are wheel vintiques. Beauty rings were $5 at a garage sale.
After I got it running decent I started on the bodywork. Front clip is 99% done, (need to re-paint the hood, it's all faded now, and fix a couple dings I missed the first time around) Passenger's box-side is done. Rocker panels replaced, Only major rust in the truck, other than one small hole in the left box side and a couple small spots on the passenger door, which are both F*&^ed anyway.
Cranked the front torsion bars down to drop the front as much as I dare, and mounted a pair of old mirrors I had lying around to the top of the doors in peep-mirror fashion.
SO I had a good start. I had a good driving, reliable truck that, while no ball of fire, had enough oomph to at least get out of it's own way and sounded WICKED at idle. (that 30-30 cam sounds soooooo goood).
I drove the wheels off it for two years, ignoring the fact that I had no heater ('62 uses a one-year-only heater core that NOBODY MAKES) no turn signals (wiring is butchered) and no power steering, which SUCKS in a wal-mart parking lot.
Then I took it to Americruise in Lincoln, did a whole bunch of nice, smoky burnouts all night long on "O" street... the went for one final one without water before calling it a night...
And smoked the clutch.
About that time, the wife was pregnant with our first child, we were beyond broke, the price of gas was going insane, and I had other things going on, so I decided to park it for now and I'll put a clutch in it later.
Fast forward to today, or three years, a move, and one more kid later. The truck now sits along side my garage in tall weeds, (there's too much crap IN my garage to actually get a car in there... that will change soon.) The bed is being used as a dumpster, more or less, for all the stuff that needs to be hauled to the dump. (hey, it is still a TRUCK after all... you can actually use them to HAUL things)
I sold the carb to my boss for his '66 Fairlane GTA, and the last time I tried to start it I wasn't getting any fuel to teh carb, (which really didn't matter since the gas is all poopy and varnished anyway.)
This past weekend I was out mowing and the old girl started whimpering at me. "Fix me, drive me"
Well, I figure it's time to start working on it, especially since my '69 Javelin is on hold until I find a set of quarter panels.
So here's the plan for the thing:
Blow it apart down to the frame. Get the frame de-rusted, stripped, painted, and put back together.
Find a good passenger-side door and driver's box side.
Build a new motor. The 283 sounds great and moves the truck pretty well for a 283 in a 5000-pound truck, and if the pavement's wet she'll burn 'em off with best, but with that huge-duration cam in that little low-compression 283, it has NO low-end torque AT ALL. It's a screaming little engine for say, a hot rod like a 'T', 'A', or something like that, or maybe a Nova, but it just don't cut it for a truck I would like to be able to tow a trailer with.
I don't want anything crazy, (I was gonna build a 383 for it) but I would like around 350 ponies minimum at the crank. Any more is just a bonus.
And then we start on the FUN part.
Channel the body 2.5-3 inches on the frame
Suicide doors, using '55 Chevy door hinges (just need to find some)
Make the hood open backwards, using the hinges and stuff from a late-80's early-90's buick Lesabre (I think that's what the stuff came off of)
Either the 60-64 Chrome GMC Quad-headlight grille or a '59 Impala grille and headlight doors
I have an old old old Coors Beer Keg that I will be mounting at the front of the box for a fuel tank. The tank behind the seat has GOT to GO. I'm sick of smelling gas all the time, and I really don't like the idea of nothing between me and a large mass of highly flammable liquid death but a few inches of foam (also highly flammable).
I also have a neat flip-top cap for the beer keg that came off a boat.
Custom rolled rear pan
Smoothed tailgate punched full of louvers.
All seams welded and smoothed
Hot Rod black with red interior.
And the biggie: I wanna chop the top a couple inches. But it WON'T be easy. The first hurdle is the curved, wrap-around windshield, and I won't attempt it until I KNOW someone can cut the glass.
The second hurdle is figuring out HOW to chop it. I know between the steel inner panels and the outer parts the roof will have to be cut into about 9 pieces at least. And how to deal with the rear window and the rear pillars is seriously giving me migraines.
Anyway, here's a pic of the thing as she sits now:
'62 Chevy C10 Longbox 2wd. 283, Saginaw 3spd. with Column shift. Straight budget build.
Bought it running on 7 cyls. with a flat cam. Tore the oil pan off to find a nice cross-hatch on the cylinders, bearings in near-new condition, etc. etc. My guess is the engine was re-built but the cam not broken in properly.
Decided to go for a "quickie" re-build. What's cool about the early 60-63 Chevy trucks is they had torsion bar front suspension, so the crossmember is nicely out of the way. You can drop the oil pan, crank, EVERYTHING out of the engine with the block still in the truck!
Installed a Speed-Pro reproduction 30-30 cam, Melling high pressure pump, cloyes double-roller timing chain, got a gasket kit and threw 'er back together. Topped it off with an old four-barrel stock GM intake I had lying around, some cheap chrome valvecovers that were all the local parts house had (original "chevrolet" script covers were bent beyond all help) and a Holley 650 Mechanical-secondary double-pumper I fished out of the trash when a co-worker decided "he'd had enough of trying to tune a Holley." I kept trying to tell him it was just a blown power valve... he wouldn't listen. Oh well, free carb for me. ;D
Also did the HEI swap just 'cause I hate setting points, and for extra reliability.
Breathes through stock Rams-horns (nobody makes headers that will work with the three-on-the-tree, other than block huggers, and I hate those things... they cook starters) to 2-1/2" pipes with 40-series flowmasters, dumping in front of the rear wheels.
Wheels are just some old six-lug steelies I had lying around in front, and the rears are 8" ultra-deep offset reversies. Baby moons are wheel vintiques. Beauty rings were $5 at a garage sale.
After I got it running decent I started on the bodywork. Front clip is 99% done, (need to re-paint the hood, it's all faded now, and fix a couple dings I missed the first time around) Passenger's box-side is done. Rocker panels replaced, Only major rust in the truck, other than one small hole in the left box side and a couple small spots on the passenger door, which are both F*&^ed anyway.
Cranked the front torsion bars down to drop the front as much as I dare, and mounted a pair of old mirrors I had lying around to the top of the doors in peep-mirror fashion.
SO I had a good start. I had a good driving, reliable truck that, while no ball of fire, had enough oomph to at least get out of it's own way and sounded WICKED at idle. (that 30-30 cam sounds soooooo goood).
I drove the wheels off it for two years, ignoring the fact that I had no heater ('62 uses a one-year-only heater core that NOBODY MAKES) no turn signals (wiring is butchered) and no power steering, which SUCKS in a wal-mart parking lot.
Then I took it to Americruise in Lincoln, did a whole bunch of nice, smoky burnouts all night long on "O" street... the went for one final one without water before calling it a night...
And smoked the clutch.
About that time, the wife was pregnant with our first child, we were beyond broke, the price of gas was going insane, and I had other things going on, so I decided to park it for now and I'll put a clutch in it later.
Fast forward to today, or three years, a move, and one more kid later. The truck now sits along side my garage in tall weeds, (there's too much crap IN my garage to actually get a car in there... that will change soon.) The bed is being used as a dumpster, more or less, for all the stuff that needs to be hauled to the dump. (hey, it is still a TRUCK after all... you can actually use them to HAUL things)
I sold the carb to my boss for his '66 Fairlane GTA, and the last time I tried to start it I wasn't getting any fuel to teh carb, (which really didn't matter since the gas is all poopy and varnished anyway.)
This past weekend I was out mowing and the old girl started whimpering at me. "Fix me, drive me"
Well, I figure it's time to start working on it, especially since my '69 Javelin is on hold until I find a set of quarter panels.
So here's the plan for the thing:
Blow it apart down to the frame. Get the frame de-rusted, stripped, painted, and put back together.
Find a good passenger-side door and driver's box side.
Build a new motor. The 283 sounds great and moves the truck pretty well for a 283 in a 5000-pound truck, and if the pavement's wet she'll burn 'em off with best, but with that huge-duration cam in that little low-compression 283, it has NO low-end torque AT ALL. It's a screaming little engine for say, a hot rod like a 'T', 'A', or something like that, or maybe a Nova, but it just don't cut it for a truck I would like to be able to tow a trailer with.
I don't want anything crazy, (I was gonna build a 383 for it) but I would like around 350 ponies minimum at the crank. Any more is just a bonus.
And then we start on the FUN part.
Channel the body 2.5-3 inches on the frame
Suicide doors, using '55 Chevy door hinges (just need to find some)
Make the hood open backwards, using the hinges and stuff from a late-80's early-90's buick Lesabre (I think that's what the stuff came off of)
Either the 60-64 Chrome GMC Quad-headlight grille or a '59 Impala grille and headlight doors
I have an old old old Coors Beer Keg that I will be mounting at the front of the box for a fuel tank. The tank behind the seat has GOT to GO. I'm sick of smelling gas all the time, and I really don't like the idea of nothing between me and a large mass of highly flammable liquid death but a few inches of foam (also highly flammable).
I also have a neat flip-top cap for the beer keg that came off a boat.
Custom rolled rear pan
Smoothed tailgate punched full of louvers.
All seams welded and smoothed
Hot Rod black with red interior.
And the biggie: I wanna chop the top a couple inches. But it WON'T be easy. The first hurdle is the curved, wrap-around windshield, and I won't attempt it until I KNOW someone can cut the glass.
The second hurdle is figuring out HOW to chop it. I know between the steel inner panels and the outer parts the roof will have to be cut into about 9 pieces at least. And how to deal with the rear window and the rear pillars is seriously giving me migraines.
Anyway, here's a pic of the thing as she sits now:
, 2013 LH, 2014 LH
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