my little brothers first truck..85 c10

[cleansquare]

Hi all...thought we could document some of the progress on here. Since im the oldest im looked to by my 5 brothers for stuff lol. Im 28 andJoseph is turning 18 this november and ive been promising him his first truck. What other way than a square?

I was in tye middle of my 4l80e swap for my 85 c20 when I saw this 85 for sale on craigslist. It was in good condition, no rust and a good price. I offered him $1500 for it and he accepted. We towed it home and here it is! 350/350 and who knows what rear.

Well the 350 had a knock so out it went. This is a budget build so I accepted a free 305 used engine. We put a new timing chain in it, oil pump and water pump, gaskets and so on. We are planning on bolting the 350 trans back to it. Might drop it in tomorrow.

Today since my garage is full of another project a 65 c10 I bought a canopy and joe wemt to work hand polishing the body. He also took the seat out and cleaned the interior up. It needs things like window motors, vent window gaskets and a new ignition and door key sets because he lost the keys!!

Anyways like I said its a budget build because my 85 c20 comes first. We plan on dropping it maybe and replacing all the chrome trim. Enjoy the pics!

Craigslist ad



Got it home ready to pull engine







The 305



Today


Buffed the fender







Posted via Mobile Device

[moregrip]

great starting point, looks to be in great shape!

[Jwood70]

The buffing of the paint is great and this looks like a great project
Posted via Mobile Device

[cleansquare]

Thanks guys
Posted via Mobile Device

[cleansquare]

Heres joe bout to drop it in


Posted via Mobile Device

[rusty76]

Cool build. Will be watching this.

[Hoods69BadBowTie]

Nice starting point looks pretty straight from here. Gonna make a fun little cruiser. That's awesome its a family build makes it so much more meaningful in the end!

[cleansquare]

Well, lil bro wants to sell it...girlfriend is telling him he needs something more economical. .and it isn't even on the road yet!!! Haven't had thr money to finish...I told him its not getting sold, its in my name amd I paid for it and to build it and he can drive it if he wants or he can buy something else with his own money.

Still needs :

Plug wires
Rad hoses
Fuel line from carb to pump
New trans lines
I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

Today bought a new battery, new window motors, we will be installing them Saturday...also bolting the hood on again, installing radiator, bottom rad hose and fan and shroud...need to put nuts on the motor mount bolts that's are just stuck in there. Make sure exhaust is bolted up fully. Need to figure out why the oil drain plug is leaking all the new oil out of the pan. Also replace trans pan gasket.

Small stuff but a lot of stuff. Trying to finish this thing

[Low Elco]

Shame you're not closer-I'd get for my kid. If G-friend has this kinda power now, wait'll he gets married! Oy gevalt! Hope it works out well, that's a clean little square.

[cleansquare]

Well, my 15 year old brother was eager to come over like he has been for a while now, but my 18 year old brother who the truck was for decided not to come over and work on the truck.

Kind of pissed me off but I was like oh well me and 15 yr old will do it.*Then I hear through the grapevine that 18 year old brother was complaining that things weren't happening fast enough and he didn't want to come over all weekend to work on like 3 things, as he put it.*That really pissed me off. Seeing as how I bought the truck with MY money...and spent the time on it...and MY money..

.I had planned on doing a TON.*
Reattach the hood
nstalled starter lines from starter to new battery
Install battery
Install radiator, lower hose, fan and shroud
Install nuts on motor mount bolts
Figure out motor leak
Figure out trans leak
Put cotter pin in trans linkage
Install at least one window motor on it
Make sure exhaust is all buttoned up

I have to change brake pads on my aunts impala, as well as swap my plugs out on the C20 and hoping to put the stage 8 bolts in my headers too...plus the battery for the pontoon eill be charged so ill be wanting to crank it up in the driveway and hope the gas isn't bad after 4 months of sitting...So there is plenty I need to do besides this truck.

*I'm about to the point where I think ill just get it running and legal and then just hide it in thr garage. And reevaluate my decision to let him drive it or not when I damn well feel like it

[Manny79]

Nice truck man..little brothers can be a pain in the ass sometimes to get them motivated...I built an 86 Buick regal a few years back when I was building it my brother was no where to be found but when I finished it he was always wanting to drive it...needless to say I put in the work so I was the only one that could enjoy it haha

[cleansquare]

Word. Well today we cleaned out the garage and backed it in there...also scored both vent windows in good shape for $50 and bought new trans lines for 45. Closer

[cleansquare]

[cleansquare]

Got home today and got under the truck ti see about the trans linkage...was wondering today..why were we able to push the truck around while it was in park? I never dropped it out of park...and the driveshaft was in.

Well the rod was halfway connected to the linkage. But it wouldn't go all the way in. Thats because the linkage wasn't in park, it was in neutral lol.thank god! Fixed that. Truck does NOT move in park lol.


Pulled the wiring harness off the motor area a bitand pulled the crappy tape off. Was gonna put new wire loom on it. Started tracing it out and have a lot of stuff I'm not sure where it goes. Help me out if you can.

Starting with this. This was all laying in an area unused. The 4 prong bigger white connector is burned pretty bad. My trans (I think a th350) has no plug for this. This looks like a plug on a 700r4. Is this the case? Theres also a 2 prong female plug...




Next is a cable coming off the trans. What is it. There looks like spot for this on the carb linkage area behind it drivers side.



Next is a 1 prong female plug and a random black wire with a dirty probably not used female butt splice...



This comes from some sort of breather hose and is taped to it...



This is stuff coming out of the firewall that the c20 doesn't have.



Three random wires...and yet another 2 prong female connector.



Here is a shot of a two prong plug that one of those 2 prong female connectors cpuld go to. Oil pressure?



Here's another



Would both of those be used?

Also there is a single male prong on the drivers side head under exhaust...water temp? But that single prong female connector can't reach it.

I've got thw wires that hit the starter, the ac compressor, and the alternator.

I guess what would be easier is...what do I NEED, and what do I not.

Help!

[cleansquare]

Also, should the truck be this easy to push up and down?

[cleansquare]

Bought most of what I need today. To get it running. All I lack is belts, heater hoses, coil for dist.....maybe a few unseen parts?

I'd like to buy a filter and gasket kit for my th350 but apparently neither oreillys or advance sells this kit. Did manage to get a rear seal for the driveshaft/tailshaft area...for both the blue and red truck. Both leaky.

Here's some of the crap I got...budget build so mostly low price parts...



Here's the option sheet...has 2.73's....any good on highway?



Changing the window motor should be easy lol....wonder why this hole was here? Speaker? Hmm.






Also...the heater hoses...one has some sort of shut off valve in it...could this be to keep the heater core from having fluid and leaking? I wonder if I should just change the core while I'm at it

[Gordonr1973]

The hole in the door was where somebody cut it open to change the window motor at some point.

[Gordonr1973]

The valve in the heater hose might be a) at some point or somebody shut off valve in there so they could change the heater core without it leaking, or so they could change it in the future without the hose leaking all over or b) to stop the flow of hot coolant going into the heater core at all to keep the cab cooler.

[Gordonr1973]

Get a Haynes manual for the wiring questions. Some of it looks like it might be GIR the cruise control, some of it could be for a throttle body setup that wasn't used if the truck was carb'ed.

Water temp sensor has a male end on it I believe, wire harness has the female to connect.

[cleansquare]

Thanks for the tips. I believe it was to stop the heat from the cab.

And I figured out most of the wiring...gonna hit it hard and heavy this weekend

[cleansquare]

Update....haven't checked in cause not much of a following.

Its running like a top. Had some setbacks.new radiator. New hoses belts trans cooler lines vacuum lines. Second set of dist cap and rotor cause the first was installed wrong. Ate them up.

Figured out all the wiring. Got the oil pressure gauge and water temp working.

Engine was seized up saturday coukdnt turn by hand. Squirted trans fluid in cylinders and got a big prybar and broke it loose on flywheel. Did compression check. Excellent compression. Ruined a good carh by stripping the line inlet cause it was leaking. Got another one.

Lost all lighting but figured that out. Feed wire from starter is broke. Need to fix.

Drove truck to store and filled up. Trans would only shift manually. (It took a gallon of fluid to get it to the full mark yesterday). I think it need the vacuum modulator line hooked up. Gonna do that tomorrow and try it again.

Got engine hot and coolant sucked down. Filled it back up. Topped off power steering pump twice. Oil looks very nice. Smoked a little white smome from trans fluid in cylinders but all clear now.

Shocks need replacing rides like a boat. Brakes are stiff, gonna do all four corners and bleed all that nastyfluid out.

Saturday taking a 5 hour round trip roadtrip with little bro in my truck to pick up a set of 8" rally wheels for his truck, a setof longtube headers, a air filter breather housing, ac compressor...odds and ends. All good prices.

Coming along quick!
Pic



Vid

[cleansquare]

Stopped and bought some vac line and a new oil pressure sensor.

Hooked up the vac line to the trans and now it shifts on its own!

Fixed the broken wire on the starter and got headlights, dash lights, cab and taillights!

Still don't have brake lights, but reverse lights work. What could be the issue?

Replaced a few 194 bulbs in the side fender markers. Need to replace the 194s in the tails. And the gauge cluster only has about 3 bulbs working lol.

Fixed the pushbutton in the doorjam that allows cargo light to come on when door is openedm was just rudted up and stuck.

Took the doorpanel off pass side and tested window switch and the wire at the window motor and both have power. Bad motor.

Need to test the drivers side same thing. Neither one works.

Replaced the oil pressure sensor I bought. No more leaks.

Carb needs a rebuild something BAD.

Gotta remove all the tiewire from the headlights and replace the adjustable clips and slrings, then aim them. With low beams at night, vision is so bad. They are aimed out of wack.

Priced monroe gas shocks at advance auto and came out to $130 for all four corners. Getting them real soon.

Steering wheel is off center when driving straight, they can fix that with an alignment I'm sure. But steering is real loose, you can turn the wheel a lot each way before truck responds. What parts exactly affect this? I don't really want to replace EVERYTHING under the front end right now. I just need to tighten up a bit.

[Jake Wade]

Nice looking truck! Curious how much you had to pay for it. I would get the steering and brakes up to par ASAP. Idler, Pitman, tie rods, steering box, rag joint are possible causes for slack. You can have someone turn steering wheel back and forth in the slack range while you look at above mentioned components and should be able to find the culprit.

[cleansquare]

Thanks,he was asking $2000 so I offered $1500 and he agreed.

Got another grand in it by now. Climbing every day. Ill check the front end for slack. Does the battery voltage gauge wok off the alternator? Its not working.

[scss02]

Originally Posted by cleansquare

Thanks,he was asking $2000 so I offered $1500 and he agreed.

Got another grand in it by now. Climbing every day. Ill check the front end for slack. Does the battery voltage gauge wok off the alternator? Its not working.

Find the positive wire to the gauge and connect it to key power source and it should work. Unless your gauge is bad