p4ps daily driver project

[p4p1]

I've recently moved to Jamaica and decided that one of things I would be doing was buying and then completing a build on a c10 but was not sure if I wanted a 67-72 or a squarebody . One of the conditions on me moving here with my Jamaican girlfriend(met her in oz where she was for a few years but she had to go home) was that I could buy and build a c10 as I've always wanted a big American pick up. Before I moved I got in touch with the Jamaican classic car club about importing one from the US as you need approval from them to bring one over. They rejected it, after some more convo with the club I found out that while they're hard to come by if you don't know where to look or anyone who has one they are here, for sale and even better can be had at cheaper than you get them in the US before you even factor in shipping and import cost(Jamaican import duties and taxes on cars work out forums 50% of the cars value.).

Ended up finding a squarebody off an old guy through the car club who had bought it to use for his 57 pick up body(transplanting the body onto chassis and using the driveline) but decided to use a different chassis. He was very straight up with me told me what he paid for it, I was happy with the price and know how much it sucks being low balled for something that's worth what you've got in it so I decided to just pay what he Paid. As it turns out that may have been a good call because I was supposed to pick it up on Monday but due to still having a foreign bank account I can only get money out at the ATM so I couldn't get it out in one go told him this and said to not rush because there was a few things he was hoping to get fixed before I pick it up such as the steering wheel and tyres etc so a massive win there.

[img=http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/buzz0369/27fe809170b08c4fba25fca7d2d895a9.jpg][img=http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/buzz0369/95ee3245f907f9234a16b8fa53a3d02e.jpg][img=http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/buzz0369/6ccde604640584d19c0604d7cae6c6ce.jpg][img=http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/buzz0369/4ee143a71d19be99b2f62d604793923f.jpg]
It's a 350sbc model with factory air, power steering and power brakes. So a great find for the price and not having to get an aircon kit is awesome as driving here without a/c would be ****.

Plans are to drive it as I build it partly because I don't have a shed or anything that I can store the car in and I need a way to get around as well. My first questions are if anyone here bought one they're planning on buying what would they do first ie replace all the fluids/carby clean etc? (I'm very new and inexperienced at working on cars) And then what should I start upgrading/modifying once I've got the car up to being reliable. Nothing concrete yet about what I'll do still tossing up driveline and colours etc only concrete planes are air bags and bigger discs.

[p4p1]

Links didn't work

[p4p1]

[p4p1]

So I've been using this forum as it's got a huge amount of info on here as well as other parts of the net to come up with a plan.

The plan far it's a 13" and 12" front and rear disc conversions and was looking at the CPP kit. A set of 18s but haven't decided on a rim yet.
LQ4 with l92 heads and ls3 intake conversion probably a stock Camaro cam or maybe slightly lumpier as it'll be my daily. 4l60e gearbox
I really liked the look of the hooker headers and would probably go with their conversion kit as well as long as there aren't any problems with it(?)
Air bag kit using ride-tech parts and an accu air control
Still have a lot to plan I know and I'm a complete noob when it comes to working on cars and was hoping to use this car to finally learn. So I'll probably be asking for a lot of advice. As I work about a 3 min drive from where I live I think I'll be able to take the car off the road at times so I can complete work on it.

Would love some feedback if possible on my plans so far even though I know they're not very complete yet.

[daddyjeep]

You met your girlfriend on oz? Did you meet the wizard too?

Joking aside, it looks like you got a pretty solid truck to start with. I have no experience with the whole air ride thing, but the drive train choice sounds good to me. Since you are going to be using this as a driver while you build, I would go through all of the maintenance stuff first. As you mentioned, change all the fluids and go through the steering just to make sure everything is safe. Good luck on the build. This forum has a lot of knowledgeable guys here so you will get the support you need.

[cg285]

years back i had to fly to montego bay to fix a motorhome that was used as a mobile recording studio for a reggae concert. there was NOTHING there in the way of auto parts. even food was scarce unless you could stomach that stinky goat meat cooked by side of the road vendors. plenty of rum and warm red stripe. things must have changed if you are able to restore a vehicle.

[p4p1]

Originally Posted by cg285

years back i had to fly to montego bay to fix a motorhome that was used as a mobile recording studio for a reggae concert. there was NOTHING there in the way of auto parts. even food was scarce unless you could stomach that stinky goat meat cooked by side of the road vendors. plenty of rum and warm red stripe. things must have changed if you are able to restore a vehicle.

It's definitely changed as there seems to be an auto parts store on every corner, though they're mostly Japanese stuff. There is a classic car club here which is how I ended up getting the car but as for parts I'll most likely be buying them myself getting them sent to Florida and then taking them in suitcases or posting them myself to avoid the ****ing ludicrous tax here on imported stuff which ends up being an extra 43% of the price and shipping.

There's still street vendors but the jerked chicken I got from the there was amazing and now they keep the red stripe cold.

It'll be an interesting process though as a huge part of it will be getting the parts here without having to pay the taxes.

[p4p1]

So after about 5 months of waiting to get the car due to a few problems on both mine and the sellers side I finally have the car in my house.

Have scrapped the lq4 idea in favour of a single turbo 5.3, I saw LSX everything has a kit to suit c10s so I'm looking at that for now. The turbo kit is about $2700 so with the money that I would save by not buying L92 heads, LS3 intake and swap headers I figure it's about the same cost, but I get better fuel mileage in traffic here which gets very heavy during peak hour and more power.

Also considering the fitech LS swap system they're releasing. It looks like it'll be good value for money for about $2000 for the 750hp system. Supposedly it makes the conversion easier plus by the time I bought a conversion wiring harness, reflashed the computer, new injectors etc there isn't a massive differences plus it comes with an intake manifold which i was wanting to change anyway because I'm not a fan of the truck intake. To me it looks like good deal depending on how the intake flows.

I haven't worked in about 5 months due to a host of visa and political issues though will be starting my job very soon which has meant I've had plenty of time for research. Unfortunately the car is in rougher shape than I originally though so it won't be capable of daily duties anytime soon so it'll have to become more of a project. More updates to follow soon.