"BUILD: 1970 C10 LWB--->SWB “Jumping Cholla”

[zicc1835]

I felt your pain brother, when I saw that first picture.... been there done that .....
now and WOW they look real good Merry Christmas to you and your Family

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by Chaparralman1974

Nice work Scott!! Now you need to wrap that door up in bubble wrap so you don't scratch it again! LOL!!
Clay

No kidding!

Originally Posted by zicc1835

I felt your pain brother, when I saw that first picture.... been there done that .....
now and WOW they look real good Merry Christmas to you and your Family

Thanks! Merry Xmas to you and yours as well.

[loudchevy]

We have a finished short bed I let all the painted pieces sit for a few days in the garage during the holidays to fully cure. I got to work getting them bolted together on Friday. Everything came together great. I did have to clearance some of the square holes in the floor with a square shaped file I got from Harbor freight, which worked perfect. Once I got the tailgate hung (All the letters will be a white sticker, I didn't even want to try and tape off and paint them in) I had to get this bed in the sun and check it out. It looks great in the sun. You can definitely see some waves from my rookie body filler work, but I don't care. I learned so much during that whole process and I'm sure it will come in handy for the next build.....

The next day I scuffed up all the panels on the inside of the bed to get ready for a few coats of Raptorliner. Once I got everything prep'd, cleaned up, and taped off, I went ahead and seam sealed all the joints. It took (3) cans of Raptor to get everything coated and (2) cans for the second final coat. The seam sealer really made it all come together in the end.

Overall, I'm very happy how the whole bed came out. I was super temped to drop it on the frame now, but I still have a few things to finish up before the bed is covering access to it. For now, it got pushed back to the back patio to sit out of the way until I'm ready for it to meet the rest of the truck. Plus the wife gets her garage parking spot back, only been hogging that space since the beginning of November

I think the next thing to tackle is bleeding the brakes and now that the drivers door is repainted, I can install the front fenders and start the painful process for setting gaps on the front clip.

Thanks for following along so far.

[loudchevy]

Here are a few pics of the bed with the Raptor sprayed.

[zicc1835]

looking so good .......

[Scurry67]

Paint looks great! Nice work.

[Chaparralman1974]

That looks great Scott! I think we have both learned a ton about body work during our restoration projects. I have waves in my bed panels as well, but it looks better than when I started. Someone once told me that the only way to perfect body work is with $100 bills....lot's of them.

I can't wait to see your truck all put together.

Clay

[raggedjim]

I think it looks great. Nice work, Rg

[loudchevy]

Bit of an update, I ordered an American Autowire wiring harness a few weeks and it supposed to ship on 1/30. The last few weeks have been busy with all things of everyday life. I've been doing a lot of organizing of old parts going back on the truck and making a "To Do" list and a "To Buy" list. I created the lists into phases (baby steps) to help me stay on task and finish smaller objectives/projects that add up to completing bigger milestones. It was a good holistic view of what is left to complete on the truck and helped me see the finish line.

I did get the brakes bleed a few weeks ago without issue. I'm not too happy with how the front rubber lines are so close to rubbing on the tires at full turn, so I'm going to have to fix that. I came across pjmoreland's thread on this same issue and will be doing something similar to get it corrected.

The last pieces of painting I had left was re-painting the cowl since it had some major metallic runs on both sides and spraying the underside of the hood in black. Both came out great.

This past weekend I was able to spend some time in the garage and get a couple of things done. I wrapped the exhaust pipe adjacent to the fuel pump/filter mounted on the inside of the frame for some heat protection. I also threw some heat shield on both mufflers since they're tucked up close to the bed floor. The last piece before the bed goes on is to install the rear shocks (which still need to be bought).

I bolted up both fenders and called my Dad and brother over to help put the hood on. After a few hours of adjusting fenders, cab, core support, and hood hinge bolts, I finally got all my gaps and tightened everything down for what I hope is the last time. The truck is getting harder and harder to push around the garage on my dollies with all the weight/parts I'm bolting back on.

I'm looking forward to spending some time with the wiring once the harness gets here. It will be nice to start with a clean canvas and a new harness.

[pjmoreland]

Your truck is looking fantastic. I'm interested to see what it's like to install the American Autowire kit.

[Chaparralman1974]

You are making some really good progress Scott! I have been fiddling with my AAW harness as well. Here is a tip for the fuse block.....cut it from the firewall (engine) side. I used an air saw so that it wouldn't heat up the surrounding paint too much. I did order a dual crimp tool from CE auto electric out in Mesa, but it won't ship until February unfortunately. Also, did you get the AAW voltmeter? You won't be able to use your stock ammeter with any of the AAW kits.


Clay

[rodstored-72]

Scott, the truck is looking great!! you are right with acknowledging the pride of doing it yourself... well deserved! also i like the bed work, question... did you inquire/check into at all about trying to color match the liner? I am looking into doing this on my '86...
again great job!!

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

Your truck is looking fantastic. I'm interested to see what it's like to install the American Autowire kit.

Thanks! I'll be updating the tread as I install it. I saw way more positive reviews for AAW than Painless.

Originally Posted by Chaparralman1974

You are making some really good progress Scott! I have been fiddling with my AAW harness as well. Here is a tip for the fuse block.....cut it from the firewall (engine) side. I used an air saw so that it wouldn't heat up the surrounding paint too much. I did order a dual crimp tool from CE auto electric out in Mesa, but it won't ship until February unfortunately. Also, did you get the AAW voltmeter? You won't be able to use your stock ammeter with any of the AAW kits.
Clay

Thanks for the tip on cutting the firewall! I picked a cheap HF air saw for this exact cut. I'm going to be doing Autometer gauges so I would be losing the amp meter anyways. The old gauge cluster will become office or garage wall art.

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

Scott, the truck is looking great!! you are right with acknowledging the pride of doing it yourself... well deserved! also i like the bed work, question... did you inquire/check into at all about trying to color match the liner? I am looking into doing this on my '86...
again great job!!

Thanks! I didn't really care to have the liner match the color of the truck so I didn't even look into it. I like the look of the black against the color.

I was actually looking through your 86 build thread this morning checking out how you did your seats. How is the leg room with those pacifica buckets?

[loudchevy]

AAW box showed up today. It looks great and organized very well in separate bags. Looking forward to start getting into it this weekend. Glad "Dry" January is almost over, gonna need a few beers in garage while working on this project

[Chaparralman1974]

The AAW kits are excellent quality!!

Clay

[Tip70]

Loving the color you are painting the Truck! looks great! and that kit does look like a couple beers would be a good idea to get through

[rodstored-72]

scott, thanks for the reply. I understand about the liner.. it does add a nice contrast to the outside.... as far as the seats go, they are comfortable & fit nice, I would say they are just a "tiny bit" on the narrow side, but overall they are ok, the only real "down side" is that they "seem" a bit "thick" - meaning they appear thicker, so the cabin room gets (front-back) tight. I think the later model trucks are A bit squished to begin with though?? especially if you are on the "taller" side of things... LOL! overall I am happy with them. a neat feature is they fold all the way down so you gain alot more arm room when needing to retrieve something from behind them. In general i have a few more updates to add to the thread since I am now able to daily drive it for a few months. thanks for the check in...

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

especially if you are on the "taller" side of things... LOL!

Thanks, I'm 6'4" so I was curious on the leg room. I think even with just the stock bench seat, leg room would be tight. I didn't really sit in the cab before the truck got blown apart as there was jumping cholla everywhere.

Congrats on daily driving yours!

[loudchevy]

I was able to get some hours in the garage this past weekend. I started working on the wiring and got the cab harness installed with the fuse block and plugged the engine and front light harness into the main fuse block connector under the hood. I started separating the wires and grouping them together based on location of where they terminate under the hood. Overall the AAW kit is really nice and labeled very well so far.

I stopped with the wiring and turned my attention to relocating the front hard brake lines to the front of the A-arms to eliminate the brake hose from rubbing on the tire at full turn. I picked up new (longer) rubber hoses and bent a hard line to the contours of the front of the engine xmember for the passenger caliper. I'm going to run a hard line for each front caliper to the proportioning valve since it has (2) outlets for the front brakes. I just need to crack open the system I just bleed a month ago and repeat the bleed process again

I bolted in the rear shocks and want to make a little wiring harness for the fuel pump and fuel sender gauge wire before dropping the bed on.

I hope to get this brake line redo done over the next couple of days so I can get the wheel wells installed and get back to the under hood wiring.

[Chaparralman1974]

Hey Scott, are you using the original brake lines, or are you going with new ones? I opted for the new ones from Inline tube. Unfortunately, they didn't come close to matching what came out of my truck. I had to send them my old lines so that they could replicate them. They are supposed to be here today, but they seem to be of good quality.


Clay

[loudchevy]

Last night I got the front brake relocation done minus bleeding, which the boy will help with this afternoon. Night and day better. The hose now clears the tire at full turn. I looked through all my pics and I never took one of the hose hitting the tire, just a pic with the tire off. You can still see the difference in hose location based on the caliper, much better. I zip tied a 3/8" hose to the brake line to help with any rubbing against the upper control arm. The hoses I found did have a metal bracket on them, but I couldn't get the bracket positioned correctly to use it in this application, so I had to cut some of it off.

Once the system is bleed, I'll get the wheel wells installed and continue on the wiring under the hood.

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by Chaparralman1974

Hey Scott, are you using the original brake lines, or are you going with new ones? I opted for the new ones from Inline tube. Unfortunately, they didn't come close to matching what came out of my truck. I had to send them my old lines so that they could replicate them. They are supposed to be here today, but they seem to be of good quality.
Clay

I did all new hard lines from Inline Tube as well. I didn't have a problem with the fitment at all. I wish their kit would've relocated the front lines like I just had to do, but other than I had no issues with them. You just have bad luck with vendors