Im new! 78 c10 pretty beat up, pointers?

[billm90]

Hey all,
I'm new here.

I am going to TRY to get right to the point.

1978 C10 big ten.
I think it has a van 350 engine (timming marks on cover are at the 12 o'clock position) and th350 trans.
I tried painting it myself as it was nasty looking (someone hit and run on it as well). I need to try that out again. aside from what has been mentioned, It is pretty much stock. I knew the original owner. I am also working on the interior. nothing show like, just enough to look at it. it was brown, now black.

this weekend I needed to smog it. on the way I think I spun a rod. I have a rod knock (I think) but pretty sure. mileage... spun a few times I am sure.

The th350 has been leaking trans fluid out the yoke, not the rear seal, the yoke, for over a year.

So I decided I would like to fix this thing up a little. Now about me so we understand where I am comming from. I am into vettes, I have built my 90 and it has blown up and I need to fix that as well. I have an 01 as a daily driver. I am buying a house now that has a good garage for me to tear into cars, so I would like to do some stuff on the truck first, but hopefully on the cheap since it is worth what ~$500.00?

Hopefully you guys can give me some help/pointers.

the goal: cheap, and make this thing as vette like as possible.

1, the engine probably needs to be rebuilt, whats the best route, I looked at rebuild kits and short blocks. Whats the best way to go? (I used the truck to move the engine in my vette, so this truck build will be a catch 22)
Also: why is no one here supercharged? I was looking at the smog legal kit. tempting...

2, th350. the leaking yoke? why? I think the trans is going strong... after I add more fluid.

3, the front bushings look destroyed, it needs a rebuild. whats the way to go for the whole front end?

4,Last I would like to lower the truck, add sway bars, shocks, tires and wheels, and make it handle. I dont know how to do this. lower it mainly.
I have been searching the forum for 5 hours. I seems some cool setups on air bags... and flip kits and shackels, and spindles and lowering springs... it is making my head spin. some guys are doing all of these things...

How should I do it? flip kit? remove some leafs?

5 my gas gauge stopped working, is it the sender? would it not work on both tanks? they both show well over full (3 o'clock position) all the time.

Also, what does big ten mean? more rear leaf springs?

well thats all for now.

[Prong]

I can't really answer your lowering questions because I'm a 4X guy but:
1) depending on your budget, you can get a crate 350 (260HP version) from your local Chevy dealer for about $13-$1600 (depends on what he likes to price them at).

2) Your gas gauge--check the ground leads. The come off the senders on the top of the tanks and ground by way of a wire that is screwed to the frame. Verify they're attached and clean as necessary.

3) Big 10 is the heavy duty suspension and I believe heavier brakes as well.

4) As far as front chassis parts go, I would recommend Moog or Spicer stuff assuming your talking tie rods, ball joints and bushings. Yeah it's more money, but the quality is there to justify it.

[joe231]

[old Rusty C10]

welcome to the board

the big ten means that it has more leaf springs than your average c10.. for hauling they are great

Prong is right about the grounds on the gas tanks i had the same problem and that fixed it right up

as to the yoke or tail shaft sometimes if you have a bad u joint giving play to the driveshaft it will let the yoke leak.. its a simple $5 seal and easy to replace pop the driveshaft, pull the old seal out and press in the new one easy reinstall driveshaft

as to the motor the cheapest way out is junkyard motor but to do it right means rebuilding it and that could run to almost $2k.. the big old motors arent so easy anymore in the scrap yards as they are getting crushed .. id stay away from the chinese rebuild kits sold on auctions
how about some pics of your truck?

[Albatrossian]

Originally Posted by billm90

Hey all,
I'm new here.

I am going to TRY to get right to the point.

1978 C10 big ten.
I think it has a van 350 engine (timming marks on cover are at the 12 o'clock position) and th350 trans.
I tried painting it myself as it was nasty looking (someone hit and run on it as well). I need to try that out again. aside from what has been mentioned, It is pretty much stock. I knew the original owner. I am also working on the interior. nothing show like, just enough to look at it. it was brown, now black.

this weekend I needed to smog it. on the way I think I spun a rod. I have a rod knock (I think) but pretty sure. mileage... spun a few times I am sure.

The th350 has been leaking trans fluid out the yoke, not the rear seal, the yoke, for over a year.

So I decided I would like to fix this thing up a little. Now about me so we understand where I am comming from. I am into vettes, I have built my 90 and it has blown up and I need to fix that as well. I have an 01 as a daily driver. I am buying a house now that has a good garage for me to tear into cars, so I would like to do some stuff on the truck first, but hopefully on the cheap since it is worth what ~$500.00?

Hopefully you guys can give me some help/pointers.

the goal: cheap, and make this thing as vette like as possible.

1, the engine probably needs to be rebuilt, whats the best route, I looked at rebuild kits and short blocks. Whats the best way to go? (I used the truck to move the engine in my vette, so this truck build will be a catch 22)
Also: why is no one here supercharged? I was looking at the smog legal kit. tempting...

2, th350. the leaking yoke? why? I think the trans is going strong... after I add more fluid.

3, the front bushings look destroyed, it needs a rebuild. whats the way to go for the whole front end?

4,Last I would like to lower the truck, add sway bars, shocks, tires and wheels, and make it handle. I dont know how to do this. lower it mainly.
I have been searching the forum for 5 hours. I seems some cool setups on air bags... and flip kits and shackels, and spindles and lowering springs... it is making my head spin. some guys are doing all of these things...

How should I do it? flip kit? remove some leafs?

5 my gas gauge stopped working, is it the sender? would it not work on both tanks? they both show well over full (3 o'clock position) all the time.

Also, what does big ten mean? more rear leaf springs?

well thats all for now.

I'll try to add my two cents in order you asked them..

About the engine, I guess it's all according on how mild or wild you want to go. You could go for a basic re-ring/new bearings, but if you have spun a bearing, keep in mind machining costs. Also, are you going carburated or injection? You can pick up a master rebuild kit at most good parts stores for less than $300.
For the interior, you can plunder your local yards or order new, like most of us have from LMC here: http://www.lmctruck.com/

As for the suspension, polyurethane is the way to go if you want handling, along with lowering the truck. If you want Vette-like handling, bigger sway bars, front and rear and airbags are the way to go, along with better and lighter wheels and sticky tires. Don't forget to upgrade the brakes to stop that 4000lb truck.

About the gas gauge and yoke, those have already been answered and they hit the nail on the head.
This is a great board and great people here, welcome!

[Kooter]

Hey if its leaking out of the center of the yoke and not the seal its a o-ring or seal went bad in the tailshaft and its pissing fluid out the weap hole. My truck has been doing this for a few months now.

[billm90]

Thanks for all the replies guys

Looks like this board has a lot of traffic. Thats great!

As for the yoke, it is leaking out the weep hole. been doing it for a long time, I have been backing it into my driveway to stop it. I picked up a rear seal for the tail housing and then realized it was not the problem.

as far as the engine goes, I found the 350 crate engine for 1500, jegs, summit all seem to have it. 250 hp, big deal. Been thinking about doing that and throwing a weiand 142 blower on it later.
I also replaced the carb a while back when I failed smog. I think I got the standard junk one.

I could go wild on it.. but I dont know.. I have extra EFI manifolds (tpi, super ram, miniram, single plane converted to efi) even turbo manifolds and down pipes and twin TO4B's, all stuff from messing with the vette.

Now air bags for suspension? are these decent for some moderate handeling? They just seem to be perfect for a cruiser.

where are the grounds for the gas tank? I was down there and found one into the frame. My manual is packed up somewhere.

I will try to get some pics up... currently it is a little embaressing, plus the bed is full of trash from cleaning out the garage, crappy paint job (color choice) took off the grill. how about maybe a dirty engine shot?

[Albatrossian]

I'm really considering going TPI with bigger injectors and a T04 running about 18lbs under the truck.. under-vehicle turbos seem to be the way to go these days. Airbags are pretty good for handling since you can adjust each bag separately.. they built a 64 Impala on bags on the Powerblock and it handled very well..

[billm90]

here are a few I took of the engine real quick.
as you can see, not much a looker.

[Albatrossian]

It'll clean up nice, though.. you'd be surprised what some degreaser, a rattlecan and a little creativity can do!