71 c10, upgrades/rebuild-my first truck

[brad_man_72]

ds needs cut, straightened, welded, straightened and ballanced
if you give the DRIVELINE shop (not machine or muffler shop) a heads up they should be able to get you in and out in less than 2 hrs

[RCbowtie69]

Hey from N.C. Nice truck & i have to say you have come long ways with your build,keep the pictures coming & keep on Truckin'

[bigyellow]

it's been one of them days. to start out with it's a monday and i have school. but on the way to school my brakes decided to come apart. not exactly sure whats wrong with them but i know drivin down the road they make t his really awesome sound... and at slow speeds they grab really hard then let go and makes a clunking noise. soo i have one more class then i get to take my brakes apart in the school parking lot...imma look so cool while all the rich kids drive by in their bmw's.

fml.

[bigyellow]

sooo turns out it wasn't my brakes it was my lug nuts...i took the center cap off and down comes all 5 of them. not totally sure how this happened but i got it fixed. i'm not sure how long i was driving without lugnuts haha. i'm glad i have rims with a center cap that covers the lugs.

and well now i can say i've drove my truck to wheels fell off...well as close as i wanna get haha

[bigyellow]

didn't get anything big done this weekend to the truck, but i fixed my exhaust leak and put on a new air breather. i got rid of the 4" breather and bought a 9" and the adapter. this will have to do til i find the right 250 air breather. and after lookin around some i'm going to try and find new power steering brackets cause i've determined that my brackets are for the integrated head.

also sway bar is in the mail and should be here tomorrow =) i'm pretty excited about that. i'll get some pics up when i'm done. and after that and i save up a bit more money i think i'm giong to buy a new power steering box cause mine leaks and is just wore out(i got all the power steering stuff for free so i can't really complain lol)

just some updates incase ya'll wanted to know

[71sierragrande]

I like the way that truck is coming along. Just upgrade gradually as u have time and money. Lookin great!

[bigyellow]

lol well man i figure it like this, she treats me better than any woman has so i don't mind spending money on her haha

[bigyellow]

Updates. i got my sway bar installed this weekend. cleaned it up and painted it. installed with all moog bushings. it definitely has helped with body roll, although it does ride a bit rougher when i hit rough roads.

come tax time i'm going to buy the ECE 3.5/5 drop kit. and i think that will really get it to ride and handle nice.

things i learned this weekend: i need a tie rod end, the nut on it was loose so i snugged it up a little bit and put the pin back in. I also now carry a patch kit in my truck i ran over a nail while doing a test drive with the sway bar(made me late for work grrr) and i think come my next check i'm going to pick up a new steering box i'm tired of mine leaking everywhere and having to put fluid in all the time.

or next check i'm going to buy a junkyard spare tire carrier and tube jack to carry with me.

[bigyellow]

so i've been doing some serious research on my t5 swap

i'm in the works of getting another driveshaft so i can have it cut and balanced. the one in the truck was butchered by the PO so i decided it's best to get a new one. i've priced some other parts i need like u joints, the carrier bearing, clutch kit, and slip yolk. then i need to have my adaptor plate made (THANKS JOCKO for all the info). and as far as the shifter goes i think i'm going to make something out of some flat steel plate. it's starting to cost a lil more than i was planning but i should have known. haha i'm not worried about it because i know it'll be worth it.


and i want some opinions on what rearend gears to run. i'm running a 275-60-15 on the back and the transmission has a .72 5th gear. right now i've got the 3.08s in it but i also have my 3.73 rear end. which would be better for all around driving, i've read that 3.08s dont like to pull freeway speeds very well.

[bigyellow]

Just bought my camaro rear sway bar, should be here in the next week or so. It's my birthday present to myself lol. Also transmission is at the machine shop to have the plate made. He quoted me 100-120 for labor and materials so i'm happy, plus it's a tool and dye company so i should be getting a pretty good quality piece.

small progress but it is progress. and i've got the money in the bank account to buy the ECE drop kit...definitely thinking this might be my christmas present to myself.

[bigyellow]

i know it's been a long time since i've posted anything but i've been very busy with school and work. gotta love wakin up at 7:30 and going to school, doing hw/studying, and going to work til 11 at night every single day. but it's all good i've saved all the money i need to do al the upgrades i want and then some so i'm not broke when it's all said and done.

not a whole lot of progress but i got the rear bar painted. i'm going to go get the clamps and end links next weekend after i get paid and put it on. then i'm going to call the driveline shop so i can have them cut the driveshaft. gotta buy u joints and a clutch and i'll be good to roll. I'll post pics of my t5 plate when i get a chance to pick it up from the machine shop

for you guys like me heres a pic to prove i've done SOMETHING when i had a little bit of time.

[bigyellow]

and the corvette is the other car i drove in high school...i miss it =( thing was stupid fast. TPI with the 4 speed manual z51 suspension.

[VA72C10]

Nice project. You've been making steady improvements...keep at it!

[bigyellow]

UPDATE to any actually following this slowww build thread. t5 is innnnnn =D i'm going tomorrow to get my driveshaft shortened and balanced. currently relocating the shifter hole but its 2 am and i'm getting tired. I was too excited to tell everybody haha this thing has been fighting me the whole way for the past week and a half hopefully it's done with that crap...

PICS TO COME...not many and not great pics but there will be pictures lol. i'm also going to give some details for anybody else putting the t5 behind the 250

[VA72C10]

Congrats! Looking forward to pics and hope you really enjoy the T5!

[splehigh]

Nice truck. I drove my 71 in college also. It was pretty beat up but I still loved driving it to school. One day on the way home my drive shaft carrier bearing broke and I had to limp home very slowly with a piece of rope holding my drive shaft up. lol

Nice Vette also. I still have my 1990 6 speed.

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by bigyellow

i know it's been a long time since i've posted anything but i've been very busy with school and work. gotta love wakin up at 7:30 and going to school, doing hw/studying, and going to work til 11 at night every single day. but it's all good i've saved all the money i need to do al the upgrades i want and then some so i'm not broke when it's all said and done.

not a whole lot of progress but i got the rear bar painted. i'm going to go get the clamps and end links next weekend after i get paid and put it on. then i'm going to call the driveline shop so i can have them cut the driveshaft. gotta buy u joints and a clutch and i'll be good to roll. I'll post pics of my t5 plate when i get a chance to pick it up from the machine shop

for you guys like me heres a pic to prove i've done SOMETHING when i had a little bit of time.

I wished I knew you were wanting a Camaro sway bar. I took mine off because it interferd with the new rear shock relocator I installed. You will need spacers for the install also.

[bigyellow]

sooo here are some of the pictures i promised of my t5 swap. sorry it took so long i've been busy at work and the holidays. but yes i did accomplish to break my bellhousing one night lol but thank god one of my friends is a good welder and managed to get it back together for me. i've gone about 200 miles and so far i love the swap.

I followed jocko's t5 swap thread and of course had to adjust accordingly. The biggest problem i had was getting the right parts. I have the odd sized 10" clutch and my flywheel is only drilled for the 10" clutch. I bought the 11" astro van clutch and it wouldn't bolt on then i tried the 9" s10 and no dice. What i ended up doing was using the stock pressure plate, throw out bearing and a 10" clutch disk from speedway motors. It actually measures 9 and 7/8 but the difference is so small that it isn't a problem. Also i assumed since i had the sm420 which is a 67 down style transmission they used the right bellhousing, and of course i was wrong so i had to buy an index ring from advance adapters because i didn't want the transmission to walk around in the bellhousing.

I trimmed the input collar down i beleive half an inch, that with the 1/2" spacer plate made the input collar match the sm 420 in length relative to the bellhousing.

I used the stock s10 shifter, although i had to bend the base so it would clear my seat. The overall throw off the shifter isn't bad 5th gear is a little bit far but it really isn't bad at all.

Prices:

Transmission-$150
Index ring- $30
Clutch disk- $90
Cut driveshaft- $60
Carrier bearing- $20
U joint- $8
Gear oil- $20
RTV- $5

So for about 400 dollars i have a much more driveable and practicle truck to drive. Overall I am very happy with the swap and anybody with a straight six that wants to keep it as a practical driver should definitely do it. pretty easy swap overall, I had my unique set of problems but thats what happens when you match modern technology with old technology.

[bigyellow]

i need to take a picture of where the shifter is in the floor. i forgot to mention i used a stock boot and ring to make it look factory. i also had to fill in the hole where the old shifter was and smooth it with some filler and repaint it because my carpet doesn't go over the center hump.

sorry for the crappy cell phone pics it's what i have.

and forgive me but i bought a 99 dodge ram 2500 diesel, i couldn't beat the price. it's not the prettiest truck but for 2500 bucks everything works and and it runs and drives awesome.

[bigyellow]

=) just got off of work, and found out i'm getting a 75 cent raise, and while its not a huge amount of money and i still won't be rich i'll have more money to spend on my truck woohoo =)

[dukcaln]

nice truck I always like the yellow on these bad boys

[bigyellow]

i do too. when i repaint it i'm going with nissan sentra yellow. i love that color its alot like the corvette yellow but a little richer of a color.

[bigyellow]

so i've started toying with the idea of making my truck more of a street rod. i still want the 3.5/5 drop for it. but i have a 355 i can put in it, and if i do put it in i wanna put a serpentine belt system on it, air conditioning, and fuel injection followed by the camaro t5 with the s10 tailhousing.

it'd be alot of money but it might be pretty cool, might even be fast lol. it's just a thought that's popped into my head since i've got that big ol' diesel to ride around in now i can take my time and do some serious upgrades ya know?

[sharpmark]

hi-great build you got going there and you are doing some interesting stuff .
couple of quick questions.
what did you do to break the bellhousing?
and why did you buy the dodge-is the chevy not a daily driver any more?
cheers mark

[bigyellow]

the bellhousing...well while putting the trans in the disk wasn't lined up so the input shaft was hitting the pilot bearing and not sliding in. and me being a moron got mad and just started cranking on the bolts til i realized i screwed up. thank god my friend is a good welder lol

and yeah i know my build is a bit different but i'm building what i want, not what everybody else has. my other thought is to build the 250 and make it fuel injected and put air conditioning in the truck. it'd be something unique that not everybody has and i like that.

and i bought the dodge because it was dirt cheap, i've put 450 dollars into it to get the dodge going right. so for 3k i have a good running and driving dodge cummins diesel. i'm thinking about making it my DD just because although i love driving my chevy things like power brakes, power windows, air conditioning, and hot heat are some amenities i wouldn't mind having. i've driven my truck everyday since i was 15 1/2...i'm 20 now lol it's an amazing truck but after washing and waxing it yesterday theres a ton of rock chips stuff like that from being a DD that i'd like to take care of. my chevy isn't going anywhere. it's just going to be improved and even nicer.