Project "You thought yours was bad!" '78 C10 Stepside

[Nick_R_23]

Hey, I recognize you too! Good to see another Alaskan on here!

I got the Vortec out of my truck and on the stand, and did a little tear down. I knew it had a rod knock which was verified by at least 5 loose rods and the vast amount of metal shavings in the pan.





However, while this one is in on the stand getting rebuilt and for the sake of saving a few bucks for now and getting this truck back on the road, I'm thinking of dropping this engine in I built a few months back. It's nothing mind blowing, just a 305 with decent stock heads, R/V cam, Edelbrock carb and intake, and a nice paint job (hey, gotta make up horsepower somewhere!)

[Nick_R_23]

Pulled the (finally correct!) rear axle out of the long bed, got it painted, and installed onto the leaf springs.



The U-bolts I had bought earlier were made wrong. The length was too long and the threads were too short. Took them back for the correct ones.



Finally bolted in!



Hopefully permanently this time



Also installed the hard lines (brake and fuel) from the longbed as I robbed the ones off the shortbed about 10 years ago for my mud truck. doh!





And ordered up a new pair of headlight bezels off ebay. $25 shipped!

[friscobob]

On the red cab just ahead of the doors is a black weather strip of some sort. I've heard of this piece, does it add any weather protection or reduce wind noise, anyone? Anyone doing a repop of it?
Thanks Bob

[Jrgunn5150]

Originally Posted by friscobob

On the red cab just ahead of the doors is a black weather strip of some sort. I've heard of this piece, does it add any weather protection or reduce wind noise, anyone? Anyone doing a repop of it?
Thanks Bob

Between the door and fender?

[Nick_R_23]

Rear lowering kit complete, and wheels mounted. I'm stoked!!!

[Nick_R_23]

Started tearing apart the front suspension from the longbed. These components are in much better shape than the 78 parts, so these ones will just get cleaned and painted for the most part.



Components removed



The longbed is looking pretty bare!

[daddyjeep]

Looking good.

[Nick_R_23]

Thanks!

Got started on the suspension today. Old, rustly junk out!



Cut 1 full coil out of the '86 springs



Can't get any closer than this!



LCA shafts cleaned and painted Hammer Black



Springs cleaned and painted, along with the sway bar. I think the silver will offset the black on the rest of the suspension nicely!



And finally cleaned and painted the LCAs. I will be working on the UCAs as well as the crossmember itself over the weekend.

[friscobob]

Originally Posted by Jrgunn5150

Between the door and fender?

Yes.
Thanks, bob

[Nick_R_23]

Bushing removal on the upper control arms



And they're out!





Crossmember is painted





LCAs and springs finished!

[Nick_R_23]

Got the crossmember mounted to the frame



A-arms mounted up to the crossmember





Springs going in



And spindles mounted up!



Everything assembled again in the front end



Brake rotors painted and getting new wheel bearings and seals



Backing plates cleaned, painted, and mounted



All together!



Aaaaand I couldn't resist throwing the front wheels on and seeing what the drop looked like! Still need to do the steering and brakes, but it's back on 4 wheels! The front should come down a little more once the engine and transmission are in, and I'm thinking I'll end up going with a 1" shackle in the rear to level it out, but we'll see how it sits once it's all together.

[Westwind]

Looking really good, lots of work into this one.

[Nick_R_23]

Originally Posted by Westwind

Looking really good, lots of work into this one.

Thank you! Definitely takes all my free time to keep up on this one.

Brake calipers painted and mounted with pads



Steering arms and tie rods painted and mounted also



Steering box done as well!

[Nick_R_23]

My 1" rear wheel spacers came in! Should push out the rear wheels exactly where they need to be.







Clearance looks about spot on. Camera angle is a little funky though.



Also ordered in some new brake lines for the front calipers



The problem is the old lines want to share the same space as the ball joint nuts



So I carefully and gently bent the new lines just enough to gain the proper clearance.



Looks pretty good all around!



And the front is complete!



I also picked up these tail lights, I was thinking about using instead of the enormous square stockers that come on the stepsides...opinions?

[moregrip]

Originally Posted by Nick_R_23

My 1" rear wheel spacers came in! Should push out the rear wheels exactly where they need to be.







Clearance looks about spot on. Camera angle is a little funky though.



Also ordered in some new brake lines for the front calipers



The problem is the old lines want to share the same space as the ball joint nuts



So I carefully and gently bent the new lines just enough to gain the proper clearance.



Looks pretty good all around!



And the front is complete!



I also picked up these tail lights, I was thinking about using instead of the enormous square stockers that come on the stepsides...opinions?

personally not a fan of the square stockers so these are an upgrade in my eyes

[daddyjeep]

Those lights are definitely an improvement. What are they "supposed" to be on?

[Nick_R_23]

They're off a Polaris 4 wheeler, 05-08ish came with the clear lenses and they were a "Work Light" package. They're also stock on Polaris IQ Widetrack snowmachines. I thought it would be neat to integrate part of my work into this truck! Plus, they have taillight, brake light, and reverse lights, so they should wire in exactly as stock ones do. I would need to fab up some brackets, but that is easy.

I stopped by up at my buddy's wrecking yard and he let me take a few small things I've been missing or aren't in great shape. I scored a straight grille valence, windshield washer tank, RH headlight chrome trim, A/C harness, and door handle trim pieces off an '86 suburban. Also found a smaller, non-emissions evap canister off an '88 suburban with TBI. This will still let me have a functional canister, but with a smaller, cleaner look and minimal vacuum lines! Plus I snagged some new headlights out of the same rig to replace my broken/faded ones.



Compared to the old one

[Nick_R_23]

New valance went on, then I moved over to mounting up the bumper. Inner brackets were trimmed to fit with the 78 frame. It went on pretty smoothly other than needing to spread the frame a bit to get all the mounting bolts to line up.







Which headlight is not like the others lol

[Nick_R_23]

I picked up a new set of shocks while I was in town today. I did some research and found that this particular line of shocks is about 1/2" shorter than most of the aftermarket shocks available, so they should play nicely with the drop. I will be fabricating my own shock extenders for the rear.







Also installed the grille and headlight bezels. I'm loving the look!



I also stumbled across a pretty good deal today. I found a 2000 Suburban that was T-boned very hard on the passenger side. The kicker? It has a brand new GM crate Vortec 350 with 35,000 miles! I paid $500 for the whole thing, hopefully I can part this one out and make my money back as well. I figured this would be a cheaper option versus rebuilding the blown Vortec on my engine stand.

[joe231]

Stock front shocks work on the rear after an axle flip.

[Nick_R_23]

True, but I've encountered the issue that follows most of these axle flips, where the spring plates sit too close to the shock mounts on the axle to allow mounting a shock at that point. I have an idea for a custom bracket that should fix this, and run the stock shocks.

[lowbrow454]

Dang man good work on the craigslist scores. Stuffs usually scooped up by the time I'm able to make it to the valley or it's been inflated for AK prices.

[Nick_R_23]

Thank you! I literally live on Craigslist, so most of the stuff I buy off there isn't even on long enough to get seen by most people. Its kind of an addiction!

[lowbrow454]

I know what you mean. I work on the slope, so for 3 weeks I look at stuff I can't buy and torture myself.

[Nick_R_23]

Ouch, that's rough. To top it off, it sounds like it's becoming a ghost town up there.