Hi Y'all - New Member, Old 8 Lug Restomod

[Black66C20]

Hey Guys, I've been lurking around for a few years since I bought my truck and figured it was about time to introduce myself and show y'all what I've been working on. I've been taking the slow and steady approach for a restomodded 1966 C20.

It's backstory (to my knowledge) - The truck was purchased in California, it ended up in a barn and lived it's life there until a fellow bought it and brought it to Ohio where he had it in a storage unit - he never got it back on the road. Another gentleman came along it and bought it, also in Ohio, and did some work to the brakes and fuel system. He also stored it in a storage unit while trying to get it back on the road until he sold it to me.

The previous owner didn't know much about it, but some cool/quirky things I've found over the last 1.5 years of owning it:
- It came stock with a 283 sbc and muncie 4 speed manual transmission but at some point a previous owner swapped in a 70's impala 400 sbc
- It still had the stock split rims but PO threw in some 16" steelies
- Someone had outfitted the interior with some white vinyl coverings for almost every surface and blue seat cover
- Someone added a house outlet under the hood, gun rack in the rear window, flashlight mounted by kickboard, air horn under the hood, 2 saddle tanks that filled by the rear tires, foam on the floor instead of carpet, a homemade dual exhaust, cab lights, an A-pillar spot light and some rear flood lights.

A lot of words so far - so here are some of the early pictures of her:

[Black66C20]

More pics of the start of the project - including a lot of the stuff I ripped off the truck and the spec sheet from under the seat:

[Black66C20]

And then a few weeks in with new tires mounted on solid build 16" wheels, mirrors mounted, engine bay and interior being cleaned up, saddle tanks ditched (as well as heat wrapping fuel lines to eliminate vaporization of fuel and starvation of engine when heated up):

[Black66C20]

One of the first things I noticed was how LOW the gearing was on this thing - I think it has 4.56 rear gears and the 400 was screaming down country roads with the muncie 4 speed - So I bought a Novaks adapter plate and found a 2wd 1997 Jeep Cherokee AX15 gear box at a junkyard to mount behind the sbc...I needed a new clutch, throw out bearing and flywheel anyways so that all got swapped out at the same time(PO did not put on a weighted flywheel and there was a pretty significant shake to it due to the imbalance of the externally balanced 400). While I was doing the swap I found that my exhaust was pretty rotted from the exhaust manifold back - so I bought larger diamater ramhorns and had a shop build a true dual exhaust exiting in front of the rear tires on an angle. The starter presented an issue for the duals' pipe routing, so it was replaced by a high torque mini starter, as well. While she was getting a tune up she also got a new battery, alternator and regulator (my battery randomly started boiling) and plus, wires and a distributor to smooth out a miss. I noticed some cab mounts were in bad shape and replaced them as well - I replaced them with C10 style cab mounts from the same year instead of the shear style of the C20's.

Sorry I'm missing so many pictures of the steps guys - this was in the early days of work when I thought I wouldn't do much with the truck.

[Black66C20]

Next up was time to reupholster the bench seat and rip out the foam on the floor. I had a shop reupholster with a saddle blanket design - I'm not sure how it will hold up but he gave me a year warranty. The flooring was tedious....I ended up taking out the seat, gas tank and seat belts. I sanded it all down, wire brushed it and then brushed on rust encapsulating tractor paint as my base layer. From there I sprayed in 2 coats of lizard skin sound deadening. Next up were 2 layers of lizard skin thermal insulation. Then on top of that was stick sound deadening up the footwell, across the floor and behind the seat. Lastly was a MIP vinyl floor mat....which I bought and made fit the wrong hump size...I have a high hump and ordered the low hump model...needless to say it looks bad. I made it work for the time being to get it back down the road but a few months later ordered the correct one (yet to be installed, though). While the gas tank was out I realized it was pretty corroded on the inside and decided to replace it with a new in the cab tank, after much debate. I painted the gas tank black to give it a sleeker look and deaden down some of the sloshing sounds. I didn't like any of the under the bed options for my applications and feel comfortable enough with the tank in the cab. I also added 3 point seat belts to both sides it so I could feel better hauling the niece and nephew around. Around the same time I added a toolbox to the bed, as well, to gain some much needed storage that the cab lacked with the tank still in there.

Also pictured is my trusty sidekick - Steele. And my daily driver - a 2004 Subaru Forester. Worth noting - I spent A TON OF TIME ON WIRING with this truck...so getting all 5 cab lights back on the truck and working was a great feeling. As well as another much needed engine bay update.

[Black66C20]

And now to bring us up to present - almost 2 years after I bought it. I had always planned to swap the wheels and tires and didn't know exactly what I wanted to aim for. I decided I wanted to stay with an 8 lug, though, no matter how crazy I got with this build. I did a lot of searching and a lot of comparing and ended up with some wheel vintiques. I went with 16x6 in black for the front and 16x10 in black for the rear. I kept the 235/85r16 wheels for the fronts but I wanted to give the truck a hot rod appearance with some meaty rear tires...so I ended up with 305/70r16 on the rear. That's about a 32x9 front and 33x12 rear, which is admittedly large, but also I thought would get the job done. In the meantime, I also decided I would eventually do a front end and rear end swap on the truck to gain disc brakes up front, power steering, power brakes, overall updated front steering/suspension and better rear end gearing ratio options...after A LOT of searching, patience and deciphering, I think I found the solution...a 1988 2wd Suburban 2500 rolling chassis from TX in great shape..I got it for a great price and should be able to steal the front crossmember and the rear end. The added 3/4" width for the front is not going to be an issue and I will be in touch with CaptainFab for some conversion brackets...but the rear I think may present an issue as I would like to keep the trailing arm / coil rear suspension...

More to follow on wheels and thoughts on the front/rear end conversion...

[Black66C20]

Pictures of what needed to be done to fit the rear tires....a LITTLE tighter than I had anticipated originally....There's still about 1/4" left of lip on there, but they fit. The right is the new 33x12, the left is the old 32x9. I ordered baby moons and beauty rings for the wheels as well, still debating what combo to run on these tires...anyone have any input???

Also, I just noticed I forgot to mention that I swapped out the old step bumper for a chrome stock style replacement! Much sleeker!

[57taskforce]

Welcome! That is a great looking truck! You’ve done some nice things to it. I really like that seat cover!

[Richard2112]

Yeah that's a nice looking truck. Welcome

[cwcarpenter98]

It looks great! I like that you are keeping it as a C20. Keep up the good work!

[Black66C20]

Another new picture for you guys - just need some chrome (some kind of combination of beauty rings and baby moons)
For some folks reference:
Rear wheels - wheel vintiques 16x10 5" backspacing
Rear tires - 305/70r16
Front wheels - wheel vintiques 16x6
Front tires - 235/85r16

Do you guys know if I'll run into issues swapping to 88 suburban 8 lug disc brakes in the front with these wheels?

[Liz]

I am moving this over to the 60-66 area for you. I think they would enjoy your intro.
Welcome

[macs61]

Great truck Welcome to the forum.

[LostMy65]

Like the stance. Like the bigger wheels in the rear.
I don't know about the 88 stuff.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum

I do also make trailing arm mounts specifically for the 14 bolt axle tubes and a panhard bar mount is coming soon.

[DPowers]

Nice- so how easy was the jeep trans switch?

[Black66C20]

I’ll definitely be following up with you CaptainFab! I have some time before I do the complete overhaul.

And the Jeep AX15 swap wasn’t bad at all! The adapter plate allowed me to retain all the Chevy parts and just adapt in the Jeep gearbox. Had to cut the floor and modify the shifter, build a trans bracket and then send my driveshaft out to be cut and the correct u-joint put on. Huge improvement over the Muncie 4 speed...we’ll see how she holds up behind the 400sbc over time. I also plan to have the engine overhauled this winter.

[jocko]

Thank goodness you installed the 5th cab light, that was driving me crazy...
Nice truck! Welcome to the forum.

[66x3]

Nice truck, good find.Glad to see you're keeping it a C20, not slamming it on the ground. Not that that's bad, just not my taste and you can still use it as a truck.

[Black66C20]

Hey guys and gals - been a while since I’ve posted, but the rebuild is underway! Motor is at the shop, NV4500 is being rebuilt, 14 bolt rear end is getting freshened up, front end off the 88 suburban is completely tore down and prepped for paint, all the new parts are delivered and the inside of the cab is stripped for paint.

Pictures to follow!
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[Black66C20]

I’ll be posting some spare parts for sale here shortly for anyone else updating a 3/4 ton!
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[The Rocknrod]

Good to see you back, like the truck.

[Black66C20]

Thanks!

I guess I forgot to go into details on my plans, it’s been so long! COVID times had me busy with research, saving funds and procurement. Pus driving it the way it was!


I am keeping the 400 small block that was in it when I bought it and having the motor shop rebuild it from the bottom up, adding aluminum heads, can, intake and carb. Just building it for pump gas, reliability, street-ability.

The AX-15 may have been a weak link with the updated sbc, I didn’t want to find out, so I bought a NV4500 off a 1993 V8 dodge 3/4 ton and an advanced adapters plate. The NV4500 just needed bearings, seals and new input shaft. AX15 and advanced adapters plate will be posted for sale for someone else to be able to gain an OD gear!

Stole the front crossmember and steering components from the 1988 suburban to bolt in with all new wearable parts - means I’ll gain power steering, power brakes, front disc brakes. Also bought 2.5” lowering spindles and stock length springs/shocks.

Utilizing the 14 bolt rear end off the 1988 suburban, believe it’s a 3.73,
Undetermined if posi or not. Going to swap cab and chassis hubs to fit the fat rear tires under the bed - may need wheel spacers to dial in fitment right. Also bought a disc brake conversion from RuffStuff. Going to lower the rear end 2” but bought new springs/shocks and CaptainFab’s brackets to keep the trailing arms and pa hard bar.

As far as the rest of the truck - while it’s blown apart a million different ways, I’m going to paint all the new parts, the engine bay, transmission tunnel and the underbody. Also going to clean up the firewall and inner fenders. At the same time, I stripped the interior down to seal up all the little holes here and there, replace all the rubber and paint it. New window gaskets and door seals going back in.

I’m hoping by the spring to have all the different stages of the truck back together! My only other plans down the road would be a wiring kit and replace the wood in the bed!
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[cwcarpenter98]

Sounds like a great plan! I'm looking forward to seeing more progress

Also, a quick reminder that to offer parts for sale, you need to be a Premium Member. This link gives you the breakdown on the Premium membership and the other memberships out there.

[Black66C20]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

Sounds like a great plan! I'm looking forward to seeing more progress

Also, a quick reminder that to offer parts for sale, you need to be a Premium Member. This link gives you the breakdown on the Premium membership and the other memberships out there.

Thanks for the direction, I was wondering why it wouldn’t let me create a classified post. Much appreciated!
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