1969 Chevy C10

[Picard]

Work on my Trans Am has slowed down so my brother and I have taken on a new project.
This time round, we decided to do a “Truck”.
We had a few options to go with between a Dodge D200, F100 and a C10.

We settled on building the 1969 Chevy C10 SWB.


The truck overall is in good shape and rust free. The chassis has had some “creative” fixes done to it over time.


We purchased it with a Chevy LM7 motor, which is a 5.3l cast iron V8. It also came with a 4L80 gearbox.


The idea is to build a updated truck with slightly more modern suspension bits, upgraded brakes, aircon and power steering. Looks wise, we’ll still settle on colours etc later on, but if we could land up with something like this, we’d be happy.


These are the wheels we would prefer for it, but after a few pricing exercises they may land up on a wish list only.


Having gone through a “LS” build before, we opted to rather purchase a running vehicle and managed to source this 2006 Chevy Lumina SS.


The car took a hard knock on its side. However it still drives, is completely stock with 120k km’s on the clock with a full service history.

[Picard]

This way, we will be able to use the motor, gearbox and have access to the computer box, which the LM7 doesn’t have. We may also still be able to salvage the callipers and some other odds and ends.


And so, the Tear Down began.
We removed the load bin.


Disassembled the front end.




Before removing the Cab, we mocked up the LM7 so that we could start building up the engine mounts and gearbox mount. There are kits available in the States which would have made it quick and easy, but to keep costs down we decided to manufacture them ourselves.

We mocked it all up.


Notice the beautiful gearbox mount 


We marked out parts of the frame that would need to be trimmed to fit the LS motor. The frame will be reinforced, especially where any cuts are made.

[Picard]

Slowly the engine mounts started coming together.


And eventually landed up with this.




Years of dirt and farm roads were caked into the chassis so I landed up taking a high pressure hose to it.


The original gearbox mount was a hack job and because we will be lowering the truck we decided to make up a new gearbox mount.
This was the original cross member/mount

After a bit of cutting, grinding and welding we made this up.

[Picard]

The frame also needs to be notched further back, so we did some more measurements….more cutting and grinding and fitted the C Notch.



And like that, the frame drops nice and low.

[Picard]

The 69 C10 has drums front and back. This obviously won’t work, so new drop spindles will be arriving shortly for it, and we’ve got discs and callipers from a later model C10 for the truck. With having the Lumina available, we will be investigating perhaps using it’s callipers and discs for the C10.
The C10 is also a 6 Stud 127 pcd, and we’ve decided to change this out for a 5 stud setup which just helps us later on with wheel choices.
We purchased a 5 stud diff with a more suitable diff ratio for cruising. This will obviously need to be refurbished, and we may opt to go with a limited slip unit.



The chassis and suspension components have been sent off for sandblasting so that we can assess everything once it’s back and also work with clean parts.


I’ll continue to update the post with further progress.

[ters]

Nice!

Ters.

[IndianaJones]

Looks like you’ve made a good start to what will be a very cool truck. A fan of the 2nd gen C10 myself.

I see too few of them done up in SA, in earthy colours, with the CST-like side trimmings or stripes, like your sample photos suggest.

Couple of question if you don’t mind?
Will the LM7 be for sale?
Mind telling us more about the Twin I-Beam Ford F100, 65? Buick Riviera and the orange beauty hiding in the background?

[Chev58]

Nice project Picard,
That LM 7 can make some good power if done right and the 4L80e box is strong(fit a Transgo HD2 shift kit). if you doing gear ratio change on the rear 3.5:1 or 3.7:1 will give good acceleration and reasonably low cruising rpm's
A GM 0411 PCM with a base tune and 4L80e program can be acquired from the states at a reasonable cost and can be custom tuned with HP Tuners or EFi live for perfect results.
Good luck I am keen to see the progress/results.

[roelb]

Nice work Picard
Keep us posted

[Waterhond]

Hi Picard,

Looking forward to seeing the progress. I, too, am a seriously avid C10 fan.

If you plan to sell the LM7 and gearbox, please send me a PM.

Pieter.