So, as the title states, this is my thread on bringing a truck from my childhood back to life, not necessarily how it came from the factory though.
For starters, for appearances, it looks like a 1963 Chevy C30 with a standard 8' bed, has a 283 2 barrel, and a 4 speed. A little truck history: This truck was my grandpa's neighbors, he had bought it new. It was the first 4 speed truck I remember learning to drive when I was around 11 in 1981. When the old guy died, he left it to my aunt in 2001. She ran it for a few years, then parked it on a hill and tarped it for the last 12 years (nobody quite sure on how long really). My Aunt just died and I found out my uncle was going to have the truck hauled to the wrecking yard, so I grabbed my car trailer and went to Medford, Or (I live above Spokane, Wa) and brought it home. The whole picking it up was a mess, both of my cousins were gone so I had to get it moving and onto the trailer by myself in the rain. While it doesn't sound bad, first thing, could not get it to roll off the hill. After airing tires up and still no movement, set blocks about 12" back behind the tires and pulled on it with my Dodge, both rear wheels where locked from sitting so long. Finally got one to break free yarding it 12" at a time down the hill backwards and around a corner, then forward 100' to get it lined up to load on the car trailer, passenger side stayed locked though. Got it loaded and chained down, had 1 1/2 miles of nasty steep road to reach the pavement. Made it down halfway creeping in low range when I got to a section that was at least 14% grade, suddenly heard a noise and as I looked in the rear view, saw the truck coming at me and loud crash! I managed to get the truck and trailer stopped and not sliding in park and got out hating to see how bad the back of my truck just got mangled. Well, I got really lucky, the truck was 6" from my tailgate...whew! The back chain popped out of the drivers side pocket when binder popped open and as the truck went forward, the chain with the binder still attached was drug up over the axle till it couldn't make the turn back to the rear and wedged against the axle and spare tire stopping truck from any more forward movement. The front of the truck had the tires over the front of the trailer and my chain box lid sticking up 2" caught on the front lip of the lower A arms stopping it there too. Took another 2 hours and a suburban I borrowed to get it all back on the trailer and a day driving home, lol. So, now that I have it home, it's been stuck on the trailer because of passenger rear still locked. Last night I managed to get it loose, had to pull the axle and hub nuts, then made a 2" round plate to go over the axle tube and inside bearing race and used a 3 jaw puller to get drum off. The shoes had almost melded to the drum and ruined the fastener hardware pulling it off, but it's free finally. This is where I got stuck, trying to find replacement parts, so after looking decided to join here and check out the knowledge base. I researched a bit of history and found a picture of the truck in 1970 and determined that it was a dually stakeside with the 5 point mirrors and 3 marker lights. Since the wheelbase is 133", assuming that it is a C30 not a C20 from info I could find on this year. I ran the numbers on the block and it came up as F03I2M. Translates as Flint built, 03 for 1963, I2 for december since they use I for 1 and M for 283, 2 barrel, MT, Truck. The rear axle looks like it could be a HO72, only option I've noticed for gears was the 5.12"s, have to check that still. It has the parking brake lever next to the shifter and is a drum off the back of the transmission like some of the motorhomes used. The bed is what threw me because I noticed that there were some welds on the inside of the bedsides. Took out a tape and found that the bed is 8'7" inside length. Found out that Raphael (original owner) had dumped it on it's side (had a custom made camper that fit inside the stakesides) and had ruined the camper and flatbed, so he made a custom truck bed to fit up to the cab like stock and converted to single tire from the duals. Will add some pictures soon as I figure out how so everyone can have a look at what I'm playing with. My project goal is to clean it up, repair what needs it, slap some paint on it and drive it once in awhile.
