The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop From Ugly Truck to Ratt Truk

I've been doin a buncha work on my 64 C10 lately. Here's what it looked like when I got it last fall:

[img]http://chevyasylum.com/64c10/64c10_02r8.jpg[/img]

And this is what it looked like last weekend:

[img]http://chevyasylum.com/64c10/64c10_281r8.jpg[/img]

This week I started messin around under the hood. This is what I started with:

[img]http://chevyasylum.com/64c10/64c10_004r8.jpg[/img]

And here's the way it sits as of this afternoon:

[img]http://chevyasylum.com/64c10/64c10_303r8.jpg[/img]

I'm hopin to have the majority of the stuff done by the last half of August so that I can take it to the Salt Flats for Speed Week and use it as a pit truck.

Oh...the carb is a Carter 625 AFB electric choke on a 292. I figger that if I can run a 600 on a 305 with real good results, I should be able to get by on this setup. If I have to downsize the carb, I'll post something about it.

Wow! The before picture looks just like my '66 3/4ton. Well, except for the wheels, mirror, and lack of really cool homemade headache rack. The same rust & colors. Unfortunately mine still looks like that. Good job, I like the motor!

nice work Chevy Asylum.



-W

Gettin better all the time Ray!

Thanks, guys. Btw, the carb install is complete. I fired it up on the 4th of July. Talk about fireworks! That's the noisiest thing I've ever driven...and I've driven one or two noisy cars.

But so far the Carter 625 carb works just fine. No complaints. I need to turn the idle down slightly...but I haven't even touched any of the adjustments yet. It's still runing just the way I got it (It had been run for about 30 minutes on a 350.)

It's real nice to have a real choke now. I'm not quite sure how to react to it.

....ok, stupid question....how's that linkage gonna work? I mean, w/the carb sideways?

It's a cable linkage, connected to a Mr. Gasket throttle pedal. The old linkage is completely gone. Here's a pic:

[img]http://chevyasylum.com/64c10/64c10_314r8.jpg[/img]

asylum, love the progress! can't wait to see the same sorta thing on my '68 C20. have to start get going on the body work..just REALLY short on $$..so its all path weld and grind work for this boy. bondo is outta the question. lol. then for the under the hood mods...i have the idea to MAKE all the stuff. how hard can it be? lol, someone has to make it for you to buy it. but yeah. headers and either a 2 bbl, 2x1 or 2x2 intake. lookin forward to THAT job.

but yes. love the truck. nice to see the progress. and i can just imagine that 292 a screaming with the carter dumpin its like a cross between the rod i always wanted, and what i need to run the fences with. HAH.

later.

Thanks Sam. I did a lotta patching myself. I don't have a welder (I know...I really need to get a gas unit, a MIG unit and an air compressor...but I haven't) so I did a hell of a lotta pop-riveting. The costs on the patches I did that way are relatively minimal.

I had a friend come over and look at the truck (he hadn't seen it for a coupla months) and he couldn't stop babbling over the improvement with the floorboards and rocker panels. Now it ain't never gonna win no councours...but that wasn't the goal. If I'd had that in mind, my approach would have been completely different.

As far as fabricating manifolds and headers...well, it's been done before. Lotsa folks used to fabricate their own manifolds...and even headers. A lotta the headers you see on flathead powered rat rods are made from old torque tubes with mild steel tubes running to the exhaust ports. I'm not sure that would work for the truck application, but it's an example of homemade headers.

Good luck with it. With a little imagination, you can have the rattiest fence runner in the midwest.

Lookin' good, Ray!

Got just the right stance and those full moon discs will make it look right at home out on the flats.

...........ahhhhh,the miracles of a $3.29 krylon rattlecan.

looking good... but lose those gawdawful wheel covers... baby moons are the way to go!

And a V-8 will slide right into that immense engine compartment.

You haven't been to the Bonneville Salt Flats lately, have you? That's where the truck is gonna spend about 3 weeks this year. And just to clarify, those gawdawful wheel covers are gen-u-wine Dean Moon moon discs that were made about the time the truck was built. I just happened to have a set.

Now I may go to baby moons and trim rings if I do a complete conversion to 5-lug wheels, but at the moment, there are 3 different types of wheel on the truck (I bought it that way) and the moon disc solution was a relatively easy way to give them a consistent look.

Remember, this is a rat rod...not a Kalifornia Kruiser.

As far as the V8...well, I've got 7 other Chevys and they all have V8s (twin-fours for the inline purists) ranging from 355 to 454. The Ratt Truk is the only I6 I've got...and I chose to build it that way to be different. If I want fast, I can drive my El Camino with 400 smallblock and 3.73 posi. It's fast enough. And if that ain't enough I've got a 67 Camaro RS/SS and a 63 Nova that are fast enough to scare me. In addition, I'm preparing a Monte Carlo SS to run on the Salt Flats in hopes of breaking 200 with a street-legal car. I'm starting with a AFR head, roller cam 406 and will prolly run that up to 150, then convert the drive train to use the 454 (prolly punch it out a bit) and a Muncie 4-speed.

So I've got plenty of them V-shaped things. But I've only got one 6-banger...and I wanna keep it.

ChevyAsylum, what kinda(type/brand) paint did ya use on the exhaust parts? That black looks nice... heck the whole thing looks nice, but the engine looks top notch.

-W

I painted the headers with black BBQ/stove paint. I've never tried it before, so we're gonna see how it works.

Thanks for the compliments,

Always thought a rat truck had a big block,rat motor in it.Looks like you have done a lot of work on it looks good.I have been thinking about doing up one with a built up 292 six and 5 speed.

ChevyAsylum, Is your server down for your website? I'd love to see the photos/site!
Jason

I had the server down over this past weekend while I was at the Bonneville Salt Flats:

[img]http://www.chevyasylum.com/bsf2004/sw/0813/040813_07r8.jpg[/img]

Long story, but I'm gonna drop kick Comcast as a provider and go with dsl and a local isp that I had used for years. I took it down hoping that I'd get a new ip address when I brought it up, but that didn't happen. Bummer. Anyway, it's back up now...it'll go down again Friday when they (hopefully) install the DSL connection.

ALRIGHT! Nice pics!
Bonneville would've been a blast I'm sure.

Curious if you have stumbled across this site yet?
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php

Hands down the best forum around!
jason

Yep. I'm familiar with the HAMBers. Generally real nice guys. Ran into a lot of them on the salt. Here are a coupla urls of pics I took while I was out there:
Day 1, Friday, 08/13

Day 2, Saturday, 08/14

I'm still workin on those pages...but I'll get 'em done sooner or later. I'm also tryin to get a 67 Camaro ready to run out on the salt next month. I'm crossin my fingers that all the stars and moons line up and it comes together. I'm just gonna shoot for the 130 club, but it'll be my first time drivin on that stuff. I need some seat time for when I get my Monte Carlo ready to shoot for 150, then 200.

I'm concerned about attempting to break 200 in a Monte Carlo. Not from a power standpoint, you can make anything go fast with enough power, but from an aerodynamic standpoint. I have a '68 Corvette, and to coin an example, before switching to the "coke bottle" design, the 63-67 Vettes would begin to "fly" at about 156 mph. You could no longer steer them. The 68 Corvette was capable of 165+ before it got light on the front wheels.

I'm concerned that a Monte Carlo is going to become a frisbee with another 50+ mph to go!
Don't get yourself killed!

that truck is looking goood.... and I'll take back my comment on those wheel covers...

ChevyAsylum,

Can you tell me what they did to that Freightliner in your pics? That thing looks wicked..........What all have they done to it?

Freightliner!?! :confused:

Do you mean the customized Diamond T with the flatbed, painted black with flames?

Regards,
Wannabe

edit: Ray, your truck has turned out gorgeous! I really enjoy your website and the B'Ville pics were cool too! Thanks for sharing.

I second the caution on the monte carlo.

I was riding shotgun in an 88 running a hopped up 350 with some type of missile gear in the rear (were talking at least 2.90!). The new speedo indicated that we were doing 160. Cresting the top of a hill, the monte lifted her front end right off the ground. Chris dropped off the pedal and touched the brakes. That car came down like a rock. That motor redlined at 8 grand - and we were somewhere near 6. That was probably a 200 mph car. Just not with that suspension.

Of course the salts don't have hills like that! But the point is still the same. Spend some time on the air dam on that SS and try to create some more downforce.

- Ryan