Being my truck is a 1960 model (as I am), and is going to be 60 years old this year, I decided it would make a nice birthday present to myself. I bought this truck some time ago and is in the gallery. I stripped the truck a couple of years ago to prepare it for this rebuild. I had also stripped another parts truck for the nuts and bolts. I took the bolts out and after degreasing them, I threw them in a bucket of vinegar. Then I scrubbed them clean, dried them, and bead blasted all of them. Some of them I ran a tap and die over to make sure the threads were clean and sharp. Then I took them to a local zinc plating shop and when I got them all back they looked like new again. I spent a lot of time on them but in the end it all seemed worth it, and I sorted them out. I even took the original jack and cleaned it up and zinc plated it too. I'm not doing a restoration so, it didn't need to be original. After removing the body from the chassis, engine, transmission, rear end and front suspension, I bolted up a 1985 front engine cradle, suspension and rear end. Then I brought the chassis to a guy to have it blasted. Now that is a little backwards, but when I bolted up my newer engine cradle and suspension, I cleaned and painted everything that was mated together first. I got it home and used epoxy primer and then black equipment enamel to paint the whole thing. As I disassembled components, I cleaned and painted where the blaster couldn't get. All new bushings, bearings, rotors, rear drums, etc. I disassembled the trailing arms and found a kit that welded steel on top and bottom of the trailing arm to beef them up a bit. I ordered a trailing arm bushing kit and got the old bushings out...then the new bushings arrived. They came with sleeves, but none would fit. When I read the "destructions" it said not to remove the old sleeves, and to reuse them. I destroyed the little buggers taking them out, so I ordered some stock replacements.
1970 Chevrolet C10 - Grandpa’s- My first truck.—in progress to shiny 1972 Chevrolet C20- Rusty- the puzzle box lid for the C10. 1950 Chevrolet 1300- in progress to shiny. 1962 AMC Rambler American- my wife’s
Parts trucks- 1951 GMC 9300 1951-GMC 9430 1951- Chevrolet 1300
Now I had 5 lug setup with disc brakes.up front and drum brakes in the rear. I removed the front shock mounts from the frame and fashioned some new ones to weld up later. Before I could weld up the panhard bar brackets in place, I had to set up the engine and transmission for the pinion angle. My newly rebuilt engine is an Oldsmobile 350 Rocket along with a fresh 4 speed automatic. I had to cut the old transmission mount off the frame and put it in a new spot for the trans mount. I happened to have another 1960 frame outside that I had put my cab on so I could roll it around better. I put that in my shop and put the engine and tranny in it to take measurements. I wanted to make sure I set back far enough, and not too far back. After I figured out where I wanted it placed, then I took relative measurements and documented so I could transfer those measurement to my rebuilt frame. Once the engine and trans are mounted, I can set up the rear drive axle and pan-hard bar. After determining the rear axle angle and bolting the rear end down (always new U-bolts), I welded my cradles. I'm leaving the truck stock height, so I started at 1/2 travel of the rear end and made the pan-hard bar level at that point. My friend and neighbor has a frame rack, so we are going to put my chassis on it to double check the frame for straightness. But I have to wait a week or two to get it on the rack. The body shop is ready for me and now I am getting ready to bring all my sheet metal to them.
Martin '62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress) '47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project) ‘65 Chevy Biscayne 4dr 230 I-6 one owner (I’m #2) “Emily” ‘39 Dodge Businessmans Coupe “Clarence”
"I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one! Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop! USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
1970 Chevrolet C10 - Grandpa’s- My first truck.—in progress to shiny 1972 Chevrolet C20- Rusty- the puzzle box lid for the C10. 1950 Chevrolet 1300- in progress to shiny. 1962 AMC Rambler American- my wife’s
Parts trucks- 1951 GMC 9300 1951-GMC 9430 1951- Chevrolet 1300
