The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 1963 Chevy C30 coming back to life

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.

That's quite a story on getting the '63 home. I'm glad nobody got hurt and that no sheet metal got wrinkled in the process.......

If you have any problems or need assistance, let me know.

Okay, here are a few pictures, one from 1970 and the rest are current.

I'll be following this here as well. That was a heck of an adventure getting the truck home.

The Old Girl cleaned up nice. My Dad had a 70' GMC Camper Special that had a 9ft bed from the factory, everyone always assumed he had weld in a section. I leaned to drive on a 60" Apache with a 283 and 4 speed. Lots of memories, glad your saving it.

So, my main thing is trying to figure out what to call this truck, since a lot of the history of what was done was lost with the original owner and my grandpa. My uncles are in their 70's now and just don't remember either. Here is what I can say so far.
The title says it's a 63, the motor plate designates it's a Flint built 1963 283 with 2 barrel for manual transmission. It has coils in the front, so can't be a 62 since it looks like they were a torsion setup. The front drums look like for a 3/4 ton, not really sure since a dually rim fits under nicely too. The rear axle is an H072 full floater for sure with 5.12 gears and by the drums, duals would fit under if not for the wheel wells in the bed, so pretty sure it was the flatbed since that is what I thought it was as a kid. It has the 5 point mirror mounts from the factory, so that would line up with being a dually stakeside also. It has 3 center cab marker lights with neither of the two outer ones like all the ones I've seen pictures of with 5 cab lights. It has a 4-speed with reverse to the driver and back, not sure what it is yet till I find some numbers to run. It also has the E Brake lever to passenger side of the shifter that has a short linkage to the drum brake on the transmission output, no E brake in axle drums. The rear axle is leaf spring with a set of 3 or 4 "aux pack) springs on the top, so figured this also puts it in the 1 ton range. With what info I have so far, I think it is a C3609 according to this document. https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/do...let-trucks/1963-Chevrolet-Truck-FL-1.pdf
There is no power steering, no A/C and no power brakes. The master cylinder is the single jug rectangle shape single piston type, long dimension front to back. It also seems to have had another gas tank in the back that was removed and a spare tire setup was added...spare set up is definitely not stock. The rear brakes are 13"x2 1/2", so that at least is a 1 ton rear. I did find that they had a 9' inside length stepside bed, but only showed 8' as longest fleetside bed, the bed on mine now was red originally, where the cab and fenders are white original, and the bed was definitely an 8' bed with 7" sectioned in quite nicely (Raphael was a blacksmith, but not a bodyman, lol). I also found an assembly manual on ebay and a service manual so that will be a big help too.

Monza, your truck is awesome. I had the little brother to yours many years ago. It was a '63 shortbox Fleetside. Mine came with a very tired 6 cylinder 3 speed that I swapped out with a 283 2 barrel from a '67 Chevelle and a 4 speed out of a 65 chevy 1/2 ton. Mine was also white and the interior looked the same as yours.

Welcome to the Stovebolt.

John

Most likely born as a C3609, and now is more of a C3604 Fleetside Hybrid, of sorts.

That is a cool document you shared in that link.

Should have guessed you'd be here DoubleDingo, lol. Do you have a thread for your 65 here?
More investigation last night on the VIN #....It's a 1963, conventional 2wd gas powered (C), cab and chassis (3603), 1 ton (36), Janesville build (J). Interesting that the motor is Flint built and truck is Janesville...never really thought about the pieces coming from different plants before for some reason. Got the shoes on the passenger side last night but still having no luck finding the adjuster since the fork broke off when I pulled the drum off the old shoes.

Yeah, I signed up on here three years after I did over there. I got my '65 in April '15, but I haven't started a project journal. I was thinking of that this morning, I need to, especially now that we can post photos without having a photo-site-account, which I wasn't going to do just to post photos on here. That is the main reason I didn't start a journal, and now I have no excuse. I have the photos of the progress.

I think the 283 from my parts truck is a Flint-built engine, but the truck, actually all three of my '65s were built in the Fremont Plant. I also think the 292 I bought is a Flint engine. Now I am curious on that.

If you can't find the hardware, are you going to switch to a more modern axle?

No, want it to stay as stock as possible. I have access to a lathe, so probably just make an end out of roundstock if it comes down to it. Use to making half the parts for my Monza's, lol.

Right on. I don't have that kind of stuff, so I have to rely on OEM parts, or going with a modification, which mine is basically a restomod at this point because of the front discs. I did start a journal just now.

Got carb rebuilt, new fuel pump installed (used one for a 75 chevy, had to redo the lines since larger line size than 63), master install finished and brakes back together and bled. Had to get creative on the rear shoes since could not come up with the exact adjuster that broke. Ended up welding the tab back on the short end after I soaked everything and got all the rust removed so it would function. Had to clean out all the bleeders since grime had plugged them all. Great pedal now and stock stop power, lol...also known as don't drive too fast. Had a fuel to carb issue, figured out the tank in the cab can't get fuel out of it so must be plugged. There is a homemade tank under the bed hooked up to a switcher and it's own gauge, got fuel out of that one and finally got it to run although a bit rough since fuel is a good 10 years old. Got it off the trailer and took it for a drive before storing it for winter. Forgot what having loooow gears was like, can pretty much take off in 3rd, lol. Be willing to be top speed is around 55 mph, I've drove old grain trucks with taller gears. I can't even imagine Raphael driving this to the top of Alberta from Medford, Or and back...had to take days! That is probably why there is around 110k miles on the truck, lol.

Nice work! 4,000 rpms is nothing for that 283. I ran my old '65, Mean Green at 4,000 rpms to keep up with everyone doing 70. Getting a 3.54 rear sure made a huge difference, and mine was 4.57, not the 5.14 you have.

While I was upside down under the dash, I noticed something cool I had never seen before. On the kickpanel at your left foot, there is a GM label that lists the engines that were available for the truck with their horsepower @ X RPM . I will get a picture of it, thought it was pretty neat.

That plate should also have the paint code.

Another thing I noticed is that at some point the generator was used as a sinker for ocean fishing and an alternator was installed. Wasn't really thinking about it till it was running and I was looking at the gauges and noticed the "Generator" gauge. Have to just assume wiring was done correctly for now, will look it over next since there are a few wiring things I noticed and will be going through everything. Actually found a set of 3 original cab lights for it since they are broke and missing. Definitely not cheap items, one set of 5 on ebay was almost $500.00, found the set of 3 for a GMC for $170 I think.
Also noticed when I got the kit to rebuild the carb, the tag number ended up giving me a kit for 2 barrel Rottenchester that was all boat applications on the float settings, so I'm guessing the carb is not original. When I rebuilt it, found that one of the venturi's was missing the brass piece to make the spray pattern and the throttle shaft leaks. Though it's not period correct, think I have an old 4 barrel manifold from a 64 that I might put on with an old auto choke quadra-puke with small needles, jets and mediocre hanger (it was on a 327) and maybe throw an HEI on just because. Think I will convert it from canister to spin on oil filter too.

I think '63 was the first year for alternator. I think my '65 has the generator light. I can't tell from the photos I have of the dash. I know one of the lights say Tandem Lock. The other might be Overspeed, but I recall seeing a Generator light on one of the '65 dashes I have, and they all have gauges. I'd suspect the wiring is good on yours, but you'll know for sure once you compare it to the wiring diagrams. $170 isn't bad, $500 is way too much for the lights! I think the carb if not original, is for a 283. The 283 in the yellow '65 I have, came with a 283 and it had a Rochester DualJet on it. No tag, so a rebuild kit will be a bear to get the right one. The quadrajet would be a good carb on there. HEI is super easy to install.

I'm sure I have parts in my stash somewhere since I've been collecting SBC stuff since I was 13, almost 37 years now, lol. Got all sorts of stuff I "could" throw at it, really hard to rein myself in from going hog wild on everything I get.