73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Members Rides => Topic started by: Scaryfastatx on October 10, 2021, 01:38:37 pm
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I picked up my pretty solid survivor C10 yesterday
Pretty happy with it, relatively rust free, worst spots are where the floor meets the rocker on one side and on the rocker door edge seam
Plan for now is to fix the oil leaks, tune it up, then move on to the interior
I snagged a 2015 Tahoe 2nd row bench for next to nothing that I'm gonna use
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PICS! PICS! PICS! We like pics! ;D
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Here goes nothing
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heres some of the inside and under the hood
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Great starting point! 8)
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Great starting point! 8)
thanks!
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Nice score! Just needs some TLC 8)
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Nice find. Zooming in on the pics, looks like it's pretty good shape.
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Nice score! Just needs some TLC 8)
TLC = Total Catalog haha
Nice find. Zooming in on the pics, looks like it's pretty good shape.
thanks, yeah its a rough survivor, and mostly rust free which is the main thing I was worried about
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so this weekend, I pulled out the seat and started taking measurements and mocked up my new seats
the seat is a 2nd row bench out of a 2015 Tahoe, but you can use one from a 2007 to 2019 short full size GM SUV, from Yukon, Escalade etc
Im going to start working on the design of the adapter brackets, I pulled off all the old flip hardware and latches, was easier than I expected
Dont know if I will adapt to the original adjustable brackets, cannibalize the original seat frame, or build something new, we will see
I put the seat in with some 2x4s to get an idea of how it would sit, its about 1" shorter than the OE seat, which is great for me, and great since I dont have a tilt wheel
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I like it! I'll be watching your progress on those seats.... ;)
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Great find, look forward to seeing how it work out. May do the same to my '80.
Kind of torn between staying 'period correct' or going custom... I will have a correct motor / trans.
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thanks guys, it all started with my trying to see how I could mount some head rests in the cab lol
you would think that the after market would make more than just low backs or buckets for these trucks
anyways, these seats are everywhere, since the cops are switching to Tahoes, they dump the 2nd row bench and switch to a different LEO specific bench, so you can even get them from the companies doing the conversions or even DPS (which is where this one came from)
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Fairly solid truck, not bad condition to restore. The color reminds me of my truck when I bought it. My trucks OEM paint was the light blue, got it when it was 5 years old. Wonder if that was a popular color in 1981?
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Looks good! It should turn out looking very sharp!
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Definitely a great start. I do like the build and dream of the days I can add a SB to my collection, along with a crew cab.
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I've been on vacation since the 17th, but the kiddos went with my parents on Monday so finally had some real chances to work on the truck
I was gonna start replacing the leaking power steering hoses and valve cover gaskets
But i found a giant rats nest under the battery and behind the distributor, so i ended up cleaning out rat crap for like 6hrs, finally got the engine bay cleaned up and power washed, it's looking pretty great.
I found why the valve covers were leaking so bad, previous owner cranked the living daylights out of the bolts and completely squished the gaskets out >:(
I started scrubbing and power washing the lower front end and sprayed it with undercoating
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long overdue update
the truck had a rat infestation previously, as such there were a lot of eaten wires, plus the previous owner fixed a lot of the wiring with Home Depot stuff
I ended up completely redoing the wiring with an AAW classic update kit, and it was pretty great to install, there are a few places I wished they hadnt preterminated stuff, like on the headlights, but overall, the experience was more than Painless... (sorry couldnt help myself)
I had finally thought it was ready to go, but then got gut punched by some white smoke (http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=39463)
With that done and out of the way, I replaced the leaky steering gear, got the brakes, suspension sorted and it finally passed inspection!
Past few days, I went ahead and did some patina restoration, I got some Penetrol and scrapped off the remaining peeled of clear coat and its looking pretty great, really happy with the resulting look
(https://i.imgur.com/lQ2ANZZ.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/A0pChet.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/AWP6FL6.jpg)
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She Lives!
Funny how fast two years go by!
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She Lives!
Funny how fast two years go by!
Yes it does!
Especially when the wife is starting to get annoyed by the monthly Rock Auto bill haha
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Looks outstanding brother! 8)
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Your truck was an awesome find.
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Your truck was an awesome find.
Thanks! Didn't seem like an awesome find when I was knee deep in the problems haha
But yeah turned out to be a good truck
Looks outstanding brother! 8)
Thanks! I'm really happy with how it turned out
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With the truck finally running reliably I started turning my attention to the bench seat project.
I started off by hand measuring stuff but getting the angles and radii measured was a pain and there were a lot of different measurements from passenger side to driver side, was hoping to just mirror the design of the adapter brackets
So I called in my buddy who does 3D scanning to build aero surfaces and spoilers for cars (King Performance 3D). He came in and 3d scanned the truck floor and the bottom of my new bench
With the 3d scans and cross referencing my manual measurements I started cranking on the bracket designs
(https://i.imgur.com/ryJPhzW.jpeg)
I then started looking for crash loads, only published ones I could find are from racing series rulebooks. But my friend who works at GM told me some numbers they use for Specs, did some analysis and finally got ready to quote. Normally I use Jiga, but their suppliers quoted a bit high so I went back to redesign to reuse a lot of parts so I went from a lot of unique brakets to just a few that I would weld together
Final design mocked up in CAD
(https://i.imgur.com/W0fQ3OS.jpeg)
With the concept finalized, I used some CAD (cardboard sided design) to make sure the sitting position was good and validate the design before spending money
(https://i.imgur.com/ltv1kus.jpeg)
Then quoted and ordered a prototype set of brackets
Got the welded up and painted
(https://i.imgur.com/8oszDOT.jpeg)
I was about to install them then decided to paint the interior to try and match the exterior, exterior is a candy blue but I'm no painter and it was a pain to not get runs so I found a pretty close match regular paint so just used that
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Finally the moment of truth, would it fit
(https://i.imgur.com/8oszDOT.jpeg)
There were a couple places where it didn't want to go in but after some persuasion and putting in the bolts in a sequence I got it bolted down
Then because I'm dumb and forgot that I used the seat belt anchor holes I had to take the center 2 bolts out to install my seat belts
Thankfully they fit ok
Side note, guys don't buy Safe-T-boy belts, they SUCK
fitment sucks, install instructions suck, they aren't long enough on the retractor side and the inner part is too long. JUNK
So finally got them in
(https://i.imgur.com/OOmeTxR.jpeg)
And then got the retractors in
Here's the before:
(https://i.imgur.com/mggoYJB.jpeg)
He's the after
(https://i.imgur.com/wXPwcOn.jpeg)
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They look pretty darn good!
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They look pretty darn good!
Thanks!
I'm really happy with how it turned out, I do wish the brake pedal was lower or adjustable on these trucks but oh well
Built in fold down cupholder/arm rest is a game changer