Lowretta the oddball 85 c10

[2ndroundko]

Hi guys been checking this site out for about 2 years and working on my project for one. Its a 85 c10 and my plans fit into no ones genre. I live in eastern NC and people here have a fixation on big shiny rims, not my style. I love the pro-touring style with forged wheels perfect stance and high dollar top notch parts, but cant afford it. So this is my plan build a truck that is fun to drive and still usable as a truck, built on the cheap. I will be using junkyard parts where possible and I'm a craigslidt junky so heres the plan.

1. lower the truck presence is everything
2. more power original 350 is on its last leg
3. redo interior, its loud and drafty
4. fit and finish adjustments



this is the day I brought it home 31's and all


after flip kit and rear tire change


Got rid of the wide off road wheels and spacers and lowered it


The old 350 I could never get running right. I think it had a bad cam lobe, and burned oil like a 2-stroke lol


So I bought this thing


Its a l31 out of a 98 suburban, cleaned up pretty good I think


In the truck first fire up. cranked on the first try!


And a $50 paint job to knock the ugly off


Now dont worry it will be stripped panel by panel and epoxy primed. but don't this look better


In the garage I have, poly control bushings, a junkyard sway bar, brake lines, and pads.

[bs46488]

Looks much better. Great transformation.

[2ndroundko]

Thanks, finally found a driveshaft today so it will be back on the road this weekend with new front brakes and a sway bar hopefully.

[2ndroundko]

So I got it back on the road about two weeks ago, and it scared the crap out of me. my old tires had dry rotted and side wall flax was crazy after they got warm. So I put my poly bushings in my control arms. Changed my brake pads and hoses. and last but not least i got my impala ss wheels on it!

The wheels had some rash on them so I stripped them



some light sanding with a worn flap wheel took out the factory machining marks



next some magic marker guide coat



then block sanded from 180 up to 1000 and polished



and the finished product wheel worth the effort IMO

[Tig]

That looks great. And the wheels came out lookin better than new. Nice job.

Lookin forward to your updates

[George Az]

I completely dig what you are doing. I m resurrecting a 79 Dodge, my fuel tank was plastic and cracked, which led to an RCI fuel cell and kind went from there. I occasionally want to tow a trailer and go down the occasional dirt road, not four wheel, just drift the occasional dirt road for fun. These trucks are getting harder to find all the time. I appreciate it - hang in there brother, it is looking good!

[2ndroundko]

That looks great. And the wheels came out lookin better than new. Nice job.

Lookin forward to your updates

Thanks it will be slow but I have big plans

[2ndroundko]

I completely dig what you are doing. I m resurrecting a 79 Dodge, my fuel tank was plastic and cracked, which led to an RCI fuel cell and kind went from there. I occasionally want to tow a trailer and go down the occasional dirt road, not four wheel, just drift the occasional dirt road for fun. These trucks are getting harder to find all the time. I appreciate it - hang in there brother, it is looking good!

Thanks alot I have a yukon denali and a lexus in my yard but this rusty thing is my favorite. I plan to do some body mods soon along with some rust repair. Rockers cab corners.....

[chevyz240]

So I got it back on the road about two weeks ago, and it scared the crap out of me. my old tires had dry rotted and side wall flax was crazy after they got warm. So I put my poly bushings in my control arms. Changed my brake pads and hoses. and last but not least i got my impala ss wheels on it!

The wheels had some rash on them so I stripped them

some light sanding with a worn flap wheel took out the factory machining marks

next some magic marker guide coat

then block sanded from 180 up to 1000 and polished

and the finished product wheel worth the effort IMO

Nice job on the wheels!

[Steve-O-08]

The wheels look great. Great job. Were you going to run any spacers to fill up the wheel wells a little more?

[2ndroundko]

Nice job on the wheels!

Thanks I think the result was well worth the effort.

The wheels look great. Great job. Were you going to run any spacers to fill up the wheel wells a little more?

The offset irks me but Im not sure how I'm going to address it. I plan to get a 3.42 rear out of a tahoe which I think may be a little wider, also I may go with 4x4 or awd axle so I have the factory limited slip in which case I would run 6x5 to 5x5 adapters. either way it will be addressed and faster in the end.

[2ndroundko]

As of right now I have the bed and front clip off while building the engine and doing so rust repair. While it is disassembled I want to add some stronger cross members and possible some cross bracing across the frame between the leaf springs. This brings me to my question I know that triangles are known to be the strongest shape. A X-shaped brace causes conflict with my diff. Then again a A-shaped brace works, but I'm concerned it wont be as strong as the X-shaped brace.

[2ndroundko]

Since my last update, I blew my motor (locked it up), deconstructed the body, did sheet metal repair, and rebuilt the engine. all done on a shoe string budget.


this is where I started pre tear down. Not the ugliest duckling, but no beauty queen

[2ndroundko]

removed the bed to access the cab corners

[2ndroundko]

So after replacing rockers and cab corners and sheet metal work was pretty much done. There was some rot on the wheel wells of the bed and the in fenders but nothing note worthy so I moved on to my first engine build

[2ndroundko]

So like I said this is my first complete engine overhaul. I have been working on cars since I was 8 and I'm 31 now so for over 20 years I've been wanting to build on. The motor is a l31 vortec out of a 98 suburban. I got this engine out of the local you pull it last summer and it ran great until I spun a bearing and locked it up. So I decided no time like the present to jump on it. It's a stock bottoman end rebuild with .016 shim gaskets and a lt1 cam with 1.6 rockers and ls6 valve springs. I also got a 2400 stall converter to help it move a little through the th400 with soon to be gone rear 2.73 gears.

The goods!




Spaghetti harness to be reloomed

[2ndroundko]

And a couple pics of the beast who built this junk

Father's day presents from my wife and oldest daughter.


Excuse the mess. Trying to make due with a almost one car garage

[2ndroundko]

Oh pics of my bracing delimma. Trying to decide is the A frame will compromise strength.

Interferes with rear pumpkin but I think it will provide more torsional strength


This would clear everything but would it be weaker?

[Slick68]

If you go with the A style to clear the differential, just add two more pipes at the top of the A.

[2ndroundko]

I thought about that as well and since I get a deal on steel tubing I probably will.