1985 C10 Project: Big Blue

[DCohoon]

So I have been lurking this site for years now looking at everyone else's builds as I slowly work on my own. I haven't started my own thread for some time just due to lack of pictures during the process as I always forget to take some as I go and of course school, life in general and work we all contend with. I finally believe though I have enough to post up and start showing my progress as I put this thing together and make changes. This project started for me years ago when I was just graduating high school and going to college. I bought the truck (1985 C10 Short box) with the original intent of using it as a hunting truck and maybe one day just building a hot motor for it when I found a better truck to use around the farm. Well as all these kind of projects go one thing led to another and the gear head in me built a sweet little engine and started driving it daily until hitting a deer one morning while ironically headed to help a friend pick up a deer he had just shot. That was the excuse I needed to start from scratch with the truck and build it from the frame up into a Pro Touring truck build which was really always just a dream but now reality. The truck even once "complete" will see many suspension changes as these projects are never really complete. For now I just want it back on the road as a good handling truck I can take to a few auto crosses each year and cruise around in on the weekends when I'm home. At that point I will start saving for more suspension upgrades I have planned when I decide to start competing more than cruising not that it wont be set up decent to begin with. Ill post some pictures I have taken here and there, this is my first ever post so I may screw it up so just bear with me.

As it stands now the truck: Is in a million pieces but has turned the corner to assembling it again instead of tearing it apart and soon I will have a full rolling chassis and then I will start the body work.
- 350 bored 40 over- now a 357, full hydraulic roller set-up, aluminum heads, 10.5:1 compression, just tons of goodies inside. Just ask if you want to know more.
-700r4 Transmission- built all out. not much left of the original trans but the casing haha
-tubular transmission cross member
-12 bolt rear end, narrowed 6 inches, Detroit limited slip, 3.42 gear U.S Gear, moser axles, big ford ends, disk brakes, and lots more.
-New to me/ the truck frame that I had a very good family friend of ours put on his frame rack and check it for laser straightness then cut and put tubes through frame like modern pick-ups/ cars.
-BAER Rotors with Wilwood calipers up front
-Eibach 2 inch drop pro touring truck spring, progressive rate spring
-CPP 2 inch drop spindles/ 1 inch narrowing spindles to help tuck the big front tires
-Caster mods made to the lower control arm cross shaft/ and soon to come bump steer mod
-5&1/4 rear drop by moving the leaf spring brackets up the frame and modifying them, Detroit spring- spring liners, polyurethane bushing. (eventually going to a No Limit Engineering 4-link)
-Working on custom aluminum fuel cell that will mount behind the rear end to not only increase fuel capacity, help weight distribution greatly, but also increase safety.
-Will be going with 20 inch wheels from billet specialties, but I have also been looking at some other brands- ya'll know how it is, nearly impossible to pick the right wheels. They make or break a car or truck in my opinion.
-I have thought about buying an additional set of 18 inch wheels for autocross competition but that will be costly and down the road.
-Have been working on designs for a roll bar/ cage set-up. I will be pulling the daily driver/ comfy seats and installing racing seats when I decide to go to the track and want to have the ability to mount harnesses properly but also don't want to compromise my own safety on the street with a million bars running all over the cab. I will be keeping it simple/ minimal. Something similar the C10R build.
-There are a million other things to list or talk about but I'm sure we will get to those when the time comes or just ask if you have a question about what Ill be doing in a certain area.

https://www.pro-touring.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=122876&stc=1

[DCohoon]

Ok so I am re- posting my build into this project updates part of the forum because I believe most guys and gals are not even taking a look at the "trucks" section. Anyway since this is a project with regular updates I guess it fits here.

[DCohoon]

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[DCohoon]

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[DCohoon]

Just deal with the leaf springs for now- I know lots of auto cross events have been run with cars/ trucks and leafs and while not ideal/ what I wanted money is restricting my budget and time since I need to be getting this things back on the road and out of my shop. ( it is monopolizing a lot of room) Soon enough it will be getting that 4 link from Rob at No Limit.

The engine is getting a few upgrades ;)

UPDATE: Progress has been slow but parts have been ordered and are steadily piling up which is the good news. This includes new ignition pieces for the MSD, new torque converter built by precision, new to me set of original GM doors with no rust/ body work, interior pieces, Primer, sealer, Paint, & Clearcoat, and lots of others random stuff.

Bad news is that my engine that I just re-cammed, put lifters and valve springs in is in bad shape in other areas. I suspected I might have some metal that had gotten into my main and rod bearing due to a previous rocker arm failure although not a bad one. I decided that since I am not in state to work on the truck through the week and in a effort to speed progress I farmed out some additional engine work to my local machine shop who does a great job watching out for me.
And for peace of mind I wanted them to look at the bearing and replace them if needed along with checking my piston to valve clearance with this new cam, set the lash on the cam being it uses a roller button to locate it, and just do an overall eval. Well long story short I have had to replace pistons, rings, all the bearing, polish the crank, new gaskets, and reassemble. There goes a chunk of change unfortunately!! But... Its done now and a trip to the dyno is scheduled to tune the motor and make sure all is well before we set it between the frame rails. Ill update again once this is done!

Yes I finally have an update with some progress!! We went down to Paris TN on Saturday to Dyno Tune Engineering to strap the engine on the dyno and get her all tuned out and ready to go. My buddy and I were in a mad dash from Friday afternoon after work until literally 30 minutes until out appointment time at the dyno to finish up a bunch of loose ends with the engine so it could actually run. I will forever hate building my own spark plug wires and taking the time to make them look worth a crap!..but I digress we had a great time, then engine did PHENOMINAL and the guys from the shop were really good guys and did a great job. Saturday was definitely a highlight day for me as we loaded the motor up to go back home knowing it is in good order and ready to be set into the frame. I snagged a couple pictures and videos while I was there at there and will upload the videos as soon as I get them imported from the camera and edited down to a reasonable time. Also to add to the progress I got my radiator support in primer and sealed on Sunday and now it just needs to be scuffed and painted. PROGRESS MADE!!!

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_145375077620012&key=7cfbf804afc0478a813594482008cf3b&libId=ijudo9v9010004qt000DAnmp9dt85&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pro-touring.com%2Fthreads%2F118497-1985-C10-Project-Big-Blue%2Fpage2&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FmFUWbJ54QgM&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pro-touring.com%2Fthreads%2F118497-1985-C10-Project-Big-Blue&title=1985%20C10%20Project%3A%20Big%20Blue%20-%20Page%202&txt=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FmFUWbJ54QgM


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[DCohoon]

So I should probably pose this question in the open discussion forum but the engine we built walks the line of needing race gas and I am looking for a solution to my problem. Obviously I could change the head gaskets to a thicker set but I do not want to lose power or efficiency. The engine at 28 degrees timing it made its best power strangely and I may could back it down 1 more degree but it does not like 91 pump gas. 93 octane pump gas is hard to find in my area and it still doesn't like 93 all that well. For the dyno we ran a mixture of 91 and 113 to make it happy and not chug or diesel when we shut it down. So my question is what are some of you doing- what solutions have you found that work? Aviation fuel mixture with pump gas? Race fuel mixed with pump gas? Make your own race fuel using toluene? Im looking for the best and cheapest solution to this problem because I do want to cruise around in the truck some bit on the weekends without having to run straight race fuel that costs 10 bucks or more per gallon.

[DCohoon]

Ok so again I just moved this build thread from the trucks section to the project section because I feel many people don't look through the truck section at all. Anyway it is a bit jumbled up and moving it over wasn't as easy as I though it would be but you got the idea. There is a lot more progress being made as well with the radiator support being painted, and next up is the firewall to be cut out and smoothed then it will be time to put the cage in.

[Totally_Not_Adam]

*Yawn*

[2ndroundko]

Hey Love it! i like that you are staying true to the roots of the truck and resisting the temptation of the LS movement. Whats the plans for the paint and body, and the wheels.

[DCohoon]

The truck will be the original Grabber blue J code from the early mustangs, dark gray accent in the hood and tailgate. The wheels will be 20" pro touring billet specialties that are also dark grey powder coat with machined lip, they have the right look and a decent selection or performance tire. I also see me purchasing a set of lightweight 18" wheels just for track days as well but that will be down the road as I build it into an even more serious contender.Body wise the truck will have the small style sport mirror period correct but they will be powder coated to match the wheels, hood, tailgate. Wish I could do a rendering but I do not have the ability as some on here do to pull that off haha its just whatever comes out of my head.

[SSLance]

Frame looks great and I am also happy to see another stay with a carb fed SBC. Did you get real crazy with your comp ratio and that's the need for the high octane? Keep up with the updates, I'll keep checking it out.

BTW, I like the brown and tan colors myself, looks like a real solid foundation you started with...really nice truck.

[DCohoon]

Thanks for the kind words Lance, and yea the compression ration is right at 10.5:1 on aluminum heads and I was thinking I could squeak by on pump gas as many others do but for some reason it doesn't like 91 or 93 pump gas. I believe I

can dial the timing back another degree and help it out. It actually made its best power at 28 degrees but we never tried 27 degrees but Im thinking just that small adjustment and 93 octane might get me by but we will see on down the road

lol If all else fails I will just buy aviation fuel and mix it with 93. And I am right there with you on the black and Tan colors and Brown and Tans, I was initially going to paint it back factory but honestly I hate keeping up with black paint even

though its pretty sharp.

[twosaturns]

it's been awhile since I messed with building an engine, but I would think you could tune a 10.5comp engine to run on 91.

I've been here like 10 years I didn't even know there was a truck section, lol. I only come to the project updates section.

your girl is cute, we can use more pics of her as well, lol.

[DCohoon]

Ok so it has been awhile since I have updated but progress has been being made! The shop got a lot brighter recently thank the lord and thanks to my uncle who volunteered to help replace the 15 ballasts that had went out and half of the lights in the shop. Things have been insane lately working on what seems to be everyone's stuff but mine yet a few hours here and there at the shop with a few buddies have payed off. The new firewall piece has been fabbed and welded in and next it is on to finishing the bottom of the cab out and spraying it in lizard skin. The welds may not be beautiful but the firewall sheet metal was paper thin and even with the welder turned down and adjusted it was difficult to weld. The Precision Industries torque converter came in and looks amazing- great piece for sure. With the new converter in it was time to install the motor and trans but first we had to level up the frame (because my shop floor is no where near level) then with a little help from a friend we got it set in and the new trans cross member installed with the proper drive line angle although the picture I am posting the trans is still being supported by a bucket..which worked perfectly I might add. Next step is to have Wiles in Paris TN build a driveshaft and for me to begin paint and body work. I will be moving the rolling chassis to the other side of the shop away from the paint etc.. so we can fab up the fuel tank, fuel & brake lines, and install sway bars etc.. Anyway here are a few pictures.

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