I've got this Chevy C10 truck....

A couple of random things.

First, the bed parts came from here.

They make every single part completely in house using American workers and American raw materials. And the guy that I talked to said that business is booming. Trucks pull up with giant coils of steel and bundles of wood and Mar-K turns them into truck parts completely under one roof. You want new bed sides ? No problem. A new tailgate with Chevrolet logo and GM stamp of approval. They got that too. They will sell you an entire bed assembled completely with their parts down to the last detail if you want it.

I have been ordering from them for years but this time I decided to road trip it and check the place out with my own eyes. They are in Oak City and I'm in North Texas so the drive up and back was an easy one day trip.

And, second, McMaster Carr....

I'm a giant fan of them and have ordered from them countless times. Readers might gather that I am kind of warped in the head about little details and waiting four days to get the exact washer or bolt is nothing to me. When it's got to be right and you can't sleep at night using generic hardware store stuff, McMaster is your savior.

So this morning I am ordering bolts to hold the fenders to the bedsides. I threw in some washers (always compare the ID of the washer to the bolt so you choose a nice snug fit and your washers will wind up dead centered under the bolt heads and not askew. No man should have to abide by sloppy fitting washers). Anyway, I get my cart all assembled and I notice they have one click ordering just like Amazon. Hit the button and it's on the way. All of your address and financials are on record. Click the button and go sit by the mailbox. Those guys have really figured it out when it comes to convenience.

Please don't let the one click deal devolve into internet security and stored credit card number discussion. I get the risk. I've had my card hacked twice before. It takes my bank about 15 minutes to reverse the charges and burn me a new card. It's a risk that I can live with.

You have to keep things organized if you want to be efficient. Tripping over stuff and looking for things just wastes time and causes frustration. Half an hour of cleaning pays off with many hours of improved efficiency. CuzE, may use on a plaque in my grosh?

You wouldn't use a surgeon who couldn't remember where he laid his scalpel down or a pilot who had to search around the cockpit for his pre-landing checklist. Why should a mechanic be any different.

I have more faith in a mechanic than the other two...

I have a Mar-K front bed panel on my truck. Good stuff.

Cousin_Eddie wrote: You wouldn't use a surgeon who couldn't remember where he laid his scalpel down or a pilot who had to search around the cockpit for his pre-landing checklist. Why should a mechanic be any different.

Quoted for infinite truth. I wish more home-mechanics felt this way.

Being disorganized or cluttered does not equate to being busy or getting a lot accomplished. I feel like there is a very common misconception that if you're organized you have too much time on your hands.

Also I've never heard of Mar-K... googling now!

Cousin_Eddie wrote:

759NRNG wrote: Hey everyone look!! a shop with no floor clutter!......Cousin E yu da man! oh and that bed rocks

You have to keep things organized if you want to be efficient. Tripping over stuff and looking for things just wastes time and causes frustration. Half an hour of cleaning pays off with many hours of improved efficiency.

You may have logic and efficiency on your side, but others of us are busy seeding future barn finds with our lack of self control.

Loving the build, can't wait to see more. Makes me want to go outside and work on my truck some more.

SkinnyG wrote: I love this I love this I love this. More more more!

I've seen you mention that a C notch is a waste (mainly on the 67-72 board). I can't go measure for myself right now, so I'll ask you to clarify. Are you saying that on a non-notched truck the center of the diff will hit the bed before the tubes hit the framerails ?

I've had a very nice frame notch sitting here in the box for a couple of years now.

With just the axle flip I've seen no reason to cut the frame. I don't think it has ever hit one time that I can remember. But, when I have the bed off shortening the frame I figured I'd throw some shackles on there to drop the back end a bit further (since a SWB is much more forgiving than a LWB when it comes to being radically dropped). I'm trying to figure out if the notch is going to be worth it. I can tune the bumpstop height to control when it bottoms out either way.

I have 2" drop shackles in my long bed as well as the flip kit and I have no issues with bottoming out. However, I don't tow a trailer or haul much weight back there, so keep that in mind I guess.

Cousin_Eddie wrote: I've seen you mention that a C notch is a waste (mainly on the 67-72 board). I can't go measure for myself right now, so I'll ask you to clarify. Are you saying that on a non-notched truck the center of the diff will hit the bed before the tubes hit the framerails ?

Okay. I'm second-guessing myself. I'll go look.

I remember having 1700lbs of sand in the back, surprised that the bed floor was sitting on the pumpkin and the axle tubes were not yet where the frame used to be. It seemed to me that the notch was not needed.

It ~could~ be that the load was not evenly distributed, and the frame rail I looked at was higher than the other side.

I am ~pretty~sure~ I measured at a later date and confirmed it, but now I'm not so sure.

I ~did~ measure the diff-to-bed-floor, and bought and installed bumpstops in the notch that make contact about a half-inch before the bed floor hits the diff.

I just now crawled under the truck looked at them (but didn't measure) and I see that the bumpstop sits less than 1" higher than the bottom of where the frame rail was.

If you only need to notch the frame 1" or less - why notch it at all?

I wouldn't do it again.

ALTHOUGH....

If you're not going to carry a heavy load, a notch could improve a one-wheel bump, which would raise one axle tube end higher than the pumkin will go.

The reason I notched this frame right from the get-go was I found it made a huge difference in the Nissan Hardbody I had. Fully loaded, the bed floor never hit the diff, but one-wheel bumps the tubes hit the frame rail. Even after notching the Nissan, the bed never sat on the diff even fully loaded. Better overload springs maybe....

I finally got around to shortening the truck.

Went ahead and notched the frame while I had the bed off. Also put on a set of drop shackles for more lowness.

Rebuilt a freebie tail light harness.

The black wires looped up on each end are the wires that run out to the marker lights on the stepside fenders.

Rebuilt the exhaust moar shorter. There wasn't a good 14" section that I could remove so I had to cut it before and after the mufflers both and splice it all back together.

I'm still forming a game plan on how I will finish the bed.

And for everyone who might think that I cut a mint truck, look close at the passenger side picture. It's rusty in the fender and door. Nothing I can't fix, but it's rustier than a north Texas truck should be. As best as I can figure, the original owner parked under a carport which caused the driver's side to stay much better than the passenger side. Unfortunately, patina is seldom uniform or makes any sense.

GM didn't galvanize these trucks until about 1976. The 73-76 trucks are the worst rusting GM trucks of any vintage in my experience. I've had a ton of 72 and earlier trucks, none of which were as rust prone as these first squarebodies are. And, that's why I said earlier in the thread that I know I paid too much for this truck. In this area, 2K buys a rust free truck. But, I wanted this particular truck enough to be willing to do patch panel work.

Next project is running the rear leaf springs down to the spring shop this week. The passenger side leaf is sagging about an inch lower than the driver spring. Enthusiasts usually shrug their shoulders and call it the Chevy lean because they pretty much all do that. It drives me crazy to see something crooked though. The spring shop will dearch the higher spring quick and cheap to get the back end sitting good. When I have the springs out I am going to swap the current 3.73 rearend for a newer 3.08 rearend that I got out of a 84 model truck. I also have the lockup TH350 trans out of the same truck that I might install. That extra 300 or so RPM reduction on the highway with the lockup converter would be nice.

What happened to the sky blue truck with the cattle guard?

I sold all the Porterbuilt stuff and yanked the drivetrain.

I see.

I went to look at a '72 the other day. Parked in the shrubs 30 years ago. It'll need everything (floors, inner and outer rockers, fenders, bed floor, etc), but I'm not in love with the body style as much as a 64-66. I want air ride. Were you unhappy with air, or what led you to parting it?

I was unhappy with Porterbuilt. After the heartburn I got dealing with them I decided that I didn't want to even own a truck with their parts on it. I'm that stubborn.

Interesting about Porterbuilt. I hear you on the stubbornness.

Back on topic....

I corrected my own leafs using a 5" piece of channel iron and a hydraulic press (just press every 1" or so, avoid the center). Takes a bit of time, but good results.

I love following your work, though. Please continue!

Great work:) especially love the TBI conversion. I did chevy tbi on my 83 F250 351W ....made it a totally different truck.

Cuz'n E ,I must apologize for my previous reaction to the squarebody stepside swap. The passenger side shot above is SWEET, the matching character lines on the F/R fenders....outstanding. Other than the butt weld on the frame sections, is there any other 'boxing' going to happen there?

In reply to SkinnyG:

That's a neat rig for fixing the springs. I wish me dad had seen that instead of having me hold them over an old engine block while he beat them with a sledgehammer.

CuZ, are you going to tear the whole frame down for paint/powdercoat?

759NRNG wrote: Cuz'n E ,I must apologize for my previous reaction to the squarebody stepside swap. The passenger side shot above is SWEET, the matching character lines on the F/R fenders....outstanding. Other than the butt weld on the frame sections, is there any other 'boxing' going to happen there?

After I welded the frame back together I took the section of scrap that I had removed and plasma cut fishplates out of them and welded them inside of the frame over the joint. I have no plans to do anymore frame detail or paintwork. Where I am, rust is a non concern. The worst we get here is surface rust on undercarriages.

Cousin_Eddie wrote:

I wanted to hate the shortened stepside version of this but I'm really digging the way this looks. Nice job.

They stepside is my favorite of those trucks. Extra points for the USA plate. That's a two tone paint job away from being perfect.

Cousin_Eddie wrote: Where I am, rust is a non concern.

For this, I hate you. I brought home my 78 and after the first rain (it in the garage) the surface scratch on the tailgate instantly rusted over.