sup yall. Starting a BIG project on converting my 1965 C10 into a turbo LS driven street terror and decided to share my progress as well as reach out for help and advice in this thread.
History: my grandpa gave the truck to my dad who did his best to hotrod it in the 80's. It got parked in our driveway in the early 90’s and thats where it sat nearly my entire childhood...except when it snowed he would fire it up and take us kids to an empty parking lot for some donuts haha. Anywho, my dad gave it to me about 8 years ago and I got it running and driving…it’s a ton of fun, 283 sbc and a 4 speed Saginaw transmission out of a camaro. I blew out reverse one winter and it has been parked now for around 5 years. I recently sold my ’87 buick grand national and (1) I miss having a fast toy, (2) its been a long time coming to get this truck back on the road.
Goal: To have a mustang eating beast that is capable of 10 sec 1/4 mile passes and can also hop on the highway and cruise for an hour without any troubles. I want a nice quiet interior and I want to clear coat the outside to seal off that natural patina and prevent more rust.
Challenges: The illusion or trick is that it is cheap to make 700 reliable horse power out of a turbo LS (compared to most performance setups)...but the other things are what adds up fast...brakes, suspension, trans work, converter, rear end set up, wheels, tires, gauges, fuel cell/tank, pump and lines, shifter, seats, seat belts/harness, steering components, etc...I am not wealthy by any means so every decision I make will be "budget minded". I want it fixed right but if i can buy something used for less and it accomplishes the same task vs ordering new off summit racing...used every time
#1 The cab floor and rocker panels have a lot of rust that needs fixed. I want to completely strip the body off of this thing and inspect/repair and structural corrosion or damage as well.
#2 I need to locate a wrecked 2005 or newer GM Truck, SUV, or van with a good 6.0 and 4L80E Transmission. And have them built accordingly.
#3 Either order a bolt on disk brake conversion OR switch out the complete front suspension/crossmember with an '87 or older truck to gain disk brakes and power steering. Time vs money here, i am undecided at this point.
#4 Have a rear end and suspension built that can support 600+ HP to the wheels in a heavy vehicle that hooks on the street.
#5 Interior: Make it quiet, make it comfortable, make it SHARP. Working gauges, working heat at least...might add AC but unsure at this point, decent stereo system. The interior has always been more important to me than the exterior on a vehicle. It is what I will be surrounded with and see most of the time. A fancy pants exterior with big shiny wheels are (IMO) for everyone else to ogle at. I want the truck to be all GO and little SHOW.
#6 The small stuff: battery relocation, fuel tank/cell, fuel pump and lines to run enough E85 for my desired power level, and tons more little things that will be driving me crazy when the time comes.
Below are some pictures i took yesterday while dragging this thing out of storage. Lots of work ahead of me but i think it will be really cool. guy and gals chime in if you know of any parts for sell i might be looking for or have any advice or questions. Thanks for looking OSA
History: my grandpa gave the truck to my dad who did his best to hotrod it in the 80's. It got parked in our driveway in the early 90’s and thats where it sat nearly my entire childhood...except when it snowed he would fire it up and take us kids to an empty parking lot for some donuts haha. Anywho, my dad gave it to me about 8 years ago and I got it running and driving…it’s a ton of fun, 283 sbc and a 4 speed Saginaw transmission out of a camaro. I blew out reverse one winter and it has been parked now for around 5 years. I recently sold my ’87 buick grand national and (1) I miss having a fast toy, (2) its been a long time coming to get this truck back on the road.
Goal: To have a mustang eating beast that is capable of 10 sec 1/4 mile passes and can also hop on the highway and cruise for an hour without any troubles. I want a nice quiet interior and I want to clear coat the outside to seal off that natural patina and prevent more rust.
Challenges: The illusion or trick is that it is cheap to make 700 reliable horse power out of a turbo LS (compared to most performance setups)...but the other things are what adds up fast...brakes, suspension, trans work, converter, rear end set up, wheels, tires, gauges, fuel cell/tank, pump and lines, shifter, seats, seat belts/harness, steering components, etc...I am not wealthy by any means so every decision I make will be "budget minded". I want it fixed right but if i can buy something used for less and it accomplishes the same task vs ordering new off summit racing...used every time
#1 The cab floor and rocker panels have a lot of rust that needs fixed. I want to completely strip the body off of this thing and inspect/repair and structural corrosion or damage as well.
#2 I need to locate a wrecked 2005 or newer GM Truck, SUV, or van with a good 6.0 and 4L80E Transmission. And have them built accordingly.
#3 Either order a bolt on disk brake conversion OR switch out the complete front suspension/crossmember with an '87 or older truck to gain disk brakes and power steering. Time vs money here, i am undecided at this point.
#4 Have a rear end and suspension built that can support 600+ HP to the wheels in a heavy vehicle that hooks on the street.
#5 Interior: Make it quiet, make it comfortable, make it SHARP. Working gauges, working heat at least...might add AC but unsure at this point, decent stereo system. The interior has always been more important to me than the exterior on a vehicle. It is what I will be surrounded with and see most of the time. A fancy pants exterior with big shiny wheels are (IMO) for everyone else to ogle at. I want the truck to be all GO and little SHOW.
#6 The small stuff: battery relocation, fuel tank/cell, fuel pump and lines to run enough E85 for my desired power level, and tons more little things that will be driving me crazy when the time comes.
Below are some pictures i took yesterday while dragging this thing out of storage. Lots of work ahead of me but i think it will be really cool. guy and gals chime in if you know of any parts for sell i might be looking for or have any advice or questions. Thanks for looking OSA