CUSTOM TOUCHES
Brendon brought us his slammed 65 C10 for some custom touches and a good going over as the truck hadn't been driven much over the past 2 years. This included having the engine and transmission checked over and fluids replaced, installing billet hood hinges, fitting some brand new 20" Detroit Steelies, fabbing up a custom cup holder, and some minor panel work to the rear guards, as they had been flared by a previous owner.
We started on the panel work, the poor rear guards had been flared out by 3" each side, so new brackets were made and some massaging was done to get them back to how they should look.
Next we started checking fluids and filters, the transmission pan from the TH400 was dropped and looked great with no significant wear signs, new filter, gasket and fluid went in. The engine had some chatter on cold start and misfiring was noticed intermittently, so we replaced all spark plugs and got Steve our engine tech to diagnose some issues we noticed including significant top-end noises whilst hot. We removed the RHS rocker cover to find significant heat marks on a few rockers, indicating oil starvation.
At this point we had to dive in deeper, we found the crank had excessive forward movement, excessive valve lash on multiple rockers and multiple pushrods were bent. The call was made to the owner and resulted in the removal and rebuilding of the 454. Luckily, we have our own engine builder in-house, so no time was wasted in tearing it down and diagnosing its problems. Oil starvation was the cause of most of its issues, mainly top end, not to mention a wiped cam lobe or two. So the assembly got a complete teardown and freshen up, new rings and bearings and new roller top end. Machine work was done by our friends at Peach Performance, cleaning the block, rebuilding and setting up the heads for the new cam and prepping the block ready for the new parts.
We used a Lunati 231/239@50 Hydro-roller cam, Lunatti lifters and Crow Cams roller rockers which really woke this engine up and paired nicely with a B&M 2800rpm Converter. The assembly was bolted all together and a fresh coat of Chevy Orange applied in 2pak. The truck drives unbelievable, making a bunch more horsepower and loads more torque. The engine went back in the truck with no issues, with final tuning done by our engine builder. With the engine sorted, we turned to some other issues the owner mentioned, one of which was excessive play in the steering, we investigated and found most of his steering was replaced previously except for his steering box. With a replacement being the only option, we suggested a power-assisted unit could be installed making turning those new 20" wheels alot easier. The new power-steering units not only give you a hydraulically assisted lighter feel, but a better steering ratio, from the old 7.5 turns lock to lock down to 3 turns lock to lock. The new units aren't entirely a bolt-in deal, new holes have to be drilled in the chassis and the old steering shaft cut and welded to the new flange and rag-joint.
With the driveline, steering and panel work sorted, we turned our attention to designing up a cool one-off cup holder. We turned to our engine builder once again, to find us some pistons and conrod from a big block chevy, it was only fitting. The piston centres had to be machined out on the lathe to accommodate the size of a regular can with a stubby cooler (or a beer with a stubby cooler!), then joined together and using a conrod for the vertical height and a custom mount for the floor. This worked extremely well, shown below with our TCF stubby coolers and a few cold ones.
The CVR Billet Hood Hinges were installed, they really are a great item! With so much adjustment, it got the hood fitted better than ever!
We treat all vehicles that come through our shop like our own, so we will always give advice on a specific item or change or do something on the vehicle that might make it look better, function better or make it easier for the owner. We noticed Brendon had large plastic toolboxes on the bed, that slightly obstructed the rear window, as the bed floor had been raised up 150mm, one was for a rear mounted battery box and one was used for tools. We recommended to the owner that we could relocate the battery under the bed making a custom bracket for it, and relocate the tools into a drawer under the bed, accessed when the tailgate was open. He loved the idea as he wanted to use the bed for kayaks and surfboards, so Matty went ahead designing up these one-off custom products. We could fit a whopping deep drawer under the bed, on sliders, deep enough to fit all his tools and even a trolley jack. A push button knob finished off the aluminium drawer, locking itself when you push the knob in.
The battery received a custom mount and tray with a stone guard, the isolation switch was relocated aswell. We installed a 50A Anderson plug, USB sockets and the CTEK charger socket, wired directly to the battery, on a panel in the bed so Brendon could plug in his fridge or phones while tailgating at the beach. Brendon also asked us to relocate the tailpipes from exiting under the rear guards. He supplied us a flange that had to be cut into the guard , so we went ahead and modified the length of pipe from the mufflers back so it exited in the cutouts.
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We loved working on this truck, repairing what was needed before it was too late and making some improvements along the way, and now Brendon can enjoy cruising the coasts!
