[Dave S]

Here's my 1964 C-10 Longbed. I bought this year's ago as a daily driver. I drove it for several years and finally retired it, as I bought a new truck.

The truck came out of California, so the drip rails and fender lips are in pretty good shape. Has some rust in the usual spots..cab corners, rockers, bottom of doors and fenders.

When I bought it, it had a small dent in the corner of the hood. Then...ouch..was my birthday and was a little chilly out..motor had some extra hp in the cold air..I was on it a little hard and the posi spooled up, tires hooked and I did a Nascar right turn! Another dent driver's corner of hood, fender, front of bedside. I replaced the fender and chrome, and have bedside that are straight, but have not been installed.

I found a friend that had bed sides, front panel for bed, (New) wheel tubs, tailgate chains, all metal strips for the bed and a 66' power steering assembly.

Took a few years, but he finally sold all the parts to me.

 

[Dave S]

The previous owner was a commercial aircraft mechanic and had done lots of stuff to the truck. But he was in the middle of a divorce and had to sell it. Interestingly I also worked as a final assembly mechanic for Boeing the last few years. I am temporarily retired due to covid moving my job too far away.

The truck had a 383 stroker Motor, Turbo 350 transmission and an Eaton posi. When I bought it. It also had some rotted out headers and single exhaust

I installed Stan's Headers, 2 1/2 duals with H-pipe and Flowmaster 40s and nice chrome tips. Also installed a noisy Pete Jackson gear drive and custom built Holley double pumper.

Truck had a Edelbrock carb that gave me nothing but troubles. I even bought another one, but had the same issues. Sold those and had a friend build me a carb. I gave him a Holley 650 double pumper mechanical secondary and a 600 double pumper mechanical secondary carbs. He built me a 650 double pumper with vacuum secondaries and 4 corner metering valves. It's a beast!

 

[Dave S]

You can see how far back the motor sits in the engine compartment. There is an MSD HEI distributor. It's the style with a separate coil, because lack of room. The original MSD was worn out and they didn't offer rebuild kits for it. So I bought a new MSD Ready to Run distributor. I believe the worn out MSD was the original source of my running problems and not the carbs.

 

[Dave S]

Got rid of the tailgate chains. Saw this idea at a car show years ago. Ordered stainless Yacht cabinet latches. I bolted them on and had a friend weld them. One on each side. I used a piece of spark plug boot, to keep the locks tight and stop any rattling.

 

[Dave S]

Look ma, no chains! I just found some countersunk Allen heads in my tool box and filled in the holes. I figured in the future it would be easy to weld over those and smooth them out.

Notice I have the small window with a slider. Love the slider..both trucks have them.

 

[Dave S]

I made sure the exhaust shop tucked all the pipes up tight, so you don't see anything hanging down. My picture is at an angle as I was kneeling down...those tips are perfectly level to each other. Also notice my pretty chrome 12 bolt cover and KYB shocks!

Double wall stainless tips are the way to go.

 

[Dave S]

Of course, just like my other truck...LED taillights and front markers/turn signals. Other than headlights, these are the only lights..well and a rear license plate light.

 

[Dave S]

This is where I am in my disc brake upgrade. Have some early 70s chevy parts. Have new bushings pressed into the upper and lower control arms. Have new master cylinder, brake booster, proportioning valve, pre bent lines and new rotors with 6 lug so I don't have to buy new wheels.

New 6 lug rotors. The old ones are part of the 70s chevy parts I'm using.

One thing I'm looking for, is an early 70s power steering box. I may swap out the one from my 77 and use that. Then replace the one in the 77 with a quicker ratio box, but those are like $450-500.

Currently my 64 has power steering out of a 66 truck. Works great, but will not work with the new setup.

 

[Dave S]

The previous owner had swapped in dual tanks. I hate them because the fillers are too low. You have to be very slow or you get gas squirting out. And they are small plastic tanks. I've already removed one side. I've already bought a tank from Brothers that drops in-between the rear frame rails. Some day I'll install it..now thinking about EFI.

Long story short, there's no tank behind the seat. This makes for lots of room. I built some little doors with magnets to store stuff in the cab corners. Lots of room for a car duster and some power steering fluid or oil, etc.

 

[Dave S]

The previous owner had installed a Pontiac Firebird steering column. Of course I have a few studs and spikes attached. No air bag here, just dangerous stuff.

All my gauges are in working order. Have a liitle concealed Autometer tach on the column. With studs added of course!

There was a small hole next to the wiper switch, so I added a little lock off a laptop to confuse people

 

[Dave S]

When I first bought the truck years ago, I was out shopping with my daughter. We stopped at Costco and I kept smelling something terrible. Well...I realized that this truck has old school wiring and had an external regulated alternator. It had shorted and caused the battery to almost blow up, spewing acid all over the engine compartment. Just ruined everything. I had to have my Moroso air cleaner top powdercoated after that.

So I did some research and installed a 2 wire newer GM alternator. Only issue, is I have to give it a little gas to excite it at start up. I recently read an article saying the oem exciter was routed through the idiot light on the dash or something similar. Maybe others can clarify that better?

Of course I had to buy a custom mount from Summit Racing.

 

[Dave S]

My truck has the old school Hurst shifter. It's the one that's makes loud clunking noises when you select gears. And of course studs added..lol.

My buddy had a 67 pro street nova when we were younger. He had this same style shifter and I always loved the sound. So I was happy when I bought this truck that this was already in here.

 

[Dave S]

Truck has some good parts installed. Iron heads with roller rockers. Obviously I was changing valve cover gaskets.

.

Here's a closer look at my top end. Notice the air cleaner stack. It's almost like a velocity stack.

My custom built carb. Guy who built it, is now retired. He drag raced for years and had a very impressive shop that specialized in Holley carbs.

I added a long piece of all thread to the carb. Then took my air filter element to the parts store and found a filter that was way bigger. Lots of room under the hood of these trucks.

 

[Dave S]

As mentioned in my 77 build, this truck has an Optima red top battery. This battery has been in the truck since 2008 and is still going strong.

After I quit daily driving it, I started using a battery tender, it's almost as old as the battery and still works fine.

Unfortunately after buying a new Optima red top for my 77, I was looking to buy a new battery tender for that truck..seems that Deltran is now producing junk. I've read they moved their production to Vietnam and are using inferior parts. Lots of reviews of non working or failed units.

 

[Rob Y]

You can see how far back the motor sits in the engine compartment. There is an MSD HEI distributor. It's the style with a separate coil, because lack of room. The original MSD was worn out and they didn't offer rebuild kits for it. So I bought a new MSD Ready to Run distributor. I believe the worn out MSD was the original source of my running problems and not the carbs.
View attachment 6038

Truck has some good parts installed. Iron heads with roller rockers. Obviously I was changing valve cover gaskets.

View attachment 6053 .

Here's a closer look at my top end. Notice the air cleaner stack. It's almost like a velocity stack.
View attachment 6054

My custom built carb. Guy who built it, is now retired. He drag raced for years and had a very impressive shop that specialized in Holley carbs.
View attachment 6055

I added a long piece of all thread to the carb. Then took my air filter element to the parts store and found a filter that was way bigger. Lots of room under the hood of these trucks.
View attachment 6056
View attachment 6057

Thanx for the Holly pic Dave. Will need soon as I assemble the top of my crate 350 on my 65. If you have any with the air cleaner off would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dave S]

Rob..scroll up a few posts ..there's a couple pics in my thread with the air cleaner off.

 

[Rob Y]

Rob..scroll up a few posts ..there's a couple pics in my thread with the air cleaner off.

Thanx Dave

 

[ognil67]

Good job. I see nothing but love in your build friend.

 

[Dave S]

So... it's been really dry this summer. Both trucks get dusty just sitting in the garage. I keep the door open, which opens to the covered breezeway between the house and garage, to keep an eye on the dogs. They're Belgium Malinois and they can get in trouble quickly!

All the dust... and with fall and winter around the corner, I decided to buy car covers for both trucks. I shopped around and bought some from:

Car Covers For All Sizes - CarCoversFactory.com

Trucks are in the garage, so bought the basic covers. No extra padding or weather proofing. Just to keep dust off.

Cost was $109.95/ each with free shipping.
Model# CARCF-13 - (218" for the 1964 C-10 Longbed).
Includes cover, bag, cable lock and a fixed strap(secures cover under the truck to the each side of the cover).

You probably need some serious folding skills to get it in the bag.

I've put covers on tons of times..back in the day, we used one on my buddy's drag car every night for about 5 years. So start at the back and roll it out..First step..had to find the tag that says, "front".

The 64 is not lowered, so I used a milk crate to step on, to get it over the roof.

I'm using a battery tender, so I don't have the cover all the way on, just over the hood.

Seems to be a decent cover and plenty big enough to cover the Longbed. Price was reasonable and free shipping was a plus.. company has good rep and reviews. Have not tried the 77 shortbox cover..Will post results when I do.

 

[r.s.logan]

Nice dogs , look like they could be a handful and need plenty of exercising . No danger of intruders when they are around .