Project Old Yeller (1969 Chevy C-10)

[Cole Trickle]

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About time I get this started.....

After looking for a semi clean & complete 67-72 for about 6 months I finally found my project about a month ago. There wasn't a whole lot in my area so I expanded my search and found Yeller in Huricane Utah.

The previous owners were really nice and provided lots of detailed photos/Info. After about a week of negotiating we agreed to a price and left So.Cal friday evening after work on the 400 mile trek to the land of the Mormons.

We arrived in St George at around 11:30pm and stayed the night at the inlaws. After a quick breakfast at Dennys we loaded up and headed out to Hurricane.

We arrived at the PO's house and I started looking at the truck. Truck is a factory 4 speed (sm465) 350 truck.Truck was very straight with almost zero rust.All of the lights, turn signals and horn were perfect. (truck was originally a AZ truck and garaged when the prior owner moved to Utah)

Took the truck for a quick spin around the block and she seems to motor down the road nice(crate motor with less than 20K miles...edelbrock 1406 carb/performer intake manifold).

PO gave me all paperwork for all service and maintanence performed on the truck. I have stuff dating back to 1984 including the sales contract when the 2nd owner bought it from a dealer in AZ. The second owner painted the truck yellow(no spid but truck appeared to be tan/white originally), replaced the motor and added a vintage Air AC unit.

Went back to the house handled the paperwork and jumped on the freeway for the 400 mile ride home.

 

[Cole Trickle]

On the way home I learned several things about Old Yeller.....

Tracks as straight as an arrow..no slop

Truck is loud and needs some sound deadning...(my dog was much happier riding in the HHR)

Brakes suck...factory drum

Truck is dead nutz reliable...... Turn the key and it starts-hit the gas and she goes. One of the reasons I liked the idea of this truck so much is the PO when asked if he would make the 400 mile trip back to So.Cal didnt hesitate for a second. He said he would drive the truck to NY and back no question if he had a gas card that would allow it...lol (BTW truck seemed to average about 13-14 mpg)

Got the truck home with zero issues. She ran cool and never overheated even while driving through vegas traffic on a 90 degree day.

First order of business was transferring title to CA. A trip to AAA and the local scales handled that. Truck weighed 3920lbs with 3/4 of a tank.

2nd order of business was ordering suspension and brakes from ECE. Went with there 4.5/6" deluxe drop kit and 6 lug discs. I also ordered up the power booster as I want this thing to stop good in the crappy So. Cal traffic.(Gotta give it up to Mark and crew at ECE. There customer service and pricing is very hard to beat!!)

 

[Cole Trickle]

The actuall hard core build is gonna have to wait for a bit.....For one I have had about 40 other things going on and there is a chance I might get some magazine tech article coverage on the truck so I don't want to throw away $$ if there is a chance I can get hooked up. (Only time will tell and I will wait a couple months to see if it pans out before throwing on the ECE stuff)

First big project I have been working on is a garage remodel.I need a good place to work on yeller and the truck gave me the perfect excuse to rip down the crappy shelving the prior owner put up and throw away the trashed home depot cabinets that my water heater tried to ruin when it exploded around christmas. (awesome pre$ent btw...lol)

Before...

After.....

Painted the garage black/white (got rid of the hideous blue/gray) with red chair rail all around. Also had custom cabinets made to house all the junk. The cabinet to the right of the door was made without a bottom so I can roll in my compressor and keep it out of sight. I also hung a 27" TV and built a shelf to house the stereo/dvd player as well as misc. do dads.

 

[Gelcoater]

sweet truck:thumbsup and sweet garage redo:thumbsup focker

 

[Cole Trickle]

sweet truck:thumbsup and sweet garage redo:thumbsup focker

Thanks!!

 

[Cole Trickle]

I finally found some free time this weekend and decided it was time to start cleaning up Old Yeller. First order of business was wash and a couple coats of wax. (Meguiars cleaner wax followed by Nu-Finish)

Before....As you can see the truck kind of had a pale yellow appearance. I honestly though that was the color one of the previous owners chose?

Upon closer inspection the truck might have never been waxed in its entire life. Its been washed enough to stay in decent shape (this is a 10' paint job and will last me a couple years before a full tear down)

Wife decided to help.....Must have been the begging and ultra strong margaritas...lol

 

[Cole Trickle]

Here she is with the first 2 coats out in the sun.....She is much brighter than I expected and almost a corvette yellow.(sorry for the size)

 

[Cole Trickle]

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No huge progress.....

I removed the hidden hitch,spare tire and helper load springs. The hitch came off nice and its a quality peace. (gonna be selling as this truck will never tow)

Helper springs and 40 year old u bolts fought the PB Blaster/Breaker bar so I had to cut it out with my grinder.

All in all I removed another 140lbs of weight from the truck. There is a chance I will reinstall the 40lb spare tire after its cleaned up and new rubber installed.

Spoke to the editor of street trucks and there is a chance a tech article for some new suspension peices is a go. Hope to have some more details and a time frame shortly.

Here is a photoshop that dhpenner did of the truck....

Aside from the rims being the wrong bolt pattern I really like the look/stance. I was leaning towards a black rim with polished lip but that pgotoshop has me thinking chrome.

 

[Cole Trickle]

I was informed by the wife on friday evening that she had a last second baby shower to attened in the morning and that I would be watching my 15 month old the whole day.

Woke up in the morning and decided we would take old yeller (69 shorty) for our first father son cruise. Called my buddy Rich and headed to my old place of work to hang out and show off the truck.

Packed the diaper bag strapped in the car seat and we hit the road after mom blew us kisses and took a couple pics....

My son loves the truck....I don't know what the deal is but since the day I brought her home he has had some kind of connection. He loves hanging out in the garage and almost mandates that I sit him on my lap so he can hold the wheel and grab the shifter. whats funny is he tries to bang gears and makes car noises when hes doing it...lol

Took the truck up and over the toll road.....It was about 30 miles one way and once again she ran flawlessly. cruised at about 70 mph

Once I met up with Rich and we looked over the truck we decided to throw her on the dyno to see what were working with. I knew the motor ran good but have no idea what she is taching headed down the road or what rear end gearing she has?

199 rwhp
300 rwtq

Here is what I learned...... Based on the edelbrock 1406 carb and performer intake I was guessing at a 270hp/tq crate motor (this would have equated after drivetrain loss 15% to about 225 to the wheels)

My guess is the PO installed some kind of RV cam to bump up the tq and it cost some hp. The real world engine hp numbers on this truck are closer to 230hp/345 tq

We also figured out the truck is tacking about 2700 at 70 mph (she topped out at 125mph in 4th at 5,000 rpm) Based on the tranny (sm465) I would imagine I have 3:08 -3:23 gears.(my guess based on factory options)

Truck is going to need new heads,cam,headers and exhaust to get to my goal of 300rwhp.

Over all we had great day and my kid enjoyed the rumble of the truck so much he slept the whole way home........

 

[Cole Trickle]

Cleaned her up a bit more and the family headed for Brothers trck show on the 11th.....

 

[Cole Trickle]

truck show

 

[Cole Trickle]

more

 

[Cole Trickle]

rear clean up

 

[Gelcoater]

:thumbsup looks even better with some wax on it. you gotta do something about that rear end,the black cover looks out of place

keep the pics coming,this is a cool thread.:thumbsup:thumbsup

 

[rivergames]

That is a bitchen truck! Did you use the herculiner for the bed material?

 

[HavasuHank]

coming along nicely brandin ... good job:thumbsup

 

[Cole Trickle]

That is a bitchen truck! Did you use the herculiner for the bed material?

Thanks should be a fun project.

line-x imho they have the best spray in liner. I like how it goes on smoothe.

 

[Cole Trickle]

:thumbsup looks even better with some wax on it. you gotta do something about that rear end,the black cover looks out of place

keep the pics coming,this is a cool thread.:thumbsup:thumbsup

coming along nicely brandin ... good job:thumbsup

Thanks...

I am gonna hold off on cleaning/painting the rear end until I get it on a rack and install the new suspension components.

honestly it won't get super clean until the full tear down for paint a couple years for now.

 

[Cole Trickle]

Nice pick up & pickup Brandin :thumbsup

Is it for sale?

thanks....

I have always loved the looks of the 67-72 trucks. Hard to justify the nova,chevy II and Chevelle starting price tag. alot more rust to deal with to in a car.

trucks are simple and look cool so it works for me.

Everything has a price...lol (I like this one though)

 

[rivergames]

Thanks should be a fun project.

line-x imho they have the best spray in liner. I like how it goes on smoothe.

I had rhino liner in my 99 silverado. Then a line-x came with my old 2003 silverado. Now I just got a 97 dually that I am going to try the herculiner. To me, the rhino liner has more grip, but didn''t look as good as the line-x. I want to give the herculiner a shot so I know the difference between the 3

 

[Cole Trickle]

I had rhino liner in my 99 silverado. Then a line-x came with my old 2003 silverado. Now I just got a 97 dually that I am going to try the herculiner. To me, the rhino liner has more grip, but didn''t look as good as the line-x. I want to give the herculiner a shot so I know the difference between the 3

there is a new diy product on the market that is supposed to be real good... if your intrested I will find you the info.

 

[rivergames]

there is a new diy product on the market that is supposed to be real good... if your intrested I will find you the info.

That would be great. If its around the same price as the herculiner, I will definitely give it a shot

 

[Cole Trickle]

That would be great. If its around the same price as the herculiner, I will definitely give it a shot

http://www.alsliner.com/

Amazon.com: Raptor Truck Bed Liner Kit Black: Automotive@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41OtnE0RZTL.@@AMEPARAM@@41OtnE0RZTL

 

[rivergames]

http://www.alsliner.com/

Amazon.com: Raptor Truck Bed Liner Kit Black: Automotive

Thanks bud. Hopefully one kit will cover a long bed. I will head over to 4 wheel parts this weekend and check it out

 

[Gelcoater]

so whan you do paint the truck,are you going to keep it "yeller"?

 

[Cole Trickle]

so whan you do paint the truck,are you going to keep it "yeller"?

I'm torn......

I like the history of the truck and I think the whole Old Yeller back ground story is cool.

It was also cool going to the west coast's biggest 67-72 truck show and only seeing 2 other yellow trucks....Makes it a little unique

On the flip side I'm not really a yellow lover...lol

The truck will for sure get all trim removed and the holes filled. I will shave the stake pockets.Antenna hole, Chevrolet off the rear gate and perhaps the marker lights.

I kind of like the white roof but I'm not sure it will look good with out the moldings?

 

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

nice score!

I love these trucks!!

 

[Gelcoater]

I'm torn......

I like the history of the truck and I think the whole Old Yeller back ground story is cool.

It was also cool going to the west coast's biggest 67-72 truck show and only seeing 2 other yellow trucks....Makes it a little unique

On the flip side I'm not really a yellow lover...lol

The truck will for sure get all trim removed and the holes filled. I will shave the stake pockets.Antenna hole, Chevrolet off the rear gate and perhaps the marker lights.

I kind of like the white roof but I'm not sure it will look good with out the moldings?

one vote to keep the colors:thumbsup

F those moldings,after its smooth and painted,a nice pinstripe to seperate the yellow and white. keep the 2 tone,its cool. what other color were you thinking of?

 

[parkerpowersports]

i love that body style! heres mine..

 

[Cole Trickle]

i love that body style! heres mine..

Gorgeous GMC.:bowdown:

I like the stance.....bagged but not laying rocker

 

[RitcheyRch]

Cool find and will be a fun project.

 

[atomickitn]

cool trucks... I love this year body style.. I had a 71 long bed 4x4...

 

[Cole Trickle]

Starting on operation drop down and give me twentys.....

I couldn't go to the river for Labor day due to a wedding so I decided it was time to start the suspension/brake install on the truck.

I was able to get a couple hours in after work thursday and friday night. Basically starting to tear the truck down for the new parts.

Logan loves to help...lol

 

[Cole Trickle]

Truck dosen't really have any rust....what your seeing is 40+ original years of road grime.

The plan is to tear the whole truck down in a couple years for paint. When its apart I will blast and paint/powdercoat everything.

Here is the pile of old parts.....

Old shocks were whooped....You can see in the pictures that when compressed they don't come back(I imagine it will ride better now)

 

[Cole Trickle]

I'll be the first to call bs on this

lol...kind of tough to bail on a wedding where the girl works with you and told you about it every single day for the past 14 months...lol:bash:

Did I mention it was a catholic wedding.....All 100% spoken in spanish and the calstate employees were the only non hispanics:rotflmao:

 

[Cole Trickle]

I was able to get the rear 100% completed by about 10am sunday with the help of my cousin Loren. The truck now has all new springs,shocks,upper/lower shock mounts,new panhard bar and urethane bushing in the trailing arms.

Removing old rivets is a bitch.....lol

 

[Cole Trickle]

Ok...Rear is done

Moving on to the front about mid day sunday.......

Installing new spindles,springs,shocks,ball joints, tierods,disc brakes,booster and master cylinder.

This is where the truck started to show its age. The front end was a real bitch and she just loves those old parts and didn't want to give em up.

Upper ball joints took a while to remove...

Passenger side upper shock mount bolt wouldn't un thread...(need to replace)

Brake lines were the worst and wouldn't go easy. Quite a few stuck nuts with now rounded edges(Need to replace a couple fittings)

 

[Cole Trickle]

Did I mention the brakes sucked...lol

So I bench bled the MC and mounted the Booster. My buddies Sean (CASean) and Jeremy(Getsome) were nice enough to roll over and help me for a while. We got the brake pedal re drilled for the correct ratio and hooked up the rear brake lines.

Did I mention the fronts are fucked....

I need to cut add new fittings and re-flare the factory cross over tube so make it so its not crapped together.

We called it a day at about 5pm yesterday. I would say I am 85% there with light at the end of the tunnel. I'm a little bummed its not 100% but it seems truck forum buddies (with know how) are not as reliable as boating friends...lol (a-holes:moon::bash

Here is some teaser pics of the rear on the ground....no front becuse brakes suck and it jacked up my day.:skull

 

[Cole Trickle]

Moral of the story is this was a ton of work......

I hope to have it wrapped up and new rims/tires installed in approx 3 weeks

 

[Motor Boater]

Truck looks great!

 

[phuggit]

Looks bitchen. Good thing about early GM products is there are a lot of aftermarket upgrades available.

 

[Cole Trickle]

Looks bitchen. Good thing about early GM products is there are a lot of aftermarket upgrades available.

absolutely.....

Way easier and cheaper to build a truck. tons of parts and there pretty affordable.

 

[Cole Trickle]

Well the truck is now on the ground.....

Got the wheel bearings,disks and shocks installed on tuesday after work.

 

[Cole Trickle]

I then moved on to the calipers and break pads....

Once that was done I was able to lower her down to see the stance. The rims are being swapped out ASAP for different offsets. The aftermarket spindel pushes the wheels .75" out board on both sides so thats why the front tires look farther out.

 

[69GS]

:thumbsupLooks really good. I'll have to send you some pics of my 72 SB C10

 

[Cole Trickle]

Lastly.....A little sneak peak of the bling

20x10's in the rear and 20x8.5 in the front....now its time to find some tires:skull

 

[Cole Trickle]

:thumbsupLooks really good. I'll have to send you some pics of my 72 SB C10

thanks.....

I would love to see some pics. Are you a member on the 67-72 truck forums?

 

[djunkie]

Truck looks good Brandin. I've always wanted an older Chevy like that. Looks like I may end up with this '87 from the guy on PB.com. I was gonna put money into my Ranger but decided this was a better idea. A little more than I wanted to spend but the truck is clean and it pretty much done. Hell I'm kinda wondering if its gonna be wise to use it as my work truck.

 

[Cole Trickle]

Looks good :thumbsup

All it needs now is hydraulics

lol....Do you know a guy that could hook it up?

I can provide protection and entertainment for your services:skull

 

[Cole Trickle]

Truck looks good Brandin. I've always wanted an older Chevy like that. Looks like I may end up with this '87 from the guy on PB.com. I was gonna put money into my Ranger but decided this was a better idea. A little more than I wanted to spend but the truck is clean and it pretty much done. Hell I'm kinda wondering if its gonna be wise to use it as my work truck.

Thats a nice looking square body...

Only thing it really needs is to dump the rear exhaust after the axel and change out the mirrors.

Its probably a little too nice for a driver but it will be fun for us to hot rod it around and tinker with it.:skull