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71 C20 gets a 5.3

Decided to work on something other then the engine so I don't loose motivation. I swapped in a bigger bore clutch master cylinder to shorten up the pedal travel a little. Ended up having to make a new beefier push rod to get it working. Then I ran the flat bar I picked up in the bed to cover the cracks. Somewhere in there I mounted the spare tire I the bedside too. One of Kerts wingnuts and some gusseting, still needs a little more to prevent it from can opening the bedside.

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Started fixin the weird double bumper thing. Pulled them both off tossed the chrome one and started raising the other. I got as far as hacking the old hangers off and relocating the license plate. Still a lot of grinding and filling to go. I am going to tie it into the bottom of te boxes as well, they need the support.

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Yeah I needed to get some motivation back. I had a huge pile of parts to put in too. Cpp arms, new shocks, springs and brake lines...

I plan on running a gas tank back there eventually to get a little more space in the cab. I am 6'2" so if the seat could go back 2 or 3" it would make it a lot more comfortable.
 
Little bit of progress but nothing picture worthy. Pulled the wiring harness and picked up a harness from PSI. I talked to a buddy of mine who ran a hot rod shop for years and he said they arent really designed to go in and out especially after 10 years. The wires will crack inside the insulation and cause hell. Sounds kinda like what I have been dealing with....

I also grabbed some 2" .25 wall square tube to redo the rear bumper. The more I looked at it the more I hated the look. Going to do 2" square tube center section and some round tube out to the sides.

Also picked up a disc brake 14ff, 3.73's, an open carrier and the perches already ground off (best part). If I am going to redo the brake lines may as well swap in the axle I want. Do it once and not have to bleed them multiple times.
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Little bit of progress but nothing picture worthy. Pulled the wiring harness and picked up a harness from PSI. I talked to a buddy of mine who ran a hot rod shop for years and he said they arent really designed to go in and out especially after 10 years. The wires will crack inside the insulation and cause hell. Sounds kinda like what I have been dealing with....

I also grabbed some 2" .25 wall square tube to redo the rear bumper. The more I looked at it the more I hated the look. Going to do 2" square tube center section and some round tube out to the sides.

Also picked up a disc brake 14ff, 3.73's, an open carrier and the perches already ground off (best part). If I am going to redo the brake lines may as well swap in the axle I want. Do it once and not have to bleed them multiple times.
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Other than the weight penalty, is there any other reason why more guys don't swap 14b's into there street trucks?
I guess making the front bolt pattern match would be difficult but yours might be 8 lug already cuz it's a 20. But on most of the c10 builds I've seen they usually go 12 bolt or 9". I guess my time in the 4x4 side has me lean towards 14 bolts all day.
 
It's the 8 lug thing. The wheel choices are pretty slim and you have to convert the front which isn't that hard. Mine is already 8 lug though so I want the beef and the ease of adding a traction aid.
 
Yep, C20 gets 8 lug stuff. But I ditched that and the 6 lug stuff I started with, just for the 5 lug wheel choices :D You however, probably started with that funky Eaton rear end right lol, so the 14b sounds like the perfect swap.

I threw a 12b together for mine. Doubt I'll have enough power to break it.

I've been looking at how far I can move the seats back, now that my tank is gone. I don't really see them going back much without affecting the recline A LOT. I'm probably going to keep the bucket seats in the stock position and throw a speaker box back there. Do the bench seats sit straighter?

Also, look into the steering column mod. (or whatever it's called) Notch the top of the column where it rests in the dash. Slide column forward and put reverse switch on other side of firewall. You gain about 3" with the steering wheel moved forward now. I plan to do this once I get my tilt column in. :D (you don't even have a reverse switch :waytogo:)
 
It's a Dana 60 rear and it's all yours if you want it Dan. The 14ff was a good deal for a disced axle so I jumped on it I am comfortable working on them too so when I decide I want a limited slip I can do it myself.

I have to look into that column mod, eventually mine will get a tilt column but it doesn't really bother me how it is now. The bench seat I have doesn't recline, so I chopped it up and re mounted it how I like. It coul probably go back another inch before it hits the cab
 
After a stupid amount of time thrown at it, turns out it was a really clogged cat. That ball is a chunk of the honey comb that just fell out. Feels pretty damn good to be done with all that
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Man...shouldn't that have tripped a few codes?


I hear you about the clogged cats though. Gutted my DD's 2nd cat. I had an exhaust rattle and could not figure it out completely until I just decided to get new seals and pop the cat off. Sure enough, rattling cat guts. Smashed them out and now it runs 100% better. Luckily for me for some reason this thing doesn't have an O2 sensor after the second cat.
 
It would only throw a code if I was running the second o2 sensor I think.

I did the column mod k85 octane was talking about, pushed the steering wheel about 3" in. The wheel sits a little low but is a lot more comfortable to drive. With a tilt wheel it would be sweet. If you search for column mod on 67-72 you can find some write ups on it, it's pretty easy to do
Before
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After
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yep, that's what I'm looking forward to doing. (after engine install and all that other necessary stuff) :D
 
Hey NorCal, can you snap a picture that shows how close your engine is to the firewall? I installed mine and even with sliding mounts, it sure seems far away. I'm considering re-drilling the frame holes and moving it back 3". I seem to have a LOT of room back there.
 
Here's a picture of mine. Also pictured is the position of the engine mounts. They are in the factory V8 holes. I can move them back to the factory I6 holes but the bottom one (not in picture) will need to be drilled. I hope the spacing is the same between holes. This will probably move it back ~3" which it looks like I have that space. EDIT: The bolt hole spacing is the same and I've got plenty of room to move it back. :D







 

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