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Kansas's 83 c10 dailydriver (8/23/2011 should I swap from 83-84 grille to an 85-88?)

Id just leave it as is and drive it for now. you have like 700 other trucks to pound on.
 
if it made its way to 4x4 it would be daily driver, 2.5 maybe 4" lift and 33-35inch at's. I woudlnt wheel this truck hard, if any. I have the white truck to abuse :haha: But i have grown fond of it, its a really nice truck, and cleaned up that bronze really shines in the sun, then again it had an eighth of grime on the hood. I still need to get the ac belt on and start seeing why they took it off, hope its not a compressor :(
 
Been working on the audio. Still looking for another headunit, may use current, but for now ive got a jl audio E4300 amp, the 6.5 brackets are sold out for the front, so currently the plan is:

Front
Need to decide 3.5 fronts (probably kicker KS series). I was thinking about using rod doors front kickpanel mounts but they are indefinitely sold out, so i may just run the 3.5s for now, although i did pick up a set of inifnity kappa 6.5s for 85 on clearence as well.

Rear
Picked up a set of infinity kappa 6x9s on clearance, new in box for 125 (usually 180 so SCORE!). Gonna mount using custom 6x9 cab corner speaker brackets.

Additional
Maybe a single sub (have a 12" p1 in the shop, boss at works giving me some brand of 10 he has, so idk the plan yet).

Amp puts out 75x4 at 2 ohms, and 150x2 at 4 ohms, so im going to run the 6x9s on 2 ohms or 75 a piece, and the sub at 150 4 ohm bridged. If i do get the front mounts id just run the 75x4 on all 4 corners, but the 3.5s dont need anything over headunit in my opinion. Just taking my time doing this ya know, do it once do it right.
 
progress. Took out rear cardboard and 4x10s, today installed 6x9 brackets, needed a spacer because of the larger magnets, used some schose spacers i had bought looking for flat ones but they were angled. Used some aluminum to attach the plastic spacers to the brackets, although it still wiggles, so im gonna have to play with it a little bit more to get it where i want it, but got speakers mounted. I tried using super glue to hold the nuts on the back side of the plastic, although they keep coming off, so im going to probably end up beinding either steel or aluminum and tapping it to 8-32 (thread of the allen heads) that way i can remove the speaker without removing the bracket.


Oh, if anyones interested, i got the steel brackets from a guy on 67-72 i can link you to, although they wont work with my 4" magnets, they will with 3.25 diameters.

infiniti 6x9s1.jpg

infiniti 6x9s2.jpg
 
Ive got the amp and more installed since, still need to finish everything behind the seat.



Ive been having problems with a "loose" shifter, and i figure the column was wearing out, or the linkage. Well, crawled under there, and the nut that holes the selector fork on was just about to fall off. Took the linkage off, and the nut is wore down to the point the threads are starting to peel :confused:

Im gonna have dad check out the shaft to see if it needs replacing, but it looks pretty worn. Who-ever "Rebuilt" this trans is a guy id like to meet, left the nut lose evidently and its been like this for a while. Just started acting up two days ago though. Driving the camaro for the time being but she needs more work than the truck, may have to break old blue back out for a while.








Im still thinking about throwing a solid axle under the front, i mean why not :haha::dunno:
 
before


behindspeakeroriginal.jpg



after

behindseatdriverinished.jpg
 
well boys i committed a sin....





I took it wheeling :woot:


Just some mild offroad down at the farm, down by the creek. Took it some areas is wore i was gonna bottom out. I changed out the rallies that had the nearly new 235/75/r15 cooper discoverer ast's on it (horrible tire never buy them, almost no footprint or traciton in the rain) for another set of rallies that didnt have as nice paint but had just about as new winston winner LT's on it in 235/75/r15, they have alot more aggressive tread and did awesome for the light offroading i did at the farm, hum a little at highway speeds but i dont mind. So far im impressed, and at my cost of free, no complaints :thumb:

Too bad i didnt get any shots of where i nearly got stuck, it was through a narrow path of trees my dad made for the tractor, and i dont think he takes the 76 4x4 (Yellow 3/4 ton woods truck) through there. The second time i nearly got bottomed out was through the other pathway that goes behind the second farm house, should have took more pics but it was just me and the girlfriend and i was just showing her the farm. Got real lucky because i was close to the limits of this truck and dont wanna tear it apart.

34394_448439778954_501603954_5164239_4430242_n.jpg


POSER SHOT!

69163_448017103954_501603954_5159202_1627162_n.jpg



Oh, and the amps all installed again with the speakers and everything's working perfectly, looks alot better. Need to finish some trim up and tuck some wires and it will be good! Gonna get some pics of it tomorrow as the girlfriend helped me put it back together tonight and it was too dark to grab any more pics.
 
I put 14k miles on this truck in one year :eek1:

I had the amp and nice speakers in there, but Im going to pull them out for some pioneers, not the cheapos but not the top of the line. Ac blows ice cold, had to get it recharged, thinking that the high pressure side might have a slight leak but held a pressure test for two hours. Im still wanting to lift the front at least, maybe the rear too, and add some bigger tires. I hear rene talk about the 6.2 diesel springs being a soft ride. Keep it 2wd of course, 88-98 c2500 light duty 6 lugs use the same bearings but may not have the same caliper location, need to do more research, then swap in a semi floater 14 bolt 6 lug with 3.73 or 4.10 gears and the rallys and tires from the k5 when I swap 3/4 tons in.

Some guys on the 67-72 board used the 88-98 4" spindles, but I only need to clear those 32x11.50s so im thinking just a little lift will surfice. I want to build it to look like a truck and be able to safetly pull a decent sized load on a rare occasion.

Gonna get one of those carpeted covers for the dash for now, was looking at the plastic caps they have and thought about buying one of those and gluing it on but want to read some more reviews on it first. I will eventually pull the seat and the stained carpet and maybe herculiner and then put in the base model style rubber floor mats and insulation. Just plan to clean the interior up a little bit. Also need to replace the bench seat cover, its starting to get some wear spots in it so thats on the list of stuff to replace.

And eventually i want to swap on some "dumbo" style mirrors like the k5, you cant see anything out of these little things!
 
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Coming home from work and hit the crest of a hill. Theres a treeline right before a field as the hill goes down right after a gravel road. As i crossed the treeline I saw bambi about 2 feet from the front right of my truck, quarter second later bam, i didnt even have time to hit the brakes or react. Everything sounded fine so I just keep driving home, then got a ride back by my mom a couple minutes later since I live just down the road and theres nowhere good in there to pull over (2 lane blacktop very hilly). Lost both headlights, grille, lower facia, Inner and outer fender. Nothing under the hood seems damaged, condenser may have went but Im not sure yet. Im still a little shooken up. Hood wont open. Glad I wasnt in the camaro, and glad the deer didnt fly over my hood or into the opposite lane into someones car.

83c10deer2.jpg


83c10deer.jpg
 
Just waxed mine and painted the ralley's black. Sucks about the front end of yours...that's a lot of damage!

022-1.jpg


Rene
 
Your gmc looks good! Digging the black rallies. Thought about painting a set black and wrapping them in the 32x11.50s from the k5 when I lift it and bigger tires, and of course a regear.

I've already found a front clip off an 84, also has a tight steering column I'm gonna take for my k5. And some other stuff off it.
 
newfrontclip.jpg


Had this in the yard by 6pm sunday night, gonna take it apart in the morning and get it ready for paint, taking it to a local guy to have the fender and lower facia somewhat color matched, anything will look better than red. I think im gonna put an 85-88 grille in instead of the 83-84 because I think it looks better, and I need a replacement grille anyways since the new ones cracked too.
 
frontendremoving.jpg


Should have the core support swapped out tomorrow. Started classes monday. Probably going to end up ordering a goodmark fender, found rot in the 84's fender that I had to swap on, and dont feel like paying 150 to paint a rusting fender. That, or may just run the red fender for now, who knows.

In other news, should I keep the 83-84 style front which im not quite fond of, or swap it to an 85-88 style since I need a new grille anyways? I like the newer style like what I have on my k5, and planned to do it, and now the opportunity is here, I dont have an emblem though, but can order everything else.
 

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