It has always been a dream to do a super clean C10 build and a few months ago I came across this one owner, 113,xxx mile clean 1966 C20. It was an original 327/TH400 truck with power brakes and power assist steering. Initially, I was going to fuel inject the 327 and just clean the truck up, add overdrive, and sell it to find a better candidate to chop up into what I really wanted. The engine and trans was rebuilt in 1990 and the trans had no forward gears (builder tore lip seal in forward drum) but the engine seemed to pur. I put a new intake manifold and HEI distributer with a Holley carb, and after idling for about 30 mins, the #7 piston disappeared into the oil pan; that was my sign to make this truck my own.









I decided to go with a gen IV 6.0 and 6l80e since I’ve never done a build with a 6l80e. The first thing I tackled was converting it from 8 to 5 lug for better wheel choices and more gear options. At first, I weighed just ditching the Eaton HO52 for a 14 Bolt SF and buying a disc conversion for the front in 8 lug, but cutting it to a short bed (and cost) pushed me to 5 lug since most big items could be sourced from the junkyard. To do the front, I found a donor 78 c10 which gave me engine crossmember, lower control arms, spindles, drag link, and power steering gearbox. Bolting all of that to the frame was very straightforward (if you subtract my time of re-drilling lca holes in the c20 crossmember and trying to set everything up to be properly aligned). If you want more details on why I chose to go to the 78 crossmember ask and I’ll go into detail more.











for the rear, I scored a 1965 C10 12 bolt rear end. I cleaned it up and used the axles from the same 78 C10 to convert it from 6 to 5 lug. Note that the 78 axles are 1” wider than the 66, but the axle bearings are still on the race diameter of the axle shaft and the 66 brake backing plates aligned the shoes with the drums.








Taking the truck from long bed to short bed was accomplished with a Brothers frame kit ($300) and removing 12” from in front of the wheel and 8” behind the wheel of the bed sides. I have never done metal work this big, so my backup plan is to buy new bedsides if it doesn’t work out.







To prep the engine bay, I welded/filled a total of 13 holes, leaving only the necessary ones and painted. I painted so I wouldn’t have to pull the engine when I paint the entire truck later on. I also changed from the low jump floor to a high jump for more transmission clearance and having a tighter carpet fit as compared to a custom modified hump.

 

cool truck!

 

My worthless $.02 cents is clean and paint the frame, undercarriage, engine bay and interior. Leave the patina‼️ Tig weld both ends of the bed, clean the welds and use whatever they use to make it rust quickly. Then enjoy, because then there’s no worries about door dings, polishing and waxing! We purchased an 05 Tacoma w/ DEAD white paint and then tried to faux patina it but the base sealer was a light gray and the primer under the white was a lighter gray. Many hours later starting on the top high spots with 280, 320, 400 & 500 to slowly blend then a concoction my wife came up with to make it rusty it just didn’t look right. We were going to have it shot in a semi clear. (I don’t have the painting tools or a booth to keep dust & bugs out of the clear.)
But no matter how much time I took you just can’t duplicate Mother Nature! If anything wash it good use Dawn and maroon Scotch Brite to lightly prep the paint and shot in a clear coat of your choice. Also you have some good skills there my friend, nice work‼️

Oh Edit, If you have paint on the exterior masking tape and towels with lacquer thinner will clean it off. Also I’m sure you are going to move the gas tank and new wood in the bed…

Again my worthless $.02 cents,

 

Thank you for the kind words! It will be patina/natural (with longbed scars and all) for a good amount of time while I get all of the bugs worked out of the swap. Ultimately, I want it painted and I’ll be doing it all myself to save a ton of money. I’ve always loved patina, but there’s nothing like a beautiful paint job and the satisfaction knowing you did it yourself! And yes to both

 

Man that’s a nice and clean truck? What part of the states it it from? Some reason I thought it was from Alaska.

 

It has been in and around Albuquerque it’s whole life!

 

0h, that explains the pine trees (Sandia mountains) and the bars on the window. Plus I just looked at the plate. Duh We moved out of ABQ when the first big snow storm shut down the city for almost a week. I miss the summers and the good Mexican food but not the crime and DWI’s / DUI’s.

 

Really cool build. Subscribed.

 

I made a little more progress on the truck. It now has a fully functional steering system. I went from manual to power using mostly 1978 c10 parts, the stock steering shaft, and a 3/4” round to 36 spline u-joint.



I also finished the fuel system. This won’t be permanent, I just bought all of this stuff when I was going to restore it a little. Before paint, it will get an under bed tank with the internal pump. I put the return fitting low so there is less noise and fume buildup from the turbulence of dropping from up high.



And last, the engine is bolted in for the last time, the harness is ran, and the headers are bolted on. The red valve cover is just temporary haha

 

Well, I lied, the engine had to come out again because I sold the 6.0 to a good friend and picked up an LS3. Other than that, the brake conversion and power steering is 100% complete (bled and greased). The circled picture is just showing off how level I drilled and mounted all of the steering.









I also recessed the shifter enough to put a normal shift boot on because of the cable mount.