70 C-20 4x4 Suburban Father/Son project

[1leglance]

Had a good time working with my son while we changed out the Edelbrock carb that was on the rig

Over to this craigslist Holley Off Road Avenger

The change over gave me a change to hook up a vacuum gauge and teach about how an engine makes vacuum & boost through the 4 stroke cycle and then to use the timing light to talk more about the 4 stroke cycle.

It is great how on these older engines you can actually see & understand how things work..
Of course since he is part of the youtube gen set I included some cool old movies
1935 movie on gasoline
http://www.archive.org/details/DowntheG1935

1937 Free Air (how air & fuel mix)
http://www.archive.org/details/FreeAir1937

 

[mkitchen]

Note to Lance

Having a Chevy, it is a good thing that you have a parts store that you can bicycle to. Just Kidding!
Having a relic opens all the doors for the old ribs that went with the model. Chevy vs Dodge vs Ford. Though for the life of me, I can't think of anything bad to say about Fords. Imagine that.
Mikey

 

[tip]

I like the carb swap, I'll be interested to hear how the new Holley performs. Great you're doing it with your son, too!

 

[1leglance]

thanks guys..
don't get me started on the old brand bashing as my cousin & uncle are died in the wool blue oval folks and I started life all about Mopar then moved in the Chevy camp...of course I have owned a ton of rigs over the years but still think of myself as a Chevy guy

I need to change plugs & jet the carb....2 more chances to do some teaching that will be fun.
Now I just have to remember all the "reading" of a plug to figure out the heat range I need.

 

[1leglance]

Plenty more little stuff to come plus an epic story of breakdown & repair that consumed 24 long hours in Yuma
But for now I thought you guys would get a kick out of my new plate that honors my son who is almost completed his Eagle Scout rank and Chevy's safety mindset in 1970

And I added some tall, skinny BFG Muds 255/85/16's...I like'em

 

[Rot Box]

Oh dang.... Its really coming together now :drool:

The T/A should be a huge improvement over the Edelbrock (which isn't hard to beat lol). If that doesn't work there's always the tried and true quadrajet. I love the simplicity of a good running carburetor

 

[pulltilbroke]

Awesome rig man!!! Make me wish I hadn't sold the rusty 71 burb I had. About the rear axle everyone has been right about the HO52/72 there tough as nails but I don't think the 17 spline axles are really a weak point a few diesel pullers have swapped em in and you will strip the ring gear before you tear anything else up in those but with a smally and a th350 you wont even think of tearing it up. The beauty of the HO72 is the load bolt to reduce ring gear deflection. It will be on the drivers side of the punkin. I believe 70 was the first year Chevy used an open knuckle 44 and the 205 in previous years they used a D44 5f which was closed knuckle and a Rockwell t221

I've always had a soft spot for 60-72 trucks, the old man had a bunch and I have followed in his footsteps. I currently own 2 of em a 67 C20 and a 60 K10 and have owned a total of 9 of em. the 67-72s were the best looking trucks EVER built, with the 60-66s coming in a close 2nd IMO

 

[Hill Bill E.]

Looking Good Lance!

Don't find many up this way that aren't rusted out.

 

[goin camping]

That suburban is looking better and better.

As a fellow desert dweller I am curious why you opted for the skinny mud tires.

 

[mkitchen]

Kind of wondering the same thing?

I had mud/snows on my Tacoma but they did not last long enough for me. I am now running BFG's and I am very happy with them and that is what I put on the 71. I now have 315/75 16" and I like them a lot. Though I really don't drive the 71 that often and I could have used the M/S since I will probably replace these from old age instead on wear. I only have 265/75 on the Tacoma and it is kind of nice having the taller tires on the 71. With it I can just go over stuff instead of looking for routes around things. Now, that is a good thing since the 71 has manual steering and it does not like to go around things very well.

Lance, I am still thinking about putting together some kind of Relic Run for us folks in Arizona. So give some thought to what would be an interesting route for a three or four day run. It sounds like you have a very good grasp of AZ routes. Mark in Chino Valley is another fellow that I want to hit up about some ideas.
Mikey

 

[1leglance]

Huge thanks on the air cleaner info and I want to do something about that very soon.

On the tires I wanted tall & skinny, 255/85/16's and Discount Tire by my house was willing to do a web price match of $180ea and since that size only comes in a BFG M/T (easy to find that is) then that is what I went with.
I really don't want to lift this rig any more than it is as now I can get in & out easily but as an amputee that would change if I go any taller. But there is a part of me that still want to figure out how to cram in the military 37's

I am about to start in some a new batch of mod's...aux battery tray, seats, and much more...watch for info soon

 

[colodak]

you were looking for a cheap welder, do you have a harbor freight nearby? last time I was in there, they had some relatively cheap (relative being the word here) welders that would probably work for your use.

The other thought I have, since you already redid part of the wood floor, coat it with bedliner (DIY or Professional) to help with the random moisture issues mentioned earlier.

 

[1leglance]

I am a bit behind on updates due to family, work and all that getting in the way but I will now catch up on the latest happenings...

And this part is called "Father gets to hang out in Yuma", or "I love old rigs because I can actually fix them"

So a fellow on the 67-72chevytrucks.com forum from San Diego posted up that he was tearing down a old burb to make a crew cab truck, and since Tom is such a cool guy he agreed to let me drive from Phoenix and raid a bunch of parts from him.
Roof Rack
Aux tanks
Original GM grill guard
bumper to go with it

And a bunch of little things I didn't get a pic of like 2 Spot lights for the A pillars, hand throttle, manual choke, hand e-brake (remember I am an amputee so the foot one sucks) and other little bits.

Well on the way back from San Diego to Phoenix I notched that the rig was slower to crank over at each gas stop and at Yuma the battery acted too low to crank her over.
Now my first thought as I am looking around the gas station for someone to give me a jump start is that I have been running alot of aux stuff over the last 24hrs like a laptop, ham radio, cell phone and such and maybe I just over did what the original 61amp alt could keep up with.

Well I get a jump start from a very nice older guy and get about 2 miles down the highway (unplugged all the aux power draws) when it dies on the road.
When I pop the hood the battery is hot and hissing...not good.
I remember an O'reilys autoparts just back a bit (ended up being a 2 mile walk) and head back to get a battery so I can get off the highway and figure things out.
A great older guy at the parts place takes a break to give me a ride and I slap the battery in but no go.

Now one thing I really like about older rigs is how simple they are. Air, Fuel, Spark....that is it. I have air, I can see fuel through the clear filter and when I pull a plug and do the "hold it near metal test" using my remote starter switch I see I got no spark.

Now you can see at the back of this pic that I have a Mallory distributor and what you can't see is the big red Mallory box on the inner fender well.

Ok so now I call a new buddy Nick from the chevy forum (and now he is here on expo) on a Sunday afternoon to pick his brain. We agree it must be that the external voltage reg went out which let the alt fry the electronic ign parts.

So now it is getting dark and I have 45min to get back 2 miles to O'rielys...as I (remember I am the 1 legged guy) start jogging down the frontage road I see a couple in a nice CJ5 jeep and wave them down, quick explanation to them and we are zooming off to get parts.

I buy a stock HEI setup, wires and figure I will drop in the distrib, get off the highway and grab a hotel for the night in order to replace the alt the next day.
The jeep owner Randy was cool enough to grab his Chevy 4x4 and strap tow me through the median and back to his house (less than 2 miles) AND give me access to his garage to do the repairs that night. Super cool Yuma Jeep owner!

After dropping in the distrib, changing the wires and a bit of tuning by ear I was running! And managed to get 2 miles back down the highway to the Micro-tel Hotel next to O'riely's.
Pizza, shower and checking the chevy forum for info on the alt change out rounded out my evening.

 

[1leglance]

The next morning I hit the O'riely's and once again was happy to own a Chevy 350 as they are pretty much the most common motor out there.

I ditched the original burnt up 61amp alt for a replacement which they actually had in stock.

Put in another external voltage reg....I had read about the alternator upgrade but since they had the original parts in stock I wanted to just get back on the road.

Then since had drained the battery tuning/starting the rig I ask them to give it a top off charge. Of course this meant I had more time to kill so I replaced the belts...hey I was in there anyway doing the alt.

And then figured why not replace the spark plugs. I took out the AC 44TS and went with the 45TS I had read about on the forum...I think I am still a bit off on plugs. The nice thing was no plug looked oil fouled which makes me think the story about this being a recent crate motor is true. I also had the pleasure of remembering an old trick for reaching the back plugs which can be a pain. Just pull the PVC hose and use that.

Now my rig has no lift but I am running 33in tires and I ain't that tall. So I grabbed my Pelican tool case and put it to use. And this is why as much as I love the look of the Alum expedition cases I will more than likely stick to my Pelicans.

The truck ran great coming home, has run great since. I returned the alt & extern volt reg and upgraded to a 94amp alt from a trans am and all seems well in the world.
Well I still need to jet down the Holley and change plug temps as I think I am too rich.

I am looking forward to getting more work done soon...big thanks to Tom for the parts which my son was super jazzed to see. Of the big stuff what we don't use will become welding practice and go into other parts. The spot lights are going to be great!

 

[1leglance]

My wife just laughed at me when I called and said I was broken down and staying in Yuma to fix it. No worries about finding a shop or dealer.
After I got home 24hrs later than planned I was talking with my son. We talked about mechanical simplicity, having basic knowledge and knowing your resources (like my new buddy Nick and the forums).
Sure my rig is old and not pretty (yet), but it is paid for and I was able to fix it myself. And could have done so deep in Mexico too I bet.
Anyway watch for more soon as I need to get some seats installed, gut the inside and keep having fun as a family.