1962 Chevy C-20 Fleetside

[barneys66]

Bought through a contact in the Mustang Club, I bought this old long-wide over a year ago, but the seller has done some work for me before shipping

This is how it was when I agreed to buy it









Started off by getting a new screen...



Then, when pricing up the cost of an engine rebuild and bespoke 62 suspension parts, things got a bit more radical…!!

Donor 1977 C-20 (3/4te, complete with Goodwrench motor)







Mocking up





Some may say it’s sacrilegious, but most won’t spot it, plus it’ll benefit me with power steering, power brakes, coil springs, etc, etc.

Then, things started to go a bit pear-shaped with the builder’s home life, so updates were few and far between. All of a sudden though, I got a call to say it was sat at California Connection’s site in Ramona, ready to go.





I had hoped to get it lowered over there (notch and flip kit), but preparatory work has been done so shouldn’t be too difficult once time and money allows..

[barneys66]

In the early days it was a case of two steps forward, one step back as I kept finding more bits that hadn't been done properly (or at all)..


Rear plate mounted and illuminated


Shifter properly adjusted


Amber (chrome) bulbs for UK indicators


Modified bonnet catch as no return springs


Headers on, cabling re-routed


New blades to wipers


New battery


Started to pull wiring as horn / oil pressure / charging light / temp gauge all inoperative :mad:


Handbrake – real fooker of a job as Lokar universal cables anything but...


As 1-ton rear axle is a full-floated had to get the axles out and hubs off to access brakes. Then back plates had to be modified for Lokar cables, etc, etc.


Got bored after the handbrake so did some fun stuff to finish the day off ;

New rear-view mirror and sun visors


Faux-patina’d STP sticker from a new one I had kicking around :whistle:


Offered up my storage chest


Mexican blankets waiting patiently to go in


Exhaust next...

[barneys66]

Bought myself a pipe bender and various component parts and just went for it. I’m resigned to the fact that my skills are limited, so simple bends and clamps are the order of the day.


Managed to flatten the pipe on my first go, but swapping from the 2.5” to the 2” die produced better results, as the pipe (despite being 2.5”) sat in it perfectly and prevented the sides from expanding. Go figure.


Thanks to those who responded to my question about the positioning of the silencers – I put them towards the end and, more importantly, beyond the edge of the cab to avoid any droning. System made up as follows; headers > gasket-less ‘Header Buddies’ > bend > straight > chambered silencer > turndown.




Turned out okay and sounds pretty good too. Done.

[barneys66]

Truck continues to be fettled and also got new wheels and tyres (£60 off eBay and the tyres were nearly new!. I keep buying bits and pieces off the US Chevy Truck forum, incl a horn button and associated hardware which finished off the wheel nicely.

Now have deluxe heater controls, Custom pillar trims, etc ready to go on - more to follow as it happens!

[grifterkid]

That is just insanely glorious...!!! It's a shame it didn't stay as the factory intended but your ingenuity is just spot-on...

MORE...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[barneys66]

Feb 27, 2015 15:28:50 GMT grifterkid said:

That is just insanely glorious...!!! It's a shame it didn't stay as the factory intended but your ingenuity is just spot-on...

MORE...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks man - the 62s had a few one-year only parts surrounding the torsion bar front end, so this has given me the best of both worlds. Parts are now peanuts and it drives really nicely for a truck. Unless I open the hood or you really know what you're looking at underneath then you wouldn't know.

That said, plan is to dress the engine with period parts (air cleaner, manifolds, etc) to further complete the illusion..

Watch this space!

[charliecroker]

Love it, it really needs to be dropped on period alloys;-)

[barneys66]

Feb 27, 2015 18:00:29 GMT charliecroker said:

Love it, it really needs to be dropped on period alloys;-)

Thanks charlie - it's booked into a rod shop to have the bed mounted on a full frame (only on temp mounts at the mo..) and at the same time will have a tow hitch made up and the bumper brackets fabbed. Also, whilst the bed is off, plan is to flip the rear axle and notch the chassis for a significant drop. Front dropped springs and spindles will bring it down, but also considering Z'ing the front rails for a couple more inches without affecting the ride too much. This will have the added benefit of closing up the current gap between the rails and the inner wings..

Bit limited on wheels with it being an 8-lugger, so am going to lose the beauty rings and add period hubcaps - just need to drill wheels for suitable clips..!

[charliecroker]

That's gunna look hard as nails on the deck. Could redrill the hubs to get a few more options on wheels, would be worth going the extra mile although you can never ever go wrong with smoothies and beauty rings.

[Speedle]

Yet another awesome truck on the forums! She's a Beaut!

[barneys66]

Thanks guys - lots to do but getting there.

Easiest thing to do would be to convert to 6-lug 1/2 ton spec, but I kinda like the 8-lugs and it means I should be able to haul and tow pretty much anything! One thing I'd really love is a retro aluminium camper shell - not the full demountable things, just a nice lid. Just like this in fact, though would prefer bare aluminium;



I have one of the following caps ready to see if we can make them work with my wheels..

[barneys66]

Minor update - truck had a nasty habit of getting too hot in traffic, so at long last I've upgraded to an electric fan.

An original 1962 fan shroud was sourced a couple of years ago to help the engine-driven fan, but offering it up revealed that the chassis-swap plus larger-than-stock aluminium radiator meant it was unusable in its original state. So, fast-forward a couple of years and decided it really needed to be sorted, so after various recommendations I procured a 16" Volvo 740/760 electric fan off eBay, complete with box of relay tricks to aid the install, for £40 delivered.

Fan is not flat faced so a simple cradle was bent up from flat bar and mounted to the truck's vertical supports. The shroud was then offered up and found to cover the rad best laid on it's side - the unfortunate consequence being the mounting tabs now visible at the top but these will be sorted in time. Holes then needed cutting for the pipes and various reliefs were cut into the now bottom edge to clear. Top radiator bracket had to me moved over to suit.

As the engine fan would no longer fit, I thought the two-speed Volvo fan would be ideal, as I could use the low speed on constant, with the high-speed kicking in on the thermo switch if things got too hot. Ideally a two-stage switch would allow low speed to come on once the mechanical thermostat opened but maybe revisit that in time.

As for the wiring, the relay box (at an angle for clearance) made things nice and simple but I only realised after running the trigger wires into the cab that all they need to do is earth, not be powered! Oh well. What this means for now is it's not ignition controlled but I'll sort that in time, as it can run on for a while if hot as the thermo sender just sits in the top hose. Thermo dial can be seen just below the fused relays for the headlight harness. Low speed is linked to the switch on the dash, mounted in one of the radio holes. 30 amp supply and a good earth and she fired right up and it really does shift some air!

Please excuse the state of the engine bay - plans afoot to pull it all out for detailing, including hiding the wiring and fitting parts acquired to date; low mount for the alternator, original air-cleaner adapted for 4bbl, script valve covers, ram horns, etc, etc. I like my stuff to look in-period where possible, so the shroud's primary use is now to hide the plastic fan!