Sommaire pour Summer 2021 de C10 Builder's Guide

WITH ANY long lasting, fully custom project truck, there comes a point in every owner’s life where a crossroad between form and function come into play. Either keep it rugged and drive it every day, or make it pristine and pack it away. A lot of us start out with a goal in mind to drive our trucks as much as humanly possible. But after a few mishaps on the road or a couple close calls by careless drivers distracted on their cell phones, any classic truck owner will understandably grow evermore paranoid with each and every turn of the key. With Project Raven, we reached a point of no return on an otherwise turnkey daily driver. The FiTech fuel injected crate 350 rumbles with intent, and the plush TMI…

JOE YEZZI OF SQUAREBODY SYNDICATE IS AN interesting guy. There’s the obvious obsession with 1973-1987 Chevrolet trucks (specifically ‘73s), as well as his desire to put hidden cameras inside of magnetic monkeys (It’s a long story, but definitely ask him sometime). And so when he gets an idea to do something different, he does it. And sometimes that thing is really outside the box. Take this truck, for example. When he bought the crew-cab long bed square he knew that he wanted to use it for towing. And really, what better engine is there to put into a truck for that than a Cummins diesel? Then there was the length. That was a long tow pig, and he wanted to cut it down a bit. So he took it to…

RESCHEDULED BECAUSE OF CONCERNS OVER the coronavirus, the NSRA Southeast Street Rod Nationals came back strong with more than a thousand colorful vehicles, balmy Florida weather and enough automotive fun to keep attendees busy throughout the three-day weekend. The marvelous December temperatures in the low 70s attracted an enthusiastic crowd, all of whom were eager to resume enjoying the hobby. The event is always appreciated by the active northern contingent who makes the annual pilgrimage to the Sunshine State. Rather than languish in snow-covered garages, their classic rides joined the locals on display at the spacious facilities of the Florida State Fairgrounds, a perfect location with loads of indoor and outdoor display space. The annual event attracts pre-1990 specialty vehicles along with a large contingent of classics from the ’50s and…

LOWERING COMPONENTS ON the market cater to different types of C10 owners. For those looking to simply lower the ride height of their truck, the amount of quality static drop components is plentiful. For the other segment of builders who want the aggressive stance but still long to achieve the added benefit of performance handling, specialty parts are also readily available. QA1’s front and rear coilover conversion kits have been painstakingly designed to offer the best of both worlds of suspension ride height and track-proven handling prowess. If that wasn’t enough, these kits also offer plenty of adjustability to better harness and promote maximum performance for many individual suspension needs. The single or double adjustable coilover shocks featured in the kits offer customizable valving to further meet the unique needs…

’63-’72 C10 Rear Coilover Conversion PERFORMANCE ONLINE’S ’63-’72 CHEVY C10 TRUCK REAR coilover conversion kit uses Aldan American Phantom Series coilovers, single adjustable coilovers that deliver superior handling and ride quality for a drastic improvement over stock suspension. They’re serviceable and rebuildable, too. High tensile coil springs are designed as a direct fit into Performance Online’s upper coilover shock mounts. Ride-height adjustability lowers the vehicle 5-6 inches lower than stock height. Great for street applications. The lower shock rear location brackets bolt onto the rear of the lower trailing arms, on the back side of the rearend. The upper brackets bolt into the factory-style reinforced upper shock mounting locations. The kit can be installed using only basic hand tools. There’s no cutting or welding needed. It’s 100% made in the…

COME ON, ADMIT IT. WHEN YOU SEE OR HEAR “STREET Rod Nationals,” you think of a bunch of old men sitting around with their ’30s and ’40s street rods. This may have been accurate at one point—but not any longer since organizers opened up the show to include vehicles 25 years or older. That changed everything. The vibrant scene at this year’s 37th Mid-America Street Rod Nationals in Springfield, Missouri, included a good mix of young and old—as in cars and people. A great mix of trucks was there, and just about every make and model was represented. After bouncing around in its early years, the show landed firmly in the heart of the Ozarks at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. It’s normally held on Memorial Day weekend, but COVID-19 changed…

NOTHING SETS OFF AN EARLY SQUAREBODY more than a complete set of body side moldings. A few different manufacturers make this molding, and we have used just about all it. However, we have found that the molding Mar-K manufactures are of the best quality, resulting in the best overall fit and finish. Although offered in individual pieces, we opted to get the complete upper and lower sets with clips. Mar-K moldings are made from thicker-gauge US aluminum and finished off with black or 1977-only gold accent stripes and are then bright anodized for protection and a shiny finish. Although we are building a ’77 C10, we decided on the black accents as they fit with the build a little better. If your truck had this molding from the factory, the…

THERE’S NO DENYING THAT A slammed custom C10 is super cool looking at local truck shows and cruise-ins, but looks can only get you so far in this speed-hungry community. That’s why we offer tech tips like these to help you gain an edge up on your custom car rivals. Sometimes you just have to spend money on upgrades that don’t add to the overall look of the truck. It may not add value to the outside appearance, but when you pop the hood or smash the gas pedal, you realize it was money well spent. This month’s recommendation is a set of drive pulleys for your LS based engine. This upgrade will dramatically change the appearance and performance of your engine, and it’s something we think we can handle…

IF YOU’VE NEVER ATTENDED SLAMFEST, YOU’RE missing out on one of the longest-running shows in the country! Being in its 29th year, Slamfest has been around longer than most of us have even been driving. Hell, Slamfest is older than some of the new generation coming up in the scene. The Mini Madness crew is who you can thank for all these years of awesome shows, and this year’s fest was no different. Mini Madness successfully continued the tradition, even battling the adversity that is 2020 and making some changes to the way Slamfest was run this year. The perfect October weather at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa was warm, gorgeous and inviting, and it welcomed in all the crazy cool rides from all over the country. The show…

YOU USUALLY only get one shot at something great, so when it comes along, grab it! In the case of this rather rare ’76 GMC Sierra, Ronnie Wetch got not one, but two chances at it. He sold it the first time he owned it, but more about that later … Now, for those not in the know, this truck, especially in factory condition, is important because it’s a limited package GMC pickup known as the Impact edition. These were first released to the public in 1976, which was an exciting time because buyers were able to custom order their truck with multiple wheelbase options, as well as interior, wheel and other premium appearance packages to signify it being an Impact model. Long story short, these don’t come up for…

YOU MIGHT be thinking to yourself, “That’s one of the most amazing C50s I’ve ever seen!” But you’d be wrong. Surprisingly, it would be more accurate to say, “That’s one of the most amazing C10s I’ve ever seen!” Say what? Yeah, because although 100 out of 100 truck enthusiasts would instantly recognize Israel Espinoza’s Chevy as a C50, it’s actually a ’72 C10 in C50 clothing. As a custom fab shop owner of the Centavo Shop in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Israel is used to building unique rides, both for himself and for clients in and around his hometown. And, as a member of the Chevroleteros Ags., Mexico, car and truck club, Israel definitely has an image to uphold. Building a truck that looked like everyone else’s just wasn’t going to cut…

WE ALL HAVE THAT ONE uncle who is just weird, who we refuse to be left alone with in the same room. But we also all have that cool uncle who was years ahead of us with neat things and great ideas. For Justin Coffman of Fishers, Indiana, his cool uncle was Gary. Gary had tons of cars and trucks at a shop that Justin would visit. “I remember in the very back behind the shop was this white thing that was just rotting away,” Justin says. “Something about it would always just intrigue me.” Gary kept telling Justin that he was going to eventually get to it and build it up nice, but year after year the dilapidated truck just sat there in misery. One day, Gary approached his…

THE HISTORY OF SNOOKI IS A tale of trials and tribulations that started from the very beginning, and up until now, that only tells half of the story. Almost everyone has seen the incredible artwork Josh Rowan creates at Rowan Conceptz, and if you haven’t, we implore you to head online and check it out. To Josh’s friends and family, it was no surprise that when he finally decided to start building a custom truck inspired by his artwork, it would be over the top to say the least. While living in Miami, Josh got a phone call from his dad asking if he could afford to feed a big-block Chevy a high-octane diet on a regular basis. Josh thought to himself, “There is no way I can afford that…

JASON TORCHIA ISN’T AFRAID OF A little attention. In fact, when he’s behind the wheel of his ’66 Chevy C10, all eyes are on him. And it’s not hard to see why — how often do you see a laid-out classic sporting copious amounts of big bass-boat gold flake? It took Jason about five years to get his truck to the point you see here, and by his own admission, it wasn’t easy. But Jason was no stranger to custom trucks, having built a bodied, show winning ’99 F-150 a few years ago, among many others. Lots of nights and weekends went into this latest build, and things didn’t always go as planned. Between waiting for parts to show up on his doorstep, which caused its own delays, to changing…

SOME OF US COME into the custom truck scene by choice. Others, like Halen Ashley of White House, Tennessee, are raised in it, and have all things automotive deeply engrained in their DNA. Halen is currently a high school student working her way through homework at a very trying and uncertain time in history, but her upbringing has given her a sense of grounding that has allowed her to keep on truckin’ through it all. Back when Halen was just 7 years old, her dad, Bryan, bought her something most kids her age probably couldn’t imagine receiving. It wasn’t a Playstation or some other mind-numbing toy, but it was a truck. A real truck. THIS truck shown here—a 1970 Chevy C10. Wow. Talk about a great gift! Now, the truck…

IN 2017, RANDALL ROBERTSON, founder of Rtech Fabrication in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, debuted a Chevy truck that kind of changed everything. Named The Duke—an homage to John Wayne—the Cummins-powered ’72 crew cab with the stubby nose is big, bold, uniquely stylish, and has tons of swagger. If a truck could single handedly stop a fistfight in a saloon or steal your girl, The Duke would be the one to do it. “He’d just finished The Duke and it was at SEMA,” recalls Ramiro Rodriguez, who commissioned Randall to build another four-door a year or so prior. “Randall invited my brother and me to go see The Duke. Man, it’s a beautiful truck. “Well about a week later, Randall forwards this photo to me,” he continues. Someone Photoshopped The Duke as…

MAYBE you’ve just started an LS engine project for your C10 given the extra down time we’ve all experienced recently, or perhaps you’ve had an engine build already in progress. Whatever category you fall into, your project can definitely benefit from some of these new products designed specifically for LS engine builds and swaps. Some are meant to improve the visual appeal of the engine while others are designed solely to produce breakneck speed and pure gains in power. If you’re looking to add either of those qualities (hopefully both) to your LS engine swap, start planning the next phase(s) of your project here. With the LS platform being such a reliable and powerful addition to classic truck models, as well as slick swap into more modern pickups, the wide…