1980 Chevy C-10 SWB short bed stepside pickup truck - professionally restored

Description for Chevrolet C-10 1980

1980 Chevrolet C-10 shortbed stepside pickup truck This truck started life as a low/zero option truck with a six cylinder engine and 4 speed manual transmission with granny gear. I got the truck in November 2011. and it was bone stock and original. except for one repaint at some point in its life. My goal was to turn the truck into a reliable daily driver. Here is a list of the work that was done. All mechanical work was professionally done by Bruce's Rod Shop in Spring Texas during the early part of 2013. Engine The original 250 cid straight six was replaced with a GM Performance Parts 350 HO engine from Jegs. Here are the details on this motor. copied straight from the Jeg's website. The Chevrolet Performance 350ci/330HP HO Turn Key Engine is completely dressed and ready to rumble. Starting with the 350 HO Base. it also has a Holley 670 CFM vacuum secondary carburetor. aluminum dual plane intake manifold. GM HEI distributor. torsional damper. starter. front accessory kit. fuel pump. plug wires and a flexplate for automatic transmissions. It eliminates the guesswork when sliding one of these between the frame rails of your favorite street rod or muscle car! Specifications: • 330 HP @ 5000 RPM • 380 ft/lbs torque @ 3800 RPM • 9. 1:1 Compression Ratio • Cast Iron 4-Bolt Block with One-Piece Rear Main Seal • Nodular Cast Iron Crankshaft • Cast Aluminum Pistons • PM Steel Connecting Rods • Cast Iron Vortec 64cc Cylinder Heads (1. 94'' Int/1. 50" Exh valves • Passenger Side Dipstick • Dual Pattern Cam (Lift: . 435'' Int/. 460'' Exh. Duration @ . 050": 212° Int/222° Exh) • 1. 5 Ratio Rocker Arms • Recommended 92 Octane • Recommended Maximum RPM: 5500 • GM Warranty I also bought the optional serpentine belt kit for the motor. New aluminum radiator installed. Truck runs cool even with the AC on in the middle of summer. After driving the truck for a few months. I decided that I wasn't in love with the Holley carb that came with the "turn key" package from GM Performance Parts. I had it replaced with a 600 CFM Edelbrock Performer Series carb with electric choke. I think the truck works much better with this carb in normal. daily driving situations. Air Conditioning I had Bruce's install a Vintage Air Gen IV system in the truck. which works great even on the hottest Houston days! Transmission The original 4 speed granny gear transmission was replaced with a 700R4 4 speed automatic transmission with overdrive. The transmission came from Phoenix Transmissions in Weatherford. Texas and was installed by Bruce's Rod Shop. Since the truck originally had a manual transmission. I needed to do something about an automatic shifter. I found a good automatic transmission tilt steering column on Ebay. and had Bruce's install it for me. Rear end The truck came with a 12 bolt rear end. open (non-posi) and 2. 73 gears. I had Pyle Brothers in Baytown rebuild the rear end with 3. 73 gears and an Eaton positraction unit. Bruce installed this. and also replaced the original two-piece driveshaft setup with a new. one piece driveshaft. Exhaust The exhaust was replaced with a set of Sanderson headers that were coated by Jet Hot Ceramic Coatings. The dual exhausts flow through a set of Flowmaster mufflers. Truck has a nice healthy sound. but is not too annoying. I think it sounds just right. Suspension The front end was completely rebuilt. Ball joints. tie rods. idler arm. bushing. etc. Installed a front anti-sway bar. as the truck did not come with one from the factory. New shocks. brakes done. The truck had "helper" springs in the rear leaf spring pack that we removed. The front springs were replaced with springs meant for a big block truck in order to raise the front of the truck to be more level with the rear. I am not a fan of "slammed" trucks. I was going for more of a "pre-runner" look. However. nothing that I did would keep you from making the changes needed to drop it as low as you want. Lay frame. if it turns your crank! Frame is clean. No damage. and no rust. Wheels and tires The truck originally had white wheels that were 15x7 I believe. I like ralley wheels. and found a guy on Craigslist that had a set of 15x8 truck ralleys that was taken off a truck new in the mid-1980's. I used these. with a new set of BF Goodrich Rugged Terrain tires. size is 31x10. 5x15. Interior & Electrical The carpet was replaced. and the floor was lined with Dynamat for sound insulation and I also used a a heat insulation product from Lowe's -- kind of a foil bubble wrap thing. This combination works great. and makes driving the truck muck more enjoyable. The seat is still covered in the original material. Has a small split where the driver sits. I installed an aftermarket headliner from LMC truck. I insulated the roof before installing. I have the original sun visors. but never got around to installing them. The previous owner bought a wood steering wheel from LMC truck. and I like it. I installed a Kenwood Excelon KDC-X796. You can read the specs. but it has Bluetooth and sounds great. I found a guy on the Internet that makes a speaker bracket for behind the seat. so I used that and a pair of Polk 6x9 speakers. Way better than the stock AM radio! I replaced the stock "idiot light" dash gauges with "real" factory gauges. including a tachometer. Entire truck was rewired by Bruce's using a kit from American Autowire. New door panels from LMC truck. Body I haven't really done anything with the body. it is as I got it. This is where you get to spend some time and money if you want. The body is in really good shape. just a few small dings. The only rust is a spot on the passenger rear cab corner. Floors are great. Door sills are great. Cowl is great. When you go to paint it. there should not be too much "repair" work to do. Just depends on how perfect you want it to be. Truck seems to have had maybe three different styles of side view mirrors on it. and has the holes to show for it. This will require some minor work to fill them prior to paint. I used metallic AC duct tape! Original wood bed floor is still in there. It's not in terrible shape. works find for me. But if you do a nice paint job. you will probably want to do a nice new wood bed. Front windshield has one small rock chip in it. the rest of the glass is good. Original gas tank. I think the previous owner replaced the bumpers. The grill emblems for the 1980 model are hard to find. It was a one year only item. and they are not reproduced. I had a guy make me a custom one out of a red piece of Lexan. He made me a smoke grey one too. you can have if you want.