When our pal Don Straley first picked up this 1965 Chevrolet C10 back in 1988, the stock suspension, drum brakes, and manual steering box were perfectly fine, given the utilitarian nature of the truck's duties. When he handed the truck down to his grandson, Vince Venturelli, a few years back, it was a different story. Vinnie was a young guy with a limited budget and a new family, so fixing up a vintage truck wasn't one of his priorities, but that didn't stop him (when has it stopped any of us?!). He knew he wanted to upgrade the brakes, suspension, and steering components to better handle the crazy world that is the Southern California freeway system so that he and his family could enjoy granddad's old truck in safety and style.
Vinnie scoured the catalogs, perused the websites, and visited the vendors at the car shows before deciding on a company that kept coming up when he spoke with truck enthusiasts like himself: Performance Online (POL). When Vinnie fired up his computer and typed in POL's digital domain name, it soon became obvious that they had exactly what he needed to turn grandpa's '60s hauler into a 21st century family wagon.
An upgraded brake system was necessity No. 1 and POL handled this task with not only the basic caliper/rotor combination, but included a matching power boosted master cylinder to boot.
To enhance the C10's already good looks, a pair of Western Chassis drop spindles were also added to the invoice, as were matching dropped coil springs and shocks. These will prove to be a much needed improvement over the bouncy, cut coils that reside in Vinnie's truck at present.
To ensure that his wife Angie can also drive the truck in comfort, we'll be adding a power steering kit from POL as well. Anyone who's ever driven a vintage vehicle equipped with a manual steering box can attest to the benefits a power steering system can add. POL's kit includes not only a built-to-spec power steering gearbox, but the power steering pump, hoses, brackets, rag joint, and hardware as well.
We'll be working hard this month to drop Vinnie's C10 down and upgrade the suspension components up front while we're at it. Next month, we'll return and cover what it takes to make similar upgrades to the back end of any trailing arm-equipped C10.
01 Here's Vince Venturelli's '65 Chevy just before we pulled it into the shop. The stance ain't half bad, but it could use another inch or so to bring it closer to Mother Earth. While we're at it, we're going to upgrade the brakes and steering as well.
02 Here's Vince Venturelli's '65 Chevy just before we pulled it into the shop. The stance ain't half bad, but it could use another inch or so to bring it closer to Mother Earth. While we're at it, we're going to upgrade the brakes and steering as well.
03-05 To do this, we're going to use a number of products from Performance Online (POL), most notably, their Deluxe Disc Brake Conversion Kit (#SWBK-6D6370D) for '63-'70 Chevy trucks. At the heart of the kit is a pair of Western Chassis 21⁄2-inch drop spindles mated to 12-inch, six-lug rotors and GM calipers. Upper and lower ball joints ensure that those old, worn-out units can be easily replaced while we're there. The complete tie rod assembly will also be replaced using new inner and outer tie rod ends as well as POL's high-performance tie rod adjusting sleeves. New bearings, seals, brake hoses, and all necessary hardware guarantee a flawless install.
06 In addition to the drop spindles, we're going to swap out the old, cut coils with a new pair of 1-inch dropped springs (#FCS6102D1). POL offers these in stock height, as well as dropped versions from 1 to 3 inches.
07 Combining a lowered coil spring with the incorrect shock can cause all kinds of problems, the least of which is poor ride quality. That's why POL offers a matching shock absorber for each coil setup. For our install, we'll be using a 1-inch lowered Nitro Slammer shock (#4809). Made in the USA, POL's shocks feature 180-psi cylinders and are optimized for use in applications that suffer from greater shock angles, such as a lowered truck. The polyurethane bushings at either end help contribute to zero shock lag, meaning instantaneous reactions to every bump in the road.
08-09 Upgrading the brakes means upgrading the master cylinder, so for that end, we opted to go with POL's 9-inch power brake booster kit for disc/drum setups (#BB2-T6366). This bolt-on kit will mate directly to the stock brake pedal assembly in the '63-'66 Chevy C10 pickups thanks to POL's specially engineered firewall bracket and pedal rod. The included proportioning valve, mounted and plumbed directly to the master cylinder, ensures proper valving between the front disc brakes and the rear drums.
10-14 With the brakes and suspension sorted, it's time to check out the components that will transform Vinnie's manual steering monster into a wife-friendly power package. POL uses custom built power steering boxes built to their specs specifically for the C10 trucks coupled with a specific custom bracket to ensure that every application is a perfect fit. Our kit (#PSCK6066) comes equipped with a standard ratio power gearbox, pitman arm, and rag joint as well as a new power steering pump, brackets for a small-block Chevy application, and hoses.
15 Don drove around Los Angeles on the stock drum brakes for years, but with modern traffic being what it is, Vinnie knew he'd better upgrade the binders before something bad happened. Note at some point in the past, someone had upgraded the springs and shocks.
16 We're going to swap out the entire brake assembly, spindles, shocks, tie rod assembly, springs, and ball joints, so removing those items is the first task to tackle. Once those items are cast aside, the new POL ball joints are bolted in place. The stock items were riveted in place from the factory and may need to be drilled out to be replaced. Once they're replaced with the new bolt-in units, future replacement will be easy, if necessary at all.
17 Next, the 1-inch dropped springs are seated in the upper coil pocket...
18 ...before the lower control arm is raised to secure the new Western Chassis 21⁄2-inch drop spindle.
19 The spindle bearings are packed with high-temp disc brake bearing grease before being placed on the spindle, followed by the rotor and outer bearing.
20 With the bearings packed and in place, the spindle nut is installed and torqued to 12 lb-ft while spinning the rotor. The nut is then backed off one flat and the cotter pin is inserted, followed by the dust cap, which we'll come back to a little later.
21 The DS-2 Nitro Slammer shocks can now be installed using the stock hardware and mounting points.
22 The GM rotors used in the POL kit are of the traditional floating style and attach to the cast-in caliper brackets on the spindle using two provided socket head cap screws. Make sure the bleeder screws face up!
23 New tie rod ends as well as POL's high-performance tie rod adjusting sleeve mate the spindle to the steering center link.
24-25 Swapping out the old manual steering box is a simple matter of disturbing the relationship between the pitman arm and center link, disassembling the rag joint, and removing the steering box fasteners.
26 The new power steering box attaches to the chassis using a pair of brackets, one on each side of the framerail, with a few additional holes that will need to be drilled through the framerail. First, the bracket is attached to the chassis using two of the four original mounting holes. The bracket is then used as a jig to drill the two additional mounting holes.
27-28 With the brackets in place and the mounting holes drilled, the new power box can now be installed using the provided hardware. Next, we need to trim the stock slip-shaft to mate to the new rag joint coupler.
29 Once trimmed to fit, these two need to be welded together and pinned for safety. Be sure to center the steering wheel beforehand!
30 POL's power steering pump (#PS6177) features a built-in reservoir and comes in a variety of finishes. Steel brackets make installing the pump in the stock location a breeze on small-block Chevy applications.
31-32 To allow the hoses to pass through the inner fenderwell between the box and the pump, a 3-inch hole was cut and dressed with a grommet.
33 Vinnie's truck had a boosted master cylinder of questionable origin on his truck when it arrived at the CT Tech Center.
34 We opted to exchange the large booster with POL's better packaged 8-inch dual diaphragm unit to give Vinnie a nice pedal feel and firm, responsive brakes.
35 Before installing the master cylinder, it was bench bled to ensure the interior valving is free of air. Once the master is bled, it can be bolted up, the brake lines attached, and the whole system bled.
