For its third trip down Week To Wicked Lane, Classic Trucks magazine has teamed up with the LMC Truck C10 Nationals to build its second five-day C10—this time around, a shapely 1985 square-body.
Our friends at LMC Truck—title sponsors of the 2018 C10 Nationals May 4-5 (where you can enter to win this very truck) at the Texas Motor Speedway just outside the city limits of Fort Worth—began the Week To Wicked Chevy project by teaming up with Adam Holderman at AA Customs in Plain City, Ohio, where the C10 was externally brought back to life and ultimately received its signature square-body blue BASF paintjob before being shipped out west to our tech center in unseasonably warm Santa Ana, California.
Day One’s itinerary for the latest Week To Wicked build was straightforward and simple: remove the old and install the new … as quickly as possible. Fortunately, thanks to GM’s bolt-in front crossmember and fairly basic parallel leaf rear suspension on the 1973-1987 trucks, the C10’s underpinnings were rolled out in no time and preparations made for installing the Heidts Hot Rod & Muscle Car Parts IFS (bolt-in IFS, that is) and super-stout four-link rear (each outfitted with adjustable Viking coilovers and CPP disc brakes semi-concealed behind a set of American Legend wheels running Falken Azenis radials). In place of that wonderful, old 305ci small-block, Gandrud Chevrolet (Green Bay, Wisconsin) provided a fresh Connect & Cruise LS376 that we’ll be building up with a Holley Performance fuel system, accessory drive, and install kit; Hooker Blackheart exhaust; Frostbite radiator; and a bulletproof 4L65E overdrive from Gearstar Performance Transmissions to complement the Currie-equipped Heidts 9-inch rearend.
To give a little more insight on the underpinnings, the LMC C10 Nationals Week To Wicked shortbed received Heidts Heavy-Duty Series Superide II bolt-in IFS system (HD referring to the kit’s extra-beefy 1 1/4-inch upper and 1 1/2-inch diameter lower control arms, and a fully gusseted seven-gauge hot-rolled steel crossmember). Complete with power rack-and-pinion steering and Heidts in-house built and assemble adjustable billet coilovers, it’s not only one of the most straightforward kits to install, it’s designed to perform—very well—with a heavy hauler in mind.
For the rear, the C10 was outfitted with Heidts’ bolt-in Heavy-Duty 4-Link—again, a stout system designed specifically for a stout vehicle, as such. Supplied with the kit is a complete 9-inch rearend (using Currie 31-spline axles and posi third member) with all bracketry pre-installed. And while it is indeed a bolt-in kit, there is some labor required on the installer’s end to accommodate that aspect (the upper shock crossmember needs to be removed), but no major cutting, welding, or fabrication necessary. Notice, if you will, the four-link is, in literal terms, more of a “six-link,” as two additional bars leading forward of the tubular driveshaft loop (that attach the front link rod ends) have been added to ensure limited frame flex.
As is now customary with the CT Week To Wicked builds, Classic Performance Products goes above and beyond a sponsor’s call of duty by sending over some extra hands to assist with (typically that translates into: handling completely!) the installation of all the CPP components being used. For our third go-around, the CPP assist team took care of the front and rear Big Brake installations (including all the plumbing) as well as the install/setup of their HydraStop unit—again, plumbing, et al.
The square-body’s heartbeat—its Connect & Cruise LS provided by Gandrud Chevrolet—was facilitated with an LS install kit supplied by Holley Performance. That included the necessary space-saving oil pan, front serpentine accessory system, and engine mount plates that use a pair of Energy Suspension poly mounts. An LMC stock replacement fuel tank was retrofitted with an Earl’s Performance in-tank-pump fuel-injection kit, also from Holley, as is the Hooker Blackheart exhaust system and the aluminum Frostbite radiator supplied complete with shrouded dual electric fans. Behind the C10’s LS powerplant is a fresh 4L75E four-speed automatic overdrive (a seriously beefed-up GM 4L70E complete with a Yank performance converter) built exclusively for our Week To Wicked C10 by Gearstar Performance Transmission.
As you probably imagined, our main sponsor, LMC Truck, is also the main contributor when it came to everything from door handles to dash panels, bumpers to bumpstops … pretty much every nut and bolt needed to restore a square-body C10, LMC provided it. That included all the sheetmetal AA Customs needed during the paint and body phase, as well as their new LED factory head- and taillight conversion kits with the necessary harnesses to splice the LEDs into the American Autowire harness. And speaking of splicing, none of that was necessary for the instrumentation, however, Dakota Digital’s HDX Series “digital-analog” gauge cluster we used is not only a direct fit, it’s literally a plug-and-play unit with a single lead wire feeding the main unit. Minus the Scat Performance bucket seats, LMC’s provisions prevented a trip to the upholsterer, too, allowing that unavoidable Friday night deadline to once again be met—and as the imagery indicates, the requisite burnout completed … this time around, well before the midnight hour.
Check back next month for the full feature finale of the LMC Truck C10 Nationals Week To Wicked 1/2-ton. And don’t forget, there’s but one opportunity to become the new owner of the square-body blue 1985 Chevy: the 2018 C10 Nationals, May 4-5, at the Texas Motor Speedway—be there or … well, you know the rest.
The post The LMC Truck C10 Nationals Week to Wicked: The Square-Body Episode, Part One appeared first on Hot Rod Network.