Everyone was stoked when the cab was taken down and everything worked out perfectly. Sure, the project isn’t done yet, but at the time there was still a good month before SEMA. All in all, it was a great event, and one that everyone should try to attend.
C10 Builders Guide
One ’N Done ROUND3 | SQUAREBODY SYNDICATE’S LATEST C-10
By streettrucks
August 18, 2020
THE CREW HELPS WITH SQUAREBODY SYNDICATE’S LATEST C-10
The concept of the One ‘N’ Done events is fairly simple: put together a team of amazing truck builders from across the country and get them to help work on a truck in less than 24 hours. It’s also engineered to gather friends around a common love—trucks— and share some good times. It’s one part social club and another part truck build, together equaling fun for everyone.
Last year’s event was a blast, and that set a high bar for this go around. The truck in question was Joe Yezzi’s Syndicate 01, a ’73 Chevrolet Silverado he’s building for the 2015 SEMA Show that will appear in the Royal Purple booth, as well as to showcase his company, Squarebody Syndicate. In the past few months, you’ve seen this truck blown apart in the pages of the C-10 Builder’s Guide, as well as in the pages of Street Trucks. When the event started, the truck was in several pieces. The bed was off for bodywork, the cab was up on the lift, and the chassis was mostly assembled, but still needed some things here and there to be perfect. Mostly, the truck needed an engine and transmission.
So that was the goal for the event: install the special DEL-S3 engine into the chassis, drop the cab back on to ensure that it fits correctly, and then head out to the bar. Sounds like a good time for sure, right?
Well it was. Although this year’s event was more of a private affair, what with it being held at Joe’s home in Arizona, it still attracted quite the crowd. Sam and Rob from C-10 Nation/C-10 Talk came out not only to provide color commentary, but also to interview everyone on hand. The man, the myth, the legend, Dino Battilana himself was there to talk smack and turn a wrench or two. Then there was Del Uschenko of Delmo’s Speed & Kustom plus his crew of experts all ready to get greasy for a good time. Of course, lots of other people showed up, too, including Jeremy from Tre 5 Customs (and Street Trucks, naturally), Seth from Switch Suspension, the team from GSI, and John Oro from C/10 Club. In fact, there were so many people there that it was a bit hard to keep track.
Who knows what they’ll have up for next year’s event, but we know you’ll want to be there for sure. Maybe Sam will even make some of his legendary turkey sausage.
• Chevy Only
• C10crew
• Classicscene
• C/10 Club
• CPP
• Delmo’s Speed & Kustoms
• Frontier Shop Supplies
• My Stripes
• Royal Purple
• Squarebody Syndicate
• Switch suspension
• Studio PCK Hot Rod Designs
Joe Yezzi (in the red shirt) stood by as Joey Carberry started off the event by breaking everyone up into teams. Joey did an amazing job keeping everything on track, which was no small feat considering the mass of people on hand.
The team from Frontier Shop Supplies was there with their truck. If anyone needed a tool, they were covered and ready to go.
PREPPING THE ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION
The DEL-S3 engine (which is an LS3 with a Delmo’s Speed & Kustom conversion) had a fresh coat of orange enamel, so the first step in the process was scraping off some of the paint to ensure a clean seal.
One of the cool things about how Del sets up these DEL-S3 engines is how he relocates the coil packs. That’s underneath the front of the cab right there, and with some fancy wiring, it all functions perfectly.
Meanwhile, John Oro from C/10 Club was out front cleaning off the 4L70E transmission and prepping it for the installation.
Continuing with the cleaning process, all of the bolt holes were cleaned out with a tap to ensure that everything bolted together properly.
To make sure that everything lined up correctly, the team set the intake manifold in place and marked off some spots that needed additional cleaning.
Back on the transmission, Rob Yezzi started filling up the torque converter with—what else—Royal Purple ATF.
With the water pump and Drive Junky brackets mounted, the engine was coming together nicely.
It was a good thing that Frontier was there, because they had the grinding discs on hand that the team needed to clean off the intake ports.
The gaskets for the intake manifold went on next.
Using fresh hardware, the team bolted the Holley mid-rise intake manifold to the engine for the last time.
The alternator was one of the final pieces on the front of the block.
The Holley fuel injection rails went in next. The coil packs on this setup are hidden on the bottom of the cab, so these rails are one of the few ways you can tell that the truck isn’t a carbureted 350 SBC.
MATING THE ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION
It was time to take the engine off the stand, so the crew hooked it up to a hoist to get things moving.
With the transmission on a dolly, the engine was lowered into place using the hoist. At this point, the torque converter had already been installed.
The two were bolted together using an impact wrench, making the combo package ready for installation into the chassis.
With the help of the hoist and what seemed like a million assistants, the drivetrain was dropped into the chassis. Thankfully, the Porterbuilt setup was made for the LS combo, so everything bolted in.
The final parts of the process involved getting the Holley universal EFI throttle body system sorted out, minus running the lines.
After the Delmo’s valve covers with adapters were installed, the engine was pretty much complete for the day.
AIR TANKS & COMPRESSORS
Seth from Switch Suspension came in to help out with the Accuair installation with a super clean tank and brackets. Joe had already painted the tank one of his signature colors.
Next up was installing the black Viair compressors. Not only do they look great, but they’ll do an excellent job keeping the truck aired up.
Before everything was buttoned up for good, Joe disassembled everything and laid down another coat of paint onto the tank. It’s paying attention to those little details that’s earned Joe his nickname, “Yezzi Clean.”
FRAME AND BRAKE WORK
One of the first things on Del’s checklist was to knock out the front brake line. Using a piece of welding rod as a guide, he mocked up the bends so he could
Del then did the same thing out back with the brake lines, as Rob lent a hand.
The bent welding rod was used to create the marks on the real brake lines using a permanent marker. Del bent and flared the lines as necessary.
Finally, another member of the team installed the new brake lines and clamped them to the frame using rubberlined hose clamps.
While Del bent and installed the brake lines, Travis was up front determining where the Accuair height sensors needed to go.
One of the finishing touches on the frame was tightening up all of the rear suspension linkage, which Rob and another member of the team did in no time at all.
ODDS AND ENDS
Seeing old friends and new hanging out together at the event was one of the best parts. Everyone was super friendly, and if someone didn’t know who you were, they would step up and introduce themselves.
Joe’s driveway and backyard were packed with high quality rides, including this dumped ’63 from Porterbuilt, complete with camper shell.
Dustin, the owner of Brownstone, also made an appearance. This truck features a big-block engine and a 2WD chassis, making it a bit of an odd duck to some, but perfect for Street Trucks readers.
This killer AD (Advance Design) was about as clean as they get, and sported a nice patina.
Dino brought out his ’07 crew cab, which is stickered up with all of his favorite builders (including his own company, Dino’s Chevy Only, naturally).
We peeled back the tape on Joe’s wheels to show off the fantastic finish. See that whitewall right there? That’s actually part of the rim, and it’s part of what makes these Delmo’s Specials so awesome.
Dino may already have two kids of his own, but after watching him bond with Rob Yezzi’s son, we have to wonder if he’s considering a third.
Joe’s lift is all done up in stickers for both him and everyone he knows. In fact, if you look anywhere in his shop, you’ll likely find some kind of sticker somewhere. Toward the end of the day, Nick from Hubcaps Hot Rod Design spontaneously started pinstriping the lift, then moved on to the window of Joe’s shop office. It was a pretty perfect cap to the day.
In fact, Nick’s work looked so good that Sam Castronova got a little bit jealous and decided to provide some of his own artwork on Joe’s workbench. In case you can’t make it out, that’s Sam’s signature.
Everyone was stoked when the cab was taken down and everything worked out perfectly. Sure, the project isn’t done yet, but at the time there was still a good month before SEMA. All in all, it was a great event, and one that everyone should try to attend.