Minnesota Daily Driver

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Well, I said in my intro a few weeks back that I'd like to start a build thread of my project from the last 4 or so years. The overall project goal was to have a solid daily driver, to also use for plowing, getting to the fish house, going hunting, and towing. Here it goes............

I'll start with a little history of the truck.

During the winter of '09-'10 I had the opportunity to buy a friend's grandfather's truck. I already had two square bodies, a 78 K10 and 87 V10, and wasn't necessarily looking for a whole vehicle, but I did want a plow. The truck was an '85 K20 Silverado, Indian Bronze Metallic, with a 350, TH 400, NP208, 14 bolt rear, and 10 bolt up front. Most important of all it had a plow on it.

Both gas tanks were rusted through, it hadn't been started in quite a few years, I think all the tires were flat, rear brake lines were rusted through, and there wasn't a rust/ dent free panel on the truck.

So on New Years Eve Day, December 31st 2009, I went over to look at the truck with my friend and struck a deal with his grandpa who had bought the truck around 1987. He told me he thought it had a cracked head and probably wouldn't run but I was fine with that as I planned on using the plow on the '78.

I called up my cousin to give me a tow a few miles back to the shop and started digging the truck out from the two or so feet of snow around it.

While waiting I filled the tires, surprisingly they held air, and threw a battery in it. One gas tank would hold a little fuel before it started leaking out the rust holes so I put a gallon in it. If I recall correctly it was around 10 degrees that day. The truck did turn over but wouldn't fire. The hydraulics, however, on the plow worked so I was able to raise it and get towed to the shop.

Once I got it inside and started thawing it out I started inspecting what I got my self into. The plow did raise, lower, and turn both directions without issue. Power locks were in-operable and only the passenger side power window worked, very slowly. The analog clocked worked while giving a nice growl, it still works and growls to this day, and all gages seemed to work.

Once everything was warmed up a bit I decided to see if she'd fire. To my surprise with a couple revolutions she roared to life through an exhaust system that was rusted through at the cross-over. I threw it in reverse and she moved under her own power out of the shop. Being January 1st, 2010 at this point with some snow on the ground I figured why not do some plowing around the parking lot.

The engine ran rough but was solid enough, tranny worked smooth, and there was no issue with the t-case/ 4-wheel drive. The front brakes worked well enough moving around the parking lot and I had 1 working head light.

After a couple months of it sitting while I was contemplating what to do with it, I decided to fix her up and use it as a plowing/ ice fishing/ hunting rig. I started by replacing the radiator, t-stat, & water pump. Rebuilding the alternator, installing new window motors, fixing some electrical issues, got the brakes up to snuff, installed headers with true duals, and threw a fuel tank in the box.

I used the truck like this until the end of spring and started looking into it a little further. The front end was completely worn out from carrying the plow and the front drive shaft was hitting the passenger header from weight of the plow. So I decided to rebuild the front axle and install a 4" lift.

This is the point where I started taking picture of the progress. Here's a couple pics just before I started the tear-down to put the lift in:

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A few pics from the front spring install:

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I was originally going to do a front spring/ rear block lift as I liked the beefiness of the rear springs but when I went to install the rear blocks I found one spring was cracked. So I ordered rear lift springs, and of course, with the old suspension stuff removed I had to do a Stacey David style pick of the old components in a pile:

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A pic of the lift installed. I always thought the Ford High-boy look was fitting for a 3/4 ton so I kept the 235/85/R16 tires:

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I used the truck like this for a summer putting around 5,000 miles on it and quickly found out how tired the 350SB was. She was pretty much down to 6 cylinders and leaked out of most gaskets/ seals.

Around Thanks Giving 2010 I decided to install a 454 that my dad had pulled out of his 74 C20. I resealed and torqued the intake, retorqued the heads. Installed a new starter & alternator, put in new gaskets on the oil pan and valve covers, and had the carb rebuilt among other things.

Some pics from the 454 clean-up:

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The 454 ran like a top and sure moved snow well. I had approximately 180 miles on it when disaster struck. I was coasting down a hill and all of a sudden it sounded like someone was shaking rocks in a coffee can. My dad was riding with me and gave me that look of oh-no. Once on the side of the road I tried to re-start it and the engine was locked-up tight. My dad said "I was afraid of that" so we called my uncle for a tow home.

Here's what we found in the oil pan:

[MTCK]

Cool rig!

[rusty76]

I'll be keeping an eye on this one. Fun truck. I had an '87 fully loaded 4x4 1/2 ton. I drove it daily for a long time. It wasn't my favorite truck but it got the job done.

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As the build of this truck happened over the last 4 years I'm sure there'll be things I remember somewhat out of order so please bare with me.
For anyone who has dealt with the joy of the challenge that rust brings I have a tip for removing the steering arm from a 4wd to replace it with a raised one with a lift kit.
The split conical washers are a PITA to get out to remove the arm. Often it takes quite a bit of work to accomplish. My dad came up with a method to drill only through the steering arm, stopping at the knuckle, that's being replaced and tap the hole, we used fine threaded fasteners. We then placed some pins in the bottom of the hole that would rest against the knuckle and take up the space that the tap couldn't reach. Then we ran in some bolts to push the arm from the knuckle. We would turn the bolts in a 1/2 turn or so then pound it back down. This would "walk" the conical washer up the stud until it was free of the bore and could be removed.
NOTE: THIS METHOD IS ONLY EFFECTIVE & TO BE USED IF THE ARM IS TO BE SCRAPED & REPLACED AS IT WEAKENS IT.
Here's a pic of the bolts in the arm.

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Well in the last few days the truck began missing at idle, most noticeably in drive. I had initially replaced the cap, rotor, & coil when I 1st got the '78. I decided that since it has been 5 years or so since that was done to replace the cap, rotor, coil, pick-up ring, control module, and condensor.

Tonight when I pulled off the cap I found that the "button" between the coil and rotor was broken and the boss around it was worn away. I also noticed that the advance weight pivots are worn as well as the return springs and that the rotor didn't "snap back" after turning it. So it's definatly time for a refresh.

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Originally Posted by rusty76

I'll be keeping an eye on this one. Fun truck. I had an '87 fully loaded 4x4 1/2 ton. I drove it daily for a long time. It wasn't my favorite truck but it got the job done.

Thanks Rusty 76

I also have an '87 V10 custom deluxe that's more of my woods rig, but is also my back-up while I'm working on my K20. Such as I am right now rebuilding my distributor.

What engine & tranny did your '87 have? Mines the TBI 350 & 700R4.

[rusty76]

Pretty neat trick on the control arm. Good idea.

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Originally Posted by rusty76

Pretty neat trick on the control arm. Good idea.

Yeah, my dad's pretty proud of that idea. He reminded me to post it.

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Here's a pic of the damage to my cap:

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Back to the story....

With the engine installed and broke in it was time to start digging into rust repair. I started by buying front fenders and inner wheel wells from LMC. I also repaired the rust on the bottom of the core support. The original hood was to be repainted.

Here's some pics of what the floor looked like once I got the seat out and carpet removed. It wasn't as bad as I thought but still wasn't great.

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I hadn't done any body work until this point. I did have some welding experience from school/ work/ personal projects though. I had wanted to attempt installing panels so I figured this truck would be good practice. I ordered the patch pieces from LMC and started fitting them and removing the rotted metal.

During this time I had also sent the rims out to be powder coated in industrial outdoor powder. I had them wrapped in 10 ply Trail Diggers size 238/85/R16. They should move snow around well.

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Got the distributor back in yesterday. She runs like a top again.

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Here's a pic of the truck sitting while the rims were out to powder coat. It's another good before pic of the body.

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I started with the drivers side. It was a lot of trimming and fitting a bit at a time until I understood how the body went together. Once I got through the rust I could see that it was fairly straight forward to get it back together.

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While working on the cab I had found a guy 90 minutes away that sells body panels and boxes he hauls up from Texas. Looking at what he had I think my next project will defiantly come from a southern state.

So I picked up some doors and a box.

Here's a pic of the box with some other goodies ordered on line.

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Getting the inner rocker in:

[rusty76]

Looks good. The other day I was driving back to the shop and looked up in the mirror and saw something funny coming up behind us. I slowed a bit and waited. It was a pickup hauling a trailer of maybe ten beds, all kinds up the interstate. The truck was from Canada. I knew what he was up to for sure.

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Originally Posted by rusty76

Looks good. The other day I was driving back to the shop and looked up in the mirror and saw something funny coming up behind us. I slowed a bit and waited. It was a pickup hauling a trailer of maybe ten beds, all kinds up the interstate. The truck was from Canada. I knew what he was up to for sure.

Thanks. There seems to be more & more places popping up that sell "southern" panels.

The guy I got the box & doors had some boxes that were nearly as clean as when they came from the show room. He said those were barn finds that people had taken off when they got the trucks new to install flatbeds.

[tip]

Nice job with the rust repairs so far, I'm in the same boat. Did you just cut until you found good metal? For the floorboards and door sill, did you take any precautions to take to keep the cab square? Trying to figure out how I'm going to do mine the best way.

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Originally Posted by tip

Nice job with the rust repairs so far, I'm in the same boat. Did you just cut until you found good metal? For the floorboards and door sill, did you take any precautions to take to keep the cab square? Trying to figure out how I'm going to do mine the best way.

Thanks for the compliment. I was looking at your thread and luckily for you your floors don't seem as bad as mine at 1st glance.

What I did on the drivers was 1st wire wheel and do the screw driver test to start "poking" around to see how far the thin metal went. I started to cut away at the floor little by little but realized it was easier to fit the floor pan above the radius that goes around the foot well.

Knowing that I had good metal in the truck above that point I marked my new floor board about a 1/2" above the tangent point in that radius and trimmed it away. I then used sheet metal screws to "pull" the floor into place firmly against the existing floor and marked my cut line. I cut approx. a 1/16" of an inch below that line in the truck knowing with the existing floor removed the pan would drop in further. Then it was just a process of dropping the pan in and trimming were it didn't fit like I wanted. I trimmed either the cab or new floor depending on how the fit looked.

A tip is to locate and cut out the spot welds inside your cut lines 1st. This will help you establish were the cab support and floor braces are so you don't cut through them.

I got lucky on my drivers side and the cab braces/ supports were all still sound so I wasn't worried about the cab moving. I also left the doors on knowing that they had fit the factory rockers well and used that as my guide as I tacked those into place. Also any time the door didn't need to be open I kept it shut to not put extended periods of weight on the a-pillar just in case.

The floor support from my cab mount to the a pillar/ inner rocker on the passenger side of my truck was rotted away so I had to be more cautious on that side. I ended up taking measurements of were the inner rocker was located in relation to the cab mount before I cut it away. Also when it cam time to fit the new metal I ended up using a jack to lift the a pillar to where it lined up well.

Here's a pic of the jack and floor pan being held down with sheet metal screws as I fit it. After getting everything located I removed the doors for welding.