Project Eye Sore

[tylervalo]

I'm reposting this from another forum I'm on, they don't appreicate anything besides BMW, WRX, or built Civics. The name comes from someone from my subdivision that happend to mention to my wife (unknowingly) my truck was an eye sore.

Since finding my dad's old big block truck destroyed at the local pull-a-part I had wanted a get a truck like his and "modern day" it. This one almost literally fell in my lap so I sold the Jeep and for the next little bit am going to restomod this 1985 K10. As of now it's mostly stock, originally a V6, now a 350-ish V8, 4 speed w/bull dog, and about 4" of lift.
Plans are an LSx out of something (waiting for something to hit pull-a-part...$138 for any V8), paint the inside black for a solid black interrior, navy blue metallic outside, and set of AT tires, this will be a lifted daily driver.
Dad's old truck:


New project:


Near perfect interior trim from pull-a-part and random removed stuff:


A/C ducting and dash parts:


Interior all ripped out, going though hack-job wiring ATM:



All in all I figure this will take 1 1/2 years - 2 years to complete.

[tylervalo]

Day 2 was very successful, removed the rest of the A/C ducts to thoroughly clean. Discovered yesterday my high beam actuator switch was from a chevy van and the actuator rod didn't exist. Got an actuator rod and switch, along with the transfer case sensor (to show when it's in 4wd on the dash) along with a bunch of dash bulbs and mis. screws from the bone yard. Got the steering column all back together:


With the help of my home made GM locking plate removal tool:


And now have 2 head lights with high and low beam!


Probably won't get much done tomorrow, gotta spend time with the fiance' and mow the grass. Hopefully I'll have the A/C ducts back in soon and the gauge cluster back so it's drivable.

[tylervalo]

Not much done today, put all the A/C ducts back in but will probably end up removing them again, not really happy with how they turned out. Got all the dash lights working apart from headlight, still can't figure it out. I Found out my 4wd indicator sensor was broken off, luckily I found one saturday, someone had dropped a NP205 TC at the boneyard and left it sitting there sensor and all, so I grabbed it because the sensor is out of production. Also touched up the TC shifter indicator cause it was faded, gonna try to sand and paint the over next week. I'll be outta town for 3-4 days so not gonna get anything done til Friday probably.

TC sensor:


Working lights (one missing, need to get a housing for it):

My 4WD dummy light, made my night getting that working:


F'd up housing with touched up indicator:

[tylervalo]

Engine is out, a day earlier than I planned too. That should give me plenty of time to get the engine and bay really clean and painted.

Truck had to be lowered to get the oil pan to clear the front end:


Mostly disassembled:


Cherry picker and stand:


Finally out:


It was about that point I started thinking "WFT am I getting into...". Good thing I did pull it though, my cousin showed up (much older than me, a life long mechanic) thankfully and helped with pulling it. He noticed several issues like flywheel needing to be resurfaced and other minor things that weren't in my knowledge of SBC's.

[tylervalo]

Alot accomplished today, got the engine bay stripped and painted, motor torn down to long block, rebuild started and fiance' thoroughly pissed off.

Obligatory empty bay shot:


Tear down begins:


Discovering the last builder must have been sponsored by Permatex:


And as she sits. Something is wrong with the oil pan gaskets, the hump for the dipstick is on the wrong side and it doesn't line up when flipped. Just gonna wait til morning:


Edit: Little side note, the engine appears to be in very good condition. The only issue was the intake gasket leaking horribly and the flywheel is going to need resurfacing, there's a grove digging into the clutch.

[tylervalo]

Got the flywheel resurfaced, would be going back in the truck today except I have this pre-marriage counseling thing to go to tonight :crash:

Starting to come back together:


Shiny new flywheel:



Looking like a SBC now:

[tylervalo]

Got all the wiring done today, soon as my lazy dad gets over here to do the distributor I'll be ready to fire it up!

Pic from last night:


Tonight, buttoned up and ready to go:


Side note: Day before my wedding I get to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game :tup:

[tylervalo]

Welp, it's alive. Had some issues starting, first try it had a bad ground, second we couldn't get any gas to it so dad poured some down the carb, third time it fired it up. He got the timing set pretty good right now, everything will be ready to roll once I get the headlight harness tied back up and get a new started, old one started grinding after the first start.

Rebuilt SBC 350 first start - YouTube

[tylervalo]

Picked up a chdash bezel and strip for dirt cheap:



The exact one I was wanting from the start. I touched up the black since it was peeling:


The original black dash strip along side the new chrome one:


I also started to rebuild the dash tonight...this may be the hardest step in the whole project:


Edit: realized I missed that one spot on the bezel :facepalm:

[tylervalo]

I tried the 4wd out tonight loading the kayaks up, went down this haggard "boat ramp". I only touched the gas twice, it was all the truck during the crawl.

Trying out 4wd in the Truck - YouTube

[tylervalo]

Gonna do a minor update, nothing much new since I've been saving the cash for the first of 3-ish large LMC orders. I'm about half way now to the first order, soon as I place it I can paint the inside of the cab.

Picked up a completely unbroken gauge housing, these are not being repop'd by anyone. Printed circuit is mint too, if anyone needs one:


I pulled the crappy speakers and wiring out of the cab to clean it up for what ever route I go....apparently his weapon of choice was a butter knife :xeyed: I plan making a carpeted panel to cover the lower portion of the door:


Stripped and painted the glove box too, still very undecided on the blue (it's darker in this photo):


Grabbed on decent trim, quick coat of primer, wet sand and semi-gloss black and their easily acceptable for me:


Last, did one headlight bezel black. Really thinking ordering the black one's instead of chrome, about 50% less cost and I think it'll be a meaner look:

[tylervalo]

Video from 17yrs ago of the hill climbs. My dad never lost that summer, even beating a Ford 460 that was DQ'd for running too tall of a tire.

Thunder Ridge hill climb - YouTube

[tylervalo]

Little more un-hacking today. Truck never started with the key, PO though it was the ignition messed up so he bypassed it with a push button, did some research last night and found the clutch safety switch was disconnected. I jumped the connector with a paper clip and it started right up with the key, went and got a new switch today and starts perfect

Unnecessary wiring removed:


Clutch safety switch:


I also got the buzzer so now it lets me know when the keys in and ready to start. Still working on the seat belt buzzer and indicator, seems to be something on some trucks on top of the fuse box that mine doesn't have. I gotta figure out if it was a factory option or if I can add it to mine.

[tylervalo]

Picked up a nice seat for $100, old man said he had recovered with new foam about 5yrs ago. It had been sitting in a cab in a cow field the last year or so.
Thinking about reselling it, I'm really shooting for a 60/40 bench from a mid 2000 Silverado.

[tylervalo]

No pics tonight, but got my HVAC panel working. Last week I replaced the vacuum line from the panel to the engine compartment that the PO just butchered but still wasn't getting vents open. Turns out it's a bad vacuum "selector" (don't really know what it's called, it moves vacuum to which ever actuator needs it) on the HVAC panel was leaking, replaced it with one from a 89' 'Burb. Luckily all my vacuum canisters work so all my doors are opening and closing like they should. I'm just waiting to find a complete engine bay from an 88+ truck to pull at the serpentine belt system off and get my A/C back.
Also starting some body work, sanding down the core support to try to get as close to "factory new" as I can get. Soon as I get it down to bare metal I'll prime, wet sand and paint.

[tylervalo]

Got me a tachometer today, yeehaw! Of course this is just temporary, found it while going though the garage at my parents, it's probably from a $100,000 boat from where my dad used to work. It'll be nice seeing what RPM I'm turning finally.

[Gordonr1973]

Man that is a lot of work done....it's no "eyesore" by any means either!!

Keep posting pics!

[tylervalo]

Haha, thanks man. She's got a long way to go. I'm trying to find a serp set up and get my AC working again, between that and a new dash it feels like I'll never have enough cash for everything

[tylervalo]

As advised by several people, I pulled 1 shock off all 4 corners. I might possibly have a factory dual set up (the brackets on the front looked really aftermarket but the rears looked factor-ish) and most people don't put the correct shocks on and it rides like ass. It's much smoother now, I imagine once I get 4 new shocks and some A/T's it'll have a very mild ride.

[str8axle55]

Looks like great project, you gotta love prev owners. Must be nice to have parts for these trucks in Junkyards. What are you going to do w/the dash?

[tylervalo]

I'm searching craigslist everyday, saving my pennies too incase I gotta shell out for a new one.
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[tylervalo]

Found some nice finds today, looked like someone was in the middle of a project and a tree fell on his truck.

Very nice reproduction grill:



A non-emisions QuadraJet


Got a chemical dip for it, now just gotta read up on rebuilding them :crash:

[tylervalo]

Got a pair of S2k seats from my buddy, I got the seats mocked up, used the original brackets with some 3/16 steel stock to mount them. I'm using 2 original mounting locations, gonna have my dad weld in a tab for the one front mount:

[tylervalo]

Got the seats semi-permanent mounted today, dad fab'd up some brackets and got them bolted in. Once I have carpet and weatherstripping I'll drop the tank before I paint the cab so the driver seat can be permanently mounted. Both brackets still need to be cleaned and painted.

Dad fabricating:


Driver side (still on spacers to center it):


Passenger side:


Bracket:


We also welded up the factory truck brackets since they slide, it just helped eliminate any little bit of extra movement.

[tylervalo]

Christmas and birthdays are over, back to work...

Got a cab top to patch my roof:


Roof also came with a nice head liner, pulled the vinyl off and gonna recover it in black fabric.

Found a pair of rear speaker mounts, cleaned them up a bit:


A nice Suburban hit the junkyard, got the corner markers from it:


Hopefully patching the roof this weekend, cab corners week after then paint maybe in march.