'67 K10 swb big block "The Mutt"

[JMD]

I started a build thread in a different area but I think this board is a better place for it

Back in 2012 I got the itch to restore a truck, mostly to keep up with my friend who thinks his '66 c10 is the coolest thing on 4 wheels (It is pretty nice actually, and I believe he's a member here). I ended up finding a '67 k20 on Craigslist that was mid way through a 454 swap. The engine was a fresh rebuild from a reputable shop so I jumped on it. Had I know what a pain a big block swap is on a k20 I would have passed, but I remember saying "How hard can it be?" as I handed over the cash.

Since the truck didn't run it had to be trailered the 40 miles back to my house. The trip home was a complete disaster, but it makes for a great story!

My good friend and his wife went with me to help load the truck on my parent's car dolly. It was a tight fit, the hubs only cleared the dolly fenders by 1/4". However, I was confident that it wouldn't be an issue.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

[JMD]

There is a reason the dolly calls for 3" of clearance on each side! But in my haste to get home before the storm (We were under a tornado watch, a fairly large cell was rolling in off of Lake Michigan) I completely disregarded the safety stickers.

We made it to the first major intersection before things went wrong. To make a long story short, the truck fell off the dolly, 2 different police departments were involved, and we didn't get home until 6:30 the next morning...still without the truck. Had to rent a flatbed car hauler the next day to retrieve it from the parking lot where we left it.

No tickets were issued, the cops liked my truck I guess Damage was minor. Bent tie rod on the truck and 2 blown tires on the dolly. What a night!

[JMD]

The tare down started almost immediately, and of course I forgot to snap any pics of the original truck

Here's how it looked after the first day...pretty gross, lots of rot.

[JMD]

The truck was way more deteriorated than I originally thought. There was a ton of bondo and even fiberglass on the cab floor. The back half of the frame had a lot of rot as well as the bed floor. I found out later that the truck had been used as a salt spreader for many of the Marathon gas stations in this area. Again, if I would have known that I would have walked away. The giant stickers on the doors should have been my first clue...

[JMD]

I decided to go all in on this truck. Instead of just fixing her up to drive I am going to do a frame off restoration. So here's what I have to work with...

The good-
8 lug D44 front axle with Ford hubs and 4:10 gears
Eaton HO52 rear axle
Freshly rebuilt 454, 2 bolt mains, oval port heads
A TH350 and a TH400 transmission, both in unknown condition
NP205 Tcase
Nice original hood
Nice original grill and cowl

The bad-
Everything else.

Seriously most everything else on this truck is junk. I don't have the tools, time, or knowhow to save most of this stuff, so it will either be trashed or sold to somebody who thinks they can fix it.

This project just became very expensive!

[JMD]

I found a guy close by who restores these trucks for a living, his company is called RustBelt Restorations. He's a great guy, and does beautiful work, look him up! He agreed to buy most of the original sheet metal from me and I decided to buy all new aftermarket sheet metal from him. I think it worked out fairly well! Here's a couple pics of everything loaded up and ready to trade.

[swamp rat]

Lol!~

Subscribed!

[TheCougarine]

Sounds about like the 72' C20 I had, once I got into it I realized it was in much worse shape than I originally thought. It ran good and had strong surprisingly strong brakes but that was about it. Good luck on your project sounds like it will be a real mean truck when its done.

[DeepOceanStepside]

Sub'd for a fellow Michigan truck owner!

[JMD]

Time to start some body work! I need the cab painted and bolted to the frame before I can start any wiring, so today I had it sand blasted and sealed.

[JMD]

I picked the cab up from my paint guy today. The sandblaster found some thin spots that will need to be taken care of, and there are several small dents that need to be filled in before I send it off to get some color sprayed on. We're supposed to get single digit temperatures here this week, so I don't know how far I'll get in my non heated shop.

[BrianG]

Subscribed... Wow, reading through this build, it was almost like reliving the last few years of my life. I never did a build thread for my truck (well, its not done yet) but if I did, it would have went a lot like yours.

[JMD]

Originally Posted by BrianG

Subscribed... Wow, reading through this build, it was almost like reliving the last few years of my life. I never did a build thread for my truck (well, its not done yet) but if I did, it would have went a lot like yours.

Hopefully you have a heated shop! Right now this project is on hold until I can find a better way to keep the truck warm during body work. The tiny wood stove in the corner of my shop just isn't cutting it.

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by JMD

Hopefully you have a heated shop! Right now this project is on hold until I can find a better way to keep the truck warm during body work. The tiny wood stove in the corner of my shop just isn't cutting it.

On hold over here for the same reasons. Can't wait for warmer weather!

[JMD]

Finally got around to plumbing some brake lines. The 3/16" stuff was easy, but 1/4" was kind of a pain. It didn't turn out too bad for my first time so I'll live with it. Really not looking forward to bending the 5/16" transmission lines or the even larger fuel lines...

[JMD]

For you guys with lifted 4x4s, what are you using for front brake hoses? Even with a small 2.5" lift the stock hoses weren't even close to fitting. I couldn't find any longer ones so I had to settle for hoses from a newer Chevy and they had to be modified to fit the '75 3/4t calipers I'm using. The hole for the banjo needed to be drilled out to 7/16". I couldn't think of any reason this would affect the performance of the brakes, so I went with it. We'll find out in a few months if that was a good idea or not!

[dozerbill72]

What year truck did you get the hoses from? I need longer ones for mine and don't want to use braided or plastic aftermarket. i'm sure the banjo hole was metric on your new ones thats some of the size difference.

[JMD]

Originally Posted by dozerbill72

What year truck did you get the hoses from? I need longer ones for mine and don't want to use braided or plastic aftermarket. i'm sure the banjo hole was metric on your new ones thats some of the size difference.

Not sure what truck they came off of, but the part number is BH36957.

[dozerbill72]

Awsome, thank you.

[JMD]

Back under the knife! As expected, the TH350 didn't last and started slipping in 3rd gear. I tried dumping some of that lucas trans fix stuff in there with the hope that I could at least get another 1000 miles out of it. To my surprise it worked!... For about 100 miles. Then it got to the point where 3rd gear was completely gone and reverse started slipping as well, so I knew it was time for a rebuild.

In addition to the transmission issues the truck had also developed a serious engine oil leak. I've decided to pull the engine/trans/tcase and address all the issues while it is out of the truck rather than deal with crawling around underneath it on a creeper.

The plan is:
-Ditch the TH350 and rebuild a TH400
-Rebuild the NP205 to connect to the TH400
-Find/fix engine oil leak
-Address cooling issues (fan shroud)

If time and money permits, I'd really like to throw a little more aggressive cam at it and possibly some heads. I was dissapointed to find out the casting numbers for my heads match those for the poorest flowing heads that GM produced. Could explain why my truck falls on it's face after 3300 rpms.

[JMD]

Finished up the transmission lines. I ran steel lines to the front of the oil pan and then finished it off with braided line. For my first time ever working with the braided stuff I think it turned out pretty good!

[JMD]

Two steps forward one step back...I decided to farm out the bodywork on the cab. The guy I have doing the work restores classics in his spare time and does incredible work for a reasonable price. The cab needed a lot of work to make it straight including rust holes in the firewall and hail damage on the roof.
He got it all straightened, sealed, and primed so we decided to hang the doors just to be sure they fit before color was sprayed. Only then did we notice that the backing plates on the passenger side are missing! Does anyone have a source for the backing plates??

[jeh]

Originally Posted by JMD

Finished up the transmission lines. I ran steel lines to the front of the oil pan and then finished it off with braided line. For my first time ever working with the braided stuff I think it turned out pretty good!

What fittings did you use to connect right at the radiator on your braided transmission lines??

[JMD]

Originally Posted by jeh

What fittings did you use to connect right at the radiator on your braided transmission lines??

It's an adapter that converts a 5/16 inverted flare to a -6an fitting...I can't remember the brand or part number off hand, but as soon as I get home next week I'll take a look at my receipts and let you know.

[jeh]

Originally Posted by JMD

It's an adapter that converts a 5/16 inverted flare to a -6an fitting...I can't remember the brand or part number off hand, but as soon as I get home next week I'll take a look at my receipts and let you know.

Ok, thanks I appreciate it. I'm thinking of doing mine the same way, I was pretty sure they were 5/15" inverted flare but I haven't seen them in 5/16 to -6AN.