My 1967 Chevy K20 Build Thread

[Chaparralman1974]

Axle Parts during cleaning and painting

[Chaparralman1974]

Bam! Axle done and installed!!

[wrangler94]

Did you ever find a brake drum that would work for your front? I have a buddy who's looking for the same thing. He's got the same problem, k20 front brake drums.

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by wrangler94

Did you ever find a brake drum that would work for your front? I have a buddy who's looking for the same thing. He's got the same problem, k20 front brake drums.

Unfortunately, no not yet. I am still searching for them.


Clay

********** EDIT 12/2/2023 **********
For anyone interested, I did end up finding a brake drum that will work with the dana 44 closed knuckle front axle. Another member of the forum helped me find it. It is Raybestos 2008R. I believe that this drum was used for 1950's Chevy Trucks on the front axle. The lug holes will need to be drilled and reamed to match the lug studs. I upgraded my studs to 9/16", and if memory serves me correctly I had to ream the holes out to 5/8", but the drums fit perfectly otherwise.

[72 tigger]

Great progress!

[Short 3/4]

Funny how brake parts for something as common as a Chevy truck can be so hard to find. Was definitely the hardest part of my rebuild!

Don’t know if he’s still around but a guy named Craig had a business in Southern California called Drum Garden that specialized in impossible to find brake parts. Might be able to find him on the interwebs, if not I may be able to dig up his number.

One thing I learned is there are a number of applications for different years and manufacturers that all used the same 12x2” castings, then machined them to different specifications. For instance there is a Ford application that is just slightly larger ID than ours that was still available when I first did mine. There is a business in my area that re lines brakes for big trucks. Was able have my shoes re lined with thicker material than normal then re arched to match the larger drums. Apparently this is a common thing done on big rigs and this place certainly would not do it if it was not legit. I ran mine for several years that way until I came across the correct ones. They worked great and I still have them for spares. Whatever you use, I strongly recommend finding a place that can arch your shoes correctly, as it makes a huge difference in the performance of any drum brakes.

Return springs were another thing I was surprised weren’t available. Lots of places said they had them, but they were never right for 3/4 ton. Glad yours were all still usable

Project is looking great, keep up the good work
Tom

[Chaparralman1974]

5/8/2023 - 5/20/2023
Engine Machine Work
I finally was able to pull away from the chassis to focus on the engine. After calling all around town and interviewing machine shops I landed on Arizona Engine Rebuilding located in Phoenix. I loaded up the block, crank, rods, intake manifold and sheet metal and took everything down for machine work and hot tanking. Additionally, I decided to take the heads down to have them checked out to be on the safe side. Even though I was told that the heads were “bolt on ready”, they ended up not only failing the vacuum test, but the valve guides, seats, and seals were shot. So, it looks like the guy that sold them to me was less than truthful. That seems to be a regular thing on Facebook Marketplace so I plan on being a bit more diligent in my quest for parts, but I digress…..
The block ended up needing overboring to .040” and the crankshaft was ground .020”/.020”. I had the shop hang new pistons and clean up all of the sheet metal and intake manifold. They also pressed in new cam bearings. I told them not to install the oil and core plugs so that I can do a complete block cleaning and painting.
After getting the parts home, I started to check the oil clearances. Since I don’t have a dial bore gauge, I had to use Plasti-gage to check tolerances. Main caps 1 and 2 seemed to have less than .001” of clearance so I have taken the crank and block back to the machine shop to have everything double checked. Once I get the block back, I will be able to begin assembly.

[Chaparralman1974]

5/21/2023 - 6/11/2023
Rear DriveTrain, Brakes, and Shocks
The chassis is finally starting to come together and look like an actual chassis! The shocks were a little bit of a challenge. The rear shocks were standard parts and easy to find, but the fronts are no longer available. The recessed divet in the frame at the upper shock mount is a bit different from later years, so I had to massage the mounting ear a bit and make my own upper mounting stud with a ¾” nut between the frame and the shock eye to get it to fit. Otherwise, they bolted right up. I have to say that I like the classic Monroe yellow shocks.

After going back and forth on the axles in general, I decided to stay with the Eaton H052 in addition to the original closed knuckle dana 44 front. Again, I opted to keep the truck as original as I can. I fully disassembled the rear axle and did a thorough cleaning of everything. The pinion, bearings, ring, and carrier assembly all looked to be in excellent condition, so there really was no reason to scrap it. The axle shafts were also in good shape, so after cleaning everything, I installed new seals, outer hub bearing, pinion seal and gaskets. I also went ahead and installed a pinion yoke speedi-sleeve so there should be no leaks.

I also changed direction on the brakes. While I was going to go with a rear disc brake conversion, I decided to just stay with drums. As with the front axle, I did want to upgrade to 9/16” studs, so I sourced a new set of outer hubs rather than drill my originals. I used a donor 14 bolt axle to supply the brake backing plate (the mounting holes are identical to the Eaton) and then ordered all new brake hardware, shoes and drums from Rock Auto. This also will allow me to keep my emergency brake in place and the existing cable mounts also mount right up to the 14 bolt backing plates.

Lastly, I completely rebuilt the rear driveshaft. I replaced all the U-joints, and cleaned and painted it. I also installed a new carrier bearing as the old one was totally shot. I did opt to leave off the dust shields that were on the drive shaft as they were banged up too much. This truck will never be in the mud or snow or rain, so again, no reason to keep them.

[Chaparralman1974]

More pictures....

[Chaparralman1974]

6/10/2023 - 6/18/2023
Assembly and Installation of Engine
The engine build is finally done! A little history on the engine….So, I purchased the block, crank, pistons, rods and heads from a guy on Facebook Marketplace. The story I was told was that it was rebuilt, but somehow got water in it so they took it apart and put it in storage. I was also told that the heads were just redone and were bolt on ready. I got it all for $600 and he even threw in a new Isky camshaft. I couldn’t believe my luck! Well, as things like this usually go, it was too good to be true. As it turns out the block needed to be bored because it would appear that they ran the engine and got it hot enough to screw up the bores. The crank also needed to be ground .020/.020 and the heads apparently were trashed as well. My machine shop guy said that the heads were done in a very amateur way and basically, I bought a paint job. So, I just had the machine shop do it all….complete rebuild of the heads, overbore to .040 on the cylinders, align hone the block (apparently the guy also either mixed up the main caps or they were from another motor, and also had to resize the rods. After all of that, I spent more money on parts and labor than what a turnkey motor would have run me, but I did have the satisfaction of assembling the motor by myself. It has been more than 30 years since I assembled a smallblock chevy and I enjoyed doing it. This weekend I was also able to get the motor installed into the chassis. It goes without saying that I also installed a brand new flywheel, clutch, and throwout bearing as well.

[72 tigger]

Nice complete restoration work
Keep it up

[cornerstone]

Dadgum that's one sexy truck chassis!

[Short 3/4]

Catching up on your build progress. Looking really good!
Glad to see you were able to make those hubs you like work. Don’t know if you’ve ever had a closed knuckle before, but I only unlock my hubs when going on the hi way. Around town I keep them locked as that’s the only way those upper bearings get any lubrication if you don’t wheel it regular. Parts will still outlive us all and the gas mileage will suck no matter what.
Hope you have Cornhead grease in those knuckles. Would sure be a shame to see that beautiful chassis sprayed in 90W.
Keep up the great work, that’s going to be one gorgeous truck
Tom

[Chaparralman1974]

7/1/2023 - 7/31/2023
Engine and Chassis Small Parts Cleaning and Installation
Now that the heat and humidity have arrived, I have been stuck in the garage (fortunately my garage has A/C) so I have shifted focus to the cleaning up and restoring of smaller parts that attach to the engine and chassis.
I started by doing a full rebuild / restoration of the distributor. My original plan was to go with either a Pertronix or HEI setup, but ultimately opted to just rebuild the original distributor that came with the truck. After doing a complete teardown and cleaning, I ended up ordering all new internals including a new vacuum advance, points, condenser, cap, rotor and distributor shaft bushings. The end result is a totally rebuilt distributor.
I also cleaned up and painted the exhaust manifolds, alternator, pulleys, and starter. The waterpump however was replaced with a new unit along with a new fuel pump. I was able to track down a NOS clutch inspection cover and got that installed as well.
My original intention was to reuse the brake lines, but upon further inspection I discovered that the lines were collapsed in some locations, so I will be replacing all the pre-bent lines with aftermarket components.
Speaking of brakes, I sand-blasted and painted all of the frame clips that attach the lines to the chassis and also cleaned up the parking brake components. I will be working on installing the parking brake cables next.
The front drums bear a little bit of discussion. I had a member of the 67-72 Chevy truck community reach out to me about a suitable replacement for the front drums. Specifically, Raybestos 2008R drums were a match for the original Dana 44. I ordered a set of these from Rock Auto and they were a perfect match for the front of my existing drum brake setup. The only issue was the size of the lug stud holes. I believe that these were originally for a 50’s to early 60’s setup with what appear to be 7/16” studs. The center bore and all other measurements were a near perfect match to my existing drums. I reamed out the lug stud holes to ⅝” and they fit like a glove!
I have a few odds and ends to still perform on the chassis, but I am now getting close to turning my attention to body work.

[Chaparralman1974]

A few more pictures.

[Chaparralman1974]

Here are a few pictures of the Distibutor rebuild.

[Chaparralman1974]

A little out of order, but here are a couple of pictures of the motor going into the chassis as well.

[Chaparralman1974]

8/1/2023 - 8/10/2023
Starting on the Cab
I have decided to start the daunting task of repairing the cab. The end goal at this point is to get the metal work done and to get the cab cleaned and primed so that I can set it back on the chassis and recover some much needed real estate in my garage.
I began by fully stripping the cab of all various components. This included the pedal linkage, electrical, and everything under the dash. I had initially hoped to salvage the wiring harness and make repairs where needed, but unfortunately, the fuse block was beyond saving. I will most likely upgrade to a harness that has modern blade style fuses, but that is something that can happen at a later date.
After completely stripping the cab, I rolled it out to the driveway and hit it with the pressure washer. There was about 100 pounds of dirt and garbage that I was able to wash out of it, but now it won’t be quite as bad when I start hammering on it in the garage. Over the years I have come to despise working on the underside of any vehicle just to have it rain dirt and rocks on me.
The pressure washer really did a good job, and I think that I have a somewhat clean work surface to mess with.
This was the first time that I really took a good hard look at the cab since buying the truck. My attention has been pretty much exclusive to the chassis and drive train, so I really didn’t pay attention to the overall condition of the cab. Of course, I knew the floor needed work and now that I have it fully stripped I can see more of the damage. Both inner rockers are trashed…that much is certain. The outer rockers really don’t look half bad and are still somewhat solid. The cab supports and cab corners are near perfect with some dents and surface rust, but it is comforting to know that I won’t have to mess with those. After making several measurements, I carefully cut out the driver side outer rocker. There was a good 10 pounds of dirt and debris packed into it. I found that the A-Pillar bottom half was rotted out, but the face of the cab support was solid as a rock. The lower portion of the B-Pillar was also solid. I did have to cut it out partially for access, but I will be able to weld it back in. I do believe that I got lucky with the floor for the most part. I have ordered a few replacement panels and will begin to graft these back in.
Regarding the lower portion of the A-Pillar, I tack welded in a piece of metal through the hole that mounts the front fender. The idea here is that when I weld in the new lower portion, I will have a reference point to ensure that I get it in the right place. Another thing worth noting is that I have researched others bracing the cab before cutting any of the floor. As I am only doing one side at a time, and my floor is fairly solid, I didn’t brace mine. It should be noted that I observed no noticeable movement of the pillars after I cut out the lower supports and inner portion of the floors as was confirmed by double checking the measurements I took before cutting anything.

[Chaparralman1974]

Driver side outer rocker removal.

[Chaparralman1974]

Inner rocker and lower pillar removal.

[Chaparralman1974]

More inner rocker and pillar removal.

[cornerstone]

Saving as much GM metal as possible.

[Chaparralman1974]

8/11/2023 - 12/1/2023
Continued work on the cab
The past four months have seen me hip deep into metal and body work on the cab. To date, I have 163 man hours into the cab and that number actually eclipses any other single work effort to date. I have actually learned a lot during this phase of the project. I have begun to realize that I have been spending way too much time focused on areas of the truck that, quite honestly, will never be seen. For example, I have spent many hours trying to make the welds underneath the truck look somewhat decent only to realize that it doesn’t matter since I have covered them up with seam sealer anyhow. I guess it is just to be seen as a learning experience.
My plan of attack was to begin with the driver side rocker replacement to learn how to graft in the new metal. Several key things became apparent during this part of the project. First off, I learned that the inner rocker / floor sections that are reproduced just plain suck! The drain channels, bolt holes, and contours just don’t line up correctly with the original floor. I made the mistake on the driver side of cutting through the contoured radius at the forward edge of the seat, thinking that the patch panel would line up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t even close, and this required additional manipulation of the metal to get it to mate up. For the passenger side, I cut around this contour and all was well. The stamped in drain channels in the floor (not sure what else to call them) were also way off. The stamping was not even close. I had to slice and dice quite a bit to get them to line up. They are not perfect, but it will be hidden anyway. These are just a few of the examples by the way of the things that I have spent way too much time focused on. The reality of it is that the inside of the cab will be covered in dynamat, and the bottom outside in raptor liner.
I ended up replacing the driver side cab corner as well. This was another mistake. The cab corners are formed wrong and are not even close to the original body lines. Thankfully, I was smart enough to stay away from style lines at the lower portion of the cab. I only replaced the corner because there was a dent in the bottom and a small section of thin metal that had pinholes in it. In retrospect, I would have only replaced the thin metal and worked out the dent vs. replacing the corner, but lesson learned….
For the most part, the outer rockers were easy. I did end up redoing the driver side rocker and replacing it (and the passenger side) with rockers from GMC Pauls. These rockers are definitely of decent quality, but even these required some manipulation to get them installed. I also made a few mistakes here that need to be noted. First off, I initially used spot welds close to the edge of the rockers that line up on the B pillar side. This was an issue after grinding off the welds during test fitting of the panels. I know that some folks like to blend in the seam where the rockers meet the door jambs, but I wanted a factory look and needed the seams to be visible and crisp looking so that I can do seam sealer here. It is a preference thing, but I want it to represent a factory looking truck and not a seamless show look. This is what caused me to have to rip and replace the driver side rocker out. I learned that a better option for temporary rocker fitment is with the use of self tapping screws. Once the screws are removed, then you just weld up the screw holes.
For the most part, the floor in the cab was in good shape. The only areas of rot were in the kick panels. I was able to get these cleaned up satisfactorily. I will be applying filler over the seams, and the carpet kit that I plan to install will be one that goes all the way up the kick panels anyway.
Additional metal work so far has included welding up a bunch of screw holes, and other mounting holes that were drilled into the cab over the years. This included several smaller holes in the dash and inner cab. Also there was the receptacle plug on the passenger side of the cab that had to be filled in as well. I also had to do some rust repair in the firewall where the blower motor was. Regarding the blower motor, I will not be filling in these holes. Even though I plan to install a vintage air system, I plan to use the block off plates that are designed to work with that kit. Once again, I want the metal to look factory here. This also gives me the option to just go with a heater only setup.
After getting all the metal work done, it was time to strip the cab down to bare metal. I began by gutting the dash, removing all the wiring, insulation, instrument cluster, etc. Once having everything removed, I used a combination of methods to strip the cab to bare metal. The majority of the work was done with fiber stipping wheels and the Harbor Freight version of the Eastwood SCT. This tool by the way, is AWESOME! It made short order of removing the paint down to bare metal. I also have been using various grit sand paper on a DA as well as a pressure pot sandblaster to get to the hard to reach areas.
My plan has been to start with finishing the bottom of the cab. The logic here is that if I can get the cab bottom done, I don’t have to keep flipping it on its back. As I am pretty much a solo act here, It is becoming more and more difficult to keep moving it back and forth. I was able to get the bottom of the cab completely stripped down to bare metal. I then applied an Eastwood rust encapsulator to the entire surface. The main reason for this vs. epoxy primer DTM, is that there were pits of rust all over the place that I felt would better be dealt with via encapsulation first. So, I covered the entire bottom with a rust encapsulator first, then applied 3M seam sealer over the welded areas, and then applied Eastwood Epoxy Primer over that. Finally, the plan is to top coat all of that with UPOL Raptor Liner.
Regarding the seam sealer, it didn’t quite turn out the way I envisioned. That stuff can be a challenge to work with if you don’t know what you are doing. It was difficult to get it to lay down in any kind of a neat and good looking way. Oh well, it is the bottom of the cab, and this is for functionality rather than aesthetics.

[Chaparralman1974]

Floor and rocker repair

[Chaparralman1974]

More floor and rocker repair.