Ben's 1961 Chevy Apache K20, Missoula, MT to St. Louis, Missouri

[61Chevy454]

Hey guys, I guess this will be my build thread for my 1961 K20 with a 454 and a 700R4 (It blew up on the way home so its in the shop being replaced with a TH350.

Front view:

Driver Side:

Passenger side:

Rear:

Motor:

Interior:

Sketchy Front Springs:


Yes, those are lift blocks in the front. Thank god the transmission lost everything but 1st gear 150 miles from home because if I drove it like that going 60, I could have died. Yes, I bought it in Great Falls, Montana, about 150 miles from home and lost 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear 130 miles from home. I limped it home 30 miles an hour, stopping multiple times to check on the motor and all that good stuff and it seemed solid, 40 lbs of oil presure and everything. I left Great Falls at 9:30PM and got home at 3:30 in the morning. It was a long night.

The truck is also getting an RSK for the rear and 4 inch lift springs put on the front since I had to spend the money on new springs anyway, to negate the fact that there was a lift block that had to be removed.

The new transmission is a TH350 mated to an NP205 transfer case out of a junkyard. The TH350 seems to be in really good shape and so does the NP205, and it does have a warranty.

The motor has an Edelbrock carburetor, Edelbrock intake, headers, Mallory ignition box and an MSD distributor.

In about 2 months, I plan on moving back home to Missouri from Montana and driving this thing home...Yes, I know how bad the gas mileage will be, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

I need to patch the floor pans and put on a different set of doors I ordered...I also want to change out the whole gauge panel for one like http://www.lmctruck.com/features/cbe/cbec21.htm this.

I also would like to make the windows roll down with the crank but that could be a problem that isn't worth fixing!