1970 K20 Z62 Full Restoration

[1970cstblazer]

On my '70, I used an original used driver's side front fender inner skirt, and a new passengers side. The drivers side had schutz coating on it from the factory, so I applied 3m schutz with a special air schutz gun on the passengers side to match. I also applied this coating on the rocker boxes to replace what stones had worn away.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

On my '70, I used an original used driver's side front fender inner skirt, and a new passengers side. The drivers side had schutz coating on it from the factory, so I applied 3m schutz with a special air schutz gun on the passengers side to match. I also applied this coating on the rocker boxes to replace what stones had worn away.

Thanks for the link. Eric has tried/used all measure of liners/coatings/stone chips...just on our trucks. It's always a challenge to match the factory textures whether it's a Blazer top or a fender well. The main concern for me on this one is whether I'll have enough guts to let him go full factory and sloppily spray underneath this truck as was originally done and cover up a lot of nice finishes and details....we'll see.

[IronCanine]

Keith got back to me and he didn't disappoint. Here's his response on the question of the bed floor:

The bed floor was received assembled from the supplier (Checker Motors, or GM Met Fab Indy or whatever).

Meaning: the main floor panel itself, plus the cross sills and misc brackets and such.

The bed sides and front panel were then added to the floor in the cab (body) shop, which is the same area where the cab was welded together from all the little bits and pieces you start with.

The cab and box together then make their way through the rest of the cab shop and on to paint and then trim.

In terms of primer color - it varies a bit based on model year and final assembly location. I would say you are doing the right thing in duplicating whatever you found underneath the paint.

I don't have any '70 Fremont photos handy but these are from Flint circa 1979.

https://www.73-87.com/7387info/Assembly%20Line.htm

(Photos 5,6,7 and 8 are Line 2 Blazer/Suburban. Photos 9, 10 and 11 are pickup cab shop and paint)

[chewychevy67]

I'd have a hard time coving up the detail. I too am not sure what im going to do on the underside of the cab. I guess ill wait to see what yours looks like first.

[jaros44sr]

image by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/97391199@N06

I was degreasing my high hump trans cover the other day and found an unusual color I’d say it’s like a flat UPS truck color, first time I’ve run into this

Great build so far

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

I'd have a hard time coving up the detail. I too am not sure what im going to do on the underside of the cab. I guess ill wait to see what yours looks like first.

I'm going to have a hard time too.

Originally Posted by jaros44sr

I was degreasing my high hump trans cover the other day and found an unusual color I’d say it’s like a flat UPS truck color, first time I’ve run into this

Great build so far

Thanks for being on board! Every truck we've had (St Louis, Fremont and Atlanta built) have had this primer. Thanks for sharing!

[IronCanine]

Happy Sunday night everybody.

Body work continues on the bed. Primary goal has been to get these pieces to squarely fit together. Eric has made some progress. Some nice work here improving gaps to the gate.

[IronCanine]

Still more work to do though. I want the bed to be as close to factory appearing as possible. There are several tack welds where spot welds should be on this reproduction. These have to be removed and corrected. Also the inner side panel is about an eighth of an inch too short. That'll need a little attention too.

Eric did get the bed floor to a point where it could be "primed". It was suspended to help create the runs that were in my original bed floor. Epoxy primer first.

[IronCanine]

Here's a bed/hardware detail that I find interesting. Pictured below is an Atlanta built '68 and my Fremont '70. The Atlanta truck has regular body bolts attaching the bed side to the header. The Fremont has "tailgate" pan head bolts. Just a cool variation.

[IronCanine]

I picked up some 1/4" brake line at NAPA and set out to try and make the long frame rail line. The "right" one that InLine tube sent was technically long enough, but the bends really didn't match the original and it just wasn't a good fit. Luckily we had saved the original. I got some 3/8 steel for the fuel line too, but the InLine version ended up being close enough that a few tweaks got it to a very similar shape of the OE.

Still a challenging fitment because of the length. And I'm going to to have to do some paint touch up. But I can live with that if it doesn't leak.

[IronCanine]

I was able to use all my original retaining clips/clamps. There are three red doubles that hold the fuel and brake lines together. There are two 1/4" olive clamps at the rear that hold just the brake line. And there is a single 3/8" olive clamp that holds the fuel line at the front. These are a push in style. They are working well after a little TLC, but GM was right to go to a bolt on style in '71. I wish this truck had em.

As I'm wrapping up the roller and we're getting closer to the marry...I wanted to go ahead and get oil in the drive line and take my medicine on any leaks. Both axles, the transmission and transfer case now have their prescribed volumes. So far so good.

It meant though, that I needed to go ahead and put on the ID plate on my transfer case. As you can see mine was trashed. I found a machine shop that had serial number style dies and who said they could reproduce it. I procured the correct aluminum plate and cut it to size. They did a nice job, but the font is too large. I haven't been able to come up with a better alternative in the meantime. If you guys know anyone that can replicate this plate better than what you see here... please let me know. The reason I went ahead with this one is because I wanted to thread seal these two bolts ahead of the oil fill.

I got some other subassembly stuff done this week, but I'll save that for when it goes on the truck. Still don't have a full compliment of correct hose clamps. On the hunt for that this week.

We keep plodding.

[1970cstblazer]

I located all of the true NOS Wittek tower clamps for my Blazer on Ebay. They are not date code correct, but they are far far better than the repro trash. They actually clamp without drama. The repros give the real ones a bad reputation.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

I located all of the true NOS Wittek tower clamps for my Blazer on Ebay. They are not date code correct, but they are far far better than the repro trash. They actually clamp without drama. The repros give the real ones a bad reputation.

I've got my Witteks. And I'm sure you know you can get them date coded if you want. I was referring to the smaller clamps (like fuel, vent, PS).

[1970cstblazer]

Yes, I tried the date code correct "Witteks" from Marti, and they were the same low quality trash everybody else sells. I saved the tightening screws, and they went right into the garbage can.

[1970cstblazer]

The power steering return hose clamp is a Wittek #2 band style