1970 K20 Z62 Full Restoration

[IronCanine]

Well I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. The girls and I have logged a fair few miles over the holidays. In fact I'm posting this from a hotel room.

But, Thank God for Eric. The work continues. He has started the tedious job of cramming all that stuff under the dash. But not before the ol VIN plate got pinned back up. 1970 used three different styles of VIN plates beginning with the two plate 69 style and ending with what you all are familiar with on 71s and 72s. This being a very late 70...it got the 71/72 printed style. I spent a lot of time thinking about ways to restore that plate. The older unprinted versions are nice, because all you have to do is polish them. I've resigned to the fact that any attempt to improve the appearance of this was statistically more likely to make it worse in some way, so it got a bath and nothing more. It's in C+ condition and I'm ok with that.

[IronCanine]

It is always exciting when the jewelry starts going on. That's an NOS upper vent. I was unsure if it would look good enough, but it cleaned up with a little wax well enough to accept it.

I had intended for Greg from S&M Electro-Tech to rebuild my radio. But unfortunately he passed away just before I reached out. I have bought all previous dash speakers from him. Luckily the family has kept and carried on the family business...and after an extended period without it, they now have our dash speaker in stock and I picked up one of those a few weeks ago.

As for the radio, I ended up sending it to Joesclassicarradio.com. He added FM and Bluetooth, rechromed the face and basically renewed everything. It does all the stuff, but still looks like a completely original AM only radio. It took a long time. It was not inexpensive. But I am happy with his work and can recommend.

Also, I don't remember if we had an M&H harness on the 69 or not, but just as it was with that truck, the brown lead to the prop valve or distribution block is too short for a power brake truck. We had to extend it on the 69 and you can see what we're starting with here.

Hope you all have a Happy New Year.

All the best,

Brad

[1970cstblazer]

Just curious... the 1970 Custom trim level came with deluxe dash knobs, but the base waffle iron style pedal pads?

EDIT located an excerpt from a 1969 dealer booklet showing this equipment combination

[IronCanine]

Sorry to be late in reply...but it looks like you self sorted. Yes, definitely bright knobs with waffle (base) pedals. I guess it's crazy that I put Z62 in the thread title but no mention of what constitutes that trim level.

Z62 was an RPO GM had in the previous gen trucks. Z61 was an Appearance package and Z62 was a Comfort package. Both were still available in 67. I believe Z61 went away the next year and Z62 became the Comfort and Convenience package and was basically the same from 68-72. Mainly it was a little bit of bright work, upgraded door panels, color keyed mat and the custom cloth seat. I'm not sure if the fabric was the same in 67/68. it was definitely the same for 69-72, but the orientation varied. The pattern ran horizontally in 69 and vertically 70-72.

Also the badging changed over time from Custom to Custom Deluxe.

Attached is the breakdown for 1970 and this truck specifically. But for ease of reading here's what a 1970 K62 got:

Bright trim on windshield, vent window and rear window
Cigar Lighter
Control knob trim
Custom Emblems (fender and glovebox)
Color keyed floor mat and special insulation
Door trim panels
Full foam seat with fabric upholstery

You could not get buckets with Z62 (much to my chagrin).

[IronCanine]

Happy New Year everyone. It is very nice to be back home. We got in late last night to a full mailbox. One of the the boxes crammed in there was an NOS master cylinder bail. The eBay vender had a little less reverence for the NOS box than I might have preferred, but at least it made it unscathed. Much thanks to 1970cstblazer for pointing me in the right direction on that!

[IronCanine]

It is funny how much parts wrangling ends up happening at the end in spite of all the best laid plans. I have found myself chasing and realizing more than a few mistakes at a time I expected us to be on the glide slope.

But, pretty pictures are generally a good antidote to bad feelings and Eric spent another week putting pretty things together while I tried to put out fires with a laptop and a cell phone.

The NOS A/C kit continues to be the coolest thing. Nevertheless, we did not use the NOS control unit because of shelf wear. One thing to point out about this kit is that it was made to be a dealer installed item on a non A/C truck. Which means some of the hardware and assembly instructions are reflective of that. In some cases the hardware is not the same size or style that came on this factory A/C truck. As much as possible in those instances, we are putting what came on the truck on the truck. Luckily what could be saved has been.

We have used the NOS gasket material as it feels good and supple and of better quality than repro. Of course I worry about premature deterioration. Hopefully no issues.

I definitely left the "3" inspection mark on the box...as much as we fussed over that "red dot" on the other build...we're keeping this as it came....as well as the inspection decal on the blower motor for now.

[IronCanine]

I haven't highlighted every NOS thing that has gone on here, but I do want to give a shout out to stuff I've collected from board members...and I've had this NOS clutch rod and boot for a while thanks to Jeff (Jeff's bowties).

Every thing about vent assembly is 50 years old except the paint. Felt is nice and the fit is what you'd expect from new original.

The dome light is most assuredly not NOS...and also it is by far my least favorite light that got installed this week.

[IronCanine]

These beauties on the other hand...I love me some K20 cab lights. And I couldn't be more tickled with these. Now, I hope to have a full set of Guide lenses on there at some point, but we're all new Signal Stat for now with OE base gaskets. To my eye they really pop.

Fun stuff to tackle in the week ahead...probably some glass....maybe the bed...we'll see.