1970 K20 Z62 Full Restoration

[IronCanine]

OK...so I think the grille situation is sorted. I ordered a polishing kit from Renegade. Polish and paint and this feels right...or as close as we could get it. I am ok with the fact that this grille will require extra attention and maintenance.

The center support is NOS and it is another surprising place that you can find a date code.

I also got our under hood black phosphate pieces back and they are great. I can whole heartedly recommend DIFCO (Durable Industrial Finishing Company) in Tucker, GA. I don't know how I missed them...they're in my back yard. They are a production facility and anything that you send in for zinc plating will be vatted (basically run through large containers as a gross) and has the potential for loss on small pieces. However, for manganese phosphate, they do it by hand. There is a $200 minimum which is what I paid to have my latch, striker plate and pin, and hood hinges and springs done. I don't know how much more I would have had to send to surpass that. But I shipped them out and had them back in under two weeks. And they look great. Now they were sent squeaky clean...which I think is the key if you want to have a solid result.

I got the NOS hood latch from Mel (one of many pieces he's helped me with). The return spring didn't survive the multiple swings at re-finishing. Luckily eBay had a couple of NOS springs for sale this weekend that I have coming.

[IronCanine]

And this is the whole point...besides being wrong, the grille in its previous finish would have fallen so flat against the chrome front bumper. Now it's got a fighting shot of holding its own. This looks factory to me.

[chewychevy67]

Looks sharp

[IronCanine]

A couple of quick notes before we move on to inner fenders. First, I got the reproduction T3 headlights from Lectric Limited. T3s are correct for 70 I believe...and probably made it on some 71s. Definitely by the end of 71, Power Guides were the factory headlight bulb.

Second...Just like the points ignition and the drum brakes, we're doing a factory style external regulator. No NOS here...this is a reproduction piece.

And that last pic is just cool to me. I love everything about it. And the inner fenders are about to cover it up.

[IronCanine]

Planning, prepping, reading, learning...doesn't matter. Each day brings a new problem. I picked up two NOS inner fenders from Joe. They were legit with factory stickers...the whole nine. But the driver's side was missing a hole and a capture nut for the fender brace. Candidly I did not do a lot of internet digging on this...and there may be a thread on here that explains this phenomenon. But I didn't see one that popped up quickly. Instead I consulted pics of original trucks and we checked the pitiful inner fender that came off the truck that was luckily still on the scrap pile. So it means a drilled hole and square nut.

Also..something else I missed. The body bolts that retain that brace have extra large washers. I did not have them re-finished because...well you can see why. So I'm going to have to come up with those four bolts.

[IronCanine]

Feels like we're really getting close now. Looks like some nice weather in the week ahead so maybe the mat gets painted....who knows, maybe we'll crank it. Fun times.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

Looks sharp

Thanks Rod.

[Ol Blue K20]

It's looking phenomenal!

[1970cstblazer]

That grille is now legit. Hopefully Key will fix it in further production.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

It's looking phenomenal!

Thanks Dale.

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

That grille is now legit. Hopefully Key will fix it in further production.

Thanks Rick. I hope they will. All they gotta do is look at period pics. That's what I did to make sure I wasn't crazy. I've got a copy of virtually all the print media that Chevrolet (trucks) produced at the time...besides what's available on here. All the bright work, the stainless, the chrome, the trim..had a bright reflective finish.

[72 tigger]

Grill looks great! Crank that sucker!