A grandpa’s camper truck resurrection

[chev-obsession]

I need to get better at taking before, during and after pics.

[chev-obsession]

I haven’t had as much progress as I would have liked to get between tracking parts down, the holidays and family events. I got the spindles, rotors and calipers on today. This last week I had the bucket of antifreeze (or what was left of it) that was removed from the motor when I pulled the radiator and found it to be pretty slushy with it only being 20* at night. So I went to check on the motor in the truck, the passenger side was all fluid, the driver side had partially frozen. I pulled the bottom drain plugs on both sides, threw a couple heaters under the truck to get the motor thawed out. Initially I got all of the water out from the passenger side and about half a cup from the drivers side. When I got back later that day I found the drivers side to be completely thawed. I’m really hoping there was no damage that would cause a crack.

I was able to locate a sway bar, it’s somewhere in the 1” diameter range from a squarebody, also got a factory rear view mirror, a nice fan shroud and a wire gutter for above the radiator from a 69 custom camper also found a perfect factory spare wheel/tire in a ‘91 suburban in a junkyard.

In my quest for a decent set of heads… holy smokes what a fiasco. So far 3 of the 4 “993” heads have been cracked. TBD

I’m hoping to get the brake lines and the rest of the front end components installed next. Who knows when lol, I’m realizing that this project isn’t going as fast as I’d like it to go.

[chev-obsession]

Here’s the pics
Posted via Mobile Device

[68bowtie]

Those emblems turned out nice.

I probably missed it somewhere, but what’s the deal with the brown truck?

[chev-obsession]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

Those emblems turned out nice.

I probably missed it somewhere, but what’s the deal with the brown truck?

The brown truck is the ‘69 custom camper in the junkyard that I got some parts from.

[68bowtie]

Ah gotcha. Looks fairly complete. They are all picked clean in this area. That’s a nice resource.

[chev-obsession]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

Ah gotcha. Looks fairly complete. They are all picked clean in this area. That’s a nice resource.

Most of the trucks around here are picked clean too. This was a new arrival WAYYYY in the back. It’s a shame to see it get parted, the body was rough but not a ton of rust. Had a lot of premium quality interior parts. I scored a perfect dash pad from it too. In hind sight I should have grabbed the floor mat but wasn’t on my mind at the time.

[chev-obsession]

Let’s hope that 2022 is nothing like these brake lines that don’t work or the anti freeze that froze

I ordered this set of 72 brake lines from inline tube, the master to proportion valve Leave a lot to be desired. No way no how were they going to fit. Luckily 12 years ago when I did this swap on another truck I saved the lines they included from the master to prop. valve. Those actually fit. I think last time I used “the right stuff” not sure why I changed it up this time. The lines from the proportion valve to brake hoses aren’t real great either. I’m hind sight i would have sources original brake lines and replicated them. Also need to get a plug for the proportion valve.

At least Mr. Heater has their stuff figured out.
Posted via Mobile Device

[yuccales]

Lot of work in a short time! Looking good!

[chev-obsession]

Still haven’t made a ton of progress after getting the front end reassembled. I did get the front shocks installed and removed the crappy “624” heads. At first I thought… why go through all of this trouble to remove the heads when they most likely aren’t bad? Well I’m glad I pulled them, turns out the valve seals were all cracked and split down the middle. I went with some 993 heads and had to filter through about 4 or 5 to get a good pair. My friend is rebuilding them for me and should be done this week.

I said that I wanted to leave the truck with a stock appearance, looks like I might be adding an Edelbrock intake as well. The old cast iron intake has some crud built up on the heat cross over right below the carb, you can see the crud build up and the heat discoloration in the pictures. It looks like it got hot at some point all the way across down to the manifolds. I found an Edelbrock for free so I guess why not try to use it? The only catch is that I’m not sure how the choke mechanism will work if I use the Edelbrock.

While waiting for the heads, I pulled the cover on the rear diff to investigate the noise it made when turning the axle. Turns out the spider gears wore out and loaded the diff with metal shavings. The oil was pretty metallic. So the quest for a better rear axle is in the works. I’m guessing the weight of the camper wore the spiders out when turning? Idk I’m not a gear expert.

I was cleaning out the camper as I’m going to sell it, and found a bag with some goodies. 2 of the bumper bolts for the front bumper where the spare tire carrier was mounted and the original owners manual! I’ll go through it when I get a little more time.

Hoping to have the heads installed this weekend if all goes well. That would really get me in the right direction and can start making a little better progress.
Posted via Mobile Device

[bwl101]

Looking like some good progress! Hopefully I can get mine up and running soon!

[68bowtie]

Moving in the right direction…

[67RS/SSx2]

Man I wish you were closer. I really like that camper. Good luck to you on this build!

[SCHRUMGMC]

Absolutely enjoying this project build thread. It’s like reading a great book and being so excited for the next page to see what’s going to happen next


Great work

[JUN1269]

Originally Posted by SCHRUMGMC

Absolutely enjoying this project build thread. It’s like reading a great book and being so excited for the next page to see what’s going to happen next


Great work

I agree...It's always fascinating to get the history behind a old vehicle. Mine actually started life as a 1969 Long bed Custom Camper C20 but it was hacked up prior to me purchasing so I just continued. Now it's just a simple ole short bed imposter.

Nonetheless, I'm excited to see what's next with this one.

[Mike Bradbury]

Great looking truck and great find. My 69 C20 has a very similar story. The 93 year old man was the original owner and was just trying to get rid of it as he was going to be moving and sold it to me for $700! I drove it home from his house and didn't do a thing to it for a couple years except drive it. Your camper is twice the size as mine was but they looked pretty similar.

It looks like you've had your fair share of experience with these trucks and I don't want to assume anything but here are several things I learned being down the road you're on:

Hold out for a 1.25" sway bar. It makes driving it pretty fun as it feels much more stable.

Ditch the Q-Jet carb and put an Edelbrock 1406 on the intake. You can't pull out of your driveway without getting into the massive secondaries on that carb, which is going to drain the gas tank pretty fast. Part of the fun of driving these trucks is not breaking the bank driving it on the weekends. Cheap gas in SoCal is now $4.60 and anything less than 15 mpg is not as fun on the budget by the end of the year.

Consider a 700R4 trans. The fourth gear reduces the strain on the old engine

By all means either upgrade to a roller valve train or religiously add zinc to your motor oil. My PO had the engine rebuilt 14,000 mi before I bought it and the cam was shredded after a couple thousand miles. Flat tappets cannot survive with modern oil.

While you are rebuilding the rear end consider a 355 gear. Still plenty of pull out of the hole but much better gas milage.

[chev-obsession]

Thank you all for the encouragement and kind words!

The camper that came on the truck found a new home FINALLY!! The guy had a 69 K20 that the camper went on and was happy to take it.

I was able to get the motor back together, now it’s up to some wiring and other little odds and ends and it’s ready to fire. In hind sight I would have pulled the whole motor and rebuilt it. When I pulled the rear main cap to fix the rear main seal, the bearing looked fairly worn but not down to the copper. Why I didn’t pull the engine and freshen it up I have no idea, there was no ridge on the block and you could still see the cross hatch pattern. So send a prayer my way!

I got the bottom end put back together, inspected lifters and put on assembly lube since they were pretty dry, primed the oil pump, new one piece oil pan gasket, had a friend rebuild a set of 993 heads and found an Edelbrock intake for $5 at the scrap yard cleaned it up and had my neighbor put it in his “Vapor Hone” and it turned out really nice!

Got everything hot tanked, cleaned and painted. Sent a whole day putting parts on… (heads, rear man, oil pan, intake, starter, exhaust manifolds, distributor…, etc etc! A major PITA was the AC compressor and associated brackets. I did get new battery cables made from 1 gauge wire… which is significantly larger than the original cables! Also got some welding cable to use as grounds around the truck.

I’m not sure what I will tackle next, probably work on the wiring stuff for the HEI, headlight relays and the 10SI.

I cleaned the gas tank out and put it back into the cab then later realizing that to put new cab mounts in the tank has to be removed. So my “to do” list is still fairly large.

Still on the hunt for a new (used) axle that doesn’t need a total rebuild.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Mike Bradbury]

Great work, Yeah yanking the block is a PITA but it does make rebuilding easier.
All looks great though, I hope it all works out.

[chev-obsession]

I’ve gotten a fair amount of small stuff done. It’s down to stuff like installing the radiator, battery, rear brakes, bleeding the brakes, checking fluids and I believe it’s ready to fire!

This last week we had a pretty bad wind storm that blew the skylight off in the shop and it’s been raining since… so that means I’m working in the rain lol. I will get a pic later but I went with an after market style spark plug wire loom and summit raving 8.5mm spark plug wires, i think it looks pretty decent even though it’s not the factory look. Also got the distributor wired up with a new 12 ga. wire.

Finally I have completed a set of matching 6 lug 4 nub wheels, then had them sand blasted and powder coated them myself. I think they turned out pretty nice. I’ll get the tires mounted up this week and get them ready.

Today I installed new cab and radiator mounts to help the horrendous fender/cab gap. I was able to wiggle a 3/8” bolt in between the gap before and now it’s closed up significantly.
Posted via Mobile Device

[chev-obsession]

Here’s more pics
Posted via Mobile Device

[68bowtie]

Looking good! Glad you are going OE on the wheels/caps. That’s gonna look really nice.

[chev-obsession]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

Looking good! Glad you are going OE on the wheels/caps. That’s gonna look really nice.

Thanks, i can’t wait to get them on!



I guess I have a little more to do, in order to get it running than what I originally thought. It’s like I go through and make a list and then I end up making a second list

Also, I snapped a pic of the spark knocker wires/loom…. Because none of us have ever seen a SBC with wire looms before

[Captain X]

Where would a guy pick up a set-up like that for his plug wires?

[chev-obsession]

Originally Posted by Captain X

Where would a guy pick up a set-up like that for his plug wires?

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/rnm-1101s

I got mine from summit, you’ll need to get longer bolts, not sure why they don’t provide them. I think it requires 1/4-20x 2” bolts.

[Captain X]

Originally Posted by chev-obsession

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/rnm-1101s

I got mine from summit, you’ll need to get longer bolts, not sure why they don’t provide them. I think it requires 1/4-20x 2” bolts.

Oh, thanks.

Are the wire ends part of the wires themselves, or are those a separate thing you can get? Seems like the kind of thing to get to avoid burned wires.