Just bought a 72 Chevrolet K20

[unixadm]

Hello,

I'm new to the board. I just picked up a 72 Chevrolet Truck K20 Fleetside Longbed. 350 4bbl, A/C, P/S, PDB, Dana 44 up front, Dana 60 in the back with leafs. Dana 60 has a factory posi. A/C still blows cold! It was originally an automatic, but was converted to a manual using an SM465 sometime in the last 12 years or so. It's my intentions to put it back to an automatic - I just don't know if it had a Turbo 350 or Turbo 400 transmission originally. I did end up with some extra cross-members, most likely the original automatic ones.

The truck is STRAIGHT with all original paint. I mean there is hardly a ding or chip in the paint. The only real wear on the truck is the tailgate and I don't believe it's the original one. The odometer does not work, but I'd venture to say it has about 110-120k miles on it. The original 350 runs like a top, starts right up, does not smoke, etc.

I'm going to have some questions and some WTB requests to try and get the truck back to an automatic. I'm converting it to HEI, Electric Fans, 100+ amp alternator, interior work, etc right off the bat to improve reliability and comfort. It's my beater truck, but I still want it to be nice. I'm going to buff out the paint to remove the oxidation. I rubbed it out by hand in a few spots really shined up nice. It's amazing how good the original paint is on this truck. Minimal rust too. Just the lower rockers on the passenger side and a couple of little bubbles on the bottom sides of the doors. Minor floor surface rust. I'm going to rip out the seats and interior and respray the door panels, visors, etc with SEM in white.

I need to locate a factory steering wheel as someone installed a not so cool Pep Boys one on it and that just isn't my thing. It has a slew of odd wiring added in that I'll need to go through and remove/fix. Certain things also don't work, like the turn signals and backup lights. In reality it can't really get much easier to fix. This truck is so simple. It's nice to have a vehicle that I don't have to pull codes on or have a wiring diagram for every single sub-system.

The truck is equipped with tripple tanks too and has a crappy dual exhaust system with glass packs. I'll have an exhaust system put on it down the road. It sat for about 10 years before I bought the thing. I'm doing a full brake job on it in the next week when I get all the parts in. From the brake booster down to the last drum brake springs, with the exception of the hard lines all of the brake system will be new. If I end up driving it a lot, I'll convert it to rear discs.

I picked this truck up for $2500.

Pictures of the truck prior to me picking it up can be seen here: http://www.dmwtech.com/gallery/v/k20/

Depending on your browser, you may have to scroll down to see the pictures.

Wish me luck!

David

[Paul72]

Nice truck!

Good luck on the improvements. You'll find a lot of good info and very helpful people here.

Welcome from Minnesota!

Paul

[hotrodmtodd]

SW PA says HEY! Looks like you have Plan A,B and C covered. Call upon the "wisdom of the board"! Take care, Hot Rod

[chickenwing]

Welcome! Nice lookin truck!!! Lots of Ochre luvers here too! Where are ya in Sac? I'm in Rio Linda. Have only met 1 local board member. Maybe I can buy you a beer one day soon. Would like to see your truck in person and show off mine too.