71 k10 rebuild

[drivethechevy]

this weekend i brought home the 71 k10 i bought from my dad when i turned 18 back in january
some back history: in 1990 when my dad found out he was going to be a father he decided to restore a new old pickup because he had sold all of his other restored ones in 89. he found this truck in a feild in south dakota and drove it home, he did a frame of resto in 8 months, his goal was to bring me and my mom home from the hosepital in the truck(which he did), till around 95 my dad not only daily drove the truck but was consitanty wining shows (my dad has over 50 trophies that the truck won), for my entire life this truck was around and driven regularly up untill 5 years ago when my parents decided to move to our current home my dad decided that he would rather it sit inside of my grandpas shed then take up space during the move
well my dad lost intrest in the truck and after alot of pestering and him considering selling it, to fund a new truck build (his first in 19 years) i convinced him to sell it to me on my 18th bday
every winter the shed the truck was stored in gets huge drifts making it impossibe to bring home so on sunday after a family get together at my grandpas i drove the truck home, i proly would have been able to if last summer i insisted on taking my senior pics with the truck and i had to get it started when i got it out of the shed, so this time around all it needed was a new battery more air in the tires
plans are to make shure its still safe, replace a few things, and then use it as my daily driver untill my 68 is done and then this one will go under the knife for the second time
well enough talking picture time!
this is what the truck looked like as of 5-26-09









custom floor mats that my dad had made for it, sunday was the first time i have ever seen the truck without them in it

[drivethechevy]

one of my seinor pics

me and my dad with the truck
1992

2008

the truck right after it was finished 1991

[drivethechevy]

today it cleared up and i brought the truck outside for some better pictures and to start working on it
here are pictures of the body and underside

[drivethechevy]

both of the front cab supports had holes in them when my dad bought the truck and he cleaned up the spots and painted them with some rust preventing paint and lukkily it didnt rust any more, but when i buy the new driverside fender cup i will buy the front cab support replacements and use the parts i need as patch pannels


other parts that need to be replaced are the driver door, the windsheild, both door mirrors, the tailgate, and 2 bed strips, other wise all other damage is paint failure and surface rust those can be seen in the above pictures

i also a bunch of the original paper work that my dad didnt know he had
i have the original owners manual, the maunal bag, the gm assembly line checklist that ever truck had to pass before being shiped out, about 3/4's of the build sheet but only half of what is there is readable, 2 dealer install cards warantying a block heater that was installed, and my personal favorite of them all is the gm recipt, including base price and all option prices for the included options

[drivethechevy]

spid

one armrest needed to be replaced and the dash pad needs to be replace, my dad gave me a good armrest with the truck, and i had a perfect right colored dashpad that i saved out of another truck i just need to install the dash pad


the old heater controls were missing the faceplate and one of the arms, so the one from project rehab was brought in to do the job, now i need to find a new one for project rehab, i took out the old glove box liner to get better access at the heater box which i took apart and cleaned very well to get rid of the mouse smell, then i reassembled everything minus the glovebox liner and the defrost ducting, i am building a box that holds a cd deck in the corner of the glove box so i can have better tunes the the am radio

[Burt4x4]

Nice Truck!
Is the plug hanging out of the grill a block heater?

[drivethechevy]

yep its a block heater
im not sure if it still works or not, the last time my dad remebers using it was 6 years ago and it still worked so im hoping it does

[drivethechevy]

my digital camera craped out so no pictures
but i took out the passenger side inner fender, and unbolted the passenger hood hinge and removed the heaterbox.
i took the heaterbox out to remove a huge mouse nest and repair any damage done, i also supper cleaned the box and all the parts to eliminate the smell, i got it all done in 2 days due to school and rain
i have also started ordering new parts that i needed like mirrors, heater parts, and some replacement inteirior peices

[68,69 K20]

Looks like a solid truck to start with, especially for a Minnesota truck. Good luck with it.

[drivethechevy]

Originally Posted by 68,69 K20

Looks like a solid truck to start with, especially for a Minnesota truck. Good luck with it.

thanks, my dad took good care of it, but being a daily driver really took its toll on the paint, and a few of the body pannels as you can see in the pics

i did the title transfer and got new plates and got the truck on my insurance, so as soon as my side mirrors arive i will start driving the truck
i ordered a new used horn button from Brownge
and man did it make the interior look alot better
here is a before and after

[DuramaxC10]

is k10 only 4x4