My 1970 C/20 "Old School Metal"

[OSM 70 C20]

Digging through my pictures and rusty memories...
some pictures of my cab corner replacements. The 2nd picture shows my new Prothane cab mounts. And "Orbs", apparently ghosts are into mediocre body work.


Another picture of the blower fan/heater core area. Not sure why the sheet metal was peeled back.

Some pictures of a temporary flatbed I made. I had to get this thing road legal and we had lots of big oak pallets at work. Not pretty...

[OSM 70 C20]

Springtime in North Dakota when a young man's fancy turns to Chevys.

[OSM 70 C20]

Stopped up at my friend Cody's. He and his dad have a few pickups and they said I could buy a box from them. The step side was off limits, 2 were wood floors and 1 was metal. I chose metal



this was a '79

[OSM 70 C20]

I had a tough time deciding which one I wanted, so I stopped to take time to think about it...

The Blazer is getting fitted for a plow mount, I am helping

This is a dead weasel, he didn't help anyone

[OSM 70 C20]

Today I installed an HEI distributor in OSM. I bought it from a local speed shop here in town (Performance Auto) but I guess I could have just ordered it through Speedway Motors. Oh well...

[OSM 70 C20]

I couldn't really a good post on how get power to the switched power connector on the distributor. I had read I couldn't use the ignition coil wire as it was only 9 volts. I did find on the fuse block a contact that said "ign. unfused" so I ran a wire to there.

Once I got all the wiring sorted out, w started it up. MAN!!! WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!

[OSM 70 C20]

and remember, the HEI distributor needs 12 volts to work properly. If you don't get the right voltage going to it, it is just pointless

[80k30]

you could use the weasel as a hood ornament

[Mustard72]

Good to see another northern C20 being redone as a work truck. Keep up the good work!
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[OSM 70 C20]

Not sure if the weasel fits my motif. I like the C20, not as popular as a project so that suits me. I am not sure how much actual work it will do, mostly haul my fat keester around

[OSM 70 C20]

I had a pretty productive weekend. I bought an Edelbrock 1406, but it didn't match up to my old intake. I picked up an adapter plate, but that didn't fit either. So, I picked up a new Edelbrock intake.



And of course while I had the valve covers off I sandblasted and painted them.

I reassembled everything and when I set the air cleaner on... it hit the distributor!

[OSM 70 C20]

I checked around for some sort of spacer, but no one had anything. I remembered I had a metal strip. I came from a roll metal strapping I think.
I cut off a piece, curled it up and tested it out. It seemed to work. I popped some rivets in and siliconed all the seems. Looks like it should work.

[OSM 70 C20]

With all the work I had done, I had to remember how to put the distributor back in. I lined up the timing marks, tried my best to find TDC and set it in. I started the engine, and man what a racket! I shut it down and tried to figure out what I left inside the engine. I saw the spark plug I took out, DUH!!!

Spark plug reinstalled, I started it up. WOW

I took it for a quick test run, it runs really well. I don't have a real box on it right now so there is very little weight back there. I was having a blast barking the tires when I shifted gears.

I need to fix my steering column then it will be ready for the road

Gotta say THANKS to 80K30 for his help!!!

[80k30]

pop goes the weasel

[80k30]

are you finished !!!!!!

[Squareforceone]

Wow man i love this build

[OSM 70 C20]

Well thanks for the enthusiastic interest

[OSM 70 C20]

I did a few things to the truck this weekend, nothing too exciting. The first thing I had to take care of was a family of mice. Looks like I mashed one at some point when I shut the hood.


I replaced the steering column slip joint with a u-joint I picked up from Performance Auto, a local speed shop here in town.


Not the greatest looking weld job, nothing a little grinding can't fix.


I took it for a spin on some quiet streets to check out the new steering setup. It felt really good, I even got a little cocky and gave it some gas (got it up to 50!). After I got back it could hardly idle. It was smoking pretty bad. I pulled a plug, it came out black and wet. I replaced all 8, they were all fouled.

[OSM 70 C20]

Looks like I have some catching up to do...
After the test drive, Greg and I decided maybe it was time to tear down the engine to see what was going on.
So I whipped out the credit card and opened the toolbox. We came up with a list of items that we figured we would need right away, but didn't order until we were sure. There isn't a whole lot of exciting things to say about the engine removal and breakdown, so I will post pictures and comment as necessary.
And what do these numbers tell us, class?

That's right...

I happened upon this, I looked for the broken-off piece in the bottom of the pan. I found it up along a piston. That freaked me out a bit! I checked out the area, I think it got up in there when I rolled the engine over.

This lifter showed a little wear, it was the only one. I believe it was #8

A picture of the head numbers. I am not entirely sure what they mean

[OSM 70 C20]

I guess I didn't take any pictures of going through the engine, sorry.
It was pretty uneventful really, I sent the block off to be checked out. I ended up having to buy .10 over cam bearings, but that was the most machining that needed to be done. We honed out the cylinders, not much of a ridge...

The engine was actually in pretty good shape!

Once we started the rebuild, things moved pretty quickly so I missed a lot of picture opportunities.
This isn't much, but here is a picture of my parts list from Summit:


I know, it is like someone describing a centerfold.

[80k30]

we want more !!!!!!

[OSM 70 C20]

Mike, a friend of mine, made a transfer pump out of my old fuel pump.
It will fill a 5 gallon pail in about 2 minutes

Not much to say really, lots of chrome pieces added. I heard it adds 10hp for each chrome part added.
The paint is orange, sure doesn't look like it in the pictures.



As long as it was out, I bought a clutch kit from NAPA and installed it

[OSM 70 C20]

So, let's talk about that clutch kit from NAPA. I considered leaving the stores name out of my post, but after the way I got the run around, screw 'em.

Okay, I am sitting on the cross member cleaning up the input shaft, clutch fork and bell housing area getting ready to put the throwout bearing on. I slid the bearing on, lined up the fork and went to lock the fork back on when... the new bearing came apart!!!

I snapped the bearing back together, I snapped it back together (a little shocked) and tried it again. BLOOP! it came apart...

Greg and I cleaned up and went to the store I bought it from. I talked to a younger clerk explaining the situation, he seems to sympathize and looked up a new bearing. He then spoke to his superior who said we would have to pull a new bearing out of a new kit then defect the whole thing. He seemed less than interested in dealing with me, sort of irritated actually.

One hitch, I bought the last one. Another branch in town had one so we went there. The clerk had called ahead and it was on the counter when we got there.

Once again we told them what happened and showed them the bearing. I snapped it together and apart in front of everyone, showing them the crap part I had. The manager there then took the new one from the new clutch kit and tried pulling it apart. He tried explaining to us how it was made to come apart so it could be serviced...

Now, I don't know about you, but if I were to go through all the bother to pull the throwout bearing off of the installed transmission, I would just put a new one in!!!

... so he is fiddling around, trying to pull the back of the bearing off. He whips out this knife and finally pries the back off. Proudly he presents me with these serviceable sealed bearing pieces.

I tell him "now we have 2 broken bearings"
He is still trying to explain to me how it is a new design and they are greasable. I looked at one of the other clerks and asked him to find me a quality bearing. Greg is steaming and ready to pull the clutch off and shove it down someone's throat. I just wanted to finish the job...

We left, shaking our heads. We installed the bearing, put the engine in and started bolting everything back together.

Below are pictures of the 2 throwout bearings. Well, one is a bearing to throw out. FYI, the part were the fork connects is made of plastic.