New to me 79' K20

[runrunner]

Been a long while since I've been on. Last year I purchased a 67' K10 that turned out to be a disaster (rust). Ended up parting it out and got all my money back but what a nightmare.

I figured I already have my 70' Malibu and have property so needed a 4WD. I was kind a truck whore for a while and kept buying and selling (relunctantly, but I couldn't pass up the offers).

1990 K3500
2002 2500 HD
1990 K2500

I made about $4k on the above trucks and figured since I have a work truck that I drive daily, have the chevelle and my wife has her car that I didn't need anything newer as it generally sits. I wanted SFA and looked at Dodge and Ford, but I'm a Chevy guy and decided I wanted a K20. It was a little harder than I thought finding a decent one for less than $3k. I only looked at one and I ended up knowing the seller. Paid $2800 for a 79' K20. It was advertised as a 2wd, manual and had no specs. No wonder they couldn't sell it. Checked it out, older restore with bad clearcoat, but it was painted in and out, the only thing missed was the firewall. No rust. Originally a 350, 4spd but was swapped to a crate 454 with 60k and a TH400. Had an Edelbrock intake and a 1903 Edelbrock carb (Quadrajet replacement). NP205, 14 bolt, etc. Drove ok, 4wd worked and said that it would need to pass DEQ to keep me interested as it had 2012 tags and was only used on the property. Well, it passed which was good, but than it ran out of fuel and the battery died. Owner met me with a new battery and filled the tank.

Been tinkering with it ever since. Had a bad rattle and thought it was a knock but ended up being the crappy aftermarket cats.

None of the factory gauges worked so swapped in some summit ones in the factory locations, turned out pretty cool. Has 33's and was stock height, looked a little off. Went with 2.5" Procomp front springs (cheap and ride okay) and a 2" block. Ive always liked Offroad Design stuff so I installed there shackle flip and HD front shackles and ditched the block. It was a PITA to install but I like the results.

The previous owner put about 2k miles on it in 6 years so it sat most of the time. Fresh fluids = oil leaks. Power steering, rear main, t-case all leak. awesome... Enough of my novel, heres some pics.

[Zachary17]

That's a nice looking and clean truck! So what Plans to you have for this truck?

[runrunner]

Dunno, I limb fell on the roof and caved it in. I was able to push it out but have some dents I am tackling with a stud welder that I have never used... I have 4 acres and the one spot I park the truck has a limb fall on it, what are the odds! I initially considered a cab swap but once the huge dent popped out it seemed to be okay. Cab is rust free anyway so I didn't want to get into it. I would like to do a nice front bumper (buckstops look really good) and an 8.1 swap. I work for U-Haul and they are in our big trucks so salvage is cheap. I can get a 4.8 or 8.1 for a few hundred bucks. The 454 is strong, just leaks out the rear main. No smoke, just a leaker. Its tough as it gets driven rarely since I have a work truck. Whats really sad as my 70' Malibu has been sitting since last summer and its ready to go!