71 K20 Idaho Edition

[landarts]

I was not going to do a build thread on this truck when I bought it because it was going to be a quick fix a few items and let it go. Right before Covid hit I sold a truck the "68 Second Chance" and another K10 Cheyenne and made a few dollars toward my hobby fund. I noticed a bunch of really good deals popping up all over in the Pacific Northwest so I ended up buying five more trucks. A 68 K20 long bed stepside, a 72 K20 Custom Deluxe, 68 K20 truck minus the cab, 69 GMC 1/2 ton and this truck 71 K20 Custom. I was able to buy all these trucks and still have some hobby money left over to get some parts and work on them. Out of all the trucks I bought this 71 was a running and driving truck. After several conversation with the owner which was a graduate student up at the University of Idaho, he stated that a retired mechanic helped him get the mechanicals in order. He went through items that the motor needed and did a tune up, new hoses, alternator, plugs, wires etc., went through all the brakes, replaced all the body suspension rubber and a few other items.

After a few weeks of going back and forth, him sending several pictures since I was stuck in a state mandated lockdown and really did not want to drive six hours and possibly get turned around on the highway like a few people I know did going that direction. We struck a deal on the truck at $4000 and a case of Firestone Walker 805.

A few weeks later when the state wide lockdown was over one of my sons offered to go up and pick up the truck for me. He arrived on the location with the money and a case of Firestone Walker 805, drove it up on the trailer and got back on the road to my house.

The truck is really a great running truck is mechanically sound from what I can tell. The entire front clip is off of a 69 truck, the bed is rough but fixable. The only rust I could find on the entire truck was both front cab supports have some rust through about 1 inch by 3 inches and both cab corners on the backside are really smashed up and have been bent back several times are needing to cut a small section on each one and replace.

I have been driving the truck for the last few months and really enjoying how great it drives, fixing little things and getting it ready for a new paint job while still driving it. Any ways I decided to do a build thread and will be adding stuff to this thread to get everyone caught up to where it is present day. I will be working on this truck until it is done so I can afford to get back to the K10 build "69 from the field" and do a few of the upgrades that I have been wanting to do.

[landarts]

Plans for the truck will be to get the body repairs done and repaint in the 511 Ochre paint. I started doing a few of the small items and attacking a few bigger ones as time allowed. On a Saturday I pulled off the grill, outer grill and drivers fender to get to a big crushed in front fender cup. Spent the weekend working on the fender off of the truck and was able to get it back on and driving it again Monday morning. Here are a few pictures of the truck getting some body attention on the front fender.

After removing the fender I mounted it to a saw horse that I had in the garage to make it easier to work on. I tried using a a few body hammers and pulling he dent with a stud gun. Was not making the progress that I wanted so i heated up a little with some Mapp gas and then was able to get the metal to start moving. Once I got close to where it needed to be I covered it with a black sharpie and started to go over the metal with a file to see where the high and lows were. after about 40 minutes of hammering with a body hammer, dolly and slapping hammer I felt that I got it to a point where it was ready for filler.

Got it installed back on the truck and moved on to a few other areas that need attention.

[landarts]

The next big one was to get rid of the crease on the passenger side of the bed and attack the rear tail light housing. To get to the crease you would need to cut the inner fender well out and that was not going to happen so I decided I would go after the crease with a stud gun and the Steck stud lever. I have used this tool a few times before and can't tell you how impressed I was with what it will allow you to do over the standard slide hammer. the tool allows you to pull the welded on stud in different directions and also while putting pressure on the stud allows the use of a body hammer to move metal. After working this area with the stud lever and hammer cut off all the studs with a 4.5 grinder and started checking with a 5 foot straight edge to see where it has ended up. I added a few more pulls in between the previous pulls along with some pulls that required hammering at the same time. Added some filler and moved onto a lower section that needed to be replaced because it was smashed up beyond repair. Marked out the area and started cutting with the grinder. After matching up the cuts onto the repair panel I got it all secured with a few panel clamps and started spot welding. Got back after in the morning and smooth down the spot welds with a grinder and DA sander to get it ready for filler.

[landarts]

The rear passenger tail light housing was pretty bad and I had planned on cutting it out and replacing with a section from a donor bed panel I have. I went over to the storage lot where I have some of the bigger items along with a few of the project trucks and loaded up a passenger bedside that I had planned as a donor when I bought it. Brought it back to my home garage and got it mounted and secured onto a couple of saw horses so I could plan the dissection. I was just about ready to start cutting on it when my brother called and asked why don't I try to fix it first and if that did not work out then cut it off and replace. So over dinner I started thinking of the repair in a different way, how to attempt the repair and get a good results. I put together a plan in steps and if I could not get past a step with satisfaction I would go back into the garage and start cutting.

First I planned on how to get the inner piece of the house bent back out close to the location where it would be usable. The solution I came up with was two fold. Drill a few holes so I could stick a small Phillips screw driver in the holes and pry back to get it going in the right direction. Then I took a piece of bar stock I had on hand and cut a small cut in it so I could slid the cut into the metal and pry back. Both of these ideas seemed to get me closer to working the other are that was caved in. started using different pieces of wood, long metal rods and a few metal long bolts I have used to pound out odd shapes with. Hammered on it and while with everything I could get into the area then brought out the stud gun and started to try and weld a few studs on and could not get them hold for any pulls. I cleaned the area again with a grinder and wiped it down, still no luck. Thought maybe something was wrong with the stud gun so I grabbed a few boxes of nails I had and fired up the mig welder and created a porcupine looking piece of art. Anyways the nails worked out great and started pulling with the Steck stud lever again and hammering the highs.

[landarts]

Continued work on the rear tail light section the next day after work. I did some ready up on the use of the stud gun and the quality of stud pins makes a difference. I ordered up a box from Amazon the night before which showed up the next day before I started to work on light again and those studs worked great. the first box came with the gun which I bought from Harbor Freight. Here a few pictures of the next steps.

At one point I laid a straight edge on the edge of the tail light housing and noticed that it was not straight so I laid a few spot welds in the area that was low and then proceeded with filing the spot welds down until it was lined up on the straight edge. Also had to lay a few spot welds in the corners where the metal had ripped.

Getting close but still a bunch more work to get done before it is ready for filler. One the areas I will need to address on the side is a little bit of oil canning going on the side where the metal has been stretched. I will attempt to shrink it back in with some heat and cooling process. I did this on another area on the bed and it actually worked out great.

[landarts]

Took a break from the rear tail light housing and went to Arizona for a two week work-vacation. When I got back I decided to move on to a few more minor repairs on the body that were needed and circle back around to the tail light area later.

The first area that I addressed was the hood on the truck had 4 holes where someone had mounted a bug deflector and to remove the bowtie emblem and weld the holes shut. Had also removed the cowl when I took the front fender off so before it goes back on I needed to work the antenna opening with a hammer and dolly to fix where the metal was a little rippled. Continued on with working the front sheet metal for any dings and bumps with a hammer and dolly since I still had the inner fender well off. Also worked a small area on the cab above the passenger door where someone mounted a CB antenna. This area needed to be cleaned out really well and a template made so I can get the metal welded in and closed off. Then moved onto DA and long block sanding all the nicks and filler areas to get the front clip looking pretty close to where a guy could lay down some primer.

[landarts]

One of the next items that I wanted to address was the drivers side door. It has a speaker cut out in the lower section of the door panel that I wanted to eliminate. There was some areas on the bottom that also might need a closer look so I decided it would be easiest to remove the door and mount a spare door I have so I could continue to drive the truck while working on it. So the door came off and I set it up on a couple of tall saw horses I had in the garage to work on it.

After getting the door off I grabbed another door I had on the side yard and strapped that on to my engine hoist and finished getting that mounted so the truck stays drivable. Looking over the door once it was off to see if there was any rust repair on bottom went in my favor. All of the rusty looking areas were solid and did not need to be replaced, just treated. I went through those areas with a pretty aggressive knotted wire wheel to knock off any stuff I could. Then treated with Rustoleum spray rust dissolver gel. Cant say enough about how well this stuff works for situations like this.

Next up while the dissolver was working was to make a template for the speaker hole. Grabbed some card stock off of an old box and did a pencil rubbing to get the outer shape correct. Cut out the tracing and glued to some clean sheet metal with spray on gorilla glue. Marked areas on the template for , up, side, and down so it would be lined up the way it was traced. Then I grabbed a new tool I purchased a few months back to cut out the sheet metal. The tool is an attachment that I bought for my Rigid multi-tool that is a metal shear. Oh this tool is so worth it, which was something like $52.00 and change with a lifetime warranty. It cuts the metal so smooth and it free hands really well on tight radius. Another big plus is that there are no sparks and noise to go with the cutting. Got it cut out and mounted with a few magnets. Will post pictures of the tool in the next thread and if you get chance go check it out on YouTube where a few fabrication guys make a good review video of it.

[landarts]

Here a few other pictures that go with the door. The door is actually in really good shape a very straight, however it has about three coats of paint a two different coats of primer so I will be stripping the door down. Here is the picture of the Rustoleum rust dissolver and the Rigid Tool with shear attached.

[landarts]

Took a detour for a little side project that is for the build. A few months back I saw there was a guy selling push guard side plates in this version and a taller version. So I reached out to him to get a set sent my way so I can have this feature on the front with a couple of D-Rings, some tabs for a set of spot lights and will be fabricating in a receiver hitch so I can plug in the 12K winch I just bought for this truck. I will be mounting the winch on a removable cradle and then do the flip down license plate so I can plug in the winch. For electrical I will be using the quick disconnect cables front and back of the truck which will serve two purposes. One to plug the winch into and the other to plug a set of jumper cables into if needed.

I used 2.5" sch40 pipe for the cross bars on the push guard. I have those welded in and still need to do the cleanup on the welds. Finish welding the tabs for the lights just waiting for the lights to show up for mockup. Next will be fabricating the receiver hitch portion and having it tie into the frame for support. Also need to drill another mount hole for frame and add a gusset on each side that will tie into the bumper mount at the top.

[landarts]

Moved the truck into the garage so I could jack up the bed to get to the damage on the backside of the cab caused by the bed banging into the cab. So both sides had the same damage caused by the exterior bolts on the front of the bed smashing into the cab. The cab corners also need a small portion cut out and replaced since it looks like the lower back wings below the rear support have been bent back a forth a few times and folded up a little from the bottom.

So I removed all 8 bolts, which was a first without having grind them off or break them. Disconnect the rear tail light wiring and exhaust hanger. Jacked it up with a bottle jack and began to crib it up with a bunch of 4x4 blocks I had from some cut off post. Was getting no where fast so I grabbed the engine hoist and the 4x4 post bed remover I made a few years back and jacked it up, rolled it back and clamped down a few blocks to give me the room I need to work on the back.

I prepped all of the areas with 3" disc on an small air angle grinder. Pulled out the stud gun and Steck lever and went to town making it look like a porcupine. Welding in studs and pulling with the lever in different angles and tapping with a body hammer. Trying to pay attention to body lines on the upper cab area below the window. That area alone probably spent two hours welding in studs pulling, tapping, grinding studs off, going after the low spots again and again.

Then finally got those areas workable for filler. So I moved onto the lower cab section dissection. I wanted to remove the least possible and since most of the damage was from bottom of the support down. Grabbed the cut off tool, a marker and straight edge and went to town.

[landarts]

Here is the lower section cut out and getting it ready before transferring over to repair panel. After cutting out the section of the lower cab corner on the passenger side I found a couple of spent shells. The circled areas with a Sharpie marker are areas that need more filler or are high and will need to be tapped down.

[landarts]

Here is a few of the other side of the cab. Basically a mirror image of the damage the exterior bed bolts made. Also the same for the lower cab section needs to be cut out do to the amount of bending and damage there, not a rust issue. Also while I was there snapping pictures I took one of the forward bed panel to show how straight it is.

Also lots of sanding going in between layers of filler. Using Durablock's in different shapes, air long board and a DA sander. Filler is Upol Lightweight Gold UP0745. This is the first time I tried this product and so far I really like the way it sands. The last truck I did I used Rage Extreme and I actually think I prefer Upol over the Rage. I like the Upol products, easy for me to get at the local Napa Auto paint store or from Amazon.

[landarts]

This will just about get us to present day on the build. While other fillers and items were drying I decided to attack the reserve tank hole that was on the drivers bedside. I started by cut out a small piece of metal and running it through the air planishing hammer I purchased from Harbor Freight years ago. After a few trips back and forth from the planishing hammer to the truck bed I got it close enough. Made a pencil rub template on paper and glued again to the shaped piece of metal. Got it cut out with the shear tool and used a magnet to get it into place.

Last picture is from a few backs, drove truck over to sister-in-laws to check on a project. Truck just looks like it belongs out in the field.

[landarts]

Started mocking up the cab corner on the passenger side with a cab corner I got with a purchase of a boat load parts last year. The panel is actually in good shape, the surface rust on the outside knocked off really easy while prepping for the spot welds so not worried about the integrity of the part. Not sure whom the manufacturer was but the lines and bends had more detail than some of the newer ones I bought recently that came from AMD.

After the first initial cut I as able to clamp it on with a few pairs of pointed vise grips. Then got under the truck to do the outline on the inside where the cut on the body was, open the door and reached in to get the cut lines scribed with a silver marking pencil. Did the cuts and had the part on and off the truck a few times for some air grinder with a 2" 80 grit Roloc pad on it. Once I was satisfied I got it lined up with a couple of strong magnets and hit it with a few spot welds. Called it a day before actually being finished, knowing that the rest will take a bit of work to get it right around the corner. Usually a little bit of slicing and hammering to make it fit properly.

[landarts]

Picked up these door panels a few weeks ago off of Facebook Marketplace for $20. They were covered with black spray paint so I trued using some of the Citrus Strip I bought from Home Depot. Covered them pretty good with a chip brush then laid a piece of painters plastic over them. Waited a hour or so and power washed them off on the side yard. They came out really good and not a trace of the black paint anymore. Might use them when I get to freshening up the interior.

Also picked up this long bed trailer from Facebook marketplace two weekends ago and will be using for one of the project, possibly the tailgate for this K20 since the tailgate I don't think is fixable.

Also purchased some Yankee 77 cab clearance lights that will be going on this build. They might need to be re-chromed once I get them but we will see or possibly powder coated when I get the steel wheels done.

[landarts]

Back to the cab corner on passenger side. Was able to finish getting it welded up, ground down and prepped for filler. Areas underneath before welding were cleaned and sprayed with rust converter. When it is all said and done I will get the area underneath cleaned really well and sprayed with 3m undercoating after everything is seam sealed.

[landarts]

Pulled the truck out of the garage and turned it around and backed it back into garage so I could work on the driver side cab corner and bedside. Went through the areas needing attention and circled all areas with a sharpie and made notes on some areas. Grabbed a 80 grit flap disc and knocked down the paint in those area that were needing repair. Then moved on to the stud gun and Steck lever to pull out as much as I can so to use as little as possible on the filler. Worked a few areas with the dolly and hammer where it was reachable.

Had an area in the back top corner of the light housing that was push in a little and I know that this was going to be difficult to pull with stud gun because it was on the body line back there which is really strong. Got it out pretty far and finally thought I would just add a few more spot welds to fill the void, then file it down with a metal file. I was surprised how good it came out after filing.

[landarts]

Also was able to start getting the cab corner mocked up and trimming to fit the area. Got it tacked in a bit and started adding filler to all the areas that were identified as problem areas.

Again the supports underneath were in excellent shape, were treated with rust converter and will get cleaned again really good for 3M undercoating. Both cab corners were repair panels that came with a unfinished project I purchased a few weeks ago. It was nice to be able to put them to use and not have to wait for parts to be ordered.

While working on body repair items and getting ready for paint I like to have another item or two to work on so I don't get burned out on all the sanding, filling, sanding, filing, rinse repeat. I am working on building a rotisserie that can be used to flip the bed around so I can work on the bottom side to repair and dinged or bent up floor channels. Having the rotisserie with the bed position on it side someone can stand on one side and hold a dolly and another person on the other side hammering. It can also mount a cab on it if needed. Hope to have it wrapped up in a week or so, then I can use it for the floor and while painting and Raptor lining the bed interior.

[71blksuper4x4]

Great job with the metal work.

[57taskforce]

I used to do body work professionally several years ago. You’ve got some real talent in metal finishing. Very very nice work. I can tell when it’s all said and done you’ll have minimal filler in it because of the amount of surface correction/prep you’ve put into it. Very admiral job!

[landarts]

Originally Posted by 71blksuper4x4

Great job with the metal work.

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

I used to do body work professionally several years ago. You’ve got some real talent in metal finishing. Very very nice work. I can tell when it’s all said and done you’ll have minimal filler in it because of the amount of surface correction/prep you’ve put into it. Very admiral job!

Thanks guys I appreciate the acknowledgment. What I have learned is from working on these trucks out of necessity. I do this as a hobby and want to learn as much as possible on every phase of fixing, repairing, rebuilding, restoring these trucks. Again thanks for the mention.

On the drivers side bed side lower front portion right before the wheel opening there is a tear in the metal just before the bedside brace on the inside. This will be another challenging repair that I hope to save the original metal. There is not only the tear in the metal but a buckle which I am sure would require some shrinking of the metal to stop any oil canning that will probably happen after the tear is fixed. If it does not turn out well then I have a repair panel on its way just incase.

[Greg58]

I'm in!
love to follow your work.

Greg

[best view]

Better than anything on tv

[Southcity]

Great truck, excellent work and write up. Thank you for sharing!

[landarts]

Originally Posted by best view

Better than anything on tv

Kenny what is a TV? Cant get it done if your watching TV.

Originally Posted by Southcity

Great truck, excellent work and write up. Thank you for sharing!

Thanks for the mention.

Almost wrapped up one end of the rotisserie cart function. This implement will keep the bed high off the ground and stable to help while working all the metal and not making me bend over for the low areas. With 3 slipped disc in your back you have to compromise to get the work done. the next set of implements I make for the stand will allow me to turn it over or at least on it side so I can work the bed floor dents and dings.

Will load pictures tomorrow, the ones I have are to blurry.