1970 K20 Z62 Full Restoration

[IronCanine]

Speaking of Eric...he got a lot more done this week than I did.

First he got the upper dash painted.

Like everything else some considerable time was spent fretting over the interior blue. You can see in the paint code chart, there are codes specific to the interior paint. Steering columns, base door panels, GMC gauges and GB doors should all be painted the interior color which doesn't necessarily correspond to the exterior color (even if they are both, say blue). The upper dash is a flattened version of the interior paint.

At least in the paint stores in and around Athens, we found that having the original paint code didn't help us. So we planned to use the steering column to color match since there were areas with minimal UV exposure. What was surprising was that under close inspection, the column appeared to be the same color as the truck exterior. I did not expect that (though I can understand it). So what we did was just flatten the dark blue we already had and shot the upper dash. Turned out pretty nice actually.

Since the firewall turned out so good and since none of the interior will be buffed out for obvious reasons, Eric went ahead and shot the interior with the single stage we already had. The white on the cab will be next.

The more color that goes on, the more I love the color.

[68bowtie]

I see why you love it. I love it too! I’m a sucker for blue.

[1970cstblazer]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

I ordered date coded spark plug wires from Lectric Limited.

My 1970 shop manual is pretty specific about how the wires should be routed to avoid cross-firing. But honestly it is not a smooth routing. I took time to check Joe's K20 which appears to have its original wires and they are not routed that way...so that's good enough for me to forgo the shop manual.

All of my heat shields are of the reproduction variety...and they are fine. The only problem is, as far as I can tell, you can't order a correct complete set. You can order a set that has four "flat" shields, but the driver's side front shield for this truck should be the humped shield with the opening for the sending unit. So you have to order that separately. Most of the Corvette sites have em.

Routing the wires through the motor mounts is not super easy, but if you pass the distributor cap "boot" through instead of trying to pass the spark plug end through there...it's not too bad.

I have continued to debate the merits of taking the points out and putting a Pertronix set up under the cap. TBD.

My TBC engine has two flat shields and two of the angled shields. The difference is that my engine is set up for TCS, so there is a temp switch on the rearward passengers side head.

As for the Petronix, my emphatic position on this is a big NO! Petronix components are cheaply constructed, and seem to fail upon a heat soak. Stick with old stock USA made Delco Remy points/cap/rotor/condensers/coils and you will probably never have an issue. My Blazer starts faster than my late model fuel injected GM trucks!LOL

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

I see why you love it. I love it too! I’m a sucker for blue.

Me and you both!

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

My TBC engine has two flat shields and two of the angled shields. The difference is that my engine is set up for TCS, so there is a temp switch on the rearward passengers side head.

As for the Petronix, my emphatic position on this is a big NO! Petronix components are cheaply constructed, and seem to fail upon a heat soak. Stick with old stock USA made Delco Remy points/cap/rotor/condensers/coils and you will probably never have an issue. My Blazer starts faster than my late model fuel injected GM trucks!LOL

The engine in this truck came out of a K10 and had TCS as well. But it still had three flats on it. I gotta figure it's always just what they have laying around. It was appropriate obviously to delete the TCS for this 3/4T.

I hear you on the Pertronix. I can say we've done it on the other three trucks in my sig and had no problems. But I am aware of the concerns. But I also sent my distributor to "the dude" to rebuild it and paid for the privilege....and then the points had to be replaced on the engine stand when it was run the first time. Also, I'll have limited appetite to service that points set up in this 4WD buried against the firewall with all these well finished surfaces.

Right now it's points, but I'm of two minds about it...because of my personal experience and maintenance concerns. Still probably TBD for this TBC.

[1970cstblazer]

That is strange for sure. Your theory is assuredly what happened. They ran out of the angled, and cobbled a straight one to "fit". Anything was possible then. I'm sure the factory workers never imagined that we would be discovering, discussing, and restoring these machines when they were cranking them out of Flint, St. Louis and Fremont almost 55 years ago.

[1970cstblazer]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

I see why you love it. I love it too! I’m a sucker for blue.

This 1970 Dark Blue poly is THE best color on a 1967-72. I always loved the way my grandfather's 1970 K20 looked, even after it was old and beat up.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

That is strange for sure. Your theory is assuredly what happened. They ran out of the angled, and cobbled a straight one to "fit". Anything was possible then. I'm sure the factory workers never imagined that we would be discovering, discussing, and restoring these machines when they were cranking them out of Flint, St. Louis and Fremont almost 55 years ago.

I've lamented many times about how lucky the Corvette guys are that they've got better documentation on how those cars were put together. But over the course of time...I've come to appreciate how much fun I've had trying solve the mystery.

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

This 1970 Dark Blue poly is THE best color on a 1967-72. I always loved the way my grandfather's 1970 K20 looked, even after it was old and beat up.

I sure do like it and was kind of on a mission to find this truck. Glad my sweet wife let me pull the trigger when it popped up on Michigan Craigslist six years ago. Outside of the base 70 K20 on BaT a few months ago, I've not seen another 508 70 K20 for sale anywhere in the time since. Feel pretty to lucky to have it.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking sharp! I love that blue..

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by BAD1916

Loving the detail. Incredible work!

Sorry I missed ya before. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looking sharp! I love that blue..

Gracias!

[IronCanine]

I've gotten to where I like to post completed steps as much as possible. Unfortuantly not a lot of that this week. Some slogging but no scoring. We were luckier than a lot of folks, but Helene did wreak a little havoc for us. More than that it was just (I guess usual) aggravating parts dramas.

Steering link in. (Sometimes you gotta take the low hanging fruit). But even with this I had to special order the pinch bolt that locks in the pitman arm...because GM put a 3-1/4" 9/16-18 bolt in there...and that's even hard to find online if you don't want to buy $400 worth. The first of a few hanging chads this week.

[IronCanine]

Brace yourself I'm about to start talking about InLine Tube.

First the good...(yes I said it, there's some good)...The rear axle brake lines are pretty darn close to factory. A little fighting and stretching, but a very reasonable copy of factory. It's the first time I've installed their rear axle lines on a truck. We've handmade all the others.

And the lines at the front of the truck are good. The only real difference between theirs and factory is they don't have the short coil sheathing section on the cross member line (that leads to the rear brakes) that the factory line has.

[IronCanine]

Now the bad. The long line to the rear brakes is only about 30" short. I assume they split it on purpose since it's so long...but they advertise this kit as a 9 piece. If they did that intentionally, they need to call it a 10 piece and send me an extra line. I'm waiting to hear back to see what their solution is.

I've got a history of dogging InLine Tube on this site. Even though this is a mixed bag situation, it's hard to be very complimentary considering the fact that I'm batting 1.000 on having an issue every time I deal with em. Don't worry, I do try to be nice on the phone.

[IronCanine]

I wanted to highlight the clip situation on this truck, but since I'm still in progress on the brake lines, I guess I'll do it piecemeal.

The clip set almost completely changed in '71 (at least at Fremont) so I think these are some decent details to show. The frame rail clips for the brake lines are the same as the power steering clamp. The clips on the front crossmember are two separate single line clips stacked together with one bolt.

All of these are original to the truck and have been refinished.

[IronCanine]

70 was a year where GM was still figuring 4WDs out. First open knuckle Dana (but still drum) and remember that crazy oil fill tube?

Anyway, could this cobbled together driver side brake hose situation be more insane. Eric said it best when he suggested they must have outsourced that to Ford.

What you're looking at is HOSE-FITTING-BANJO BOLT-EXTENSION...then finally wheel cylinder.

Oh geez, the wheel cylinders...

[IronCanine]

I realized I'd bought and installed the wrong front wheel cylinders when I tried to fit the front brake hose. This truck has 7/16 line fittings front and rear and the wheel cylinders that I'd installed on the front were 3/8. Since none of this stuff is ever readily available I got a new set overnight through my local Autozone (so I could try and make a little progress this weekend). I wasn't excited about swapping out what I had, but I took my medicine and the opportunity to clear coat the brake drums while they were back off.

I got the new wheel cylinders in and while I only installed the drivers side hose/fittings hand tight (I may replace the original banjo bolt), I went to fully install the passenger side because there is no swivel on the hose...you gotta fully connect it at the WC before you connect it to the frame rail (or you'll kink it up).

Well without even putting any juice into it, the boss flaked off the wheel cylinder. So I'm back to square one. I've ordered another set from a different manufacturer and will replace both again....to be continued...

I wanted to end on a positive note tonight and sometimes it's nice to eat ice cream when you're bummed. It's convenient now to be able to put the truck in gear before you jack up the front. So I decided to go ahead and put the shift knobs on (you know, for convenience). I scored this NOS shift knob from a dealership in Wyoming. God only knows how long it had been sealed in that bag. It is so cool. But it was mixed emotions breaking an at least 40 year old seal...and also because my good friend Larry was looking for one of these at the same time I was and I found one.

To his credit, he restored one that looks better than this one.

[DeadheadNM]

Wow!

Good to know nothing has changed over at In Line.

[1970cstblazer]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Now the bad. The long line to the rear brakes is only about 30" short. I assume they split it on purpose since it's so long...but they advertise this kit as a 9 piece. If they did that intentionally, they need to call it a 10 piece and send me an extra line. I'm waiting to hear back to see what their solution is.

I've got a history of dogging InLine Tube on this site. Even though this is a mixed bag situation, it's hard to be very complimentary considering the fact that I'm batting 1.000 on having an issue every time I deal with em. Don't worry, I do try to be nice on the phone.

Not surprising. Their "customer service" is the worst in the business. I loathe them. I will say their 1972 Blazer kit fit well on my 1970 and doesn't leak once I had all of the proper lines the kit was supposed to have. I had to purchase two kits to get what was required.

My 1970 Blazer used the red spring clips on the frame to secure the brake lines to the frame on the front crossmember. These same clips secured both the fuel and brake lines to the rear.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Wow!

Good to know nothing has changed over at In Line.

Thanks Pete. Yeah some things are evergreen.

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

Not surprising. Their "customer service" is the worst in the business. I loathe them. I will say their 1972 Blazer kit fit well on my 1970 and doesn't leak once I had all of the proper lines the kit was supposed to have. I had to purchase two kits to get what was required.

My 1970 Blazer used the red spring clips on the frame to secure the brake lines to the frame on the front crossmember. These same clips secured both the fuel and brake lines to the rear.

This truck has that type of clip. The rub is this is a 3/4T frame and it's thicker. The reproduction clips don't have a long enough push pin to do the job. We had to preserve and refurbish the originals. There are two other (different style) push clips that carry the end of the long brake line. That style does not appear to be available...and I don't think mine are recoverable. We'll see.

[chewychevy67]

I know your trucks are very detailed to original specs. I was just wondering if you are putting the heat riser valve back on your truck? I believe 4x4s had them on the passenger side correct?

[IronCanine]

Well Rod...you know I would. It's in the book for 67-72 KE trucks, part number 3887024. But then there's this picture here. This is Joe's 10k mile K20 that is so original it's still on the factory rubber. And I don't see a heat riser on it.

So as of now, I'm not going to put one on. I don't really have a problem with it...I'm going to follow factory as much as I can... that picture seems like justification enough to me to omit it.

Of course if I find a 70 Fremont K20 with one I'll change my tune immediately.

[chewychevy67]

Yeah up here they all had them. I'm torn as to what I'm going to do. I could leave it as factory and pit it in or gut the flap out of it and it will still look and work like factory but just won't block any exhaust. I won't be driving it in winter anyway.

[1970cstblazer]

IF we are going by the TBC engine code, then yes, it had one. Don't remember if my grandfather's Canadian built K20 had one. I removed mine 35 years ago because it was a rattling SOB, and threw it in the trash, never to go back on..LOL

[CUSTOM/10]

Wow, just stumbled across this thread. I've rebuilt a few of these 4wd trucks but never paid as much attention to year specific details as you have... Amazing workmanship !!!!
Gary

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by CUSTOM/10

Wow, just stumbled across this thread. I've rebuilt a few of these 4wd trucks but never paid as much attention to year specific details as you have... Amazing workmanship !!!!
Gary

Thanks Gary!

[IronCanine]

Let's get the piddling stuff from the week out of the way first.

I swapped the front wheel cylinders again. See the Centric part numbers (I know I'm the last fool to restore a drum Dana, but maybe someone will want to keep one going...also please disregard the country of origin). I went back and looked at the disassembly pics and the front wheel cylinder bolts were conventional hex and not a flange bolt. Of course these could have been changed over time, but I elected to revert to what was on it.

InLine Tube finally got back to me late in the week about the long brake line to the rear. They admitted that they had sent the wrong line, but since I ordered them in February...they said they'd send me the correct line, but I'd have to pay shipping. Classy.

I did get the Pittman arm bolt in. So if anybody needs one...I've got four to spare.