1969 K10 CST Full Restoration

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by davischevy

Congratulations on conquering the windshield. Of all the assembly tasks, the windshield is the one I always dread the most.

Thanks. It was a butt kicker. But as they say...fourth time's a charm.

[70STOVEBOLT]

Brad, Amazon has a supplier that sells the seat springs in custom cut lengths. There are different gauges for seat back or seat bottom. I don't know if I have any pics of the ones I bought or not, but they are supplied by HotSign Springs and looked just like the originals, with the ends bent properly to fit onto the seat frames. The small wires you spoke about that look like paper clips can apparently be procured from some of the Corvette parts suppliers, as they use them as well.

[DeadheadNM]

Sprint to the finish. Looking great.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 70STOVEBOLT

Brad, Amazon has a supplier that sells the seat springs in custom cut lengths. There are different gauges for seat back or seat bottom. I don't know if I have any pics of the ones I bought or not, but they looked just like the originals, with the ends bent properly to fit onto the seat frames. The small wires you spoke about that look like paper clips can apparently be procured from some of the Corvette parts suppliers, as they use them as well.

That is solid info. Thanks. I searched the board and actually used a board member's recommendation on wsusol.com. The springs were the same gauge wire, just the wavelength was different. And we did have to cut them to length but it wasn't a big deal. I honestly didn't look for the small "paper clips" (that is a very good way to describe them btw), because by using the wire we did, we could easily set and level the inset detail by tightening or loosening the twist. Since they're together and look good, I'm probably not going to revisit those things. But I've got another set of seats to do for my K20...I will remember your recommendation.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Sprint to the finish. Looking great.

Thanks. Won't be long. Bummed though, we're going to miss Maggie Valley. Wasn't for lack of trying.

[IronCanine]

A/C is buttoned up and ready for charging (I hope). The condenser wasn't a dead ringer for the original (though it was basically anatomically correct). We are staying with our original '69 hard lines, which means hoses and clamps. Jim (FirstOwner69) has been very gracious and shared pics of his original truck to use as reference. And I have many times--again here with A/C hose length and routing.

[IronCanine]

Seats buttoned up with freshly phosphated mounting brackets. Ready to go in just waiting on final paint and rear window install.

Seeing the '69 only (or maybe '69 and a few '70s) smooth rearview mirror cover (Thanks Madkidd007) installed makes me wish I'd tried harder to come up with a '69 only perforated headliner. You gotta pick your battles and I wimped out on that one I guess.

[IronCanine]

I love the look of these 12 points on the hood latch. Unfortunately I don't have a pic to confirm that these were ever on a '69. I sent a lot of bolts in to get plated and all were sourced from either a '69 or '70. Sadly, at this point I can't remember which these came from. I like the look so much I think I'm going to let them ride unless someone tells me it never happened.

What I think is unusual is that on the '71 one owner (that we tend to lean on as a reference because it's a one owner original) has the "anchor head" version of these...but they are only in the top two (core support side) positions...the others are 6 point. I only had these two in my re-plated stash, so I suspect a similar situation on the truck from which they were pulled. Do you think it'd be because the grille was attached at a different point on the assembly line from the latch? I've seen trucks where they(hood latch bolts) were all 12 point. It just seems like another oddity to just have the two.

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

I love the look of these 12 points on the hood latch. Unfortunately I don't have a pic to confirm that these were ever on a '69. I sent a lot of bolts in to get plated and all were sourced from either a '69 or '70. Sadly, at this point I can't remember which these came from. I like the look so much I think I'm going to let them ride unless someone tells me it never happened.

What I think is unusual is that on the '71 one owner (that we tend to lean on as a reference because it's a one owner original) has the "anchor head" version of these...but they are only in the top two (core support side) positions...the others are 6 point. I only had these two in my re-plated stash, so I suspect a similar situation on the truck from which they were pulled. Do you think it'd be because the grille was attached at a different point on the assembly line from the latch? I've seen trucks where they(hood latch bolts) were all 12 point. It just seems like another oddity to just have the two.

I know for a fact of a 72 in Hull that’s original with these bolts. When I seen them I was confused as I never seen them myself

[IronCanine]

The Falcons looked crummy today so it was a good day to work on some small jobs. I got a R59 battery topper and an NOS Delco Eye...actually I had to get two...(Apparently the inside of a truck tool box in Georgia gets pretty hot)... My original plan was to remove the yellow and repaint the lettering red, then mill the NOS Eye down to fit the topper. But I couldn't get the paint to look right. So I changed gears...

[IronCanine]

I removed the clear plastic from the one that got a little goofy in the tool box and milled it to fit the repro Delco Eye. Cut it to length and polished the bottom back to clear.

[IronCanine]

It's a simple group 24 battery. I took the topper around to a couple of stores and picked the one it fit best. It still required a little refinement and adjustment of the terminal holes to get it to seat all the way down. Still needs a little green tape under the eye to make it look spot on. (Looked for those NOS Delco spring ring terminal ends like ChewyChevy67 found--those things look so cool...no luck though).

[IronCanine]

And went ahead and cut the carpet and installed what could be installed. It's as far as it can go for now. Just paint for a bit.

[Ol Blue K20]

I didn't know a battery topper existed. Pretty cool.

[MDPotter]

I am blown away by your attention to detail and knowledge in achieving the true definition of a restoration here.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

I didn't know a battery topper existed. Pretty cool.

It's about $340 for a full reproduction Delco R59. This route has the advantage of being easily transferable to a new battery when the time comes. The thing that really holds the toppers back though is the Delco Eye. You'd think they'd at least paint it green or something. It gives the thing up from a mile away. That's why we decided to improve that aspect.

Originally Posted by MDPotter

I am blown away by your attention to detail and knowledge in achieving the true definition of a restoration here.

Thanks. But as I said before I'm just taking advantage of others' willingness to share on this site and elsewhere. I got the idea to fix the Delco Eye on the topper from a thread on either a Chevelle or Camaro site. I looked for weeks to find spring ring terminals because I saw ChewyChevy67s...and Eric and I talked a fair bit about putting the bed on the rotisserie yesterday after tristan's most recent update for Project Checkbook 2. This board is full of inspiration, information and motivation.

[chewychevy67]

Your topper now looks more legit than my battery cause your eye looks clear and the repo battery it's black. Nice work.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

Your topper now looks more legit than my battery cause your eye looks clear and the repo battery it's black. Nice work.

Thanks. It's a trade off. My battery sides are slick and don't say Delco like an original R59.

[69CST4x4SWB]

I'm jumpin in a bit late but I'm in for the remainder of the ride! I haven't finished getting up to speed yet nor have I looked at your Blazer build... yet, but I am amazed at your attention to detail and knowledge. Can't wait to see the finished result!!

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 69CST4x4SWB

I'm jumpin in a bit late but I'm in for the remainder of the ride! I haven't finished getting up to speed yet nor have I looked at your Blazer build... yet, but I am amazed at your attention to detail and knowledge. Can't wait to see the finished result!!

Thanks for the kind words...and for jumping on board!

[IronCanine]

Eric elected to paint the bed floor, header and inner bedsides separately. Primarily for access and control. It meant the hardware had to be painted separately too which will make assembly difficult/tense...but that is the theme of the build. Considering reach, run potential and polishibility(is that a word?)...it's hard to argue with this approach.

[IronCanine]

In the meantime I was fighting the hubcaps. You know once I'd like to get on here and say 'see this...it was a piece of cake'. But that's not tonight. Again followed Pete's lead and sent our caps to Electroplating of El Paso for polishing. They were fast and did a nice job. After some consideration, we elected to paint the caps instead of going the vinyl route. Though after having done it, I'm of two minds still. Pete was kind enough to share some vinyl spares (Thanks again Pete!) that I used as stencils. I felt I had enough texture to paint directly to the stainless...but I was wrong. I had areas of poor adhesion...so I stripped it, re-taped and started over. This time I thoroughly scotchbrited(made up word for sure) the area after tape and laid down a coat of self etching primer. Thankfully that did the trick. Semi gloss black enamel and Rustoleum Sail Blue (as prescribed elsewhere on the board).

[DeadheadNM]

Caps turned out great! Hope those helped. Not sure why Chevrolet decided to exchange blue bow ties for gold.

I’d love to see how GM caps were originally painted in quantity. There must have been a stencil involved.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Caps turned out great! Hope those helped. Not sure why Chevrolet decided to exchange blue bow ties for gold.

Definitely helped. Having the bowtie outline alone was huge.

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

I’d love to see how GM caps were originally painted in quantity. There must have been a stencil involved.

Me too...and had to be a stencil. Another instance where I could not accomplish in two days what they did in probably 60 seconds. And their paint stuck the first time and lasted for 50 years.

[69CST4x4SWB]

Those caps look awesome! You've definitely outdone the factory!