My 1967 Chevy K20 Build Thread

[loudchevy]

Clay, nice job restoring the inner heating assembly. It looks brand new.

[Chaparralman1974]

3/1/2025
The engine is running!
A few weeks ago I was able to get the engine to fire up and run long enough to break in the cam, but I had a few issues. In addition to some oil and coolant leaks there was a timing and vacuum issue that just wouldn’t allow the motor to run right. It was running hot and just seemed to dog quite a bit. I wasn’t really sure if I had a timing issue, or a fuel issue or what, so I opted to take the carburetor and distributor down to an old school place out here in Phoenix called “Carburetor’s Unlimited”. The owner, Bruce, identified a few issues right off the bat and recommended a recurve on the distributor along with a Pertronix ignition setup and coil. He also went ahead and redid the carburetor and even plated it the correct gold-ish color! I got it all reinstalled and she fired right up and was purring like a kitten! Per Bruce’s recommendation, we set the initial timing to 8* BTDC and the old 327 is humming along nicely! I still need to do final adjustments and will get the timing dialed in more after the truck can move under it’s own power.

Here is a quick video of her running!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kczJtPlMQU8

[Jason Banks]

That is great to have a place like that close by.

Saw your video on YouTube before I saw your post here. When I watched the video I thought the fan doesn't stick out of the shroud very far. Might be far enough, but I know you usually want the fan about half in and about half out of the shroud. Hopefully just something to be mindful of and you don't have cooling problems....

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by Jason Banks

That is great to have a place like that close by.

Saw your video on YouTube before I saw your post here. When I watched the video I thought the fan doesn't stick out of the shroud very far. Might be far enough, but I know you usually want the fan about half in and about half out of the shroud. Hopefully just something to be mindful of and you don't have cooling problems....

Hi Jason!

Honestly, I have no idea how far it needed to be in. LOL

I just put it on the way it came off. I was actually thinking about putting a clutch fan on it anyway. We will see what happens and if it overheats I will figure something out.


Clay

[Jason Banks]

Saw in the video, it looked like you got your brake lines sorted out.

For your exhaust did you use the factory type muffler hanger? It's the flat metal strap with the 'eye' bolt and the 'eye' hook? When I redid mine I think I ended up with an extra set...

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by Jason Banks

Saw in the video, it looked like you got your brake lines sorted out.

For your exhaust did you use the factory type muffler hanger? It's the flat metal strap with the 'eye' bolt and the 'eye' hook? When I redid mine I think I ended up with an extra set...

Hi Jason, yeah I got the brake lines all figured out finally. I sent mine back to Inline Tube and they replicated them. They did a pretty good job. It all matches up. I am am hoping to have the brakes completed and working in the next week or two.

I was able to reuse the factory muffler hanger except for the flat strap piece itself. That was too far gone to salvage. The bracket itself was able to be cleaned up and reused. The strap was a standard 1950's Chevy muffler strap that I ordered from Napa.

Here is a link to the strap I used:

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/EXH3...e_google&gQT=1



Clay

[rodstored-72]

Clay , great to hear that the engine is running... nice job all the way thru!!!

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by Chaparralman1974

old school place out here in Phoenix called “Carburetor’s Unlimited”.

I had that guy rebuild a Qjet for my K5 almost 20 years ago. He is definitely a carb guru.

Engine sounds great! Good update

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

Clay , great to hear that the engine is running... nice job all the way thru!!!

Thanks much! It has been a long time coming for sure!

Clay

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

I had that guy rebuild a Qjet for my K5 almost 20 years ago. He is definitely a carb guru.

Engine sounds great! Good update

Thanks Scott! Yeah, Bruce definitely knows his craft for sure. He is a walking encyclopedia of carb and dizzy facts!



Clay

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

Beautiful work.

I did see something that you may want to look into. The clutch pedal over-center spring appears to be upside down as compared to every other '67-'72 truck with that arrangement has. Not sure if it will affect operation.



Your truck:

Ok, just an update to my build thread. 1970cstblazer was spot on with regards to the clutch pedal over center spring. I fired up the truck and tried to move it, but I noticed that the clutch pedal didn't feel quite right. There was no freeplay in it at all and it felt way too tight. I tried adjusting the linkage to see if that was it, but nope.....I could not get any free play in the pedal before the clutch disengaged. I reversed the spring and the eye loop thing (which was a major PITA by the way) and now it functions like it should. I have adjusted it to have about 1 1/2" of free play and the truck can now move under her own power! When I took it apart, I put it back the way it came out, so the previous owner must have reversed it for some reason.


Clay

[loudchevy]

Good to hear that fixed the issue. So the truck moved under it's own power???

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

Good to hear that fixed the issue. So the truck moved under it's own power???

Yeah, for about 2 feet....I nearly ran it through the wall of the house!

The clutch wouldn't fully disengage and the brakes are still a bit spongy.....I am glad Kelly wasn't around...that would not have instilled a lot of confidence.


Clay

[rodstored-72]

Clay,... too funny! I completely understand though... After a few builds you will learn like I have and to put a bunch of shop equipment and tools in front so that when that MIGHT happen then you just mess up the tools & not the house!... the wife will be ALOT more understanding & not NEAR as mad!!! funny how that is....

[rodstored-72]

P.S. very cool to know it is under own power! great job! very cool!!!

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

Clay,... too funny! I completely understand though... After a few builds you will learn like I have and to put a bunch of shop equipment and tools in front so that when that MIGHT happen then you just mess up the tools & not the house!... the wife will be ALOT more understanding & not NEAR as mad!!! funny how that is....

I can fully relate! I have run just about every vehicle I own into the house at one point or another....my wife is fully prepared! LOL


Clay

[Chaparralman1974]

3/2/2025 - 3/31/2025
Engine wiring and initial test drive
I have spent the past few weeks tinkering around with the wiring and brakes. I have more or less completed the engine bay wiring including building my own battery cables out of welding cable and using military style battery terminals. I am trying to keep the engine bay looking as factory as possible so I have been wrapping the wires where appropriate with vinyl tape versus using wire loom. The new AAW harness is just fantastic! It is of excellent quality and the instructions are super easy to follow.

The brakes have been a bit of a challenge to get figured out. The main challenge is that some of the flared ends have a slight leak. I believe that this is due to the lines being stainless steel and you really have to crank them down to get them to seat right. That is kind of scary as I don’t want to go all gorilla on them and strip anything. The “Tee” fitting on the front driver side is the bigger problem…..It seems to weep a bit where the banjo bolt goes through it. I put new copper washers on it, but it still leaks so I have to figure that out. The front left wheel cylinder also has a slight weep where the rubber line goes into it. I have tightened that up as far as I dare to, so I think that it may just be a bad casting….that is all too often the case with a ton of these parts coming from China. I also had to pull the rear drums to adjust the brakes there and to fix a drip that was leaking gear oil out of the rear drum oil seal. I must have nicked it putting the axle together. The Chinese drums don’t have a knockout in them to adjust the star wheel, so I had to pull everything apart to get it adjusted somewhat close. I now have a solid pedal, but I will need to address the fitting weeping.

I have the engine running ok….I still need to do some adjustments and it smells like it is running rich, but I was finally able to take her around the block on the inaugural drive! For the first time in over 2 years I got to drive the old girl!! She drives just like I remember these old trucks drive…..like ****! LOL!! I have become way too accustomed to power steering, power brakes and an automatic transmission…..but I was ****ting in tall cotton when I heard that old Chevy whine as I rolled her around the block.

Lastly, I spent a few days doing some cutting and buffing of my ****ty paint job…..it still looks amateur-ish, but not too bad. She shined up pretty good. I also had to install the “20” emblems on the side just for visual effect to break up the 2 acres of blue sheet metal. After reading another thread about barrel nuts, I picked some up at Napa so I wouldn’t have to pull the fenders to use the speed nuts on the emblems. They kind of work their way out a bit, so I may have to put some locktite on the studs to keep them in place.

[Chaparralman1974]

And.....just so I can kinda keep up with Scott (loudchevy) on his build, here is a quick video of the inaugural test drive. :-)

It goes without saying that my puny little SBC 327 doesn't sound nearly as cool as his BBC 454! LOL!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhAN6LaPID0

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by Chaparralman1974

And.....just so I can kinda keep up with Scott (loudchevy) on his build, here is a quick video of the inaugural test drive. :-)

It goes without saying that my puny little SBC 327 doesn't sound nearly as cool as his BBC 454! LOL!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhAN6LaPID0

The cut and buff looks great! The smile your face at the end of the video is priceless. It was pretty cool for both of us to get behind the wheels of our respective projects and take them for a drive this past weekend.

Lots of time and effort to get to this point. Great job!

[Ol Blue K20]

It sure looks good to me! Sounds great too...

[clay68c10]

That is sharp! Love the blue/white
Congrats on the first drive, that's a great feeling.

[68isgreat]

Sharp! Great job.

[Short 3/4]

Congratulations Clay,
It’s got to feel pretty good to be back behind the wheel of a REAL truck again! I’m jealous of that beautiful blue and white paint job. Sure wish the old farmer that had my truck originally had left mine that color, instead of (badly) changing it.

Now comes the fun part-bolting on all the shiny parts, fine tuning that great classic running gear and putting on some MILES! Just hope you have more luck keeping the gear oil on the INSIDE of that T221 than I have so far.
Have fun,
Tom

[1970cstblazer]

Originally Posted by Chaparralman1974

Ok, just an update to my build thread. 1970cstblazer was spot on with regards to the clutch pedal over center spring. I fired up the truck and tried to move it, but I noticed that the clutch pedal didn't feel quite right. There was no freeplay in it at all and it felt way too tight. I tried adjusting the linkage to see if that was it, but nope.....I could not get any free play in the pedal before the clutch disengaged. I reversed the spring and the eye loop thing (which was a major PITA by the way) and now it functions like it should. I have adjusted it to have about 1 1/2" of free play and the truck can now move under her own power! When I took it apart, I put it back the way it came out, so the previous owner must have reversed it for some reason.


Clay

Happy to help. They are a total biatch to R&R. My 70 Blazer's spring broke in 1992, and it was not a joy to replace.

[72 tigger]

Sounds and looks good!