1970 K20 Z62 Full Restoration

[68bowtie]

Nice and thorough, good job so far.

You really do have the “fever”, even saving primer drips! Hahaha

[landarts]

Excellent work once again. I am pulling up my easy chair and getting the popcorn, better than TV. Sign me up I am in for the adventure.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by landarts

Excellent work once again. I am pulling up my easy chair and getting the popcorn, better than TV. Sign me up I am in for the adventure.

Now it's a party.

This posting takes time. I won't get us up to real time tonight, but maybe close. I have to go do real work every so often or I get in trouble here.

[IronCanine]

Ok...let's move on to the transmission. Muncies are bullet proof too right? Again, depends on the firefight. And this poor girl had been pounded on. Input splines and shaft were rung out. Forks were thread bare. But the gear sets seemed pretty good. Reverse had been dinged up (as they are).

Took a lot of time and effort to get the case clean. Several runs through the electrolysis tank.

[IronCanine]

New main shaft and bushings. I did that job one night when the girls were away. Shaft in the freezer for a week, bushings in the oven. Still gave all my little 12 ton press wanted. Bearings, seals, balls, etc.

Couldn't come up with the part number correct block out plug for the TCS sending unit. (TCS was only on half tons). But it turns out a generic drain plug is pretty close to a dead nuts match.

[IronCanine]

The broadcast code for the 4sp was HA for at least a couple of years during this time. It was on both sides of the case and stenciled in yellow. They make code stencils for GM cars, but not this one. So we had to have this one made. The first pic is a factory original stencil. Mine ended up a little too neat. It is hard to find the right level of factory sloppy.

[BAD1916]

Loving the detail. Incredible work!

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by BAD1916

Loving the detail. Incredible work!

Thanks!

[chewychevy67]

Good to see you back on here with another build . Blue is the color around here lol

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

Good to see you back on here with another build . Blue is the color around here lol

Thanks Rod. You've added so many mods I'm gonna catch you!!

[IronCanine]

The parts in this motor are better than need be honestly. They did the block and crank in Atlanta, but the finish machine work I brought home to my local guy. He did the head work (hardened seats, positive valve seals), all new everything. And they balanced my rotating assembly. They build race engines and I ordered my parts through them. So everything is a little bit extra than is probably needed. We had a long conversation about cam. I wanted bone stock. I lost the convo and it's got a mild lift on it.

I will say it all went together pretty easily. Only real headache was separating the rod caps. I had to get the special tool to get them apart. They ground them, re-trued and balanced them. And apparently torqued the hell out of em.

Sean Murphy rebuilt and restored my QuadraJet. I was sad to find out this week that they've gone out of business. Glad I got this one in under the wire. They've done three for me and they all looked great and the first two performed great. We'll see on this one.

[IronCanine]

I did use stock style head bolts mainly for the aesthetic. Another thing I hope I don't regret.

Advanced Distributors rebuilt my distributor. Note red factory mark.

By the parts book, this shouldn't be the correct oil fill cap. But I believe it's what came on this engine. And the 80-mile barn find 70 looks to have the same cap. So I found an NOS version for the build.

[IronCanine]

Restored the rubberized insulator on the valve cover tabs.

Got her on a transport stand to take back to the machine shop to break in on the dyno last Monday.

It was the last day off I'll have for a while. I had an appointment, but a race engine that was on the dyno ahead of me blew...resulting in some carnage. So unfortunately it'll run (or not) for the first time without me. Maybe as soon as tomorrow. I wanted to run it in before we painted it or put it in the truck. That way if there's a problem or a leak, it'll be bad, but at least it won't be in a finished truck. Crazy that we've gotten away with starting these motors in the truck without major issues on these other builds.

It goes on the dyno without the water pump or fuel pump...and turns out the starter too. I'm learning.

[68bowtie]

Lots of eye candy piling up here

[loudchevy]

I'm in to follow along. Awesome build so far. Your attention to factory details is impressive.

[tim71]

Subscribed. Looks like a fun one from this vantage point. Terrific build so far!

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

I'm in to follow along. Awesome build so far. Your attention to factory details is impressive.

Originally Posted by tim71

Subscribed. Looks like a fun one from this vantage point. Terrific build so far!

Thanks guys! Appreciate you jumping on.

[1970cstblazer]

Magnificent build as always.

On my 1970 K/5 TBC 350 engine, as well as my grandfather's 1970 350 K20, they both have/had the oil fill tube on the drivers side valve cover, with the twist on steel cap with heavy cork sealing gasket. This is GM 3714893.





The original tires on the 1970 K series were Goodyear Custom Xtra Grips. This was the case with both the K/5 I own as well as the K20 that my grandfather owned since new. Both have/had the 8.25" wide 16.5" wheel option.

[IronCanine]

Good info. Thanks for that and the kind words.

BTW...you wouldn't have any pics of your grandfather's engine bay would you? I have no engine bay pics of a 70 K20 with A/C. I am interested in the shape and routing of the hard vac advance line that goes from the front of the carb and down the right side of the engine. The TBC I have came from a K10 and had TCS so things were different. Any help appreciated.

Also...here's the 80 mile barn find 70 C10. Not a K truck, but it appears to have the same oil fill cap as the 70 TBC I have.

[chewychevy67]

The fun is in the chase. Your right though. This board has so much education in it if you know where to look. I spend more time on here researching most evenings than working on my build.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

The fun is in the chase. Your right though. This board has so much education in it if you know where to look. I spend more time on here researching most evenings than working on my build.

100%. I kinda thought I knew what I didn't know...cuz I'm actively chasing that! More that I don't know I don't know it turns out. I've already said it a couple of different ways in this thread. However good this truck turns out...it will be because of the help and generosity of information from the folks on this board.

[IronCanine]

Ok. Back at it. So the engine got run in on the dyno which was (thankfully) uneventful. They did a couple of pulls on and she made 288/385. Which is more than the factory rating. But you need not worry about those gaudy numbers. I'll get her back under control with stock exhaust manifolds and a sweet factory single exhaust. Wouldn't want this horse to throw me.

She went from the machine shop straight to Eric's for paint prep.

We got the clutch and pressure plate on. The entire rotating assembly was balanced prior to assembly including these pieces. Then the bell housing because it appears to me that the bell housing was on and "over sprayed" when the engine got painted. Clean up of this engine/drivetrain indicated as much. And Joe's low mileage K20 bellhousing has similar paint coverage

Also had to scrounge up a vac line clip since this engine came from a K10 and had TCS (which had to be deleted on this K20).

[IronCanine]

Hi temp primer and paint...

I should mention that Mike Cofield helped me find my date code correct water pump. Then he thankfully sussed it out when the "Dutchman" mistakenly sent my rebuilt water pump to him...that's a longer story than can't be well told in one sentence. Needless to say Mike saved the day twice.

Thanks Mike!

[IronCanine]

Final paint this week and brought her home today. I threw a few quick pieces on just for fun. Unfortunately I've got a meeting out of town this weekend or I'd be fully dressing her out.

[DeadheadNM]

Swimming upstream against entropy in a brisk and beautiful way. Great progress!