1970 K20 Z62 Full Restoration

[68bowtie]

I LOVE the tire choice!

[IronCanine]

A couple of assembly marks...and bump stops. The front bump stop brackets were missing from this frame for some reason. So I had to scrounge those up too.

[IronCanine]

Unbelievably I was able to piece together a set of date code correct NOS HD shocks. It doesn't really make sense to put these on the truck IMO though. Restoring some or date coding a set is so expensive, plus they kind of have a limited shelf life(maybe not in the life this truck is going to lead, but still...). So I decided the best course would be just to dummy up some new Monroes. The OE Delco paint color is readily available and I had the broadcast decals reproduced. In this case I think it's a reasonable compromise.

[IronCanine]

Speaking of compromises...let's take a break from the roller and catch up with Eric over in sheetmetal-ville. First, not to be too much of a bummer about it, but after the truck got here it became clear that there were too many man made holes in the truck cab rendering its use prohibitive. Honestly it was all the holes in the inner B pillar and inner roof skin that sealed its fate (beyond the usual and expected rust repair). Eric would have spent so much time repairing it. And we had a really nice donor cab built two short months after this one sitting right there. Honestly it's the best cab I've ever seen on a native Georgia truck. Three big reasons. The truck was always under cover, it was an original ochre paint truck. (Side bar...I don't know what they put in ochre paint, but it's basically vibranium. I wouldn't be surprised if 60% of original paint survivors weren't ochre. It seems impervious to me). And finally I think it was the last truck they primed that day and they emptied the gun. There was so much primer on the bottom of this cab, it was basically a bedliner.

When you look at the "as found" pics of this donor truck, don't judge me too harshly for parting such a nice truck. I bought it out of an estate sale. It was a long time non runner and the bed floor was gone. It was an inflation fighter special...basically a base truck with a few options. But like the majestic buffalo, no bit of this truck has gone to waste. Its frame is under a truck Eric's son is building. The engine got rebuilt and went into my brother's K20. Many, many pieces went into the 69 K10 build.

And now it will help save one more.

[IronCanine]

The usual suspects here. Inner and NOS outer rockers. Cab corners and the bottom of the A pillar and a little of the floor edge. We used the doors that came with the K20. They were nice, only needed a little work on the bottoms and had the advantage of having the DG4 mirror holes already there.

We did delete the bottle opener at this time.

[IronCanine]

SPID change alert...Good ole Pete texted one day with an eBay link to an NOS cab light roof skin (IN GEORGIA!). He's the fairy godmother of truck parts. I thankfully jumped on it immediately. Sold new from a dealer in Kentucky. Let's get ready to crack the lid..

[IronCanine]

Eric brought up a good point when the top came off. How many very expensive trucks cross the block at Barrett Jackson with a rodent's nest in the roof?

Also, does that "A" stand for asbestos?

[69cam]

I've been waiting a long time for this build to start. Can't wait to see it progress. Best of luck!

[IronCanine]

Initial fitment was done on a spare roller. NOS fenders and core support.

[IronCanine]

A little bit of discussion on the best way to join the roof skin. But as has been previously documented on the board here, cutting the B pillar seems to be the most manageable way. That's Eric's son Mason on the welder.

[IronCanine]

Then the cab went on the rotisserie for final welding and metal working. Even though the donor cab was put together so close time wise to the K20, it was a '71. The '70 accelerator mount had to be grafted in.

[IronCanine]

Now that we're a few posts into this cab business, I'm sure several of you are, "That's a low hump cab dummy!" And you would be right. I too was worried that we could convert it to OE spec. I shouldn't have been.

Eric cut the hole, folded the edges and made the brackets...just like the General.

Also, I like bucket seats too much. But as a Z62, this truck couldn't come from the factory with bucket seats. So I am doing a Custom Cloth bench seat for it...but did I mention I really like bucket seats? So thanks to Old_Truck_Fan and Roger Koop..this truck has the necessary bracketry to support buckets.

[IronCanine]

Finished up metal work and started body work and primer.

[IronCanine]

The primer on the underside of this truck worked so well for so long, we decided to save some of it. One of the reasons was to save all the factory paint runs. Because the truck was rotating when it was primed, the runs go in circles in some places. We couldn't/wouldn't replicate that...so we saved what we could. We color matched the factory brown primer and painted the areas that would naturally have exposed primer.

[IronCanine]

I know we poke some fun at these assembly plants. And they for sure had differing personalities (problems). Fremont's paint department was crazy. They weren't painting a lot of the truck. They were writing in wet paint. And there's a perception that many of them were high on more than paint fumes. Flint put seam sealer in the key hole. Oshawa couldn't run a printer. Janesville...well God bless em, Janesville. But Atlanta was right there with all of em. This cab was an Atlanta cab and even though it was pretty rust free for our area, the panel joins were crooked and there was a lot Eric had to clean up. Including the mounting fasteners for the two tone cab molding. These things were crooked as a snake and no more than two would line up. What we thought might just be a few to replace ended up being all of them.

I don't mind paint running downhill, but the trim is a different story.

[too much stuff]

Looking good, that will be a nice one!

[68bowtie]

Nice and thorough, good job so far.

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

[jerry moss]

Beautiful work so far. are you leaving the 71 only mirror raised area or did I miss it when it was removed and the outer skin replaced.
I had to chuckle a little bit when i saw you changing the gas pedal from cable to solid rod style, i did the opposite on my 69 suburban, i cut the section of the firewall from a 72 and welded it into my 69.
i'm gonna follow this build and hopefully get some ideas to use on mine.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by too much stuff

Looking good, that will be a nice one!

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

Nice and thorough, good job so far.

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

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by jerry moss

Beautiful work so far. are you leaving the 71 only mirror raised area or did I miss it when it was removed and the outer skin replaced.
I had to chuckle a little bit when i saw you changing the gas pedal from cable to solid rod style, i did the opposite on my 69 suburban, i cut the section of the firewall from a 72 and welded it into my 69.
i'm gonna follow this build and hopefully get some ideas to use on mine.

We did not smooth that area. And it was straight up a miss. Once realized though, the cab was together with sound deadener over that panel. Options were considered (non of them great). With the mirror mount (which is the same for both years) it's not obvious. So we live with the mistake. It's not the only thing that's not dead nuts factory on her. This truck doesn't have split rims and the rims on it are powder coated and solid white (not black or gray on the inside). No Z62 came from then factory with bucket seat braces. The radio while restored will have modern internals. And that's just the few things that come to mind. This truck won't be perfect, but it'll be the best one we've done for sure.

[IronCanine]

Ok, back to the driveline. I did some slightly regretful robbing of Peter to pay Paul when we were working on the '69 K10. My brother wanted it to be an automatic even though no '69s came with automatics. I really wanted my truck to be a 4sp because a K20 just feels right with cab lights and a hog leg.

So I pulled my TH350 and transfer case from my truck and we put them in the '69. With the expectation that I'd use the '71 transmission and transfer case pictured below. But then I got lucky (sorta). The original engine from my truck was long gone (though I did have the carb and intake). I stumbled on a part out in TN of a Fllint built 1970 K10 on Marketplace. It was a June truck, just like mine and a 4sp. Not only was it a TBC suffix (K5, K10, K20), but the late May engine date made it date code perfect for my truck. And that meant the entire driveline was date code correct for my truck too. So I bought the engine (which was stuck) and traded the first picture for the second picture. In all honestly what I got probably looked better on the outside than on the inside. This truck had a hard life.

[IronCanine]

You know the NP205 is generally considered to be a bulletproof transfer case...turns out it's not if you shoot it enough. In my other two builds, it got taken apart, cleaned up and re-sealed. No big whoop. This poor example needed everything. A gear and two shafts for starters. It had started eating itself and there was pitting on the shafts. There is some merit in it, in that the casting and speedometer drive boss is unique. But like this build in general, she started to cook the credit card. Of course all new bearings and seals and the afore mentioned gear and shafts. Even the aluminum ID tag was pitted.

The pan holds the stuff that came out but didn't go back in.

[IronCanine]

She got a new front output yoke. And the adaptor got run through the electrolysis tank a few times and cleared. What a bad casting that one was. Probably because it was so greasy so fast, the original paint uncovered pretty well and we used it to do a color match. I've always struggled with getting this color right. While we're talking about mistakes, I should say that I mounted and sealed the adaptor to the transfer case in the frame without putting the seal in the adaptor on the TC side. It sucked because I had to take all that apart and clean it and rejoin it.

Also, I talked to several of you and struggled with how to paint this transfer case. After a lot of time and consideration, whether right or wrong, my working theory is the transfer case was painted together as a unit and that likely had a few masks that clipped over the access panels. This accounts for paint found on some of the bolts but not the plates. Or...it just didn't stick to the access panels and stuck to the bolts. It was crazy to paint it this way, but it's how it looks 50 years later on the best, lowest mileage examples I could find. I'm 100% sure it is wrong in some way, but I'm also 100% sure it's closer to right than any we've ever done.

Also, I did the inspection marks to match Joe's Fremont truck and not the Flint truck that this came from.

I had the aluminum bits vapor honed.

[IronCanine]

Incidentally, the plastic bushings in the transfer case shifter are unique to 70 and 71 I think. I can't find this bushing anywhere...even though it looks like a brake pedal bushing and other similar bushings...it's an odd size. I was able to find two and clean them up. A little, polish, UV and peroxide and they came back to life.

[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]

I got my driveshafts rebuilt at Nash Truck Parts here in Athens. And they did a great job per usual...except for some reason this time they painted them. These shafts as best I can tell should be raw from the factory. And whatever paint they used...did not want to come off. Eric used one of his many poisons and got em clean, then they got cleared.

I do not know what the part number should be on the rear driveshaft. I know what it should be in '71. I've got two pristine examples. I also cannot see any material difference in those driveshafts. So I'm taking a gamble. If in the future I learn something new that invalidates my choice, I'll change it.

Gastanks.com did a custom stencil for me. One comes standard in their chassis kit anyway (along with the yellow paint/die). I doctored up then stencil some because the cross sections? were straight on their stencil, but at 45 degrees on the OE example I had.