Curt's '72 K20 Resto-mod

[Curt's_72]

I scored these 16.5x9.75 wheels recently. Finally found a set with the outer nubs.




Just took them to get blasted and powdercoated. Gloss white. I should have them back next week.
I think I need them rather than the 8.25's that are currently on the truck. We'll see once I get them.
The backspacing is different on all three sets that I have. Backspace is only .25" greater than the 8.25's. That concerns me, because I don't want them to stick out too far.

[patrickth]

I know all areas are different, but do you mind telling me what the budget quote was for blast and powder coat? I have the same decision to make myself right now.

[jeremy zander]

Nice..good progress...I paid $300 for blast and powdercoat on my 16.5 wheels

[68 Four on the Floor]

Good looking truck. Gonna be sweet with the yellow/white two tone. I know a guy in town that has one. Its different stands out. Keep at it!

[patrickth]

Originally Posted by jeremy zander

Nice..good progress...I paid $300 for blast and powdercoat on my 16.5 wheels

Wow, expensive. I only paid $200 more for my whole truck. Guess I will have to do it myself. Hoping to make things simple. They do look good though.

[Curt's_72]

Originally Posted by patrickth

I know all areas are different, but do you mind telling me what the budget quote was for blast and powder coat? I have the same decision to make myself right now.

The quote was $30 to $32 dollars a wheel. This was a shop here in my hometown. The ones currently on the truck were the same cost from another outfit.
I'll post pics when I get them back.

[Curt's_72]

Originally Posted by jeremy zander

Nice..good progress...I paid $300 for blast and powdercoat on my 16.5 wheels

Jeremy,
If that was for all the wheels in both pictures, then that's about how much it appears to be everywhere. About $33, right?

[patrickth]

Originally Posted by Curt's_72

The quote was $30 to $32 dollars a wheel. This was a shop here in my hometown. The ones currently on the truck were the same cost from another outfit.
I'll post pics when I get them back.

Sorry, thought you meant per wheel earlier. $30-$32 is very reasonable.

[Curt's_72]

Velocity Yellow got the nod. Comparing paint chips isn't a good way to make a long term choice, but it worked out.
Getting ready to layout the lines for the two tone. Rather than measure using the documents in the assembly manual, we used the trim instead. The fenders had mounting holes so we had that reference point to start.



The paint divider trim on the cab uses studs adn they were still in place, so we didn't have to lay anything out there.
We'er looking at days now, rather than months. What a great feeling!

[mjensen]

That's looking great! Can't wait to see the yellow!

[Curt's_72]

Got the wheels back from the powdercoater. $128 total. I think they came out great! I read all the threads on these 16.5x9.75 wheels whenever they come up. I've not seen anything about the little hole in the second picture. Anybody know?




It appears to be a locating hole...

[yfs200p]

Did you get the truck painted?? Looks like a Yellow 2-tone behind those rims...

[Curt's_72]

Originally Posted by yfs200p

Did you get the truck painted?? Looks like a Yellow 2-tone behind those rims...

Nick,
Yeah, it's painted. It's home and the assembly is well underway. At the beginning of the thread I talked about it finally being done.
I was showing over time the process that it had gone through before I actually revealed the body complete.
Here it is just after the yellow was applied.

The frame has been redone using POR-15 chassis black over the regular POR paint. This stuff is good!

[1971 GMC SHORTY]

Originally Posted by Curt's_72

Nick,
Yeah, it's painted. It's home and the assembly is well underway. At the beginning of the thread I talked about it finally being done.
I was showing over time the process that it had gone through before I actually revealed the body complete.
Here it is just after the yellow was applied.

The frame has been redone using POR-15 chassis black over the regular POR paint. This stuff is good!

Coming OutcSweet
Posted via Mobile Device

[yfs200p]

Originally Posted by Curt's_72

Nick,
Yeah, it's painted. It's home and the assembly is well underway. At the beginning of the thread I talked about it finally being done.
I was showing over time the process that it had gone through before I actually revealed the body complete.
Here it is just after the yellow was applied.

The frame has been redone using POR-15 chassis black over the regular POR paint. This stuff is good!

Very cool. I've looked at so many builds, i forget who is doing a re-cap and who is posting as they go. I like the yellow and white, its a little different than what you see every day. You were lucky to have the stud holes drilled for the trim already. My truck had zero trim on it, and im sure it will take some head scratching to get the 2-tone spacing laid out correctly. (once i get to that point obviously) Keep on truckin!

[Curt's_72]

We've set the bed back on to get ready to install the trim. Wow. It's getting very close.


Not being around body shops for some time, seeing the use of plastic rather the paper was new to me.



So happy with the yellow and white. The two tone layout always works with any tasteful color combination, though. Can't wait to see the trim installed.

[mjensen]

That's killer!

[Curt's_72]

Trim is going on!


I was going to attempt this myself when we got the truck home. I'm glad that I left this part up the bodyshop. It was going to be a extra cost.
But he was looking for a pair of 15x6 ralley wheels, which I had stashed. A good trade for me.



Pretty amazing how much difference the trim makes!


They tell me I'll have it at the end of the week....

[67swb72klb]

lookn gooood

[Curt's_72]

It's home! I've posted some shots of it arriving on the main 67-72 truck page. I wanted to show off, I guess, to others that don't follow 4x4's. Everybody has a bodyshop experience in the world of restoration and I wanted to share the joy of that experience being behind me.


We've started to remove years of bodyshop crud and to POR-15 areas that need to be done. After what we went through with redoing the frame, I wanted to make sure that didn't happen again.





The Chassis Black is good stuff! Goes on thick. I wore a throw-away jumpsuit and gloves. Knowing the end result made the hours laying under it worth it, though.
It got almost overwhelming at times. It seemed like there were places everywhere that i missed or just couldn't get to.

I decided to after I got it on the road, I'd put it on a lift finish under the cab and complete the second coat under the bed.

We'll paint the front end this weekend after the new springs are in place.

[mjensen]

Which version of the Chassis Black did you use? Did you use their primer too? I'm getting ready to send my frame to the blaster, so I'm curious...

[Curt's_72]

Originally Posted by mjensen

Which version of the Chassis Black did you use? Did you use their primer too? I'm getting ready to send my frame to the blaster, so I'm curious...

Semi gloss POR-15 paint was first. It's not UV resistant, though. It will get chalky if exposed to the sun for very long. I've seen it.
I ended up going over everything with POR-15 Chassis Black. No choice of sheen, though. It's a very good shade of black.
No primer. I when right over the paint after cleaning it.

[Curt's_72]

Good progress this weekend. Bad weather outside, great weather inside.
New springs got installed. Went with a 2 1/2" lift from Skyjacker. Had it since 2009.
We had some problems with the bushing insert lengths. They were too long. We ended up having to cut them down to fit the shackles in the front.. Then, we had to ream them out to get the factory bolts to fit. I considered smaller diameter bolts, but I didn't want to compromise any integrity of the suspension.
The kit said 73-87 on the bag, so I figured they provided me with the wrong bag assembly. But the instructions for all years stated that same assembly, so we modified what we had.



We ended up removing and suspending brake calipers because the front differential wouldn't drop far enough.
Everything is back together now.

Wow. I thought I was never going to get all the little cracks and areas cover with chassis paint. More time scraping and painting.

[Curt's_72]

We removed the steering column and master cylinder. That was a huge space saver as far as being able to access the firewall and the engine on the driver's side. More parts to blast and powdercoat.
I had purchased a finned transmission cooler to mount on the frame cross member. I didn't like the big dorky one that was mounted to the firewall behind the grill.
It went on very easy and is out of sight.


The motor is cleaning up very nice. Actually, easier than I thought it would. Being able to stand inside the doghouse makes this task alot better.
Using a pressure washer in the driveway would have been the ticket, but a bucket of soapy water, brushes and 409 worked well.

[Curt's_72]

Cleanup is going great. My Corvette valve covers and NOS Z-28 air cleaner aren't correct, but I like them. Brings me back to my muscle car days.
I was going to look for a better fan shroud. Bought some satin black plastic paint in a rattle can, and it came out fine.