'71 K/20 Build Thread

[71K20chevy]

Yeah, I know. It'll be worse once I'm driving and I have to pay for gas...

Thanks! I figure that with my luck, something will break when I don't have the money to fix it, so I'm doing everything now so I don't have to worry about it later.

[71K20chevy]

Well here's how it sits now:



It looks kind of sad that's it's not being driven...I'm sad too..

And I got some new tailgate trim...I'll get the bottom piece on eventually

[steelhorse]

Nice truck. Wish I could find one that cheap. Good luck with the rebuild.

[71K20chevy]

Thank you!



Painted brake and gas pedals


I greased up the gas pedal since I had to take it off anyhow.


Time to paint the parking brake pedal now.

[bilfman]

Looks great, you will be stylin by the time you drive that baby. Good to hear your dad's words of wisdom on the bench.

It is great to see the younger gen working on these beauties. Because in reality we are not owners of these vehicles, we are caretakers until the move into someone elses loving hands.

My 5 year old has already called dibs on my dually, I told him by the time I go he will have to fight his 18 year old older brother for it. But by that time the odds will be even'd out.

[71K20chevy]

Originally Posted by bilfman

Looks great, you will be stylin by the time you drive that baby. Good to hear your dad's words of wisdom on the bench.

It is great to see the younger gen working on these beauties. Because in reality we are not owners of these vehicles, we are caretakers until the move into someone elses loving hands.

My 5 year old has already called dibs on my dually, I told him by the time I go he will have to fight his 18 year old older brother for it. But by that time the odds will be even'd out.

Thanks! I plan on keeping this forever...it means too much to me to ever sell it. I honestly do love the truck

[RANDY COX]

awesome;- truck;- Me;- likes........

[71K20chevy]

Thank you

Found a couple pics I had

Repainted my pedals:

Repainted the heater box:

Repainted core support, used Krylon Satin Black and some new decals:

Pic of after we got the rear brakes pulled apart. At some point, someone put new shoes on, but did a Mickey Mouse job. Spindle nuts were chewed up from a chisel, brakes were completely out of adjustment...so we redid them right. It's put back together but I don't have pics yet.

Here's where I went from my Sandalwood dash pad to black, again paint is Krylon satin black:



I also have a new goal.

In a couple years, when I drive it, I don't want there to be one single thing to not work. Not really a difficult feat, there's not a whole lot broken on the truck, luckily

That's all for tonight...once we get time to work on the brakes and whatnot (I don't have the knowledge to do it completely myself) I'll have more progress to report.

[71K20chevy]

Found a pic of when I repainted my inner fenders! I think I'm going to pull them back out so I can clean. Sure is easier working in the engine bay with them out of there


Oh, I used Krylon Satin Black (as you might know by now, I'm a fan of that stuff). It looks like at some point some battery acid spilled on the passenger side one, as there is a hole in it...

New radiator hold downs (Krylon Satin Black of course)

[Mustard72]

That sure is a nice looking truck. I'm 42 now, and got my C20 back when I was 16 in 1986. Difference is, mine was a rusted out heap then, and I'm just now getting around to getting it into better condition. Keep up the good work. You should definitely have the folks that sold it to you on your Christmas card list. Very solid looking truck, especially for the price.

I like the Krylon or Rustoleum satin black paints, too. Never used the Eastwood chassis black stuff, but the Krylon or Rustoleum looks good enough for me.

[71K20chevy]

Thank you! I remember somebody telling me that you can fix dents all day long..but it's almost impossible to completely get rid of it. It bugs me to see a car with bubbling paint due to rust, when otherwise the paint job is nice.

Never really had great luck with Rustoleum, I don't know if it's just the way I paint, but the nozzles always clog and I have to clean them with thinner.

[litew8]

Cleaning up nicely Not a fan of rust-oleum cans with the new drip gaurd thingy. Clogged and spit paint. Other stuff usually good when spraying in 2-3 second bursts.

[71K20chevy]

Thanks I know that even the BIG nozzles would spit. Once, I was painting some bolts in the vise. Chevy engine orange. Well, the nozzle decided to suddenly spray in a stream, instead of a mist. It went all over EVERYTHING, including my freshly painted alternator bracket!! I wasn't too happy

Then, of course, there was the time that I got mad and threw a can and it exploded

[litew8]

[Mustard72]

Ah. I thought the clogged nozzles were just me. I'll have to see if I get better unclogging performance from Krylon. Cool, because the clogged nozzles are a pain.

[71K20chevy]

With the Krylon I just take an Exacto blade and scrape the crusties off. It's also got the swivel tip thing so that does make painting easier in some places.

[71K20chevy]

Here's a pic of the drums back on


I think I'm going to paint over the semi gloss black with gloss...I just don't like the way the semi gloss came out.

[71K20chevy]

Okay..another picture

This was when I was test fitting my tach cluster, basically this is exactly what it will look like when done:


Basically everything is NOS except the bezel, I went though it and cleaned it up. What a difference it makes polishing the lens!!



On a side note, I finally got the compression fitting broke loose on the back of my oil gauge

[splehigh]

Nice truck! You're doing a nice job cleaning it up.

[71K20chevy]

Thank you

Polished my transfer case shift knob today, I put it in the drill with some polishing compound. I got it so hot that there was smoke coming out of the rag I was using to polish it with But dang, is that thing shiny now!

[71K20chevy]

So here are the valve covers that will be going on sometime soon:

And I repainted my heater box. There was some water in the bottom of it, bummer


In the meantime I'll read up on replacing heater cores

[litew8]

I've got lots of pics for many things in my build thread, including the heater core

[71K20chevy]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[71K20chevy]

Check out what Brown dropped off today!


Carpet, defrost vents, and door panel escutcheons. I'll be getting a tilt column, but that got drop shipped. Should hopefully be here soon...

[Toadfrog]

Nice truck,I couldnt find as good of a factory 4 wheel drive as you did,so I am building one from a 2 wheel drive.Your gonna have a great looking truck to drive!