72 Chevy K20 Wrecker restoration

[Ol Blue K20]

Progress is progress. I'm glad you're moving along.

[sameyeam]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

FWIW - there's a 72 K20 listed on CL here in Eau Claire as a potential parts source if needed (not mine).

Thanks for the tip, I am still looking for a cross member and now passenger side cab mounts

[DeadheadNM]

You bet - I could possibly look it over on your behalf if you wanted to get serious about it.

[sameyeam]

Small update, I have decided to have the frame blasted and epoxy coated, I just pulled the old 305, th350 and the transfer case. Gonna clean up the th350 and transfer case but the 305 isnt going to be returning. Want to find a 96 or newer Vortec 350 and bolt a carburetor intake on it and run that for a while, possibly with a towing cam but nothing major. Anyone else run the serpentine belt setup that would have come on one of these? I have heard the ones from a vortec powered s10 Blazer will work? Maybe a truck or van too? But anyway, cart in front of the horse, I need to get all the the body mount rubber and hardware. I know 4x4 is specific and possibly 3/4 ton? Anyone have a specific company to suggest? I did buy all new stainless pre bent brake lines, fuel lines and transmission cooling lines from Inline tube. Havent taken them out of the box yet but I have seen good reviews and they seem to cover all bases when it comes to lines for these trucks so I went for it. Glad to be almost at a "turning point" for my project as hopefully before too long it will be going back together instead of coming further apart.

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by sameyeam

Small update, I have decided to have the frame blasted and epoxy coated, I just pulled the old 305, th350 and the transfer case. Gonna clean up the th350 and transfer case but the 305 isnt going to be returning. Want to find a 96 or newer Vortec 350 and bolt a carburetor intake on it and run that for a while, possibly with a towing cam but nothing major. Anyone else run the serpentine belt setup that would have come on one of these? I have heard the ones from a vortec powered s10 Blazer will work? Maybe a truck or van too? But anyway, cart in front of the horse, I need to get all the the body mount rubber and hardware. I know 4x4 is specific and possibly 3/4 ton? Anyone have a specific company to suggest? I did buy all new stainless pre bent brake lines, fuel lines and transmission cooling lines from Inline tube. Havent taken them out of the box yet but I have seen good reviews and they seem to cover all bases when it comes to lines for these trucks so I went for it. Glad to be almost at a "turning point" for my project as hopefully before too long it will be going back together instead of coming further apart.

Good progress. Cool that you are saving a "family heirloom".

[sameyeam]

Quick question, I've done some searching on the site regarding a rear disc conversion for the Eaton rear end. Seems fairly simple, nobody mentions changing the proportioning valve? Maybe I wont need to? Can anyone answer this?

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice to see you save this. Have you found your cross member and body mounts yet?

[sameyeam]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Nice to see you save this. Have you found your cross member and body mounts yet?

I addressed the body mounts, that was fairly easy to fix with flat plate and a hole saw. The cross member I am still looking for a solution. I might go cut one out of a square body 4x4, which are way more prevalent if the pick and pulls around me, and see if that will yield me what I need.

[sameyeam]

Got my frame back from the media blaster/coater. Looks great, now I can start going forward with my brake, fuel and transmission lines from Inline tube.

[IronCanine]

Looks good. Always a good feeling when you actually start laying bricks.

[Ol Blue K20]

Frame looks great! Looking forward to your forward progress..

[sameyeam]

wow, i have not made an update in a while, but also not much has been done. I did get the frame all blasted an painted, it is sitting as a rolling chassis now. I installed new stainless brake and fuel lines from inline tube. Thanks to this forum i was able to figure out the proper routing. Finding new mounting clips on the other hand has been a challenge. it seems kits are only made for 2wd trucks. I did save several of the old ones and im sure the 2wd kits will work if i feel i need more to hold the lines in. I also purchased a vortec 350 from a 98 suburban so i have recently been working on cleaning that up, getting the carb intake on it and as soon as i have that ready, were putting the drive terrain back in! awesome! im on here today looking at what other people have done for k20 exhaust. i want it to be tucked up high and id like to do a big single exit with good deep sound. anyone know of any off shelf systems that fit the ram horn manifolds? thats all for now, ill try and post a pic or 2 of the frame soon.

[sameyeam]

Time for an update, its been a year :-(. I took the truck apart down to a rolling frame, had the frame blasted and epoxy painted. Got it home and put new leaf springs in the rear as those were all busted up. Acquired a vortec 350 out of a 98 suburban. Cleaned that up and painted it, slapped a speedway motors vortec carb manifold on it, also have a GM hei distributor to put in. Bolted that setup to the old th350 and put that back in with new motor mounts. Also got a stainless steel line set from bent tubes, really happy with the quality of that. Then the truck got kicked out of the garage for the summer as we needed the space for a graduation party for my daughter and the 2 additional snowmobiles we acquired. Well as of a week ago those got the boot and the truck came back in and we mounted the very clean texas cab on the frame with new rubber components. That all went pretty good, i am concerned about clearance for the HEI dizzy cap. might have to clearance the firewall a bit as i am not finding any type of low profile cap to put on. Going through the steering components trying to get those decent and gonna be getting the brakes hooked up soon to see what we have there. I rebuilt them when i acquired the truck but they didnt feel up to snuff so maybe new lines and a new master cylinder will help that otherwise there are other issues. A vortec swap is fairly straight forward, there are some things that i didnt know that i am hoping work out with putting a regular steel timing cover on with a non vortec harmonic balancer and getting the belts to all work good. they seem like they line up but we will have to see. also have to come up with a circuit to run an electric fuel put because vortec blocks arent drilled for a mechanical pump and i am unsure if the stock cam has the lobe to actuate it anyway but an electric pump is fine. thats where were at for now, just trying to get a running driving project again with a decent/safe chassis underneath it.

[IronCanine]

Sounds like real progress. Thanks for the update. Some pics would be great.

[Louisvillekytruck]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Sounds like real progress. Thanks for the update. Some pics would be great.

X2 looking good

[DeadheadNM]

Good deal. Taking shape. Pics when possible please.

[sameyeam]

Hey guys, a couple snags ive run into just trying to get some traction on getting my truck running and driving. I didnt remove the old proportioning valve off the old cab before i scrapped it, mistake. From what ive found the "generic" brass ones arent as well made as OEM, so i think i am gonna try and get one out of a bone yard. I believe 71-77 should work as all those trucks had disc front drum rear. Also, am i going to have to message my fire wall in order to fit the HEI distributor cap? Ive done some searching and it seems that some guys can get them to fit without doing that and some cant. Some have made low clearance caps from several pieces glued together. I am not a fan of that route as i wanna be able to stop at a store and get parts. Thats all for now, just kinda pluggin away at little things as i have time. will try and get some pics up soon.

[IronCanine]

PerTronix makes an electronic ignition distributor that is the exact same profile as the original Delco points distributor.

[sameyeam]

Hello everyone, long time since an update. Havent done a ton however i am working towards getting the truck running on its own with intact systems. A couple questions for you guys. I swapped in a 350 from a 98 suburban (vortec block) and i am going to have to run an electric fuel pump. Is there an easy keyed fused power source or should i use a relay and use the ignition wire to trigger the relay to turn on the pump? Second, does anyone know of an off the shelf exhaust kit? Or is there a system from a later model vehicle i could adapt, even just the y pipe? I could custom make the rest myself probably. My truck has factory ram horn manifolds with straight down dumps. LMC does list a kit but i am concerned as their picture doesnt look like what id expect the system to look like, maybe its just generic but i dont have money to waste on return shipping and such if it wont work for me.

[clay68c10]

Cool truck, and it's nice that it's back in the family.
You could use the coil power wire to trigger a fuel pump relay. That's the easiest circuit I can think of.

[sameyeam]

Small but big update! I drove the truck! I have been motivated to get the truck to move under its own power, and it now does that and even has brakes! Not sure if I am done bleeding yet as I did install a new master cylinder and front calipers but the thing stops pretty good. I temporarily wired up my electric fuel pump, the purple wire from the harness triggers the relay for it. Works pretty good. The thing starts good, runs ok, its still open headers and there are other things just temporarily put together so i didnt lean on it too hard but seems to run ok as well. Still gotta figure out all my vacuum plumbing and, cooling plumbing. My water pump has 2 outlets, Intake has multiple provisions for coolant fittings, heater core is 2 and the radiator has 1. Right now i have the 5/8 hose going from the passenger hole on the water pump to the heater core, then the 3/4 going from the heater core to the radiator. I think i am going to plug both aux fittings for the water pump, put 1 fitting into the front passenger hole in the intake and run the 5/8 from that to the heater core. Also gotta figure out an exhaust. Money fixes everything but i am on a fiddle string budget (2 teen drivers is expensive!) and I would like to do what i can myself. I am gonna see if i can get a y pipe from an early square body, just add some bend to create 2 90* turns and then head down the passenger side of the frame. Also super pumped, i scored some late model HD 16" alloy wheels with decent tires for $50! and they look great! Ill get some pics soon. Thanks for following

[sameyeam]

Here we are over a year later, I have some questions. I bought a heartthrob exhaust kit. It fits ok, I am no pro exhaust fitting expert but its fine. One of my ram horn manifolds cracked out a mounting bolt. Thinking about buying some new ones from speedway however they are a 2 1/2" outlet. Will that work with the 2 1/4" heartthrob kit? The originals are 2" outlet and they havent really sealed up that well but i dont wanna buy 2 1/2" manifolds if they wont seal at all. Also I set the box back on the truck and it looks great! A big milestone to getting it back on the road as a driving project. Pics to come

[Lokin4AReason]

cool story n progress with he rig

keep the update(s) coming =)

was the 305 the original engine ( matching numbers ) to the rig ?

if so , hope its kept n tucked away

[sameyeam]

Originally Posted by Lokin4AReason

cool story n progress with he rig

keep the update(s) coming =)

was the 305 the original engine ( matching numbers ) to the rig ?

if so , hope its kept n tucked away

I'm told the 305 was stuck in there to get the truck back in service due to the original 350 having some issues. Both of those are long gone now and I have a L31 350 in there now. Knowing what I know now I would have gone a different route and kept an engine with a mechanical fuel pump and maybe even stayed with points ignition due to the 4x4 engine mounting position being so close to the firewall, the large cap of the HEI distributor is a tight fit with limited timing adjustment. Also causes issues with air filter housing fitment, kickdown cable bracket doesn't fit, temp sender is different, lots of little stuff that's adding up to a bunch of hurdles to getting it back on the road reliably.