Scott's 1972 Chevy K-20. A place to start.

[gerfunken]

And, FINALLY...

Time to start putting pieces back together!!

[gerfunken]

IT IS ALIVE..... was able to start it up and back it out of the garage so I could get the right side put together last night.



The right side actually went together easier than the left side did.







And tonight, I've got a couple of friends coming over to assist with the hood and the bed..

soon.....


very soon....

[Moto Moto]

Man....I like it. always loved these trucks as 4x4. Rocker repair look real good sir.

[gerfunken]

Originally Posted by Moto Moto

Man....I like it. always loved these trucks as 4x4. Rocker repair look real good sir.

Thanks Jeff, this one seems to be taking forever, but I continue to move forward on it.

[gerfunken]

Forgot to mention that I had put the bed back on the truck. The rhinolining seemed to add a little bit of weight to the thing, and 4 of us struggled a bit more than normal. It also broke the dolly that I had built a number of years ago. (No pictures of the broken dolly, but we managed to move the bed before it collapsed.)

[gerfunken]

I also put the new tailgate on the truck. The old one suffered from the typical bow in the middle, and it was rubbing my rear bumper, which had managed to scratch all of the paint across the back.

The handle was dirty, but no rust on it...





It ended up lining up nicely.




Required one quick bit of trimming to clear the latch on the driver's side.



And like I said it was a good fit, but not perfect.

[gerfunken]

Of interest, and being a bit on the cheap side, I'd been scouring eBay for a while to find tow hooks. I've seen them running from about $250 - $400, and have decided that I really didn't want any gold plated tow hooks (didn't think they'd match.)

So, I found a couple of old, heavy-duty military hooks that measure about 9" long, 5" from the base to the top of the hook, and about 3" wide. Haven't quite figured out just where or how to mount these yet, and will need to wait till I get the front bumper back on before making the final decision.





So today, I'd cleaned them up a bit, and gave them a shot of paint.

[gerfunken]

One last thing, and I may post this on the main board as well. How the hell do you get the door latch mechanism out of the door? I've been using an impact screwdriver (ex 1), and had the screws (ex 2) sprayed with WD-40 (ex 3) over the last two weeks, and nothing... any hints?

Ex.1


Ex. 2


Ex. 3

[gerfunken]

Well, I reached out for some advise on the Message Board, and they had some good information. I thought it was good anyway, and started to tap out the screws. Well, I broke two 3/16" bits and ended up getting frustrated. But a pictorial version of my steps are as follows:

Step 1, swear at the door latch.



Step 2, remember that a friend bought you bolt/screw extractor set (that you put in the back of the tool box because you didn't really think that they'd work.)



Step 3, select a shiny, never been used 5 year old tool that hasn't ever been out of the case but looks like it'll slip down into the phillips screw recess with a partially wallowed out 3/16" hole.



Step 4, find the big-arsed crescent wrench and a pair if vise-grips and twist.



Step 5, place door latch assembly gently on table so as not to find yourself spending $50 to order a replacement.



Step 6, offer the old door a humble apology.

Step 7, have a beer, because I actually accomplished something today.

[gdavis]

that was cool man. You have he right idea there my friend.

[gerfunken]

Originally Posted by gdavis

that was cool man. You have he right idea there my friend.

Thanks. It looks like you're cruising along on your '68. It looks good so far.

[rjsdad]

Awesome looking truck guy! Love the stance and the stock bumper with the lights on it.

Jeff

[Squareforceone]

Got to say i really appreciate your build man, always nice to see someone who uses there truck as a truck. Also, ...keep up the good work!

[gerfunken]

Originally Posted by rjsdad

Awesome looking truck guy! Love the stance and the stock bumper with the lights on it.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff. In all the looking around, I couldn't find a better looking after-market bumper, and really didn't want to invest in making one. I also knew that the white didn't work with the color scheme, and I really didn't want chrome on it, so that narrowed down my options. I like how it turned out as well.

Originally Posted by Squareforceone

Got to say i really appreciate your build man, always nice to see someone who uses there truck as a truck. Also, ...keep up the good work!

Thanks! Trying to carve out some time this weekend to get the new doors put back in so I can keep after it. I always intended to use the truck as a work horse, and try to build it so it will always get me home again.

[67cheby]

truck looks Tough !

[Mustard72]

Thanks for providing another thread that makes me wish mine was 4wd

Looks great. I'm working on a work truck, too, just not an off roader. Mines a trailer puller.

I know that's still the primer coat on the tail gate, but are you considering painting it black? That looks sort of cool back there, too. I've got lots blacked out on Mustard, too, but hadn't considered the tail gate until I saw yours.

And one more thing. You may have the hot days in the summer, but around here, once the Christmas lights go up (in reference to a few of your pics), you don't back the truck out of the garage to work on it in the driveway. I'm a bit jealous this time of year.

[gerfunken]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

truck looks Tough !

Thanks Mike. I have to admit, I was in awe of your build, and that's a well deserved TOTM and TOTY award. Thanks for stopping by and checking my build out.

[gerfunken]

Originally Posted by Mustard72

Thanks for providing another thread that makes me wish mine was 4wd

Looks great. I'm working on a work truck, too, just not an off roader. Mines a trailer puller.

I know that's still the primer coat on the tail gate, but are you considering painting it black? That looks sort of cool back there, too. I've got lots blacked out on Mustard, too, but hadn't considered the tail gate until I saw yours.

And one more thing. You may have the hot days in the summer, but around here, once the Christmas lights go up (in reference to a few of your pics), you don't back the truck out of the garage to work on it in the driveway. I'm a bit jealous this time of year.

Thanks Nick, it looks like you've really got your hands full with the rust repair on Old Mustard. I'm fortunate that I didn't have that level of cancer to deal with.

As far as the color goes, when I bought the truck, it had been painted with orange on the top, and the PO had put the black swamp cooler waterproof paint from the bottom body line down. After much contemplation, I think that I'm going to keep the color that way, and think it'll really work with the bumpers being blacked out. Here's an old picture of how it looked right after I put the 6" lift on it as an example:


And, yes, while I'm looking forward to the temperature being in the low 70's this coming weekend, I really hate the summers when the outside temp is 120. All things being equal, you get to work on yours in the summer, I get to work on mine in the winter. Not quite sure which is really better...

[gerfunken]

Well, it would seem as if I have run into yet another problem. So, when I put the new doors on the cab (without the hardware) I found that the door rubbed in the back, top and bottom, and the door would not close in the sill.

Ex. 1, circling the spots that were rubbing.


Ex. 2: The obvious remediation is to drill out the spot welds on the back of the window frame, and lower down the top part of the door to get the door to fit.


Now, all of that seems easy enough, and I was able to get the door to fit in the sill, so everything was good.

Well, I started installing all of the components into the door, reverse order from how I took them out. The first thing I started with was the door latch and handle. However, when I put everything together, the door would not unlatch...

Ok, this is perplexing.... struggled with it for a little bit, until I decided to get wise and use my cell phone to take some pictures of the situation:

Ex. 3: Note that the screws have been backed out of the door latch. I found that I could get it to work (barely) when it was very loose in the door.


Ex. 4: And if you didn't see it in the picture above, you'll get a better idea with this picture.


Ex. 5: So, it looks like I get to spend my weekend cutting out the following.


I'm guessing that I'm going to have to find a way to take out about 1/4" of the lower part of the window channel, which would probably be about equal to the 1/4" that I had to lower the back part of the window to get the door to fit.

Fun

Fun

Fun

[gdavis]

Water runs down hill. 1/4 above means 1/4 downbelow. Thanks for showing me what to do if mine will not fit. gdavis rom Fl.

[Mustard72]

Must be why most folks say to use original doors, although it looks like your successfully fighting through it. Bet they'll work great when you get done.

Mustard had a black border along the bottom somewhat like yours when we got it back in '86, too, except that it didnt' run all the way up to the body line and didn't wrap around the wheel openings. It also had a straight black strip about an inch off the top of the border. Not sure what type of paint it was, but it wasn't smooth, either. Almost like undercoating, but could have been just sand mixed in with the paint or something, too. I'm thinking about going that route again, too, when I get to that point. Yours would look pretty cool with the bottom black border, I think.

Is that a tranny cooler in front of the radiator? If so, what type is it? Are you happy with it? Thinking about getting one for the towing duty Mustard will see.

[gerfunken]

Hey Nick,
That's actually not a transmission cooler, I'm running a SM-465/NP-205 combo in the vehicle at this time. What you're looking at is the vintage air system that was installed in the truck a couple of years back.

[gerfunken]

Originally Posted by gdavis

Water runs down hill. 1/4 above means 1/4 downbelow. Thanks for showing me what to do if mine will not fit. gdavis rom Fl.

<sigh> that's the truth if I've ever heard it.

[RANDAL]

I half to say I'm in love with your truck its such a BEAST!!!!!! it looks Tough

[gerfunken]

Originally Posted by RANDAL

I half to say I'm in love with your truck its such a BEAST!!!!!! it looks Tough

Thanks Randal. I like the look of your K-5 as well, and it looks like you'll have to go through a lot of the same cancer treatment that I've dealt with. Hopefully, it won't take the 13 years that mine has taken me.