Budget Build 1985 K20

[Katrina/10]

Originally Posted by JJH Jimmy

Time to fix some speaker holes. I cut the patches from some junk doors at a junk yard and used silicon bronze filler wire to weld them in. After some metal shrinking and stretching they cam out ok. Nothing a little filler cant fix!

I see the gold color in your weld. I'll have to look for that wire in my area.

[JJH Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Katrina/10

I see the gold color in your weld. I'll have to look for that wire in my area.

I got it on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/ERCuSi-Silico...64&sr=8-2&th=1

[JJH Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Katrina/10

I see the gold color in your weld. I'll have to look for that wire in my area.

I should add that it should only be used for non structural welds.

[legendman]

Nice work on this truck !!

[JJH Jimmy]

Originally Posted by legendman

Nice work on this truck !!

Thank you!

[JJH Jimmy]

My OCD kicked in and i had to redo the passenger side cab corner. I replaced the cab corners in the fall when the cab was still on the frame and the drivers side fit like a glove. But the passenger side it was almost like the cab corner was too wide so I just re bent the edge where it meets the door frame. I wasn't happy with it because the edge i bent didn't have the same radius and was going to need filler. So what the hell $20.00 and a weekend of work!

I first cut the new patch to size and measured how much needed to come off. I then cut about 1 /4" off it and welded it back together and metal finished it.

[JJH Jimmy]

I then blasted and epoxied the inside of the cab corner and inner cab corner.

[JJH Jimmy]

The only thing left is to weld it on and metal finish the welds. It turned out great but what a pain in the butt.

[JJH Jimmy]

I bought a stud puller from Eastwood that has the attachment to go on your mig gun for welding the studs on. The stud puller works great but the attachment for the MIG gun not so much. I ended up just putting the studs on with my TIG welder and pulling them with the puller and it worked really well. I pulled a bunch of small dents out of the rockers.

[Willowrun]

Nice work!
What finish color are you thinking at this point?

[JJH Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Willowrun

Nice work!
What finish color are you thinking at this point?

Thank you!

I haven’t decided. It was originally silver metallic which I like but my Jimmy is silver. So I’m leaning towards either 072 Apple Red or 029 Midnight Blue. I really like this one.

[Willowrun]

Originally Posted by JJH Jimmy

Thank you!

I haven’t decided. It was originally silver metallic which I like but my Jimmy is silver. So I’m leaning towards either 072 Apple Red or 029 Midnight Blue. I really like this one.

Wow, that Midnight Blue is about perfect. Then you need to think about the interior color. Factory probably would have went with dark blue on the inside but a dark brown or saddle would really compliment the blue exterior.

[JJH Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Willowrun

Wow, that Midnight Blue is about perfect. Then you need to think about the interior color. Factory probably would have went with dark blue on the inside but a dark brown or saddle would really compliment the blue exterior.

The blue would have had either blue interior or charcoal from the factory. I like the charcoal but charcoal seatbelts seem to be a unicorn to find. So undecided on interior color yet.

[JJH Jimmy]

I am planning on putting a Vintage Air system in so I cut a patch for the blower opening and welded it in. I was considering shaving the firewall on the passenger side but after a lot of thought I decided to use their block off plate and paint it body color instead. I think on a mostly stock build a shaved passenger firewall would look out of place considering the driver side will be stock. And with that all the metal work is done!

[JJH Jimmy]

While waiting for warmer weather to continue on body work I pushed the chassis in to disassemble. And back out she goes!

[JJH Jimmy]

Before I removed the engine I made sure a set of Edelbrock headers I have were going to fit. I don’t know what they are from but they have a bung for an O2 sensor and looks like somebody added bungs for EGT probes. I will weld those up but keep the O2. Bung because I plan on using a Holley Sniper throttle body. Looks like they will work!

[JJH Jimmy]

I am doing this build the exact opposite of how I built my Jimmy. On my jimmy I tore everything apart then painted, repaired and replaced as it went back together from the ground up with the body and paint last. It was like death by a million paper cuts. As tempting as it is to get the chassis done this sucker is getting things fixed painted and repaired as they come off and that goes for the body as well.

So remember when I said the transfer case was making noise after I resealed it? Well, turns out it was a stretched chain rubbing on the shift fork pin holder. I can’t believe I didn’t see this the first time I tore it apart? This old girl had a hard life to stretch the chain that much! Lucky for her all the hard days are behind her.

While it was buried in 2’ of snow I found out where the transmission leak was I thought was the pan gasket. It was the kick down switch terminal. So a new one and seal was installed.

[Greenlee]

Looking good. I wish I had your skills and your shop.

Can’t wait to see her back together. I’m running similar drive train in my truck - TH400/NP208 that came out of a military truck with low miles. It’s been real reliable. Used to have a 700r4 in it, but had lots of problems with it.

[JJH Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Greenlee

Looking good. I wish I had your skills and your shop.

Can’t wait to see her back together. I’m running similar drive train in my truck - TH400/NP208 that came out of a military truck with low miles. It’s been real reliable. Used to have a 700r4 in it, but had lots of problems with it.

Thanks! The shop could be a little bigger these things take up a lot of space blown apart and i would really like a lift but only have 10' side walls. An addition might be in order when this build gets completed.

I'm not a big fan of the 700R4 either but I think I will be wishing i had overdrive when it finally gets on the road. I would really like to find a used Gear Vendors 208 overdrive.

[JJH Jimmy]

Got a load of stuff blasted and painted and the doors primed for the second time. Core support, headlight buckets, crossmember, engine stands and mounts, hood latches, gas tank saddles, sway bar and body mounts. Not real exciting but progress.

[JJH Jimmy]

About the doors. I got them primed and filler applied and went to start sanding and the epoxy was soft under the filler. So i figured it was due to a couple of things......my shop temp was near the minimum for the epoxy, thickness of the 3 coats of epoxy and applying the filler in 24 hours. I think I would have been fine if I waited a couple days to apply the filler. So I sanded them back down and started over. Lesson learned don’t rush more so if it is cold.

[JJH Jimmy]

A couple rounds of 2k and block sanding and the doors are ready for paint.

[JJH Jimmy]

Finally scored me some charcoal seat belts! They are in pretty good shape too!

[JJH Jimmy]

The weather is starting to turn so I rolled the cab outside to power wash it.

[JJH Jimmy]

Then I spent some quality time with my da and blaster.