1970 K20 Z62 Full Restoration

[IronCanine]

Eric came over today to lend a hand in setting the transmission and engine. I used the threaded holes that I think they used from the factory to set the transmission and the lift brackets on the engine to set that.

All things considered I would say that it was relatively drama free. I am trying so hard to seal this thing up. I have never had one that didn't leak somewhere.

I would have liked to have gotten more stuff on...but I'm waiting for some parts...like exhaust bolts. I did mock the right side exhaust manifold up there just for fun...but it's got to come off.

It is nice to have the drive line complete. A lot of work to get some rough pieces to this stage. I like this part the best.

[IronCanine]

One final pic tonight. This is not an NOS or rebuilt fuel pump, but a new reproduction. I do like seeing that AC on there. But also the original refinished hardware. The "f" bolts and "L" bolts. Love it.

[DeadheadNM]

Nice progress sir. The bolt affixing the fuel pump looks to have a real nice finish. Those bolts are neat.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking great

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Nice progress sir. The bolt affixing the fuel pump looks to have a real nice finish. Those bolts are neat.

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looking great

Thanks guys!

[IronCanine]

I was lucky enough to put together two NOS exhaust manifolds. I had them ceramic coated as we have done in the past. I had a nice heat stove that I had ceramic coated as well...but it honestly didn't turn out too great. The black was too flat and the silver on the inner panel just made it look painted. In the meantime NOS bird dog Pete, alerted me to an NOS outer panel that I jumped on. We elected to strip the enamel and paint it with high temp. I had another nice inner that looked great in its original finish out of the electrolysis tank. The original finish kind of looks galvanized.

As an aside, few things are more mechanically satisfying than a nice fold over lock.

[IronCanine]

Dave (DaHos) came through on the elusive 1970 K truck (with J70) oil fill tube. It was a nice example that cleaned up well. The rubber gasket came off a regular valve cover oil cap.

The style of oil cap that goes on this tube is kind of ubiquitous. I had a lot of NOS options available to me at reasonable cost (how often have you heard that in the last couple of years). But I don't know what the finish should be. This example has a phosphate finish. They put chrome ones on Corvettes (at least the higher HP versions). Dave did not have the OE cap. The pics of the original tube/cap earlier in this thread could be phosphate...could be raw. I don't think it was painted black.

We'll leave it as is for now, until hopefully more info emerges.

[IronCanine]

I started putting on some of the accessories and you know how I love to get in the weeds (as much as I can) on the plant processes.

So the engine shows up from Flint at the Fremont plant assembled and painted. The A/C is obviously installed at the truck assembly plant. The (honestly insane) bracketry that holds the compressor has mounting points on the intake manifold and water pump. The bolts that hold the intake and WP on are too short to hold the brackets too. So instead of chucking bolts in the trash, it appears that they repurposed the three intake bolts to the back of the compressor and the long water pump bolt got moved up to the top water pump bolt hole. Then new longer bolts are added where necessary. So you end up with a mix of painted (but scratched up) and unpainted bolts from the process.

I also finally got to break out my date coded Frigidaire decal that I've been sitting on since we did that run back in 2019 (I think).

[IronCanine]

I also got the alternator and power steering pump installed.

I found a date code correct alternator that Jason at Advanced Electrical Rebuilders rebuilt for me. I've used Jason before and he does a great job. I was on the hunt for a long time for a date code correct starter core to rebuild as well...but it still hasn't materialized.

I don't know if the PS pump that was on this motor was original. Honestly...if the brackets hadn't been on it I might question them as well. Sometimes there can be a stamped date on the reservoir but there wasn't in my case.

I will say..of all the trucks we've done, the pulleys line up on this one best.

[IronCanine]

Eric sprayed the firewall on Saturday. Which meant it was time to write in the wet paint. The Fremont paint shop put what looks like an "A" on my truck, which I tried to copy as best as I could. It is a one shot deal...so I was happy to have that instead of the "N" or other tougher looking marks. Several practice runs on a spare panel before letting it rip.

I am so excited about the color. It looks fantastic in person. Eric even caved and gave me a few "factory style" runs.

[68bowtie]

Wow just beautiful.

[1970cstblazer]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Dave (DaHos) came through on the elusive 1970 K truck (with J70) oil fill tube. It was a nice example that cleaned up well. The rubber gasket came off a regular valve cover oil cap.

The style of oil cap that goes on this tube is kind of ubiquitous. I had a lot of NOS options available to me at reasonable cost (how often have you heard that in the last couple of years). But I don't know what the finish should be. This example has a phosphate finish. They put chrome ones on Corvettes (at least the higher HP versions). Dave did not have the OE cap. The pics of the original tube/cap earlier in this thread could be phosphate...could be raw. I don't think it was painted black.

We'll leave it as is for now, until hopefully more info emerges.

My cap is grey phosphate.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

Wow just beautiful.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

My cap is grey phosphate.

Well info emerged quickly! Phosphate it stays. Thanks!

[tim71]

Absolutely beautiful! Every detail looks so crisp. That heat shield and pipe really turned out nice. Did all of the 1970 trucks have the fold over lock on the exhaust manifold bolts?

[1970cstblazer]

Originally Posted by tim71

Absolutely beautiful! Every detail looks so crisp. That heat shield and pipe really turned out nice. Did all of the 1970 trucks have the fold over lock on the exhaust manifold bolts?

Agreed!

My 1970 TBC engine had the French locks on the manifolds, and the tabs were never bent over.

[Ol Blue K20]

Very nice, I love the runs..

[chewychevy67]

I asked my painter about recreating the runs my cab had before taking it down to the metal and he said he wasn't interested in doing it. Nice detail on the engine! Just curious why the ceramic didn't turn out on the heat stove? That was my plan but now mabey I won't do that on mine.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by tim71

Absolutely beautiful! Every detail looks so crisp. That heat shield and pipe really turned out nice. Did all of the 1970 trucks have the fold over lock on the exhaust manifold bolts?

Thanks. I don't know about the locks. The extremely original 71 Fremont K20 that I've been using as my guidepost had em.

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

Agreed!

My 1970 TBC engine had the French locks on the manifolds, and the tabs were never bent over.

Well...that's enough for me!

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Very nice, I love the runs..

Me too...except after Mexican.

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

I asked my painter about recreating the runs my cab had before taking it down to the metal and he said he wasn't interested in doing it. Nice detail on the engine! Just curious why the ceramic didn't turn out on the heat stove? That was my plan but now mabey I won't do that on mine.

We have been borderline ridiculous in preserving runs and recreating them. Fremont seems especially bad at painting these trucks. They miss whole swaths of the truck entirely and then in other places empty the gun in a waterfall. Eric has gotten used to the insanity and just goes with it. The advantage is...if we do screw something up we can say we were trying to recreate a factory finish. It's honestly not a high bar to get to.

I can absolutely recommend ceramic coating for the heat stove. We've done it before to good effect. I just wasn't happy with the colors in this case and didn't push the powder coater to re-do it. I've attached a pic of the ceramic coated ones below. The black was too flat and the silver just looked like paint. I think you can get a better result than I got.

[Orange71shorty]

Did you paint your frame or powder coat? If paint do you mind sharing what kind?

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by Orange71shorty

Did you paint your frame or powder coat? If paint do you mind sharing what kind?

We painted it. I powder coated the Blazer frame....which was fine. But since then we've only painted them. They painted them from the factory...and if there is a problem (something dripped, spilled or scraped) it's a pretty simple fix. Now, I tend to only want to powder coat factory black things that are going to be a tough install or subject to a lot of touches or potential abrasion. They tend to absorb the handling better without getting marked up or dinged.

I'll check with Eric tomorrow on the paint...I don't think it's anything special on this one. We've used different semi gloss blacks. It usually is whatever is in the shop or the paint du jour. The paint store we use honestly has gone through a handful of paint lines in the last couple of years.

Don't forget the General used the cheapest black he could get for those chassis and driveline pieces.

[uncle]

Man oh man! I can see now why you always look for top notch parts. First time in a while I’ve read through a whole build thread,but was worth the time. Excellent workmanship at every corner. I would have already pulled my last 3 hairs by now.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by uncle

Man oh man! I can see now why you always look for top notch parts. First time in a while I’ve read through a whole build thread,but was worth the time. Excellent workmanship at every corner. I would have already pulled my last 3 hairs by now.

What a nice note Tim. Thanks bud. You gotta know a lot of your stuff is going on this truck. Wait'll you see the bumper! It turned out great. Also...thank you for putting up with all my "Hey you got this?" and "Hey you got that?" texts. You're an unbelievable ally in this.

[IronCanine]

A very busy week at work and enjoying middle school volleyball, so limited progress on my end this week.

These are the original spark plug wire brackets. I had them replated and then tried a couple of different methods to reproduce the insulation with varied returns. I tried PlastiDip first (actually dipping it). I did't feel like the finish was exactly right and it was difficult to get consistent coating thickness. I peeled that off and re-dipped a few times before abandoning it. Then I tried the PlastiDip spray and it was just too flat of a finish. Turns out they've got a new PlastiDip spray "Glossy" that was reasonable with several coats. I had to order it off Amazon.

The bolts that hold the spark plug brackets and heat shields are the same 5/16 "E" bolts that affix the inspection plates on the bell housing. The only difference is, the inspection plates have star washers and the spark plug hardware has lock washers.

[IronCanine]

I ordered date coded spark plug wires from Lectric Limited.

My 1970 shop manual is pretty specific about how the wires should be routed to avoid cross-firing. But honestly it is not a smooth routing. I took time to check Joe's K20 which appears to have its original wires and they are not routed that way...so that's good enough for me to forgo the shop manual.

All of my heat shields are of the reproduction variety...and they are fine. The only problem is, as far as I can tell, you can't order a correct complete set. You can order a set that has four "flat" shields, but the driver's side front shield for this truck should be the humped shield with the opening for the sending unit. So you have to order that separately. Most of the Corvette sites have em.

Routing the wires through the motor mounts is not super easy, but if you pass the distributor cap "boot" through instead of trying to pass the spark plug end through there...it's not too bad.

I have continued to debate the merits of taking the points out and putting a Pertronix set up under the cap. TBD.

[IronCanine]

I made a bit of bad decision to go ahead and marry the transmission and engine without having the clutch pivot lever installed. I did not have a new retaining clip at the time(which like a lot of things I could not just get quickly locally like was once the case). I had to order it in, and that was just the weekend that we had time to get those pieces together. I felt certain that I could get the lever on after the fact.

The short of it is...we could. But it was not easy and not what I'd recommend. I ended up having to order a second clip...but I guess alls well that ends well.

It took two sets of hands. Eric dropped by today and the assembly relented.