My 1967 Chevy K20 Build Thread

[loudchevy]

Nice work Clay! I just went through your whole build thread. I'm just a step behind you on getting the cab stripped down and in primer as well on my build. You got a lot accomplished over the past year! Looking forward to seeing the K10 getting put back together.

Also good to see another AZ'er on the build board.

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

Nice work Clay! I just went through your whole build thread. I'm just a step behind you on getting the cab stripped down and in primer as well on my build. You got a lot accomplished over the past year! Looking forward to seeing the K10 getting put back together.

Also good to see another AZ'er on the build board.

Thanks Scott! I appreciate it!. I just sent you a PM as well.


Clay

[loudchevy]

Clay, It was great to meet you and stop by your garage yesterday afternoon and see your project and talk trucks.

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

Clay, It was great to meet you and stop by your garage yesterday afternoon and see your project and talk trucks.

Likewise Scott! It was a pleasure to meet you as well. I am looking forward to to swinging by your place to check out your truck soon!

Clay

[Chaparralman1974]

12/9/2023
Epoxy Prime Applied to Cab
I believe that I have finally gotten the cab to the point where I can prime and seal the metal so that it doesn’t rust. I cleaned the metal as best I could with acetone and ensured that the entire surface had a decent tooth on it to accept the epoxy primer. I don’t have a paint booth unfortunately, so I was forced to spray this in my driveway. I have also realized that despite my best efforts, I am no painter…..I did get decent coverage, but I will have a ton of sanding to do. I got runs in the primer, and also had some dirt and crap fly into it as it was drying. I didn’t realize how challenging it would be to paint an irregular shaped object like a cab. There were some areas that I missed and some areas where I think the primer started to flash as I came back over it causing bubbles in it. It is nothing that can’t be fixed, but it will cause me a bit more labor in the future. My main goal anyway was to get a coat of primer on it so that it wouldn’t flash rust. It will likely sit like this until after the holidays before I can do anything else on it anyway.
I have decided however, that I will just have it painted. I still intend to do the body work to the best of my ability, but I found a guy local that will shoot paint on it for me. I figure that is the best course of action at this point. I think I can likely paint the smaller flatter things like fenders and such, but the big stuff I will leave to the professionals.

[Chaparralman1974]

More.....

[loudchevy]

Nice job, Clay! Good to see the cab in primer.

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

Nice job, Clay! Good to see the cab in primer.

Thanks Scott! Yeah, it looks good from 10 feet away, but I am about as good painting as I am with neurosurgery....LOL

I will sand it all out and do the body work and then just pay someone to shoot everything for me. I am going for a driver and not a show car with this build so I think that I can outsource the painting and still not totally break the bank.



Clay

[72 tigger]

Looks good Clay!

[nicklear36]

Looks good! It's pretty rewarding to finish stuff by yourself at the end of the day.

[Jason Banks]

Originally Posted by Chaparralman1974

Unfortunately, no not yet. I am still searching for them.


Clay

********** EDIT 12/2/2023 **********
For anyone interested, I did end up finding a brake drum that will work with the dana 44 closed knuckle front axle. Another member of the forum helped me find it. It is Raybestos 2008R. I believe that this drum was used for 1950's Chevy Trucks on the front axle. The lug holes will need to be drilled and reamed to match the lug studs. I upgraded my studs to 9/16", and if memory serves me correctly I had to ream the holes out to 5/8", but the drums fit perfectly otherwise.

I'm 99% sure I know the answer and your pictures also seem to confirm...

But, do the brake drums just slide off the spindle?

I pulled my spindle and hub as an assembly and can't seem to get them apart? I did take the 2 screws that hold them together and air hammered around the hub on the drum(before I just pulled them together). Had to quit for today, but I thought tomorrow I would parts washer the grease out of the hub and stick them in the sandblaster to make sure there's not paint/grime buildup causing a ridge at the ID of the drum. I say that, because when they were still on the axle. I could pry lightly between the backing plate and drum and see movement at the lug studs. I also lightly heated the drum in the same place. I'm trying to be gentle for fear of warping them like you thought you might have....

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by Jason Banks

I'm 99% sure I know the answer and your pictures also seem to confirm...

But, do the brake drums just slide off the spindle?

I pulled my spindle and hub as an assembly and can't seem to get them apart? I did take the 2 screws that hold them together and air hammered around the hub on the drum(before I just pulled them together). Had to quit for today, but I thought tomorrow I would parts washer the grease out of the hub and stick them in the sandblaster to make sure there's not paint/grime buildup causing a ridge at the ID of the drum. I say that, because when they were still on the axle. I could pry lightly between the backing plate and drum and see movement at the lug studs. I also lightly heated the drum in the same place. I'm trying to be gentle for fear of warping them like you thought you might have....

Yes, the drum should slide right off of the shoes. As long as you have removed the screws on the front face of the drum, it "should" slide right off. You most likely have a ridge as I did and if the shoes are siezed in place, then it will make for a fun time removing it. You may have to cut the pins on the back of the backing plate allowing the shoes to collapse somewhat. That should allow you a bit of movement to get the shoes off. You definitely don't want to beat too hard on the drums or you will mess them up. Even if you do though, the Raybestos 2008R's are a perfect fit provided you ream out the lug holes.

Good luck!
Clay

[Jason Banks]

The good news is, the drum and spindle came right off the brake shoes, still stuck together. I'm going to proceed with the sandblast clean up and then I'll try to stick it the press to 'gently' separate them.

[KyleSeal]

Cab looks great. I see so many people doing extensive work to their trucks to repair floors and such but hardly any mention or show of them actually putting effort into preventing it from coming back. The undercoating looks great.

[Chaparralman1974]

12/10/2023 - 1/30/2024
Cab body work and preparing for body work on front clip
Well, the major body work on the cab has been completed! I still have to shoot a seal coat for the body filler and then another 2-3 coats of high build primer / surfacer and then block all that down prior to doing a final seal coat and then I can finally paint the cab. I have to say, that seeing the cab in this state is a bit rewarding! This was a major learning experience for me. As I have mentioned in the past, I am no body or paint guy! I ended up have to remove a bunch of filler that I applied due to the fact that I didn’t like it, or I did it wrong. This resulted in using almost an entire can of body filler for just the cab with 90% of that being removed and ending up on the floor. I have made sure that I have no filler thicker than about 3/16”. So, this meant that in some cases, I would strip the filler off, rework the metal, and then reapply the filler again. A ton of waste and rework, but ultimately I am very happy with the results. The rear style lines / body lines behind the cab were a bit of a struggle for me. I redid these about 4 times before I finally broke down and hired a body guy to come over and do it right. Getting the line projected around the cab radius was a lot harder than it looked. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not get the line straight. Rather than continue to waste materials, I figured it was best to just let a professional do it. I am happy and proud that the other 98% of work was completed by yours truly.
I have also begun the initial work on the front clip. I was going to start on the bed next, but after taking it apart, I have realized that there is just no saving it. It will be cheaper and quicker in the long run to just get a repop bed. Instead, I have decided to move on to the front clip. I had all of the parts media blasted by a local powder coater and have begun the process of getting those pieces coated in epoxy primer. The plan at this point will be to finish the primer on the cab, set it back on the frame for now, and then begin the body work on the front clip. After the front clip body work has been finished, I will do final block sanding on everything, seal it, and then it will be on to paint.

[Chaparralman1974]

Here is the disassembled bed that I have decided not to use.

[Chaparralman1974]

Here are the front clip parts that I have begun to get into epoxy primer

[loudchevy]

Fantastic progress, Clayton! Looking forward to meeting up later this afternoon.

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

Fantastic progress, Clayton! Looking forward to meeting up later this afternoon.

Ditto Scott! I can't wait to compare notes. :-)


Clay

[Chaparralman1974]

2/1/2024 - 2/5/2024
Primer Cab
The cab is now primered and ready to be block sanded. After doing a thorough cleaning of all the metal, I proceeded to apply a total of 2 coats of epoxy primer to the entire cab. I could have probably just spot primed where the body work was, but seeing as how the initial epoxy primer application was not all that good, I opted to ensure that the entire cab was fully sealed up. After waiting 2 days to ensure that the coats fully flashed, but was still within the window to top coat, I followed up with 3 coats of 2K primer surfacer. This was only applied to the areas that mattered, like the inside roof, back panel, and dash align with the roof, rear of cab and the door jambs. There was no reason to put any 2K primer surfacer on the firewall, floors, or anywhere else that isn’t readily visible. Now on to blocking!

[loudchevy]

Awesome update! Love the progress you've made on this

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

Awesome update! Love the progress you've made on this

Thanks Scott! She is getting there!


Clay

[Jason Banks]

You are making great progress, that's a lot of work. I have another question, Dunbar was able the put new bushings in your existing shackles for the rear springs?

I'm trying to get mine done, just dropped them off local and he wasn't sure if he would be able to do it. The shackles themselves are apparently specific to 1967-1968 4wd trucks and I can't find anything that matches. GM PM 3888966

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by Jason Banks

You are making great progress, that's a lot of work. I have another question, Dunbar was able the put new bushings in your existing shackles for the rear springs?

I'm trying to get mine done, just dropped them off local and he wasn't sure if he would be able to do it. The shackles themselves are apparently specific to 1967-1968 4wd trucks and I can't find anything that matches. GM PM 3888966

Hi Jason, yes Dunbar was able to get the new bushings pushed in. We used the existing shackles and they just put new parts in. The only thing that I had to have rebuilt and replaced was the rearmost shackle mounts themselves. They were totally fubar, so I had another spring company (Valley Spring Service) here in Phoenix fabricate totally new brackets. Everthing fit like a glove, although I did have to do a bit of trimming on the new mounts to ensure they wouldn't rub the springs. Let me know if you need any detailed pictures or anything.

Clay

[Chaparralman1974]

I don't remember exactly what part number was what, but here is the parts list that Dunbar billed me for.

Clay