1970 K20 Z62 Full Restoration

[1970cstblazer]

On my '70, I used an original used driver's side front fender inner skirt, and a new passengers side. The drivers side had schutz coating on it from the factory, so I applied 3m schutz with a special air schutz gun on the passengers side to match. I also applied this coating on the rocker boxes to replace what stones had worn away.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

On my '70, I used an original used driver's side front fender inner skirt, and a new passengers side. The drivers side had schutz coating on it from the factory, so I applied 3m schutz with a special air schutz gun on the passengers side to match. I also applied this coating on the rocker boxes to replace what stones had worn away.

Thanks for the link. Eric has tried/used all measure of liners/coatings/stone chips...just on our trucks. It's always a challenge to match the factory textures whether it's a Blazer top or a fender well. The main concern for me on this one is whether I'll have enough guts to let him go full factory and sloppily spray underneath this truck as was originally done and cover up a lot of nice finishes and details....we'll see.

[IronCanine]

Keith got back to me and he didn't disappoint. Here's his response on the question of the bed floor:

The bed floor was received assembled from the supplier (Checker Motors, or GM Met Fab Indy or whatever).

Meaning: the main floor panel itself, plus the cross sills and misc brackets and such.

The bed sides and front panel were then added to the floor in the cab (body) shop, which is the same area where the cab was welded together from all the little bits and pieces you start with.

The cab and box together then make their way through the rest of the cab shop and on to paint and then trim.

In terms of primer color - it varies a bit based on model year and final assembly location. I would say you are doing the right thing in duplicating whatever you found underneath the paint.

I don't have any '70 Fremont photos handy but these are from Flint circa 1979.

https://www.73-87.com/7387info/Assembly%20Line.htm

(Photos 5,6,7 and 8 are Line 2 Blazer/Suburban. Photos 9, 10 and 11 are pickup cab shop and paint)

[chewychevy67]

I'd have a hard time coving up the detail. I too am not sure what im going to do on the underside of the cab. I guess ill wait to see what yours looks like first.

[jaros44sr]

image by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/97391199@N06

I was degreasing my high hump trans cover the other day and found an unusual color I’d say it’s like a flat UPS truck color, first time I’ve run into this

Great build so far

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

I'd have a hard time coving up the detail. I too am not sure what im going to do on the underside of the cab. I guess ill wait to see what yours looks like first.

I'm going to have a hard time too.

Originally Posted by jaros44sr

I was degreasing my high hump trans cover the other day and found an unusual color I’d say it’s like a flat UPS truck color, first time I’ve run into this

Great build so far

Thanks for being on board! Every truck we've had (St Louis, Fremont and Atlanta built) have had this primer. Thanks for sharing!

[IronCanine]

Happy Sunday night everybody.

Body work continues on the bed. Primary goal has been to get these pieces to squarely fit together. Eric has made some progress. Some nice work here improving gaps to the gate.

[IronCanine]

Still more work to do though. I want the bed to be as close to factory appearing as possible. There are several tack welds where spot welds should be on this reproduction. These have to be removed and corrected. Also the inner side panel is about an eighth of an inch too short. That'll need a little attention too.

Eric did get the bed floor to a point where it could be "primed". It was suspended to help create the runs that were in my original bed floor. Epoxy primer first.

[IronCanine]

Here's a bed/hardware detail that I find interesting. Pictured below is an Atlanta built '68 and my Fremont '70. The Atlanta truck has regular body bolts attaching the bed side to the header. The Fremont has "tailgate" truss head bolts. Just a cool variation.

[IronCanine]

I picked up some 1/4" brake line at NAPA and set out to try and make the long frame rail line. The "right" one that InLine tube sent was technically long enough, but the bends really didn't match the original and it just wasn't a good fit. Luckily we had saved the original. I got some 3/8 steel for the fuel line too, but the InLine version ended up being close enough that a few tweaks got it to a very similar shape of the OE.

Still a challenging fitment because of the length. And I'm going to to have to do some paint touch up. But I can live with that if it doesn't leak.

[IronCanine]

I was able to use all my original retaining clips/clamps. There are three red doubles that hold the fuel and brake lines together. There are two 1/4" olive clamps at the rear that hold just the brake line. And there is a single 3/8" olive clamp that holds the fuel line at the front. These are a push in style. They are working well after a little TLC, but GM was right to go to a bolt on style in '71. I wish this truck had em.

As I'm wrapping up the roller and we're getting closer to the marry...I wanted to go ahead and get oil in the drive line and take my medicine on any leaks. Both axles, the transmission and transfer case now have their prescribed volumes. So far so good.

It meant though, that I needed to go ahead and put on the ID plate on my transfer case. As you can see mine was trashed. I found a machine shop that had serial number style dies and who said they could reproduce it. I procured the correct aluminum plate and cut it to size. They did a nice job, but the font is too large. I haven't been able to come up with a better alternative in the meantime. If you guys know anyone that can replicate this plate better than what you see here... please let me know. The reason I went ahead with this one is because I wanted to thread seal these two bolts ahead of the oil fill.

I got some other subassembly stuff done this week, but I'll save that for when it goes on the truck. Still don't have a full compliment of correct hose clamps. On the hunt for that this week.

We keep plodding.

[1970cstblazer]

I located all of the true NOS Wittek tower clamps for my Blazer on Ebay. They are not date code correct, but they are far far better than the repro trash. They actually clamp without drama. The repros give the real ones a bad reputation.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

I located all of the true NOS Wittek tower clamps for my Blazer on Ebay. They are not date code correct, but they are far far better than the repro trash. They actually clamp without drama. The repros give the real ones a bad reputation.

I've got my Witteks. And I'm sure you know you can get them date coded if you want. I was referring to the smaller clamps (like fuel, vent, PS).

[1970cstblazer]

Yes, I tried the date code correct "Witteks" from Marti, and they were the same low quality trash everybody else sells. I saved the tightening screws, and they went right into the garbage can.

[1970cstblazer]

The power steering return hose clamp is a Wittek #2 band style

[IronCanine]

The bed is almost ready for primer. I've had to order (and am waiting on) the truss head bolts. Which (like a lot of things) used to be available locally. I've bought all the "hardware kits". Mostly useless if originality is the goal. They were reasonable fasteners for pre-fitment. But almost all of them have had to be replaced with hardware that more closely resembles what came on the truck.

I ended up using InLine Tube's PS return line. It burns my soul at this point to keep going back to them. This piece was better than my original because it had no pitting. But it had to be tweaked to correct its shape to match said original.

Not happy with my PCV hose clamps or PS hose clamps and unsure of fuel clamps. I have repro place holders for now. The best of the lot are the fuel line clamps. They are dead nuts matches to originals I have...just not convicted on the color. I don't know for an absolute fact that the originals were yellow on this truck. It's an easy fix if they turn out to be.

The 3/8" front axle breather hose clamp appears to have the same blue paint that the parking brake cable clamp has. I've got to find a paint match for the original clamp I have or get a replacement repro.

It took a little while but I started to get some drips. The pinion seal on the front axle started about Wednesday. Hoping that seating that seal a little farther will solve my problem. Hard part is pulling that yoke. Transmission lost its first drop today. And it's where you'd expect. Both side panels. I gave all of those bolts a little extra to see if I can get lucky on that. Doubtful.

[IronCanine]

I had the Z-bar refinished with the rest of the replating at Denver Metal Finishing. I got almost all the hardware (studs/felt/bushings/lock) from 4 speed conversions (I think). Some of this stuff I've had a while and you lose track. It would have been much better if I'd put this on before we set the engine.

You guys commented about the tabs not being bent over on the exhaust fold over locks on trucks you've owned. I don't even know how you'd bend em over on this one if you wanted to. The external tooth lock washer goes over the fold over (if I'm correct in my assembly) so you can't bend the fold over back to a flat. Curious.

[1970cstblazer]

The fuel hose clamps were yellow on my 1970.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

The fuel hose clamps were yellow on my 1970.

Luckily I've got some paint for just such an occasion.

[IronCanine]

Light update. Got a return clutch fork return spring from 4sp conversions. And got it pretty well color matched to factory IMO. Front pinion seal got changed with a touch of RTV to hopefully dry that weep up. Also replaced PTO block off plate gaskets on the transmission. I'm going to let that set up a few more days before I put oil back in. Again, hopefully we'll be dry. I haven't put fluid in the PS pump. A little nervous about that leaking too.

Worked on other brake pieces that I'll talk about more when they come together...and yes there will be another related vendor complaint, so stay tuned.

After a few weeks of hard work, Eric seems to have the bed bending to his will. Hopefully primer this week and color shortly to follow.

And finally, yesterday I got another reminder of how cool this board and the folks that make it up are. Mr. and Mrs. chewychevy67 paid us visit all the way from the Great White North. They put a little bend in there work/travel plans to make it happen and we had a blast. Trucks and food and friends. All the best things.

[IronCanine]

I also wanted to get this pic in the thread for posterity. I have tried as best as I can to get the vast majority of the finishes on this truck as they would have come from Fremont in 1970. While the transmission I am using did not come from my truck...it very well could have. It came from another 4WD with the same build date as mine. And there was no hint of paint on it. Nor is there any paint on Joe's super clean Fremont K20 with 10k miles. I am aware of different finishes on Muncie transmissions of the era. And then there's this (pic below).

This is from a 1970 K truck, posted recently on the parts board. Obviously factory original finishes with an HA code tranny that was painted in red oxide primer.

The point is, there seems to be so much potential variability on these trucks even within a specific model year and plant. I was totally clueless on the oil fill tube. I gotta believe there were power brake K trucks that left the factory in 70 without that cobbled together tube.

But if nothing else I can aggregate what I think I know about 70 K20s in this thread. And one of those things is...some manual transmissions were painted and some weren't.

[chewychevy67]

Yes we had a blast. It was cool checking out your build in person and chatting. Looking forward to he upcoming work on your truck!

[DeadheadNM]

Love the progress Brad

[1970cstblazer]

This was the NOS 3838123 spring that I installed on the Blazer.