1972 K20 "Diamond in the Rough"

[nitrosport_5]

Just picked this truck up friday (7-20-12). Been looking for somthing along these lines for a while to tinker with. I think i made out well with what i paid for the truck. Nearly every body panel that it on it is junk. every time you open and close the door you loose more pieces . BUT on the good side of things, the truck comes with a RUST FREE cab, RUST FREE bed, and a bed full of MSC parts to finish the truck.

The drivetrain is perfect. Its got a 4" Rancho suspention lift, 35" tires, Chrome diff covers, diff skid plates, front brake back covers, traction bars bars, and a bunch of other odds and ends. 396 big block engine that has had some work done to it, lots of chrome goodies on the engine, long tube headers, fairly recent Holly carb, TH350 trans with a recent rebuild, just a really nice running truck. it drives great, i was pleasantly surprised!

Here are the photos from the craigslist ad. The pickup appears to be alot less rusty in these pictures than it really is lol.

[nitrosport_5]

So the first thing when i got it home, i adressed some of the wiring nightmare that was under the dash. there was an old school clifford intelliguard 600 alarm system that was installed.. and installed very very crudely. It was ziptied in place, the harness hanging part way down and wires running everywhere. I think the entire harness for the alarm was composed of 100s of 6" pieces of wire, crimp connectors, and a few wire nuts here and there....To make things even better, the place that installed the alarm taped their business card to the back so it had the guys name that did it.. This kind of work i would not be proud of. I want to find the place that did the wiring and take it all back to them .

After i got the alarm removed i changed my focus to the stereo. to begin with the power wire to a 200w amp for the speakers. The power wire was 12 gauge wire, but from the amp to the battery there were 10 different pieces of wire. including an inline fuse halfway in line to the amp, and then another glass inline fues holder right off the battery..i feel sad to say the gauge of wire that the last fuse holder used. it was about 18gauge wire... probably closer to 20. ugh.

the dash has had the hole cut out for an aftermarket radio unfortunately. again the radio was wired in about the same as the rest of it. so for now i took all of the wiring out of the truck that didnt belong there originally. including the non working tach, lights for the extra temp/oil gauges that were hooked up to god knows what.

Next i removed a battery switch from under the hood. Im guessing at one time there was dual batteries. there is a spot for 2 batteries. The switch was a perko marine switch. Once i got it off, the wires that were used on it were the same ones that were used to wire in the amp, about 14 guage wire. the back of the switch was melted and chared... im sure it was on fire or close to it at one point.

Most of you may think i am crazy for going to this much trouble just to remove the cab and replace it. but i just couldnt stand it for the time being. Here is a picture of all of the wire i removed....i think with all that copper i may have made back half of what i paid for the truck!

[RHGuyettejr]

Nice truck, by the way I need a new rear bumper and love those aftermarket chrome ones that I see all the time, do you know what brand it is or where I can get my hands on one?

[notsolo]

Nice Rig.....Pretty smart move getting the fire hazard out from under the dash. 5 # of leftover spaghetti and the truck still runs. Wow..Nice score keep it going.

[Tinkermc]

nice rear bumper

[jhaymon]

save the battery switch.mud,water, off road beatings, and power surges wont kill it. we use them on all the off road trucks. if theres a hole big enough to sink a truck, we'll find it. cut the power, save the computer. we haven't successfully broke one yet. it was only thing that still worked in a buds boat after he sunk it in the river(it was a "hold my beer and watch this" moment).

[nitrosport_5]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I really dont know about the bumper as far as brand. was looking at it closer and i cant see any decals or anything stating a brand. Luckily i was looking at it and it appears to be perfect. a few small rust spots that hopefully clean up with some fine steel wool, but no bends or anything.

as far as the battery switch, 2 of the 3 posts on the back are melted. if i was going to use it i would probably just spend a few bux on a new one.

[nitrosport_5]

Here are some more shots of it. Can anyone tell me if the rear end looks original? seems huge but doing some digging i believe it is an Eaton? They any good?

[nitrosport_5]

It also has these stupid(IMO) saddle tanks. The filler neck is in a spot that makes it a PITA to put fuel in there. Is there a replacement under bed tank? even like a single 20 gal tank or somthing? I would really rather not have the tank behind the seat again.

You can also see someone was nice enough to destroy the emblems. i dont know if they were too lazy or what but the tabs on the back of the emblems are all in good shape. Dont see why there was a need to rivit them on?

Also put my hand controls in this afternoon. after fiddling with them for so long the engine is flooded. i was afraid of that.. oh well ill let her sit overnight and it should be good to go. I really cant wait to drive it. Ive owned it for a week and i havent gotten the chance to take it for a drive. My mom was the one that drove it home for me.

One last thing, were there any differences between a 2wd and 4wd cab? not sure if the white cab is 2wd 4. And how much trouble would it be to add factory air to a non a/c cab? worth it?

[Tinkermc]

nice lookin truck

[86454k30]

Nice purchase! I really wanted that truck, if I didn't have my 86 I woulda bought it. You should have seen it in its day(early 90s) it was an awesome truck.

That rear bumper was made by a company called Bundy Bumpers, I use to sell them. Those traction bars were custom made by my buddies uncle. Originally the truck was lifted and the 396 was put in by B&K motors here in spokane, again in the early 90s.

Are you going to keep it the same colors with the new body?

[nitrosport_5]

Originally Posted by 86454k30

Nice purchase! I really wanted that truck, if I didn't have my 86 I woulda bought it. You should have seen it in its day(early 90s) it was an awesome truck.

That rear bumper was made by a company called Bundy Bumpers, I use to sell them. Those traction bars were custom made by my buddies uncle. Originally the truck was lifted and the 396 was put in by B&K motors here in spokane, again in the early 90s.

Are you going to keep it the same colors with the new body?

The guy that i bought it from showed me a picture. It looked like it was nice. Is a shame it was let go. Do you know the guy that owned it before i bought it?

Id like to know any more info you may have on the truck. Any idea what all was done to the 396? when i bought it he said that it had a huge cam in it and he replaced it with an RV cam or somthing like that to tame it down since it was his daily driver.

The truck looks like it was very well done.. suspention wise. The wiring for the alarm and radio.. that was another story. Its a shame to see that it was let go so bad. The only part of the body that i think is usable is the damn hood. the rest of it is just falling apart.

I think i will stick with the original blue and white. was it always this color? I really like the orange and white but with the interior pieces being blue it would look like total ****. and i really dont want to paint them or buy new ones. the blue isnt a bad color either so its not that big of a deal.

I dont know why but the truck in your picture looks familiar. for some reason i keep thinking ive seen it somewhere but just cant remember exactly where.

[mcmlxix]

You can swap in a fuel tank from a 73 to 91 Suburban (Blazer). They have both a 30 gallon and 40 gallon option. Since you have a long bed you might want to try the larger tank to keep the big block happy... Do a seach and you will see the swap documented.

The rear is probably an Eaton HO52. Some guys like them, other dont. Brake parts might be a little harder to find. Depending on what your plans are, you could always swap it out...

Before swaping cabs, you better check into issues with the VIN. IF the blue/white cab has a title and the all white cab doesn't, how whill that be addressed when you complete the swap?

[nitrosport_5]

Originally Posted by mcmlxix

You can swap in a fuel tank from a 73 to 91 Suburban (Blazer). They have both a 30 gallon and 40 gallon option. Since you have a long bed you might want to try the larger tank to keep the big block happy... Do a seach and you will see the swap documented.

The rear is probably an Eaton HO52. Some guys like them, other dont. Brake parts might be a little harder to find. Depending on what your plans are, you could always swap it out...

Before swaping cabs, you better check into issues with the VIN. IF the blue/white cab has a title and the all white cab doesn't, how whill that be addressed when you complete the swap?

I will check into the suburban tank, sounds like exactly what i am looking for.

as for the cab, Ive got a title for both cabs.

[86454k30]

Yeah it is too bad it went down hill, mostly happened from the guy you bought it from. The original guy who had most of the work done was Pat, then he sold it to his friend and his friend sold it to the guy you bought it from.

I don't know much about the motor.

I would leave it blue, I am not blue fan either but those color combo's on that truck is awesome!

I work at Titan Truck and my truck sits there when it is nice out.

[RHGuyettejr]

I am liking the dual shock mounts. As for the emblems that seems to be the theme with these trucks, destroying perfectly good parts because the owner just doesn't care anymore. My headlight harness has been cut and crimped every which way, and the lower radiator hose is made of three short segments of old hose and some pvc "connectors" haha. Also I see a lot of people around here wanting to change to a under the bed tank, what are the benefits of this? other than just location?

[Tinkermc]

if you turn the truck over the gas is not in the cab with you, also if there is a fire I don't want 20 gallons of fuel in the box with me.

[jhaymon]

Originally Posted by Tinkermc

if you turn the truck over the gas is not in the cab with you.

well this is the main benefit. i did a 71 4wd a few years ago. i had my filler neck on the cab, but i put 79 saddle bag tanks on mine to get the tank out of the cab. i had to mod the the floors a little and allot of fab when into the filler neck, but i had the the look of stock with the benefits of a tank that wasn't in the cab.
the other benefit is stowage i had plenty of stowage behind the seat for my jacks, straps, and winch goods.

as for factory ac in a non ac cab, a dash swap really isn't that hard. if you really wanna make it easy just cut the vents out of an ac dash and weld em up to the non ac dash. you other option is an after-market air kit.

as for titles...well for thous who are wondering, these trucks are not hard to find and its even easier to get a title and some vin plates from a swap meet or a title fixer.

[nitrosport_5]

I wanted the underbed tank to 1, get the fuel out of the cab, and 2 give me a bit more storage space. Once i get myself in and my wheelchair in there there is no room in the cab with me, so having a little bit of behind the seat storage is a bonus.

Still thinking about swaping factory AC in as well as a tilt steering column. Ive heard some vans used the same column? Im trying to keep my eye out for parts

[72KAY20]

Nice truck. Can't wait to see it restored. The blue and white color combo will look great.

Agree that it makes sense to move the gas tank back between the frame. I also like the stock look so I left the fuel filler on my cab. The filler tube is capped off inside. I moved my fuel fill to underneath the passenger side rear wheel well. It is tough to fill it there but it works. I did not want to put the filler in the floor of the bed. Would hate to run low on gas and have a load of stuff in the bed and not be able to open the filler door!

[Shaun1162]

Nice looking truck! Any idea where the chrome diff cover came from for the Eaton?? Don't think I've seen one before..

[nitrosport_5]

Originally Posted by Shaun1162

Nice looking truck! Any idea where the chrome diff cover came from for the Eaton?? Don't think I've seen one before..

I believe whoever built the truck had the stock cover chromed if they arent readily available. The traction bars are custom made and chromed as well. So im assuming they would have had the traction bars and whatever else chromed at the same time.

[86454k30]

If you are going to remove the traction bars let me know.

[nitrosport_5]

Think im Gunna hang onto them. I kinda like the look. Not for everyone bit I feel it's kinda an old school performance look
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[Tinkermc]

traction bars are def old school and kool