my 1970 c20

[c20pickup]

well this is the story of my c20. i tried uploading pics, not sure if they came through if someone can help me thatd be great!

well it started when an emplyee of my dads purchased a 69 c10 lwb stepside. ive always liked this era of trucks 67-72, but i fell in love when i was able to see it in person an actually ride in it. this started my search for a truck. mind you this was the summer between my 7th and 8th grade year of school, i had sme money saved up, but i was still on a very limited budget. So my search went on up until about february of 2011, this is when i just started working at my current employment (local dairy farm) so this is when the "cash started rolling in" 200$ paychecks seems like alot to a 14 year old kid. well my budget was able to expand a little bit, and over easter break from school i purchased my first vehicle. i have to thank my mom for finding this one for me, she knew i had been searching for a truck and "this one looked old and what he was looking for" so after some dealing i purchased the truck locally from a man (ross) home (he was in the military) from california. the truck in question is my beloved 1970 chevy c20. the story behind the truck was that it lived its whole life in california as a fleet vehicle before ross had purchased it. the truck was fairly basic yet had some nice options. Power steering, power brakes, 350 small block, turbo 350, hd front and rear springs, auxillary tanks, etc. Well when i first purchased the truck the red and white (not origianl colors, the truck was originally med olive) were pretty damn faded. so i went right to work waxing away the years of sun damage. well being on a budget at this point i couldnt do much repairing or modifications on the truck, however i could complete small stuff. i first took off the ugly non matching cap, waxed the truck to the best of my abilities, i replaced all the door seals, window tracks, and shampooed the interior (previious owner had a funky smell). being the truck was pretty clean, very clean infact (for a wisconsin native) i didnt have to do any metal work. the only rust located on the truck was by the kick panel forward of the rocker panel, and even that was minor only about 2 inches long by a half inch wide on both sides. other than that everyhting was just minor surface rust (on the frame that is). well, then tragedy struck, and thanks to my german shepherds chasing an animal in the garage they had jumped all across my freshly waxed truck scratching the living hell out of it well i guess this could be a good thing if looked at in the right way, this encouraged my dad and i to wet sand out the scratches, and the whole truck, then buff and wax it. WOW!!! what a difference that made, the white actually looked white, and the red looked way brighter. it also inspired me to buy a good cover from lmc truck. well by this time its nearing the end of the summer of 2011. about august i believe. i worked all summer and had some money saved up, and just like that, new dual exhaust system with headers and glasspacks, and a new holley 650 4bbl . the reason behind all of this was that somewhere along the line someone had put a redneck two into one glasspack that dumped out infront of the rearend, this sounded like crap!! i couldnt stand this from day one so it had to go, so on went the glasspacks and headers (had the loudest truck my side of the county!!) the carb was another problem. you see, ross (previous owner) wasnt the most mechanically inclined fellow on the planet, he had installed and unknown 4bbl carb (my guess was it was an 850 with mechanical secondaries) someone had told him that the 4bbl would breathe better than a 2bbl giving him better mpg on his drive to wisconsin from caliornia). so on went the 650 vacuum secondary. talk about driving like new! couldnt believe it! went from having to keep your foot on the throttle at startup to get it warm, got rid of the low rpm bog, went from about 8mpg to almost 11mpg, and got rid of all the exhaust drone with the old exhaust system. it drove like a dream! by this time its about time for the local jefferson swap meet (this is the start of my freshmen year in high school) and i still had soem money left over from summer and id been looking for a new set of wheels as the orginal steelies just werent doin it soooooo i bought a set of brand new wheels and tires, ion alloy eight spoke wheels, and new toyo proxe tires, got a steal on these and improved the look of the truck extremely, looked completely different. well i didnt do much to the truck for the rest of the fall probably becuase it was cold and more so i was out of money haha and i put her away for the winter. spring of 2012 rolls aorund and now ive got my temporary drivers license, score! so im and eager 15 year old kid getting ready to rip around in my truck. i drove my truck a couple hundred miles that srping and beginning of the summer, one thing had disapointed me tho, it was dog **** slow! tho the exhaust and carbed had helped extremly it still wasnt doing it, it seemd like it made alot of noise but didnt have the put you in your seat feeling and being i had saved my pennies all winter and spring, i had to change that dogginess it had. july 6th out came the motor and trans!!! this is where the fun began... if you can call it that haha. my original plan was to just go through the motor and install a higher stall converter. didnt work out that way at all. the problem was, i got to thinking and said to myself, why have a pretty new motor coupled with a surface rusted frame and ugly firewall. the previous painter did a really half assed job on the repaint, i doubt if they had even scuffed the original olive paint bfeore reshooting with red and white, even the firewall was screwed up, the bottom half was still a med olive where the paint gun couldnt reach, and the top half was a reddish greenish mixed color where the paint gun could sort of kinda reach. the rest of the truck was basically taped off and repainted, really not my style, if i want to present it i want it to look good as possible. so when the motor was at the machine shop i threw around the idea of just repainting the firewall red and calling it good, but then i got to thinking, why had a nice engine, nice firewall and an ugly frame to put it next to. so then came the idea of painting the front half of the frame, that poses another problem... good looking front half of the frame, and a rusty grimy ugly looking back half. hmmm... well why stop now? off comes the front clip, then the bed, then the cab! next ya know my parents yard is filled with truck parts, and an empty frame. so right now its about the middle of august, my engine is back from the machine shop. i had a full rebuild done, honed cylinder walls, decked it, line honed it, magnafluxed, new freeze plugs, new cam bearings, new 10:1 forged pistons, nice crane cams, the heads were fully redone, new valve seats, new valve guides, new valves, new springs, the whole thing, topped off with about as much chrome and aluminum i could find, chrome oil pan, aluminum timing cover, aluminum water pump, aluminum thermostat housing, the whole shebang, teh only parts reused in the whole motor were the crank, rods, and castings for the heads. so in the middle of this i disassembled everything i could from the frame, borrowed a sand blaster from a friend and blasted my frame, next i sprayed it with a sself etching primer, then a flat rally black color. this was all done in the summer of 2012 and as you would imagine i am about broke at this point. so the truck goes on hold for awhile, and next you know it, we are at jefferson again, this is where i found my next goodie to save up for, 700r4 auto overdrive, a few months down the road i purchased that and sold my worn th350. so now its january of 2013, and to help keep track of my progress at this point, i cureently have my new 350/700r4 sitting in the frame, the frame and all the steering components recieved poly bushings, new ball joints, tie rod ends, pitman arm etc. new brakes, had the drums turned, new wheel cylinders. its back to being a rolling chassis. as far as the cab and everything else, the cab was stripped of its interior this spring, currently the cab is an empty shell all that remains is the sheet metal lol. the bed is in storage currently. ive been saving my money up to have the truck soda blasted, i have an appointment to have it blasted this monday 7/10. then off to paint for this bad boy! my future plans for the truck are to have a two toned paint job using gm colors, aspen blue for the bottom, then 90 steel grey for the top half of the cab, interior will be done in grey. after i have my paint job paid off, i plan to buy a new wiring harness ( mine was fairly cobbled up), new grille, new dash cluster, and a locker for my rearend (no one wheel peelers!). well thats the story of my c20, amazing how a simple engine rebuidl can lead to a complete frame off. my goal is to have her done to be able to take my senior pictures in it. by the time im done the only thing that wont be rebuilt, repainted, or refurbished is the internals of the rearend, though i will be adding a locker, everything else has been imprived or redone (to stock) in anyway i can. im proud of myself being able to purchase all of this myself through busting my ass day in and day out working on the farm. i have to thank my dad for helping me though all of this, using his shop and tools, and being able to loan me money for some parts here and there. i also have to thank the guys on this website, been a great help!!! so much info on here its unbelievable. any quetsions at all feel free to ask id be more than happy to answer.

[c20pickup]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1372995353

this would be my truck september 2011 after the new wheels and tires

[c20pickup]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1372995575

this is her sitting in the yard after the motor and front clip was pulled

[c20pickup]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1372995743

this is the day i sandblasted, primed, and painted the frame

[c20pickup]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1372996002

first picture: setting the new motor in

second picture: we did a trial paint job of the cab to see what the color combination would look like before putting a good coat on and not liking it

third picture: an updated picture of the motor, this is the most current i have, since this was taken ive added the damper, and some of the pulleys

[c20pickup]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1372996237

this is the frame before any refinishing