Minnesota Daily Driver

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Well, I said in my intro a few weeks back that I'd like to start a build thread of my project from the last 4 or so years. The overall project goal was to have a solid daily driver, to also use for plowing, getting to the fish house, going hunting, and towing. Here it goes............

I'll start with a little history of the truck.

During the winter of '09-'10 I had the opportunity to buy a friend's grandfather's truck. I already had two square bodies, a 78 K10 and 87 V10, and wasn't necessarily looking for a whole vehicle, but I did want a plow. The truck was an '85 K20 Silverado, Indian Bronze Metallic, with a 350, TH 400, NP208, 14 bolt rear, and 10 bolt up front. Most important of all it had a plow on it.

Both gas tanks were rusted through, it hadn't been started in quite a few years, I think all the tires were flat, rear brake lines were rusted through, and there wasn't a rust/ dent free panel on the truck.

So on New Years Eve Day, December 31st 2009, I went over to look at the truck with my friend and struck a deal with his grandpa who had bought the truck around 1987. He told me he thought it had a cracked head and probably wouldn't run but I was fine with that as I planned on using the plow on the '78.

I called up my cousin to give me a tow a few miles back to the shop and started digging the truck out from the two or so feet of snow around it.

While waiting I filled the tires, surprisingly they held air, and threw a battery in it. One gas tank would hold a little fuel before it started leaking out the rust holes so I put a gallon in it. If I recall correctly it was around 10 degrees that day. The truck did turn over but wouldn't fire. The hydraulics, however, on the plow worked so I was able to raise it and get towed to the shop.

Once I got it inside and started thawing it out I started inspecting what I got my self into. The plow did raise, lower, and turn both directions without issue. Power locks were in-operable and only the passenger side power window worked, very slowly. The analog clocked worked while giving a nice growl, it still works and growls to this day, and all gages seemed to work.

Once everything was warmed up a bit I decided to see if she'd fire. To my surprise with a couple revolutions she roared to life through an exhaust system that was rusted through at the cross-over. I threw it in reverse and she moved under her own power out of the shop. Being January 1st, 2010 at this point with some snow on the ground I figured why not do some plowing around the parking lot.

The engine ran rough but was solid enough, tranny worked smooth, and there was no issue with the t-case/ 4-wheel drive. The front brakes worked well enough moving around the parking lot and I had 1 working head light.

After a couple months of it sitting while I was contemplating what to do with it, I decided to fix her up and use it as a plowing/ ice fishing/ hunting rig. I started by replacing the radiator, t-stat, & water pump. Rebuilding the alternator, installing new window motors, fixing some electrical issues, got the brakes up to snuff, installed headers with true duals, and threw a fuel tank in the box.

I used the truck like this until the end of spring and started looking into it a little further. The front end was completely worn out from carrying the plow and the front drive shaft was hitting the passenger header from weight of the plow. So I decided to rebuild the front axle and install a 4" lift.

This is the point where I started taking picture of the progress. Here's a couple pics just before I started the tear-down to put the lift in:

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A few pics from the front spring install:

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I was originally going to do a front spring/ rear block lift as I liked the beefiness of the rear springs but when I went to install the rear blocks I found one spring was cracked. So I ordered rear lift springs, and of course, with the old suspension stuff removed I had to do a Stacey David style pick of the old components in a pile:

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A pic of the lift installed. I always thought the Ford High-boy look was fitting for a 3/4 ton so I kept the 235/85/R16 tires:

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I used the truck like this for a summer putting around 5,000 miles on it and quickly found out how tired the 350SB was. She was pretty much down to 6 cylinders and leaked out of most gaskets/ seals.

Around Thanks Giving 2010 I decided to install a 454 that my dad had pulled out of his 74 C20. I resealed and torqued the intake, retorqued the heads. Installed a new starter & alternator, put in new gaskets on the oil pan and valve covers, and had the carb rebuilt among other things.

Some pics from the 454 clean-up:

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The 454 ran like a top and sure moved snow well. I had approximately 180 miles on it when disaster struck. I was coasting down a hill and all of a sudden it sounded like someone was shaking rocks in a coffee can. My dad was riding with me and gave me that look of oh-no. Once on the side of the road I tried to re-start it and the engine was locked-up tight. My dad said "I was afraid of that" so we called my uncle for a tow home.

Here's what we found in the oil pan:

[MTCK]

Cool rig!

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Turns out the #8 intake broke and sent the valve through the piston chipping the block in the process.
I was pretty bummed and didn't want to undertake rebuilding & sleeving the 454 at that time so I decided to use the 400SB out of my beat-up '78 K10 as it had under 90,000 miles and ran very well.
The original intention was to do a clean-up of the 400 and install it in the truck. I decided to go a little deeper to verify the condition of the engine and ended up doing a full rebuild.
A few pics of the 454 being removed:

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Originally Posted by MTCK

Cool rig!

Thanks. I appreciate it!

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Once I got inside of the 400SB I found that some body had replaced a head at one point so it had mismatched heads. One side had the 1.720 intakes and the other had 1.940. I measured all the wear surfaces and found the block & crank to be in pretty good condition. So I tore it down completely and brought it to the machine shop. The blocked was bored .020 and the mains .010.
I found a matching set of 1.940 heads and drilled steam holes in them. I installed a towing and R/V cam and reassemble the engine finishing it off by repainting it the factory blue:

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My dad and I being excited the engine was ready to go in he offered to help me install it one night. I was working nights at that time so we started the install at around 1am finishing around 4am.

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While, with the new engine, axles & brakes being fresh and a desire to use the truck on longer hunting trips & as a daily driver, I let my dad talk me into diving into repairing the body.
I have a lot more pics of that process and will keep posting as time permits.

[rusty76]

I'll be keeping an eye on this one. Fun truck. I had an '87 fully loaded 4x4 1/2 ton. I drove it daily for a long time. It wasn't my favorite truck but it got the job done.

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As the build of this truck happened over the last 4 years I'm sure there'll be things I remember somewhat out of order so please bare with me.
For anyone who has dealt with the joy of the challenge that rust brings I have a tip for removing the steering arm from a 4wd to replace it with a raised one with a lift kit.
The split conical washers are a PITA to get out to remove the arm. Often it takes quite a bit of work to accomplish. My dad came up with a method to drill only through the steering arm, stopping at the knuckle, that's being replaced and tap the hole, we used fine threaded fasteners. We then placed some pins in the bottom of the hole that would rest against the knuckle and take up the space that the tap couldn't reach. Then we ran in some bolts to push the arm from the knuckle. We would turn the bolts in a 1/2 turn or so then pound it back down. This would "walk" the conical washer up the stud until it was free of the bore and could be removed.
NOTE: THIS METHOD IS ONLY EFFECTIVE & TO BE USED IF THE ARM IS TO BE SCRAPED & REPLACED AS IT WEAKENS IT.
Here's a pic of the bolts in the arm.

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Well in the last few days the truck began missing at idle, most noticeably in drive. I had initially replaced the cap, rotor, & coil when I 1st got the '78. I decided that since it has been 5 years or so since that was done to replace the cap, rotor, coil, pick-up ring, control module, and condensor.

Tonight when I pulled off the cap I found that the "button" between the coil and rotor was broken and the boss around it was worn away. I also noticed that the advance weight pivots are worn as well as the return springs and that the rotor didn't "snap back" after turning it. So it's definatly time for a refresh.

[rusty76]

Pretty neat trick on the control arm. Good idea.

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Originally Posted by rusty76

I'll be keeping an eye on this one. Fun truck. I had an '87 fully loaded 4x4 1/2 ton. I drove it daily for a long time. It wasn't my favorite truck but it got the job done.

Thanks Rusty 76

I also have an '87 V10 custom deluxe that's more of my woods rig, but is also my back-up while I'm working on my K20. Such as I am right now rebuilding my distributor.

What engine & tranny did your '87 have? Mines the TBI 350 & 700R4.

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Originally Posted by rusty76

Pretty neat trick on the control arm. Good idea.

Yeah, my dad's pretty proud of that idea. He reminded me to post it.

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Here's a pic of the damage to my cap:

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Back to the story....

With the engine installed and broke in it was time to start digging into rust repair. I started by buying front fenders and inner wheel wells from LMC. I also repaired the rust on the bottom of the core support. The original hood was to be repainted.

Here's some pics of what the floor looked like once I got the seat out and carpet removed. It wasn't as bad as I thought but still wasn't great.

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I hadn't done any body work until this point. I did have some welding experience from school/ work/ personal projects though. I had wanted to attempt installing panels so I figured this truck would be good practice. I ordered the patch pieces from LMC and started fitting them and removing the rotted metal.

During this time I had also sent the rims out to be powder coated in industrial outdoor powder. I had them wrapped in 10 ply Trail Diggers size 238/85/R16. They should move snow around well.

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Got the distributor back in yesterday. She runs like a top again.

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Here's a pic of the truck sitting while the rims were out to powder coat. It's another good before pic of the body.

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I started with the drivers side. It was a lot of trimming and fitting a bit at a time until I understood how the body went together. Once I got through the rust I could see that it was fairly straight forward to get it back together.

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While working on the cab I had found a guy 90 minutes away that sells body panels and boxes he hauls up from Texas. Looking at what he had I think my next project will defiantly come from a southern state.

So I picked up some doors and a box.

Here's a pic of the box with some other goodies ordered on line.