A '69 K10 stepside father-son restoration project in Sweden

[freco]

After having read and learned a lot on this forum for quite a long time now I think it's time for me to start sharing what my son and I have been working on. Hope you enjoy it!

A little more than two years ago my son found this K10 1969 on "Blocket" (like a Swedish Craigslist) and we made the 4 hour drive to the very southern part of Sweden to have a look at it. A short test drive in the seller's garden and we had a deal. A few days later the beautiful beast arrived at our house.

WARNING: If you're allergic to rust you should immediately leave this thread. If you like to see old precious rusty vehicles come to life again (no guarantees given though) you should read on! :-)

In Sweden (and Europe) it is quite rare to see 67-72 pickup trucks. There are a few C10's here in Sweden but this far I haven't seen any other K10. If there is someone from Sweden on this forum having one in it would be great to get in touch to share some info and experience!

The thing is, because of all the rust on my K10 there are a few things (measures, bracket designs etc) that I haven't been able to figure out yet. I hope maybe I can get some help from other K10 owners here.

The model year is 1969 and the truck was sold as a new vehicle in Sweden
(it was built in the Oshawa truck assembly plant in Canada) but for some reason it was not registered for road use until 1979 (there are many stories in Sweden about new US cars from that time that were kept unregistered by the importer for several years before they were sold to customers). Last time it was approved for road use at an annual vehicle inspection was in 2002. Since then it has been used more as an offroad vehicle.

To be continued...

[freco]

The misalignment between cab and bed in the picture showing the truck from the rear in my first post indicates there's something wrong with the frame. Already during the first test drive it became evident that the frame was very weak. The bed front part got some support from the cab rear wall and this was the only thing keeping the frame from collapsing completely...

As can be seen in these other pics there's some more rust in the traditional places like rocker panels and bed. It seems the cab corners had already been replaced.

For some reason it seems the truck is in general more rusty on the left hand side. Maybe it has only partly been parked under a roof for a long time, or been parked with the left side on grass?

[freco]

One more depressing picture showing part of the bed from inside one of the rear fenders. The bed had been covered with plywood that made the original bedwood rot completely and probably also caused some more rust on the bed structure.

Also including a picture showing how happy my son was when the K10 arrived at home :-)

[freco]

Strip down process started and the bed has been lifted off. Some rust to deal with here...
On the left hand side, behind the front leaf spring mount, the frame was completely rusted out. Only part of the lower frame flange was left. That explains why the bed was resting against the back of the cab :-)
The close up pic shows that part of the frame after it had been cut off. Beyond repair...

[freco]

Continuing with stripping down the front part.

It has a 350 V8 with a manual 4 speed gearbox. Automatic transmissions are nice but manuals are more reliable :-) It seems the engine has been restored at some time in the past and it runs really nicely so we'll not give that much attention to the engine I think. Power steering is nice to have in combination with large tyres. The truck has been lifted about 4" (front and rear) by the previous owner.

Also the front fenders have been quite severely attacked by rust. Luckily there's been some oil leak from the engine that has really helped to save the front part of the frame!

I have stopped counting how many shovels of old rust and junk we've removed from the floor...

[freco]

The radiator support had some rust too. First plan was to repair it, but later we found a better solution...

Frame has been cleaned up a bit and next the rear suspension had to be removed. Then the frame was cut off! Well, when the jack stands were removed the rear part of the frame fell to the floor. It was so rusted it couldn't even take its own weight!

[freco]

We started cleaning up the rear axle. Also the casted parts had some severe rust damages. It was even leaking oil as there were some rusted holes in the differential housing! As there is no chance we could find an identical axle here in Sweden we tried fixing some holes by welding it. However, we also discovered that some previous owner had built his own c-clip eliminator solution that wouldn't be that easy to repair. So, we decided to go for a slightly more modern axle from a '79 Blazer. However, also that axle would need some repair since the pinion had come a bit too close to the differential...

[freco]

The cab was lifted off and we made a trolley for it to make it easy to move around.

Also made a simple drawbar to make the the front end movable.

[freco]

Next challenge was to get a new rear frame. I knew that finding a K10 frame in Sweden or even Europe wouldn't be easy. I spent about a year looking for one. I also learned that K10 frames can be quite expensive nowadays in the US, and that cost will probably double with shipping and taxes before I have it at home. We also considered using the rear end of the Blazer '79 chassis we bought to get the rear axle, but it wouldn't really fit.

So, we decided to make a new pair of frame members. The big challenge would be to get a frame profile that had the same U-shape with rounded "corners" as the original, at the same time as the frame must have the traditional bend over the rear axle.

A local firm made me two straight U-shaped profiles with exactly the same dimensions as the original frame has where it would finally be joined together (under the cab). The material is 3mm (1/8") Hardox450 high strength steel, which is even stronger than the original frame.

We then used some plywood and the cut off original frame parts to make a template for the frame profile.

We then cut the center part out of the new straight U-profiles (keeping the rounded corners), except for about half a meter of the length where they should remain straight and be joined with the front part. With the help of the template we cut out new center parts from some Hardox450 steel plate. Then we used the template to shape the new frame members and weld the new center parts. All the welding made the new frame members bend slightly, but they could be straightened by heating the flanges with a gas torch in the right places.

[rjs53]

You guys definitely have your work cut out for you. Keep the pics coming

[freco]

Some more pics showing the frame template etc.

[freco]

Cleaning up the front end. New frame members ready and waiting for assembly :-)

[freco]

Time to cut the old frame and join it with the new one! The angled frame cut gives a longer and therefore stronger weld joint. It is also strengthened by a diamond-shaped plate on the inside. It did take quite some time to measure, measure and measure to get everything straight and well aligned.

The rear suspension comes from a Blazer. Fits quite nicely but shock absorbers and some other stuff needs to be repositioned compared to the original K10 rear suspension.

We also had to make a new cross member. The cab mounts were quite rusty on the surface where the rubber bushing is resting so that part had to be replaced.

[freco]

The engine and gearbox gets some beige epoxy treatment and then some new orange 2K paint. Valve covers will be replaced later.

Then it's installed in the chassis that has been painted black with Temadur20, a super nice 2K polyurethane paint.

Nice feeling to have a "rolling chassis" again :-)

[rustytruck50]

That is amazing work on those rear frame rails!! Keep up the great work!!

[rjs53]

Nice job! You got a roller again. The body work should be a piece of cake for you guys.

[Orange67]

Wow. You sir, have skills. This build is awesome, and it really makes it cool you are doing thus with your son. Very cool man.

[Ol Blue K20]

Nice work so far. I'm in to watch this amazing build!!

[redneckgames]

Looking good! As others have said, good work on the frame rails!

[freco]

Thanks for your positive feeback ;-)

The front bumper needed some new steel around the mounting holes. We might go for a black bumper instead of chrome and then this original bumper should be ok. We just cut out a square and then made a new fresh one using some scrap piece that was left over when making the frame members.

[freco]

The bed needs some attention too. While the rear fenders are probably beyond repair and will have to be replaced by new ones (we'll see how that ends...) the rest of the bed is mostly made of straight and flat pieces of steel that are easier to make. We started by cutting out the lower part of the bed sides and replacing it with new fresh steel. Some other rusty parts were fixed too. To be continued...

[freco]

The original front spring hangers were in a bad condition and I decided to make some new. Looked for the right bushings for a long time with no success so I had to make them too. The green plastic material is called Oilon and is intended for bushings and similar applications in tough environments. The heads on the new bolts were milled flat on one side to make sure they cannot rotate in relation to the hangers. Also added the possibility for greasing the bushings :-)

[freco]

As already shown in another thread the backup light brackets were missing so new ones had to be made. Note that the bed where the lights have been mounted only for taking these photos is placed upside down.

[freco]

As the rear axle we planned to take from the red Blazer chassis turned out to be in a quite bad condition we looked for a new one. Found this one from a Blazer '89 that turned out to be in a pretty decent condition. In particular the differential was ok. Here it has been sand blasted, repainted, got new brake shields (from the other Blazer axle), new bearings, and new brakes. Installation ongoing! We forgot to make (and reposition) new shock mounts so they had to be welded on with the axle mounted on the chassis.

[freco]

While the original rear shocks were mounted to a cross member between the frame members, we decided to mount the shocks outside frame as on the Blazer (where the suspension comes from) since this gives much better performance. Some new supports for the shock bolts were made for this. In this picture it has been placed on top of the frame for marking where to drill the holes. The support will end up sitting inside the frame.