62 K20 Fixer-Upper

[bsarts]

Hi all, this isn't gonna be a build in the true sense of the word, I just want to make it a daily driver and enjoy it. I kinda wish I could leave the original paint on it, but I don't want it looking like a patchwork quilt.

I found this on Craigslist in Montana and drove a U-Haul up to get it. The guy I bought it from remembers when his Dad's buddy bought it new. It originally had a flatbed on it and this guy found this bed that was somebody's trailer and put it on it.

It has the 283 and a 4 speed and still has the original 17" split rim wheels which I love because the tall, skinny look is so cool to me. I found a place where I can still buy tires and tubes for it. I plan on upgrading the brakes with a new master cyl and booster and modify the air cleaner, but other then that, I want to leave it as stock as possible. So the bulk of this "build" is gonna be replacing the rusted out portions of the cab and whatever body work will be done before paint. I'll get patch panels for most everything, but the inside of the cab roof above the windshield will be a special case.

The driver's door is pretty beat up and will prob, be replaced. The wiring needs cleaning up and I'd like to find a gauge cluster from a C50 or something so I can have real gauges in it.

[Ironoar]

Good looking truck!

[TJ's Chevy]

Welcome aboard! Glad to see you are keeping it a nice survivor.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum

Looks like a decent truck and it even has the ultra rare '60-'62 V8 fan shroud!

[bsarts]

Wow, I guess I better be careful around that fan shroud! Thanks for the welcome.

[chtr65]

Nice K20. Did I see this on a trailer going through the town of Seeley about a month ago? I followed behind someone with a truck similar to this one on a trailer. Glad to hear you are keeping it mostly original. They are great looking trucks the way they are. I myself just found a 66 K20. Welcome aboard.

[350TacoZilla]

Man that thing is nice! I love the tall skinny tires too but would probably look for later 1 piece 16's and put something like 9.00-16's on it to get rid of the split rims but thats a personal hate for those rims.

With that dash I always think about a pig\bull nose hood like the 60-61 trucks, they are ugly and yet somehow good looking.

[flashed]

Welcome , what a cool truck .

[bsarts]

Thanks, guys. I don't know where Seeley is, but it was indeed on a trailer going through eastern Montana a little while ago.

[raylube]

Cool k20. Got one myself. Not too far from you in Preston. Used to live in Rigby. Have family in IDAHO falls. Brother in law snap on dealer in I.F.

[bsarts]

Howdie neighbor!

[bsarts]

Finally got my other project done and some money saved up for parts so I can get going on this thing. I started bangin dents on the grill and grill support while waiting on patch panels to arrive. I got a little surprise in the amount of bondo to be found in the grill support, but it's coming along.

[bsarts]

The grill support is a real tricky piece to try to bang back into shape, ax heads, heel bars, and punches were some unorthodox body tools that had to be employed. I nice chunk of hickory ax handle was real handy. I had no idea this thing was bent in so many wrong directions...

[bsarts]

Kinda ran into the same thing with the hood....

[bsarts]

One more of the hood, coming along well.

[Captainfab]

Nice work. Stud guns are a really great invention.

[bsarts]

Thanks, Capt. That stud gun is about invaluable, and I've been having a lot of fun learning how to use a planishing hammer. And how the rules for expansion and shrinkage of metal are different on a curved piece.

['63GENIII]

Nice looking truck and some quality work you're doing there. Im always amazed at the skill that it takes to bring some of these parts back from the grave. Great job!

[bsarts]

Thank you Chris!

[bsarts]

I work a 15 day-on / 13 day-off schedule, so my posting here will be rather sporadic. I was so busy working on this thing during my last time off that I hardly took any pics. But I did some more dent flipping on the hood and started on the cab floors. I got the driver's side outer floor piece in and was going to start on the rocker for that side and realized that the inner rocker portion of the piece I just spent a day and a half putting in is defective, its' bottom edge does not reach down far enough to meet with the bottom edge of the outer rocker. I called Classicparts.com and explained to them what my problem was and got nowhere with them, I sent them pics and measurements so they can see that it ain't right and they said that all of the outer floor panels,(driver's side), that they have on the shelf measure up like mine so that must be the way they're supposed to be. I spent a thousand bucks with them on these patch panels and they won't be seeing another dime from me.

[bsarts]

Then it was time for me to screw up badly, I started on the driver's door skin and bottom replacement. Somehow I got my measurement really wrong when I cut the inner door bottom off and ended up with a large gap, but managed to save it by using a piece of copper plate as a backer for the welds and planishing each one as I went along and it came out pretty good. However, I neglected to get a pic of the finished job before I left home.

[EagleScreech]

Awesome, original K20, I love how you're using original parts where possible. Metal work takes talent!

[bsarts]

Thanks Eagle!

[WunTon]

I hate seeing fitment issues with the sheet metal like that but it seems to be the norm sadly. I've spent considerable hours searching for the best place to source it from and it seems like most everything comes from the same factory and is rebranded. There's good and bad reviews from nearly every vendor I've found. It looks like you are doing a killer job of making things work so I appreciate the motivation keep up the nice work!

[bsarts]

Post deleted