Grandpa's Truck '71 Chevy C20

[davem815]

Milestones
8/23/2019 It's a roller, trailing arms and axle replaced
12/29/2019 new engine started for first time
9/5/2022 drove on road for first time in 35 years
8/26/2023 First time in public in 36 years at local car show.
9/2/2023 drove the truck to my Mom's Birthday party.

Grandpa's Truck is the name my son gave to my Dad's truck. It is a 1971 Chevrolet C20. It has been sitting since 1987. Around 1985/86 it developed engine trouble, Dad bought a used engine for it and I swapped it in. I think I went back night classes at college and Dad's cancer returned, so we never got the swap completely finished. Dad passed away in Oct. 1987 and 1987 plates are the last plates on the truck. It set behind a shed at Mom's house until recently.

Below is a picture as the truck looks now. I will try to add post to bring the progress up to date.

The Northern Indiana weather was not good to this truck that has set outside all of it's life.

[davem815]

Here are pictures of the truck sitting in 2013 and 2017.

[davem815]

And here are pictures of it coming home in Nov. 2017. I had to wait for the right conditions of ground not being too soft and my brother not having crops in the field to get it drug out of it's sitting spot.

This is the first time in it's life it will has been stored indoors.

Edit: By the way, the red 2014 GMC K2500 and the 1971 Chevy C20 are brothers, both from the Flint factory.

[72 tigger]

I’m in to see this project. Went through Warren last night. If you need a hand, let me know. “The Northern Indiana weather was not good to this truck that has set outside all of it's life.“ The salt is hard on them too

[68Gold/white]

Tailgate looks well used....

[davem815]

Memories
Speaking of weather/salt reminds me of an adventure in this truck when I was a kid. Around the time of the '78 Blizzard (could have been a few years before or after as there was several year with large snow falls) Dad was driving down a gravel road near our house. I remember the drifted snow was piling up on the hood on my side of the truck. Likely it was a road that had snow plowed to the side, and a fresh powdery snow had drifted back into the road.

I will add memory I have of the truck though out this build.

Tigger72, thank for the kind offer of help. You're welcome to stop in anytime your traveling through Warren.

[davem815]

I should add the goals for this truck. The goal is to get this truck back on the road as simply as possible. I would like to take my Mother on a ride in it again.

I will keep this truck as close to how it was as when Dad drove it. I will get it mechanically sound and leave as much of the exterior as possible, keeping the original paint and eventually patching rust where required.

The only thing that has been changed on the truck is the 350 that was swapped in and maintenance parts. I happened to find a running 1971 307 engine, so the engine will match how the truck was built at the factory.

[davem815]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

Tailgate looks well used....

The tailgate is rusted beyond use, the bottom is total missing. the loading on the trailer with my brother's back hoe was a little rough on the tailgate too.

[davem815]

8/23/19
It's a roller, trailing arms and axle replaced.
Son replaced the trailing arms in June. The Driver side rear brake was locked up and the drum would not easily come off. We found a cheap Eaton HO52, so we swapped in a new axle. This was quicker than trying to rebuild the brakes. In the process we went from a 4.56 to a 4.10.

Don't have any pictures with the axle out, but here are pictures when we pulled it to the house to clean it and one of my son when we pulled it back to the shop.

[68Gold/white]

THe 4.10 gear will help. You can at least drive a 4.10 down the road, have to limit your road speed to maybe 55, but it will help...4.56 is for boppin through the pasture, that's about all....

[davem815]

Memories:
Speaking of highway gears. In the last seventies, we took a family vacation in this truck and went all of the way from northern Indiana to the Smokey Mountains and Mammoth Cave. Of course the speed limit was 55 mph and all vehicle ran high revs.

[davem815]

11/30/2019 Installed engine.

Removed the old engine. Resurfaced the flywheel, installed new clutch, moved the bell housing, transmission, starter, and exhaust manifolds to the new engine. added a temporary exhaust system, patch up the holes in the original Y pipe, had new exhaust studs installed by muffler shop, and bolted on a junk muffler from the muffler shops scrap pile. Will be good enough to allow me to run the engine inside the shop. got the new engine bolted into the truck.

[davem815]

12/29/2019 Started engine

Repaired 3 broken wires, hooked up vacuum hoses, installed distributor and set static timing. Wanted to make sure engine would run before I finished all of the installation.
No radiator hooked up, fuel supplied from 5gl can. I accidently bumped the key to start and the engine turned over. I couldn't believe that all of the starter and ignition wiring was functional. So I hooked up a remote start switch, gave it a shot of starting fluid and it fired. I unhooked the fuel line to the carb and cranked to make sure fuel pump was working. I got gas, so I hooked the fuel line up and it started right up on about the first revolution. It's running on the starter and coil from the original engine that sat outside for 30+ years and the fuel pump, ignition parts and carburetor from the new (1971) engine.
I was so existed when it started right up without having any issues.

[davem815]

12/30/2019
Installed radiator, fan, and alternator. Checked the alternator output and it is working. It was from the original engine that sat outside for 30+ years.

[davem815]

1/6/2020 Removed door panels

I had to drill out all of the door panel screws to get the door panels off because they were rusted/stuck. I had to drill out the passenger side from inside the cab because the door will not open. (The seat had already been removed) I needed access to the passenger side hatch mechanism and the window mechanism because neither window will roll down. I sprayed everything down with plenty of penetrating oil.

[davem815]

1/7/2020 passenger door open

I got the window to roll down by helping them with pressure on the glass and working the mechanism back and forth until I got enough travel to go completely down.
I worked on the passenger side door latch from inside the door and worked it until I could get enough movement to unlatch the mechanism and force the door open. I will have to work on them some more until they operate freely, but at least they are functioning. The drivers door is sagging to the point it wont close, I will have to work on that later.

[davem815]

2/4/2020 shift linkage working

The column shifter would not work. It would shift between Reverse and First, but would not move to the 2nd/3rd gate. The linkage under the truck was all freed up from installing the engine, so it had to be in the column.

I removed the steering wheel and disassembled the upper steering column. After I searched how to remove the turn signal collar (I forgot you had to leave the turn signal mechanism screws in slightly, and turn the collar counter clockwise), I removed the collar and turn signal mechanism to get access to the shifter handle and shifter sliding collar. I soaked it good with penetrating oil and I worked it back and forth until would move between all four gears. I let it soak overnight.
The next day it would move easier between all the gears, so I lubricated the collar and reassembly the steering column, installing a used steering wheel that I had bought at the Southeast GM truck nationals several years ago. It's so much better than the old cracked and dried out original.

[davem815]

I am caught up to date with my progress. I will try to keep this build thread up to date as I make progress and I will try to document my progress with more pictures.

Progress is slow because I have multiple projects going at the same time. After Christmas break when I got the engine started, I took a break from the truck and installed a sub-panel and wiring in the new addition side of my shop.

[Greg58]

Keep it up, nice to see you guys working on a family treasure!

Greg

[davem815]

update
March I replaced all of the U-joints and the carrier bearing

[davem815]

In April everything was installed and I tried to move it. The clutch would not disengage far enough to get it into any gear. After adjusting the linkage all I could, I called the company I bought the clutch from, they determined I had a short throw out bearing and needed a long. I might have been given some bad advice, but they advised to change the pivot ball to an adjustable one. They said they did not sell the throw out bearing by itself. I probably should have went to Rock Auto and bought a long throw out bearing. Instead I bought the adjustable pivot ball. After pulling the transmission three time to adjust the pivot ball, I finally got adjust to where the clutch will disengage.

Last night 7/8/2020 I drove it out of the shop under it's own power for the first time. This is the first time since 1987 that it has moved under it's own power. Absolutely no brakes and the engine is running off of a gas can for now, but it running and moving.

I don't see that I can add a video, so here are a couple of pictures.

[Racer2172]

Cool back story and keeping family truck alive and bringing it back, good work so far keep it up.

[Katrina/10]

Glad you saved it.

[davem815]

7/9/2020 Emergency brake

I was hoping to get some kind of brakes easily hooked up so I could safely move it around.

Hooked up the emergency brake cables to the rear axle cables. I thought the adjustets on main cable from the pedal would too rusty to remove. I soaked them over night with penetrating oil and wire wheeled them and the nuts backed right off. Got everything thing hooked up, tested the pedal, and the rusty main cable pulled in half.

I guess brakes are going to be a bigger job than I hoped.

[68Gold/white]

The emergency brake cables that attach to the drums, will rust up solid. New ones are in order, in almost any kind of a build, especially with a standard transmission.

I'd be a buyer for that old tail gate, if you ever want to sell it...dang sure wouldn't have to worry about it getting damaged in shipping...LOL

Glad to see it's a 71. No need to convert to disc brakes....just buy factory replacement parts, man I like it that way!!!