Author Topic: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build  (Read 8994 times)

Offline Tylers85k20

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"The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« on: May 11, 2014, 01:50:03 PM »
Well im a little late on starting a build thread but here we go. Ever since I was a kid ive always wanted a 73-87 chevy. When people said I want a vette I said I wanted a chevy truck. When I was growing up my uncle had a mid 80's chevy that he had since highschool and still has today and I have always loved that truck. It was always the Big red chevy. He restored it in my garage when I was in my late single digits and I got to watch and help through the whole process and thats what got me interested in being a mechanic. I waited for a long time to find a good affordable base to start with being I live in michigan there arent many of these trucks to pick from. I found one about an hour and a half away worth looking at and ended up buying it off the original owner who was a mechanic and took great care of this truck his whole life. Now since I was 13 ive been collecting parts for this truck. So heres a picture of the truck the day I bought it.


After I bought it and got it home I took that dumb looking bed topper off of it and then installed a tool box ;D







Then I installed a stereo with speaker pods I had I installed pioneer 6x9's behind the bench a kenwood head unit and 5.25 kicks in the kick panel pods. I plan on installing a sub soon.





Then I had my full dual borla exhaust welded on by the local exhaust shop and did my rear diff and at the same time painted the diff cover





I plan on doing the front diff cover soon as well. I also have a full oem chevy truck bed primered and ready to go on when I get the time.







As well as various badges



I also flipped the air filter cover fixed 4 vacume leaks a few wiring issues replaced some fuses changed the water pump and replaced some pullys and belts as well as a trans flush and a oil change. I used a mobil 1 filter and 15w40 rotella T.



Today I started work on my front end because it needs to be freshned up ;D

This is when i started.



So I decided to pull the grill off and do a little customizing.









I made the grill look similar to what my uncle had going on back when i was a kid.

Then it was time for paint ;D





Then i bagged off the front and gook care of my grill guard







Now im waiting on the paint to dry to put it back togeather and use a little stripper on some over spray on my bumper.

I might do the front diff today and im thinking about pulling the trans pan down and changing the filter I did the flush at my previous work place where we did not drop the pan. I figure ill spray the pan blue too.

As it stands right now the plan for the truck is a 4" BDS suspension lift with some nice 285/75/16 tires. Im going to clean up my factory rims throughly and re paint the black on them. I plan on installing warn locking hubs as well as replacing most of my front end components with heavy duty parts as the boots are all blown out and It could use new tie rods ball joints etc. I would like to use metal valve stems and closed style lugs so bud doesent cause leaks and wheel removal difficulty :D. Im going to paint the undercarriage black minus my blue accents. I have a brand new bed ready to go on and I ordered the patch panels for my cab corners rockers and floor pan. I would like to put running lights on the cab as well as aux lights in the grill. Basically to sum it up I have an extremely long list of things I want to do but I need to keep it functional to pull the trailer every day and be a daily work truck as well as my offroad toy. The plan for the color right now is a nice white with blue accents.
85 Chevy k20 Project
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Offline bake74

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2014, 06:40:48 PM »
     Welcome to the site Tyler nice to have you here.  Glad to hear that you finally found a truck worthy of your quest.  Keep us updated on the progress with pics.
#1: The easiest and most obvious solution to any problem is 99% of the time correct.
#2: There is no such thing as impossible, it just takes longer.
  74 k10, 77k10    Tom

Offline FearNoMan78k10

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2014, 09:44:26 AM »
Nice updates and pics man seems your putting quite a lot of effort into this :-) that's always cool to see . Keep up the progress and updates , I love the name white rhino for this truck that is flat out awesome lol it's fits it well
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Offline Tylers85k20

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2014, 11:31:42 AM »
Thanks for the encouragement guys :D This is the front end when i finished it last night.





Today we got rained out at work so im probably going to start assembling the bed today and doing the finish body work on it. If i have time I might prime it fill it and prime it again. I plan on doing the front diff and the hood next sunday. Now I do have a question for anybody watching this thread. My cab is rotted out in the cab corners and rocker panels as well as in the drives side floor pan however the rust hasnt made it to the body mounts yet. I plan on patching it up. Do you guys think it would make more sense just to source a rust free cab? Or patch the one I have?
85 Chevy k20 Project
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Offline FearNoMan78k10

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2014, 03:07:12 PM »
Keep the cab you have a just try to patch and weld in some metal in the areas that need it, I have a bad rust spot on the right side eating away at the rocker panels, and three holes in the front fenders I need to repair,,, go ahead and repair it I say , may cost you more time and of course money trying to source a rust free cab, that will be expensive most likely, I say just do a good thorough job of fixing and repairing the cab,,,,,,, your truck looks pretty good man I'd say , just put some good beads on the welding part and use acetone to clean the metal before hitting it with a welder and that will ensure a good contact weld, gets rid of any varnish or unwanted "dirt" for a clean metal finish to be welded, use a metal wire brush and dip it into the can and scrub any surface area you will weld on, that's the right way to clean the surface in most cases before welding, get yourself some decent grade metal material from a business near you, generally a junk yard wouldn't be a bad first place to start,,,,, find some scrap metal, clean and polish it to a nice finish , cut it into the right sizes you may be needing, weld it up and paint it :-) would be cool to get some detailed rust spot pictures posted,,,, just a thought ")
« Last Edit: May 12, 2014, 05:00:58 PM by FearNoMan78k10 »
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Offline bake74

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2014, 08:14:35 PM »
     This site sells the rocker panel sets for a good price and they are the same thickness as OEM, not the thin cheap one's you might find other places.
#1: The easiest and most obvious solution to any problem is 99% of the time correct.
#2: There is no such thing as impossible, it just takes longer.
  74 k10, 77k10    Tom

Offline FearNoMan78k10

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2014, 09:45:59 AM »
bake that is so great to know as I need one as well..I've checked out this site's online store and it has quite a bit on there !.  that is so convenient , I love this site more and more, definitely has a lot to offer!
« Last Edit: May 13, 2014, 09:56:37 AM by FearNoMan78k10 »
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Offline Tylers85k20

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2014, 08:28:51 AM »
Been a little while since my last post :D Few things 1. It wont be white anymore after today and 2. There will be no more rust on this old truck :D

First I Pressure washed it. (Youll notice the new front license plate with chevy emblem bolts :D lol)



Then the work started







And by 3 a.m. we had the other side bolted up too :D



Today im lining up the rest of the quarter panel bolts. I am either bolting on a new hood or body filling my hood and we will be eliminating the rust in the rockers and cab corners. Im also going to start sanding today for paint. Ill be posting more updates later today ;D
85 Chevy k20 Project
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Offline bake74

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2014, 09:56:59 AM »
     Nice progress.
#1: The easiest and most obvious solution to any problem is 99% of the time correct.
#2: There is no such thing as impossible, it just takes longer.
  74 k10, 77k10    Tom

Offline Tylers85k20

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #9 on: May 26, 2014, 04:18:12 PM »
Quarters finished completely followed by a power washing some serious sanding and a scotch briting and a final power washing it is now ready for body filler/primer and Paint :D






85 Chevy k20 Project
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Offline Tylers85k20

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #10 on: May 26, 2014, 08:23:30 PM »
Half the paint job is complete and its time to call it a night :D



85 Chevy k20 Project
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Offline Tylers85k20

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Re: "The White Rhino" Tyler's 85 Chevy K20 Build
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2015, 02:44:27 PM »
Thought I would give you guys a update. Since the last update I finished painting the truck, installed running lights, installed offroad lights, plastidipped the rims black, and installed a custom stereo. These are all the pictures I have right now but will post more soon.



85 Chevy k20 Project
Working towards being a mechanic...