Author Topic: Ol' Blue - 1980 K1500  (Read 973 times)

Offline scooter624

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Ol' Blue - 1980 K1500
« on: September 03, 2023, 11:00:37 AM »
Hello folks, below is my current squarebody build.  This is my third one that I've built up over the past 4-5 years.  From up north in Canada.  For all of my trucks the work has been done by myself (with a bit of help of a friend), including engine rebuilds and all new parts throughout, metal fabrication and welding, as well as gear replacement and setup (I am just a hobbyist).

For the Ol' Blue's history, originally bought by a farmer brand new in 80', was used for 13 years, then parked in 93' when the owner bought a new OBS pickup.  She sat for God knows how many years before another fella bought it, replaced a brake caliper and lost interest in building it.  Glovebox documentation offered a wealth of information about it's history, including that the odometer reading was actually correct at 37,000 KM (You wouldn't really put 100,000 KM on one of these trucks back then in only 2 years), as it was last registered on the road in 93', and the transmission was serviced (new torque converter) in 91' at 23,000 KM.  I bought the truck for $1700 CAD delivered on a trailer with a 3 hour drive to my place.  You can imagine my face when I discovered all of this.  The engine had a hard life on farm gas (what I drained from the fuel tanks was aweful) with nearly every valve either bent or worn, bent pushrods, and one damaged piston from detonation.  I ended up throwing the stock heads out, installed a new set of lifters (cam was in great shape) threw on the set of camaro heads that had a bit of work done to them, hand-lapped all 16 new valves in (seats were already cut by a shop), grabbed a factory piston and a set of rings (thanks alberta cylinder head) quick hone and ridge ream, gapped the rings, and she was back to life.









350 SBC stock rebuild with camaro heads, edelbrock intake, Holley classic 650 cfm with vacuum secondaries (62 primary, 68 secondary, black vacuum secondary spring, trying out a 7.5 in/hg power valve as 8.5 was too rich for highway)
TH400, NP205, swapped axles for a 8 lug 10 bolt front with 4.10 and 14 bolt full floater 4.10 as well.  Suspension is a 2.5" softride lift spring pack, and factory rear 52" springs with a 2.5" shackle flip.
Exhaust is 2.5" true duals with headers, flowtech red hots followed by a foot of pipe, and thrush turbo mufflers for a cheap, great sound that isn't loud or droning.
Running a pioneer deck with bluetooth, 2x 4" midrange speakers mounted under the center dash hole, and 2x 6x9 JL audio rear speakers on aluminum brackets that I whipped up at work.  It's pretty neat being able to tune the stereo system from my phone in such an old truck.
285/75R16 (Metric 33's) Cooper Discoverer AT3's.
Cab is sound-deadened with Kilmat.
Don't mind the paint, I just wanted it all the same colour, el-cheapo tremclad roller job.  Will be stripping it down in the future, re-doing the body work, and spraying with proper epoxy primer and a quality 2k paint.
Just moved further north and net 12.6 MPG on highway.  Which is not bad considering I was on my powervalve a fair bit during the drive.
If anyone knows where I can get replacement (orange) front signal marker lights it would be greatly appreciated.  (Canada)

Let me know what you guys think!

Here are some photos of my past builds.
88' GMC Jimmy (4" lift 33's & 4.56 gears, sprayed tremclad paintjob, paint is still holding up to this date, 2nd photo is from the fella I sold it to several years ago.)





81' Chev K2500 (My first that got me started into the wonderful world of squares, also a tremclad roller paintjob)





« Last Edit: September 03, 2023, 11:47:28 AM by scooter624 »

Offline bd

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Re: Ol' Blue - 1980 K1500
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2023, 12:00:51 PM »
You've definitely invested some TLC in that rig.  Welcome to the family from Central California, USA!
Rich
It's difficult to know just how much you don't know until you know it.
In other words... if people learn by making mistakes, by now I should know just about everything!!!
87 R10 Silverado Fleetside 355 MPFI 700R4 3.42 Locker (aka Rusty, aka Mater)

Offline JohnnyPopper

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Re: Ol' Blue - 1980 K1500
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2023, 08:33:27 PM »
Welcome from SoCal San Diego!

Fine work on those projects!
1957 Apache 3100 235 Inline 6, 3 on the tree
1973 C-20, 3+3 454 4BBL TH400  Water Injection
1978 K-10, 350 4BBL TH350 NP203 M.M. Part time Kit/Hubs
1980 C-10 under construction

Offline JohnnyPopper

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Re: Ol' Blue - 1980 K1500
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2023, 12:13:21 PM »
Just a point of reference: Tweeters are useless behind the seat. When used they often muddy the sound of good front speakers.

You can disable them, and use the 6x9 for bass reinforcement. Or find 6x9's without them.

Much cleaner sound, higher fidelity.
1957 Apache 3100 235 Inline 6, 3 on the tree
1973 C-20, 3+3 454 4BBL TH400  Water Injection
1978 K-10, 350 4BBL TH350 NP203 M.M. Part time Kit/Hubs
1980 C-10 under construction

Offline Dr_Snooz

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Re: Ol' Blue - 1980 K1500
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2023, 12:26:15 AM »
That first one is a handsome rig. Very nice!
1989 Chevy Suburban V-2500, 5.7L, TH400

1990 Chevy C-3500 Ext. Cab, 7.4L, 3L80

2009 Chevy Silverado 1500 WT 4WD, 4.8L, 4L60