1980 K20 4x4

[mrghostwalker]

Yup. I agree- that is a nice color!
 Unfortunately now it will be too pretty to play in the mud.

[Shifty]

Naw, just got to find some blue mud...

[carmen77]

Nothing is too pretty to play in the mud!


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[1980K20]

Thanks all! (dang, lost everything I typed).

Visited truck again, the color has a Flop to it due to pearl, changes color and hue with lighting and angle. The wheels are black, the bumpers black. With the flop to break up the length, decided single color.  No silver Denninsecond tone.

Painter has done amazing job!

Enclosing pictures, purplish hue with flash, straight blue without.

Comes home next week, front end assembled. Then it's time for me to get busy again.

[JohnnyPopper]

Sooo glad no two tone!

Beautiful Keep the pics coming PLEASE 

[1980K20]

Thanks Jonny Popper!

For seats, I really want a headrest. No vehicle is worth a rear end collision by a distracted driver on their cell phone running my neck for life. I found a place that will rebuild my seat and put an aftermarket head rest in place. He says the metal is not chromed on the aftermarket and looks kids of crummy. Reasonable price.

I found these nice looking seats, they will add a head rest and cup holders, lol. New, leather, look really nice, so they're spendy. Cerullo, American made. I've been waiting for the truck to come back for colors (argh, next week). Given the accent theme shift to black, going to have to be black so I should get started now.

Anybody out there put in a headrest? Rebuild or new?

[1980K20]

Alright, truck came back yesterday!

Lots of pictures. Big thing the hood turned out to be flimsy junk, so they're ordering another one, will weld supports into it. So that's not painted.

Like how my built in workbench turned out. Made it from old 2x10 walls of the house stalks before the shop remodel.

Plan is to install parking brake, gas pedal, main brake before talking the steering column. Electrical starts after that.

Lots of room inside the front without the inner fenders.

[Mike81K10]

Looking really good!

[frotosride]

I cringe Everytime I touch an older square body and see angle iron supporting the sides of the hoods.
Definitely, brace it up the right way before it becomes crinkled and chipped.

Looking great!!

[1980K20]

Thanks mike81k10 and frotosride!

Mike, have you ever pulled the rear axles? I was going to replace the emergency brake cable and was wondering if I have to repack bearings. When you pull the axle, lots of what looks like a combo of axle grease and differential fluid comes out. If it just gets replenished with diff fluid, it seems not.

Thanks,
Mark

[1980K20]

Alright, got some good time in this weekend.  Progress and issues.

Parking brake
- exhaust will fry the cable, mix more exhaust wrap, I suppose
- need still to replace one rear cable
- forgot to order the retention clips

Accelerator
- 2 of 3 bolts striped out
- kick down cable looks wrong, needs more work

Brakes
- mostly in, master cylinder bled

Transmission - leaking, Sigh. I tightened everything to torque, but some seemed loose. Tightened, hopefully it will do the job.

Steering column rubber gasket, found one, but back ordered.

Happy with the progress so far.

[1980K20]

Answering my question about rear end bearings.  Always an opportunity to do some research!

This truck has the "GM Corporate" 10.5", 14 bolt wheel over rear end. The axle comes out first and the wheel rolls on bearings on the axle. You remove two large axle nuts with a lock washer in between to remove the drum. The bearing and seal are mounted inside the drum.

The bearing is fully lubed from differential fluid. I suspect when I took my first from off, the thick sloppy grease was probably from packing when the bearings were replaced. There was maybe 50 miles on the new bearings.

I found a video where the guy rattled off the torque for everything. I didn't follow that procedure, so I'll need to retorque both drums. I don't have the shop manual that covers this diff, but haven't looked on the internet yet either.

Like mike81k10, I'm finding some sheet metal screws that are stripped. I'm finding shortages of posts, so will reuse more than I wanted to. I try to keep only three items going at once. I usually progress to the point where I need something, maybe paint, maybe a bolt. I move to the next thing until I can solve that and come back to it.

[Mike81K10]

 GM did not do well putting screws in thin sheet metal for the Accelerator peddle, the two fuse box screws, and such. I found the main problem with the screws is that of the thread. GM used course threaded screws in thin sheet metal when they should have been fine threads (many more per inch than they are). It has been a headache for me as well and I had to come up with solutions which normally meant a slightly larger bolt with fine threads than the OEM screw. I used a nut to endure it stays tight on both the accelerator and the Fuse Box.

You have done a great job so far and your engine looks really nice as well.

[1980K20]

Okay, back home from visiting the family for the 4th. Getting back going again.

I've got brakes, steering in. I then went to put the firewall insulation in. Looks like you normally put that in before putting the brakes and steering in. I've also got some insulating material from the store here.

Any suggestions for firewall?

Thanks!
Mark

[1980K20]

Two steps forward, one step back...

Making good progress, steering and brakes are in. Ran into some issues.

- my hacked up exhaust pipe sits lower now and hits the emergency brake cable.

- this nice looking seam dealer the painter put on isn't working out. There are pictures somewhere back in the thread. I've been putting in sound barrier from the store. It wasn't adhering as it should to the dealer, probably because it's rough texture. Then the paint doesn't Adhere well to the sealer and the sealer isn't Adhering well to the cab. So I'm taking it off. The front part I can just peel off (not giving me confidence of something that lasts long term), but the back part is just a mess. Good news is I'll be able to continue installing firewall pad. The sound stuff sticks really well to the metal.

Hope to start installing electrical or radio or inside ac unit tomorrow

Mark