1981 K20 "Custom Deluxe"

[81_Chevy]

Before and after shot of the new rear bumper made for hauling. Still have yet to add a trailer wiring plug.

[81_Chevy]

And here she is, finally done. After 3 years in the works she's finally done. On a side note, which is pretty funny, when we were ready to paint we pulled out my dad's old paint guns and they were locked up so we pulled out our 14$ harbor freight paint guns and used that to paint, self etching primer, primer, charcoal grey, and the white, and the paint job came out almost near perfect.

[Irish_Alley]

looking good, cant wait to see it done.

[81_Chevy]

Check the previous page(4) in case you missed some of my other updates when i uploaded pics. The Beast is pretty much done until spring, then we are going to wet sand it and install some new under the hood items and dress up!

-Nic

[81_Chevy]

Got some preventative maintenance done on the beast yesterday, replaced the thermostat and flushed the cooling system. Should there be any bubbles coming out of the radiator? Not big ones, but small ones.

Also today I'm changing the oil and changing the rear end oil and am going to inspect the gears while I'm at it, what are some things I should look for?

-Nic

[81_Chevy]

well i had an interesting little ordeal this morning...

went out side to start my truck up to warm it up in the morning like normal, came out and had no heat.. did think anything of it because the temp gauge was still cold.

so i went down the road and on the way to the school looked down at my temp gauge and it was in the red, but still had no heat. so i pulled into a neighbors driveway and sat for a min. the second i popped the hood the radiator cap flew off and coolant went everywhere.

so now 1. i have no vehicle to drive, and 2. ive got a vehicle sitting in a neighbors driveway with no coolant in the radiator, and it being un drivable. oh and the radiator cap is lost, it flew somewhere.

im guessing i was low on coolant since the thermostat didnt open. how bad could this get? could my engine freeze up? or my radiator?  it was -12 out when i left this morning.. 

on the pleasant side i have the sweet smell or coolant on my clothes.. im lucky i didn't get burned, and the coolant was only luke warm temp.

[Captkaos]

How hot did it get?  Was it low on coolant?  It defintiely sounds low if the temp gauge was cold until you started driving.
I would get a new cap and put coolant back in it to get it home and then do a pressure test on it to check for leaks.
If it didn't run hot for a long time you potentially should be ok.  Did you have good coolant in it prior?  Being that cold could cause an issue unless there is coolant in the system somewhere.  You just don't want water in there to freeze.

[81_Chevy]

it was only that hot for probably a minute or two. the needle was in the dead center of the red zone on the gauge heading towards the edge. my best guess was that it was low on coolant, also my overflow bottle had been leaking coolant on the ground prior to this and then it stopped last week but i didn't think anything of it.

as far as good coolant im not sure. i just did a flush less then a month ago, but what came out this morning was brownish. but there was about a gallon of pure coolant in the system prior to this event.

[Captkaos]

I would top it off and pressure test it.  If it wasn't pegged for more 30 minutes you are probably fine.

[81_Chevy]

alright thanks capt.

also, will have the coolant on my fresh paint do anything to it?

[Jmac02]

Hey I like what you did with the diamond plate. I think I just got an idea for mine. Thanks.

[Engineer]

Getting coolant on your paint will keep it from rusting. Hehe.

J/K. No the coolant won't hurt your paint at all.

Did you test your coolant before winter? It sort of sounds to me like it was trying to freeze. Just slushy enough to not flow, but not frozen solid enough to break anything. If the coolant was slushy the water pump will still turn not indicating a problem. However if the coolant can't flow the melted coolant in the engine will flash into steam creating the immense pressure that blew the cap off.

In extreme cases I have seen the coolant freeze solid enough to prevent the water pump from turning. And at that point you are usually replacing the block, heads, radiator, and heater core........

A 50/50 mix should test to -40° F.

[81_Chevy]

didnt test it. but topped it off and it runs good now.. for now.

i think the problem was my leaky over flow bottle and that let the rad get low on coolant. so i will just have to keep and eye on it for now until i get a new one!

along with the mess i broke my hazard switch off inside the column. so i spent all day today outside in the cold replacing that, man that is a royal PITA to replace. when i was putting the steering wheel back on im pretty sure i got it back on all the way, should i be able to push on it and have it go into the column a little? like i can feel the column pushing in a little.


 

Hey I like what you did with the diamond plate. I think I just got an idea for mine. Thanks.

no problem! i think it added a nice touch to mine! be sure to post up pics when u do!

[81_Chevy]

Well, the Beast made it through the winter!

Big ish plans ahead for the summer. New 600CFM aluminum holley carb, performer intake.

Just ordered my HIDS as well, went with 6000K. I will definatly post pics of the install process. The HID kit also comes with a relay harness, so thats always nice to take that extra load off the dash headlight switch.

Also bought a rear ELECTRIC 3 window slider from a buddy, so that will be cool to put in.

-Nic

[bake74]

Also bought a rear ELECTRIC 3 window slider from a buddy, so that will be cool to put in.
-Nic

      I would be interested in seeing the install photo's for the rear sliding window.