Chevy K10 '78 LWB

[Antti]

After having a '84 gmc 2wd as a daily driver for a few years, I started looking for a '73-'80 4wd longbed or suburban. In the autumn of 2007 I found this '78 that had pretty rusty body, but very decent frame, and a '92 6.2 diesel, sm-465 and np-205.

There's the truck how it was when I got it (pic taken by some former owner). It was lifted 4" w/ ranchos front/blocks rear.


First I got issues with fuel system. Now it has new fuel lines, cleaners, electric lift pump and rebuilt injectors and injection pump.

I also rebuilt both drive shafts and front axle shafts with new joints, installed new wheel bearings, and rebuilt the transfer case. The latter mainly because I wanted to twin stick it anyway. I also lowered the case a little to ease out the shafts.



I installed longer brake lines and removed the stabilizer because of the lift. Lifted steering arm and a new steering stabilizer were also necessities.


The truck had 35x12.5" tires on 10" rims. Two of the tires were really worn out. I got a set of new 285/75R16 tires on 7" cragar black soft wheels. The width of that combo is just perfect.

Recently I got rid of the high blocks and installed a shackle flip. A guy I know made those parts. It has 56" rear springs.

I just bought used 52" blazer rear springs to substitute the hard-as-a-rock rancho front springs to protect my spine.

[Antti]

Currently I'm working with the body. I got better driverside bed side, bed floor and both fenders, for those parts were pretty bad. The cab I'm going to repair w/ new inner & outer rockers, front body mounts and cab corners. Of course it needs some minor patches too. Now It's stripped down to cab, but is still driveable.




The starting point looked like this.

[Antti]

The passengerside is welded and the welds ground down. Then soldered with body lead and smoothed down.

I'm going to put more detailed pictures of the driver's side.

[Antti]

The driverside prgressing. I'm a first-timer, so I didn't have the nerve to document every stage of the pas.side, which included lots of learning... 

First I cut off all the bad parts with an angle grinder and painted the metal that's gonna be covered by other parts. Since I was not taking the floor pans out, the front body mounts were PITAs to get out.


Then tried on the new parts and cut them to fit. There you need to put the door temporarily back on to see how they fit.


After everything is spotwelded to their right places, the welds can be completed. I think on this side I got the sheets fit together almost perfect. This time I shoud get away with lead only, without any putty. That's the best way to avoid rust, I think.

[80stepsideguy]

Very nice job man looks good. Welcome to the forum and welcome from florida Look forward to seeingm ore pics..
thanks
pat

[Captkaos]

Looking good! 

[Antti]

Thanks guys!

I ground the welds down:




Then sealed the spotwelded seams,
and put some lead on the ground welds and smoothed them down:




Turned out better than passengerside welds, but still needs some putty. Not much though. 

[Captkaos]

I'm not sure why you deleted your rides post, but all truck builds go in the rides section, projects section were if you were documenting an area like the floorpan replacement if there wasn't one.

[Antti]

Ok, thanks for info, and moving it back!

[Antti]

Hasn't posted for awhile..
Thought it would've been pretty boring if I had documented every piece this far... wirewheeling, plugwelding dozens and dozens of little screwholes on the roof and on the floor, grinding, sanding, puttying, masking, priming, painting, sanding the drippings down, painting again, piece by piece, little by little... and everything seems to take trice the time I thought it would.

Anyways, I finally got the cab painted.


I did the doors and the fenders separate. Sure, it's nice to have thousands of lakes, four different seasons and vast resources of spring water, but man, do I still envy everybody who lives in an arid climate? This fender was from a 1980 Nevada truck, and just didn't have any rust at all. In Finland you can see trucks of this age with not much else than rust...

[Antti]

The paint job ain't near as good as it looks in the photos. It has many flaws, but it has to go now. I'm building this truck for a driver, not a show queen. And after all, this was my first paint job and first body work at all, so I think I must take this as a learnig experience and be happy with it, even if it doesn't look as good as I imagined it would.

After averything was painted, it was finally time to start assembling.  I think the white looks just great on the sheet metal parts of the interior. All my other interior parts, on the other hand, are s**t, but I think I'll do the interior as a separate project in the future.


The doors:


fenders:


The front end:

[Antti]

This weekend I changed the shaft seal at the transfer case mounting adapter to stop oil from flowing from tranny to the transfer case. I thought there were seals at the both end of the adapter, so I removed both the case and the adapter, but there was a seal only at the back of the adapter. So I changed the seal, bolted the adapter to the case, and bolted them back to the tranny as a unit to avoid messing up the seal. Man, it was hard job to get it back!

I think I will do the front spring swap next, before I start working with the bed. I try to post something about it.

Lastly, I'll post a couple of pictures about the beauty of the last of winter, and of spring.
Days lighten up and get longer...


... last really cold nights after warm sunny days can produce beautiful, od things...


... and then, as the weather keeps on warming up, the swiftly melting snow uncovers the precious earth (as well as the leftover junk you dumped to snow drift right from the door of your garage, as you were working on your truck in there and needed more room).

[oldwhity]

That looks great.

[Antti]

Thanks, oldwhity! I like your old whity 4x4. Has a great original, non-restored "work truck" look with hubcaps and all. I can't recall ever seeing pictures of long '73-87 steppers 'til I saw several on this forum, and I think they're really cool.

[oldwhity]

Thanks. I'm starting to see more of them. I wouldn't mind making my 85 a stepper too.