1986 K10 Re-build (Not the motor)

[sonicbluezx3]

I bought a 1986 K10 from my buddy back in 2009 for $700.00 with the intention of using it to pull my jet ski to and from the lake..... little did I know I would be selling the jet ski and keeping the truck as my toy. It originally had a 4.3 liter 6 cyl. engine and is an Illinois truck so you can imagine the rust. My buddy replaced the 6 cyl with the 6.2L diesel and a 700R4 trans when the original engine blew. He thought the diesel would have more power.... boy was he wrong. Haha.

Pic of the truck when I brought it home:


I drove it this way until early summer of 2010 when it stalled on me on the way home from work one day. Turned out the injection pump had to be replaced. This is most likely due to running jet fuel through it (got it free from where I worked...sump fuel. My buddy had been using it before I bought it straight with no additives which is most likely the cause. I add oil and the diesel cetane boost since jet fuel has no lubricants). So off to LKQ we went to find a replacement... it did end up fixing the problem, so I drove it some more and then decided to replace a few parts on it like the hood and the fenders:



I ended up driving it one more day out of the year and decided I was going to do a rebuild on it when I found this:



I realize now that I could have just gotten patch panels welded in and it would be done.... but now that I have the bed off I'm glad I didn't since that was rusted really bad and so is the frame.

I went out and bought a cab for it for 200 bucks, a fuel tank and sending unit, brackets, a bed for 400, and a bunch of other miscellaneous parts. I used the original radiator core support (I sandblasted it and painted/bedlined it), the original front bumper (new brackets and bolts, just polished it up and it looks new), headlights, passenger fender. I replaced both inner fenders and the driver side fender since it was dented real bad from a blowout.

Front end done:


Donor truck for the cab:

I didn't know this at the time, but it's a 2wd with a/c.... my truck is 4wd w/o a/c. So it's a little complicated but I'm making it work. I don't want A/C (costs too much, I never use it on my daily driver which is a new Ford Focus anyway). I'm making a bracket today.

"New" bed before:


Bed as it sits now:


Cab after sandblasting and priming the floorpans:


Cab as it sits now:



Painted firewall:


So I have a lot more work to do.... I am going to be sandblasting the frame once I get the old cab off.... going to coat it with something similar to POR 15.

I will post updates as I get em! Let me know what you think.

Also... if anyone knows of a place I can buy the center hump cover for the 4wd let me know.... otherwise I'm going to have to cut 2 holes and re use the hump from my old cab.

Thanks for looking!

[bake74]

     You have done some great work and have a lot more to do, keep up the good work.

[thirsty]

I realize now that I could have just gotten patch panels welded in and it would be done.... but now that I have the bed off I'm glad I didn't since that was rusted really bad and so is the frame.

You could have fixed that cab but it looks like you would have spent close to what you paid for your new cab in patch panels by the time you were done.

I went out and bought a cab for it for 200 bucks, a fuel tank and sending unit, brackets, a bed for 400, and a bunch of other miscellaneous parts.

I don't know where you are located but that would be a great deal in NH for those parts in that condition.
Nice score.

Also... if anyone knows of a place I can buy the center hump cover for the 4wd let me know.... otherwise I'm going to have to cut 2 holes and re use the hump from my old cab.

I would used the hump out of your old cab. It already has the transfer case shifter in it.

Keep up the good work.

[slammed79]

Good progress so far! I'm lookin forward to more

[sonicbluezx3]

You could have fixed that cab but it looks like you would have spent close to what you paid for your new cab in patch panels by the time you were done.

True.... but I don't have a welder nor do I know how to weld.

I would used the hump out of your old cab. It already has the transfer case shifter in it.

Keep up the good work.

True but again I don't have a welder... so I would have to pay someone to come out and weld it together.

I know it's not a very popular thing, but I was told I could just get a body lift.... I'm not sure how much I would need though. I don't know much about that... but from what I've been told it will be alot easier to do that than have a welder plus it would be cheaper. Any ideas?

[thirsty]

I think you did the right thing by replacing the cab is what I meant. Just buying the patch panels would be about what you spent on the new cab. Rust is always deeper than it looks on the outside. Plus you saved a lot of work. $200 well spent on the cab.

On the Hump, Why can't you just bolt it in? It looks like you already have the raised section for the transfer case in the rear. Cut your old one out. Lay it on your new cab and mark it out. Make your cut smaller so that you have something to bolt/screw it too. And put some body caulk or butyl tape under it before you fasten it down. I may be wrong about this but I would look at it as an option. I'm sure somebody will chime in if I steered you in the wrong direction.

[big bear]

great work and a project man.  looking good

[sonicbluezx3]

I think you did the right thing by replacing the cab is what I meant. Just buying the patch panels would be about what you spent on the new cab. Rust is always deeper than it looks on the outside. Plus you saved a lot of work. $200 well spent on the cab.

On the Hump, Why can't you just bolt it in? It looks like you already have the raised section for the transfer case in the rear. Cut your old one out. Lay it on your new cab and mark it out. Make your cut smaller so that you have something to bolt/screw it too. And put some body caulk or butyl tape under it before you fasten it down. I may be wrong about this but I would look at it as an option. I'm sure somebody will chime in if I steered you in the wrong direction.

Gotcha... yeah I know that for sure, I have found a ton of rust that I didn't even know was there since I've been tearing things apart. All the cab bolts were seized, so I am in the process of cutting them out. 3 down, 1 more to go (saved the hardest for last...right over the gas tank! Lol)

I'm going to end up doing that with the humps... I would like to find a replacement bolt in one though so I don't have to use mine (I'm sure there's a ton of rust on the other side)... plus it would look better if I just used a new one and bolted it in. I can't find a place that sells them though... don't even know if they exist.

I'll hopefully have the cab off this weekend assuming we don't have problems from the hurricane...if I do I'll take some pics.

Thanks for the compliments!

[jaredts]

That is some fine looking work.  You got a steal on the donor cab.

[1979C20]

The humps in the 4 speed trucks is a high hump and it bolts in. You could probably find one at the junk yard

[sonicbluezx3]

Thought I would post an update....

The cab is off and I just coated the frame this past weekend. I used KBS Coatings Rust Seal 3 Step system.

Check out the before picture (I had already used the wire wheel to get the loose rust off)





After I used the Aqua Kleen degreaser:


After I used the Zinc Phosphate "Rust Blast" stuff (notice the cloudy looking color the metal now has):


Final product! (I still have to paint on a couple more light coats, but you get the idea)


After I finish the coating, I am going to work on the cab some more.... need to install the A/C system, fix a hole in the floor in the back, cut out the center hump and install the new one from my old cab, and then I will be mounting it onto the frame. My projected date to have all of this stuff done is early October. Then it's onto the final touches!

[Engineer]

I approve.     

[sonicbluezx3]

I didn't get to work on the truck this past weekend since I had to do a lot of schoolwork, but I am planning on painting the last two coats this weekend and I am going to try to work on getting the A/C housing installed on the new cab as well.

Oh I do have one update...the sliding glass window is now installed on the new cab thanks to my buddy's help.

Funny random thing... the guy I bought my truck from is a Chevy guy and he just bought a 1985 Ford F350 with the 6.9 diesel (his is stick... I'm kinda jealous).......I'm a Ford guy and I own a Chevy truck. Lol.

[captain carnage]

Looks great, and that's way better than any Ford out there

[sonicbluezx3]

Haha thanks. I don't know if I agree, haven't ever owned a Ford truck. I am very happy with my Chevy though... just wish the 6.2 had more power! Lol. Way down the road I may look into swapping some sort of turbo diesel into it, but I have to finish what I've got right now lol and then focus on school for a while.