1974 Chevrolet K10

[Jason S]

Here is my '74 Chevrolet K10.  350, SM465 - 4 speed, NP203- part time, 3.73's with an Eaton posi in back.







One of a very few photographs I have during the rebuild.  That is my 1964 F-100 on the right side of the photo.


Some photos from 2004

[VileZambonie]

nice

[thirsty]

Nice build.
I like that you used stock wheels with the hub caps.

[84chvy]

very nice. exellent job

[Captkaos]

Very nice!

[junkman.]

looks good  is that an 80's bed  fuel door?

[bake74]

     Very nice, I actually like the stock hubcap/wheel look on that truck.

[firefighter]

Wow, nice looking truck.
You did a great job.

[hotrod24]

Nice i love 73-74 trucks...

[69byrd]

Very nice!! Great job

[Jason S]

Thanks for all great replies.  I put a lot of time into this truck. 

Essentially, this was a frame up rebuild while trying to restore to factory appearance as close as possible (within budgetary constraints).

The bed is an '80's bed.  I couldn't find a correct replacement bed.  The truck was originally a single tank setup (passenger side) and so while rebuilding, I added the driver side tank to match the filler door.  As the passenger side of the replacement bed didn't have a door, I had to have a hidden filler setup.  While it's not the most convenient for gassing up, the passenger tank has served more in the auxiliary role. 

The block is a '76 4-bolt main 350, bored 30-30 with Federal Mogul flattop pistons, upon which I added 87 up TBI heads. While the TBI heads aren't the greatest, I came out with a rebuilt set of heads with hardened valve seats for cheap.  They give gobs of low end torque, but don't seem to have much top end to them.  As I've been collecting parts to do a propane setup on this truck, I've really wondered what these heads will do overall. I put what an RV style cam in, so I'm sure that doesn't help top end any either. If anyone is interested, I'll post specs on the engine buildup when I have a chance.

Prior to purchasing the '76 350 (which was in a '75 C-10), months earlier I had pulled the carburetor off that '75 truck. When doing the rebuild, I found it to have all the original GM gaskets. That carb wound up on my 1973 GMC.  Based of my findings on the carb, I thought the 350 might be a a simple as a gasket job, however I found that the mains were pretty worn and the cylinders needed some work.  However, that '75 Chevy yielded it's 350, an almost perfect tailgate, manual column with keys and numerous other parts. 

The build decal listed this pickup as having 16" wheels with bright hubcaps.  Most of the 1/2 ton trucks of this era with 16" wheels had the smaller 15" style hubcaps.  The replacement 6-lug 16" wheels that I could find where setup to take the 3/4 ton hubcaps. So, I matched back the best I could.  I think it's more in keeping with the factory appearance than the two 15" rally wheels and two 15" stamped steel wheels that came with the truck when I bought it. 

Speaking of when I bought the K-10, it had a bent up shop built winch bumper (less the winch) with the PTO driven driveshafts and PTO on the transmission.  I really would've liked to have had a setup like that. However, I haven't come across many PTO driven winches in my searches over the last 10 plus years. Overall, when I bought the truck it needed pretty much everything from the top of the fenders down replaced because of rust.  In the rebuild, I replaced the fenders, core support, bed, doors and inner fenders. I repaired the rockers and floor with hand fabricated pieces.

[gto109]

Real nice truck.

[cvbear]

You have done a great job with that truck.  You should be proud of it.

[Engineer]

I approve.