My 82 K10

[Boger]

So I bought a 82 K10 from a Co-Worker, he was hard up for some cash.  So I took his old push truck off him for $2000. 

I probably overpaid a bit, but like my dad said I wanted a project and I got one.....

Truck as it sits right now has a fairly recent rebuild on the engine 350, .30 over, mild cam, eldelbrock aluminum intake.
Turbo 350 b&m shift improvement kit.

I have not had a chance to pull differential covers to determine gears, but from the way it drove I am 90% sure they are 3.73 or 4.10's.

I started thinking "Eh, put a patch in the floor board and fix the power steering gearbox".  Next thing I know the interior is stripped out and I am chasing down rust............

But starting to make progress, and every time I have a question I do a google search and it leads me to this site.

Bought a welder and learned how to weld on the drivers side floor pan I don't think it turned out to bad.

Pretty much after I get the windshield out and fix the source of my leak, I can get started on piecing it back together and making it what I want.






Also, I had a fit trying to cut my patch panel for the drivers side kick panel.  I was curious if there are some must have tools for sheet metal work, right now all I have is a die grinder, and some body hammers.

[roundhouse]

You need a hand held sheet metal bender

Like a pair of pliers but the jaw is 4" wide



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[FlatBlack77]

those pliers are nice to have.

plus some air shears are handy dandy.

eastwood.com has some pretty nice stuff ive gotten a handful of tools from them

[Boger]

Awesome suggestions, I get paid tomorrow.  Going to have to do some shopping.  Thanks for the responses.

[Boger]

So little update, I have not forgot about my truck.  I am currently waiting on back surgery, so I am not really able to do anything.  As soon as I start to feel better the windshield is the first thing to come out so I can start doing some rust repair.  I was outside cleaning today, and I think I am going to try my hand at repainting the interior.  So going to be doing some reading on the process of that.

[Boger]

Had my back surgery on 17th, worked like a charm! Downside is no bending or lifting for 2 weeks.  So today me and my dad went out to the garage cleaned a bit, he helped me put up my new peg board. 

I also spent about a hour working on the truck, starting to fish out the engine bay wiring harness.  It is not looking good unfortunately, lots of cut wires all over the place its gonna be fun.

One of the guys I work with made a interesting point, I already have the truck pretty much stripped to nothing.  Rewiring it with a painless wiring kit would be incredibly easy vs trying to chase down 30+ years of hacked up wiring.  So I am keeping that in the back of my mind for now.  My back is sore though, did all I can for today going back out to finish it up tomorrow.



Those valve covers came off a 283 I have in my garage, I just wanted to see how they look on my truck.  Like putting make up on a pig lol.

But when I pulled off the old valve covers, I discovered the heads are 441's.  From a little research I have determined those are a fairly decent set of heads at least.  I've also been told they are 2.02/1.64, don't think there is a way to check that without pulling the heads and I don't really wanna do that. 

[Displaced_Txn]

painless is nice but since you have the downtime could find the factory wiring diagrams on here and make a plan of attack and save some cash and do it yourself. not a ton of wiring on them.  Mine was the same way and just took my time, did my research and re did the wiring on it. and deleted about 30 ft of useless wiring the p/o installed.

[VileZambonie]

An air saw is a must have for doing body work. Carbide burrs, die grinders, angle grinder, flap discs, DA,  long board, sanding blocks, mud cutter all good to have if you intend to do a nice job with the least amount of hassle.

As far as your wiring harness, it looks like based on what you have there, it's plenty salvageable. If you are going to really clean up that engine compartment then it would be a worthwhile investment but otherwise, clean up what you have.

[Captkaos]

I would repair what you have, if you plan to keep it stock and only need portions of the wiring I sell American AutoWire sections for up to 1982 they are already terminated and just plug in and replace what you have.

[Boger]

So I got out there again today finished pulling the harness, it is not near as bad as I thought.  I am going to try and clean it up a bit.  I guess the clutter must have made me think it was 10x worse.  All of the wires that were cut, lead to connectors that went to nothing. Not going to lie a little confused by this.

I am going to mess with the harnesses more tomorrow,  basically all I am going to have to do is clean them up lol.  I am just ready to stop taking stuff apart and start putting things back together...

[Boger]

Just got a little bit to finish up on the wiring, took a break from it and went to a few junkyards.  Found one with loads of 70's-90's chevy and scored a set of captains chairs with center console from a 89 suburban.  Got the drivers side mounted and I like the way it looks.



Excuse the mess, I can't bring myself to clean when I still have loads of work to do on the inside.

Also found a K10 blazer with 3/4 ton drivetrain underneath it out there, was quoted 400 for the pair.  Not sure if I wanna do that or not.

[Engineer]

Wow. I mean wow. I commend you for wanting to fix the wiring on that. As it stands you shouldn't have to worry about your spark plugs cross firing.

And the butchered up rubber fuel line laying on the heater hose has vapor lock written all over it.

By all means don't be afraid to ask for advice. I've seen too many square bodys look like yours under the hood and it irritates me to no end that people with no brains would do that to a truck.

[Boger]

Wow. I mean wow. I commend you for wanting to fix the wiring on that. As it stands you shouldn't have to worry about your spark plugs cross firing.

And the butchered up rubber fuel line laying on the heater hose has vapor lock written all over it.

By all means don't be afraid to ask for advice. I've seen too many square bodys look like yours under the hood and it irritates me to no end that people with no brains would do that to a truck.

Thank you, wiring is not fun still not done, but I am seeing progress (got rid of a handfull of wires and everything still works).  As far as fuel, transmission, oil cooler ect... I am probably going to try my hand at doing some braided stainless steel AN fittings tied into some solid lines.  As of right now everything rubber is on a list to get replaced.  I've spent countless hours on summit/jegs and many other sites looking at my options.  I am fairly confident I can get it sorted out just going to cost me some $$$.

[Boger]

Had Easter off, finally finished getting my bucket seats installed.



Pic just incase anyone was interested in how they looked installed.  First week back at work, so I will have a paycheck thankfully.  Going to go back to the junk yard and get some door panels I think.

[Boger]

Work has slowed down a bit on my truck, but I have been doing stuff!

Wiring has been slowly getting better, I hate doing it so I only do it when really really really really bored.



New kick down/throttle cable bracket, also broke the tab on my kickdown cable....



Burned my angle grinder to the ground...



Broke my Harbor Freight 1/2 breaker bar, bought a Snap-On breaker bar to replace it.  Came with a free magnetic screw driver, seriously my favorite thing in the world.



I mean seriously, I use the crap out of this thing it is amazing.

Interior is ready for new panels, engine just needs new wires/plugs and fuel lines run to get running again.  Its getting closer to moving out of my garage.