'79 K10 in the UK

[English]

Soooo, let me start a build thread. Or, a "finishing touches" thread, as the hard work's been done already.
This is my second Chevy truck. The first was a 1982 K5, that was never more than a cat's whisker away from the scrap yard. This one's a bit nicer.

Imported from Arizona in 2013, there's a sad story attached to this truck. Apparently it was a father and son restoration project, but the father passed away, and the son, not wanting to keep the truck anymore but not wanting to see anyone else drive it either, sold it to someone who'd take it far away.

So it was shipped across the Atlantic, and spent a year living in a warehouse, before the owner decided he wasn't using it enough to justify keeping it, and sold it to me.

The specs-
1979 K10 in Scottsdale trim
350ci
3+L manual gearbox
4.10 rear end
Warn manual front hubs (I believe this was standard for the K10? It's a popular conversion for the K5)
8ft bed
keep-fit windows and no central locking
air-con (working!)


The mods-
slightly lifted (I can see the blocks at the back, but not sure about the front)
33/10.50/15 tyres (apologies, I'm English!)
Hooker headers
Dual 2.5" Flowmasters with H-pipe
73-78 front grille
tinted side windows

Also I'm pretty sure it's got all new body panels as there's virtually no rust, and minimal swirling marks on the paint. When she's clean she nearly looks like a new vehicle!

Some pics-







This is how I bought her last year. There's been a few changes since then...

[Engineer]

Awesome.

How close are you to East Anglia? If I ever make my pilgrimage to Jolly Ole England to tour the old 8th Air Force bomber bases can I borrow it?

Just kidding. And yes Arizona trucks are usually original because they don't have winter roads that need treated with corrosive snow removal chemicals.

[illinoisk30]

Welcome from Northern Illinois. Your truck looks very nice. Western trucks are always the best to restore. I am not picking on your truck but in 1979 GM went to headlight bezels that enclosed the parking light/turn signal. No one would probably know but us square body nerds. This would also be the first year that the VIN identification would be located in the left front dash on top near the window. Keep us posted on your build.

[Irish_Alley]

i bet it turns a lot of heads being an american truck and how big it is. do you have a lot of them around where you live?

[English]

Welcome from Northern Illinois. Your truck looks very nice. Western trucks are always the best to restore. I am not picking on your truck but in 1979 GM went to headlight bezels that enclosed the parking light/turn signal. No one would probably know but us square body nerds. This would also be the first year that the VIN identification would be located in the left front dash on top near the window. Keep us posted on your build.

Ah, sorry, when I said converted grille I meant the whole thing, including headlight surrounds.
I decoded the VIN when I bought it and I'm pretty sure it's a '79

[English]

Regarding it being an Arizona truck- that was it's last place of abode but I'm not sure if it spent it's whole life there. I don't have much service history with it but one of the receipts is from Washington state.

Would be good if I could trace the PO so he can see it's gone to a good home. Does the father/son story ring any bells?
I have the Arizona registration plate, also the truck has a custom pinstripe with the Fox Racing logo, so that should narrow it down a bit.

Yeah it turns heads alright, and no there's not many here at all.

I spent six months on a contract in East Anglia. It was a two hundred mile drive to work. Right now that would cost £65 ($98) in the truck. And the same again to come home!

[English]

So... the truck is no longer living in a warehouse, but outside in our famous English weather. Time to take some preventative action!
Took her to a workshop to get in waxoyled underneath, and they also did the cavity wax as well.


Steam cleaning




Cavity wax



Waxoyl

It's the sheet metal I was interested in protecting (and the guy did a top job), but it was a nightmare trying to take pictures of the inside of the wheel arches. Will get some better pics soon.

[Engineer]

Is the waxoyl necessary to stop rust and corrosion? Tell us more about it.

We have some companies that offer rust prevention in the U.S. but it isn't very popular anymore now that the auto manufacturers use galvanized body panels.

[English]

Yeah Waxoyl is for rust prevention. I wanted to get it done as soon as possible. It's for prevention only, doesn't work if you've got rust already!

[English]

With the Waxoyl out of the way, it's time to make some changes-

Sidesteps and mudflaps removed
10.50 tyres swapped out for 33/12.50/15 BFGs on Cragar 15x10s
For some reason the side windows were tinted but the rear one wasn't. I've changed that around so the rear window's tinted and the sides are standard.

[English]

Next step- change the carb.

The truck had come with the performance "upgrade" (ahem) of a Holley 750 carb and a two inch carb spacer.
Out with that, and in with a Holley 570 and no spacer.
Not as simple an install as I'd expected, as it also has an Edelbrock intake, with the vacuum port that clashes with Holley carbs.
And the throttle bracket was set up to allow for the carb spacer, which meant that it clashed with the air cleaner when the spacer was removed. D'oh!

[English]

Moving on to the interior...

My speedo and odo didn't work. I'm not fussed about the speedo, but the odometer needs to work for my insurance (it's on a classic vehicle policy, which has restricted mileage.)

Disconnected the speedo cable at both ends, and found that the cable still turned.
Tried turning the part where the cable connects to the speedo, and it looked like the speedo was working too.
Had another look at the transfer case, and realised that there was an adaptor plugged in. So I took it off and screwed the cable directly to the transfer case instead. Bingo, problem solved! I know that my speedo is out (it has 33" tyres) but that's not an issue for me, I just need the odo to work.

But the best bit about working on the speedo was the discovery that the clear plastic that covers the dials wasn't faded through UV damage, but just really dirty. Cleaned it up and now the instrument gauges look good as new! 

[English]

yeah, nice bench seat huh? The one part of a Chevy truck that wasn't "Built Tough"

Booked the truck into a retrim specialist. They normally do Mercedes and Porsche, and even do work for the McLaren factory. I wasn't sure if I was in the right place, but they assured me they had "different pricing structures"- i.e. McLaren pays through the nose, but normal people get a better rate.

After spending aaaaaaaaaaaages agonising over how to do the seat, I went for a very hardwearing grey tweed, with black vinyl for the sides and rear.
To keep it looking factory standard, they followed the flutes of the original, the only difference being deleting the centre vinyl panel. Even the buttons are the original buttons, recovered in the new material 







The photo doesn't do it justice, the seat now looks AMAZING. The only trouble is, now the seatbelts look crap!

[LTZ C20]

That seat looks FREAKING GREAT!!

[Engineer]

If you ever want to send that thing back to the colonies.........

Just sayin'.



Keep the work going. Looking good. I'm sure the original owner would be pleased with your passion.