1976 Jimmy K5 Project

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Evening fellas,

I picked up an old K5 a few weeks ago. This thread's purpose is to document what I've been working on lately. The truck originally had a 400 small block, but now has a 350/350/203 combo with a Dana 44 front and 12 bolt rear. It runs decently and drives...well, it drives.

I bought the truck knowing it had quite a few things wrong with it. It was still being used as a daily driver by the previous owner when I bought it, but definitely needs some help.



The first thing I did to the truck was work on the electrical system. The previous owner mentioned the truck had a parasitic draw. She recommended disconnecting the battery if the truck was going to be sitting for more than about 6 hours, so it must have been rather substantial.

The CD player and trailer brake controller were both wired directly to hot. The trailer wire harness was hacked into a tail light circuit with scotch locks, and there were a multitude of wires that were inexplicably lopped off. I removed all the trailer brake controller, trailer lighting harness, and CD player wiring. I also removed any of the wiring I could see that no longer had a purpose. The speakers and hood liner had seen better days, so they got tossed, too.

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This truck was disgustingly dirty. I started cleaning it up to see what I was working with...and also so I didn't feel like I needed to shower after moving the truck around the house.

Before much cleaning.


The rear seat was a standard bench seat, not a K5 seat. It was also blue, obviously not matching any of the rest of the interior. Out it went. Spare tire was also pulled for cleaning and to allow access to the rear trim panel behind it. This photo also show's the truck's original color, Saratoga Silver.


Seat covers and wheel well carpet pieces had seen better days. Let's get rid of them, too.


Cleaned up the driver's side area seat. The front seats appear to be out of an S10. They're ugly, don't match, and don't fold forward to allow passengers into the rear seat. They'll be getting tossed in the near future.

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The truck's wheels were nasty. I bought some Brasso and 0000 grade steel wool to see if the wheels were salvagable.

The Brasso and steel wool combo did wonders. All it took was a lot of time, patience, and elbow grease.






In addition to the wheels, I also polished the center caps and lug nuts.


While I had the rear wheels and tires off, I pulled the drums off and cleaned the rear brakes. They were still in adjustment, and fully functional (including the emergency brake). The drums themselves were pretty crusty, so I wire brushed them and sprayed them with a couple coats of Duplicolor black caliper paint.


Before and after:

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Now for a bit of mechanical work.

The truck has what I assume to be a vacuum leak (chirping noise in high vacuum conditions). The noise seems to be coming from the trans area, so I threw a vacuum modulator at it without diagnosing the source of the vacuum leak. A new modulator is never a bad thing, right? Regardless, the noise was still present when I test drove the truck after modulator replacement; Proper diagnosis to come at a later date.

I replaced the 160F thermostat with a new 180F unit (cheap insurance). While I had the water outlet unbolted, I sprayed a couple coats of black caliper paint on it.

Before and after:




I also installed a dome light lens and parking brake pedal pad, both of which were previously missing.

Last thing on the agenda today was that the passenger side engine mount bolt was backed way out, and not grabbing any threads on the frame side of the mount. A friend of mine lifted the engine up with a pry bar, and I got the engine mount bolt installed as it should be.

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Since the parts I ordered hadn't yet arrived, I tackled some more interior work.

I pulled the front seat out so I could clean the disgusting carpet beneath. I also yanked the center console out, which was full of wads of hair and dirt. I hosed it out and washed it with dish soap and a scrub brush.



The console certainly isn't pretty, but at least it's usable now. I may mess with making it look decent in the future; Right now, though, it's not particularly high up on the priority list. In the back of the truck it goes. Crappy pic warning..


My shop vac died while I was cleaning the front passenger seat area, and my parts still hadn't come in. I ended up polishing the rear bumper to keep making progress on the truck. I stuck with the Brasso and 0000 grade steel wool combo, which again worked very well.

Here are a couple pics, both of which show part of the bumper in untouched condition (tarnished), and the rest of the bumper after I polished it.

[LTZ C20]

Welcome from central California. Very good start to your new project, good work so far. Cleaning the rims and painting the drums really made a difference. The "after" pic of the wheel and drum on the truck is my favorite. Keep it up with pics of course!

[Captain Swampy]

Sure is amazing what cleaning and polishing do! I hope your parts show up soon.
 

[blazer74]

This is a nice project. Brings back memories. Keep everything, don't throw out anything.
Enjoy!

[VileZambonie]

I hate when people swap in seats that don't belong. You're doing great but post some pix of the truck 

PS you don't need a vacuum hose on the water neck since it's not connected

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Thanks for the replies, guys!

One of the problems preventing me from driving the truck any distance was some serious radial play in the front driveline.

I got some parts in (including u-joints), so I got to work on pulling the front driveshaft out. After the shaft was out, I disassembled everything. I drove all three u-joints out (might as well do them while the shaft is out) and removed the CV centering ball assembly.

Unfortunately, the CV centering ball assembly was shot. The ball's socket was bone dry, with needle bearings strewn about at the bottom of the socket. I can't use the ball repair kits that the auto parts stores sell, because even my yoke is broken!

As such, the front driveline repair is on hold (again) until I can track down a complete new CV centering ball assembly.


Since I was left waiting on parts, I started working on the interior again.

The current interior is the red and wood veneer combo. The wood is flaking off, and the red looks crappy...so out it goes. Starting with the door panels...


Next was the interior quarter panel trim panels. They had seen better days, too, so out they came.


I can smell the asbestos from here...


After the trim panels were out, I started stripping the interior. I removed the door sill trim, transfer case shifter trim, and seatbelts. Now the only thing keeping the carpet in the truck is the driver's seat.


Here's the truck before I started cleaning up for the day. These shortening days make it tough to get much done!

You're doing great but post some pix of the truck 

Very well! Here's an overall pic. The truck is pretty straight minus a scar in the passenger side door skin and some passenger side rocker damage.

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Next on the agenda is:

• Remove driver's seat and carpet
• Scrub floorpan
• Find, buy, and install a new piece of carpet
• Install full set of seats (source vehicle TBD)
• Find CV center ball assy.; Install 3 new u joints and centering ball onto front driveshaft; Install front driveshaft into truck

Do you guys have any recommended vendors for fitted carpet?

Does anyone have any experience regarding undercoating / spray insulation? I was considering doing the floorpan before installing the new carpet and seats.

[VileZambonie]

This stuff works great http://store.secondskinaudio.com/noise-vibration-coatings/

Contact Chris the webmaster here for carpet options http://store.73-87chevytrucks.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=7&Category_Code=FLRNG

[Irish_Alley]

612-NUJ is napa's number for the cv ball and seat but its not available online for some reason.
https://www.amazon.com/Precision-612-CV-Ball-Kit/dp/B009HQP3EG $23.82
or
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Double-Cardan-CV-Ball-Kit-ACDELCO-PRO-45U0701-/121743077392?hash=item1c5873f010:g:ud8AAOSwLVZV3uVC&vxp=mtr

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Hadn't worked on the truck in a while, so a friend and I got to work yesterday.

Among the things repaired were:

• Replaced PCV valve and hose. The old valve was broken and malfunctioning.
• Added breather to passenger side valve cover. Without it, the truck's PCV system was pulling its fresh air through the rear main seal.
• Replaced all spark plugs
• Replaced both drive belts
• Added battery hold down (previously missing).
• Adjusted timing. Previous owner had base timing set at 8* BTDC; Now set to 14*. Truck is quite a bit peppier and got rid of the bog it had when suddenly going wide open throttle.

The interior is still stripped, as I haven't found suitable replacement parts at this point. Hopefully that will change soon!

Here's a couple pics to keep the thread a bit less dry for now.

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