Wasted Dragon's 79' Chevy K10

[Wasted Dragon]

Hey guys, my name is Doug.

Bought this pickup couple weeks back, she's a little rough around the edges, but I like her. After having my Toyota pickup stolen from me a while back, it's kind of a new chapter in my life.

She has the sbc 350, with a 4-speed manual, cheyenne trim, 2" Lift blocks in the rear.

Feel free to make any suggestions as I go with this build. I'm a college student working a part-time job, so this will be a slow build, or rebuild. Probably won't be doin much modifications or anything like that.

Anyways, here's how she looked when I got her.


After buying her, found the original manual in the glove box. Which was pretty cool, because it had some records from the first owner written in it.




She's drivable, but needs some work. Needs an engine rebuild, PS Pump leaks, Needs tires, Needs front driveshaft, rust under windshield, Need new Rear Brakes.

Those are the things I've noticed so far, I've been busy with work and school, so I haven't gotten a chance to really get down and clean her up.

My only plan modification wise is to do a TBI conversion on it, as it will be my DD, and take off the rear 2" lift.

[Wasted Dragon]

First thing I did when I drove her back home was take the camper shell off.

[Wasted Dragon]

Here's a pic of my other baby who's been MIA since August 2012. Was in the family since I was ~7. It was passed down to me stock with just a 4 inch lift kit when I was 16. I worked on that truck and it changed my life forever.

[rs74]

Cool! It will be nice to see a 4x4 build for a little change of pace. What are your overall plans for it.

[77ChevySharkBite]

Welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear about your loss of your Toyota, but welcome to the squared family, we're all a bunch of sqaured addicts. Truck looks really solid, sound, and just a little TLC and you'll be good to go.

This forum is FULL of knowledge that you'll be able to learn and if you don't know the answer I'm positive someone will have the answer. Best of luck on your project man!

[hopped up]

Cool truck. Sucks about the toyota but at least now you have a chevy!!
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[Wasted Dragon]

rs74- For now, I'm just getting her all fixed up so she will be completely functional. Then maybe I'll throw in some long travel springs or maybe 4-link it haha in my dreams. I'll figure out what I want as I go. Need to go check out some vendors for off-road stuff later on.

Sharkbite-Thanks for the warm welcome, it's always nice, especially when going on a new forum. I'll give her what I got as long as I got the money.

hopped up- Yeah I like both chevy and toyota trucks a lot. I've always liked the older chevys, glad I got my hands on one, especially with a manual transmission. Driving an automatic for these past months kinda made me bored.

[Wasted Dragon]

So I got down and and started workin under the truck for a bit.

Got rid of a lot of grime on the rear diff. It hasn't leaked so far, and I managed to get the rounded out check plug loose with enough persistence, and the fluid was up the rim and looked good.



So for the time being, I gonna get the diff breather outta there and clean it, so it doesn't get clogged and blow a seal. Later on I'll need to find a place to sell me a check plug, maybe go to the pick n pull.


Here are the 2" lift blocks in the rear that I'm going to be getting rid of.




This....is gonna need to be changed.



And here's the gas tank patch on the other tank that is coming off. I forgot to mention that previously. Gonna need a new gas tank, but I'm not really in a rush. The driver side one works fine.

[Wasted Dragon]

So now, it seems the engine and transmission leaks, but I'm thinking it's just the power steering pump getting all over everything. So I'm just going to replace the pump first and get it all figured out, before I start replacing other things. Also getting new lines for it too.

Also getting new Tie rod ends as one side has a fully ripped apart boot, so I don't know how long it's been like that, but they're getting replaced.

It'll all be coming in tomorrow, I won't have work so I got a good day ahead of me.

[77ChevySharkBite]

I would hate to see you replace something that doesn't need to be replaced, how's the steering feel is it real hard to turn or is it loose, or does it come and go sometimes?
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[Wasted Dragon]

Thanks for lookin out.

I know for sure the pump isn't bad, it doesn't groan or anything. No hard steering unless the belt slips, which I also need to replace or tighten up. It's just that it has a major leak issue, even from the old cracked power steering lines too. I figured it'd just be easier to replace the whole thing, and move on to other issues, especially since it's pretty cheap too. $46 with a $12.50 Core deposit. Lines are about $20 ea.

[77ChevySharkBite]

Hey man been there spent money when I didn't have too, but yeah man I replaced some hose on mine because it wasn't all that great

I hope that fixes the leak man, keep us updated.
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[Wasted Dragon]

Alright, thanks man. I can use all the advise I can get. Especially when I'm not really familiar with front solid axles at all, nor carb'd trucks. I've only rebuilt a two barrel carb, from my roommates old ford a little while back just to learn how it worked.

But yeah, I'll post up tomorrow night and let ya'll know.

[68Timber]

I wouldn't take the rear lift blocks out. The truck appears to have a 2.5 to 3" lift over 33" tires. The front would have spring lift. Check to see if the front leaves are positive arch or negative arch to verify. Nice truck.

[Wasted Dragon]

Thank you, they are positive arc and I'm glad you said something, cause I was gettin pretty confused on that. Previous owner said it was lifted, my coworker said the front was stock, then I noticed drop brackets for the bumpstops on the front.

[Wasted Dragon]

Well, I got the pump off today which only took around 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, something urgent came up, and I wasn't able to finish putting all the new stuff in. So it's just gonna have to sit til tomorrow after work.

[77ChevySharkBite]

Got to take care of your priorities first, looking forward to an update and hopefully it fixing your issue with leaking!

[Wasted Dragon]

Well I got the new power steering pump in. Put a new belt on it too, so it wouldn't squeak anymore. Got done when it was dark out, so no pics yet. I will tomorrow.

Such a crazy day today. After I got done, I drove the chevy to burger king cause I hadn't eaten all day. Was coming back and the intersection right before my apartment, I hit a bump, and my headlights went out. Since I was right there, I decided to just take it to my parking lot, then it they came back on after another bump. Then, of course, I get pulled over right before I make the turn into the parking lot.

I explained what happened, but of course they didn't believe me. They tested me to see if I was drunk, asked if I got into a fight cause I had blood all over (weird nose bleed issue that happened a couple times today that I need to look into), not to mention the burn marks all over my arm from work. They just gave me a warning, but man, I was so pissed at my luck.

Man I need a drink now.

[77ChevySharkBite]

Nice!!!! Sounds like you fixed it man great job!

Have a similar story for me, my headlight was out in my DD so I was pulled over me and my parents had just went out to eat. 1 cop pulls me over well another comes over and shines his light right at mine and my dads face!!! Now talk about pissed off I was cussing up a storm, but they let me go too so no worries
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[Wasted Dragon]

Yeah dude, they were treatin me like I was gonna pull out a sawed off shotgun on em. But that's just what they're trained to do I guess. I grew up in Eureka, so the police were a little more respectful, and they still cracked down hard on people with hard drugs. Anyone who has lived there has probably seen a team suddenly run out of a van and storm a house haha.

Anyways, here's the new pump.



Come to find out that the pump that fits is an '80, not a '79. Figured out the hard way, as the bracket for the pump would not fit the '79 one.

Way more comfortable to drive the truck now. Unfortunately, there was a leak in my installation. The high pressure hose end that goes to the back of the pump leaked. So I went and bought thread tape, took er down and put her back up. Won't know til tomorrow if it'll work or not.

I picked up a hose for an '80 but it wouldn't fit the gearbox so I couldn't use it, just trying to make sure. This truck is easy to work on, but finding right parts sure is driving me crazy.

[Wasted Dragon]

Also, I pulled this out from behind the bench seat. Had to take the whole seat out, and unbolt the seat belt anchor to get it out. Whoever built it did a good job in the dimensions. I'm selling it on craigslist though. Not much of an audio guy, door speakers are enough for me.

[77ChevySharkBite]

Originally Posted by Wasted Dragon

Yeah dude, they were treatin me like I was gonna pull out a sawed off shotgun on em. But that's just what they're trained to do I guess. I grew up in Eureka, so the police were a little more respectful, and they still cracked down hard on people with hard drugs. Anyone who has lived there has probably seen a team suddenly run out of a van and storm a house haha.

Anyways, here's the new pump.



Come to find out that the pump that fits is an '80, not a '79. Figured out the hard way, as the bracket for the pump would not fit the '79 one.

Way more comfortable to drive the truck now. Unfortunately, there was a leak in my installation. The high pressure hose end that goes to the back of the pump leaked. So I went and bought thread tape, took er down and put her back up. Won't know til tomorrow if it'll work or not.

I picked up a hose for an '80 but it wouldn't fit the gearbox so I couldn't use it, just trying to make sure. This truck is easy to work on, but finding right parts sure is driving me crazy.

Nice man!!!! Glad you got it all worked out, so do you have power steering or not? I know you mentioned that the bracket wouldn't work from the 80, on your 79. Yeah getting parts can be a little nerve racking, but there out there got to believe that!

Originally Posted by Wasted Dragon

Also, I pulled this out from behind the bench seat. Had to take the whole seat out, and unbolt the seat belt anchor to get it out. Whoever built it did a good job in the dimensions. I'm selling it on craigslist though. Not much of an audio guy, door speakers are enough for me.

Same thing happened to me, when I bought my truck I love bass and subs as I have them in my DD, but for my truck I refuse to put it in there, I'm right there with you just stock speakers will be enough!
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[Wasted Dragon]

Originally Posted by 77ChevySharkBite

Nice man!!!! Glad you got it all worked out, so do you have power steering or not? I know you mentioned that the bracket wouldn't work from the 80, on your 79. Yeah getting parts can be a little nerve racking, but there out there got to believe that!

Yeah I have power steering, been driving around the truck these past couple days. The bracket would work with the 80, but not the 79. It's a little confusing.

I drove this morning to work and found a little leak, but it was better with the thread tape. So my plan was to take it down again and put even more thread tape on. But when I drove back home, it didn't leak at all. I even went to the gas station on my way back. So I was pretty relieved to finally catch a break from this thing. It was driving me crazy how a simple little thing that should take an hour at most, was taking days.

And yeah, I listen to country music for the most part so all that bass and amp crap is just unnecessary to me. Plus it's better for that old alternator to just not even try to run it anyways. Hell, I could use the money to fuel the rebuild, but so far there are no takers on the audio stuff nor the camper shell.

[77ChevySharkBite]

Yeah I hear ya man, don't get to frustrated though just remember sometime it takes a little time to find what you need.

Nice!!! Glad everything is all sealed up and not leaking, when I bought my truck I had NO power steering, it took me 2 days to get my power steering but I had to go get a special tool so that's what caused me 2 days to get it done, but oh man it feels soooooo much better its better in my truck than my DD can you believe that?

Yeah I don't want to offend anyone when I say this but I just think that if I put subs and stuff in my truck it'll disgrace it being old school, I mean if someone else wants to so it that's fine, but it's just not me. I understand sometimes it just takes times to get things sold I'm going through the same issue right now myself
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[Wasted Dragon]

Thanks man, that is awesome dude, I can't wait to get new tires and tie rods. It'll feel way better like yours.

Good news though, somebody called for the camper shell. So that'll help out a bit. Sucks though, my muscle memory deleted his voicemail by accident. He gave me his cell # because it turned out he called from his work place. I hope he don't get in trouble, I just asked if they can have em call me back.