1969 K10 CST Full Restoration

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

That paint sure lays down nice and smooth with a beautiful shine.

It's all Eric. The hump is the only thing that wasn't taken to bare metal. It had factory runs all over the place...Eric thought (and I completely agreed) that we should keep the factory imperfection. It got prepped and scuffed but the original painters marks were left to show under the new paint. It'll be hidden under carpet, but she still has the OE runs

Originally Posted by 1971Stepside

I would like to invite you two over for a BBQ on the next three day weekend...I will watch you get my truck done

Impressive work. I see this truck and I want to build a 4WD bad now...thanks for that.

Seems like a solid trade. You had me at BBQ.

[IronCanine]

Today Eric buffed out the pieces he painted yesterday. So after a school event with the kiddo and a quick dinner, I swung by and we hung the doors. Witness marks made before disassembly and a plastic lined socket made the process quick and scratch free.

[DeadheadNM]

So close!

[70STOVEBOLT]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

and a plastic lined socket made the process quick and scratch free.

Can you elaborate on the plastic lined socket?

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking more like a truck. I'm curious about the socket too.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

So close!

Too bad it's not horse shoes!

Originally Posted by 70STOVEBOLT

Can you elaborate on the plastic lined socket?

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looking more like a truck. I'm curious about the socket too.

It's a trick we learned when we did the tractor (see my signature link if your interested in seeing us do something besides trucks). We painted all the components and hardware separately and then had to assemble it without scratching the paint on the bolt heads. Same thing here. Door jambs, bolt heads, and hinges were painted separately. To assemble, we put a ziplock bag (or a piece of one) in the socket or over the bolt head when tightening. It's not a 100% protection...especially at higher torque values...but it's pretty effective at minimizing the damage. In the case of the hinge bolts it worked perfectly.

[70STOVEBOLT]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Too bad it's not horse shoes!





It's a trick we learned when we did the tractor (see my signature link if your interested in seeing us do something besides trucks). We painted all the components and hardware separately and then had to assemble it without scratching the paint on the bolt heads. Same thing here. Door jambs, bolt heads, and hinges were painted separately. To assemble, we put a ziplock bag (or a piece of one) in the socket or over the bolt head when tightening. It's not a 100% protection...especially at higher torque values...but it's pretty effective at minimizing the damage. In the case of the hinge bolts it worked perfectly.

Thanks for the tip. I tried the blue painter's tape and it doesn't really help at all, never thought about a ziplock bag.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Do the Tcase shifters for pickups come longer than Blazers? I just noticed that and I had no idea.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 72K5CSTDarkOlive

Do the Tcase shifters for pickups come longer than Blazers? I just noticed that and I had no idea.

I'm not aware that there were differences between the trucks and Blazers. There were several different NP205 shifters in general from 69-72. My understanding is that the '70 hump and shifter combo we are using is a one year only configuration that puts the shifter position on the midline of the truck. It came out of a '70 K20...but I believe it's exactly the same as came in our '70 K5 (length and shape). We had some clearance issues between the cab floor and the TC that I can't fully understand...but we were converting a truck to TH350/NP205 that came with a 4sp/Rockwell set up from the factory.

[IronCanine]

Shout out to Kaehr Coatings again...popped on some door hardware that they refinished for us. I need to check Pete's 'Maker's Mark' thread and see if he's got any of these L5s for the striker plates.

...Bolted on the hump hopefully for good and laid the carpet in to relax. Eric also got the bottom of the bed shot today with our best version of factory primer.

[IronCanine]

Eric buffed and installed the glovebox door yesterday. I couldn't resist slapping on the SPID. Thanks again Jeff (chipflyer).

[Ol Blue K20]

The spid looks spot on. He's laying some nice looking paint.

[IronCanine]

As previously noted in the thread, we reproduced a '69 4x4 decal but with the NP205 shift pattern and in magnet form. Here it is in place next to board member jrdv's factory original '69 decal.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

The spid looks spot on. He's laying some nice looking paint.

Thanks...and you're right about the paint-it's a big mirror. It's so hard to take a picture that doesn't have my ugly mug in it. That's why you're getting mostly angle shots and nothing straight on.

[notsolo]

Great progress, paint looks awesome, another sweet 4x4....What are your plans for door rubber?....I bought Precision push on gaskets which are nice but the doors don't close and I don't want to shift the hinges.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Great progress, paint looks awesome, another sweet 4x4....What are your plans for door rubber?....I bought Precision push on gaskets which are nice but the doors don't close and I don't want to shift the hinges.

Thanks. We got Precision's complete kit (plus an extra windshield weatherstrip ). I don't expect a problem...but the whole deal for us right now is offer up, remove, adjust, re-install, fiddle, tinker, repeat...

[notsolo]

It's the repeat part that gets me, miss 1 little thing and and it costs me a day to recover, 2 of you to sort it out, better results. Thanks for the clear detailed photo's, helps alot, to see what it should look like.

[DeadheadNM]

Brad just want to thank you for making time to document the build in such good detail. Doing so takes a lot of sacrifice as regards time and that’s in short supply. Your contribution to the knowledge base for these trucks is a boon to others. If there were a restoration hall of fame I’d nominate you and Eric.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Brad just want to thank you for making time to document the build in such good detail. Doing so takes a lot of sacrifice as regards time and that’s in short supply. Your contribution to the knowledge base for these trucks is a boon to others. If there were a restoration hall of fame I’d nominate you and Eric.

Gee wiz Pete...I don't know what to say, but thanks. As you know your K20 has always been the hallmark build for me and one I referred to often during the Blazer build as a road map and inspiration. Really our build threads are nothing more than an aggregate of stuff we have learned from other members and threads on this board. If our stuff turns out good or correct...it's because we have the luxury of building off the collective knowledge and experience of this site. They are also a thank you note for all that help and generosity. But in all honesty...this whole learning stuff and making something is way more fun than it is work...even when it's not going well.

[IronCanine]

By my count there 12 major listing wires in a bucket seat cover:

4 straight edge wires in the seat back
1 large wrap around edge wire and 1 straight edge wire in the seat bottom
2 "U-shaped" (1 front and 1 back) for the back insert detail
2 straight (top) and 2 "wavey"(bottom) wires for the seat bottom insert detail

And there are several minor or connecting wires that connect the insert detail wires through the foam (front to back on the seat back, and top to bottom on the seat bottom).

Realistically none of these wires were reusable after breakdown and clean up of our seats. A very tedious and messy endeavor when done by hand. We also had a couple of seat springs that were no good as well. As you know the foam is "cast" to the raw metal seat frames from the factory. It's a wonder any of them survive.

[IronCanine]

I ordered replacement seat springs (also called zig zag springs) and paper wrapped listing wire (aka spring stake wire) from wsusol.com (we sell upholstery supplies online). The seat springs have to be cut (be careful). I could not find seat springs with an OE "wavelength". We only replaced the passenger side seat bottom springs, but chose to do all five so everything was symmetrical. For the short connecting wires, we doubled a light utility wire (see wire just to left of seat frame in third pic) and connected the larger inner and outer wires in a twist tie fashion.

[IronCanine]

We didn't want to leave the frames raw, but wanted to have a factory appearance, so we painted the frames a metallic silver. It was a little bright, so we caved and painted the area where the frames show at the bends black. The paper wrapped wire is supposed to be less prone to squeaking. We did have to remove the paper to snake the insert detail wire on the seat back (but this was the only place, paper wrapped wire worked everywhere else). And it is helpful to bend over the ends so it feeds through the sleeves of the seat cover without snagging or getting stuck in the sections that require the wire to make a turn. We added a couple of holes in the seat frames toward the seat bend to give us some extra hog ring grab points. You can see how we zip tied the bottom listing wires to the seat springs. This is the only area we used zip ties. This wire is more of a floater and we felt it needed a bit more support. These are the wires that replaced the "wavey" ones from the factory. When we finished this one today, it was late. We'll probably pop it in the sun this weekend and see if it relaxes a bit.

EDIT: I should note that our foam and seat covers were procured a while back through Tim (TruckSeats)-thanks Tim. And the covers are TruckWorld. Knowing the situation, it was one of the first things that got ordered when the project started.

[Medina]

Nice!

[IronCanine]

(NFL Films Music...A deep authoritative voice resonates....)

"...In a contest of wills, there are few that match the formidable adversary that is the windshield with deluxe trim. But on this night in Athens, GA, the surly beast met her equal."

[davischevy]

Congratulations on conquering the windshield. Of all the assembly tasks, the windshield is the one I always dread the most.