78 K10 project

[bigcountry78]

Apparently I haven't posted since my introduction in 2009. Anyway, I've made some progress on my 78. Some background. My dad ordered the truck new. No AC, no radio. 350 motor, SM465 trans and NP205 T case. He also ordered dual exhaust and 10.00-15 all terrain tires. He started using the truck immediately for his DD, hunting, fishing, farming, logging business truck. When the stock tires wore out, he added 36.5-14-15 Grand prix mud tires on 10" white wagon wheels. He also added a warn 8274 winch and bumper. He used add a leaves up front from a log truck and some fender trimming to clear the tires. he also added a camper shell to keep his saws and tools dry. He used it like that for several years, until he ended up at a paper company that supplied him a truck. At that point he only drove the 78 to pull his boat, as he wasn't allowed to pull it with his company truck. Fast forward to the late 90's, the winch was broken and gone. The winch bumper was in the barn and the stocker was back on it. The truck was still on the grand prix's but was parked at the edge of a field, with no insurance on it. That's when I started showing some interest in it. I'll add more info and some pics later on tonight, ya'll bear with me.

[jott_06]

sounds interesting. I love seeing these old trucks that have been wearing big tires since the 80s

[bigcountry78]

Ok so I was big into off roading at this time so I knew I wanted to put a winch back on. We got the winch bumper out of the barn and repainted it, and I got a new warn 8274 for Christmas around 2001 I think. And you know what happens when a 16 year old gets an old jacked up Chevy

.

[bigcountry78]

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]

[bigcountry78]

During this time I was wanting to fix my truck up so we did one thing at a time. We put on new:
Flow masters
Rancho shocks
Clutch
Belts
Hoses
Body mount bushings
Water pump
Fuel pump
Radiator
Recovered seat
Rubber floor mat
Door and window seals
Rebuilt carb
Probably some other odds and ends I'm forgetting
And after I sunk it in the river, I had to drain both axles, transmission and t case.
And I got a deal on a new set of swamper TSL, 300 for a set of four. And that's how it ran until 2010.

[bigcountry78]

When I say sunk, I mean sunk

[bigcountry78]

Then around 2010 I moved to NC. I was living with my fiance's parents until we could get our house renovated, so I couldn't bring my truck with me. My brother in law called and asked if he could borrow it for a while since it was just sitting. So I made a trip down to put some old 33's and rally wheels that I had laying around. Couldn't have him wearing out my swampers.

[bigcountry78]

He kept it until late 2011 I think, when I finally had room to bring it up. I put my swampers back on, but wasn't impressed with how it rode and drove anymore. So I sold the swampers and stuck with the 33's. I also took the winch bumper off to repaint it, bit I kind of liked the look of the stock bumper. It stayed that way until last September, when I decided I was tired of making truck payments. I sold my Silverado the same week my wife totalled her car, so now it was my DD for a while.


That happened. See that bubble in the tread? Yea.
This is how it looked with factory bumper



I had been debating on putting new 33's on it or going back stock. Well this made my mind up, I had to have tires and I was broke. So new 31's it is.

[bigcountry78]

Interior shot to prove it is a manual lol. About this time I decided i wanted a grill guard, so I found o e in Texas and had it shipped.



Around this time, I discovered that my truck originally came with 8" wide steelies with hubcaps. So I had to decide if I wanted to track down a set or get rings and caps for my rallys. I kept looking at this pick and really liked the rallys.



I decided that I wanted the factory original look. So I took the add a leaves out to lower the front back to stock. Made a big difference in the ride. I looked for about 6 months to find a set of original wheels like I wanted. I bought a set locally that turned out to be from an earlier model truck. They didn't clear the brakes. Well I happened across a before and after post on Facebook and there they were, the 8" wheels I needed. Contacted the guy and he said yea I still have them, I'm going to throw them out. Come get them. So I drove the old truck 6 hours round trip to bring them home.

[bigcountry78]

While the truck was in the shop having the springs taken out, my mechanic told me about a few other items that needed attention. Motor mounts were shot, front driveshaft had a bad u joint, sway bar mount was broken, and I already knew the wheel bearings were roaring. So I went ahead and took care of all that. I have a 95 Oldsmobile eighty eight to drive, but this is my only truck now so I've got to keep it tip top.


Motor mounts.

I ordered some amber foglights off of eBay because I like that look.


And my parents bought me some new LMC door panels for my birthday.



Love those wide steelies



The fog lights turned out to be too high on the push bar to be legal so I took the whole thing off and just added factory tow hooks for now, and I'm looking for a way to mount them the top of the bumper with drilling holes. So the truck is stock other than the toolbox, and I'm not crazy about it. But it's a necessary evil right now. I like to use period correct accessories, and a low profile toolbox doesn't fit that.


So that's pretty much where I'm at right now. I have to get the motor to stop burning oil, and I have a power steering leak to fix. And then it's on to body work. It won't bea frame off restoration, as I plan to keep using it as a truck. Hunting, fishing, etc. But I don't want it to rust away either. I still have the grand Prix tires stored in my dad's barn, and I still have the lift springs. So I can't say for sure that they won't end up back on there. But for now I'm happy with how it looks.

[bigcountry78]

Here's the option sheet. Kind of bare. No radio, no AC, dome light, cigarette lighter, nothing. Dad had add on AC installed after the fact. He also installed an aftermarket dome light and an 8 track. I swapped the radio out for a cassette deck with aux input, I replaced the cracked old dome light with a grote unit, and took the lighter out of the old dome light and put it in the ash tray like the factory would have. All I really need is a dash pad, kick panels and a t case shifter boot. And the interior should be done. And I need to get the AC working again.


Old cracked dome light.




Shiny new one.