1970 K20 Z62 Full Restoration

[72 tigger]

Great color!
Great detail!

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 72chevylover1

It doesn't get any better than this! That color is awesome!!

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

I'm loving it!! So beautiful.

Originally Posted by 72 tigger

Great color!
Great detail!

Thanks guys.

[IronCanine]

We got the tank in, but not without some trouble. There was an "NOS" tank on eBay some months back that Pete alerted me to. But it had more than a little (I'll call it shelf) wear. But of course the asking price wasn't scratch and dent. So it didn't seem worthwhile considering what would have been required to get it up to scratch to safely go in this truck. So I picked up a reproduction version from AMD while I was there picking up the bed. It seemed practical...no shipping and all. Well, mounting points did not line up and I was not happy with the exterior finish. The mounting was fairly easily remedied and the non factory finish was not so objectionable to me to delay progress.

We painted the neck black as it should be..(this is a detail I've missed in the past). I picked up an NOS gas cap. This truck carries the bright cap because of the molding option, not because of the trim level. I sent it in to be polished with my chrome. They didn't quite get it there. I think we'll have to try and take it a little bit farther if there is material to do so.

I used a repro neck grommet even though I had an NOS one. Partly because of the appearance, but mainly because Larry told me his NOS grommet cracked a few months after installation. What I don't like about the repro version is that I ended up with a few edges with "flash" that extends past the lip. I'm hoping I can rectify that.

[IronCanine]

An NOS condenser came in the big NOS A/C kit, but it is not the one I used. This condenser was ordered by a body shop in Hartwell, GA through Athens Chevrolet (!!!) almost 50 years ago. Unbelievably I bought it in from the same parts lot that had my NOS hood in Kansas City. It is so wild that its 50 year journey brought it back here to finally be installed. The little rubber boots that slip over the line joints are supple, but I don't know how long they'll survive now that they are out of the blister pack.

We pulled the color for the metal floor heater box off the protected (back) side. Amazingly that paint was metallic. It was a solid match. I've posted the mix for anyone who might need that.

[IronCanine]

As you know parts on these trucks varied depending on the vendor or the time they were produced. Here is another example. The first four pics below compare two different NOS tach lenses. The size and position of the font and graphics are different between the two. I "think" the fatter font is the older, more likely correct for my assembly line piece.

The last pic is a comparison between the fatter font NOS lens and a reproduction piece. Big difference.

[IronCanine]

It took two swings to get the color and sheen right on the dash vents. Eric nailed it as usual. That meant the behind the dash stuff could finally all be crammed in there and the glove box shoved home.

I put the 4WD decal where it was from the factory...but I think if they'd have centered it top to bottom on the GB door it would have looked better. Still cool though.

I picked up the tilt column from KevsClassics five years ago. An original 4sp tilt was hard to come by even then, so I was glad to get it. Kev did a great job rebuilding this one...as he always does.

Wheel isn't on permanently...just for the pic. Love that dash layout so much.

[IronCanine]

Let me wrap up tonight's posts with something I meant to highlight earlier. Got lucky and picked up an NOS parking brake cable from Dwayne. I already had the repro version. I think you might be interested in the differences. A couple of comparison pics below. Obviously the NOS is what went on the truck.

Also, Duplicolor makes a blue metalcast spray paint that works for these cable clamps.

Oh and one more thing. The rubber boot on the intermediate shaft...hard to come by...but as far as I can tell the A body version is exactly the same. And you can find those all day long as a reproduction piece. That's what we used here.

[DeadheadNM]

Signature “Blue Steel” pose

[72 tigger]

Everything looks beautiful- thanks for posting!
I can believe that the NOS rubber can crack. I had saved some rubber hydraulic hose caps for my John Deere garden tractor restoration that were still sealed in the JD packaging. When I installed them, a couple of them cracked and when I flexed the others, they broke too. Threw them away and bought new ones.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking beautiful!!

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Signature “Blue Steel” pose

Better than Le Tigre.

Originally Posted by 72 tigger

Everything looks beautiful- thanks for posting!
I can believe that the NOS rubber can crack. I had saved some rubber hydraulic hose caps for my John Deere garden tractor restoration that were still sealed in the JD packaging. When I installed them, a couple of them cracked and when I flexed the others, they broke too. Threw them away and bought new ones.

Thanks! I think the condenser boots are already separating.

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looking beautiful!!

Thanks!

[pjmoreland]

The fuel tank filler grommet sold by Wes at classicheartbeat.com is made in the USA and has a lifetime warranty. I have bought a couple hundred of them, and they've all been very clean around the outer edge.

https://www.classicheartbeat.com/pro...ime-warrantee/

[IronCanine]

Thanks for the tip!

Also...why is it that some pics load so large in a thread? My screen won't even show a quarter of that grommet pic. I have to scroll around to see it all.

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Thanks for the tip!

Also...why is it that some pics load so large in a thread? My screen won't even show a quarter of that grommet pic. I have to scroll around to see it all.

Sorry about that. I posted that photo as a link to the photo on classicheartbeat.com.

[IronCanine]

No apology necessary...I was legitimately asking. It always limits me to five pics per post of a certain size (obviously de-res(ed)). But I've seen posts with larger formats and a higher pic count. Just never explored how to make that work. Sometimes I want to post more/bigger.

[IronCanine]

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everybody. Let's talk about 4x4 upper radiator hoses. GM farmed out hoses to several vendors, among them Goodyear and Gates. One of the easy ways to tell one from another is the GM logo that the manufacturer put on there. Goodyear (as I understand it), did the big "GM" logo and Gates' was pretty vanilla. Member WETOWM did a run of upper hoses for board members a few years back more in the Goodyear style. And I bought a few sets. Still have one. The first pic is an original upper (and I believe Goodyear) hose on a '71 Flint built K5. The second pic is an original upper (I believe Gates) on a '71 Fremont K20. I got my hands on an original upper Gates hose and used it to reproduce that version. The original also clearly had gradations on it for cutting it to length. Obviously this was just a long run of straight hose with a repeating pattern that was cut to length for the upper hose at the radiator and at the thermostat housing. One thing to note is the part numbers were the same for Goodyear and Gates...just the font style and size changed.

Also, I know the section on the engine side was shorter from the factory, but I've been bitten by leaks here before and anticipate some jockeying.

[IronCanine]

Lower hose was easy because I got lucky and found and NOS version. Clearly well marked to assist in the install.

[IronCanine]

After a fair bit of scuffling I finally ended up with a set of five acceptable original Guide 5963133 cab lenses. I had two very nice NOS, two NOS that had some mild shelf wear and needed some attention, and one almost perfect take off. That waffle pattern is super cool to me.

[IronCanine]

Two problems that we were working on last week were the A/C lines from the compressor and the underhood black phosphate pieces.

The solution for the A/C lines ended up being a compromise. Only Original Air makes this line set that I know of. And you can't order fittings from them or anywhere else that I can find. I ordered two different sets to see if my fit issue was a one off. It wasn't. We couldn't get them mounted in a factory way without a slight kink of the upper hose. After considering many ideas, I found a radiator and A/C shop that was able to deconstruct what I had and re-clock the fittings. The compromise is the shoulder on the lines at the crimp. But it's a reasonable concession I think. The crimps on all of these lines aren't factory appearing anyway. And don't worry, I'm going to clean up that port cap on the muffler.

I've discussed my dissatisfaction with all my plating. The underhood phosphate stuff is so in your face it needs to be nice. What we got was pretty "crystallized". I got the bright idea to hit it with Eastwood's metal blackening kit, which basically made it look painted. So I found another place that wasn't too far, Eric re-stripped everything and I sent it off for another go at black phosphate. Fingers crossed.

[IronCanine]

Finally some fun stuff. Mat got cut for the shifters and laid in to check fit and let it relax a little more. We are going to do the Fremont style of install on this and leave the mat as you see it, above the shift boot retaining rings, not below.

JoesJunk helped us get the right blue for this mat, hopefully it will be in its final dress soon.

Of course the shroud went on. Had an NOS one, but a very nice take off that I had ended up being the choice. Nice little NOS radiator cap too.

Just like with the '69, I cut down a real Delco Eye and put it in a battery topper. Silliness I know, but I like it.

And of course I put the owner's manual in the glove box!

[Orange71shorty]

Stellar, love seeing the progress!