1980 Chevy K10 LWB Project

[KMK454]

Love this truck, saved all the pics.

Also love the interior, but I may be a little biased:



You should be able to airbrush paint those panels back to red. I haven't done it to mine, but I saw somebody do it on a Cadillac. LMC replacement panels do not come in the style on your truck.

[8lugnutz]

That looks nice! Mine might look like that someday.... I'm still getting the little nit-noid parts that are missing as time and money allows. Things like the windshield wiper knob, the dome light cover, gas tank switch bezel, etc. Mine has a lot of things that are just missing that need replaced. Finding them isn't hard, but man they start to add up. That little plastic knob for the windshield wipers was ~$14!

[8lugnutz]

Got a few things done today.

Pulled off the old dash pad, I have kept it covered up with the velour type cover the PO had put on there. I had forgotten how pitiful it really is!

Pulled the cluster to figure out my clock problem, tested the power wires and ground, they are good. So, I guess it must really be a "clock" problem. Replaced some burned out bulbs in the cluster while I had it out, last night's drive was a little dark. I think I only a couple of lights that worked at all! Wanted to check out the cluster, I will be replacing with a tach cluster I am getting from another forum member.



Swapped out the dash pad with one I picked up from another forum member, was in near perfect shape. Swapped out vents and dash trim, and put it right in with no issues.





Installed the gas tank switch bezel and put the switch in the way it's supposed to be as the PO installed it upside down with a screw and clip to hold it in. Had to pull the screws out of the ash tray assembly and move it to the right to get it installed, but had no issues. Did find that the heater control bulb holder was empty and just hanging there, so put a bulb in it too.



Pulled the rag joint and realized the one I got from a forum member was quite larger and didn't fit, so I'll have to get one from the parts house. More fun tomorrow!
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[8lugnutz]

Turns out the rag joint is a special order part.... Dorman part number 31011, will be in tomorrow.....
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[gmachinz]

Hey....that dash looks way nicer in a truck than on my shelf....lol. Turned out lookin pretty good.
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[8lugnutz]

Thanks for the dash, it made the interior look way better! My wife even said, "I don't like to admit it, but your truck is looking good. I might even ride in it now." Haha
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[8lugnutz]

While waiting on the new rag joint to come in at the parts house......

Installed the speaker covers and a set of OEM speakers I got from another forum member. I'll still have to dye them the proper color, but at least I won't slice my knee (for the third time) on the sharp metal brackets....







Started taking a look at the gas tank switch, which hasn't worked on the LH tank since I got it. Well lookee here.....



That could be the reason I smell gasoline all the time... Fixed that with a new section of fuel line.



And then there is this:



Looks like this isn't the first time the harness has dropped against the driveshaft and rubbed the insulation off the wires. Will have to repair those and then have a look to see if we have a blown fuse. Now, where did I put all my new fuses....

I have to say, the members I have conversed with or had transactions with are the best in the world. Thanks to a couple of members:

First off, Keith Seymour, what a walking book of knowledge. Your introduction thread got me started on this whole mess....

gmachinz for the Dash Pad

chewychevy67 for the speaker covers, brackets and speakers

Travis with Pro Performance for the rag joint repair kit

Dave with DND Trucks for the tach dash that will appear in another picture on this thread soon.....

...and countless others on this forum for advice, pictures, jokes, and sympathy hahaha. You guys are the coolest cats on the planet!

[8lugnutz]

Got the wires fixed and weatherproofed on the gas tank harness last night as I really want to be able to use both tanks. After what I found yesterday, it's no wonder why they didn't work! After that was repaired, went to check wiring diagram to see what I was working with. By the way, if you are reading this and don't have the wiring schematics for your truck, look here:


PDF of Square Schematics & GM Training Manuals

After you download them, be sure to go thank Hatzie, he deserves a gold medal for all the work he has done scanning all that gold into searchable pdfs!

So back to the truck. According to the 80 wiring diagram, my wire colors don't match on the bottom side. Should be lt green, tan, tan/white and lt blue. Mine look like lt blue, pink, pink/white, and lt green. I guess they ran out of tan and tan/white wire on my truck...



I know I should have power on the single wire going into the 6 port switch. Wait. That wire looks yellow, but should be lt green. Check it anyway. No power. Ok, let's check the gas tank selector switch, for power. My switch connector has five wires: pink, pink/white, lt green, dk green and lt blue. Oh joy, now neither the top OR the bottom match the diagram... Great.



According to the diagram, my dk green on the dash should be a pink/black. Ok, check for power. No power. Start tracing internal wires. Four go to the bulkhead connector, and at least that connector contains the correct quantity and color of wires, pink, pink/white, lt blue and lt green. I attempted to trace the dk green wire across the top of the dash of the truck, it disappears into the harness and I think it should reappear down by the fuse panel and tie into a pink/black, or at least I hope that's what I will find tonight.

I did figure out that under my dash is not the most comfortable place to be at 11PM with low light. And bugs. Lots of them.

My stepson picked up the rag joint and is installing it today.



Once he gets that done, we will move the truck to the other side of the shop where I have more room. We are working on his '97 Explorer at the same time, and it's getting a little crowded in the shop

[8lugnutz]

Finally got the rag joint in the truck, man what a difference in steering. Had to pop frame bolts to the steering box to get it to get the clearance for it to go back together. While figuring that out, found that I also had a lower steering column bearing that was just flat out gone. Looked for one online, but it is somewhat elusive. Local parts house didn't carry it, neither did LMC, Classic Parts, Brothers, etc. Some of them had the bearing retainer, but not what I needed. I'll have to look for it another time, I had to get the truck back on the road.

Found another gem while troubleshooting the fuel switch too. Turns out that there is a plastic fuse box expansion (I don't know what else to call it) that clips on the right side of the fuse box that powers the switch. Problem is, I can't figure out what goes in it. I figure it might be either a relay or a circuit breaker. Here's a couple of pics:





Until I figure that out, I guess I'm stuck with just the passenger tank.

[8lugnutz]

The space in the fuse panel is for a relay, part number 14014527. Discontinued item, so I will have to find it elsewhere.

Found the lower column bearing for the truck though!

[8lugnutz]

Additional notes, according to the guy I talked to at the dealership, it is specific to the 1980 year model, and here was his explanation. In earlier model trucks if you ran out if fuel on the primary tank (default tank) and switched over to the secondary, as soon as the ignition switch was engaged, it cut the power to the solenoid, which in effect would default back to the empty tank. The solution to the problem was the relay, which explains why there is both a constant power (orange) and a switched power (pink/black). When the pink/black is cut off by use of the ignition switch, the relay switches to the constant power to keep the solenoid engaged into the secondary tank, provided that the switch is in the LH position.

Here is a picture of the relay:

Found one on eBay for around $25 with shipping and there are more out there.

[gmachinz]

Nice research....its those little parts that's fun to find when most people overlook that kind of thing or don't know....and a 1-year only deal....wow...better snatch them up!

[8lugnutz]

Got the tach dash installed tonight, fixed the transmission leak (would you believe there ALL the bolts were loose?!?!), and replaced the lower steering column bearing. It took me all of 30 seconds to type what went into about 4 hours worth of work!

Tach dash looks great, but I can't get the speedometer cable to seat all the way in the dash. Will have to work on that sometime tomorrow. Here's the dash installed:



I was worried about having to move pins on the dash plug, but it was completely plug and go!

[gmachinz]

The 73-79 speedo cables are different from 80-87. You'll need to swap out to an olders tyle speedo cable for that 78-79 tach cluster.

[8lugnutz]

This truck has cruise control, will I be able to locate a short cable that will work with it? If not, I may just put the old gauges in the tach housing cluster.

[Jonboy]

Just using the short cable will work perfectly.

[8lugnutz]

Jonboy, are you referring to a short cable from a '79?

[Jonboy]

Yep. That should work. The cruise transducer should have the same cable style.

[8lugnutz]

Thanks for the clarification, I will see if I can find one this week. Made the drive to the gig this weekend with a speedometer app and my iPhone on the dash :-)

[8lugnutz]

After some research, it looks that the upper speedometer cable is the same(LMC, page 122, online catalog), so pulled the cluster today and realized that I didn't get the speedo cable in all of the way because I didn't line it up properly. I unhooked the speedo from the cruise control and pulled the slack through the firewall so that I could get it properly lined up and connected to the gauge. Good news is the speedo is functional... bad news is it registers 10MPH when I am actually going around 30MPH. Is there something I am missing?

[8lugnutz]

Here is an example of what I am experiencing. I am guessing I need a new speedometer gear in the tranny with a different tooth count:



GPS says 56, speedometer says 40!

[8lugnutz]

Robert and I troubleshot the remaining dual fuel issue, although only one tank was full (RH) the gauge would read full in either of the switch positions. Turns out the PO switched the wires so that it would only read from the RH tank regardless of the switch position. A simple swap of the wires between the tanks under the truck worked like a charm. Gauge now reads correctly on either tank. Will have to watch the gauge when the switch is on the LH tank and see if it it is using fuel from that tank to determine if the valve is working. I think we are good to go though!

[8lugnutz]

Forgot to post the wiring diagram that I made when trying to troubleshoot the fuel selector switch issue. If you have an '80 model, the wiring diagram doesn't mention the one year only "feature" that the factory used for this year. There was a relay added to the system, so here is how mine is wired:



Isn't this fun?

[8lugnutz]

Ran the truck all week on the LH tank, but the fuel gauge did not move. Switched back to the RH tank, and it was almost empty! So, looks like the sender works and the wiring is correct, but the valve isn't switching over to the LH tank. There is voltage at the valve, so I guess that means that my valve is bad. Need to find a new one!

Received a few more interior pieces purchased from a forum member, so I will get to install those tonight. The interior is really coming together nicely, most of the pieces are there now that were missing before. Still need to replace the glove box, the hinge is broken on the current one, replace one speaker and speaker grill on the rear passenger side, and replace the seat belts and visors. Need to start looking for these items soon!

[8lugnutz]

Been kind of quiet for the past few weeks, been busy building out one of the rooms in my shop for a "wife cave". My wife was jealous of me spending so much time on the forum haha

Was forced to rebuild the Edlebrock 1406 yesterday, something got plugged up and was causing it to flood. Left me stranded at a Kohl's at 2:30AM, had to call my wife to come get me

Inside the carb bowls was pretty bad, rust and sediment mostly.



Replaced the fuel filter and rebuilt the carb, and it started right up. The thread is here.

Since I was replacing fuel delivery related parts, I also replaced the fuel valve under the passenger frame rail along with some new hose. Ran all the way home on the LH tank and was good to see that gauge go down. So, I now have fully operational dual fuel tanks, and working gauges.