1982 K10 6.2 Diesel build

[93M6Formula]

Originally Posted by focusedontheprize

The truck looks great and that color scheme is definitely growing on me - I really am liking it now. Regarding your K10 diesel frame project, that is the best way to go if you can and the best of both worlds.

Thanks! I feel the same, I was really considering a color change but man it really does look sharp when cleaned up, I think I will keep the original color.

And yeah I think it makes good sense, I hate my projects sitting around so if I can decrease downtime thats what I want to do.

[LT7A]

You've made a lot of progress. That rig looks ready for business.

[93M6Formula]

Originally Posted by LT7A

You've made a lot of progress. That rig looks ready for business.

Thanks! She's been putting in work and averaging 17-18 MPG in town so far. Want to start on my NV4500 swap soon once I find some pedals for it.

[93M6Formula]

No point owning a truck if you don't use it.

[Matt Man]

Love the color combo. Will be following along.

[93M6Formula]

Not much to update recently but finally got around to replacing balljoints, stabilizer and tierods. Was dreading it but it really didn't take long at all and everything came apart easily. Brake pads were basically to the metl but luckily the rotors were in really good shape.

[93M6Formula]

Also went and grabbed the 1986 chassis I bought. Got it from my uncle who was going to build another square but gave up so i got the 79 C20 cab and front clip with it. Pretty damn good shape but I will be selling it.

[82Diesel]

Originally Posted by 93M6Formula

Also got a new windshield installed, not many pics from the install but it looks great.





Put new bushings in my low mile leaf springs I acquired. A hole saw works pretty well instead of burning them out and smelling like burnt rubber. Also used my sawzall to cut the remaining shell out and then tap them out. All in all took me an hour surprisingly.

Very good idea on that bushings... i don't really know if i want to remove my LF springs or not... Hm.

Btw what did you use to clean up your Cluster Gauges, and circuit board + Everything else? Thx

[93M6Formula]

Originally Posted by 82Diesel

Very good idea on that bushings... i don't really know if i want to remove my LF springs or not... Hm.

Btw what did you use to clean up your Cluster Gauges, and circuit board + Everything else? Thx

I used a damp micro fiber cloth and lightly dabbed the faces to pick up dirt. The paint is real delicate so you can't wipe it or it will smear, this worked pretty well. My lense was pretty decent so I just washed in soap and water. I was going to buff it out otherwise. For the printed circuit, I cleaned up the contacts with mineral spirits and a q-tip. It worked okay but my original circuit was pretty bad so I used one out of my donor cluster and cleaned that up instead. For the needles I just used some needle paint I got on Amazon, was a tad too bright to be correct but it looks fine.

[93M6Formula]

Not a lot to update but my stock radio seems to have a loose connection somewhere so I decided to clean up a spare cassette deck I had.

[82Diesel]

Nice radio. Mines still Stock & even works! so did my speakers. I've saved up a bunch of them bcuz the are hard to come by even so More hard to find the Rear cab speakers 4x10s. As Optional most trucks didn't have em.

[Corts60]

Looking great! I love the stance and tires. Makes me miss my '80 4x4.

I love that you're keeping the diesels alive. I daily drove my '78 for years with the factory Olds diesel. Nothing wrong with getting 23mpg in a square body!

[93M6Formula]

Originally Posted by 82Diesel

Nice radio. Mines still Stock & even works! so did my speakers. I've saved up a bunch of them bcuz the are hard to come by even so More hard to find the Rear cab speakers 4x10s. As Optional most trucks didn't have em.

Yeah I have a whole pile of them just in case, I just like the stock look too much and I have a bluetooth adapter anyway so I try to keep the original radios.

[93M6Formula]

Originally Posted by Corts60

Looking great! I love the stance and tires. Makes me miss my '80 4x4.

I love that you're keeping the diesels alive. I daily drove my '78 for years with the factory Olds diesel. Nothing wrong with getting 23mpg in a square body!

Thanks! And yes I agree, I've always been a fan of the diesels and I hate seeing them swapped all the time, it's nice to be able to afford to daily drive one of these. This was a super original truck when I got it which I liked, it just got rusty. Original engine runs great, especially after what i've done.

[93M6Formula]

So I kinda sorta changed the direction of this project. I had mentioned that I have the whole other chassis that i'm going to completely overhaul so I can continue to drive and enjoy this truck and eventually when the frame, axles, fresh engine etc was done I was going to transfer the body to that frame and obviously fix the rust beforehand.

Then I got thinking, this truck as it is, is kind of special and I would really hate to take away a lot of the originality. It's pretty much 100% mechanically and i've been already going through and fixing cosmetic things while leaving it looking original. So basically, I decided i'm going to continue fixing this up but as a driver that can have scratches and a little "patina" to preserve some originality and i'm going to build a whole other truck off to the side the way I really want.

I have nearly every part including a very solid cab from the parts truck I posted earlier that i'll use and build from there. I probably won't get far on it this year yet so I won't start a build thread just yet. I will be focusing on this truck for now and getting it where I want it in the meantime. Why not have two squarebodys right?

[93M6Formula]

I did do a little this weekend to it.

Some emblem restoration

[93M6Formula]

I'll have to take some better pics, and some may laugh, but I spent some time sanding down the passenger rocker and cab corner and repainted it, yes with the bottom half of the cab corner rotted out lol. I had my local Advance Auto mix up my paint code in a few rattle cans and let me tell you, I cannot believe how perfect it is, I don't think you could match 38 year old paint any better so that made me happy. It's part of my plan to try and preserve what I can for now and make it look much better.

The passenger door is the worst part on the truck now and unfortunately I don't think it's worth the time to try and patch up so i'm going to use one of my spare doors and paint it up. I'm confident I can get it to match the rest of the truck pretty well so it won't be too noticeable which is my biggest concern.

[93M6Formula]

Eventually I may do the whole bottom half of the Almond color. Most of the original Bronze is in decent shape after a buff job.

I did score some hydro clutch pedals and an NOS GM door panel from my uncle which i'll use on the other truck.





Also, since manual tilt columns seem to be a tough find, I decided to see how close my GMT400 column would be since I have a few. Looks to be basically plug and play for 84+ trucks. It's about 2 inches longer where the steering shaft connects but that would be easy to remedy, and also the firewall flange is welded to it instead of seperate so I will just have to cut it off. Figured this would be good info for people. 78-83 trucks will just have to wire up the highbeam switch and wipers which would be simple or you can leave it alone.

[straight6chevyguy]

Originally Posted by 93M6Formula

So I kinda sorta changed the direction of this project. I had mentioned that I have the whole other chassis that i'm going to completely overhaul so I can continue to drive and enjoy this truck and eventually when the frame, axles, fresh engine etc was done I was going to transfer the body to that frame and obviously fix the rust beforehand.

Then I got thinking, this truck as it is, is kind of special and I would really hate to take away a lot of the originality. It's pretty much 100% mechanically and i've been already going through and fixing cosmetic things while leaving it looking original. So basically, I decided i'm going to continue fixing this up but as a driver that can have scratches and a little "patina" to preserve some originality and i'm going to build a whole other truck off to the side the way I really want.

I have nearly every part including a very solid cab from the parts truck I posted earlier that i'll use and build from there. I probably won't get far on it this year yet so I won't start a build thread just yet. I will be focusing on this truck for now and getting it where I want it in the meantime. Why not have two squarebodys right?

I think this is a great idea. Yep you can always use another squarebody lol.

[93M6Formula]

Originally Posted by straight6chevyguy

I think this is a great idea. Yep you can always use another squarebody lol.

Exactly!
Plus this color really grew on me and along with other reasons, I would just hate to tear it apart and completely change it. I'll do what I want to the other one without feeling guilty lol.

I've always wanted one in dark metallic blue so that's what i'll be doing along with building my spare 6.5 and throwing the NV4500 behind that.

[93M6Formula]

Here's some additional photos of how painting rust turned out lol. I can't complain, it's better than it looked before. The rocker is in one piece but was getting pitted as you can see but I didn't want to spend too much time making it perfect. Down the road i'll likely do corners and rockers as this cab is pretty solid yet.

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by 93M6Formula

Here's some additional photos of how painting rust turned out lol. I can't complain, it's better than it looked before. The rocker is in one piece but was getting pitted as you can see but I didn't want to spend too much time making it perfect. Down the road i'll likely do corners and rockers as this cab is pretty solid yet.

That turned out great! They got those mixes spot on!

[93M6Formula]

Originally Posted by Corts60

That turned out great! They got those mixes spot on!

Yeah i was blown away, i don't think you could get any closer. I'm real happy.

[93M6Formula]

Got a couple things done before snow starts flying. After I rebuilt the front end there was still a ton of slop in the steering which I found out was a totally smoked gear box and rag joint. Replaced the rag joint and swapped a low mile box I had laying around and it's MUCH better. Also super easy, took all of 45 minutes.



Also had fuel leak in the valley i've been battling ever since I put it together. The primary filter would not seal no matter what I did and I believe the housing is just warped. I decided to just get rid of for now and run the secondary. Going to order a universal housing and mount on the firewall near the factory secondary.

[Corts60]

FYI, the big filter is the primary and the one on the engine is the secondary. They make quadrant o-rings for those fuel lines I'm pretty sure to seal it inside the housing. Perkins diesel uses the same set-up. Take a pic of the end fitting when it is out of the filter housing. If there is a little pipe nipple at the end of the threads, it is designed for a quad o-ring to seal properly.

Also the filters have different micron ratings: primary might be around 15-30 microns and secondary is probably 10 microns. Don't run without secondary too long or you risk sending bigger particles into the injectors and shortening their life.