Well this is my first new thread here since 2017... Its been a while. I'm sick of Social Media platforms for sharing builds. The flow of a forum is just better to me.
Wanted to share with you guys my K20 I saved from a 10 year slumber out of a buddies shed. its a 1983 GMC.
Here is how it was when I found it.
Over the past two years I had a goal of using the Flat bed that my dad and I built for his old Ford farm truck in the late 90's and making a reliable stock-ish old usable truck to pull the trailer, and haul stuff I didn't want to put in any of my daily drivers. Pretty much I build a truck
We started with removing the rusty bed and test fitting the flatbed.
After the bed was sitting in place I could tell it was going to take some more work than I had time for, and it needed to be mobile to move around the shed. So I set out to find a driveline for it, as I picked it up as a roller truck. I purchased a used 355 from a friend who was doing an LS swap, and a freshly rebuilt 700R4 from another friend. I used the stock 208 behind that. In no time at all, we had it moving under its own power.
I bought a few bends and some prebent tail pipes from Summit along with a pair of 36" long glass packs. Got that all welded up and mated to the shorty headers.
Next up was a respectable set of tires. Found a gently used set of Good Year Dura-something or other AT's on FB Marketplace. Stock rims are to narrow, but its a start...
This was about a year ago today, finished for the time being and it sat outside all winter.
I called on one of my best friends to do some fab work and get the bed sitting level. With kids in sports and being involved in what seems like everything in life... time was slim... and I had a 6.0L LS that he wanted so it worked out well!
Mike started off with removing the saddle tanks. and prepping some steel to level the bed.
When my dad built the bed we always talked about frenching in the license plate and we just never did... So Mike hooked us up there. He also had to do some custom work with the hitch to make room for the Blazer tank he installed.
The bed is now sitting pretty, with a sweet pair of D rings for trailer chains too.
Next up the bed came back off and the tank went in. He had to do some adjustments on the sending unit, as I went with an EFI tank but a non EFI Sending unit.
One of the biggest needs was front engine accessories. Mike was able to get a set up from a 93 TBI truck. Fits fantastic and even the AC lines screwed in place... I have multiple ports to fill now but hey, the price was right!
The bed took a few more mods to finish off and a big cosmetic one was to move the gas filler from where it needed to be on the old Ford to the back where the new gas tank is mounted.
And LED lights are SO CHEAP now... this was a huge upgrade in lighting.
Once Mike got it running and it proved it self to him that it would be reliable and make the 80 mile drive home I did the most Roadkill-ish type thing EVER.. I drug my car hauler trailer to Mikes, hooked it to the K20 and put my Daily driver yukon on the back, and went home that 80 miles with out ever driving the truck before now. And I have to say... it did amazingly well. I didn't get any photos but Mike also rebuilt the steering components as well and it drives very nice!
So we all know that Farm trucks get nasty.. The interior on this old truck was no exception as it had 3 decades plus worth of dirt and dust up in the dash, under the seat... etc... So I blew it all apart on a hot sunny day and went to town with the pressure washer!
It appears I'm not good at taking after photos of the interior... BUT I will revisit at the floors needs some patching when I do the rockers and cab corners. Some Corner mount 6x9's 3.5" dash speakers, a Pioneer Radio I had on the shelf and this old powered bazooka tube drown out the pipes and wind noise nicely.
The bed was the next up to get cleaned and painted. I bought a cheap sand blast attachment for my pressure washer... it was OK at best, but took off most of the scale I needed gone. not perfect but good enough for this purpose.
And to finish off the bed, my dad always had side boards on the old Ford, so I cut out some 1x8's and found it really finished off the look once I painted them black.
Its proving it self to pull nice and is handy as can be!
It provided the best seats in the house for my son's home games this fall too!
Thanks for looking so far. More to come on this old truck. I'm feeling the need to ditch the Edelbrock 1406 and go with a Holley Sniper and feel like the 700R4 may go away to be replaced with a 4L80E. It is a 4:10 gear truck so seems natural to build it to work!
