69 C20 4x4 project - the mutant

[68 TT]

This project started life as an inexpensive 1969 vintage factory A/C cab for sale on CL that I was thinking about using to build up instead of my rust infested 67 C10 cab. Turned out the guy was also trying to sell the bed, front clip and chassis separately on CL as well and had a clean title for the whole thing.

A few hours later I had the whole thing delivered to my house.

All it is missing is the windshield, gauge cluster, the doors, hood hinges, brake booster and the engine & trans. I just so happen to have a spare brake booster, engine & trans so no big deal on the missing items.

Floors are in far better shape than my 67 C10 cab and with factory A/C and a clear title this thing is destined to become a whole truck again. The radio area is even untouched unlike my 67 that had been butchered by a PO some time in the past. I would guess the truck spent its early years in southern California by the AAA of So Cal sticker in the rear window. It is the exact same sticker that is in the rear window of my 68 Camaro that I bought in LA so it was probably put on there when the truck was new.

I scored a new windshield, a complete set of doors with hinges and a tail gate shell minus latch parts for a decent price a couple days later so now all I need is the windshield gasket, a set of hood hinges and the tail gate guts. I am building a gauge cluster for the 67 C10 so I have the stock cluster from it to use.

Turns out somebody in the past had put a correct vintage open knuckle drum brake Dana-44 4x4 front axle into the thing to make it a 4x4 with the truck arm rear suspension still in place. I wondered if this was possible when I was thinking about the 4x4 conversion project I am doing to my 67 C10.

I took some quick measurements and it looks like the output shaft of the transfer case will be about 14" from the truck arm crossmember. With a little luck I can run a one piece driveshaft in this thing. Don't know where it will be in relation to the center of the crossmember opening yet but it should be pretty close to right.

[68 TT]

The doors I picked up are in fair condition and will take just about as much work to make them nice as the doors on my 67 C10 but this way I can keep the 67 cab enclosed and looking complete to keep my neighbors relatively happy. Once the 69 is together and I don't need anything else off the 67 I will send it off to a new owner.

Most likely I will be putting a new skin on both the 69 doors so I might as well play around with fitting them with power windows while I have the skins off and have full access to the guts.

I have a set of dented but complete spare square body doors sitting around so I have the parts on hand to do it with GM parts. Shouldn't be too difficult to do as long as there is enough width in the door profile for the motors to occupy.

We will see how that works out some time after I get the 69 all put together & running and have it torn back apart for paint & interior work.

[68 TT]

The factory A/C parts are amazingly complete for how little I paid for the truck. Only thing missing is the compressor, lines, dryer and blower motor at first glance. We will see how bad off the parts are when I get to cleaning things up and painting the truck.

It has a little housing damage but I plan on retrofitting some newer truck R134a parts into this thing so I can repair the housing as I expand it for the larger R134a component.

[68 TT]

The bed sides on this thing are a little rough and it came off of a 67 but the bed floor is in far better shape than my 67 C10's bed floor which has cancer issues since it spent most of its life in Seattle.

I have a spare bed side that I picked up for the 67 C10. I will probably take both beds apart and put together one bed with all the best parts and the best of what is left will go back together for the 67 C10 to still have a bed.

I am considering making a matching trailer out of the other bed that I can tow behind the 69 to save wear & tear on the 69's bed. I always liked the matching trailer look too.

[68 TT]

This truck also came with a non-tilt column shift steering column so that saves me the hassle of trying to retrofit one since my 67 column was from a manual trans truck.

Original steering wheel doesn't look too bad other than the color and fading. I have seen and repaired much worse but I will most likely put a smaller diameter more sporty looking wheel on there instead of fixing this one. It will probably go on my 67.

It looks like the glove box door was replaced or painted black but they removed the SPID label so no luck there in figuring out how this truck was optioned from the factory. By the aftermarket amp meter under the dash I would guess this truck did not have one in the cluster. Kind of funny that my 67 C10 only has two options on the SPID and one is the ammeter-oil gauge, the other is a deluxe air heater.

The glove box liner is only partially there but it is enough to let me see how it should go. I think I will build a replacement one out of aluminum and see if I can hang my PCM off the bottom so I have easy access to the chip for tuning.

[68 TT]

By all the grease on the retrofit drum brake front axle, suspension & frame I would guess it has been in the 69 for quite a while. They welded the rear spring shackle brackets to the frame and welded the front spring buckets to the front body mount brackets. Not the prettiest welds but it looks like they held. I will definitely weld up, reinforce and bolt the areas so they are very solid.

I have a spare set of 10-bolt axles out of the 84 K5 Blazer parts truck I picked up for the 67 C10 4x4 conversion project that were not used so they will be going into the 67 and the 3.73 geared disc brake Dana-44 front axle that is in the 67 now will be going into the 69.

The stock 69 C20 monster of an 8-lug rear axle will be coming out and the six lug 3.73 geared truck arm 12-bolt that came out of my 67 C10 will be going in.

I will keep the 3.73 geared leaf spring 12-bolt that I will be pulling out of the 67 in case I decide some time in the future to convert the rear suspension in the 69 to leaf. I have a spare set of rear leaf springs and hangers to go with it too.

Don't know what gears are in either of the axles that are currently in the 69 but if the rear one has 4.10 gears I have a buyer for it. I may have a buyer for the front axle too.

The front wheels on the 69 are from what I have been told fairly hard to find original 4x4 wheels. I have a buyer for those too once they come off.

[67-72crazy]

Nice project truck can't wait to see how it turns out.

[project 67 sub]

those look like some baby moons painted black and missing the center caps

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by project 67 sub

those look like some baby moons painted black and missing the center caps

They are, the paint is coming off in a few places so you can see the chrome through those spots. 15x9 if I measured right.

Too bad I only have the two.

Not sure what I am going to do with them yet.

[68 TT]

Pics of yesterdays work. Got the 69 core support brackets bolted in place. Still need to clean up the extra material left from the PO's pieced together front spring buckets but that will be easier with them in pace on the frame. Also need to weld up the crack in the passenger side bracket while I am at it. Ran out of cover gas for the TIG and ran out of wire for the MIG so that will have to wait a bit.

Got the engine stands bolted in at the rear position and drilled the matching lower mount hole that they needed. Should hep a little with the weight bias as the engine & trans will now be 2-5/8" further back than they were before. Should help with header clearance too.

Put the trans mount on and bolted the tail shaft to the crossmember and blocked up the front to keep it in place.

I need to finish the brake plumbing and paint the front portion of the frame before I can yank the 400 out of the Malibu and drop it in.

I'm going to see if the Malibu headers will fit the C10 chassis with the engine back all the way while I am at it.

[68 TT]

Pics of my high hump tunnel install and flintstone floor pans.

[68 TT]

Finally got a chance to hit the wrecking yard again.

Scored a nice set of 69 C20 lower A-arms, sway bar and one of the sway bar mount stands. Now I can put the new C2500 ball joints in and get the 6-lug front disc brakes working on this thing.

One sway bar mount stand was bolted on and the other was riveted on. The other truck with a sway bar had both stands riveted on. I will need to fab up a matching part for the other side but it is pretty simple piece so it won't take much.

Also snagged some inner & outer tie rods that will work for the C2500 disc swap to experiment on before I go and buy new parts to cut up and install.

[mcbassin]

You sure have a lot of irons in the fire bro. I have a hard time just trying to keep one going suscribing to this one too.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

You sure have a lot of irons in the fire bro. I have a hard time just trying to keep one going suscribing to this one too.

No kidding. I am trying to lower the vehicle count some so I can get something done for once. Vehicular A.D.D. sucks.

This one will most likely go away as soon as I can get it drivable so i can focus on the stepside then get back to the 4x4 conversion once the stepside is on the road.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

No kidding. I am trying to lower the vehicle count some so I can get something done for once. Vehicular A.D.D. sucks.

This one will most likely go away as soon as I can get it drivable so i can focus on the stepside then get back to the 4x4 conversion once the stepside is on the road.

Sounds like a plan. "Vehicular A.D.D." I like that.