1978 Chevy K20 longbed with nearly 500,000 miles! LS Swap begins! - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

focusedontheprize · 08-13-2020, 12:52 PM

Nick the truck is looking great. It is a great feeling put parts on rather than taking them off. I did the H4 relay in my ‘88 and it made a huge difference, I am interested in those fanless bulbs.

Nick_R_23 · 08-15-2020, 02:33 PM

Thank you! And yes, it's certainly nice to be moving the needle more towards the assembly side of things!

As far as those LED lights, I think these are the way to go. I've used them on 10+ vehicles now, even 4 wheelers, and haven't had a single failure. I find them on ebay, I believe the seller's name is SOCALLED, but I think there's more than one seller with this style. It's usually a black box with "G6" on the side, although it looks like they may have white boxes now. regardless, they're easy to find in whatever socket size you need, just simply type in "H4 led fanless" (or whatever type you need) and they come up. They're about $41 for a pair, very reasonable.

This weekend I started on rebuilding the hydroboost unit, which probably really didn't need it, but I've never done one before so I wanted to try it. They're almost stupid easy!

Disassembled and painted the housings!

New seals on the actuator shaft.

Paint is dry, lets get this together!

Guts installed, housing bolted back together!

Gas canister installed!

I also started running the wiring for the Holley Terminator X. I greatly underestimated how long the harness is, so I made a change of plans and decided to run the ECU outside, likely in about the same place that the air box will end up being.

Hydroboost is installed! The lines fit just about perfect!

The engine bay as it sits now!

93M6Formula · 08-17-2020, 10:08 AM

I absolutely love your attention to detail. Looks great!

Nick_R_23 · 10-18-2020, 03:45 PM

Thank you!

So, I finally made a little more progress. I've ran into another transmission leak, this time the front bearing retainer plate and I've severely lacked the motivation to deal with that problem.

However, after a month wait, the new dash harness has arrived! This is from M&H, and the quality is astounding! This is the Classic Update series, which has a few extra circuits built into it. I likely won't be utilizing those, however, it also updates all the fuses to the modern blade style!

Once the harness was mostly laid out, the steering column was able to go back in!

Along with the steering shaft!

Two questions now - Does anyone know where to buy a 1978 clutch pedal safety switch? It seems that nobody lists these anywhere.

Also, does anyone have a picture of where this is supposed to be clipped to?

08-13-2020, 12:52 PM	#1
focusedontheprize Registered User Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: CA Posts: 846	Re: 1978 Chevy K20 longbed with nearly 500,000 miles! LS Swap begins! Nick the truck is looking great. It is a great feeling put parts on rather than taking them off. I did the H4 relay in my ‘88 and it made a huge difference, I am interested in those fanless bulbs. __________________ "Dixie" - 1988 Chevrolet V30 CC DRW "3+3" \| 7.4L 454 (L19) \| TH400 \| 4" lift \| 35"s "Lucille" - 1949 Chevrolet 3100 (on hold)

08-15-2020, 02:33 PM	#2
Nick_R_23 Registered User Join Date: May 2016 Location: Willow, Alaska Posts: 863	Re: 1978 Chevy K20 longbed with nearly 500,000 miles! LS Swap begins! Thank you! And yes, it's certainly nice to be moving the needle more towards the assembly side of things! As far as those LED lights, I think these are the way to go. I've used them on 10+ vehicles now, even 4 wheelers, and haven't had a single failure. I find them on ebay, I believe the seller's name is SOCALLED, but I think there's more than one seller with this style. It's usually a black box with "G6" on the side, although it looks like they may have white boxes now. regardless, they're easy to find in whatever socket size you need, just simply type in "H4 led fanless" (or whatever type you need) and they come up. They're about $41 for a pair, very reasonable. This weekend I started on rebuilding the hydroboost unit, which probably really didn't need it, but I've never done one before so I wanted to try it. They're almost stupid easy! Disassembled and painted the housings! New seals on the actuator shaft. Paint is dry, lets get this together! Guts installed, housing bolted back together! Gas canister installed! I also started running the wiring for the Holley Terminator X. I greatly underestimated how long the harness is, so I made a change of plans and decided to run the ECU outside, likely in about the same place that the air box will end up being. Hydroboost is installed! The lines fit just about perfect! The engine bay as it sits now!

08-17-2020, 10:08 AM	#3
93M6Formula Registered User Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Norfolk,NE Posts: 136	Re: 1978 Chevy K20 longbed with nearly 500,000 miles! LS Swap begins! I absolutely love your attention to detail. Looks great! __________________ 1982 Sierra Classic K15 RC/LB 6.2L Diesel 700R4 1988 GTA Trans AM 305 TPI 700R4 1993 Formula Firebird LT1 T56 1995 GMC K2500 ECLB 6.5L 4L80E 1996 GMC K3500 CCLB LB7 6L90

10-18-2020, 03:45 PM	#4
Nick_R_23 Registered User Join Date: May 2016 Location: Willow, Alaska Posts: 863	Re: 1978 Chevy K20 longbed with nearly 500,000 miles! LS Swap begins! Thank you! So, I finally made a little more progress. I've ran into another transmission leak, this time the front bearing retainer plate and I've severely lacked the motivation to deal with that problem. However, after a month wait, the new dash harness has arrived! This is from M&H, and the quality is astounding! This is the Classic Update series, which has a few extra circuits built into it. I likely won't be utilizing those, however, it also updates all the fuses to the modern blade style! Once the harness was mostly laid out, the steering column was able to go back in! Along with the steering shaft! Two questions now - Does anyone know where to buy a 1978 clutch pedal safety switch? It seems that nobody lists these anywhere. Also, does anyone have a picture of where this is supposed to be clipped to?



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