Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Hello, thanks to "zoomad" I am starting this build thread. My name is Michael I am 15 and a sophomore at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, CO and thanks to my great dad we are building a 1972 K10. We started cruising through Craigslist and found many 2wd and 4wd trucks from 67-72, I was able to persuade my dad a K-Series truck since it would allow me to get more use out of it than a "hot rod" truck (like the old man wants to build). We were inspired by "zoomad" (Uncle Rob) with his excellent build thread. Rob with his extensive background with all GM products has proven to be a great resource for information with our new build, and our family's "grocery getters." The Pueblo Duran/Zulian family are considered our "southern" blood relatives. Now for the truck. In June of 2016 we found ourselves a 1970 k10 LWB(with a 72 front clip). It currently has the normal 350 engine and TH350 trans. Our plans are to convert it into a SWB and restore it to it's original hugger ornage and white paint job, with a few modern touches. We will be posting photos as we go along with out build.

Excited to be "Building a Better way to See the USA":flagw:

Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Here Are Some Photos of our progress

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Sorry don't know why the pictures show up that way, haven't been able to figure out a way to flip them yet

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More Photos

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Flipped your pictures using Paint. Welcome to the forum and good luck!

Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Welcome and good luck!

Chris

Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Thanks, I note that for further posts!

Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Yeah Buddy! Good job Mikey and Dad! Glad you guys joined up. This place is a wealth of knowledge on all things Chevy trucks and it's a great place to keep track of your build.

I've found a ton of info and hopefully helped a few too.

I like the plan of attack we talked about at the res and what you've showed so far. The steel rallies will be a great look and I totally dig the plan with Hugger orange. Can't wait to see progress moving.

I'm flattered with the nice comments you gave in your first post. You guys need any help you know how to get a hold of me.

Oh and since you are playing football I'll cut you some slack on getting stuff done now...But once the season is over you best be getting with it! That is after the homework is done!

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Got the tires re-mounted this weekend, got the rally's on there now!

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Nice truck, smart going with a 4x4, I have always preferred them over 2 wheel drives, looking forward to seeing your progress...I love my 72 K20

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Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Ordered more part from brothers: new mirrors, door handles, bumper light lenses, side marker sense, cad corner, quarter panels, blazer 20 gallon tank. Also ordered a 2.5" lift from Tuff Country

We were also able to find a seat from a 1991 Sierra off of Craigslist.

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Here is the seat we found, needed new rails on the bottom and new foam, nothing we can't fix, it also help when the guy gives it to you for free!

Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Right On! Brown Santa for the win! I love the tires, great traction off road, good ride on pavement and not loud either! You'll like them.

The lift is a good one. Still should be able to load the mx bike in the back without too much fuss. I bet it nets a little more than 2.5" as your stock springs probably are sagged some.

That seat should look good after you two get done with it.

This is working into a good build. Can't wait to see more!

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Haven't posted in a while, was lazy over winter break, and busy with school. But at least there has been progress on the truck! About three months ago we were able to get a serpentine belt system off a 90 Sierra (sorry I don't have pictures)

We also were able to fit our blazer tank, talk about a major headache. We had to cut out the rear brace, bolt in the tank, then weld the brace flush with the end of the frame. This I have pictures for.

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After another week or so of tinkering in the garage we acquired a Hurst shifter for our transfer case.

Here it is in the truck.

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Then we pulled our cherry picker from the shed and assembled it. Once we did that we were able to jerry rig a brace that allowed us to lift the bed and align it to make sure it will fit on the right holes once we cut the frame.

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Catching up to modern day, roughly two weeks ago we made a huge milestone of installing our hydroboost brake booster. Not only did it make a difference, but I actually don't have to have a 100 pound foot when at stoplight now. :metal:

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Dug up some photo's of the serpentine setup. Sorry for the awkward angle.

Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Well, well, well. Its about friggen time you update the thread. At least you havent been slacking on the truck at least!

Quick question on the serpentine setup.. You did get the reverse rotation water pump and the fan blade for it too, right?

When is the frame cut going to commence?

Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Yes we did get a reverse rotation water pump and fan, but we are looking to find a smaller fan that will fit our shroud. And to answer your frame cut question would be by spring(ish), we are going to finish the work with engine then pull the truck in the garage and cut it.

Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Good deal. Glad to hear you got it right for the water pump. It's an easy one to miss. The neighbor next door to us in Detroit made that mistake. Couldn't figure out why the engine ran hot in 10 minutes or less.

Progress is good though! Keep it up!

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Been a some time since I posted, three weeks ago we tore down the motor and got ready to put our new cam and heads on... Uncle Rob we got your heads all cleaned up and they look great! Thank you soo much.

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Everything went great the first day, we got the whole serpentine system off, the intake, carb, harmonic balancer, and the cam. Then... Saturday came around and it was time to take the oil pan out. We didn't think of it much but the engine cross member is completely in the way from getting the pan out. It took us the whole day but we were able to clean the pan and headers. It took until 12am but we got the oil pan in.

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We couldn't do much during Easter weekend but last weekend we finally got it running and broken in. We struggled with the carb having a bug once we accelerated from low rpm, but we think the truck had too high of fuel pressure and it runs really good now.

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Looking good!

I'll pull the motor before I ever try oil pan stuff in the rig. Changed an oil pan gasket in vehicle once and never again.

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Been really proud of Michael he has managed his time with School / Football and this build. He has done 90% of the wrenching and has learned a lot!
The motor turned out Great! it was an anemic goodwrench 350 with only about 30K mikes. The Plan was to use the Vortec heads Zoommad gave us, Freshen them up lap the valves, install new behive springs/ seals and install a Lunati 702 Cam & performer intake. The motor came alive! WOW I never imagined it would be this strong! The last mod was to install a custom built Q-Jet built by Cliff's High Performance. With lots of tinkering we dialed it in last week and the BEAST runs great! and should be very dependable. Stay Tuned as we move on to the Shortbox conversion and bodywork!
GK10

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Kick Arse!! I'm impressed. Great progress on the engine. I told you both those heads would wake that old dog up. Glad they are going to good use. I know for a fact had I not moved them out of my garage I would have stubbed my toe on them a dozen times by now. Better burning gas than breaking my toes I guess!

I'm really proud of the progress you both have made so far. Need to get the frame sliced and get it back together so we can go wheeling!

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^^ In preparation for the cutting of the frame, we stripped everything off the truck except the radiator support and the motor. Had to jerry rig a way to get the cab off the truck with the picker, it was sketchy and there was a fair exchange of words via me and my dad, but its off.

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^^Fast forward to this previous weekend and we were able to make out "Z" cuts and weld well and.... the truck is now forever a Shortbed!

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Took a long time to get the frame lined up, once we cut the frame it bowed in, minimal set back but at least it is all strong and straight now. We got frame reinforcements from Classic industries (I think) and we boxed in the frame where it was cut, should be super strong now

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Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

BooYah! All right it's on now! I bet that was a little queasy to make that first cut.

Still, good progress! Way to go!

Do yourself a favor while the cab is off and you can access everything. Roll that beast outside and give it a good bath. Degrease the cocoon of old gear oil off the t-case and trans. (Dollar store oven cleaner is killer for this- yes it works and it's a buck a can) Get that frame clean prep it with some primer and fog that sucker black with some rattle can tractor paint. The tractor paint is oil based enamel and is way tougher than the standard krylon stuff you can pickup at home depot or Lowes. Find a Big R or Tractor Supply store. I'm partial to the stuff Big R sells. This stuff: http://www.vansicklepaint.com/tracto...torenamel.html
Stain Black is just right for the frame, suspension, and axles. This stuff is really tough. Get it all painted now before you cover it up as it's a bigger pain to do when the box and cab are on. It will make cleanup after trail rides much easier and you'll be able to spot leaks in a snap. It's totally worth it in the end. Just use a respirator that tractor paint is some foul stuff to spray. I used rattle cans, but I know your Dad has a paint gun so you could buy it in quart or gallon cans and spray it that way.

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Not much happened on the truck through June, but thankfully my dad was able to get the whole 4th of July week off and we were able to make some much needed progress.

The last week of june I was out of town, but my dad was able to rebuild the rear axle, and install the locker we had. After all of that we repainted it and installed it with the new springs from Tuff Country
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We did have to do some modifications to the mounting plate for the spring, because we did a 1" set back on the axle.
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Once the axle was in we FINALLY painted the frame. We are limited in space in the garage so painting the frame with a spray gun was not an option. So we rolled/brushed the paint onto the frame.

First we painted rust encapsulator (from eastwood) and that took all day to paint on and let dry. Next we painted on chassis black which said it was satin, but when we rolled it on and let dry, turned out to look more of a gloss black than satin.

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After we let the paint dry we installed all of the brake and gas lines. We also installed all of the exhaust, the trailer hitch, and gas tank.

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Been waiting for an update! Time to kick it into high gear! I bet football practice is getting started too. The hard part is done for sure. All that's left is everything as they say.

I have to say when I was up there for the party for your Mom and Aunt Trina's party I was impressed at what you two have got done so far. Good solid quality work going on for sure. We'll have to set a date for in the fall for a validation run. Maybe we can even get your Dad's *ahem* Bronco out of hibernation too. Just a day run or something to give it a solid test run with support right there with you.

Don't add pressure to the build for a set date as I know all too well what that stress does. Just think about a goal to set, which works with school and football too. Heck if it's a snow run later that's cool too. I'm game when you guys are.

Keep it up!

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With the start of the school year and football going on, there isn't as much time to thrash on the truck during weekends, and weekdays. But for the past month or so we have working on replacing the rusty cab corners, and rockers, and drivers side floor.

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I sadly didn't have many photos of before and after but here are some of the whole process.

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After we got the cab rust repaired we lined up each fender and hung the doors (this is just the passenger side shown)

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The passenger side went smoothly besides replacing the rear cab support, the drivers side was a much different story, not only were we fighting crappy Chinese sheet metal we were fighting the drivers side door alignment.

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Re: Mk,gk father son k10 build
 

Glad you guys are making progress. This is the tough stuff that makes it so much nicer later when you know all the cancer is gone.

So to give you a little visual encouragement here's a couple of pics from the run we did a couple of weekends ago with Zach and buddies of mine. Zach kicked butt for his first weekend wheeling, we all had a blast. We'll get you and your Dad out there soon enough.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/...976f6bee_k.jpg100_1240 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4358/...d72bd1fb_k.jpg100_1290 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...4c8b0196_k.jpg100_1314 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4386/...cff185fa_k.jpgIMG_20170820_120714906 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Pearl pass is one tough mother. Pretty narrow for a widebody K5, steep and rocky. Mine walked right over it though. Zach's rubi did too. Fun trip. Can't wait to see you guys out there with us.