- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
I vote alum slots but that's me
GMC / Chevy Getting a 1969 Chevy K20 back on the road
- Thread starter Greg
- Start date
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
The H2 wheels are growing on me, I think they'll be fine... powder coated White would really help, so would a 2.5" suspension lift and 35" BFG's. Eventually... 😉
Thanks for all the opinions!
Thanks for all the opinions!
Pile of parts
Well-Known Member
- Location
- South Jordan
They actually look better than I thought they would. I think white might be cool. Kind of a modern spin on the old white wagon wheels.
Totally random thought, could you spray a couple wheels with PVA, then spray paint one black and one white to see the results? That would save save you from a full sandblast and powder coat job that may not be what you like in the end?
*Disclaimer* I've never tried this with paint, but, polyvinyl alcohol works pretty dang good with epoxy resins for composite molds as a release agent. It also cleans up with plain old tap water.
*Disclaimer* I've never tried this with paint, but, polyvinyl alcohol works pretty dang good with epoxy resins for composite molds as a release agent. It also cleans up with plain old tap water.
STAG
On my grind
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
Last edited:
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
That looks damn good, the White wheels go with the White bumpers, lower and upper portions that are painted White as well. 😎
Zombie
Random Dead Guy
- Location
- Sandy Utah
What a trip... those wheels go from mid 00s to retro when they turn white. I vote for white wheels that are a little bit dirty at all times - then you've got a match.
ID Bronco
Registered User
- Location
- Idaho Falls, ID
"Antique" the white paint on them, I guess a "distressed" look is what I'm talking about. See, I do listen to my wife on occasion. haha
I think you mean immediately drive down a few dirt roads or recently chipped highways after painting.
ID Bronco
Registered User
- Location
- Idaho Falls, ID
More like sandpaper or scotch brite shortly after painting.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Been working on the K20 in the evenings after work, the first thing was installing a new master cyl and bench bleeding it. The brakes were missing the hard lines between the master cyl and proportioning valve, so I picked up some tube & fittings, then bent up what I needed. Once everything was connected, I decided to try bleeding the brakes and see if the wheel cyls would hold pressure. It took awhile to get something that felt like brake resistance.... it's not great, but it's something. I can hear the shoes moving in the drums, but I think they're far out of adjustment. I really don't want to spend too much time & money on the drums, but I do need to tear into them and make them work better.
The poor truck has been really running rough, it sounded & felt like it was running on 3-4 cyls... didn't like driving to test out the brakes, backfired, didn't want to rev up, etc. I decided to to a full tuneup, replacing the spark plugs, wires, cap & rotor, points, coil, etc. I could have done a HEI conversion, but since my eventual plan it to swap in a LS, I don't want to sink too much money in SBC parts for this one. The total cost was around $200, which is reasonable IMO. The work took about an hour and when I turned the key, it fired right up and sounded great. Finally, running on all 8 cylinders!! The exhaust is rusted and gone, but it really sounds good now!
I couldn't help but take it for a drive.... this truck has really come a long way and it's so damn cool to see running around!
The poor truck has been really running rough, it sounded & felt like it was running on 3-4 cyls... didn't like driving to test out the brakes, backfired, didn't want to rev up, etc. I decided to to a full tuneup, replacing the spark plugs, wires, cap & rotor, points, coil, etc. I could have done a HEI conversion, but since my eventual plan it to swap in a LS, I don't want to sink too much money in SBC parts for this one. The total cost was around $200, which is reasonable IMO. The work took about an hour and when I turned the key, it fired right up and sounded great. Finally, running on all 8 cylinders!! The exhaust is rusted and gone, but it really sounds good now!
I couldn't help but take it for a drive.... this truck has really come a long way and it's so damn cool to see running around!
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Comet Washed the truck today, looks so much better! 
Before...
After!
Before...
After!
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Not the biggest of updates, but the factory steel lugnuts weren't working will with the H2 wheels (too small, gouging the lug seat) so the truck got fancy new chrome lug nuts... all because I've been driving it around the neighborhood and don't want a wheel to fall off.
(The threads on the lowest stud are jacked, so it's not seated)
(The threads on the lowest stud are jacked, so it's not seated)
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Decided to remove the bench seat and clean the interior, it was quite disgusting. Smelled like mouse sh!t, the seat was chewed up, etc. I felt bad when I had my wife in the cab helping bleed the brakes and she said she wanted a shower afterwards. After dragging the seat out, I found piles of shit and a couple dead ones... it was nasty. Used the shop vac to clean up as much as I could. Started with lots of soap and soaking the crud.
Next up was spraying down the entire interior with Bleach.... then Simple Green and scrubbing, then Pine Sol and more scrubbing. I had to get some junk out of the passenger area using brake cleaner, so another round of Pine Sol to finish off the scent with something that smelled OK. The end result was much better!
The passenger door has been stuck since I dragged the truck home, I have tried several times and couldn't get it to budge. The latch and handle worked like they should, but the mechanism to open the door was frozen HARD. With the help of my neighbor, I sat on the inside and kicked the door several times as hard as I could and eventually got it to open! I worked the closing mechanism, lubed it up, heated it until it started moving and just worked it back & forth until I could open and close the door.
I moved on to the seat, stripping it down. I'm going to have it reupholstered and figured I'd help out the guy doing the work. It was gross, lots of seeds and more mouse crap. The center of the seat has a beautiful embossed patten and was actually pretty well preserved, thanks to a seat cover.
Then, I found two pieces of paper sandwiched under the foam... they're the build sheets for the truck, with all the options!!!! 😍 I'm going to have these laminated and kept with the truck.
The bench is stripped down to the bare frame, has been sanitized and ready to go to the upholstery shop. I really want Baby Blue and White on the seat, to match the paint. It'll probably take awhile, I'm going to have the same guy do the work that did my C10 bench seat. Which I might pull out and put into the K20 for now, since it runs & drives.
Next up was spraying down the entire interior with Bleach.... then Simple Green and scrubbing, then Pine Sol and more scrubbing. I had to get some junk out of the passenger area using brake cleaner, so another round of Pine Sol to finish off the scent with something that smelled OK. The end result was much better!
The passenger door has been stuck since I dragged the truck home, I have tried several times and couldn't get it to budge. The latch and handle worked like they should, but the mechanism to open the door was frozen HARD. With the help of my neighbor, I sat on the inside and kicked the door several times as hard as I could and eventually got it to open! I worked the closing mechanism, lubed it up, heated it until it started moving and just worked it back & forth until I could open and close the door.
I moved on to the seat, stripping it down. I'm going to have it reupholstered and figured I'd help out the guy doing the work. It was gross, lots of seeds and more mouse crap. The center of the seat has a beautiful embossed patten and was actually pretty well preserved, thanks to a seat cover.
Then, I found two pieces of paper sandwiched under the foam... they're the build sheets for the truck, with all the options!!!! 😍 I'm going to have these laminated and kept with the truck.
The bench is stripped down to the bare frame, has been sanitized and ready to go to the upholstery shop. I really want Baby Blue and White on the seat, to match the paint. It'll probably take awhile, I'm going to have the same guy do the work that did my C10 bench seat. Which I might pull out and put into the K20 for now, since it runs & drives.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
After the Comet wash, I wanted to protect the newly cleaned & shiny paint. I've seen wipe-on clear coats and thought that sounded interesting, was less of a PITA than spraying. I picked up a wipe-on clear coat in Matte from Poppy's Patina for $120, mixed it up and went to town applying it. It was raining outside so I had the garage door closed, but it wasn't long before I had windows open... the fumes were strong!
I tried my best to cover everything back & forth, then side to side... I wasn't sure how much I'd have leftover, as they claim it's enough to cover a longbed truck. I feel like I spread it on a little light early on, as I didn't want to run out. I noticed that it setup pretty quick and recovering a first coat even a minute after application wasn't ideal. Once the truck was fully covered, I saw that you could see the wipe patterns quite well and there were a bunch of runs on some of the vertical panels... more user error than anything, I'm sure.
Here's the outcome after the clear had setup and wasn't sticky to the touch anymore;
Overall, I'm not really impressed... it covered and protected the bare metal areas, but looking closely it's pretty shitty. The consistency, wipe marks you can see, etc feels like a letdown. On my '70 C10 I cleaned it up, no Comet wash and coated it with Linseed Oil and it looks great... the way the Linseed Oil laid down was much more even and consistent. And it cost less than $5. I'm considering covering this truck with Linseed Oil to try even out the clear coat, but I don't know that it'll work. I'm sure if I'd have shot it with a HVLP gun, it wouldn't have had these issues.
I tried my best to cover everything back & forth, then side to side... I wasn't sure how much I'd have leftover, as they claim it's enough to cover a longbed truck. I feel like I spread it on a little light early on, as I didn't want to run out. I noticed that it setup pretty quick and recovering a first coat even a minute after application wasn't ideal. Once the truck was fully covered, I saw that you could see the wipe patterns quite well and there were a bunch of runs on some of the vertical panels... more user error than anything, I'm sure.
Here's the outcome after the clear had setup and wasn't sticky to the touch anymore;
Overall, I'm not really impressed... it covered and protected the bare metal areas, but looking closely it's pretty shitty. The consistency, wipe marks you can see, etc feels like a letdown. On my '70 C10 I cleaned it up, no Comet wash and coated it with Linseed Oil and it looks great... the way the Linseed Oil laid down was much more even and consistent. And it cost less than $5. I'm considering covering this truck with Linseed Oil to try even out the clear coat, but I don't know that it'll work. I'm sure if I'd have shot it with a HVLP gun, it wouldn't have had these issues.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I made the decision to pull the seat out of the C10 since it was already reupholstered, wasn't running & driving and the K20 was... so I bolted that seat into the '69. It's the wrong color, but really cleaned up the look and feel of the interior.
johngottfredson
Threat Level Midnight
- Location
- Alpine
Disagree on the color, you could drop that seat in any of these old trucks and it would look awesome. Love it!!I made the decision to pull the seat out of the C10 since it was already reupholstered, wasn't running & driving and the K20 was... so I bolted that seat into the '69. It's the wrong color, but really cleaned up the look and feel of the interior.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
You're right, I should have said 'not the preferred color'. 😁
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Picked up a set of 40 Series Flowmasters, which I've LOVED the sound of since '92-93.... @anderson750 used these on his El Camino build and they are enough for this truck, lightly used!
The old exhaust was completely rusted out, the glasspacks were gone it was loud and sounded terrible. I used a universal 2.5" exhaust kit from Speedway Motors for the pipes, welded up some new mount and routed the exhaust up and over the rear axle. The exhaust just dumps after the rear axle, good enough for this truck! The 40 Series Flowmasters sound awesome, very happy with the sound!
The rear driveshaft needed a couple new u-joints, so I pressed the sloppy, worn out ones out and new 1350 joints in... it wasn't hard work, but really helped with how the truck drives.
Also replaced the front wheel cylinders, attempting to get a decent brake pedal feel. It's better, but not safe enough to hit the main roads yet... I really don't want to spend too much on the drum brakes and factory axles, as the 1 tons are coming soon! It's good enough to drive around the neighborhood though!
The old exhaust was completely rusted out, the glasspacks were gone it was loud and sounded terrible. I used a universal 2.5" exhaust kit from Speedway Motors for the pipes, welded up some new mount and routed the exhaust up and over the rear axle. The exhaust just dumps after the rear axle, good enough for this truck! The 40 Series Flowmasters sound awesome, very happy with the sound!
The rear driveshaft needed a couple new u-joints, so I pressed the sloppy, worn out ones out and new 1350 joints in... it wasn't hard work, but really helped with how the truck drives.
Also replaced the front wheel cylinders, attempting to get a decent brake pedal feel. It's better, but not safe enough to hit the main roads yet... I really don't want to spend too much on the drum brakes and factory axles, as the 1 tons are coming soon! It's good enough to drive around the neighborhood though!
anderson750
I'm working on it Rose
- Location
- Price, Utah
You were supposed to work on the El Camino and clean up the mess in my garage while you were there picking them up.Picked up a set of 40 Series Fowmasters, which I've LOVED the sound of since '93.... @anderson750 used these on his El Camino build and they were good enough for this truck, lightly used! The old exhaust was completely rusted out, the glasspacks where gone and it was loud and sounded terrible. I used a universal 2.5" exhaust kit from Speedway Motors for the pipes, welded up some new mount and routed the exhaust up and over the rear axle. The exhaust just dumps after the rear axle, good enough for this truck! The 40 Series Flowmasters sound awesome, very happy with the sound!
The rear driveshaft needed a couple new u-joints, so I pressed the sloppy, worn out ones out and new 1350 joints in... it wasn't hard work, but really helped with how the truck drives.
Also replaced the front wheel cylinders, attempting to get a decent brake pedal feel. It's better, but not safe enough to hit the main roads yet... I really don't want to spend too much on the drum brakes and factory axles, as the 1 tons are coming soon! It's good enough to drive around the neighborhood though!