Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Looks good. Any progress chasing down your oil leak?

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Just keeping an eye on it for now, seems to be worse some days than others. I love your crew cab by the way!

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Thinking back to a couple of motor swaps I've done, I recall the rear of the intake manifold was a problem spot. I could run my fingers down the back of the block just below the manifold and knew it all had to come off to get new rtv. One place to check for the rear at least. Thanks for the crew cab compliments.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

This is a cool rig. I like how you pick off one thing at a time and take care of the stuff around it that can be upgraded. Good approach!

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Thanks, I have never put this much work into a vehicle before I have had multiple people ask me if I wanted to sell it and I have my price, but it is pretty high and unrealistic. Everytime I drive her I have a huge smile on my face. :)

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Well my truck is experiencing its first problem, I drive down the road and sometimes the right front makes a grinding sound, it only does it sometimes and if i slow down completely it goes away. I jacked up the wheel no play in the wheel bearing or balljoints and was professionally aligned to spec. Anybody have any clues to what it is?

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Huh there aren't that many things up front on these trucks. Assume you're in two wheel and hubs are unlocked?

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Yes and it has the np208.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Is start by taking the hub off and inspecting. Make sure you don't have a dry wheel bearing and it would be good to clean and check the hub too.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Ok so I pulled the locking hubs off drivers side looked fine (no noise coming from this side), pulled off the passenger side and there is dirt and moisture in there, so I cleaned out both sides the best I could and put more grease in there . Drove it about 100 miles yesterday and no issues.

I don't have any real updates for this thing lately, I am going to be moving in a few months so I can't start my vintage air install. 4wheelparts is going to have there show coming up so we will see if I can get a good deal on a set of gears and true tracs for the truck. And just maybe this thing will get repainted.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Glad it was a simple fix. What gears are you going for? That was the best single upgrade I did on my little short bed 77.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Probably go for 3.73 I don't have overdrive.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Ordered my gears and lockers today at the 4wheelparts show in Ontario, got a pretty decent deal. 4.10 gears with a truetrac in the front and a detroit locker for the back. The guy at the order desk was surprised to see such a old truck being upgraded, he told me it will be a serious rig offroad now, we will see haha.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Right on you are going to love that setup. It will get around pretty good off-road too.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Put my truck in its first car show! I was nervous about it being a "newer" vehicle, but it gained a lot of attention, and people appreciated it in general which was cool.

My truck and my uncles 67 c10:
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/p...704_071619.jpg
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/p...704_071644.jpg
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/p...704_091124.jpg

My aunts 67 camaro, and my uncles buddies impala:
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/p...704_071634.jpg

My favorite car from the show:http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/p...704_145538.jpg

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

That is a cool wagon. Your truck looked good too. Shows are a lot of fun even if you don't have the best vehicle there.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Looking good. Solid rigs all over at the show. Your truck fits right in IMO.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Dropped the truck off the get gears and lockers installed. Should have it back by tommorow.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

I thought maybe I would ask for a opinion, gears and lockers are working great by the way, need 35's now, but it has great power now! Vintage air will come during my winter school break.

I am at the point of this build where I put more money than the truck is worth, which is no problem with me since I would like to keep it for a long time and have no intention of selling a vehicle that I own.

New motor, radiator, alternator, carb, emissions components, axles rebuilt, all new interior and rubber seals, heater components, nice stereo ect... only thing I haven't touched on this truck is the transmission or transfer case.

So the question is do I paint it? Granted I don't want to spend enough money for a show quality paint job which cost 7k+. I was thinking more along the lines of a 2500-3500$ job. My truck has decent single stage paint, but has bondo behind the rear wheel on the passenger side, as well as multiple small dings in both doors along the hood and roof. And overall the paint is just showing its age/ lack of quality.

I was thinking about getting the bondo fixed at a professional shop, and having Maaco or another high volume shop paint it. Again, I am not expecting a show quality job (I have REAL expectations when it comes to paint). Should I have the truck painted with a metallic (will be base/clear coat), I figured metallic paint will hide some imperfections. I would REALLY like to paint the truck victory red, but I could settle with spiral grey metallic. Only thing I would like the shop to do is remove the bed to paint, or at least slide it back to paint the back properly also pull the front and rear glass to paint inside he jambs. Hence the higher budget.

sorry for the long post, I just thought I would get opinions on paint options...

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Glad to hear the gears and traction adders are paying off. Have you been out wheeling at all? I just glanced through your whole build again and you have made a ton of progress. I'd run it by a couple of body shops and talk specifics about what you want to do. Maybe someone can fit the whole bill. Talk about details like who is going to disassemble and reassemble the truck, and what level of tear down you require. I bet a shop will fit your budget and give a good product. Body is always the last thing to do in my book, and you are about there.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

That is one sweet k10! I recently found some drip rails at the junk yard as well. I felt like they might have been my best bargain yet!

I hope my CA smog trip goes a little smoother though! I'm dreading it...

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

I like the look of the drip rails on these trucks. Emissions isn't so bad on my truck, which is all mechanical (catalytic convertor, A.I.R injection, EGR). Your truck I think has one of those electronic quadrajets with a ecm. Once these trucks pass smog its easy to maintain them.

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

Did you detach the chrome from the drip rail mount when you installed it, or did you keep it all together?

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

I kept it all together

Re: 81 Chevy K10 ShortBed
 

I finally ordered vintage air, got the compressor and brackets mocked up. Looks like I will need a 3 groove crankshaft pulley (no surprise). The Direction say to do all the engine bay stuff last, but I want to get the pulley situation dealt with first.

I will try to do a detailed install, as I have not seen anybody do a install on a truck with all the emissions on it. so bear with me lol.

http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/p...122_153859.jpg

http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/p...122_164607.jpg

So far not too bad dealing with the spacer placement. Next up is replacing the pulley and adding the condenser, firewall plate ect.