Project Daily Driver 77 K10

[MTCK]

I did a little bit of work on the truck last weekend. The front springs were so flat that it pretty much rode on the bump stops most of the time. I had a set of stock springs left over from my blazer that I lifted, so I threw them under the truck with a set of greasable poly bushings from ORD. I also installed an Energy Suspension greasable poly swaybar kit on while I was at it and rotated the tires. The truck rides SO much better with a little up travel.

I also realized that it has been about a year since this project started. I've driven the truck close to 10k miles by my estimate, and I feel it is completely reliable. I would not hesitate to drive it cross country right now. There are a pile of parts waiting to go on it when I have some time. Rear Auburn Gear limited slip, front and rear 4.10 gears and master rebuild kits with timken bearings.

[thirdstreettito]

Keep up the good work!

[MTCK]

What a difference some gears make! The 4.10 R&P's are installed along with the auburn gear limited slip. It also took two new ball joints up front, spindle bearings, repacked front wheel bearings, new rear wheel bearings and new axle seals all around. Everything feels very tight now.

The new gear ratio totally changes the behavior of the truck. I have no problem starting out in first instead of low in any situation. Most of the driving I do is around town, and I'm shifting back and forth between 2nd and 3rd much less. The revs are obviously a lot higher the little bit of driving I do at 55-65 mph, but overall truck behaves much better. No more spinning one front and one rear tire trying to start at slick intersections either.

I can't wait to finish breaking them in and to find some dry pavement

[MTCK]

Ended up needing a new front driveline to go with all the other work I had done, but everything is nice and tight now. I had the temp sensor go bad for the holley efi, but it's just a stock GM piece so $10 at Napa had me back on the road. I finally swapped out the cheesy throttle cable bracket that came with the system for the unit shown from Summit. The t-case mounts were so trashed and cracked and those got replaced as well. The pressure line for the power steering was leaking badly so I replaced it. The serpentine system seems to move the pump a little bit down and towards the frame rail, and I don't like the angle that the hose has to bend at to work. It will have to do for now.

[MTCK]

1977 Chevy K10 on ice track - YouTube

[MTCK]

2" Tuff country EZ rides front and back are on the way along with Bilstein shocks, sway bar disconnect and steering box brace from ORD. The truck made it to the finish line - wife graduated last month and will be back home in a few weeks. I've been commuting to and from a job this summer, 100 miles each way and have put another 8-10k miles on. Maybe I should have thought about that before going with 4.10 gears... All in all it has done great.
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[Greenlee]

Nice work! Maybe I missed it, did you put the Dana 60 in that followed you home?
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[MTCK]

No it is still sitting out in the shop. I'm going to leave the 1/2 ton running gear under this truck and put that either in a future k5 for wheeling or my 83 if I build it into a heavier duty work truck. I decided not to go the heavy running gear route with this truck since it is going to stay pretty close to the ground and not get wheeled hard. Plus I dumped some pretty good coin in these axles so might as well use them.
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[Greenlee]

I hear you. I had a Dana 60 and 14 bolt rear for my project, but I also have a receipt were the previous owner recently had the half ton axles totally refurbished. So, I decided it was more practical to run the half tons. I probably won't be doing any serious wheeling anyway. I think I really just wanted the coolness factor of running the bullet proof Dana 60!
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[quadzero]

I saw your avatar pic and I knew I had to track this truck down. What a nice surprise. There is really alot of useful and practical information in this thread. I like how you did the stereo so you could get the seats back further. The heated seats and cold front are of interest too seeing how it gets to -40 here. I find the holley EFI kit really intriguing and I will have to go thru that again, I'm sure I will benefit from it also. What I wouldn't give to get my hands on a Dana 60. I could probably get my hands on Uranium easier, the cheapest one I could find so far was $1200.00 and its a long long ways away. This tread has been the find of the day, keep up the good work.

[MTCK]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you have found the thread usefull. I love the fuel injection, but wish I would have waited a few more weeks to order it, because right about that time is when Holley was coming out with their newer self-tuning systems... They are about the same price and what a bunch of time and headaches that would have saved... Tuning the system was by far the most difficult part of installing it.

The cold front helps a lot, as do the heated seats. The neoprene is a little warm in the summer though - I think I need to get the A/C all hooked up before next summer.

The truck has actually just about finished its daily driver duty, as my wife just finished grad school and we are moved back home and got her a new RAV4. I'll probably drive her old Tacoma as it gets about 16 - 18 mpg and has a remote start for the winter!

I'll have some good updates for the truck in the next week +/- so stay tuned.
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[MTCK]

OK so a week was more like a month and a half, but the lift is on. I did a full write up on the installation over on the 4x4 page, so I'll skip the details here. The truck rides great now! Pictures below.

Lift install: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...44#post5698044


While it was under the knife, I fixed a few nagging problems. I had a seat heater switch go out (driver's naturally), needed a new pigtail for the block heater, pan heater, trickle charger combo, installed new LED's in the dash, as 1/2 the lights were burnt out, fixed a turn signal return spring and FINALLY hooked up my horn to work with the new style steering wheel.

The LED's are great - very bright and actually work on the dimmer switch. It's hard to tell, but I got them in green, which looks kinda cool. For the horn I ran a short wire up from the copper tab below the turn signal assembly to the horn button itself. When I push down it has a small arm that touches the main steering shaft and completes the circuit.

I also hooked up a new O2 sensor with gauge, and it promptly notified me that my temp compensation factor is off, as I'm running lean (it's below zero already...). I guess I still have a little more tuning to do.

[MTCK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T3Nd...ature=youtu.be

Latest video from the local ice track. Playing with the new GoPro camera. Editing by my buddy the Guru.

[tip]

^ damn that looks like fun.

I like what you've done with the truck. What LEDs did you use for the dash lights?

[MTCK]

Thank you, and yes it was a lot of fun. I wish I had a set of studs to throw on when I go out there, but that would probably just result in hitting the snow bank at higher speed!

I got the LED's for the dash from www.superbrightleds.com . I got backup lights and front parking/turn signal lights at the same time. They work on the dimmer rheostat which is nice. I also did the tail/brake lamps from LMC at the same time. I like the way it all looks and performs.
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[tip]

Nice, thanks. Did you need a different flasher to work with the turn signals?

[MTCK]

Yes I used the electronic replacement flasher from LMC - works great.
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[MTCK]

Not too much work on the truck lately. It has been relegated to a work truck. I've been hauling fire wood, top soil and brush quite a bit. Next month we will take it on a little expedition style camping trip with some friends and go explore some old abandoned mine sites a few hundred miles from here.

I put a receiver hitch on it, as I want to pull a little dump trailer to finish some topsoil work in my back yard. It took several go arounds with the trailer place before I got one that would work. It was not bolt on, which is probably partially due to the aftermarket LMC bumper and brackets. It is rated to 8k with a load distributing hitch and 5k without, and looks alright so I'm happy.

The truck won't be six lug too much longer I don't think. The truck needs new tires and I'm not going to buy a set of 15" just so I can replace them when I finally get around to swapping 1 ton axles in. I have a bead on a 14 bolt to go with the dana 60 I already have and I hope to get them both gone through before the snow flies and install them this winter.

[Greenlee]

I like how that receiver fits right under the bumper.

I see you decided to put the Dana 60 in this truck. That is going to be one tuff truck with the 1 ton running gear!

That ice track looks like fun! We don't get to do anything like that down here.
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[MTCK]

Thanks Greenlee, I am looking forward to doing the swap. I picked up a 74 K20 with 4.10 gears (matches the D60) big brakes a good grille and brackets, wheels and hub caps, and 56" rear springs that I intend to use. I'll do ORD's 2.5" shackle flip and some longer shackles when I put the springs in to maintain my lift.

The D60 was already supposedly rebuilt but I'm going to go through both of them prior to putting them in. Should be a pretty easy swap.
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[MTCK]

Just finished installing my trailer brake controller tonight. Great little kit from etrailer.com that came with a 7-pin connector with 4-pin built into the side of the housing, all wiring, circuit breakers, connectors, zip ties and wire loom. I also bought a Tekoshna progressive controller to run the brakes.

I installed the 7-pin housing up above the bottom of the frame rails on a cross member and will get a short extension harness to keep in the truck and use when trailering. I looked at a lot of installs hanging down below the bumper and didn't see that lasting more than a trip or two off the pavement. It will have to move when I get around to putting in a blazer tank but who knows when that will be.

[MTCK]

Picked up the parts truck a couple of weeks ago. My buddy pulled the rear end, springs and core support and dropped them off. I'm going to start going through it this weekend and bring the Dana 60 back to my house and go through it as well. I need to hurry before the snow flies and I'm taking up my wife's parking spot!

The wheels are 16" and I plan on getting some new rubber on them and cleaning them up. They look pretty narrow. Anybody run 285/75R16's on stock width rims? I'd like to go with either those or a 255/75R16. I'd prefer the 285's just because they are easier to find. Thinking about Cooper STT's.

[Greenlee]

How's it going? You get that Dana 60 in there yet?
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[MTCK]

Ah progress, where to start? So as planned, I brought my dana 60 and 14 bolt home from the shop and put them in the garage at my house. I pulled the axles, brake drums and hubs off the 14 bolt. The brakes are in great shape, wheel bearings all look good and turn freely.

I put everything back together and went to work cleaning up the housing to prep for paint. I used high temp caliper paint on the drums and backing plates, and rustoleum primer and semi gloss black on the rest of the housing.

When I was in the 14 bolt, I confirmed it is 4.10 ratio and has a factory gov-bomb. The first is good, as it matches what I was told the D60 has for ratio, but part of me was hoping it was an open carrier so I could drop a Detroit locker in.

[MTCK]

The last picture in my previous post is the 56" (I think?) springs out of the K20 and the 52" springs (I know) off the back of my K10 that I saved. I expected a more noticeable difference, but the 3/4 ton springs are definitely longer.

After finishing up the 14 bolt I started on the D60. It sat in a dusty shop for several years, and quite a bit of dirt found it's way into the pumpkin, so it took me several hours with fine brushes and scotchbrite pads to get the dirt out and little bit of surface rust off the carrier (not R&P). Oh and about a case and a half of brakekleen. The rotors also had some surface rust so I hit them with an abrasive pad on my die grinder. They cleaned up well.

I used caliper paint on the calipers and the same rustoleum primer / semigloss on the rest of the housing.