Budget Build 1985 K20

[JJH Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Willowrun

Wow, that Midnight Blue is about perfect. Then you need to think about the interior color. Factory probably would have went with dark blue on the inside but a dark brown or saddle would really compliment the blue exterior.

The blue would have had either blue interior or charcoal from the factory. I like the charcoal but charcoal seatbelts seem to be a unicorn to find. So undecided on interior color yet.

[JJH Jimmy]

I am planning on putting a Vintage Air system in so I cut a patch for the blower opening and welded it in. I was considering shaving the firewall on the passenger side but after a lot of thought I decided to use their block off plate and paint it body color instead. I think on a mostly stock build a shaved passenger firewall would look out of place considering the driver side will be stock. And with that all the metal work is done!

[JJH Jimmy]

While waiting for warmer weather to continue on body work I pushed the chassis in to disassemble. And back out she goes!

[JJH Jimmy]

Before I removed the engine I made sure a set of Edelbrock headers I have were going to fit. I don’t know what they are from but they have a bung for an O2 sensor and looks like somebody added bungs for EGT probes. I will weld those up but keep the O2. Bung because I plan on using a Holley Sniper throttle body. Looks like they will work!

[JJH Jimmy]

I am doing this build the exact opposite of how I built my Jimmy. On my jimmy I tore everything apart then painted, repaired and replaced as it went back together from the ground up with the body and paint last. It was like death by a million paper cuts. As tempting as it is to get the chassis done this sucker is getting things fixed painted and repaired as they come off and that goes for the body as well.

So remember when I said the transfer case was making noise after I resealed it? Well, turns out it was a stretched chain rubbing on the shift fork pin holder. I can’t believe I didn’t see this the first time I tore it apart? This old girl had a hard life to stretch the chain that much! Lucky for her all the hard days are behind her.

While it was buried in 2’ of snow I found out where the transmission leak was I thought was the pan gasket. It was the kick down switch terminal. So a new one and seal was installed.

[Greenlee]

Looking good. I wish I had your skills and your shop.

Can’t wait to see her back together. I’m running similar drive train in my truck - TH400/NP208 that came out of a military truck with low miles. It’s been real reliable. Used to have a 700r4 in it, but had lots of problems with it.

[JJH Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Greenlee

Looking good. I wish I had your skills and your shop.

Can’t wait to see her back together. I’m running similar drive train in my truck - TH400/NP208 that came out of a military truck with low miles. It’s been real reliable. Used to have a 700r4 in it, but had lots of problems with it.

Thanks! The shop could be a little bigger these things take up a lot of space blown apart and i would really like a lift but only have 10' side walls. An addition might be in order when this build gets completed.

I'm not a big fan of the 700R4 either but I think I will be wishing i had overdrive when it finally gets on the road. I would really like to find a used Gear Vendors 208 overdrive.