77 Chevy K10 Silverado

Chevrolado

Cruisin'
Well, first thread, first build, first real true project vehicle for me.. I've always modified, repaired and played with my daily drivers through my younger years, but never had a project vehicle like this that could afford to truly be "built" on the sidelines.
:wings:
So, long story short, this truck was passed through a few family friends and stuff and ended up parked in my father in laws shop space and sitting for a "someday" project. Couple years later after using it occasionally, he finally said nevermind and I swooped on it. So we know no history on it aside from it having a crate 350 installed sometime before my father in law got it (no idea the mileage) and a B&M transmission went in then too. Every time I open something new or get behind some panel or something, I'm always in for a "Ooh, that's interesting" kind of moment. hah.

First day I got it, started it up and drove it around the shop area to see how it felt/ran/stopped/went/turned/etc..

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Not too bad for a truck that's been sitting for a while! Needs help, but it's doable.

Got new headlights, (found a couple bulbs that weren't working), fixed a couple lights that were almost just falling out, tightened everything up.

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Got a new air cleaner to fix the rusted, beatup, dirty as all get-out, cleaner that was on it.

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When I was getting the headlights and stuff changed out, the rusty grill and everything was causing me problems, so I updated that a little.

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Took out the bed bar setup that was just sitting in the back (not actually established there – I guess it was a tester trial piece for a while). Went through the interior to take inventory of what's good, what needs fixing.. Tightened up all the missing screws, fixed broken tabs, re-routed incorrect switches (the electric window switch unlocked the doors, the door locking switch rolled up and down the windows.. hah).

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Then during one of my running the motor to check operational devices… this ‘rigged' fuel hose setup split open and started spraying fuel everywhere.

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So now I'm currently fixing the fuel line/fuel pump setup.

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Next up, I have the parts in a box and ready for a cooling system refresh. Upper and lower radiator hoses, heater core hoses, new thermostat, new outlet, new coolant, all that jazz.


Thanks for looking.. Any encouraging words, tips, advice, do's/don't's, “you‘re never going to make it”'s or general kudos are greatly appreciated. Hah. This will probably be a fairly slow and thorough build as I need this thing to be able to go on longer distance camping trips. So I want to do this all correctly from the get-go. :D
 
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redthies

Renaissance Redneck
Looks like a great starting point. If you haven't yet, check out "Larry"s threads on his 78 K10. Just search for user name Larry and his threads should show up. His truck is pretty much the benchmark for older GM stuff.
 

Chevrolado

Cruisin'
Love the interior!
Yeah, the interior is actually quite clean for being how the rest is. I have some issues with the way the aftermarket speakers were wired (needs to be cleaned up instead of just jammed under the dash), but all in all, it's a good setup. I love the bench seat that has the center fold down.

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Looks like a great starting point. If you haven't yet, check out "Larry"s threads on his 78 K10. Just search for user name Larry and his threads should show up. His truck is pretty much the benchmark for older GM stuff.

Thanks! Yeah, Larry's is definitely my inspirational point for this truck. His 78 is amazing. I actually ended up finding this forum through pictures of his truck. I was out there searching for inspiration on the internet and came across his truck in a Google search and then found the threads here that he was posting it in. Such a cool rig.
 
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Larry

Bigassgas Explorer
Thanks! Yeah, Larry's is definitely my inspirational point for this truck. His 78 is amazing. I actually ended up finding this forum through pictures of his truck. I was out there searching for inspiration on the internet and came across his truck in a Google search and then found the threads here that he was posting it in. Such a cool rig.

Thanks for the kind words Dave. My wife doesn’t find my K10 very inspiring, or the Suburban for that matter. :elkgrin:

You really got yourself a clean old truck for a project. I am looking forward to seeing your progress with this ole girl. I always liked that color scheme too! Wish mine would have come to me in that color. My truck started life off just like yours….. small block, TH350 and full-time NP203 transfercase.

Your truck has some interesting rust that we usually don’t see in the Southwest (hood lip). I wonder if it lived closer to the Pacific shoreline sometime in its life?

67-72chevytrucks.com is also a great place to get information and ideas for these old GM truck projects.

I got a nice Snugtop topper for your truck if you ever need it. This price is flexible.


Subscribed!
 

ExpoGeorgia

Observer
Awesome story with pics man! The K10 is the only American vehicle I'd consider for overlanding trips (other than the W250 Cummins and 7.3 Excursion). Great find :sombrero:
 

Chevrolado

Cruisin'
Thanks for the kind words Dave. My wife doesn’t find my K10 very inspiring, or the Suburban for that matter. :elkgrin:

You really got yourself a clean old truck for a project. I am looking forward to seeing your progress with this ole girl. I always liked that color scheme too! Wish mine would have come to me in that color. My truck started life off just like yours….. small block, TH350 and full-time NP203 transfercase.

Your truck has some interesting rust that we usually don’t see in the Southwest (hood lip). I wonder if it lived closer to the Pacific shoreline sometime in its life?

67-72chevytrucks.com is also a great place to get information and ideas for these old GM truck projects.

I got a nice Snugtop topper for your truck if you ever need it. This price is flexible.


Subscribed!
Speaking of the man with the rig! Thanks for the encouragement on it! I do enjoy the fun Ive had with it so far.
Ah man, I would love to scoop up that topper! Thats one of the first things I want to do is get the shell going. Then later I want to lean towards possibly setting up a FlipPac on it. But until that comes, I wanted a shell. I'll have to try and save some pennies and such. Im actually getting married this Sunday, so after the honeymoon and such, I might be able to devote more funds towards my project.. Or possibly not. hah. But I will keep it in mind! Thanks for the offer.

As for the Pacific Shoreline.. it currently lives here. I live a few miles from the beach and the truck is at the shop space a few more miles inland from me.. so all together, it lives about 12-15 miles from the Pacific ocean. :snorkel:

Any additional tips you can give me on the build would be great. I'm sure you've already run into EVERYTHING plus more that I will eventually run into. :D

Awesome story with pics man! The K10 is the only American vehicle I'd consider for overlanding trips (other than the W250 Cummins and 7.3 Excursion). Great find :sombrero:
Thank you, thank you! I will continue to tell the story of this vehicle all I can as I get to add more and restore this baby to it's overlanding capability.

YES love that truck.... I am pretty sure it had a former life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOv1xIZV5bY
haha. Nice!! :D

Brown on brown is great, nice bumper and box rack too.
Thanks! the bumper is a pretty good base to start from. Im glad I have a good starting point like that to build on. The box rack, are you talking about the cage in the bed? If so, I actually took that out. Wasn't a fan of that and it was just sitting in the bed. He had never tacked it down or anything so it was just a rattle trap. hah.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. Glad to see people are interested in what Im doing here. I'll keep y'all up to date as I get to work on it more and more.

Next update might not come until mid November as I'm getting married this Sunday and will be off on the honeymoon for a week and a half. :victory:
 

Larry

Bigassgas Explorer
Getting married!? Well, congratulations on the beginning of your marriage and the end of your project already :eek:

Just kidding. Congrats, enjoy the honeymoon! :victory:
 

zoomad75

K5 Camper guy
Good solid foundation. You got the right idea on your plan of attack. Make it reliable and safe first. Then you can start building up. One thing I can say, with the right selection of parts you can make that truck very capable off road and still ride decently. A rear shackle flip does wonders for the ride and your spine off road. A good quality front spring to match and it will surprise you how well it works. It made a difference in my K5 and having ridden shotgun in Larry's beast his ride better than a new truck on or off road. The over the top part of his truck is the 8.1 power coupled with the 5 speed. Passing cars on the highway at 80 with doing nothing more than tipping into the throttle and not downshifting had my jaw riding on the floor. Keep in mind this was only an hour after we had crawled down a mountain trail made up of mostly rocks without spilling a drop of my morning caffinated beverage.

You got a good start on it. Keep it up.
 

Chevrolado

Cruisin'
Getting married!? Well, congratulations on the beginning of your marriage and the end of your project already :eek:

Just kidding. Congrats, enjoy the honeymoon! :victory:
haha! Yeaahhh.. Thank you. She is wanting to get into more camping and such, so I think I can play the "well I have our camping rig, I just need to finish building it" card and I think I can keep the project going! hah. :sombrero:

Good solid foundation. You got the right idea on your plan of attack. Make it reliable and safe first. Then you can start building up. One thing I can say, with the right selection of parts you can make that truck very capable off road and still ride decently. A rear shackle flip does wonders for the ride and your spine off road. A good quality front spring to match and it will surprise you how well it works. It made a difference in my K5 and having ridden shotgun in Larry's beast his ride better than a new truck on or off road. The over the top part of his truck is the 8.1 power coupled with the 5 speed. Passing cars on the highway at 80 with doing nothing more than tipping into the throttle and not downshifting had my jaw riding on the floor. Keep in mind this was only an hour after we had crawled down a mountain trail made up of mostly rocks without spilling a drop of my morning caffinated beverage.

You got a good start on it. Keep it up.
Yeah, something tells me I couldn't possibly pull off the rig Larry has there. hah. Not only do I not have the access to the parts, my California regulations frown upon any heavily modified motors out of the norm in a vehicle that is produced after 1975. But thanks for the encouragement. I think it's a great base to jump from and yes I agree on the reliability aspect before I go crazy on building it up. Good thoughts there. Thanks.

Nice Chevy, its looking good already. Are you in southern California? I would love to buy that bed rack off of you.
Replied to your PM, yes Im in Southern CA and yes, I'd be interested in selling the rack if you want to make the trip over this way to grab it. Let me know. :D

Thanks.
 

zoomad75

K5 Camper guy
Yeah, something tells me I couldn't possibly pull off the rig Larry has there. hah. Not only do I not have the access to the parts, my California regulations frown upon any heavily modified motors out of the norm in a vehicle that is produced after 1975. But thanks for the encouragement. I think it's a great base to jump from and yes I agree on the reliability aspect before I go crazy on building it up. Good thoughts there. Thanks

I've heard of the Peoples Republic of California's emissions laws. You can still have fun with the 350 in it now. My poor little 350 is the cast off from Larry's rig when he made the original 454 swap way back when. It's no stump puller, but it gets the job done. One thing I noticed from your pic's is the heads on your engine look to be late 80's to early 90's by the centerbolt valve covers. If the PO did swap in a crate hopefully it does have a CARB EO number on it so you are ok. Otherwise they might punk you and demand all the engine controls and emissions equipment from the later engine's donor vehicle.

Congrats on the upcoming wedding. Getting the new wife on board to the whole camping thing will pay dividends later on the truck build up. Sure you might be on a tight budget for a while but that's where some of the fun comes in. They built millions of these trucks. Start exploring the boneyards, you'd be amazed what you can find for it. You'll have fun with it for sure.
 

Chevrolado

Cruisin'
I've heard of the Peoples Republic of California's emissions laws. You can still have fun with the 350 in it now. My poor little 350 is the cast off from Larry's rig when he made the original 454 swap way back when. It's no stump puller, but it gets the job done. One thing I noticed from your pic's is the heads on your engine look to be late 80's to early 90's by the centerbolt valve covers. If the PO did swap in a crate hopefully it does have a CARB EO number on it so you are ok. Otherwise they might punk you and demand all the engine controls and emissions equipment from the later engine's donor vehicle.

Congrats on the upcoming wedding. Getting the new wife on board to the whole camping thing will pay dividends later on the truck build up. Sure you might be on a tight budget for a while but that's where some of the fun comes in. They built millions of these trucks. Start exploring the boneyards, you'd be amazed what you can find for it. You'll have fun with it for sure.
Oooh good eye on the center bolts! You know, I didn't even think of that. Thanks! I will be looking further into it as I start to dive into the motor more. I used to work at a speed shop for old muscle cars for a short bit up front on the parts floor, so my plan is when I go to eventually get the bodywork fixed up and cleaned, I'll be pulling the motor and Ill take it in and have my old boss run through it and tell me what he believes it is as I'm on the road to rebuilding it. But as for now, I'm in the current stage of looking for things that might give me clue as to what year it is. My clue I received during the fuel line debacle is that the pump that is currently on it is a Carter M6624, which is a pump for GM 67-80 passenger cars like Bel-Air, Camaros, Chevelle, and El Caminos. Which makes me think the motor is from an older Chevy car..

Oh and thanks for the wedding congrats. :D We're pretty stoked. Yeah, she enjoys camping for the most part but doesnt get to do it very often. We registered for a bunch of camping gear (and received a few pieces already - which got her fired up too), so I think she will be pushing me to actually get more done on it so we can go get some camping done during our first year as a married couple.
 

B 1000

Nothing special
What's up Dave, where are the updated pictures at? Get this thing going so I can count on your v8 pulling out my 6cyl Jeep when I'm in trouble haha.
 

Chevrolado

Cruisin'
What's up Dave, where are the updated pictures at? Get this thing going so I can count on your v8 pulling out my 6cyl Jeep when I'm in trouble haha.

haha! Hey dude! No updates just yet.. I just got back on Wednesday from the 10 day Bahama honeymoon.. Truck is still sitting without a fuel line, awaiting my next move. Luckily.. it's beginning to show "Winter" here.. so I think with the rain that MIGHT come, it could be getting a nice free wash! hah.

Hopefully I'll get back to it this weekend and can have some updates soon.

Get keys to truck - Complete
Get married - Complete
Honeymoon vacation - Complete
Build offroad/camping/overland rig - Coming soon.

I'll shoot you a text or call when we get into the next major step in the project and maybe you can swing on by and join in on the fun.

Haha. :D
 

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