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1978 K20 farm truck "Boring maintenance phase"

1978 K20- Rusty beater farm truck
Overview Gallery Discussion
Bent77 said:
Just for giggles, I might pull the IAC solenoid and clean it an the throttle body really well. Then double check your ground wiring

You can also voltage check the TPS to make sure it's reading in the correct idle range
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I do know for sure my TPS needs tweeked. It's .7V now not the .5/.6 it should be. All of my engine harness grounds are tied to the ground on the intake, then there is a short heavy cable from the block to the frame using the same bolt my negative battery cable grounds to the frame with. I do need to add a better body to engine ground as well. It's that final 10% stuff that'll take the longest!

Took the truck to Pella after some treated lumber for making side boards. Then came home and promptly remembered why I like working with steel.

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Oh and the IAC is a new AC delco unit I've had on the shelf a couple years. I haven't rebuilt the throttle body yet, it likely hasn't been apart since GM stuck it on the suburban back in 89
 
GWeakland620 said:
It really is coming together nicely. Looks real good.
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Thanks Greg! Drivability increased drastically, I don't miss the carb one bit. Sure a stock 350 and 3.73's isn't what dreams are made of. But I could care less, it runs almost exactly like it would've in 89 which is what I wanted.
 
campfire said:
Are you still planning on scrapping that flat bed? It looks pretty nice, and it's already installed. Not sure what it's lacking at this point. :dunno:
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I'll take some closer up pictures later. The crossmemebers towards the back are rotten and there are multiple "small" holes in the floor. But the holes are smaller than what the box had so I'm happy
 
Looks good I will need to do side boards for my flat bed since I am keeping that truck now. I might do two high for more chit in the bed. Mines 9' by 7' so lots of room.
 
Truckman4life said:
Looks good I will need to do side boards for my flat bed since I am keeping that truck now. I might do two high for more chit in the bed. Mines 9' by 7' so lots of room.
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I initially thought of going two high, but the old bed on this truck had a way of accumulating crap so this is my way of hopefully preventing that.
 
@campfire notice the visible holes. The tools and box are covering up a couple more.

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The way the bed was made is that the diamond plate was actually bent twice on the ends to form the side rails as well. If they had used C channel there like normal it'd have been easy to replace the deck, but on this bed the deck and sides are both getting thin due to all being one piece.

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It really is a shame it's rotten, I do like this bed on this truck quite a bit. I'll talk with my fab/machinist friend and see how big of a deal it would be to redo the sides and deck.

It may wait until after winter anyways. I really need to get back to work on the wheeling rig this winter
 
So...why haven't you updated your avatar yet?


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:whistle:
 
campfire said:
Woohoo! 7.3 litres of slowpoke! :thumb:

:rotfl:
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It all comes down to the "use it or lose it" mentality. I haven't wheeled in far too long due to always working on other projects. The time has finally come to get back to my wheeling rig. I really dislike the ford engines and EFI, yet I love old 7.3's. I have no idea why it took me this long to come up with the idea of sticking one in the F150.

I'll be able to delete most of or all of the factory wiring and have a bare bones truck with almost nothing to go wrong.
 
Haven't had much if any time for the truck lately due to harvest being right around the corner. Finally took the time to do some switch installs on the 8070 for extra lighting. it feels good taking the time to do these things right when I'll be staring at them a lot in the coming months.

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I added the black box/switches off to the right side.
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Got a new temp sending unit and thermostat installed in the the 78, then took it on a trip on the four lane. (Speedometer and oil pressure are lying)

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First time in two years I've truly had the confidence in this truck to take it into the bigger city. Sure felt good. But what I did in the following picture felt even better

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Finally got my 06 paid off, feels good to walk out in the driveway knowing there's nothing there that can be taken from me now!

It also felt great to see this, even though Justin has it by a land slide I really appreciate the gesture @campfire

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78K30 said:
First time in two years I've truly had the confidence in this truck to take it into the bigger city. Sure felt good. But what I did in the following picture felt even better

View attachment 246274

Finally got my 06 paid off, feels good to walk out in the driveway knowing there's nothing there that can be taken from me now!

It also felt great to see this, even though Justin has it by a land slide I really appreciate the gesture @campfire

View attachment 246278
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Congrats on killing the debt. You'll never regret getting out from underneath that cloud. :bow: :thumb: :woot:

Now keep it that way. :deal:
 
campfire said:
Congrats on killing the debt. You'll never regret getting out from underneath that cloud. :bow: :thumb: :woot:

Now keep it that way. :deal:
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Hec yes! I've got some other things to take care of before getting back to putting money in the 78 or the F150. But it feels great for sure! First time I haven't been making truck payments in around 6 years
 
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