TreeFarm
Internet fabricator.
TreeFarm submitted a new Build:
1983 C20. I have no self control.
Read more about this build here...
1983 C20. I have no self control.
Read more about this build here...
CK5
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1983 C20. I have no self control.
- Thread starter TreeFarm
- Start date
TreeFarm
Internet fabricator.
Well, I have no self control and bought another square. Its been a long few months. Sold my 98 back in march. Sold my house in may. lived on my friends couch for a few months. Drove to Alaska in august. I kept telling myself I wasn't going to buy any more trucks or motorcycles. I was going to focus on getting my Willys finished up and wheeling that. Motivation is a hell of a thing though, I haven't touched the Willys since I unloaded it. Last week I saw a square up for sale and thought to myself. I need a second vehicle in case I need to make a parts run or my truck breaks. A 2wd would be fun to slam down and do burn outs in. And here we are.
Snagged this 1983 C20 today. Its got rust in the normal spots, cab corners, doors, rockers are all full weight reduction mode. the frame and other bits are solid. Its a fairly unmolested truck. They pulled off the air pump and put in a battery isolator but other than that looks stock. Has a few issues like the power locks not working and the windows only roll down half way. It has the original 350 in it and a Th400 behind that heading out to a 9.5" 14 bolt. Came with tons of extras like fresh set of Blizaks on spare wheels, a kicker sub that wasn't hooked up, and a nice new tool box in the bed. Figure I can make back a lot of the purchase price selling that junk.
My plans for it are simple. Make it low, make it do burnouts, and fix the little things. I plan to flip the rear axle, cut a coil of the front springs and see how that looks. Engine will get normal junk, intake, carb, cam, headers, and a reseal. Maybe a set of heads if I am feeling generous. Odds are ill just stick a .015 head gasket on the stock heads and go from there since I am not trying to throw money at this pile. I also picked up a CUCV brush guard for it.
Snagged this 1983 C20 today. Its got rust in the normal spots, cab corners, doors, rockers are all full weight reduction mode. the frame and other bits are solid. Its a fairly unmolested truck. They pulled off the air pump and put in a battery isolator but other than that looks stock. Has a few issues like the power locks not working and the windows only roll down half way. It has the original 350 in it and a Th400 behind that heading out to a 9.5" 14 bolt. Came with tons of extras like fresh set of Blizaks on spare wheels, a kicker sub that wasn't hooked up, and a nice new tool box in the bed. Figure I can make back a lot of the purchase price selling that junk.
My plans for it are simple. Make it low, make it do burnouts, and fix the little things. I plan to flip the rear axle, cut a coil of the front springs and see how that looks. Engine will get normal junk, intake, carb, cam, headers, and a reseal. Maybe a set of heads if I am feeling generous. Odds are ill just stick a .015 head gasket on the stock heads and go from there since I am not trying to throw money at this pile. I also picked up a CUCV brush guard for it.
TreeFarm
Internet fabricator.
Here are some pictures of my 10 day drive up to Alaska from Utah from for anyone who cares. I pulled a 24' trailer with my 01. Camped most nights. It was an amazing trip. Easily the best drive of my life. I spent many years living in the desert. I'm no stranger to being alone in the middle of nowhere. Driving through the Yukon was isolated. Coming over a hill and seeing nothing but tress for as far as you can see in every direction is humbling.
I would love to do that road trip some day with the fam and my camper in tow.
I have a spare 465 for that thing sitting in my shop 
Looking forward to this build.
Looking forward to this build.
I too would love to do that drive someday! Subscribed, love living vicariously through your builds
TreeFarm
Internet fabricator.
Its totally worth it. I drove up to Glacier national park, spent a few days there with friends. Then into Canada, drove the Icefields parkway through Banff and Jasper national parks. Then hit up the Alcan the rest of the way up. I took my time only doing about 300ish miles a day so I could stop and see all the sights. So many interesting things along the way. The picture of the cabin was an AirBNB I stayed at. A guy who came to work on the Alcan built that place, lived there his whole life, and then the girl he left it to rents it out. Still full of his stuff and history. The cars were in the dump in his back yard. The Liard hot springs were worth the hike out from the road. We just stopped for an hour or so and soaked in the water. Amazing. The one thing I noticed, every single place you stop at makes the worlds best cinnamon roll in their opinion.
I have a spare 465 for that thing sitting in my shop
Looking forward to this build.
I dont think it would be worth getting it up here haha.
Do it, the drive was amazing. Also, calling this a build is a bit strong. But knowing me it may turn out to be one. I am already looking at a few cheap 5.3L for sale up here. A cam, and carb intake on an LS would be fun haha.
We will have to get together for a beer , and then get you get you hooked up with all the wheeling info .
It’s been a weird winter so far , but once the snow shows up we have some epic snow wheeling.
It’s been a weird winter so far , but once the snow shows up we have some epic snow wheeling.
I have a sand blasted and painted K20 frame ............ and I’m local .
the rest of us thank you for being a wonderful influence
Love your builds subscribed
I’m glad to see another one of your builds in here. I really enjoyed your last build!
Nice pics of the trip up!
TreeFarm
Internet fabricator.
Not the influence I need right now haha. I want to keep this one 2wd for just a fun parts runner. I would like to get my hands on a cheap set of vortec heads. There are a few sets in one of the scrap yards I went to up your way but nobody would give me a straight number on what they want for them. I would also like a set of doors with manual windows/locks. I don't think I will want to mess with these ones. The locks don't work at all, the driver windows rolls down an inch then starts clicking, passenger window rolls half way and stops.
TreeFarm
Internet fabricator.
I have spent the last week going over what my plans are for the engine in my head. Adding things to my summit cart and then deleting it and starting over. A carbed LM7 kept coming up. Easy way to make 400Hp. Complete motors are $400 up here and they are everywhere. Today I was bored at home and decided I wanted to go to a local junk yard. One thing led to another and I ended up pulling a set of 062 vortec heads out of a 99 tahoe. It was 14* out and snowing, took about and hour to get them out. Heads look good with no obvious cracks in the normal places. Plugs and combustion chambers look even so wasn't burning any coolant. The smart thing to do would be to have them checked out since they are probably cracked.. I wont though. I'm going to toss on some LS6 valve springs I have laying around and Comp 787 retainers. Should allow for well over .500" of lift which is all I will need. Major draw back to vortec heads is they only allow .420" lift stock. The beehive springs on the LS fit the weird spring pockets on the head without machining and the shorter retainer from comp allows more seal clearance. without having to cut the valve guide down and run different seal. Depending on if I have dished or flat top pistons in the bottom end and what head gasket I use I should end up around 9.5 to 1 compression. I could push that up to 10 with shim gaskets if I have flat tops with 4 valve reliefs. I'll see once I get the engine out. All I really know about the engine right now is that its the original block and hasn't been decked since it still has the numbers on the front pad.
I also got my 14B swap kit from ruffstuff today so I can flip the rear axle. Bought a set of hubcaps on here for the stock wheels.
I also got my 14B swap kit from ruffstuff today so I can flip the rear axle. Bought a set of hubcaps on here for the stock wheels.
TreeFarm
Internet fabricator.
Lots of goodies showed up today. Intake, carb, gaskets, bolts, and lots of little things pretty much everything I need besides some hose and the exhaust. Ended up going with a Comp XE274 cam, should make for some good rumble. I have seen a few engines similar spec to this one make aroudn 400tq and just shy of that HP. Should be plenty. Thinking a hughes 2500 stall converter would match up well with all of this. Also got a set of hub caps to put on the stock wheels from @Desert_K5
TreeFarm
Internet fabricator.
Engine is out. It’s the original block for the truck. 165hp 4 barrel 4 bolt main. I’ll probably get it opened up tomorrow.
man it is nice to have hot and cold running water with a drain in the garage. Just hose the place down to clean up
man it is nice to have hot and cold running water with a drain in the garage. Just hose the place down to clean up
TreeFarm
Internet fabricator.
Engine is cleaned up for the most part. There is a bit of ring ridge. I don’t know if I dare pull a cap and check the bearings. The cam was not happy. Looks like 8 lobes were in various states of death.
The weather here is annoying. Yesterday it was 50* and all the snow melted. I woke up to a bunch of new snow. Good thing I got the engine out when I did.
The weather here is annoying. Yesterday it was 50* and all the snow melted. I woke up to a bunch of new snow. Good thing I got the engine out when I did.
Hey now you used to live in Utah, you should be used to weather mood swings. Probably just a bit worse there.
