'81 K5 - The "Chatarra" Build

[Terrazzoguy]

Hi guys, first post, first K5. Currently living in Ecuador and in desperate need of a project when I came a barely running '81 K5 with an interesting backstory in need of some love. Turns out the first factory opened by Chevy in Ecuador was in 1980 and the first vehicle it turned out was the K5 and mine was number 253 off the line. And for spending it's life of 38 years in a third world country it's definitely showing its age... Getting parts not so easy here, been able to get a couple of friends to mule me in some essentials; distributor, brake master cylinder and booster, q-jet rebuild kit... Being that the country is "slightly" more advanced than it was 38 years ago I'm starting to find some other things here to rebuild the 305. Got some good cheap mechanics as well. Started out this week with a new set of stainless dual exhaust front to back, some holeshot rims, cheapo 31's till I get the lift situation taken care of. Rebuilt the steering box, fixed a leak in the radiator, brake pads/shoes, gonna have to mule in some rear pistons and front calipers but they're working for now. Set up a pushbutton start system since the key cylinder no good. Got a new cam,lifters,valves and gasket/seal kit, pulling the motor next week for a rebuild. SOMEHOW I was able to find this old man who has a body parts shop with some new old stock body panels, scored a new hood and two front fenders. Heading to the states in June for two months, I found a body shop here that is going to pull the cap and body, do a complete restoration cut out and replace all the rust, clean up and paint the frame and perform a full custom paint job while I'm gone. Fingers crossed. I'm naming here a "Chatarra" which is the Spanish word for "Scrap" seems fitting... I'll try and keep up with pics , not sure what the rules is for noobs posting pics here, and I look forward to any advice!

 

[ZooMad75]

Wow. A K5 , but I don't think I've ever seen one built in South America? I know GM built stuff all over the world but have never seen a K5 built down there. So yeah, we want to see pics. Post them up dude!

We take for granted the ease of parts availability even for a truck as old as yours. We just need to go to the parts store down the street to get the brake parts you have to get a mule to bring into your country. So anybody going through that trouble is OK in my book.

 

[Terrazzoguy]

Haha thanks. Yeah it was a real shock coming here and finding out difficult/expensive it is to get parts compared to just yelling across the living room at Alexa to send me a set of u-joints...lol! Anyways I'll get some pics up I'll have to load em on another site and link em here, I guess you have to pay to upload directly?

 

[ZooMad75]

Haha thanks. Yeah it was a real shock coming here and finding out difficult/expensive it is to get parts compared to just yelling across the living room at Alexa to send me a set of u-joints...lol! Anyways I'll get some pics up I'll have to load em on another site and link em here, I guess you have to pay to upload directly?

Yeah it's really easy to get parts here. Honestly, the best $25 bucks you can spend on the truck is the subscription to this site. You'll get a wealth of information on how to get things done on your K5. Plus unlimited photo hosting too. But you can use a 3rd party image hosting too. Either way works. Just stay away from Photobucket.

 

[Terrazzoguy]

How she sits now with the new rims, believe me she looks waaaay worse in person. Haha! Oh yeah also swapped the auto hubs for Mile Markers and had to fab a front driveshaft because...of course, it didn't have one when I bought it...

Goal for the build, love everything about this...

 

[ZooMad75]

That's a solid 20 footer right there. But yeah I bet there are sins hiding under that shiny paint.

 

[Terrazzoguy]

Update. Rebuilt motor, new axles dropping ratio from 3.08 to 4.10, def helps in the mountains. New q-jet carb, stainless exhaust front to back. completely rebuilt the body, hood, fenders, doors rebuilt, cut out and welded in a new diamond plate steel floor, custom rear barn doors. And soooo much more I can’t even remember..Went a blue black with the paint. Still need to redo the interior and finish installing aftermarket a/c system. You were right about the suns under the paint... there was more bondo then metal on the bedsides, cut all that out and welded new skins. I’ll put up more pics of the process and whatnot when I can.

 

[ZooMad75]

Update. Rebuilt motor, new axles dropping ratio from 3.08 to 4.10, def helps in the mountains. New q-jet carb, stainless exhaust front to back. completely rebuilt the body, hood, fenders, doors rebuilt, cut out and welded in a new diamond plate steel floor, custom rear barn doors. And soooo much more I can’t even remember..Went a blue black with the paint. Still need to redo the interior and finish installing aftermarket a/c system. You were right about the suns under the paint... there was more bondo then metal on the bedsides, cut all that out and welded new skins. I’ll put up more pics of the process and whatnot when I can.

Wow. You need to share the details on the barn door conversion. That looks really slick. Great work!

 

[imiceman44]

Update. Rebuilt motor, new axles dropping ratio from 3.08 to 4.10, def helps in the mountains. New q-jet carb, stainless exhaust front to back. completely rebuilt the body, hood, fenders, doors rebuilt, cut out and welded in a new diamond plate steel floor, custom rear barn doors. And soooo much more I can’t even remember..Went a blue black with the paint. Still need to redo the interior and finish installing aftermarket a/c system. You were right about the suns under the paint... there was more bondo then metal on the bedsides, cut all that out and welded new skins. I’ll put up more pics of the process and whatnot when I can.

That's a cool conversion