'85 C30 now a K20 - Grandpa's Truck

[mill5471]

1985 GMC C30 High Sierra 6.2 th400 14ff. 123,xxx original miles

Time for a build thread as it is under going surgery to make her look like she was new. I guess i should start off on how i got the truck. In Dec. of 07' my grandpa had passed away, and in late summer of 08' i came across his old truck in his barn. Being that i was getting my license the up coming spring and that i would need a vehicle it caught my eye. After talking to my grandma about it she gave it to me. My grandpa bought it new and used it to deliver Oakland County news papers to the corners for the paper boys in Pontiac, MI up till the mid 90's. After that he parked it in the barn where it sat untouched.
I got it out of the barn and started with the things that needed to be replaced from sitting for over 10 years. I worked on it every day after school for what seemed like forever.
Then finally the day came to try and start it and with VERY little trouble it fired right up and ran pretty good. Once i started to drive it around the back roads of coarse more things came up that needed to be addressed.

Things i replaced that i can remember off the top of my head are:

fluids, filters, thermostat
belts and hoses
D side fuel tank
harmonic balancer and crank pulley
injectors
glow plugs (converted to manual using ford starter relay)
front pads and rotors
rear drums along with wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware
brake lines from the cab back
P side outer tie rod end
D side upper control arm bushings
lift pump
new fuel filter assembly (Stanadyne Fuel Manager System)
starter (after breaking 3 starter bolts i learned it was missing the support bracket)
drive shaft carrier bearing
and many other little things that rattled or bothered me

Long story short i had it road worthy and ready to go by opening day of gun season to take up north to my grandpas old farm where we hunt. Had no troubles and has made several long trips since then.
Here are a few pictures of when i got it home. It does not look quite like this now. My dad took this whole week to help me work on it so there will be some updates as the week goes on.
As it is late here, I'll try to get you guys up to date hopefully tomorrow. For some reason i didn't take any pics of the passenger side???

 

[mill5471]

O and how could i forget, CK5 has been there every step of the way to answer all my questions. So thank you CK5

 

[yellowK20]

Hey thats pretty cool not to often that you see regular cab SRW C-30's neat truck!!

 

[mill5471]

Used the truck the first winter to haul my sled back and forth from the trails up north. Exhaust was shot so being a kid in high school i had to cut the mufflers off. I was known in school as the kid with the loud a** diesel that didn't sound like a diesel. Ran it like that for almost a year till a certain police officer decided he didn't like it and it got annoying really quick towing our tri axle trailer and tractor around. Heres a few more pics.

 

[mill5471]

Got some Chevy wheels and caps from a 2002 2500hd for 50 bucks at a local garage sale. they had 285 tires on them that were still good. Two are Nitto Terra Grapplers and the other two are a cheapo off brand that i've never heard of. My dad had the urge to wheel it out after a got the wheels, looks pretty cool with the new wheels.
Being that this was my grandpas truck and that'd i'd never get rid of it, it was time to redo the sheet metal. My dad used to paint cars back in the lacquer days. He painted my uncles race cars Carmine Red so thats what were going with, but of coarse not in lacquer.
Got the bed off and stripped the bottom and painted that. Also had to replace the rear 'fang' behind one of the wheel wells. I was shocked at how good of shape my box was in. Had to also put a patch in the tail gate cause the it was starting to rust behind the 6.2 emblem and when i sand blasted it it put pin holes in it. More pics and just a taste of the rust that the cab has. Or should i say had .

 

[hunterguy86]

Looks good! Keep up the good work.

 

[mill5471]

Had to put in new cab mounts. If the bolts didn't snap off, the captured nut under the floor spun. So i had to cut holes to get to them. There was some pretty good rust above the cab mounts by the feet so that got cut out to. Thank god all the cross members were good. Box and tail gate are almost ready for primer at this point. Also got the passenger side door gutted.

 

[mill5471]

Got every thing stripped. Don't have a picture of it yet but i wire wheeled the core support and painted that.

 

[mill5471]

Got all new sheet metal from Sherman and Associates, doors, fenders, inner fenders, rockers, cab corners, tail gate handle, and a new fuel door. My uncles buddy got us a good deal. I was surprised nothing was dented but they are still stamp outs and might need tweaking. Got the P side corner and rocker cut out last night and hope to get the new one cut and tacked in today. Hopefully by the end of the week the new corners and rockers will be in and the rest of the metal will be test fitted and everything will be in primer. Feel free to ask questions.

 

[mill5471]

Passenger side is done

Finally a little pay off and relief . Got everything done and test fitted on the passenger side. And the hood, tailgate and bed are ready for primer.

 

[acewilson]

Thats a heck of a job ur doing. Alot furthor along than i am at this time.

 

[76zimmer]

where you at Mills?

I had an 85 C20 reg. cab....still miss it sometimes, and nice score on the wheels.

 

[mill5471]

where you at Mills?

I sent ya a PM

 

[mill5471]

Got the drivers side done tonight. Was hoping to have it done several days ago but was to busy to work on it. I'm sure you guys know how that goes..... Tomorrow will have the d-side fender and inner fender test fitted (door was hung to set the rocker). Then we just have to fix some minor dings in the new doors and fenders. Then all the body work is done until its time to block primer. Didn't get any new pictures, sorry. Trucks been off the road almost a month now and man do i have the itch to drive it.

 

[76zimmer]

Don't hurry it along too much, or you'll regret something....your not going to drive it in the "salt" are you?

 

[mill5471]

ooooooo no, it will not see another grain of salt the rest of its life. I'm not putting my blood and sweat into this thing just to see it rot away again.
We picked up a 99' Heep 4cyl / 5speed stick for cheap. It had a cracked manifold. We replaced that so I'll be driving it in the winter time.
My buddy is redoing his 82' Furd right now and hes kinda rushing the job and i see some steps that he, say didn't take or didn't do as well as what I'm doing and it shows in the final product.
All the hard stuff is done now, we just have to prime, sand back sides of doors and fenders, paint backsides, then hang them. After that we can block the outsides of them while there on the truck then paint the whole cab in one stroke. Then reassemble the rest of the truck. Well i shouldn't say all the hard stuff is done, we have to wire wheel and paint the frame before we do anything else.

My dad always tells me... Your paint is only as good as whats under neath it.

 

[76zimmer]

your ole man has a great quote there. Sounds like a thorough job Mills

 

[mill5471]

Thanks Zim i appreciate the compliment. Got the cab ready for primer. We decided to paint the frame first. After many hours of wire wheeling and prep work we got it primed tonight. Going to paint it in the morning. Here are some more pics.... Question, didn't think about it till they were primed but you think the paint will hold up to the heat of the drums? or should i strip them with paint stripper and use caliper paint?

 

[mill5471]

My dad sprayed the black this morning while i was at work. Looks a lot better than it did before.

 

[76zimmer]

I think the paint will hold up fine to the drum heat. What kind of paint?