Couple months back I bought my first K5, a 74, as a project. I got it for pretty short money. Truck was a little rough, interior was trashed, it was incredibly dirty but it had a 454 and I liked it. Here's what it looked like when I bought it (you can't seen the quarter-inch thick coating of 10 years worth of a leaking NP203 caked underneath):
Since then, I've basically rebuilt the entire interior (stock-style covers, carpet, etc.) and all the rubber seals. This is going to be a street truck for me, so I wanted it to be reasonably comfy.
I swapped out the 203 (that had been "sealed" with about three tubes of Permatex) with a 205. Put 35 MT/Rs on new wheels. Added a stock rollbar. Put in a stereo and speakers. Got rid of a bunch of the PO's crap, including about two miles of excess wiring. And cleaned off most of the crap under the tub.
Took it out for its first real drive today and had a blast. It's top-off weather here and truck behaved nicely. The steering feels a little vague and the truck does wander a bit. Actually a lot. My old rockcrawler on supersoft springs, no swaybars and 40-inch tires was less vague. Thoughts on that? I'll start with the basics: new swaybar bushings, possible TREs. Ball joints feel OK (no play). There is a bit of play in the steering rag joint.
Anyway, justed wanted to share a couple pics. Oh, and I've got a Scout II bikini top coming:
Since then, I've basically rebuilt the entire interior (stock-style covers, carpet, etc.) and all the rubber seals. This is going to be a street truck for me, so I wanted it to be reasonably comfy.
I swapped out the 203 (that had been "sealed" with about three tubes of Permatex) with a 205. Put 35 MT/Rs on new wheels. Added a stock rollbar. Put in a stereo and speakers. Got rid of a bunch of the PO's crap, including about two miles of excess wiring. And cleaned off most of the crap under the tub.
Took it out for its first real drive today and had a blast. It's top-off weather here and truck behaved nicely. The steering feels a little vague and the truck does wander a bit. Actually a lot. My old rockcrawler on supersoft springs, no swaybars and 40-inch tires was less vague. Thoughts on that? I'll start with the basics: new swaybar bushings, possible TREs. Ball joints feel OK (no play). There is a bit of play in the steering rag joint.
Anyway, justed wanted to share a couple pics. Oh, and I've got a Scout II bikini top coming:
. But I sucked it up and rolled my flat black and yellow scheme on there.
