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Project Snow Bear K20!

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Vombrown

Vombrown

Mountain Man
Joined
Mar 1, 2017
Posts
1,880
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Location
Great Falls mt
Vombrown submitted a new Build:

Project Snow Bear K20!

OK so I've been gone for a while, had to go make a little money overseas but I'm back with a new project truck. Scoured craigslist for a week looking for that "right" deal on a new girl. Behold....the Snow Bear! Starting with a 1981 K-20 Custom deluxe. She's got a good bit of rust in the bed, small amount in the floor pan on the drivers side but overall it's pretty decent. Drivetrain is stock 350/sm465/np208. Dana 44 and 14bolt rear with limited slip. Previous owner installed a new 4" rough country lift with blocks in the back. That's got to go as soon as I can get a shackle flip. So here's the plan:

*Swap bed out for a step side tool bed that I found while looking for this truck.
* Upgrade the front to a Dana 60 with a traction lock or lunchbox locker
*swap the NP 208 for the NP 205
*Eventually install an NV4500
*5.3L Vortec engine (already purchased)
*Gut my parts suburban for the interior. Door panels, captains chairs and center console.
*Get a WINCH on this beeotch
*Custom front and rear bumpers, tire carrier rear with built in tail gate.

So the truck runs and drives well as it is. In order to live up to the status of the Snow bear it's going to have to go through some changes. Like a dude that moves to Trinidad Colorado and comes back a chick, the Snow Bear will make a quick transition to full service duty in the Montana winter.
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Read more about this build here...
 
The 5.3L Vortec has already been purchased for this old girl but I will need to do some work. It needs an intake, fuel rails, injectors and a wiring harness.

The Np205 I found for this truck isn't going to work out. It's the wrong spline count and I'm not sure I want to try to adapt it. It's a 10 spline and I need a 32 spline. I've located an NV4500 from a 3/4 ton GM truck. So I guess I will go ahead and pick that up for now. Adapting it to the new transmission will be easier than pulling my 4 speed and reinstalling it. At least when I am ready to put the 5.3L in I can bolt the 5 speed to it and get it all in at one time versus pulling here and installing the transmission two or three times.
 
I've been digging parts out of the shop shelves, looking around in my parts suburban and it looks like I have a lot of stuff that will bolt on to this old girl. One thing I found was a full gallon of Military 383 green CARC paint and the alkyl-primer. Both unopened gallons. I'm thinking this whole thing is going to get slathered in the primer and CARC green. That stuff is hard to take off with a grinder and absolutely STOPS rust of any kind. When I pull the bed off I'll give all the frame rails and back of the cap a quick once over and spray it. The Stepside/tool bed will need some attention too. CARC to the rescue. Plus I already have it so.....
 
I need to get some ideas on a bed rack for the step side/tool bed. It would need to be level with the top of the cab so I could extend over the cab. With a full rack front to back for essential camping supplies. I use my trucks so I need to get all that sort of stuff out of the bed.
 
So I know that suburban seats will go into the pickups. 84 suburban seats into an 81 pickup, should work. Now has anyone actually done this? Reason I ask is I am concerned about seat height. The stock bench for me is a little low, mostly as it's worn out but I am wondering if the suburban captains chairs will sit at least the same height? If not I may need to weld in some square tubing to bolt the seats onto. To give me a couple more inches of seat height. It would be easy enough to do, and since I haven't actually measured it....give me some input here.

On another note after driving the Snow bear for nearly five hours on the highway it needs a carb and timing adjustment for sure. Tune up is a given. Clutch adjustment while I'm at it. I'm heading into town to pick up a few things. MUFFLERS....jeeezus, glass packs are LOUD! I want to play with the thing without going deaf until the LS swap.
 
I was able to drive the Snow Bear up the mountain today to the house. What a harrowing ride. This rough country suspension rides like crap! Even with the RC nitro shocks. Like horrible. I am hoping since it's new it will settle some and smooth out. If it doesn't it's got to go. Driveshaft stayed together and didn't pull apart...I was surprised. So now my quick fix is sort of a moot point as I don't need it.

After some thinking I might do something else besides the 37" military tires. I think I might go with a set of new 900-16 radials. I have had a few sets and they do very well in the snow.
 
Want to try an experiment? Put some different shocks on it and see? On the rough country coil spring trucks that come in to the shop seem to do better after a set of fox 2.0.
If you have the capability to toss something else on, why not try it?
 
obijuank5 said:
Want to try an experiment? Put some different shocks on it and see? On the rough country coil spring trucks that come in to the shop seem to do better after a set of fox 2.0.
If you have the capability to toss something else on, why not try it?
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Ill agree with this, the RC shocks are a joke. I ran Rough Country (and still am until next weekend) but put a good set of Bilsteins on and the ride difference was night and day. Seriously, it was a huge upgrade
 
swettysblazer said:
Ill agree with this, the RC shocks are a joke. I ran Rough Country (and still am until next weekend) but put a good set of Bilsteins on and the ride difference was night and day. Seriously, it was a huge upgrade
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The ride on the highway wasn't bad at all. Bump steer was fairly bad but I'be driven lifted trucks all my life so it's not a big deal. My first trip up my 2 mile driveway was horrible. That thing nearly bounced my head off the headliner. Pitched the front end around like a ping pong ball. The rear just has blocks and will soon get a shackle flip. The front however is rough country springs. I thought the RC-N2.0 shocks were the upgraded shocks? I will say that it had nearly zero body roll at highway speeds, off-road....just wow.
 
Swapped the nicer door panels and door seals from the suburban over to the K-20 this afternoon. I was lucky the interior is the same color. Only issue I ran into was the trim on the suburban door panels were junk so I just stripped it off for now. Well that and the sub was all power and the K-20 is hand crank Windows. That ain't no step for a stepper! I'll make some aluminum trim to fit and another piece to cover the power switch holes.

The door panels on the K-20 were cracked, beaten and just plain tired. No armrest and faded badly. The sub panels are pretty good! Certainly an upgrade and I get to keep the little pockets on the panel. Tomorrow if the weather holds I will attack the seats. The driver seat in the sub is pretty beat up honestly. It needs a cover for sure. The passenger seat is almost new and I'll make it the new driver seat and get all that put in there. In removing the door seals I found a good line of rust that I will have to deal with at the pinch weld. I'm hoping the sub looks good there so I can cut and paste.
 
It creates a huge amount of torsional bind which makes the ride worse. The springs are clearly stiff enough that body roll isn't a real concern...this is something hundreds of guys here have done, myself included. If you're doubtful still, just unbolt the sway bar at the axle end, rotate it up and out of the way and bungie cord it. Then go for a drive. My money says you unbolt it completely after the test drive.
 
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