Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
The time has finally come to put my 4x4 back together. It was totaled in an accident almost 7 years ago, and unfortunately has been sitting ever since. I had originally purchased a 78 k20 with a 350 combo and 203 case when I was 23. I quickly added a small lift and upgrade the engine with a few bolt ons.
Well the old and tired 350 required daily oil checks and I was topping it of regularly. For about a year I had no issues keeping up with it. Until one late night I was driving home and by the time I notice the large trail of smoke behind me it was too late. Oil pressure hit zero and I knew she was done for. I had just signed papers on my first house. So the 78 was towed there where it sat until the summer.
I took me a while to adjust to the financial burden a house can put on you. By the summer I had gathered enough parts and money to not only fix it. But convert it to a sm465/205 too. I was lucky enough to get a free roller cam 350 from work. Customer brought his own engine and told me I could keep the old one! So I rebuilt it and added some new bolt ons. I also rebuilt the transmission and transfer case.
Well... the first pull out of the drive way I grenaded the clutch when I hit 2nd gear. It was a Luk I got from Napa. First issue I've had with one. So warranted it out and the second clutch did just fine. But I was having third gear issues. Turned out when my boss (at the time) freaked out on me for tearing my transmission down at the shop (after hours) he took a thrust washer. I didn't notice when reassembling it. So after fixing that I was off and running. Truck had great power, shifted smooth and all and all was a great driver and light trail rig.
A month or two later I was driving to grab some parts from my local napa. Its located close to a very busy intersection and traffic was backed up from a red light. I needed to get into the center turn lane to get to my destination across the street. But traffic was backed up 100ft past where Napa is located. So I decided to drive up the center turn lane past stop traffic to get where I was going. No big deal right, I've done it many times. Well no sooner did I merge into the center lane did some lady decide she was going to do the same thing so she could make the left turn light at the intersection. She turned out from stopped traffic and I ended up hitting her at 35mph with the right front, luckily we did not hit anyone else and none of us had any serious injuries. All I could do was laugh. I had just got the bugs worked out of the truck and there is sat crushed in the middle of the road. I borrowed the tow truck and dragged it home.
The whole body unfortunately needed replaced. Between the rust and the accident there wasn't much left to work with. The cab was so tweaked from off roading already and the accident made it much worse. My plan was to source a new body and start with something that I didn't have to spend hours trying to square up again. I ended up picking up a 67 c10 from my friend for cheap. I've always liked the 67-72 chevys and the price was right. Ive seen alot of these swaps done and I sounded like a fun project. I rested the body on the frame and rolled it out to the barn to sit until I had time and money to fix it. Well life happens, flash forward 6 years and the farthest I got was moving it out of the barn and into the garage.
Over the last few years I started putting alot of research into my build. I decided to completely change the powertrain again in favor of a healthy 6.5 optimizer, nv4500 and a 205 case. Might even do a 203/205 doubler. I have the 203 left over, we will see how I feel about that when the time comes. As I got closer to my build date I began to rethink the 67 body. I wanted to put together a nice daily driver. The body swap sounds fun to me because I like fabrication work. But at the same time I could cut my build time in half with the correct body. I really want to drive my truck so I made up my mind to find a 73-80 Chevy and put my truck back to what it was. I ended up finding a 78 k20 with a 350, sm465, and 205. And the best part, it was a one owner truck. It always nice to talk to the guy who bough the truck when it was new. It had some body work done to it but it was a solid platform (for and Ohio truck) and I had my clean southern frame to set it on.
So that's where its sits today. I sold the 67 body the other day. The powertrain is gathered. My plan is to start tearing the white 78 down in March and get this project underway. It's been too long since I've got to build something for my self. So I'm going to open the wallet for this build and have some fun with it. I've got some ideas that should set this thing apart from anything else I've seen. This thing is truly coming together "one piece at a time" but its sure gonna cost me a whole hell of alot of dimes
Well the old and tired 350 required daily oil checks and I was topping it of regularly. For about a year I had no issues keeping up with it. Until one late night I was driving home and by the time I notice the large trail of smoke behind me it was too late. Oil pressure hit zero and I knew she was done for. I had just signed papers on my first house. So the 78 was towed there where it sat until the summer.
I took me a while to adjust to the financial burden a house can put on you. By the summer I had gathered enough parts and money to not only fix it. But convert it to a sm465/205 too. I was lucky enough to get a free roller cam 350 from work. Customer brought his own engine and told me I could keep the old one! So I rebuilt it and added some new bolt ons. I also rebuilt the transmission and transfer case.
Well... the first pull out of the drive way I grenaded the clutch when I hit 2nd gear. It was a Luk I got from Napa. First issue I've had with one. So warranted it out and the second clutch did just fine. But I was having third gear issues. Turned out when my boss (at the time) freaked out on me for tearing my transmission down at the shop (after hours) he took a thrust washer. I didn't notice when reassembling it. So after fixing that I was off and running. Truck had great power, shifted smooth and all and all was a great driver and light trail rig.
A month or two later I was driving to grab some parts from my local napa. Its located close to a very busy intersection and traffic was backed up from a red light. I needed to get into the center turn lane to get to my destination across the street. But traffic was backed up 100ft past where Napa is located. So I decided to drive up the center turn lane past stop traffic to get where I was going. No big deal right, I've done it many times. Well no sooner did I merge into the center lane did some lady decide she was going to do the same thing so she could make the left turn light at the intersection. She turned out from stopped traffic and I ended up hitting her at 35mph with the right front, luckily we did not hit anyone else and none of us had any serious injuries. All I could do was laugh. I had just got the bugs worked out of the truck and there is sat crushed in the middle of the road. I borrowed the tow truck and dragged it home.
The whole body unfortunately needed replaced. Between the rust and the accident there wasn't much left to work with. The cab was so tweaked from off roading already and the accident made it much worse. My plan was to source a new body and start with something that I didn't have to spend hours trying to square up again. I ended up picking up a 67 c10 from my friend for cheap. I've always liked the 67-72 chevys and the price was right. Ive seen alot of these swaps done and I sounded like a fun project. I rested the body on the frame and rolled it out to the barn to sit until I had time and money to fix it. Well life happens, flash forward 6 years and the farthest I got was moving it out of the barn and into the garage.
Over the last few years I started putting alot of research into my build. I decided to completely change the powertrain again in favor of a healthy 6.5 optimizer, nv4500 and a 205 case. Might even do a 203/205 doubler. I have the 203 left over, we will see how I feel about that when the time comes. As I got closer to my build date I began to rethink the 67 body. I wanted to put together a nice daily driver. The body swap sounds fun to me because I like fabrication work. But at the same time I could cut my build time in half with the correct body. I really want to drive my truck so I made up my mind to find a 73-80 Chevy and put my truck back to what it was. I ended up finding a 78 k20 with a 350, sm465, and 205. And the best part, it was a one owner truck. It always nice to talk to the guy who bough the truck when it was new. It had some body work done to it but it was a solid platform (for and Ohio truck) and I had my clean southern frame to set it on.
So that's where its sits today. I sold the 67 body the other day. The powertrain is gathered. My plan is to start tearing the white 78 down in March and get this project underway. It's been too long since I've got to build something for my self. So I'm going to open the wallet for this build and have some fun with it. I've got some ideas that should set this thing apart from anything else I've seen. This thing is truly coming together "one piece at a time" but its sure gonna cost me a whole hell of alot of dimes
