She hasn't moved very far
My neighbor bought this truck in 1984 while in high school. Since then, he's driven it 250,000 miles, and across the country six times.
​
Recently, though, it's been sitting in his driveway for the past 10 or so years. And it didn't age so well.
(Notice the moss on the hood?)
"Unfortunately,
I'm sending her to the junkyard"
One day, he explained he just didn't have the capability to undertake such an in-depth and daunting project, so it'd have to go to the junkyard.
​
Of course then I, a dangerous optimist, offered to try and save it. A few weeks later, he sold it to me for $100.
​
Then, it was game on.
It didn't look great
She wouldn't idle, and would barely start.
Not to mention, when it did, it poured smoke out of the exhaust.
So I decided I would start with a top-end engine rebuild.
This is what the engine (a Chevy 350) looked like when I received it.
Hey, not bad!
The valves (all of those little tappets go to an individual valve) actually looked pretty good!
Oh man, very bad.
The valves were pretty good, but the cylinder heads were a disaster. Upon inspection, both were cracked (contributing to poor running, and the primary cause of the smokey exhaust!)
​
I sent them out to get repaired, and we were back on track.
Well now I've taken the whole thing apart...
Now comes the hard part, making it all work like new again.
I mean check out all those parts laid out on the bench!
​
From left to right:
Cylinder heads, Intake manifold, Exhaust manifolds, Distributor, Valve covers, Alternator, etc...
​
All cleaned up!
I cleaned, sandblasted, and painted all those shiny orange parts, and the sleek silver heads had been repaired at the shop, lets do this thing!
Time to put her back together
Cylinders looking good, and new gaskets...
Cylinder heads are on,
Intake manifold in place...
And this is what she looks like now.
Well, this brings us to the present. At the moment, the K20 is sitting outside with it's engine sealed up. It's waiting on some exhaust manifold work before the engine is totally done.
All cleaned up!
Well the shiny orange parts have been sandblasted and painted, and the heads have been repaired, lets do this thing!
What now?
I know what you're thinking:
"Oh no! What will he do when he finishes?"
Don't worry!
After that, there's still a lifetime of work to do... brakes, lines, and boosters, radiator and cooling lines, and LOTS of metalwork. (Right now, you can fit a toaster through the holes in the drivers-side floor!)
