I had a 77 K5 hand me down from my parents as a first vehicle, and I liked it before it had to be sold. I've now bought a second one as a basic 4x4 to use when it gets icy. It is a 78 K5, pretty basic features. No AC, manual windows and whatnot. Seems to drive ok though. It had an engine swap many miles back; the owner before took out the 350 and dropped in a 454. From what I understand the old engine worked fine and it was just one of those 'hey lets try this' kind of things. So now it has a huge engine. It runs ok, starts up surprisingly fast in 20 degree weather. But..I know that engine has a lot more potential in it. The guy told me it only had 77k miles on it, but it doesn't even have a placefor the 100k digit...and I wasn't going to come home with nothing after driving 6 hours to pick it up. Plus, at $1350, I think it was more or less a steal. So my question is, where should I begin a restoration on this vehicle? I've already planned to get a sanding block and some rustoleum paint to start hacking away at the corrosion problem, so thats something that will happen. But what about the engine? I'd like to do some simple modifications to get it running a little stronger. I have some money to put into it, but I don't want to beemptying my wallet into this vehicle. So with a small budget, where is a good place to start with this old beast? K5s can be quite the monster of a vehicle if maintained right, as proven by my old 77. I'm open to any and all suggestions. I can elaborate on the details and post pictures if needed.
On a less-related question,do the late 70s model K5s have any kind of limited slip differential? I was told that my old 77 had LSD in both the front and rear, but I'm unsure. I'm looking forward to hearing what anyone has to say.

 

Get pics!
I'm thinking about buying a K5 off Craigslist so I can do some mudding with it!

 

Welcome to the forum. Post up some pics and we'll take a look
I've found that you can spend a little or spend a lot. The biggest problem I've had is rust removal. My '74 and my '90 have had all the rusted panels replaced. The '87 I'm just driving into the ground but it won't quit and my '85 is a big old bushwhacker that I think I'm gonna turn into a rock crawler.


[IMG]local://upfiles/2910/4245F7146F5942CE975A2CCAB3FECF00.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/2910/21FF94DE045F4D5F88CF5E804ADF5588.jpg[/IMG]

 

It would be nice to see some pics to better help advise you!! I helped my dad with his old k-5 he had a 78 that we restored when I was younger and man was that an awesome truck!!

 

Craigslist is where I found this one. The guy wanted $1500 for it, so I offered $1350 and he took it. I spent like $100 in gas driving it back with its mighty 9 MPG, so it kind of evened out. The 4x4 works well, as I had a little trouble breaking loose on the ice in the mountains between here and where I picked it up at. I bought it to just be a beater/4x4 backup, but I really wouldn't mind making this a nice set of wheels. Rust is my biggest obstacle though, as you'll see in the pictures. I'm going to get rid of as much of that as possible, and maybe weld some replacement metal in the spots where its eaten through. If replacement panels are reasonably priced, I'll snag some of those. Later on I'll type out a more elaborate description on what I've gathered from this vehicle concerning how it really runs. Well, here are my pictures. I'd like to hear anything you have to say.











[IMG]local://upfiles/9020/238E3F53C80D4C53A1FAAAB16BF33B4A.jpg[/IMG]

 

It looks like you have a fair amount of rust. I see it on the lower door panel, rocker and rear wheel well area (fairly common).
You may want to open the tailgate and lift the rear carpet to check the rear floorpan for rust. Also check inside the "B" pillars at the seatbelt bolt for rust.
lmctruck has replacement panels reasonably priced.
Here's the website.
http://lmctruck.com/

 

Nice truck, I like the color scheme.

 

[sm=massbounce.gif][sm=roll.gif]

A good tune up should help with that...

Unless they stuck in massively steep gears, lol.

 

That's definitely an awesome site. I can't believe how cheap the stuff is, I've never seen that before. This will make replacing panels so much easier. Thanks for that.