Should I?

[CRM]

Ok, this old guy has worked on a lot of cars and trucks in the last 50+ years but I have never seen one of these. When I pulled the air filter I saw this. It appears to have a granular material inside. Help me out. Does it need to be, or can it, be cleaned?

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[RecklessWOT]

Same here, I grew out of that fast. When I was 18/19 loud was fun, I've already grown out of that, all my stuff is super quiet now.

The older I get, the louder my stuff is. I'm blue collar, not like my hearing is getting better with age... Since I still need to drive, and part of driving is being in tune with your vehicle (seeing, feeling, hearing what's going on), it's only natural I have to turn the volume up just like my grandmother did with the TV.

The day I come in and say "dang that truck of mine is too loud, and the flowmasters on the Trans-Am sound like crap, hun remind me to buy some stock mufflers!" is the day that someone needs to put me down. That'll probably be the day after I am heard saying "do you have any non-alcoholic beer?" lol

 

[RecklessWOT]

I've seen plenty of both abandoned and running C20s, but K20s are virtually nonexistent where I live. I guess their popularity was regional when they were new.

Agreed. Seeing a full size 2wd truck of any sort (even a 1/2t) is pretty rare around here. I'll get all excited up until "WTF do you mean it's not 4x4? Why even own it? No deal, good luck selling!" There is a lot of mud and snow up here, a 2wd truck is darn near useless unless you just use it for dump runs, and at that point an S10 or a Toyota Pickup will do the trick just fine.

 

[RecklessWOT]

The only thing I have left that us loud is my Cummins. It does have a muffler on it but it is a 4" straight through design. It's not too obnoxious unless you really stand on it.

Fortunately or unfortunately, that exhaust is 304 stainless and will outlast the truck. The truck will finish rotting away and that pipe will still be there.

Out of all the 300 series stainless, 304 is the most likely to degrade. It will only last MAYBE twice as long as the regular steel counterpart if lucky. Being exhaust tubing it is thin walled steel that is susceptible to heat cycling and condensation (not to mention any road crud), 304 is relatively high carbon content (as far as 300 series stainless goes) so even thick stuff is prone to "yellowing" (rust), it's also not the hardest steel and is sensitive to high temps- translation: it will develop hairline cracks and those will rot more than you'd expect stainless to do... The cat-back on my Subaru is 304, and while the mufflers are still shiny looking, the midpipe and flanges are cracked and patched in 2 or 3 places and paper thin in most other spots. There's a reason that commercially the stuff we make at work is all high nickel content, and the things that are made out of 304 are just someone's way of making something cheap that's going into some crappy enviornment where it only needs to work once or twice (think emergency use fire suppression or chemical discharge) and they don't care if it dissolves after a year or two.

 

[bucket]

Ok, this old guy has worked on a lot of cars and trucks in the last 50+ years but I have never seen one of these. When I pulled the air filter I saw this. It appears to have a granular material inside. Help me out. Does it need to be, or can it, be cleaned?

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It's some type of flame arrestor that was used on the heavier duty trucks. I think they are highly restrictive, according to the butt dyno. If you heat the underside of the air cleaner with a torch, you can pull it right off of there without damage. That way, it can be reinstalled at a later date for a 100% correct restoration.

 

[Grit dog]

Done deal! I wanted it bad enough that I gave him $2500. Time to order an exhaust kit and get it back to normal. The white side view mirrors are going too. Have to be chrome.

Stellar!
Let the games begin!

 

[CRM]

It's some type of flame arrestor that was used on the heavier duty trucks. I think they are highly restrictive, according to the butt dyno. If you heat the underside of the air cleaner with a torch, you can pull it right off of there without damage. That way, it can be reinstalled at a later date for a 100% correct restoration.

It worked. Thanks, my friend.

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[Grit dog]

I've seen plenty of both abandoned and running C20s, but K20s are virtually nonexistent where I live. I guess their popularity was regional when they were new.

If you could keep this little secret between us, that would be cool....lol.