Thread: 1972 Chevy K30 Longhorn Build

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Ryan, Ryan, Ryan.... don't you understand yet? It IS your "stuff"... you just haven't realized that her projects are YOUR projects!

And a milestone has been reached.. a pre-schooler.. Don't blink, she'll be on a date before you realize whats happened!

Man oh man this truck is driving me crazy. Not as crazy as the kid with the 7.3 rebuild I'm in on though. Anyway, I decided to finally check my king pins in this front axle since I never did yet. Turns out they were fine but I'm installing new bearings, seals, springs and wear cups anyway. The axle u-joints were shot so I replaced them. I also replaced the wheel mounting studs because dodge ones are 1/2" and GM ones are 9/16". The knurl size is the same between both so I was able to use GM ones. I took the lock outs apart, cleaned and regreased them. I painted the knobs a blue because stock 4wd's had blue knobs. I may get a lighter blue and try that. These are a bit dark. I did get the radio wired and tested. I installed the new center speaker and that was a crap deal. My big head aches are from the turn signals. They are being a pita. Hopefully I can get that sorted out. The wipers work though. Haha

It's getting there Ryan....that's a pretty good list of things knocked out.

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Yep.. it's moving along. Now about that dirty windshield??? rofl..


What's the crazy radio? pretty futuristic for an "old truck"..

Originally Posted by 34_40

Yep.. it's moving along. Now about that dirty windshield??? rofl..


What's the crazy radio? pretty futuristic for an "old truck"..

Yes it is. There's more technology in this truck than I had planned for sure. The radio is a DVD player touch screen deck with a back up camera. I wasn't going to go with such a large unit but decided for the little extra cost, the back up camera will be handy to have.

I keep forgetting all this technology.. CD's, BackUp Cameras??? Touch Screens??

I still have 2 of my first 8 track players! And the one for the car was "quadrophonic"! oh well.. now I feel like a dinosaur. LOL.

Originally Posted by 34_40

I keep forgetting all this technology.. CD's, BackUp Cameras??? Touch Screens??

I still have 2 of my first 8 track players! And the one for the car was "quadrophonic"! oh well.. now I feel like a dinosaur. LOL.

Shoot, you're still having a hard time figuring out how to turn on your camera and take pictures of your work shed. I've been driving a truck with 1 speaker and a plain jane radio so I might be spoiled if I ever drive this truck.

I did figure out my turn signal issue. First off, the flasher I got wouldn't work. Then, the dipstick that installed the connector on the turn signal switch skipped a hole and had 3 wires 1 space down too far. I guess I should have had the better work light in the cab. But, the turn signals work now. But the horn has power all the time. I'll have to check out the contact-er and relay and see which is stuck.

It's time to give an update on the saga of projects I have been working on. June was a blur. I've been dealing with getting all the parts ordered for that 7.3 build, got it drug to my house and now the owner wants me to paint the entire chassis and engine compartment. I got the parts to get my other excursion put back together. New head lights, a dented up bumper I straightened, sanded , and painted, the old grill from Allyson's excursion, misc clips, screws and bolts, and a power window motor. I got a new to it header panel. It was broke on the LH side. I had to cut out a lot to get the new head lights to fit it. So after I made the alterations, I fiber glassed the header panel and painted it gloss black. I painted the new ford LH front fender for it, sealed it first. I just used single stage as I need to shoot some stuff with base clear to get used to spraying it. This fender turned out pretty nice. It has some orange peel, but no runs. That was my main concern. I'm no pro painter and just learning as I go. Now I need to find the time to work on getting this thing stuck together.

Ok, enough about fords. Back to this old Chevy. I got the LH side of the D60 put back together. I decided to replace the wheel studs because this was a dodge axle. The dodge axles had 1/2" wheel studs and chevy D60s have 9/16 studs. The dodge axles are also 1.5" narrower than a chevy D60. I got some 1.5" spacers to bring the front tires out to match the rear. Kind of negated my stud replacement, but oh well. It's done. Once I stuck the LH side back together, I finished up the trans install and put fluid in it. I fired it up and topped off the fluid and took it around the block. It actually worked and shifted up through 3rd. Great! While it was outside, that is when I painted the fender for the excursion. After that was done, I backed the truck back in and began the RH side rebuild.

While moving the truck around, I noticed the front suspension articulated odd. It also leaned to the left a little. These springs came out from under my brother's old truck and were used when I installed them in it. So I decided to order a new pair of Skyjacker 4" springs. It's a good thing I decided to do this. I forgot that when I originally installed the springs in this truck, the RH spring rear bolt was seized in the bushing. Oops. Haha I replaced the front springs, u bolts, u joints, and king pins. Do you think this front axle came from a farm truck? Round bale twine eh? The RH caliper was wet so I replaced it and the pads. (This caliper was new about 6 years ago) Once I got it all back together, I went to bleed the brakes and of course the LH steel line to the caliper hose was leaking. I had to make a new line and that took care of my brake issues. I also cut off the old dodge shock mounts and welded some new mounts on to accept a shock at the proper positioning for a chevy. (See a couple posts down to see why the shocks didn't get installed)

Here is a picture showing the new spring compared to the old spring. Once the front end was done, I had to move to the rear of the truck. I never installed my air compressor and air tank. I decided to mount the compressor to the inside of the frame under the front of the bed. This should keep it out of the elements. It is a Viair 480. I put the air tank on the outside of the frame behind the bed side and it is mounted to the bed supports. You can just barely see it hanging below the bed side. It fit pretty well.

Next up was something to control the air bags. I originally was going to use a leveling valve with the dump valve integrated in to it from a semi. Then I found the little larry valves and got the Touche'. It is their 2 way valve. They make a 4 way too. This little valve is actually pretty fast. I made a wooden box to house all this stuff. I have a dual needle pressure gauge for bag pressures, an air pressure gauge for the tank pressure, the air valve, and 4 toggle switches too. I will need to come up with a better, more compact box later. I may also switch to quick connect air line fittings to make working on it easier.

Another thing that was driving me nuts was not having my breather hoses hooked to anything. I got a good sized catch can/breather tank off of ebay and then was having a hard time trying to decide where to place it. I finally decided that the LH inner wheel well was the best place. I wanted it up high so I can route the drain back to the engine eventually. I had trouble fitting it in between the hood hinge and the proportioning valve. I had to tilt it slightly to keep the hood hinge from hitting it when the hood closes. I used some new stainless steel mirror brackets I had laying around to make the mounting brackets for the catch can.

Here is a picture of under the hood now. I still have to finish installing all my Dakota digital sensors and modules. I will be removing the RH wheel well for some work as well as replacing the leaking heater core. This thing was new from napa 4 years ago. These parts suck anymore I swear!

I still have to make a fan shroud for it, and eventually finish the ac system. I'll get the trans controller installed, finish the tcase shifter, get the drive shaft built some time, and that maybe the stopping point on this truck. I have to get back to my 76 before fall. My main goal was to get this truck drive able this year and it's getting closer. I still have to mount my front shocks. I'm not real thrilled about this situation. I ordered them directly from bilstein last monday, paid to have them 2 day air freighted, and bilstein shipped them ground. So, I took the truck to good guys without front shocks. Oh joy haha. The shocks were supposed to be here today, and they still aren't. Nice......

Last, a pic of it at the camp grounds from this past weekend at Good guys. I need to remove my suspension bars and paint them black. My rattle can orange paint hasn't held up too well.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Shoot, you're still having a hard time figuring out how to turn on your camera and take pictures of your work shed. I've been driving a truck with 1 speaker and a plain jane radio so I might be spoiled if I ever drive this truck.

HMMmm.. I'll get'er figured out one of these days..

Well, at least I can see in your updates you did get to drive it. No front shocks but.. the radio is more important right?!?!?!

Yes, you have to have tunes. And it did drive out of it's own zip code

The front shocks came in yesterday. I got them installed this morning. I might get some spring plates from ORD to gain some extra clearance on the shocks.