Thread: 1972 Chevy K30 Longhorn Build

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Originally Posted by bluestang67

Love this year of Chevy specially being a 4WD , only thing is I like short beds . Looks like it will be a tough cruiser

I like the short beds too, but a short bed isn't any good if you're hauling much of anything. LOL

Originally Posted by lamin8r

Yup,,I got a truck..Just looked at your pix..I reckon it will be a regular stump puller..All the pipe work got me dizzy,,Betcha I could have fun in the mud with that brute.. I,too like that year Chevy truck..but my preference would be BBC and manual..

I had a 427 tall deck in it with a SM465 in the beginning, but once you go spark plugless, there's no going back. LOL

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Thanks. The Longhorns were only made from 1968 to 1972. They were in both Chevrolet trucks and GMC trucks. However the GMC versions never had Longhorn badging. The biggest difference in the Longhorns is that they were built on a 1 ton chassis and the bed is 6" longer than stock. They also all had wood floors. This is why I converted this truck to 4x4 and the bed is now steel floor.

And thanks for the info! Good to know.

Originally Posted by 34_40

And thanks for the info! Good to know.

No problem. I forgot to mention that all Longhorns had leaf spring rear suspension, instead of coils lke some other 3/4 tons in that era. GM also made a 9ft step side bed from 68-79 I think. They are pretty rare though.

I remember back in the 70s I was working at Reynolds Metals in McCook Il. and GM sent a white 2wd pickup there to put on display the whole body was aluminum. Don't think the produced many if any other than that one. Sure would be nice to have that one.

Originally Posted by cffisher

I remember back in the 70s I was working at Reynolds Metals in McCook Il. and GM sent a white 2wd pickup there to put on display the whole body was aluminum. Don't think the produced many if any other than that one. Sure would be nice to have that one.

That would have been some thing else. I bet that aluminum body was still stronger than any of the big 3's today.

Not just body frame too. It was put up on ramps so you could see the entire bottom.

Originally Posted by cffisher

Not just body frame too. It was put up on ramps so you could see the entire bottom.

I'm glad they didn't go through with it then. The semis with aluminum frames are pretty worthless unless you are going to show them. 30 years or more of corrosion and rot takes it's toll on them.

Thats one of the things that upset me with 3 of the last suburbans I had.. they use aluminum lines to the rear air, with steel clamps to hold them..Well you know what happens there.

I have a 90 and I know what you mean. No rear a/c and it is needed right now.

I've made a lot of progress on this truck, but it still isn't ready.

Here are some pics of the turbos. They're hard to see with the hvac box on the cab.







My truck has 17hp now! :lol:




Here's how the truck sits on flat ground.

Here's another project we got put back together.







I've managed to get some stuff done on the old girl. Trying to get this thing started up so we can see if the clutch operates correctly, and we're tired of pushing it in and out of the shop. :lol:

My brother mounted the AirDog 150, ran the fuel lines to it, hooked up the injection pump, put the return fuel lines on and hooked it up to the lift pump too. I got the hvac box on and installed new gaskets on it. Hooked up by coolant by-pass and hooked up the heater and radiator hoses. Put on the turbo piping with new o-rings. Painted the battery trays, head light buckets, and some hardware. Installed the new head lights, installed the battery trays, and worked on installing the cargo lamp. The well nuts aren't bulging properly and just pull through. I'll have to get a second pair of hands for that later. I also got a new to me rear bumper. We hung it on the truck but will need to remove it to move the mounting holes farther back t gain bed to cab clearance.

Please excuse my mess.






I got the fenders on, mouldings on the doors and fenders, and installed the fender to door seals, and fresh air assembly in the cowl. Today I'm going to get the cowl, and hood on.







Before I forget, here are the pics of the fender to door seal after I got them done.




Here's a before pic with the trash guards on the cowl.



Fender emblems. I also put new wood grain on my lower mouldings. A lot of my trim isn't perfect, but I picked the best pieces I had. I plan on repainting the black parts later as I just want to get this thing put together. :lol:



I had a friend help me put the cowl on. Boy was that fun. I'm going to have to remove it and pull two shims out of the lh fender. It has too much gap at the top. I installed a new hood to cowl seal and let me tell you, it really causes the hood to shut hard. Anyone else had that problem? I have to modify my hood latch assy now. My hood is held down with a strap for the time being.






This is where the truck is about now. So close, but so far away. Haha

Nice work, Ryan, that should be one nice pickup with enough torque to pull a house when you get it done! Any expectations on what the Vette will run now?

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Nice work, Ryan, that should be one nice pickup with enough torque to pull a house when you get it done! Any expectations on what the Vette will run now?

Thanks Dave. On the Vette, my brother took it to Byron 2 weeks ago. It was running mid 11's. There is still an issue with the trans. It will not stall and you can't leave the line at more than 1250rpms. It has a 3k stall in it and this has been a headache for a long while. This winter we're going to swap cases and see if the problem is fixed. We just swapped valve bodies and nothing changed. The car ran 11.57@130mph and had a 2.2 60'. If we can get it out of the hole better it will be in the 10's easily. It has enough mph for low 10's. Just have to get the trans to do it's job.