Thread: 1972 Chevy K30 Longhorn Build

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Originally Posted by johnboy

I had a quiet chuckle to myself.
Try it when your trailer is twenty feet long or more, and weighs two to three tons even when empty.
They race across the road like a angry cat on the end of a rope!

Exactly Johnboy. That trailer in the pic weighs 5500lbs with nothing on it. The deck is 22' long and is a triple axle. I watched the rear tires get air under them a couple of times on some big old bumps. It sure was nice to have more than 1300lbs on it on the way back.

Okay, you asked for them. The truck is more rough than I was hoping for. But it is what it is. This truck will be a donor for another 4x4 converted Longhorn. This frame on this truck is just too crusty to save. The body on this truck is from a 2wd. This is a 1970 body with a 1971 K20 chassis. It must have been a Cheyenne Super because it has a chrome transfer case lever. (Or someone added it. It doesn't matter now Haha) It has a 350, supposedly, TH350 and a NP205. I'm betting the engine is stuck though. It has a 4 core radiator, the sought after steel upper coolant tube that are specific to 4x4's, a disc brake D44 with 1 correct lock out. The red one is from a Ford. My plans for this truck were to get it running in December or so and put my snow blade on it. Well, those plans were blown out after I saw the LH front spring area of the frame today. I was going to cut the frame of this truck and splice in a Longhorn rear section to have another converted Longhorn. When I looked at the truck originally, I just saw the extensive rust in the rear. i figured some one had a salt spreader or something in the bed or something. Well, now I'll just use my last Longhorn frame I have, which is super nice. I'll convert it to 4x4 then throw this cab and front clip on it. I really want to try to not put a Cummins in it and not make it a break the bank build. I really just want to get it decent and maybe spray it with some hot rod flats and just have a beater with a good drive line. It may not even happen this year or next. I couldn't pass it up because these K20's are just going up in value. It is pretty crazy.

I didn't figure too many people here would want to see pics of an ugly, part missing K20. It did go through a heck of a lot of zip codes on a noisy trailer though!

Ah.. got it. I was thinking it was like the ones used on Mustangs, 2 side by side tubes to the heater core... I was close? LOL.

Another project? Sure! You need to have a couple out front of you. I think it's like a carrot hangin' on a stick for folks like us! LOL.

Well, the super awesome mini van didn't make it a week before it decided to be a POS! It will crank and run for a bout 3 seconds then die. My wife said it did that 4-5 times and then it wouldn't even crank after that. Perfect. I guess that POS will set there until I get about 10 other things done. Haha Tomorrow I will begin daily driving the 72 for a bit. I still need to add some gauges but I need to figure out where I want to mount the control boxes for them etc.

On a side note, our kids had some spotting on their bodies so my wife took them to the doctor's office last week. The doctor told her they were bug bites. We couldn't believe that crap as all 3 kids have them in different areas and there were no punctures or anything. We were thinking it was hand, foot, and mouth. So she kept them from school a couple of days and took them back to the doctor last Wednesday. This was their regular doctor this time. She confirms it was hand, foot, and mouth. She said they are over the contagious portion and can return back to school. I took Clint farming with me and on Sunday all of the kids's spots had red outlines and they all looked not cheery, but still ran and played the same. We figured the spots were drying up and getting better. They didn't have school yesterday due to a teacher in service day. My wife gets a call this afternoon from the school nurse and informs her these spots are ring worm. You have got to be kidding me. So now she's back to the doctor with all 3 kids so she can get a prescription for this. And, the kids can't go back to school until they've had the cream applied for a minimum of 24hrs. What a week already!

Hello all, the 2 of you following my thread. Turns out the kids had Pitisyrosis rosea, and only 4% of children their age get it. They get it from another cold or flu virus. My wife had a couple spots on her too, so she must have had it when they did.

I've been daily driving the truck since last Wednesday. This past weekend I drove it down to go play truck driver. No real issues so far. The other day the lower coolant tube had a leak and I got the squeaky belt fixed too. (The belt was too long. A standard belt doesn't fit with the combo of accessories I have.) I checked the mileage and it is getting 16.8 and that is a mix of in town and high way. I've put 500 miles on it since last Wednesday. My only complaint is I wish I would have built a crew cab. Haha Here are some pics of it from this past weekend in different zip codes.

Good news for the kids. ( I guess??) at least "they" know what ails'em. Hopefully some antibiotics can clear this up?

Since I'm one of the two.. I must say Great Job on the pics, very "artsy" of you!

And that mileage is very respectable for that vintage.

Originally Posted by 34_40

Good news for the kids. ( I guess??) at least "they" know what ails'em. Hopefully some antibiotics can clear this up?

Since I'm one of the two.. I must say Great Job on the pics, very "artsy" of you!

And that mileage is very respectable for that vintage.

Thanks, I was trying to get some decent ones without having to pay for the expertise.

The good mileage must be because of the old straight six. Haha

This weekend I drove the truck to Lynnvile Iowa to go haul more grain. I took my 4 year old son with me and gave him his first burn out ride. It was the first burn out on the street for the truck too. I also did some mediocre hard launches and this thing will get it. On the way home I took Clint to the Wagaman mill because he saw the "water fall" in the river that morning, so I took him to get a better view. Some great history there. On the way home I had a newish 5.0 mustang jacking with me. He kept getting next to me and revving his engine up like he was cool. I let him get out a little bit on me and I let the Longhorn have it. I passed him with ease, I was still in my lane. I even let off to tease him and then gave it more. I finally just let out of it and let him keep going. He probably has a summit mag opened up right now. The modifications to the truck sure make it handle as nice as a new truck. There aren't too many 72 Chevys out there that can do that. All in all a good weekend. Sorry, I don't have any burn out vids. With all the talk of hot rodding dying off. In my opinion, I don't think it is at all. Just taking a different route for now. i'm betting the pre war cars will be a huge fad again when all the younger guys can afford to build them later on in life. I know a lot of young guys that want them, just don't have the pockets or space and know how to build them.

Hmm.. Showing Clint what NOT to do behind the wheel..with gredt power comes great responsibility!

Just pokin ya in the ribs. Sounds like lotsa fun. I just sent my nephew back home after corrupting him for the summer.

I miss him.

I had uncles that corrupted me. It taught me a lot that I never knew until after I did a lot of stupid stuff and realized that. I'm going to try to get the kids into a Jr dragster. We'll see. I always wanted one but it just never happened. If they don't like it, we'll do something else. I definitely want to set in them to not get stupid on the streets. Take it to the track. I learned the hard way.

And even more nice pics, thanks Boss!

Nothing majorly new with the truck. I have been daily driving it putting the miles on it. I've hauled some decent scrap loads. (Too bad they aren't worth anything) Anyhow, I finally managed to get the 03 Dodge engine reinstalled and running. Only thing left to do is replace the oil pressure switch because after the truck starts warming up, the oil pressure gauge falls to 0 from 60. So, either the switch is bad, or there are issues in the oil pick up/oil pump. This engine was ran out of oil before so I'm hoping the switch is just bad for who knows what reason. The truck had 293k on it so it is a good possibility. If it is an engine issue, the owner can take the truck to the guy that rebuilt the engine. I'm fresh out of time for this truck.

Last week I got the 7.3 parts back from the machine shop. Last Saturday I spent the day cleaning the parts, installing the crank, checking the main clearances, then re-installing the crank for the final time. finally, it has .003 of clearance and I can move forward on it. I started cleaning the pistons and rings and I found the previous shop must have broken an oil ring because one of them was a used one. 2 steps forward 4 steps back with this darn truck!

Since it was so nice today, I finished de-greasing the trans and tcase, and got them painted. I used black primer first, then gloss black single stage. As long as they set up nice, we're good to go. The owner of this truck wants everything painted with a gun now. I have no problem doing it, he just better understand it takes a little more time. Especially in the prep. People just don't realize it.

The patience of Jobe...




YES! YOU!

You mean you can't just wiggle your little finger at it and _KERZAM its done?