Scott's 1972 Chevy K-20. A place to start.

[gerfunken]

Originally Posted by superduty_59

1) first off I really enjoyed reading your build thread. I've been to other states than Ohio but a long time ago and don't remember much of it so seeing pics of AZ is awesome. You chose the best engine in my opinion. It's hard to beat a p-pumped 12v.

2) The Dodge you cut up looked really nice (even though I don't care for the wrapper around the Cummins engine). I bet you paid a good amount of $. Around here a rusted to ****, beat to **** and back 4x4 would cost $5000.
What did you do with the rest of the Dodge? Craigslist? Scrapyard?
3) What did you do with the engine/trans/t-case/axles out of the 72?
4) I don't have emissions testing but just curious. Do you still have to test now that it's a diesel?
5) Most of you non farm type tend to throw a SBC or even a BBC in a truck like yours and call it good but you found out our secret.... Diesels makes more power, is more fuel efficient, less parts, more reliable and sounds better doing it!
6) You have a good looking/sounding truck to be proud of. Keep working away at your list! More pics and more videos!

Hey, thanks superduty_59... the cross country trip was one of those things that doesn't come around all that often, so I figured that I needed to take that opportunity.

I'm loving the choice of engine as well... I've been wanting to go diesel for a while. Having bought the truck in '99, it took just a couple of years, and trips up to northern Arizona for me to realize that it didn't like the to be fully loaded, climbing up from 1200 to 8000ft in altitude. The lift and first new engine only made matters worse, as the gas mileage dropped down to about 8mpg on those trips.

I ended up buying the truck for not much more than you posted. I was able to sell the wheel/tire combo as well as the body. Found a guy that managed to get in a fairly bad accident in his truck, and the only thing left on it that was good was the driveline. Since I used the motor, transmission, transfer case, the front and rear axles in mine, he was able to use the rest, so a deal was struck there as well.

The original pieces of my truck are sitting in my garage, my side-yard, and my buddy's side yard. I had them up on Criagslist for a while, but there wasn't much interest in them. I plan on re-using the motor in my 1930 Chevy, and it's beginning to look like I'm going to be swapping the axle into my cargo trailer. (My great grandfather built it in the '50's and I use it on the hunting/camping trips.) The trailer sits fairly low, and even though I've flipped the axle on it for about 4" lift, it still gets drug behind the truck in rough country.

The emissions was tough, but after talking to the guys here in MVD, I just needed to coordinate with the testing station, for them to manually override the gas test to a diesel test, and the computer system should now be updated. I thought it would be a big deal, but after a number of phone calls, it turned out to be simple.

Thanks for the rest of the compliments. I'd love to spend more time in/with it, but my weekend free time seems to have come grinding to a halt for a little bit. I'm also trying to save up the money for paint and body, and knowing that it is the next step, I'm reluctant to start putting a lot of components back on the truck like windows, interior, etc. It's just a game of patience right now.