'70 C20 Longhorn

[blackdiesel]

No massive backstory here. I've wanted a 69-72 short-wide for 20 years (never been a big fan of the 67-68, sorry!) and finally got fed up last week to a point that I simply went out and bought one off of Facebook.

I arrive at a town about 2 hours from home to find the truck I picked out to go look at was a Longhorn. After looking at it for a while it seems almost sacrilege to cut it down.

So here we are, building a c20 longhorn.




This started out as a project that was supposed to take a few weeks, shoe horn in a 6.0/4l80 with a few grand and lets get this show in the road. I removed the seat and carpet to access the floor to install new sound deadening and insulation to make it a nice ride. That in turn ended up in gutting the cab to freshen up the paint inside.



Then I wanted to freshen up the engine compartment. Yanno, nice clean lines, fresh paint on the firewall, fenders, inner fenders, frame, ect. Gotta make sure it doesn't look dipped so everything had to come off.



This is where I've officially lost control.



Gotta replace the cab bushings, amirite? Might as well lift off the cab so I can steam clean the frame.



Which led to removing the bed.



Good news is the frame is clean, top and bottom!



Bad news is I'm eyeballs deep in a frame off restoration that was supposed to be a couple week hack job.

Regardless, I've got a slew of parts ordered. 2.5" drop spindles, front disks, 4" drop rear springs, rear mount fuel tank with pump, fuel lines, engine and chassis harnesses, interior parts galore, etc.

6.0 is on the engine stand getting cleaned up to install, 4L80 is on the ground beside it ready to bolt up. Dirty dingo mounts arrive tomorrow to install into the chassis. Getting ready to POR 15 the frame with semi gloss topcoat for UV protection.

Still have a fairly short window to do all of this work as this one pickup is now occupying 2 bays in my already cramped shop. I simply cannot afford to have it strewn all about for months on end.

[68Gold/white]

You will only hear words of encouragement from me!!!

[cornerstone]

Let r rip man! Looks like you're well equipped to knock it out fast. Just remember, it's only bolts and nuts and elbow grease between having a pile of parts and a driving beautiful classic Chevrolet pickup truck. I'll be watching.

[68Gold/white]

Are you going 1/2 ton???

[blackdiesel]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

Are you going 1/2 ton???

No. Staying 8 lug and running the oem hubcaps on a set of Ford van wheels. 2/4 drop, going to try and keep the patina on the outside, just have to fix the hack job somebody painted under the lower moulding.

[blackdiesel]

Took a few hours this afternoon to spray the frame and the bottom side of the cab with POR15 semi gloss. It hasn't fully dried in the pic, which is why its splotchy. I used this stuff 20 years ago on a square body frame and was not pleased with the results. However that chassis had been sandblasted, whereas this one I left in the surface rust. Hopefully it will do, as this is just a driver.

This cab is in good condition considering. There has been a set of rockers and cab corners put in at some point, and they did an OK job. Floor is solid and the cab mounts/ cowel/ fender pockets are solid.

Painless harness showed up for the engine along with my DD drivetrain mounts. Along with a slew of other parts today. With any luck, I may get the engine and trans swung into the chassis tomorrow.

Short to do list is install drivetrain and get the driveshaft ordered. Scuff and shoot the firewall and inside the front fenders with new blue single stage and then set the cab back on the frame so I can free up my rack to lift up the chassis to install the front drop spindles and rebuild the front end.

Need to pop out the glass and tape off the interior to respray the dash, floor, A & B pillars, and headliner area before starting reassembly of the HVAC and wiring.

Chassis harness should be here in a couple days, so I can start laying that in along with the engine harness to get this thing ready to fire as soon as my fuel tank shows up. (2 week build time.. ugh)

Gotta stay motivated as sometimes these projects can become overwhelming. Trying to think 10-14 days in advance so I can get parts ordered as to not be held up by poor planning.