1972 Chevy 4wd Longhorn Project: Never Ending Changes

[Dieselwrencher]

This morning it was dang cold in the shop and took a little while for the lights to kick on. I had to open the walk in door for some light, so needless to say I didn't get much done before I had to come to work. Once it got warm enough in there for my compressor to fire up I did get a little done. I cut the seat brackets on the dodge seat, and I removed my gas tank. I'm going to take the tank down and have it checked and cleaned before I try to use it. I thought it had to be half full with as bad as it smelled of varnish. I was wrong, it was empty. Tomorrow I'm going to try and get the seat brackets welded and get the seat bolted to the floor. I also need to try to get my green seat belts out so I can decide if I want to use my black ones or these green ones. Big decisions.

[jbclassix]

Hey, I finally got around to digging the wheels out from under my burb. Turns out the ones on the 91 square are the same as IFS trucks... I have 4.25 back spacing and 2.25 front... both are 16X6.5

[Dieselwrencher]

Thanks. I need to remove 2 of my wheels and see what they are.

[Dieselwrencher]

Yesterday I started making my 04 dodge seat fit in the 72 cab. I cut the bottoms off the dodge brackets and used some original bolt holes for the seat and started building the brackets. I have half of the LH side done. I'll have to remove it to finish weld it all.




Rear seat brackets

Front

[y5mgisi]

Looks really good! They look like they fit well and the frames look stout!

[chevy_man5]

Seats look good in there!!

[coggonobrien]

as far as hanging the suspension to your frame were there any existing holes to use as starting points or were all holes added by yourself? I will also be using mid 70's 3/4ton chevy 4x4 gear on my 71 swb 2wd frame.

Thanks,
David

[Dieselwrencher]

Thanks guys. I wasn't happy with how far back I couldn't get the seat due to the gas tank. But for now I will have to keep the in cab tank until I do my crew cab build. Then I plan on putting a big tank under the cab and box mid frame inside the frame rail.

David, The only holes I was able to use were the radiator support mount holes and the shock mounting holes. All the shackle mount holes I had to drill. You might be able to use some stock holes for your engine cross member, but IDK since I built a different one to fit my engine.

[coggonobrien]

as for the shackle mount holes what's the best method to find their home? have the cab and front clip on and center in the wheel well? didn't know since my frame is completely stripped.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by coggonobrien

as for the shackle mount holes what's the best method to find their home? have the cab and front clip on and center in the wheel well? didn't know since my frame is completely stripped.

When I did this truck, I used 73 up front springs. I placed a front axle under the springs and mocked the shackles in coordination to my marks from my 72 Blazer frame. I ended up moving the holes back about 1" so the shackle geometry was better. I can measure mine for you if you'd like.

[Dieselwrencher]

No real great progress this week. I have been busy with the super cold weather, work, and I got a cold that has been slowing me down. But I did manage to go get some paint for my gauge cluster needles. I tore apart my cluster I got from Toomuchstuff. He included some nicer gauges than what some of the ones in the cluster were. I cleaned everything up, and man were the tins nasty due to a leaking oil pressure line. I had my wife paint the needles while I repaired my odometer. She even painted the red line areas because they were faded really bad. She did a great job! Then I polished the lens a little bit. I tried not to ruin the markings on it because I'm pretty sure no one has any of these in stock anywhere. It came out pretty good. i will install my new repop wood grain bezel when it gets here and then this cluster should be done until I get some LED bulbs for it.

Before


After

[jce4isu]

Looks great Ryan Im hoping to get something done this weekend now that it's going to be above 0 but I also have a bad cold and it's kicked my ass
Posted via Mobile Device

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by jce4isu

Looks great Ryan Im hoping to get something done this weekend now that it's going to be above 0 but I also have a bad cold and it's kicked my ass
Posted via Mobile Device

I know the feeling. It sucks. I hope you get well soon Joe!

[onebadbowtie]

you can do my gauges next they look great!

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by onebadbowtie

you can do my gauges next they look great!

Send them up if you want. It will give my wife something to do. She's going to love that.

[onebadbowtie]

haha im sure she would really appreciate that. probably better worry about getting them to work before i worry how they look

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by onebadbowtie

haha im sure she would really appreciate that. probably better worry about getting them to work before i worry how they look

I hear that! I did make sure the tach and speedo worked, so I'm a 1/4 of the way there.

[onebadbowtie]

sounds like we are in the same boat haha i got oil pressure and fuel level but nothing else

[coggonobrien]

yea if you could get some measurements that would be great. i'm using 73+ springs as well, just a swb instead of lwb. Thanks!

[1985-GMC]

What about 73+ stock 52" rear springs for the front?

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

What about 73+ stock 52" rear springs for the front?

You could use them, but I already had 4" factory length 73 up springs, and I didn't want to purchase new spring mounts I already had bolted on.

[1985-GMC]

Haha alright, well i guess coggonobrien could use them.

[BLAZERMAN]

Good score on the tach cluster..thats a hard one to come by! Your build is really starting to come together.

[JHT67]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Yesterday I started making my 04 dodge seat fit in the 72 cab.

So glad I clicked on your build. I have an 02' Dodge as my DD, and wonder'd how the seat would look in my 67', because I really like the storage space, and that the middle section folds down to an arm rest. How do you like the headrest on there, do they seem like they are in the way? Also are you planning to recover them? Sorry for all the Q's, it's just kind of exciting to see something that you want to do will actually work.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by JHT67

So glad I clicked on your build. I have an 02' Dodge as my DD, and wonder'd how the seat would look in my 67', because I really like the storage space, and that the middle section folds down to an arm rest. How do you like the headrest on there, do they seem like they are in the way? Also are you planning to recover them? Sorry for all the Q's, it's just kind of exciting to see something that you want to do will actually work.

I like how the seat fits in there with the gas tank in, but I liked it better with the tank not in there. 2 things that suck about the tank in there with these. I positioned the seat as far back as I could so I can try to get the maximum leg room because I am 6'2" tall. The head rests rub the rear window, and the console won't flip up all the way. The lid will open with ease, the whole base won't flip up. But for me this is ok because I will be getting a cup holder that attaches on the front of the console and I won't really be flipping it up a lot any how. I do plan to recover these seats at some point, and I actually thought about removing the head rests. I was thinking about having these recovered to mimic a Cheyenne super rig, but if I ever get a suburban shell, it will be a crew project so IDK for sure what I will do at that point. The head rests don't seem to be in the way and I might actually like them once I start driving the truck. I have a 97 dodge front seat set up in my 95 F-350, and the brackets are going to be more involved in that than this.