1972 Longhorn 4x4 Diesel Project

[Dieselwrencher]

OK, today Mathew and I were loading scrap, and I decided the old hood on the Longhorn was going bye bye. So when we came back we installed my new hood. It fits pretty well. I am still going to have to fine tune it, but it is pretty good considering the rest of the truck.

[jbclassix]

lookin sharp!

[propanemudtruck]

You're definitely doing a good job on this conversion! Truck looks sharp for sure

[Dieselwrencher]

Thanks guys!

[DBear]

cool project bud...was wondering, what size are those tires that are on your truck in these pics? Also, what size lift you running? Thanks in advance

[Dieselwrencher]

Thanks. It has a 4" lift with 285/75/16's on it right now.

[mcbassin]

Thought there was an update for a minute........

[Dieselwrencher]

Nope, the truck is sitting back outside not done. I'm pretty sure this truck is going to be our new pulling truck. It will be getting my P-pumped 24v and a NV4500 with a triple disc clutch. It ought to be in the 800HP range with the turbo we're going with.

[propanemudtruck]

Well that sounds kinda fun!

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by propanemudtruck

Well that sounds kinda fun!

With any luck!

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Nope, the truck is sitting back outside not done. I'm pretty sure this truck is going to be our new pulling truck. It will be getting my P-pumped 24v and a NV4500 with a triple disc clutch. It ought to be in the 800HP range with the turbo we're going with.

Dude, you ain't playing around! Like to see some video of your deisel doing work.

[Dieselwrencher]

Ok, I'm going to try and update this thread for you guys.

2-6-11
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

[Dieselwrencher]

2-10-11
I tore apart my diesel tach/vac 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

[Dieselwrencher]

4-19-11
No real progress, but plans have changed again. I decided in this economy we don't need to spend 4 grand on a pulling truck. One drag car will be enough to eat up the pesos. I told my brother to put his money in his dodge he is buying. So now it's back to a driver. After a couple other projects get done my friend and I are going to tag team the Longhorn so he can take it to Good Guy's in July. I have another core 47rh so now I just need to finish buying the parts to build my p-pumped 24v. I will try to get a pic of my new wood grain bezel on the diesel tach cluster as well.

5-18-11
Guess what? Nope, it's not done. But I did get rear drums and most of the hardware for the D80. Hopefully the transmission will get assembled soon and we can get the truck up and start on it. I'm trying to figure out how I want to do the battery trays and have them appear close to original. That idea might just go away. Function over look will probably have to work. I thought I scored a nice steel 8' bed floor but it was holy crap bad. Some people and their idea of "rust free"!

5-19-11
Finally here are pics of the new wood grain bezel and installed. I'm not too happy with the wood grain decal's fit. It's kind of a joke. I had to stretch it to fit how it is now.





Here is a pic of the spare core 47RH I just got in case my 2nd one has a lot of bad parts. And another D80 rear axle.

[Dieselwrencher]

5-25-11
The truck is back in the shop and getting worked on again! A friend of mine wants to drive it to Good Guys this year because he doesn't have anything old enough. We help each other out all the time, so this truck is first, then his super duty is next. So with any luck tonight I'll be able to post up pics of the battery trays, and maybe a removed carrier bearing cross member. I'm getting excited. I can't wait to hear it run and drive it! It's been a long road coming!

5-26-11
Ok, some progress and a road block! Adam got the old carrier bearing cross member out of it.

He got the RH battery box built. I wanted to use group 31 batteries because I have a brand new set sitting here for it, but they won't fit with out alot of modifications. So I had to settle on group 65's.



Now, the road block is the intercooler. I was planning on using a 2nd gen dodge intercooler. When I installed the hood latch, the intercooler will fit below it but the inlet and outlet are pointing right into the lower portion or the radiator support. I don't mind cutting 2 holes in my support, but I really don't want to hack a nice support. So tomorrow I'll try to trim and rebuild the hood latch so the intercooler can be moved up more and get it in a better location.

5-27-11
Now the RH battery tray is done as well. This is the first time this truck has had inner fenders since I tore it down many years ago.



6-01-11
My friend Adam managed to get the seat brackets finished up. We just have to remove them and do some finish grinding and paint them. I also had him make some battery hold downs on the battery trays. We continue the cummins theme as we used head bolts for the hold downs. They aren't finished yet, but close.





And no, it won't have Motorcraft batteries in it when done. And now I'm trying to decide if I want to purchase a pair of stock style saddle tanks or build some. Now that I am planning a camper for this truck, it kills my stake pocket filler idea.

[Dieselwrencher]

6-06-11
Today we came back with a donor box to maybe use the floor for the Longhorn, and an a/c cab that is better than the current cab on the truck. Pics tomorrow.

6-16-11
Well we had an accident! Some how some dynomite got put under our azzes and the body blew off this truck!


































Next up is ditching the in cab gas tank. I have 2 16-17 gal aluminum tanks and we're going to put one in the rear for now. But the problem with that is, the rear cross member is in the way. So I decided to move it back and I will build a new one for in front of the fuel tank to add as a mounting point and to try to keep the frame from twisting in the shackle hanger area of the frame. It ended up going 10 3/4" back. This should give us enough room for the rear axle to clear the tank.






I removed all the old brake lines and clips, and some exhaust hangers. Tonight I'm going to wire brush the frame and set the new to me cab on the frame. Then I'll trial fit the trans and install the trans cross member. Put the tcase on and measure the drive shaft and see if I get lucky there.


6-17-11
We're going to get this thing running and drivable to take to Good Guys for the 4th of July weekend so we are busting tail on it!

We unloaded the new to it cab and set it on the frame. Tipped it back for an assesment, and it is way better than the turd that was on it! We cleaned it up a little and sprayed it to try and give it a new feeling.




This morning I rolled it back down and started removing all the stuff off the firewall and degreased it the best I could. Then I started sanding it so I can rattle can the firewall so we can get this cab bolted down.

Hopefully we make some big progress on this pig this weekend!

[Dieselwrencher]

6-18-11
We got the front of the cab primed and poof canned last night. We also got the new body bushings installed and the cab is bolted down. Hopefully tomorrow there is more news to this story to add.

7-05-11
Here we go again. 2-3 weeks went by but there was progress. It didn't make Good guys because other projects ate up time, parts didn't show up, or the money tree went dry. You all know the drill. I'll lay out the pics as I can and give some details about what was done.

We placed one of my aluminum fuel cells in the frame and got it in position. Placed jack stands under it and cut some angle iron to mount it to. The fuel cell had aluminum angles already welded to it for mounting purposes and I decided to keep it mounted that way. The fuel filler will be on the RH box side when done. The weirdest deal about this is, there were 4 bolt holes in the frame to mount the angle iron too. Kind of crazy if you ask me.



We also made a rectangle tubing cross member for in front of the fuel tank to give the frame more strength in the shackle portion of the frame since we moved the cross member that did support them back to the rear of the frame.


We also got the fuel inlet, return line, and rear brake lines ran in the frame. We will remove them to paint the frame and reinstall them after that.

Next up was getting the new to this truck's cab prepped for primer and paint. We sanded and sanded, repaired some rust holes, removed the glass and interior, blew off, and wiped down to blow it all off. I must have missed the dash because when I sprayed the paint over the primer, I had some areas that fish eyed. I repaired them the next day.





Now the primer and paint. I have to fill in the gas tank filler, and reprime some scratches from the windshield being installed, but it turned out ok. I went ahead and primered these fenders even though I may not be using them. They may have to work for now.






You can see my youngest brother in the last pic posing. He's home from Ca and will be leaving soon to go to training in the desert then off to Afganiland in September. I wish him luck, and will miss him again until next time. We did get his 92 F-350 running so he could drive it while he was home again. Man, I forgot how nice that truck was.

7-06-11
Hopefully I can get started on the trans this weekend. Or at least get the trans cross member situated and done. We got he seat mounted in the cab. Let me tell you, I love that there is fuel tank in side the cab now. More leg room, and the console will flip up again. Last week after work I went over there and my youngest brother painted the top of the dash for me. I unmasked it, set my new dash pad on there, and then put in the gauge cluster. Holy cow, it looked sweet. Of course I didn't snap a pic. I will in the morning though. I need to try to get my hydra boost on there so I can get this thing moving down a high way off of a trailer.

[Dieselwrencher]

7-07-11
Not much for progress, but I have more pics.

Here is part of my 5" exhaust. This is the tail pipe and muffler delete.


Windshield is in with a new gasket. (Needs cleaned badly.)


Seats are in and mounted in the new cab. You can see the rear window is in as well but it has to come back out. The gasket got torn on the install. The front fenders are edged, hood is sanded and waiting on some primer. We started sanding the doors, but they need some sand blasting done on them.


Here's a little more progress. I got the glove box door, hinge and stop, and ash tray cleaned, sanded, primed and painted. Tomorrow I'm going to do the door hinges and start on my interior color switch from dark olive to black.


7-08-11
I got the glove box lid back on, ash tray in, dash pad sat on, and gauge cluster screwed in. I took some pics because I am loving the new look from that green.





I'll post pics later of my latest shopping spree I had to go on today so I can try and get this thing buttoned up. I might even start estimating how much I have in this thing as well. That could be scary.

I think tonight when I get home, I will start to gather what parts receipts I have for this thing and get a (scary) idea how much is actually in this truck. I better not let the wife see it. I bet I could have purchased a dang nice cheyenne super 4x4 that runs and drives, and mine is still beating my butt!

And I did start tallying a total together for this thing. I'm missing some receipts, but with what I have not including the engine and some big transmission parts, I'm up to $7260. I'm sure once I figure the price of the engine, primer, paint, and all the other receipts when I add them in, it'll be over $11k.

7-11-11
I have the final link to get my tach working. The drive cable. My brother made me one up at his work. Now I need to get this truck running so I can see how it works. I might just stick it on another truck just to watch it for now.

[Dieselwrencher]

7-12-11
This morning in between rain storms, I started back on the truck. I started putting trim on my RH fender and realized I need some different clips for my trim that was missing. I'll be making a list of all so I don't have to make more than one trip to the local 67-72 parts man. I also cleaned my headliner and re shot it black. I will be doing the door panels tomorrow. Then to try and figure out where all the a/c stuff went under the dash in the proper orientation.

7-13-11
The headliner dried, and looks better in person than in pics.


Here is a little forward progress, but not much.


This is the tach drive that runs off the injection pump retaining nut. It is plastic and screws in where the oil fill tube does in the front cover.

[Dieselwrencher]

This weekend I got the hood sanded, prepped, and primered. I also changed my green door panels to black ones. Pics tomorrow.

[67chevy1series]

man i just love this truck. awesome progress. i one day hope to see it and touch it (dont worry i wont scratch it lol)

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

man i just love this truck. awesome progress. i one day hope to see it and touch it (dont worry i wont scratch it lol)

Thanks Rick. Don't worry, it might still be in primer then too.

[67chevy1series]

haha i hope not! it better be a real nice k30 cheyenne!

[thesledhead]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

This weekend I got the hood sanded, prepped, and primered. I also changed my green door panels to black ones. Pics tomorrow.

Truck looks sweet bud but Ive gotta ask what your doing with the charger????

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by thesledhead

Truck looks sweet bud but Ive gotta ask what your doing with the charger????

Thanks. It's up in the air right now. I was going to build a diesel powered pro touring car out of it, but we're getting another corvette to build another drag car. So I might just find a 440 and 4 speed for the charger later on. We'll see.