1972 Chevy 4wd Longhorn Project: Never Ending Changes

[jbclassix]

Very cool!

[lower50's]

Wicked

[Rodzzilla]

Awesome!

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by Rodzzilla

Awesome!

Rod, it was nice to see you at Goodguys. Too bad I couldn't find you later. It was a mad house there.

I did some more work to the truck but still haven't finished all the things on the to do list. Here are the things I did manage to get done.

Replaced head light housings with more stock appearing ones
Installed the carbon fiber grill emblem I did a few years back
Moved battery cables and modified the battery hold downs
Installed the filler panels in between the grill and rad support
Started installing my boyd fuel tank. That still isn't done
Re painted the bottom side of the truck to get winter's curse off it
Put some old Longhorn badges on it for now
Painted around the headlights on the grill until I decide what I'm doing for a grill
Installed my front drive shaft and 1350 yoke on the D60 finally

This year I successfully drove the truck to Goodguys. I was impressed it never got over 195* the entire weekend. It took 1 hour to make a round around the show on Saturday afternoon. I wish it had AC finished then. I think I had the 2 only vehicles there that would idle too. Stupid gassers revving their stuff to keep them running any way. LMAO!

These were the only pics I took all weekend. The rear suspension is dumped here making it easier for peeps to get in the bed.

[1985-GMC]

I like the filler panels! Is it just the pictures or is there something going on with your paint?

[Dieselwrencher]

The bed isn't painted yet and the passenger side door is a shade darker than everything else. Part of the color distortion could just be from my phone. The underside of the hood isn't discolored as that pic shows.

[Rodzzilla]

Yeah, it was a madhouse. I couldn't believe the traffic to get into the grounds. We got there a little after 10AM and traffic was backed up to the west end of Pleasant Hill. Then there was a long line at the ticket gate. It was amazing how many vehicles were there. Every year they keep getting farther and farther to the east end.

[doubleb's69]

Originally Posted by Rodzzilla

Yeah, it was a madhouse. I couldn't believe the traffic to get into the grounds. We got there a little after 10AM and traffic was backed up to the west end of Pleasant Hill. Then there was a long line at the ticket gate. It was amazing how many vehicles were there. Every year they keep getting farther and farther to the east end.

I should've went. I wasn't sure about the Olds engine. I drove it about 35 miles yesterday. Ran fine. I heard it was crazy busy at Goodguys. Maybe next year.

[Dieselwrencher]

Last Friday night after work I loaded the boys up and took them to Oskaloosa. We stayed in my brother's camper and Saturday morning we took the truck to the Rollin Oldie's Car and Truck Show. They had 214 cars and trucks. My brother took my Vette. Neither of us won anything. No surprise because there were a lot of nice rides there. This show is pretty nice though. They give out root beer floats before they do the awards presentation. After the show the boys got to ride in a Peterbilt tow truck and then it was on to home. They both passed out about 5 miles into the trip home.

I did manage to get my fog lights put on and hooked up last week. I also finally hooked my dome lamp up to a toggle switch until I get around to installing the door switches. I installed my back up lamps in the back bumper but still have to wire them up. I don't know if anyone will notice but these are the new head light housings I put in earlier this month. They don't have a defuser in them and are glass and look more period correct. I also finally put on the modified grill emblem. Slowly but surely.

[Rodzzilla]

Nice!

[lower50's]

Looking good!! I love when the kids pass out shows they had a great day.

[mcbassin]

looking good Ryan!

[7dee2]

Cool sounds like a great time, your boys are zonked!

[COS399]

Sweet!

[Dieselwrencher]

Today I decided to go grab some lunch at a great deli/grocery store near where the first shop I ever rented was. My old friend that owns the building got my brothers and I hooked on this place. It's kind of ironic I started the tear down on this truck in that shop. It was nice to drive by it and keep going too. Haha

[Dieselwrencher]

I took the kids and truck to a show on Saturday. We even drug the Vette out of the shed and cut the roots out form under it.

[Rodzzilla]

Trees must grow faster in PC than they do here.

[Dieselwrencher]

They probably do. I'm constantly removing saplings from my fence line/yard here. It is nuts.

[lower50's]

Did the kids drive the vet to the show?

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Did the kids drive the vet to the show?

They sure would love to.

[1985-GMC]

Has the vette retired to just car shows now? Haha jk

[LT7A]

Nice work Ryan. You seem to be in the 'use it and improve it regularly' phase. I'm jealous. I'm still in the 'work on it occasionally and day dream about using it someday' phase. Even cooler that your boys are in it with you a lot.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

Has the vette retired to just car shows now? Haha jk

Pretty much. I've literally had no time to mess with it. I always have about 15 projects going on at once. Once we had kids, the free time for the poor Vette went bye bye. If it held more than 2 people, it might be a different scenario. I do have some stuff I want to change on it because I am seriously thinking of doing Drag week next year with it.

Originally Posted by LT7A

Nice work Ryan. You seem to be in the 'use it and improve it regularly' phase. I'm jealous. I'm still in the 'work on it occasionally and day dream about using it someday' phase. Even cooler that your boys are in it with you a lot.

Yes sir. I doubt this truck will ever get finished. I have so much more I want to do to it and so much I still need to finish on it. I really should have left it in the shop until it was done, but it would probably still be setting there. I can't leave anything alone I keep getting told. I just got my 78 Ford D60 front for it a couple weeks ago so I can begin the parts collection for the front air ride. When that happens it will probably get a crew cab too. I doubt I can swing building another truck like this again. I have my 40 Ford to finish, and a slew of other cars I need to get built. Plus work and a few customer trucks. Blah, blah, blah.

I did use the truck to haul wood for 3 days and took another load of house construction junk to the dump. The next thing I have to do to it is install my trailer wiring, a brake controller, and ditch the little larry valve for a leveling valve. Maybe I'll get to that before the white stuff is flying?

[Dieselwrencher]

Last weekend I took my boys in a parade and let them throw candy out to other kiddos. They loved it. Then we took it to another car show. It amazes me how many people can't spot non stock stuff on these. I had a guy tell me my chrome must have fallen off my door handles. I laughed and said, no, they're billet aluminum. Then another person wanted to know how I got the carbon fiber on the gauges. Oh boy. LMAO

I've also been hauling loads to the dump regularly. One of the buildings on my parent's place took a tumbling this summer. Of course ewe had a lot of stuff in it. one thing is a Farmall H my father, grandfather, and I repainted when I was in 4H. I'm slowly working on getting the barn and garbage/junk cleaned out of it. I'm hoping to get it all cleaned up before it turns bad out. We'll have to see about that.

This load was 1500lbs and the old truck didn't even flinch. Those air bags loved it.

I hope you all are doing well and have a great weekend!

[7dee2]

Very cool!