my 1970 longhorn project/daily driver

[383longhorn]

this is my longhorn my gave to me 3 years ago when i was 15 for my first car.its my daily driver and my project i work on almost every day. i just swaped a extreamly built 383 sroker into it this summer. let me know what you guys think of it. josh

[383longhorn]

[VA72C10]

Nice truck! Sure that engine SCREAMS

[383longhorn]

thanks! moves that old truck from 0-60 around 6-7 seconds and gets 4-6 mpg when all the stars and moons are in the right position haha

[383longhorn]

just did a front drisk brake swap on her this summer. heres some pics of the swap.

[383longhorn]

got the whole set up from a junk yard for 150 bucks

[383longhorn]

just got new mirrors. wasent a big fan of the old camper mirrors. also got clear lenses all the way around.

[383longhorn]

woke up this morning and found a roll pan, some nice chrome door sill plates,new rocker panels for both sides, and new cab corners for my truck under the christmas tree! mom got all these parts from wes down at classic heartbeat. thanks to them i can get rid of the rust and get my truck ready for paint
anyone have any tips for removing and replacing rocker panels and cab corners? ive never got that far into body work.

[red69ss]

great looking truck! congrats on the new parts. look at a lot of builds here and check the faq section on the rocker and cab corner replacement. Don't be suprised if when you start cutting you find more hidden rust.

[383longhorn]

im sure there will be more. i had that floor mat up the other day atleast i know the floor isent rusty. the driver inner rocker is prop rusted out that side is pretty bad.

[383longhorn]

just found some old pics i took when i was 15 when my mom gave the truck to me. shows some of the progress i made.

[VA72C10]

Nice progress and nice new parts!

[383longhorn]

so i was driving my mom to work at 3am this morning. its pooring rain as usual in washington and all the sudden my wipers,heater,and charging system all quit working at the same time. i had to drive home with my head out the window getting soaked so i could see.this morning i looked for the prob and the 10amp heater fuse was blown. and for some reason when the fuse is blown it cuts power to the wiper fuse too?? makes no sence.... so i replaced the fuse and everything worked again even my charging system? i decided to pull the heater fuse back out and start the truck to see if the alternator would quit again. it did.... this really confused me. im thinking something is messed up in the wiring. also my heater and wipers work with the key in the off position too. i dont think thats right either. anybody have any ideas??

[383longhorn]

got a roll pan for xmas and started putting it on. started with removing a pain in the a** dent.





had to cut out a spot for the licence plate part of the roll pan



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[383longhorn]

some more pics







almost finished it today but right as i put some bondo on it went from sunny to rain and wind storm. love washington.. NOT

[stsalvage]

Looks like a good job But i have a few little words that your going to hate to hear.I did it to my 1965 3/4 ton truck thought i had to remove the hole A frame to get the disc brakes to work.

I was wrong.All i had to do is swap the Drum brake spindles with any 1971--87 3/4 ton spindles and rotors and brake lines from a used truck and match every thing and just assemble every thing with out touching the A frame.My 1965 3/4 ton truck never had a alinement done to it ever sence we owned it back in 1969 until 2002 and mine had very little shim's to locate the front end.It was dead on.But now i've been chewing up my tires and can't keep alinement.

On my 1968 Longhorn I have a 1977 1/2 ton that is junked I'm just using the Front spindles and the rotors and the front end pars as mock up parts and going to put all new tie rods Idler pit-men arm and all new bushing for my swap and new rotors the time for me to do the swap one afternoon

the A arm's are the same for the 1/2 ton to the 3/4 tons just the Ball joints are different.And ya i'm putting new Ball joints in mine.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work on your roll pan. It looks like it fit pretty dang good!

[383longhorn]

i thought about converting mine to half ton before so i could have a better wheel and tire options. i swaped the whole front end because years ago my dad rearended a car really hard. the camber was way off in it and all the busings and ball joints were bad i think the a arm was also bent because the passenger side tire sat back in the wheel well really far.

thats a nice longhorn u have there. what are your plans?

[383longhorn]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Nice work on your roll pan. It looks like it fit pretty dang good!

ya i was surprized how nice it fit in there. this is the first time ive done something like that. im still working on the driverside bed corner it had a pretty good fold in it. im hopeing to have that part done tommrow. ill post more pics. next im replacing the cab corners and rockers.

[Dieselwrencher]

Good deal. You're doing great work. Just measure twice when cutting if you're cab is real bad.

[383longhorn]

ya for sure. the cab isent to bad its mostly the normal rocker rust these trucks get. the cab corners are just starting to bubble so i might as well replace them. im glad im having my moms bf help me with all that he has done them a few times on other trucks.

[383longhorn]

just finished my roll pan tonight. turned out pretty good for having to reshape the bed corner. theres still a few spots to touch up.

[383longhorn]

also today while i was waiting for bondo to set up i installed new msd plugs and wires and the new double pumper carb i buit.

[383longhorn]

im looking for a eaton HO52 posi or locker. does anyone know where i can fined one? one wheel wonder is getting really annoying now that my heavy camper bumper is gone

[litew8]

Given to you @ 15yrs of age. Lucky! You're Mother sound very cool. You're doing a great job for an 18yr old. Reminds me of myself when I was your age.