My burbarific build thread

[Longhorn Man]

OK, this will be my build thread for the burb. I will try to document as much as I can, including exactly what I used, costs or cost-ish of mods/repairs, and even time involved.
I had set a goal, which prooved to be too much, in not enough time, and with no real place to do the work... so it didn't happen. But, none the less, I am going to continue.
Back story;
It all started with this thread and a couple photos.

A small bank loan is all it took, which prooves one thing;
It's entirely too easy to get money these days.
One skybus airline ticket later, I'm standing there in CG's inlaws barn, looking at this;

And it was the official kick off the longhorn man's west coast tour!
Nothing too nice... nothing too crappy, just a well worn big block burb, Th400 tranny, dana 3.54 rear gears, showing 122xxx or so miles. Front and rear A/C, 3 row seating, but most importantly, not much rust.
It's not nearly as nice as the photos make it look... but it's not bad either.


Very first mod after getting it home, scrubbing it down, and installing a carpet kit I have had laying around here. You see in the above photo, it had the brown plastic mat. Looked like crap IMO. I got this stuff on the group purchace we did here a year or two ago, and it's been sitting in my closet since then. i have no clue what we paid... I wanna say 130 or so.

I have more carpet for the back, but have not had a chance to install it yet.
I also ditched the big stupid lookin mirrors and put on some much better looking peeps that i got off the parts board, I think they were 30 bucks, and used.

Wheels and tires off the longhorn are included on this photo.
Photo shoot thread

[bad6772]

bout time everyone else knew the plans...its been hard keeping this a secret.........lol

[Longhorn Man]

Rim Job!
link to the thread
Picked up a crappy set of 15x8 rallys, with some 90's center caps, added $400 worth of rubber, and ended up with this;


Now... for the $$
Rims I think i paid $40 for the cheesey rallys with the chrome chipping off, and traded even up for the truck rallys.
tires, just a tick under 400 bills
mount/ballance/valve stem/labor $50 with shop discount
paints 30 bucks
So I have about $520 into these.
I'd like to get a set of bling wheels, but they are no where near being in the budget. Maybe after paint and body... but that's not even in the seeable future at the moment.

[Longhorn Man]

Tony... only a handfull know what the actual plans are... so keep yer yapper shut!!!

[Longhorn Man]

I haven't lowered it yet, I am still gathering parts. However, I have gathered up;
2 inch drop springs for the front
1 to 2 inch dropped a-arms for the front
4 inch drop coils for the back.
1/2 ton suspention came with the burb, I need to clean and POR those parts, I still need to turn the rotors, and clean/pack the bearings, I need to look at the drive shaft that came from the parts burb... I know it needs one U-joint at a minimum.
I got a set of re-man'd calipers from NAPA for $30 for the set. Comes with new hdwr, but no pads. After discovering the pads are the same for 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton, I'll just toss the 3/4 ton pads in there when i do the swap... I just put them on a couple months ago anyways.
The lower control arms, in case you've never seen this before, has been modified. You can see in the photo where they were cut, and a drop was incoporated into the arm. These came from another member, he couldn't get a ball joint to stay put in one of them, told me if i could make them work, toss him $25 so he can become a subscribed member. If I can't make them work... toss them in the scrap.

Pretty sweet huh?
I can't remember what i payed for the 2 lower ball joints. I need to see if i vcan get a chance to get them in and see if they'll stay.

[72armyswbtruck]

Andy, bout time for the build thread

[Longhorn Man]

Inst panel/tilt/dash pad/steering wheel.
Jobs can snow ball like crazy. I've had a tilt column laying around for a long time, also had a white guage inst panel laying around since ... 05 or so. Fine69 gave me a black dash pad for free, just wanted it put to good use instead of collecting dust.
I couldn't stand to have just done one of these. To do the dash pad, you have to pull the inst panel, to pull the panel, it's 10X easier if you drop the column...
it all snowballs into a big mess.
So, that's what I did.
Van tilt $8 at a junk yard
dash pad free
late 70's camaro steering wheel... I think I paid 55 bucks shipped?
Tilt lever-tilt pointer-chrome hazzard button... no CLUE what I paid
Inst panel;
30-ish for the bezal
Guage stickers, I accidently got 2 sets... I think they go for 30 bucks a set?
a little white paint $5?
Note, the guages, column, and little do-dads, were all laying around, not purchased specificly for this truck.... do they count in the rolling total?
I say no, not really.
11 bucks for turn signal repair parts
Total cost;
Just shy of $60

[Longhorn Man]

Core support

This was mostly a labor thing here.
took the old core support, dropped it in the boil out tank at work, blasted it clean with the steam cleaner, then slathered it in POR15

Nothing too exciting.
Had the can of POR sitting around, in all reality, as far as I am concerned, this was a no money spent kinda thing.
I hope to get the rest of the 68 clip read here real soon and give the truck a nose job.

[Longhorn Man]

I have plenty of parts laying around to install or parts needed for the mods... but it's the whole snowball thing again.
In order to install the front suspention, it'd be easier if the engine was out... which I need to do anyways... and it'd be easier to do the engine with the front sheet metal off... WHICH I NEED TO DO ANYWAYS...
But where do i find the time to do all this?
I have old Chevelle chrome valve covers(freebe parts), a couple cans of engine paint, new belts and a fan clutch, por for the front frame rails...
Total snow ball.
On top of that, it is my daily driver right now.
Updates will be slow, but hopefully steady.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looks good so far and really low buck...

[andrewt2]

Ive always liked the look of this burb diffantely subscribing to see how this plays out! keep up the good work.

[bad6772]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

Tony... only a handfull know what the actual plans are... so keep yer papper shut!!!

i wont be saying anything........but its gonna cost ya..........

[49m]

looking good so far

[toomanytoyz]

Signing on for the Ride, Congrat's on what you have Gotten Done so Far............

Rick

[Longhorn Man]

While this isn't actually a mod... it's something I did that I think is cool... plus it'll save about 60 bucks a year.
In ohio, you can get historical tags for old cars, and they are good for like 50 years. Once you have the historicals, if you purchase correct year plates, you can run them upon the BMV inspecting them.
I got these for my birthday and have them on there now.
Technicly, you can't run it as a daily driver... limited use including parades, club functions, maint. reasons (to and from shop and test drive) and weekends... but it's a common thing to slap them on your car and never pay the yearly plate fees. About the only way you'll get in trouble is if you are in an accident.
Aither way, here's my cool B day gift



Bummer they are ugly michigan colors though.

[Palf70Step]

Looking good Andy. I can't wait to see the chain of events begin. I wonder if you'll do it in a weekend again?

[Longhorn Man]

probably not. This one won't be project half ass or project good enough. No flat black primer for this one, no semi gloss rustolium... once this one gets painted, it'll be one that I actually wax, it'll be one that non car guys look and say wow... look at that.

[bobbo]

Looking good Andy! I'm going to get the Historical Vehicle plates for mine too. Definitely saves money and hassle, and I work at a shop so I can drive it to and from work and just tinker with it each day so it's legit. Not planning on it being a driver anyway. Keep up the work on yours!

[Hart_Rod]

Along for the ride (burb builds are my favorite, ). Can't wait to see the progress. I'm sure if you plan out your front end swap, you'll be able to knock it out pretty quick. Good luck.

[Frizzle Fry]

I like where you're going with it Andy. Can't wait to see what you have planned.

[Longhorn Man]

read the whole thing here... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=286875
Here are the highlights;
Considered putting the carpeting in today, but there's things I need to do before that happens, like prtecting the floor from more rust
Here's what was under the mat;


I get the scrapers out and go to town. Scraped it all up, rubbed the painted areas with a green scotch brite pad, dug around in the nooks and crannies, and pulled out a bunch-o-crap.
Had to be carefull here. I'm too cheap... but more importantly too broke to be replacing the weatherstripping at this point.

My shop vac is junk, so I went to the coin op car wash around the corner.
Total cost... a buck.

POR on the floor

One 88 cent paint brush, and still have POR left over... this is still the same quart from the core support job

Total money spent on the job today...
$1.88.
I can handle this kind of spending!

[Longhorn Man]

The fan clutch was making more and more noise, so i fuigured I'd replace it before the fan ends up going through the brand new radiator CG installed.

So I remove the clutch... and the first thing i realize, the replacement has no studs on it for mounting the fan on the clutch. No big deal... but a little more work.
Then, after getting all the studs out of the old clutch, i discover NAPA sold me the wrong clutch.
Bummer.

Naturally, NAPA was closed by this time too.
So not only was that labor wasted... but i had to put it BACK together.. since the Longhorn is down for a massive coolant leak. (top hose split)
Funny part, I have a replacement hose... but it's sitting on top of my toolbox... at work.
Total cost of this job... $0.00
Can't count the 46 dollars on the clutch, since it's going back.
Between the POR job, and the wasted time on the fan clutch, I spent about 2 1/2 hrs.
Again, this is just highlights, more in depth inanity can be seen at the link on post #21

[Longhorn Man]

Frizzle Fry... My build... even if it all gets done to my "vision"... will be lame in comparison to your rig.
But, i just might have a trick or two up my sleeve that you'd like.
Hart_Rod... I hope you are right. I know it can be done... but I hope I am able to pull it off like that.
bobbo ... the "I'm taking it to the shop" excuse doesn't always work when the cop sees your uniform and realizes you are taking it to work... but they may be *not* enforcing the laws there like the have been here for the last 30 years.

[toomanytoyz]

That Por Floor Look's Good, Really Like your Approach to the Build. Nice to Document Time & Money Spent on the Project. Have any Plan's for Seat Upgrade for the Burb?

I spent about 4 Hr's Roaming around the Local Junk Yard Today, Still looking for a Junker Burb to Try my Hand at a Crew Build some Day...............

Rick

[CG]

Looking good. I like getting the update pics.