Dave's 1970 GMC 402 Longhorn

[davepl]

Got my original factory disc brake setup from Jesse yesterday, but work is sort of at a standstill because I had to jack-hammer out the spot I'm working in so that I can re-pour the concrete to the specs needed for a Mohawk A7 2-post lift. I'm much too good looking to be crushed under a lift.

I'm starting to doubt the wisdome of rebuilding the shop while doing a frame-off restoration, but the chaos should be over in a month or two!

Here's the engine going back together...

[davepl]

..

[davepl]

Working on my calipers... I sandblasted and beadblasted and then painted them with Eastwood's "high temp" cast-appearing paint that's actually intended for exhaust manifolds. It's good to 1200F so should be fine for temperature, though I don't know how well it holds up to brake fluid.

Then again, if I do things right, there shouldn't BE any brake fluid on them I hope :-p

[hockeyjerk1]

Nice work neighbor, it doesn't seem like there are many fixing cars out here any more.

[VA72C10]

Looks great! The truck looks like it was an awesome start for the restoration and you are doing things RIGHT!!! Nice!

[davepl]

Originally Posted by hockeyjerk1

Nice work neighbor, it doesn't seem like there are many fixing cars out here any more.

There's a few in Sammamish, but we might be the only ones working on these trucks...

[mcbassin]

Very nice project. I really love the unique interior. The console and cluster turned out great too. Looking forward to following along on this one. BTW, that big block looks amazing!

[Lee H]

Nice build.

[stllookn]

Dave, Just found your build thread...NICE...and thanks so much for the canopy! It looks great on my Longhorn! We missed you at Monroe last weekend. Block out October 6th and 7th for a repeat out there in the fall.

[PAWS 72]

Dave good looking truck to start with.Wish I had the first shell to go on mine.

[67c10rustbuket]

Wow this is cool, the original owners great grandson is a board member.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=526285

very nice project Dave!

[davepl]

My shop expansion is 95% done so this week I managed to actually get the truck back in and work on it, and I got a ton done (even if it doesn't look like it, it's a lot of work to entirely strip down the chassis!)

I stuck a photo below, but it's not very informative, just a naked frame. I also stuck a photo of my control-arm nuts, which I cleaned and re-plated with tin/zinc. They're cheap to buy new, but I'm trying to re-use everything original that I can.

Below that photo is a shot of some frame repair I did. At some point in the truck's life someone blasted a jagged, golf-ball size hole through the frame with a cutting torch in order to run the trailer wiring harness. At first I just cleaned up the edges and made it look nice, but it was big enough I wondered a little about structural integrity, so I made a plug from 1/4in plate, welded it in with a MIG and ground it down.

I was pleased that I didn't have to cut anything, just used a lot of PB and pretty much everything came apart by hand, which was a treat. The bug U-bolt nuts that hold the leaf spring packs together required the impact at 175psi, but I've seen them so rusted on other vehicles that they weren't salvageable back in the midwest.

The control arm nuts took some major convincing... I had a four foot bar on it and I was jumping on it, and at 220lbs I'm sure that's close to 1000 pounds of torque, but they came off eventually. Actually my only battle was with the ball joints: I broke a pickle fork and wound up having to use a bearing separator on a couple of them.

I'm taking everything except the rear end in to the powder coater on Monday. He quoted me $750 for the entire frame and all attachments (control arms, drive shafts, springs, and so on). That includes steam-cleaning and acid-washing and media blasting of course, so it seems like a decent deal, though I have nothing to compare it to.

After the various sub-assemblies like the rear end are done I'm -really- looking forward to starting the reassembly. Nice and clean and all new parts... frankly I might have spent too many hours at it this week but I'm getting tired of being dirty!

[davepl]

Painted up the motor today, started putting accessories back on. Photo below.

I wanted a rock-hard durable finish, so I wound up stripping it down (it had been hot tanked, but the valve covers and some parts were in primer), then degreasing it with Superclean and a pressure washer, then wiping it down with Superclean, then with PPG wax and grease remover.

I shot the primer coat with PPG DP40LF, which is a catalyzed primer that contains zinc that supposedly chemically bonds to the underlying metal.

I followed that with PPG Delstar acrylic enamel. It's getting hard to find these days (not commonly used, and it contains lead). At over $100 a pint it's precious stuff, but everything I've read indicates its the most durable choice for engines and retains its gloss well.

Turned out quite nice. I did run into a problem with the exhaust manifolds, which do not clear the head studs (seems I pay a price for every deviation from stock design), but I've corrected that.

[70LonghornCST]

I love it! Looking really nice

[davepl]

Well, after a little misadventure (control arm on wrong side) I've got the front end, suspension, and steering linkage all back together. This also includes conversion over to 1972 3/4-ton disc brakes.

[davepl]

Here's the engine reunited with the chassis, along with all the front steering and suspension back in place.

With no one seeming to offer a line kit for a big block, 3/4T longhorn, I've just ordered a ton of stainless tubing and flare nuts from Summit, and when they arrive I'll go about making all new hard lines for fuel and brakes and so on.

A minor detail, but I scuffed and painted the shocks blue, since that's what I recall the originals having been. Not sure if its the exact shade or not, but close enough for my purposes!

[NewType72]

holy cow you move fast on this beast and I must say bravo on this truck sir everything is looking amazing! and I can only see the opening of your shop and I must also say holy hell I wish I had that nice of a shop to work in

[VA72C10]

That looks FANTASTIC!

[bruceman1968]

looks Great Dave! Subscribed.

[mcbassin]

Looks like a brand new chassis and engine!

[davepl]

A couple of new pics just to update the progress...

[VA72C10]

Beautiful!!! Show quality!

[NewType72]

okay I'm definitely saving up for a car lift

[davepl]

Got the transmission (a TH200 for now) in place, mounted, and the driveshafts installed. I wound up converting all the u-joints to 1350 series and using a 1350 yoke. The front of our driveshafts are 1330, so that particular one is a 1330-1350 adapter. The TH400 replacement mount dropped right into place. I think my TH200 is about an inch and a half shorter than the 400, so a little more of the yoke is exposed, but it's a pretty beefy one and still has plenty of engagement so I'm not concerned about it.

I also did most of my hard lines. I used stainless, which isn't cheap (especially the fittings) nor easy to work with, but it will look nice for a long time.

I installed the rad support, shroud, fan and all of that so I could do the trans cooler and lines for it as well.

[y5mgisi]

Looks great as usual! Good move steping up to the stainless lines too!