Big Bird - 1972 Longhorn K30

[BlueBullet]

Where does one go to find a set of those hubs?

[Dieselwrencher]

Break your wallet out when you find them. I just painted my knobs blue to hold off the purists. Haha

[BlueBullet]

I kinda figured they were probably spendy. I have a couple blue sets for 3/4 tons saved for the future. What does a Napco cross member look like?

[Turnip Truck]

Blue, can I get you to measure the height inside your frame c channel in the circled area? No rush at all- I'm just trying to make sure my frame isn't pinched, pulled, squeezed or tweaked. I'd greatly appreciate it!

[BlueBullet]

Inside measurement is 5-1/8" top to bottom right in front of cross member. I posted in your thread also and wanted to post again here for future reference.

[BlueBullet]

Not a lot of progress tonight. Got valve covers blasted and powder coated. They turned out ok still learning. Cleaned the shop a little and brought Casper in from the cold. Went to loosen spark plugs and all of a sudden wtf. Anybody ever seen anything like it. WOW!! You know when you have a rusty truck when this happens. Thankfully it came out with an easy out.

[Vintage Windmills]

Hi Nathan,

Curious how you knew how to set the proper dipstick height? Measure the original protrusion from the block, measure the overall length, subtract the former from the latter and duplicate on new setup?

[BlueBullet]

Yep I laid the two side by side and lined up protrusions on the assemblies. The bottom of tubes were different lengths but I don't think that matters. The dipstick from the original was 7/8" longer then the aftermarket stick. I then just cut that much off the top of new tube so that it would go the correct depth into the pan. Hopefully that makes sense. I will get some pictures.

[BlueBullet]

Here's some pictures

[sweetk30]

I fixed a aftermarket one last year for a guy .

it ran o.k. but always had a tick he said . dip stick showed full to top with oil .

I drained the pan and got just over 2qt of oil ! ! !

so I changed it and filter put in 5 qt and run it . sounded 10x better . then I marked it on the stick and cut off the extra . problem solved .

[BlueBullet]

Made some progress the past few days. Got the last cross member installed and everything on the engine that I can at the moment. Cleaned up the bottom of the radiator support. This is the nicest one I had in the stash. I painted it with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. I figured this should put it to the test if it works or not. It says you can wire brush clean with some sort of paint prep and then shoot. Let it dry then hung it on the frame. My next step is to get what I can done on the brakes before I put the radiator in.

[BlueBullet]

Then on to the brake lines and brackets. I had to drill one hole different for the proportioning valve since the cross member is in backwards compared to a square body. Got the proportioning valve mounted and the rear line ran back and connected to the original rear line that runs the rest of the way. For those who are following and plan to do this same conversion here are a couple things to remember. I was on a mission and welded the large hole in the frame that would work out right for running front brake lines. I would refer to 7dee2's 72 K30 Build thread on which hole to leave. I got to that part of his thread after I was done welding .. Also don't install the bump stops until you get your final engine placement determined. Once again got ahead of myself and the bottom bolt was in the way of the cross member. I figured one bolt should suffice. I don't plan on taking it off and big jumps right away.. My plans for the brake line error is to keep the line tight to bottom of the frame then bring it around to the front inside the rail

[Turnip Truck]

I may have missed it, but what are your axles geared? 3.73 or 4.10?

[BlueBullet]

Good question I don't think I have mentioned that. The gears are 4:10.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work on Big bird. I've been curious how well Eastwoods rust encapsolator actually works too. Nice find on the paper work! I think the red and white one is but I can't tell you. I've never found one in one of these yet either.

[MrBeast]

Cool project!

I am looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

[BlueBullet]

Thanks guys!! It's coming together just the way I have been hoping. Today I got 4 batches of parts powder coated, the steering wrapped up, throttle hooked up, refreshed the battery tray and installed the oil pressure line.

[BlueBullet]

The throttle cable I had on hand was a little too long so I had to give it a trim. This is the second time I have done this mod and it's pretty easy if anyone is not familiar with it. First step is to figure what you need for a length. Then cut cable stop off back side and pull apart. Then with a firm grip pull both ends off cable housing. This one didn't cooperate so I had to drill out using a 13/64 bit. Just barely put pressure on the drill and it will zip in and stop when it gets to the bottom of original cavity. I cut cable housing to desired length with a cut off wheel on an angle grinder. Once done push the ends back on and insert cable. I then installed and rest pedal and clamped on new cable stop.

[MrBeast]

It is amazing what a difference modern coatings make on these trucks, so far superior to the paint they had back then, although through the 80's they really had some issues, it seems today what is available to us is far superior.

[BlueBullet]

Yep there sure is a lot a avenues one can take

[BlueBullet]

Went to Action Auto and had a rattle can mixed with factory color. They weren't able to do it at the local NAPA. I am happy with the end result. I painted the lower kick panels and a radio delete that was pretty rough.

[BlueBullet]

Working on cleaning up the outer heater box waiting on parts. Reconditioned the heater controls. I don't like the look of the standard rivets so I went with the same rivets that are used for vent window weather stripping. It think it looks cleaner. In order to make it work I ground down the existing molded rivets. Then I took a 1/8 bit and drilled through the faceplate using the molded rivet center as a guide. I then drilled out with a 5/32 bit. On the front I had to counter sink the faceplate just a little to get enough length to get a good bite with this particular rivet. The bit I used to counter sink is a 13/64 I think. I went down just enough to get through the stripped faceplate. I am real happy with how it turned out even the my faceplate wasn't much to begin with but it is the best I had on hand. When putting back together I sprayed the cables down with PB Blaster to loosen and lube things up.

[BlueBullet]

Switched out the Cab Harness for a Auto harness I had on hand. Washed the inside of the cab and started putting back together. I went with original door seals because of price but mainly because when you glue them on they don't move. I have a set of push ons on Casper and they pull away in the corners. I find that irritating. Switching to black interior also. How about the paint match on the radio delete?

[Dieselwrencher]

That's looking really nice! I haven't had any issues with my precision push on door seals moving on my 72. They've been on a couple years or more too.

[BlueBullet]

Got the transmission linkage rapped up today. Had to add three inches to the linkage rod. I just took a 3/8 x 4" bolt and chopped the threads and head off. Then welded it up. Used the frame mounted bracket from K30.