Thread: 1972 Chevy K30 Longhorn Build

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Yesterday my new steering wheel showed up. Today my new radio showed up. I popped the old one out to see if it would fit. It just barely clears the hvac controls. It is a motorized screen so maybe I can tilt it up a little to be able to see it better. I have been working on my grill shell. What a PITA this is. I really have had a notion to buy a NOS one after doing this. It won't be perfect, but it will be way nicer than any one I've had yet.

I started by removing the anodizing a couple months back. Then I started pounding out dents and goudges. Now I've been sanding all the imperfections out. I'm at 180 grit and have to go clear up to 1200 or 1500. It should look nice, but it's a real PITA! I got an email that said my front bumper is done too! So when it gets here, I'll test fit it then get it to a coater or paint it myself.

The grill looks very nice, you have far more patience then me. I cheated on the last grill I had to do anything with.....sent it out to be chromed a little pricey but virtually maintenance free.

The bumper will look great too.


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Originally Posted by Mike P

The grill looks very nice, you have far more patience then me. I cheated on the last grill I had to do anything with.....sent it out to be chromed a little pricey but virtually maintenance free.

The bumper will look great too.


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Thanks Mike. My wife probably wouldn't agree with you on the patience thing. Although, I have been working on that, it's a losing battle. Haha

I wanted to have it chrome plated, but the places around here want to charge me what a running driving rusty truck costs. So I opted for this. I'm planning to polish it, then have it clear coated. We shall see.

Oh, I almost forgot. Here are some pics of the new easter pup, Misha. My daughter Izzabelle and middle son Clint are also in the pics holding her.

Great work on the parts! And the shop appears MUCH cleaner than previous pics you've shared.. You have been busy!

Sorry -couldn't resist..

What's Misha's breeding? I think Husky.. the wife thinks Malamute...

enquiring minds want to know.. great shots with the kids too.

Originally Posted by 34_40

Great work on the parts! And the shop appears MUCH cleaner than previous pics you've shared.. You have been busy!

Sorry -couldn't resist..

What's Misha's breeding? I think Husky.. the wife thinks Malamute...

enquiring minds want to know.. great shots with the kids too.

Actually, the pic with the grill is the shop at work. I've been working on it after hours because my shop is full. SHHHHH The pic with the bumper in it is the fab guy's shop. So I can't take credit for a totally clean shop. Haha I did get my south bay cleaned up pretty decent about a month ago or so.

Misha is a pure bred Husky. Her mother is only 60lbs, and her grandmother is 55lbs. Her Dad is 100lbs. We're hoping she takes after her mother. The kids love her. We put Misha on the floor with the kids standing off to the side and Misha crawled over to Izzy and nuzzled her nose on her leg. Seems to be a great pairing right now.

Thats just awesome with the pup and kids!

And good job on the shop.. LOL..

We've got two more weeks before she gets to come home. The kids are ready now. We're still on schedule to close on the house the 24th. Then mama will be all over me to get our fence done for the dogs, and kids. Haha

Then you get the real "Honey Do List"... SWMBO has spoken!

Lately we've had to keep getting things in line for the house deal to go through. Which, has eaten up any spare time to work on anything. I've had roughly zero extra time for any vehicle related stuff......

Last week I recieved my front bumper from James at RLC fab. I cut the turn signal mounting holes from a stock bumper and then welded them in this bumper. I also modified the brackets to use the 6" lights I have had for years and never used yet. They don't fit perfect, but will have to work. I sat my winch in the bumper to see how it looked and if it would clear the intercooler.

Then on Thursday night I was able to start test fitting the bumper. I had to cut on the lower portion of my old grill to get the bumper to go back far enough. The brackets don't go back far enough either so I will have to make some brackets and weld them on the bumper. Now that I got it on there, I think the winch will fit in there. It'll be close, but should just clear. I'm still waiting on the wheels and stuff to get sand blasted. Hopefully he hurries up. The bumper will have to go there too, before it gets PC'd. Who knows when I'll get to work on it now. We close on our house this Friday, then next week I go to training in Kansas. Then it'll be fix this and change that on the house for a couple months........

Glad that things are continuing to move forward on the house, and hope that Friday comes & goes with no hassles. The bumper looks good on the truck - any progress is good progress.
Where are you headed in Kansas for this "training"?

Originally Posted by rspears

Glad that things are continuing to move forward on the house, and hope that Friday comes & goes with no hassles. The bumper looks good on the truck - any progress is good progress.
Where are you headed in Kansas for this "training"?

Thanks Roger. It's going to be a crazy couple of weeks. I'm headed to Wichita Monday mid day and coming back Friday. I'm getting picked up by another guy coming from Rochester Mn, and get to ride with him.

The bumper is looking good from my couch! LOL..

And I'll keep my fingers crossed on the house purchase... it's hard to type with crossed fingers.. so hurry back with the updates!

Originally Posted by 34_40

The bumper is looking good from my couch! LOL..

And I'll keep my fingers crossed on the house purchase... it's hard to type with crossed fingers.. so hurry back with the updates!

Thanks. I will keep ya updated. My wife actually called with an update. Here's the "Reader's Digest" version.

A couple weeks ago the appraisal was done. The appraiser only found two major options that need to be repaired before we can close.

The first was the front door had been ripped off by the wind. The door was bent when we were there for the home inspection. It was fine the second time we looked at the house, prior to putting in offers on the house. I mentioned something to the realtor then, and he noted it. After the inspecion the wind must have beat it up pretty good. The latch must have been junk or something because the door was ripped clear off and broke the kick plate off the entry way too.

The second was, he said there was a cistern that needed a cover bolted in place. My wife and I were stumped. I never saw a cistern in the basement, or even an open hole like they were decsribing. Come to find out, there is an old hand water pump next to the deck stairs in between the house and garage. I saw it there but just assumed that it was for decoration. In real life, it is sitting over a 42ft well, that is half full of good, clean water. This is a plus for us because this town's sewer rates are stupid high, making sewer, water, and garbage stupid high. So now we can use this well for outside uses to help lower our bill. At first we thought the well would have to be filled. The county was good with the pump housing just being bolted back down, so we dodged a bullet there.

Both were fixed last Thursday so now we're just waiting for underwriting to acknowledge it and we will have the green light to close on Friday.

Our plan is to move in this weekend. We have to get a stove and a refrigerator. We went to the house and measured the openings on Friday night so we could shop and see what we liked so we can hopefully get the appliances Friday, and get them in the house next weekend as well as move in too. It'll be a fun packed weekend.