Leadfoot,
Thanks for the kind words. Your truck looks really clean. Took my drivers test in my dads black '77. Brings back memories. PM me your phone # & I'll give you a call sometime. We may be able to trade some parts.
This project happened almost accidentally.
I have '78 truck that I was building & while looking for parts, I found some really nice stuff, that I did not need. I figured, I could always use the extra parts on my '82. Now, it took precedence over my '78, which is sitting n the corner of the garage, waiting its turn.
Here is the '78.
Then 1 day I was looking on one of the "other" diesel sites (even though I didn't own a diesel vehicle). I thought, "A diesel would make this truck run pretty well"
Timeline from day 1 is:
The '82 was bought by me in '87 with a blown up 6.2.
In went a 350, with the diesel 4 speed OD manual trans, & it became my daily driver for the next few years. 3.73's replaced the 3.08's & I really enjoyed the truck.
In '89, after exploding the trans many times (the cluster gears do not like power shifts), I finally put in a TH400. Now it was reliable, but mileage sucked.
In '90, I added 35's with 7" lift.
Mileage still sucked, so I added an IROC Tuned Port EFI. Was definitely an attention getter then.
After about a year, I got tired of the motor & built a tall deck 427 with some race engine parts I had laying around. Now it was a monster, but getting single digit MPG & it pulled a trailer well.
Then I thought a 700R4 would help the mileage. Built one & installed it, but decided it needed more gear with the big tires. So I added 4.56's & drove it for the next 10 years (mainly in the winter or to haul stuff).
It got pretty rough & gas got expensive, so I basically retired it.
Before this build, it has seen 3 engine configurations, 6 transmissions, 5 rearends, 4 front axles & 2 transfer cases.
Seemed only natural to change everything again.
Now it is coming back from the dead & getting a diesel again, only with a few hundred more HP than the factory 6.2.
