Short term maintenance on new (used) truck and long term project ideas

[Yams]

Hey there, I just recently bought a 1985 Chevy k10 4wd with a 6.2L diesel and wondering what you guys thought I should do to her. Short term, I'm thinking I'll replace all the fluids (oil, tranny fluid, t-case fluid, front and rear differential oil, and flush the radiator). Anything else I should be doing as a kind of maintenance check? I thought I'd also look for ideas on long term projects for the truck... so far my couple ideas are EFI (idk how complicated this would be, but really cool if I could work it out), and changing one of the fuel tanks to run on WVO. Anyway, what do you guys think? open to all suggestions... I plan on using the truck both as a daily driver, and then some longer trips into the mountains (400 miles total) and cross country a couple times

[FlatBlack77]

something i always check over on every vehicle i buy is all front end parts and all wheel bearings. so you got U joints, ball joints, wheel bearings, all steering components, leaf spring bushings, also front calipers and the rear drum setup. if i was planning on taking my truck cross country i would pretty much replace everything i could.

also this is just a little thing but while you are flushing the radiator you might aswell flush the heater core out too. last time i did that it was pretty nasty

[Jason S]

Yams,
Besides the fluids you listed  and checking the brakes and driveline components like Flatblack77 said; You might also bleed/flush the brake lines and put in new brake fluid.

I like the vegetable oil idea, I know some people doing that and it saves them quite a bit of money on fuel.

[fitz]

I'm confused, you mention converting it over to EFI and you want to run it on WVO?
What don't you like about the mechanical injection pump?
As far as maintenance, I would check your glow plug system. A spin on fuel filter is also a nice upgrade for the 6.2's. It makes bleeding the fuel system after a filter change easy.

[Blazin]

Also check the glow plugs. Make sure they are all working.
While these engines are not power houses like todays light duty diesels, they are reliable, if everything is in good working order. You can have the stock pump rebuilt, & turned up a bit. Friend of mine had a 6.2, TH 400 in a K30 cab & chassis that he towed a fifth wheel camper with. After he had the pump rebuilt it was a huge improvement.