1983 Chevy Stepside - Keepin' It Old School

[silvrbreez]

Been awhile since my last post on this...

Had trouble with an alignment...to say the least.

Took it to one shop, got 3 out of 4 wheels right (all except the front passenger).  They didn't charge me and recommended me to another shop.  The second shop said my frame was likely bent, but said they couldn't fix it and wouldn't be able to align it.  Took it to a body shop to get the frame looked at and they said the frame seemed fine.  Took it to a third alignment shop who said the frame was likely offset to the rear on the passenger side.  We look and saw that both wheels on the passenger side are slightly offset to the rear about 1" or so, the front bumper is slightly closer on that side, the rear bumper is slightly farther on that side, and the bed is slightly farther from the cab on that side.  All of which is only noticeable if I pointed it out to you.  BUT, he said he could still get the alignment right.  They took it for a test drive and my brakes locked up. 

SOOOOO...
I redid my entire front brake system last week with new hoses, calipers, and pads to get rid of the locking problem.  Truck drives true now, doesn't pull when I brake, and seems to track fine when I let go of the wheel.  The frame situation is still there but doesn't affect the driveability at all.  I will definitely address that before painting the truck or trying to get the body nice and lined up.  I've gotten an estimate of about $500 to straighten everything out.

I'm more than happy with the stance and all for now.  The front wheels rub at full turn, but nothing a lower set of tires and nice wheels won't fix.

Pics on the way.

[nitropyro]

man cant wait to see pics i want to do mine so bad. so what drop are you at? hows it feel?
Danny

[silvrbreez]

Pics below.  Better ones coming as soon as I have a nice day outside.




I'm dropped 4.5" up front with 2.5" spindles and 2" coils (McGaughy's) and 6" out back with a flip kit and notch (McGaughy's) and Belltech Street Performance shocks all around.  The drop rides nice, a little stiff but not bottoming out.  Nice to me, just what I wanted.

You can see it has a bit of a rake to it, which is okay.  I need to pull some measurements to check that exactly.  You can also see it looks like I need to shim my bed a bit.  You can also see my spider caps in these pics.  Front passenger wheels looks deceptively close to the back of the fender in that pic...it ain't that bad.

[oldwhity]

Hi ho Silvr, that looks awesome! What a change! That is the same drop i'm interested in when the time and money allows. I've been pricing it out. What size tires and wheels are you runnin? Are those the truck ralleys with spider caps?

[silvrbreez]

Check out eBay for the best pricing on that kit.  I picked up the shocks from Stylin' for a decent price.  They are always running sales too.

I'm running the stock ralleys (15x8?) with 235/75-15 wheels.  Yep, ralleys with spider caps.  Picked up the 5on5 spider caps from Mooneyes.

[oldwhity]

Thanks Silvr, I'm lookin for the deep truck ralleys for my 85. Maybe a 15x10 rear and a 15x8 or 7 in the front unless I find a cheap set somewhere. It has 15" wagons on it right now(came with them) with the 235's on the front and 255's on the rear. Hopefully i'll be able to squeeze the kit, wheels and tires in this year. I'm diggin the stance!

[69byrd]

Man that looks great.  The drop really changed the looks of it.

[Flamingbig10]

looks a lot better with the drop

[silvrbreez]

Thanks guys.  The bed not lining up with the body line on the cab is bugging the heck out of me.  I might have to pick up a box of shims sooner than I planned to try and get that leveled and lined up.

[j250trxr]

great truck

[silvrbreez]

Snapped a few shots today before I listed it on some local sites.  Here are the latest pics from today of the truck as it sits now...

[69byrd]

Truck is looking great!

[xs-style]

truck looks great. Thats the look Im aiming for, only in a gloss black.  About how much would you say you have in the drop, if ya dont mind me askin.

[oldredtruck]

Tight look you are schemin there! I Like the heck outta that!
FYI - another wheel option if you wanna keep the "old school" theme like in the pic would be Stockton Wheel - you can get chevy C10 Rallye's in several diameters and widths... ( I got 15x6's and 15x12.0's from them for red truck...)  I am pretty sure they do the 20 plus diameters too...they are super friendly and willing to do alot of things not listed on their website....

[silvrbreez]

Thanks guys!

The drop is a McGaughy's kit that I picked up from a seller on eBay at wholesale price.  It's the kit with spindles, drop springs, flip kit, and the notch.  I'll leave the research to you (the seller is still letting them go for the same price).  Besides that, I've got Belltech Street Peformance shocks all around.

As for wheels (if I were to keep it), to keep with the old school look, I'd likely pick up a set of Centerline Smoothies in maybe 17" or 18" and throw a set of white walls on there for nostalgia.  I've seen a set of staggered 15" stockton rallyes, powdercoated in a bold in a classic truck magazine.  They used the same drop I did and it looks sweet. Believe me, that build got me thinking.