Another stepside build/restoration

[TimberwolfFXDL]

Gonna start a thread here to track my progress.

A little back story first:
I'm 40 now, but when I was in high school (late 80s) I bought a 1977 Chevy Stepside that fire engine red.  It had a 400sbc in it, and I thought it was the fastest thing on the planet.  I spent all my graduation money making it even faster.  I loved that truck.  My dad has a similar truck, but his was brown, lowered, had a tonneau, etc.  At some point we struck a deal and traded vehicles.  Eventually both were sold or traded off, but I always had a soft spot for the step side trucks.  Probably going back to the 1956 Ford F100 stepside my dad bought in 1981.

Anyway, fast forward a couple dozen years.  I'm a dyed int he wool horsetrader now.  In the last 25 years I've gone through enough vehicles to come close to being in the triple digit range.  My last trade brought me to this 1984 C10 step from Florida.  I live in Michigan, so most trucks of this vintage need a healthy dose of rust repair by now.  But not this one.  Equipped by a straight 6, power NOTHING, and a swapped-in SM465, it was a low buck truck and nearly rust free.  Someone had swapped in some bucket seats from a random Ford vehicle too.



I drove it back and forth to work a couple times, but got real tired of the thousand pound clutch :lol:  I'm used to driving a 2008 Jeep Wrangler with a 6 speed and hydraulic clutch, so the old chebby was a chore!  Add in the lack of power brakes and steering, and I decided to start sourcing parts.  I stopped by the local boneyard and got lucky (for a change).  They had just bought a 1987 Silverado with an excellent interior, and power everything but windows.  For $300 I walked away with the steering box, power brake booster and master, brake pedal assembly, dash cover, door panels, kick panels, brushed silver gauge bezel, and gear shift indicator (the OD version).

I also found a couple deals on craigslist, so what I like to call "project creep" began to set in!  Picked up a 2wd 700r4 transmission with converter for $100.  Nabbed a full set front and back) of 2006 trailblazer seats (with integrated seatbelts) for $50 from a 25,000 mile non smoker vehicle.  Found a megashifter for $75.  Happened across a guy parting out a 1990 blazer and bought everything between the fan blade and front bumper for $200.

Went through the classic parts catalog and ordered up all new weather stripping and window felts, along with door sills and a few other bits and pieces.

Right now the cab is completely stripped out.  I have to make a panel to patch where they cut out for the shifter, finish adapting the seats, patch a small hole in one of the kick panels and clean up/repair the weather strip flange along the rockers.  Then it will get paint, lizard skin and insulation, full stereo wiring, new carpet, custom console, and assembled with the seats and other interior bits previously mentioned.

The body has all new mounts, so it should be simple to pull the bed.  The frame is still black (no rust) so I am going to just clean it up, install some lowering bits on the suspension, and maybe do a fuel cell.  While the bed is off, I am going to take it apart and have it soda blasted.  I'll cap the ends of the bed rails too.  When it goes back together I will probably forgo the wood and instead install diamond plate steel and use a spray in bedliner.  This isn't intended to be a show only truck after all....it will be a nice looking daily driver that still gets used to carry stuff now and then

I had originally planned on reusing the straight 6 (the truck has 86,000 original miles on it) after a reseal and repaint, but I happened upon a mid 80s chevy RV with a 55,000 mile 350 in it and a turbo 400 trans on the cheap (partial trade).  I think I may pull the motor, and part out the rest of the RV to make the purchase price back.  I hadn't planned on using a gen1 small block, as I much prefer a gen 3 (LS) motor, but this is an easy swap while I collect parts to eventually end where I want it to be.

when it's all said and done, the step will end up in a satin black, lowered a bit as I mentioned, and hopefully be a fun, safe driver for myself and my 16 year old son.  I have been shooting a few pictures here and there, and will upload them as I go along.  You guys might find the whole seat adaptation thing interesting, so stay tuned

[TimberwolfFXDL]

I wanted to show something some of you may not know about... I stumbled across this stuff a few years ago when I got into firearm restoration, and was surprised how well it worked.  Tried it on some of the truck parts, and am getting similar results.  It's from Harbor Freight.  Runs about $22 a gallon, but is reusable, and non toxic.

Check it out... these are the speaker brackets as removed:


Here they are soaking (over night):


And here's how they looked in the morning.  I did nothing but wipe them off with a paper towel to dry them:


Gotta love that stuff!

Here's the mess I started with on the trailblazer seats.  This is the passenger seat.  The driver's seat was powered, and has twice as much junk under there!


I took everything off and made a cardboard template of the seat bottom area.  Then I measured that template and transferred it into a cad file, and printed it out full scale.  I took the paper pattern home and double checked the size and hole locations.  It all looked good so I brought it back to work and sent it out to the CNC plasma bed (I forgot to mention, I'm an engineer at a steel fabrication shop) to be cut out of some 12ga steel.  The studs on the bottom of the seat were located about an inch and a half higher than the rear, so I cut some lengths of DOM tubing, and welded nuts in both ends.  This allowed me to screw the spacers onto the existing studs, then bolt the plates to the spacers, leveling everything out.  I now have a nice flat area for mounting anything I need under the seat for support.  I'll post pics tonight, but in the mean time here's the seat plate (captured image from the CAD file):

[69byrd]

That is a great looking truck you have to start your project with.  I like the idea of the diamond plate in the bed.

[bake74]

      Great start to a project, will be keeping a eye on this build.

[jacknife]

 That is a great find for that truck great shape, looking forward to seeing the build.

[TimberwolfFXDL]

Tackling this today...  worst part of the body on the whole truck.  dang leaky vent windows and there's water coming through the firewall when it rains for some reason... ran gutter thing I guess?  I dunno... there's a puddle on the floor  after a day of rain though


Body mounts were replaced at some point, can you tell?




prior owners floor mods for the sm465...  Gotta find some sheet metal for this...


First cuts for modding the floor to accept the new seats:

[bake74]

     The rain on the floorboard, I would check the cowl area and see if it is rusted out, most common place to have water on the floor of the cab.

[TimberwolfFXDL]

Passenger side in progress.  Rust cleaned up good.  Cut out the bad section, and repurposed the old bench seat frame to fashion some repairs.  I'll get it welded it up sometime this week.





Over to the driver's side.  I didn't take many pictures of the process.  Went over it all with the cup brush and got rid of the scale.  Pried out the cracked body caulk and cleaned up the hole shown above.  Took a flap wheel to it and knocked it down even further.  When I couldn't get any more through conventional methods, I decided to use some of the rust remover I talked about up above.  With the angle of the floor and my driveway, there was no way to puddle this nearly water thin liquid on the rust to let it work.  Then an idea hit me... See the second picture.  I layered paper shop towels on the rusty areas and soaked them with the rust remover.  This kept a good amount of it in contact with the floor pan.  I'll pull it in the morning and wipe it down with a damp sponge and show you the results.



I decided to attack the seat mounts too.  I'd been struggling with how I wanted to go about it, when I looked at the bench seat frame leftovers and got another idea.  I laid it into the C shaped cut (see post above) and made some marks.  I folded a tab up in the back, then cut the angles to match the floor.  They are much thicker than the floor pans themselves, and once welded in place and braced from below, they should anchor the seats nicely.




I thought some of you might be interested in what I was doing with the plates I cut out on the CNC plasma table.  I posted the 3d model up above.  Remember the bottom of the trailblazer seat I posted above?  The power seat (driver's side) was WAY more complex.  Here they are now:

[bake74]

     So did you take all the power stuff out of the seats or just cover them up ?

[TimberwolfFXDL]

     So did you take all the power stuff out of the seats or just cover them up ?

Took it all out.  Pro-tip: those pressure sensors in the passenger seat that turn on or off the airbag?  They're not just electronic or filled with air.  They are filled with some sort of silicone gel.  you shouldn't just cut the hose leading from the seat to the sensor.  Ask me how I know

[TimberwolfFXDL]

So since it was raining all day here, and I'm stuck at work, I decided to tinker around with an idea I had.  I'd like to black the truck out.  I used to have a Grand National, and I called it my pirate ship.  So I thought about actually taking that theme a little further and including it in the build.

I plan to get rid of the rotted bed wood and replace it with 3/16" tread plate steel.  Since I have to order a full sheet (it's cheaper to shear or plasma it to size here at work than it is to order it cut to size), I had a little fun with it.  What do you think?



Right now I have it drawn such that it's black treadplate with polished stainless behind it.  But I think that I would do it cut the jolly roger twice... once in the tread plate, and again in some smooth sheet.  I'd take the smooth sheet pieces, lay them back in place like a puzzle, and tack a couple thin strips to the back of all the pieces to hold them together (but not to the bed).  Then I could powder coat them red or white or something, and reinsert them into the bed for final assembly.

Kinda off the wall, but it could be fairly subtle and unique...

[bake74]

     I like it, so that will be in the bed floor correct ?

[TimberwolfFXDL]

     I like it, so that will be in the bed floor correct ?

exactly.  takes the place of the wood.

[bake74]

     Maybe you can put a pirate ship as a mural for the back window.

[TimberwolfFXDL]

Nothing new to show... it's been crap weather this week in Michigan so I haven't had a chance to weld in the new sheetmetal.

However, I did find a deal on a 2004 5.3 LM7, complete for my future swap.  WOOHOO!



Time to start keeping an eye out for a takeout Z06 cam, springs, and intake manifold   I'll also likely sell the 700r4 now, along with the new lockup kit and just go for the 4l60e instead