83 Stepside supercharged road fighter project

[Twin_Turbo]

Hi all, I'm new here and figured I'd share my little in between project (have some other builds going on at the same time, some restos, some small builds and a couple of big ones)  anyway, I decided that I had to fix up my stepper because of a little rust in the firewall and lower portion of the front fenders. Figured I'd replace the blown (lost 2nd)  TH400 and replace w/ a  700R4, might as well build a new engine for it with fuel injection and throw on a supercharger for good measure... stuff always spirals out of control LOL.  This is the 2nd time it's being redone, so I present my road fighter 83 SC stepper ver. 2.0

Here's what the truck looked like... shame I can't drive it right now. It was always a lot of fun.






This is probably the culprit...all that white crap. I have some minor bubbling of the paint on the bottom of the front fenders. Caused by a blocked drain hole and fender rolling...



Anyway...time to check out what's up. After pulling all of the interior out I could see daylight around the fuse box. Not good! Time to pull the brake booster, and sure enough..there was the ugly. 2 panels seperated and rust coming from in between. Probably cracked sealant from the brake booster and the wiper motor deflecting the firewall.

I cut out the offending piece and found what I expected to find.. rust holes



\

Time to cut out all the nasty and weld in a fresh patch. The section I cut out was beyond repair so I fabbed a new panel for that too.





I ground the welds a little smooth (this can't be seen anyway) and liberally applied corrosion protection and seam sealer.

Welded on the fabbed new front patch panel



halfway there



almost there



done




Now, everything else looks like a big mess. So, only thing to do is tear it all apart.
I took the front section out, repaired a bunch of nasty bubba welding repairs and misc. brackets baked on by an idiot with a stick welder.






Old crap that came out (and some fresh powdercoated stuff in there)



I don't have a pic of the freshly coated rad frame, bracketry, lamp buckets and what not.  (will this weekend)


So, what to do about the engine. It needed more oomph for sure and I have a lot of spare stuff from my camaros/trans ams and other projects. The decision was quickly made. I am installing a 3rd Gen F body serpentine system. This will take care of the annoying power steering belt whine. I only had 1 belt because I remove the other belt (no AC/smog pump) It's also a clean looking setup. I had it powdercoated matte black and the bolts are all gold zinc plated.  The heads I also had lying around. Some TFS G1 Twisted Wedge heads. No one seems to like them, I do. I have 3 sets and only 1 set gave me guide wear issues because I was stupid enough not to use crane gold rockers and go with the recommended .010 longer push rod. A checker tool is a must with these to set them up properly. 

I also have a complete HotRodLane/Street & Performance Multiport MPFI system lying around, it has a complete standalone harness w/ fuse box and a weatherpack ECM.  Then I found my spare Procharger P600 bracket...and a P600 head unit Not a hard choice to make (can tune ECU myself, have the stuff..been there done that on 3rd gen camaro and GTA)

Initially I thought about running a Vortech carb enclosure..but EFI it will now be. I can run a 700R4 on it too without resorting to lockup kit (never worked to my liking on other cars)





... nah



...yay!





I have a Procharger FMIC for it but also have 2 smaller ones from a later F body. Have not decided which to run yet. I did remove the blanking plate from the rad shroud just in case. They are excellent holes to run piping through.

Repaired and coated inner fenders.. a little dusty from sitting



better pic of rad frame



pulled the engine/trans


what a mess




Got some more done, there was more rust in the firewall and fenders I have the firewall fixed now. I'll tackle the fenders later. Building a new engine for the car, still ahve to install the procharger.

I will coat the underside of the car with some type of rock guard so I didn't paint the firewall below the belt line















More done. Sprayed the chassis w/ stone chip stuff, nothing fancy





did some more work on the engine. Waiting for plated bolts and powdercoated parts to come in and my Summit order (new cam and bunch of other stuff) so i can put it back in. Did finish the wiring harness for the engine & EFI



Got some more done. Buttoned up most of the engine after receiving my summit order and getting stuff back from the powdercoater.



pan with oil return for SC and a heat exchanger so oil heats up more quickly

[gildardo01]

awesome truck, and welcome to the site..

[Twin_Turbo]

hmm, my 2nd post didn't make it... there was a lot more pics. I am getting server connection errors...lemme try again

[Twin_Turbo]

Well not a lot done this weekend..forgot to pick up the bucket of bolts from the plater so I didn't have bolts for a lot of stuff. I did reinstall the powdercoated (custom) heater box and used torx screws to secure it all, much cleaner than what was in there.





Wiring still needs to be cleaned up, I cleaned up the wiring for the front, still have to do the engine loom and the starter harness. I can not stand those crimper AMP connectors and splices. I solder and heat shrink all my connections.



Got the engine done, all it needs now is the supercharger and the intercooler & piping. Didn't have the bolts to put the IC and pulley on. All hoses and everything is new.







Progress is real slow, especially since it takes a lot of time to fix the hacked up wiring harnesses. I want to make them as clean as possible, redo all the connections and spliced with solder and heat shrink. I got all the harnesses done, except for the last section on the firewall running down to the starter and the section for the alt. charging wire and brake warning switch. All the others are done, the fuxebox is completely redone (some wires cut off with only a hair sticking out)





all the wires on the engine will have to be tucked away neatly too. I will mount the weatherpack ECM on the heater box. I disassembled the ECU so I can powdercoat the housing. Had to take it apart anyway to remove the calpak that was in there, I'll need to hook up an ostrich and do some tuning on it for sure and then burn a new prom and install that (so it's weather sealed again, which it isnt with the ribbon cable for the ostrich sticking out)

Bead blasted the steering shaft and had it zinc plated. The steering column end didn't come out so pretty because some residual grease leaked out and screwed up the finish so I painted that black



The engine is fully assembled YAY thinking about either painting the SC black or installing a polished one that my buddy has, the polished look would go with the intake although I don't really like bling stuff. I'm all about matte black and machined & anodized aluminum











Got a little more done

cleaned up rebuilt 700R4. Still needs deep sump pan (have it)


dropped it all in

[Twin_Turbo]

Not a whole lot of progress here, waiting on fenders to come in from the US. I did finish th exhaust system and all wiring. I also painted the supercharger black.

Next is doing the intercooler & ducting





Exhaust is all buttoned up now, so I started on the SC plumbing..started w/ the dr. side and made it to the rad frame I had prev. removed the blanking plate there. I'm going to run the pipes through there. Also started on the other side but quickly found out I'm lacking a 4" silicone coupler for on the TB. Will have to order that 1st in order to finish that side







TB inlet not yet finished, has temporary coupler.

I used an original procharger elbow and fabbed an oval piece from aluminum to extend it.



clear the accy drive just fine now



All the IC piping is done

fabricated brackets for the IC, the thing had to be mounted at an angle otherwise the grille won't fit. It's still a tight fit nonetheless.





Made it around the corners LOL





And the other side... I cheated y making this a 2 pc section it would have been a major PITA to install it if it was 1 piece and the long silicone section gives me a lot more tolerance with engien movement.



custom blow off valve



done.. the tubing will be all powdercoated flat black.

[Twin_Turbo]

Fabbed a new trans mount, there as no other way to get this 700R4 installed without doing it since I didn't have the correct parts. Upgraded the trans mount to a spare T56 one I had lying around which uses 2 studs instead of just 1

Also visible is the VSS adapter for the EFI VSS signal.



Mounted my fuel pump here so I could use the stock hard line and switching valve. Hope it works, not 100% sure it can pull the fuel properly from here but testing will show



Fram HPG1 fuel filter



Diagnostics connector and small external fuse box for EFI. Has a check engine light on it I will hook up the light in the gauge cluster too



Decided to put my spark control here....it's a bit more of a wiring cluster F than I would have liked but oh well.... form follow function I guess



Decided to redo the exhaust. It was already stainless but an ugly quickie job that I never really liked. Also the pipes are a bit small in the middle so I stepped up from 2.5 to 2.75 and tucked them up higher. I only finished the drivers side, the other side is still the old stuff.  I had to modify the dr. side to clear my VSS signal adapter/cable coming out of the tranny.

I had issues with it scraping behind the collector. The exhaust now runs directly up from there with nice smooth bends.





other side done also











when the mufflers rust out I will replace them with some stainless ones, those are the only part that is not stainless ...well apart from the hideous hanger bracket the guy who did the exhaust for me years ago made... another reason to do everything yourself and not farm it out... people take short cuts

Got both tanks out, one had a pinhole the other has some rut also but it's not leaking. I repaired the pinholed one. The other is still airing out gas fumes



When I get it back it will all be nicely powdercoated.

Finally picked up the contents of my container shipment. Apart from a bunch of parts for my various other cars (projects) the stuff for the truck was in there, some rust free fenders off an ambulance, a bumper with driving lights that I'll shave and put fog lights in and the remainder of parts needed to finish some stuff here and there (and the missing tank for the dually)

Powdercoater already had part of the parts batch done but not the tanks themselves so hopefully those will be done this week, same for the last batch of bolts and nuts from the plater...then it's time to rock & roll and get this thing together.  With the fenders mocked up and the inners in place I will be able to finish the fuel system and finish my swirl pot for the EFI pump

For the rest there's a bunch of small stuff and trim pieces that came off the same parts car the fenders came off... and a whole bunch of parts for another one of my projects including a 495LSX short block.

Also got a slightly larger radiator for it. It's a used cup radiator. Probably needs mods to make it fit though


thank you amberlamps for donating these fenders






as it sits now


That puny little radiator needed to go so I took 1 of my spare racing radiators (have similar ones in my 82 vette and 82 trans am), it's a dual pass. Only drawback is it's for a Y plumbed setup normally so it has 2 -12 inlets. I will fab a custom thermostat housing for it. Not a real big problem. This should keep things nice and cool and will plumb the oil bypass directly to the -12 oil to water heat exchanger ports, possible w/ a remote filter (have all those parts in spares for other cars)

This system also uses a remote pressure release valve (have it, also a C&R piece) and a reservoir. Will only be able to mount that after mounting the fenders, inner fenders, fuel surge tank and main fuel pump

[bake74]

     Very nice build, looking forward to more updates.

[gharris79]

Love the look of that truck. You should post a video of it in action once it's complete

[Twin_Turbo]

I will thanks for the compliments

[yzrider]

Amazing build.  Biggest mistake I made in my car/truck endeavors was selling my '72 stepside.  It had a built 400 small block 700r4 new rear fuel cell custom dash all sorts of big money spent on it.  I sold it because I got a bug up my butt and wanted something else.  Should have never sold that.  Those platforms have so much potential and look so mean when done right! 

[gildardo01]

awesome truck... quick question what size tires do you have on your truck, i like the way it looks... thanks

[Twin_Turbo]

255 50 15 and 275 50 15

still waiting on my tanks, brackets and other stuff from the powdercoater.... I hate stalled projects so in the mean time I did some street testing on my procharged 87 camaro build (I have more than 1 build going on at the same time...I can't leave stuff alone)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VYfWQ5iLHk&list=UUNoyRCMuuWg_CX5OQE6mb8g&index=1

[SUX2BU99]

Crazy build. Some pretty cool cars on your youtube channel too. Where are you located? Those sure aren't North American plates....

[Twin_Turbo]

The Netherlands & Germany

[Twin_Turbo]

Long time nothing new but I finally got my tanks back and got it all assembled again.

I had them back earlier and when I was cleaning them I found out they were coated poorly, the primer coat was showing through in some spots making for a cloudy whitish hue.



Back they went and they came back looking good...only problem..I forgot the locking rings OOPS. They were in a bucket with zinc plated parts that I didn't take with me...crap.





Also had to tacke the cooling system since the nifty rad I have in it has a dual -12 hookup instead of a big 20 or 24 (or a normal hose bung) so I had to fabricate something and decided to cut up and modify one of those cheap swivel neck thermostat things. Next time I'm buying a C&R billet one because this chinese POS is cast from something like bird doodoo.. I could not get a clean weld on it. The only cleanly welded part is the 2 an bungs welded together.. they are a clean aluminum alloy. The other stuff more resembles potmetal (welded that a couple of times when fixing headlight frames on C3 corvettes) what a royal pain.  What left to do? Grind till it's semi clean. Hope it's not porous/leaking.





it even fits under the intake ducting





Next problem is my fuel system. Decided to put a mech pump back on the block, retain the low pressure switching valve system and have the pump fill a surge tank that will feed my aeromotive/paxton EFI pump.

This is the surge tank w/ hookups. Top most is the vent to the tank so it burps air out. The 2 others are feed from mech pump and return from EFI pump. The EFI feed is on the bottom. The large one on the top sticking out sideways will be plugged.





getting fuller and fuller in there