Project 87 Short Step

[hobbz]

Bought the truck last week for $600 with plans to park it in the garage and start working on it.  It will be my project for the winter, and probably longer.

Starting pics:








Sitting in the garage:




Degreasing the engine:




Hood, bumper and grill off:




Bed and rear bumper off:




Passenger fender off:




So far I have ordered the 5 piece cab repair kits for both sides and a flip kit for the rear.  I am limiting my spending to about $200 a month on it, so the wife doesn't complain too much.  Plans are to lower it 5/6 spindles and springs up front and flip kit in the rear. clean the frame up and paint it. fix rockers and cab corners. hopefully find a new bed in better shape that the one I have. Find new seats to replace the crappy mustang seats that are bolted to 2x4's in it right now. All new autometer gauges. Then next winter I will hopefully have a 350 ready to put in it.

It has a TBI 305 in it with a 700R4 all stock. As far as I can tell the truck is unmolested except for the seats.  It even still has the factory radio and the hole has not been cut out for a "new" radio.  It even has the owners manual in the glove box still.

Best I can tell is the truck is 3 owner and between the 1st and 2nd owners it sat for a few years. Which explains why the drivers side is rusted and the passenger isn't...

[solve4x]

It will be fun to watch this one!  Keep the great pics coming as it progresses.
Do you plan to keep it original?  or do something different with it?

Have fun!
Scott

[hobbz]

Plans are 5/6 drop, maybe a little more. Front and rear roll pans. tonneu cover. ~500hp 350 carbed. locker with wide tires in the back. probably 16" wheels on all 4 corners. Paint will be electric blue pearl with black accents and VERY LITTLE chrome.  interior will be black.

[hobbz]

Got some more done this morning. Got the drivers fender off, and got a coat of black on the rear frame. While I was painting, I noticed there is a broken leaf in the spring pack on the passenger side... my solution will be to just pull the broken one, and pull the same one out on the drivers side...haha

Pics from today:





If you look at the hood, you can see what I am dealing with today, snow, sleet, and rain...

[hobbz]

I got some boxes yesterday that said they were from some guy named Chris Lucas... Guess it's time to start on the rockers and cab corners.

On a side note, I have decided to go with the jegs 355ci 385hp crate engine when the time comes...

[hobbz]

Finally got a chance to work on it again for a little while today.  I got the inner fenders off, which took about 10 minutes...haha  Also took the seats out, which took a little longer. The genius that put them in used 4 different size bolts, and you can see by the pic, one corner was supported by wood.



On the bright side, I pulled the rubber mat back and scrapped the liner off the floor, and to my surprise the floor was not rusty at all. I took a pic to it and couldn't find any spot that was weak. I put the wire brush on the grinder and hit it a little, and it looks in pretty good shape. 

Tomorrow I hope I can finish cleaning out the interior.

[solve4x]

Nice floors!...my 87 floors, not so nice...what's left any way.
Keep the pics and updates coming!

[hobbz]

Got the rest of the interior cleaned out today.  I am ready to start cutting the old rockers and cab corners.

Here are a few pics from today...

How many people got this stuff with their truck???






Drivers side, you can see there is more rust over here.

[hobbz]

Started cutting on the passenger side today. Found some bondo and rust on the b pillar higher than the cab corner will go so I had to order another piece of metal. Also, the kick panel is a little worse than I thought so I will be ordering that too...

[STxMunky]

I love these detailed top-to-bottom restoration articles. Keep it up!

[hobbz]

Update.

Finally started welding... It is nice to have a buddy that has done it before. We hope to finish up next weekend.

[dvdswan]

awesome work.

[hobbz]

Cut some of the drivers side out...

Also I now have to pull the trans and replace the flexplate. It is broke or the bolts on the crank are loose.

[bob75]

glad i am in calif after seeing the rust some guys have

[hobbz]

glad i am in calif after seeing the rust some guys have

I will take my rust and country living over all the nonsense in Cali any day...lol



No progress on the rust, but got the driveshaft out and exhaust and exhaust manifolds off in preparation for pulling the transmission.  Also got my headers and ball joints in.