77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

My 1961 project, Can't wait to do more work to it!

Former Texas truck. 1976 350 chevy truck motor with 4 barrow Q-Jet carb. 700R4 Trans. Power steering. Front Disc Brakes from Classic Performance Products,Inc. 2” Drop Spindles. All new Rear brakes. New master cylinder and brake booster. Replaced the balljoints and the tie rod ends. New Battery and Alternator. Radiator has been rebuilt.


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Chevy 350
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Front Disk Brake Conversion from CPP
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Welcome aboard, you'll love it here. Looks like some nice upgrades!!

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Looking good. Welcome aboard.
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Welcome!

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

I thnk the next time I do a front brake conversion I will use a kit too.
Cannibalizing an older model truck is fine, but then you have to remember what year the donor was to get correct replacement parts.

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Been slowly acquiring parts and working when the weather permits. Recently picked up some steel wheels that are going to be blasted and repainted tomorrow. I got some rear Jeep coil springs that I painted and are ready to be installed
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We had an unseasonally warm day last weekend so I stripped the interior and have it prepped to install sound deadner(just waiting for it to arrive). I have new door handles and wondow cranks. Since the seat is out of the truck, I decided to wrap it with Serape's(mexican blankets)
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Welcome to the board, looks like you are off to a great start!

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Great job on the seat cover. Looks awesome.

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

:welcoem: aboard... great start, enjoy this corner of the web, awesome people and a wealth of info here.

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Got some descent weather so I was able to get some work done on the truck this weekend! Installed the Peel & Seal throughout the whole cab, I still plan to do the inside of the doors, but need to order another roll.
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I used an app on my phone(not the most accurate, but good for comparison) to check sound levels of the truck at idle before and after the sound deadener.
Before:
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After:
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I reinstalled the bench seat with the serape covers and love the way it looks in the truck.
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I recieved and installed my new glove box insert, gas pedal, door handles, window cranks, taillight lenses and drivers side mirror. I also swapped out the stock rear springs for a set of Jeep Spring! It is still not as low as I want, but its will hold me over until I get an adjustable suspension.
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Got my steel wheels back from media blast and paint this week, time to get some wide white walls and baby moons mounted on them!
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

nice!

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Got my wheels and tires mounted today.

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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Not much work happened to my truck this summer due to just enjoying driving it and preparing parts for the winter rebuild. I dropped my truck off to my buddy at Bonified Customs last night to get it ready for the Porterbuilt Front Drop member, Custom rear notch and four link, airbag install including Accuair air management. I'll have pictures to post of the tear down soon and hope to have it on the ground early next year! Engine will be getting pulled for the dropmember, so I'm sure there will be plenty of cleaning and dress-up of it as well.

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

I'll be watching this one for sure. I love the Baby moons.

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Good to see more updates...

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Got the following teaser pic from Bonified Customs! Looks like I will be going to clean up the engine a little bit more while he has it to install the Porterbuilt dropmember.
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Another teardown picture
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

I stopped down there today. Your truck is super clean. Pays to have a good starter. Looking forward to seeing this thing slammed. Love that hood also. Made me want to steal it. Haha

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Finished the rest of the tear down to get ready to install everything! I'm Still undecided on what I want to do for frame color/look, but I better make up my mind soon!

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Shop Cat Supervising!
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Started mocking up the Dropmember and control arms, but realized I need to order the newer style spindles, so I called CPP and ordered them...just waiting for them to show up.:banghead: I didn't take any pictures of this yet, but i'll make sure to get some soon!

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Yeah, I got real lucky finding one that is so nice to start with. He was telling me that you where talking about the hood, Think I might need to take that to my garage just to be safe :lol:

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Nice progress!

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

looks like this will be killer truck, i will be following this

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

That's not a bad idea. Lol

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Still waiting on the new CPP 63-70 drop spindles to show up, but Dave at Bonified Customs has been busy working on a few things that needed fixed.

The frame had a hole in it from the old steering system, so he welded in some new metal.
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The top bag mount was 3/4" to far back so the bag was not sitting straight and causing it to compress at an angle. Sorry for the bad picture, but couldn't really get a good angle to show the issue clearly.
(Bag is old and just used for mockup)
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We are using Firestone bags instead of Slam Specialities or Air Lift Dominators which was causing the bags to rub on the lower arms.
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Dave cut off the upper mounts and moved them forward to fix the angle issue and drilled new holes to center the bags on the lower control arms to fix the rubbing issue. This looks much better and should make the bags last must longer in the future!
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This is just a pic of some cool things I have received this year to hang as decorations. Trucks will be painted or powder coated to match mine!
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Sorry, no new pictures at this time because I haven't stopped by the shop lately due to working to much!

Drop Spindles showed up last Friday and got them mocked up right away.
Dave put the engine and tranny back in to start the mock up of the tranny x-member and realized we needed to swap to the High Hump. Dave received the High Hump from a fellow board member and he got that installed with a little bit of tweaking to make it work.
Now we need to swap to a 2 piece driveshaft, which I will be searching for this weekend.
Hoping to get the front torn down and off to powdercoat and start on the rear soon!

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

What luck to find such a nice board member!

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Finally made it down to Bonified Customs and got some pictures of the progress on the truck. While I was there I also got to finally meet Jake (Free Candy Inside), He's building a bad ass panel and I cant wait to see it in person soon!

Dave has been doing an amazing job with everything and has had to deal with a lot of fitment issues. He has everything on the front right now except the sway bar because they shipped the wrong bushings with the bar, but as soon as the correct ones show up and he can get it mounted it will be torn back apart and sent out for Powder Coat!

He also swapped the low hump our and put a high hump in the he had to slightly modify to fit over the 700r4. He then put a small tunnel in the floor to keep the 1 piece driveshaft. (forgot to take pictures of this stuff, but I will next time)


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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

The jeep springs are removed and time to start the C-notch and 4 link setup. [ATTACH]Attachment 1359778[/ATTACH]

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Front end looks damn good, clean!You keeping the orginal rear end?

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

I'm keeping the original rear axle and will just change gears if it becomes an issue, but so far I haven't had any issues with it. Definitely notching the frame and laying it all the way out but I'm not exactly sure what his plans are for it until he gets started.

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Looks like there has been some guest using the truck as their residence at one point in time. Glad he got to clean that up and not me!
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Got the C-notches installed and enough room to clear just about any tire I decide to use! 2nd picture is how he tied the notches into the X-frame.
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Looks good

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Been awhile since I updated and a lot of work has been done. Ran into some problems with CPP sending me the wrong brackets for the front spindles for the disc brakes, TWICE so far.
We didn't notice they where the wrong brackets until after we had them powder coated already.
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Here is what the proper bracket should look like:
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This is the brackets they sent me the 2nd time around lol
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I'm still working on getting the problem fixed and not happy with their customer service at all!!! It took them 2 weeks to send the 2nd wrong set of brackets, and they charge me shipping for every set that they screw up!

Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

While the Front suspension was out for powder coat, we did a little bit of painting on the frame to make the new metal look rusty.
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I chose Rust Bucket as my color for powder coat and think it turned out amazing! Here are some of the parts being reassembled.
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Dave also got busy on the rear 4 link setup and knocked it out!
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The rear needs to be sent out for powder coat and frame needs some painting, but we couldn't wait to see what it looked like on the ground, So...
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This view shows some of the other bad ass projects he is working, another c10 frame to the right and a few hot rods in the background!
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Plenty of work to be done, but we have to have it done and ready to debut at this show put on by Bonified Custom & Links and Kinks!!!
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Picture of the truck lifted all the way, plenty of ground clearance.
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Dino sent me a couple Chevy Only stickers so I had to get them put on the truck before it's finished. Also added a C10 Club sticker that I've had sitting around. I'm sure there will be a few more added before its first show.
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

Another version of Dino's Chevy Only logo.
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Re: 77lesabre 61 Stepside
 

I had a few request for a few more pictures of the chassis work, so here are just a few.
Rear 4 link (has a little more bracing since this pic has been taken)
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Front Porterbuilt Dropmember (temporary airlines)
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Dave did a great job on getting the brake lines ran and mounted.
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