70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

found this rusty, crusty, abused truck about 3 years ago...the cab, bed, front clip were laying in the mud...the frame was propped against a tree...paid $200 for everything...took 4 of us to lift the cab on the trailer as it was full of mud and a giant fireant mound...got it home and, inspired by Roadkill, through it together in about 5 months with mostly spare parts and some new...fun to drive now

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

I will be posting the whole build pics soon.

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

I like short steppers! Not sure I'd call it a turd however. ;) Your sig says you have 3 Sprints. Had this 75 for 22yrs. With out a doubt the most reliable, trouble free vehicle I've ever owned. I even liked the "economy rear axle ratio". 2:56 gears, no towing with that one! :lol: Looking forward to more build pics.

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

that is a nice Sprint! mine are all project cars at the moment...I keep building trucks first, lol

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

pic when I first dragged it home

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

I got to work on the frame...used drop spindles/springs/front disks...rear springs/blocks...total of 5/7 drop

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

braced the trailing arms, new track arm

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

once the chassis was done, it was time to work on the body....unlike my past builds, I was determined NOT to do any paint work on this build, and only enough bodywork/metalwork to get it driveable....so I left all the rusted holes in place...

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

cut the floor to install a high hump trans cover

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

Hi
Can I ask a favor?
Can you provide the following dimensions
Top of rear frame above axle to floor
Center of axle to floor
Top of tire to floor

Thank you
Looks like a fun project

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

when I get down to the shop this weekend I can take some measurements

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

I had some custom squarebody buckets and seat frame...cut/welded the seat frame to fit in the factory holes...added an aftermarket console I painted green to match the recovered seat...

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

I needed to get to work on the bed, but first had to install the LMC rear tank

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

once the rear fuel tank was installed, I could get to work on the bed...the original wood floor was long gone, so I went to Home Depot and bought some plywood...I ordered some cheap steel bed strips from LMC...because the bed floor is 49" wide, I cut down the two sheets of plywood so they would butt up in the center under the center bed strip...the plywood is soft, so when you tighten down the bolts, the strips dig into the wood for a tight fit...I then painted the inside of the bed, and then scraped it up a bit and set it out in the rain for a while to rust up some...

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

more bed pics

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

while the bed was out in the weather to get rusty, I moved to the front to get everything installed...I had a nice 496 bb from a previous build and a stout T400 from another build...got a new TCI 2800 converter and put them together and into the engine bay

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

because I was going to be running this tunnel ram, I used some POL engine mounts and moved the engine forward to clear the t-ram at the cowl...this would cause me headaches in the future as the POL mounts sit lower than stock and being so far forward, played hell with header fitment, ps pump fitment, fan shroud fitment, etc

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

with the engine/trans in place I was able to get the front clip reinstalled and the new Torque Thrust wheels came in and got those on...

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

time to get the bed on

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

and she looks like a truck now...

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

I cut the dealer stepside bumper brackets short to tuck the bumper up close to the body.....starting to look pretty cool

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

finished up the exterior...installed new windshield...buttoned up the interior with new carpet, new dash pad, added old school gauges to the dash, a cool old tach, a tilt column I had laying around, a Superior 500 steering shell I had hanging on the wall, a B&M Truck ratchet shifter, all new front to back AA wiring harness. All new weather strips..I like it, and Big Daddy Rat thinks he's going to do the shifting...

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

I can't load videos so here are some random shots....

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

probably my favorite add to the whole truck...you old guys (like me) zoom in..

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

I built the 'turd in fall/winter, and the rain kept me from driving it quite a bit, so I decided to take off the tunnel ram and put the hood back on so I could drive it whenever....

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

I skipped over so much info and so many photos in this build thread....if you have any questions, pm me, and if you ever get to Dripping Springs, look me up...Casey

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

I'm digging this monster. I'm also going to paint a notice like that under the hood of my truck! :lol: Once, one of my younger brothers was fueling up his '62 Chevy long bed fleet side (with a supercharged 383) and some gal at another pump was giving him grief about how her little econobox (I think that it was a Prius, actually) got so much better mileage. He thanked her kindly for saving more fuel for him! Our family doesn't guilt trip easily. ;)

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

haha, that's awesome

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

Love this truck.
Especially with the hood back on.

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

Thanks for the build pics. I like that truck! The tunnel is gone, but I hope the prius sticker is still there!

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

oh yeah, it's still there...I painted it on...gets chuckles when I pop the hood on cruise nights

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

another

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

Pretty cool little build!

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

thanks SCOTI....long time since we hung out in DFW...I'm down in the hill country now, Casey.

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

Yeppers! I watch for your posts. You're still doing cool stuff ;)

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

1/24/21

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

coffee and cars meet up

Re: 70 short stepside 496/T400 aka "the emerald turd"
 

Man.... I had to meet a guy in Temple yesterday. I should have made the trip to Austin 1st for this & then do Temple on the way back to DFW.