Project: 1966 Stepside LWB

[b2948kevin]

I've been a long time lurker on this forum, but this is one of my first posts here. I finally took the plunge and bought myself my ideal project. It's a 66 Stepside Longbox that I hauled from Spokane WA to Bellevue Wa where I live. I have wanted one of these since I was a teenager, but only recently got brave enough to pull the trigger. I picked this orange fella up for $740. Let me know if I did alright.

Anyway, I am no stranger to turning wrenches, but most of my experience is in Diesels and motorcycles. This is my first big venture into restoring something like this. I hope to learn a lot and use the advice that I get here in bringing this beast back to life.

[b2948kevin]

Here is a pic of me bringing him home on 6-11-11. I stopped at nearly every rest stop on the 4 hour drive from Spokane to Bellevue to check the straps and make sure everything was secure. I hit some wind through the valleys that blew me around a bit, but it was overall uneventful.

[b2948kevin]

When I bought him, he didn't run. The PO poured some fuel into the carb to show me that it would run, but that there was most likely a fuel issue somewhere. He was right. I did a carb cleaning, fuel pump replacement and fuel tank screen cleaning and he started right up. It doesn't run well, but it was enough to get up in the driveway.

Here are the pics after I got him up into the driveway. I could really survey what I had at this point. Not bad!

This is on 4-22-11.

I feel that pictures really make a good build thread, so I will do what I can to post lots of good pics up here.

[b2948kevin]

On 6-25-11 I got out to start the tear down. Took the retrofitted bucket seats out and found out that they are rare Pontiac seats from a 66 or so GTO or similar. They have the headrests and the reclining option which makes them pretty rare. I am hoping to sell them and recoupe some of the cost of buying the truck. I will put an original bench seat in later.

Anyway, I found more rust than I previously thought (I am not the first one to say this ). The interior is pretty ugly, so I ordered the panels that I need to fix this. I am a mediocre welder, but I think that it will have more sentimental value if I do some of the tough jobs by myself.

My goal is to get the interior workable, stop the rust from progressing, and then work on the patina paint, body work and engine in the next phase.

BTW, the engine is a 230 straight 6 which is the right engine, but not the original block to my truck (so I am told). It has the granny 4 speed tranny. The engine is blowing a good amount of exhaust out of the valve cover, so I am thinking if I have to pull the engine, I may just put a 350 in it.

[b2948kevin]

On 6-27-11 I got started pulling the rockers. I also pulled the gas tank and ordered some POR-15 gas tank coating. There is a lot of rust in this tank, so I will have to address is sooner or later. It should be here after the holiday.

The rockers were tough to cut out. I bought a spot weld cutting bit from Harbor Freight. This tool works wonders, but they wear out after about 6 or 8 cuts, so make sure to get 3 or 4 of them. The spot welds were hard for me to see, so it was a little frustrating, but I finally got them all cut and the rocker peeled away. You can see that I have my work cut out for me.

[b2948kevin]

Yesterday and today, while waiting on my panels to arrive, I spent a bunch of hours sanding the interior of my cab, prepping, priming, masking, and paining. I decided that I want to get the rocker panels taken care of, then be able to put the tank and seat back in and then not have to worry about those areas for a while.

I started with the tank. I had a couple of interior colors picked out, including one that is really close to the original color. I had my wife come out to make the call and she picked the Light Drift Sand Metalic which is the closest color to the original that I could find locally.

I had called up a paint shop the day before with the correct color code to ask them if I could get some mixed up. They quoted me $70 per pint + $12 each to put this in cans for me (about 5 cans to the pint I am told). I said no thanks and headed to the auto parts store. At $6 per can for the Light Drift Sand, I will be way ahead.

Since I am still working on the floors, I am only doing the areas where I will not be disturbing. A wire brush worked wonders to show me the true extent of the rust damage, so I stayed away from those areas. I painted the rear of the cab, the roof, and most of the front window pillars. I will do the dash and the remainder when I get the rest of the metal work done.

[SulphuriousSam]

Nice looking truck and it looks like you've already made a good start! Good luck with your project, I agree with you that doing it yourself puts more meaning into the possession of the finished product too.
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[b2948kevin]

Ok, I got really motivated this morning and started cutting the cancer out. I didn't plan to cut the pillars, but the more I thought about it and discovered, the more I realized that I needed to bite the bullet and just do it. I will need some additional panels, so this will turn into a multi-weekend project.

I'll tell you, this is not motivating me to do the right side. I think I may have gotten a little bit of heat exhaustion during the 8 hours I spent cutting and fitting today. I feel like this is within my abilities, but it's sure frustrating.

So far, this is what I have done:

cut the outer rocker out
cut the inner rocker out
cut the front pillar
cut the rear lower door pillar
cut the rear cab corner out
cut the bottom of the front kick panel out
cut the rear cab support out
cut the outer cab floor out

Fitted the new rear cab support
fitted the new front pillar
fitted new extended outer cab floor

I will have to order a rear cab corner, rear lower door pillar, and footwell.

One note to anyone doing this same task - If you get the extended outer cab floor, you don't need the inner rocker as well. It's all inclusive.

I don't even want to think about getting the doors right... As you can see in the pictures, the PO really had his way with them. Maybe I will send them out to someone who really knows what they are doing.

[b2948kevin]

I got motivated again and tacked everything up. Let me know what you guys think.

[b2948kevin]

I am thinking I may need to shim the rocker out just a bit to align it with the door. Anyone have experience with this?

[b2948kevin]

Got motivated again today and started to clean up some of the paint. I took a scrub brush from the kitchen and got all the moss and crap off of it only to find that there's a bunch of tree sap on there also! I tried a couple of solvents, but it's so old and solid that the best thing I could find is a 90 degree edge on the back of a marker that I had laying around. It's a slow process to bust every little dripping of sap off, but I think it will be worth it in the end.

After I got the moss and sap off, it was looking tons better, but I took some 1000 grit sandpaper to it anyway and wet sanded an area on the hood. It lightened the area up considerably and the dark underneath is starting to show through some more.

It started raining as soon as I thought about grabbing the camera.

[b2948kevin]

Thanks guys! Keep the replies coming, I was starting to think nobody was interested in this one...

I plan to have the bumper painted that the grill and headlight assembly in primer by end of day today at least.

I definitely plan to sell the seats. I am hoping I can get a good price for them.

The Light Drift Sand is really close to the original color. It's probably a touch more to the silver side than the original, but I think it looks pretty good. It sure freshens the cab up a lot!

Chevyrestoguy, you're right about the PO and the doors. He really had his way with them. I am thinking I want to hang on to these ones for now because of the matching paint, but if I ever decide to repaint it, I'll ditch them for some nicer ones. Meanwhile, I am thinking about just screwing in a cover over the cutouts.

[b2948kevin]

Ok, I finally got the grill and front bumper all painted up. I did a pretty good job in taking my time and using some filler primer to take some of the scratches out.

The factory paint on the grill and bumpers is really tough stuff. I couldn't hardly get it off with a wire wheel!

Anyway, here are some progress shots of how it looks mostly put back together. I really think the flat white looks slick. I found that some of the plastic holders on the headlight adjustment screws were broken, so I will wait to get those ordered and in before I get the headlights put back in.

[b2948kevin]

I pulled my rear bumper off today. It's pretty nasty down there.

[b2948kevin]

This is the next project. Here are some pics of my paint booth

[b2948kevin]

Ok, I got my bumper painted up. It's a touch crooked, but I'll fix it sometime in the future.

I need to get the CHEVROLET repainted on there. Should I tape it and spray it, or should I order some 1 shot sign paint and brush it on there?

[b2948kevin]

I just thought of a couple more things I want to record here.

I sold the Pontiac seats on Saturday to a guy for $450. I am glad to have them out and not cluttering things. This will bring the total purchase price to $290. I am sure I will put it all back into the truck, but it's a good thing.

Also, I didn't take pics, but I used POR 15 in the tank. It has been curing for a week now. I think that will help out a lot in the long run.

[b2948kevin]

I got the inner footwell and rear cab corner late last week. I finally put the time aside and got the footwell in. I had to pull the rocker and front pillar back off to do it, but everything fit pretty well after that. I have to work on getting the rear cab corner fit up and welded, but I have everything welded up in the front. My goal was to be able to get the door and front fender on without having to take them back off later.

My next steps are to grind and sand the welds down so that they look nice and then use seam sealer to make things look nice. After that, I will get the cab corner taken care of and turn my attention to the motor. I need to get this thing on the road.

[b2948kevin]

This is how it looks right now. Hoping to finally get the fender on there and not have to keep taking it off.

[b2948kevin]

Ok, I've been working on this almost non-stop over the past week. I finally got the rocker and floor replacement finished on the driver's side. Here are the pics of what it looks like after welding and grinding. I can't say it looks beautiful, but I don't think it's terrible considering how hard it is to weld on this thin stuff.

[b2948kevin]

Here are some more pics of the aftermath.

[SFTorange]

Good job on the patch panels. I bet it feels good to get the rust out of there!!

[b2948kevin]

Thanks SFT, it sure does, but it's been about 3x the project that I thought it would be.

[Captainfab]

You're making some nice progress

A 350, or any small block, will drop right in where that 230 is. You won't have to move the bellhousing crossmember and you can use the same motor mount brackets.

[b2948kevin]

Really? I was told that I would probably have to cut some donor motor mounts at a junk yard. Not true, huh?

Man, I am really torn on this. The extra power would be nice, but I don't want to get into something really complicated.
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