72 SWB STEP "Army truck" Budget Build

[WIDESIDE72]

oh yea, you can also see the Skip White HEI.

[WIDESIDE72]

BTW, the painter has photos of all of his body and paint work. I will post those after we get the truck home. He will be finished shortly. He said he would have spent more time than it was worth on the tailgate that was on the truck when we dropped it off and front bed panel I took him. Luckily I had another tailgate that was better. We are going to order another front panel Monday. He needs to paint the bed sides, front panel and tailgate and it is back to dad's house to finish reassembly.

[WIDESIDE72]

I forgot to take a photo of the bench seat. It is a Cheyenne Super pattern, black vinyl with red and black houndstooth cloth inserts. I had a pair of green Cheyenne door panels that the painter prepped and painted black. I scored some nice black visors locally for $20 and a set of black seat belts here on the forum. I need to order a black dash pad and arm rests. Dad already has a black carpet. The truck will have a tach dash and factory tilt. I haven't decided if I will run the leather wrapped Lumina steering wheel or buy a moon eyes old skool gasser type red metal flake wheel.

[WIDESIDE72]

dad's other side project, Farmall Super C. He put two tractors together to make one. One had a good rebuilt engine but wasted sheet metal, the other good metal but a stuck engine. It is just cleaned up and painted in the driveway, as he plans to put the cultivators on it and use it.

The last is of my little helper/ tool buddy , my 14 m.o. daughter Sophia. She liked get her her hands dirty!

[Zoomin]

That looks fantastic! Amazing what paint will do.
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[67cheby]

WOW, looks great !!!

[WIDESIDE72]

No progress to speak of, I did take a tailgate I got from Mighty Mouse by way of Lynnfield down to get painted. I also scored some repro mirrors from Sharpie and a CPP 3" drop kit from 2002yanks that will all be going on this truck. Dad had to order a repro front bed panel in order for the painter to get through. That and the inner/ outer rockers and a cab corner are the only non oem sheetmetal on the truck. Both doors, fenders (front and rear) cowl and hood as well as bumpers all OEM!(and fit excellent, BTW)

[VA72C10]

Looking GREAT!!! Tractor looks great too!

[Mike C]

Nice work. Wish there was a like button for the pictures, especially your helper!

[WIDESIDE72]

Thanks for the compliments! It may be this fall before I can bring the truck up to my house and get it on the road. The painter went overboard and pulled EVERYTHING off the cab to paint it including wiring harness wiper motor/ transmission and window regulators. It was a completely bare cab when he painted it!
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[WIDESIDE72]

Luckily the most expensive part is behind us. The only big expense is an exhaust and 17" tires (if I go with the impala SS rims). I paid less for the truck than what those tires will cost!
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[WIDESIDE72]

No photos for update, but I picked up a few parts from board members, such as a 7 blade clutch fan to replace the flex fan, wiring harness for gauges to replace the harness for idiot lights that the truck had (since the replacement was only $25 shipped) and an original style ground strap kit. I also picked up an OEM used plastic grill insert locally, and rebuilt the quadra jet that was on the engine since it wasn't running right. I also have a front sway bar off an 80's 3/4 ton to install. It will be the fall before I get down to my dad's to start putting it back together. Due to the heat and mosquitoes at his place on the coast he has lost interest. I have to reinstall the wiper motor and linkage, window regulators, front and rear windshields, all weatherstrip, shift linkage, and wiring harness. We have not bought the bed wood kit yet. I am looking into whether I can do the rear driver side marker light gas filler mod after the truck has been painted, since I came across it on here after the truck was already down at my dad's for paint.

[project 67 sub]

sorry for the small high jack . but looking at the title of your thread makes me think of my burb (even though its not actually an army truck haha, and seen you where wanting the impala wheels too lol. i bought some for my burb to use on it until i get the wheels i really want (black 20" kmc rockstars). then these will end up on my 90 gmc

[WIDESIDE72]

I don't have any photo updates, but I got my barn cleaned out in preparation for bringing the truck up to get it put back together.

I paid $60 (!) for a set of four 94-96 Impala SS 17" wheels with worn out tires and no center caps. I found that Chevy Venture mini van caps fit the wheels and give it a smoother look with a bowtie logo as well. I wll be going to my dad's before Christmas to bring the truck back to my house to work on.

[WIDESIDE72]

I went down to my dad's last weekend for Christmas with the family that lives down on the coast and brought back hs 72 swb stepside to finish putting it together for him. I also took a Vortec 350 short block to make a partial swap with my brother for a rebuilt 355 SB that I will be installing in my 79 Malibu. It is the original engine from the 71 El Camino that I had in high school! I had a pretty good load in the Duramax, what with my wife, daughter and I, all of our luggage, tools, jacks, spares for the trailer, 355 in bed strapped down, bed full of parts for 72 and the 72 on the 16' equipment trailer, but it never acted like it was even loaded pulling 65-70 mph. For the first time I tried tying the chassis down on the 72, not the frame. The only issue I had was on a really rough section of road. I had forgotten that the 72 still didn't have shocks and it wanted to bounce too much. I slowed down and got in the left lane and it settled down pretty quickly.

[WIDESIDE72]

As it sits today. I got it unloaded and installed the mirrors and center caps. Not much progress, but you have to start somewhere.

I think the truck has a new name. I am thinking "Ruby", because of the color, and the fact that the original owner of my first car, the 71 El Camino, is named Ruby as well.

[WIDESIDE72]

A few more. I plan to run the 15x8 rallys for a while til I save up some coin for new tires for the Impala SS wheels, as the 15's still have good tread. I will then swap these wheels and tires to the "Shorthorn", my 70 Longhorn that is getting its' cab, front clip and 400 BBC swapped onto a 71 swb chassis with a stepside bed along with a 3.73 rear and 700r4 trans...

Ruby will also be getting a static drop. I bought a CPP kit from a member here that was never installed. I believe it is a 2"/ 3" set up.

[67cheby]

Beautiful !
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[WIDESIDE72]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

Beautiful !
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Thanks! It will probably be sold as it is too nice for my tastes! I would worry too much about it getting scratched or dinged.

[sgaylord]

Nice paint

[WIDESIDE72]

Originally Posted by sgaylord

Nice paint

It's amazing what $10k (!) can do to a $500 truck. My dad still is in disbelief. I am so scared working on it that it's not even funny. If my momma was still alive she would skin him alive, and she thought that the 71 GMC we redid was too much! (I recently sold it for dad for $8k).

Part of the reason that the paint was so expensive was the amount of body work that had to be done. The body shop did new inner and outer rockers, cab corners, and one front floor corner (I forget which side). They also sandblasted and painted the frameand wheels, swapped the 3.07 rear with a 3.73 I had, installed new rear brakes on the 3.73, disassembled the 350 to check it out (against my wishes) and installed a set of rebuilt 882 heads. They also blasted, primed and painted the valve covers and oil pan. They blasted the Edelbrock Performer intake as well and re installed everything.

Dad pretty much had to put the brakes on things and tell them to PAINT THE TRUCK. NOTHING ELSE!!! The problem is, they are a resto shop as well and business was slow.

I would not have an issue with taking body panels only of my "shorthorn"to him, which is a 78k mile California truck with practically zero rust. It literally needs very minor prep before paint and letting them do it. (You can search for my other threads for details on this truck. It is definitely on the "back burner" until I get Ruby back together.

The painter does excellent work, but this truck was really too rough to start with such an extensive rebuild, IMO. As you know from the thread title, it was never MY intention to go so far with this truck.

[WIDESIDE72]

I got the inside door handle relays installed, the dash pad dropped into the holes until I can find the nuts, and sorted through a BUNCH of crap trying to organize everything. After I got home, I disassembled the tach cluster I have had for several years. I only had to clean it up with hot soapy water and install a new bezel. The needles are still a nice orange and the odometer only reads 78k, so it must not have sat outside much. (I will post pics later, but it isnt worht downloading one photo.)

I found another pair of Cheyenne vent windows and will give a shot at making one pair out of two before dropping $400 on a new set. I bought a pair off feebay a while back and in the photos they looked OK but when I took them apart to replace the seals the frame one side was rusted in two and the bottom pin broke off from the window frame. $100 lesson learned!

[WIDESIDE72]

I almost forgot...I also spent a couple of hours wet sanding the grill surround with 320 grit sandpaper. It is an oem piece I picked up on the board a while back with a perfect inner and emblem for $200 (!) The outer only has one ding smaller than a pencil tipnext to one headlight opening. I had my dad strip the anodizing off with some drain cleaner per other members here and he freaked out when it turned chalky grey. I had to talk him down and tell him that that was expected. He was ready to drop $400+ on an new one ! I figure I will hit it with 600 next, then 1200 and polish after that. I don't think I have any fingerprints left... How do body guys do it? I only have a couple of hours into it so far...

[WIDESIDE72]

Here is a great example of what I'm dealing with. The painter took it upon himself To blast and paint the power brake booster AND master cylinder body color, but did not paint the ash tray. We haven more paint and it cost an ungodly amount and have already had to buy more than the original gallon twice!
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[hungarian1964]

Love the Step Sides!!! Have you or anyone ever here of a company that sells Extended Step Side Fenders? Looking to put a little wider tire on my 68 and I need to replace my anyway.