LT1 powered stepper

[1981Stepside]

That's an interesting idea that Ogre had - using Trex boards. Worth looking into further. I stopped by Home Depot today to look at some samples, and I might consider going down that road - the only thing I don't like is you can't varnish it to get some lustre. Or can you? Does anyone know a wood that is a hardwood like oak but maybe not as pricey? Again, forgive the ignorance but as I mentioned - I know steel, not wood.
Regardless - I'll worry about it in 2 weeks after I get back from vacation.
See ya fellas!

[1981Stepside]

Hello all! Fresh from Maui back to the gloomy skies of Vancouver. Good to be home but missing the sunshine already.

Finally came to a decision about the replacement wood bed. I decided to go with marine grade plywood. Mainly because of cost as it was half the price of "real" wood boards. I went with a multi-core baltic birch plywood. Got the store to cut it into boards (saved me about 3 hrs work)

Got the old man to help me run the boards through my table saw to put the skid strip grooves in them

Took what seemed like forever to drill the offset washer holes, but finally got them all.

At about 11:00 last night, the old man and I put a coat of stain on them in his carport. Here's what they looked like this morning:

Looks similar because of the yellow light from the carport but they are much more golden coloured than they started. I chose "golden pecan" stain by varathane. Unfortunately because of all the moisture in the air, the boards were still wet this morning, so I'll have to start varnishing them tomorrow.
In the meantime, I cut out a bit of rot on the fender lips and welded some patches in. I also took a hammer and dolly to the front panel to try to straighten out the huge dent that happened long before I bought the truck. I'm also planning to use some of the epoxy paint to coat the inside of the fenders and the flange that meet the body. That should keep the rust at bay for a while. I'm also going to paint the skid strips and all the heads of the new fasteners black with the same epoxy paint. I also have to fight with the remainder of the bed frame tomorrow as the tailgate bolts are seized in the trunnions and it's the older style bed, so the rear bulkhead is spot welded to the bedsides (which have to come off to get the new wood in)

[1981Stepside]

So an unfortunate setback last night. I went over to my in-laws place to check on how the varnish was drying and was quite disappointed at what I saw. When I flipped the boards to varnish what would be the bottom, I guess I put too thick of a coat on because there were small bumps or icicles on the front side where the varnish dripped over the edges and bolt holes and dried. I tried to sand them down, but it ended up taking some stain off with it. Darn! So tonight or tomorrow I'll have to start over on the front sides. At least the bottom of the boards are done so I don't have to worry about ruining the fronts again. What a bummer.
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[74 stepside]

Just went thru your build thread, very nice work. Even more surprising is that you were able to do alot of work in a carport. You will like that LT1. I had one in my 94 caprice wagon. Plenty of power.

[1981Stepside]

Originally Posted by 74 stepside

Just went thru your build thread, very nice work. Even more surprising is that you were able to do alot of work in a carport. You will like that LT1. I had one in my 94 caprice wagon. Plenty of power.

Thanks 74! This is by far the biggest undertaking I've done so far, so I'm always wondering if I'm on the right track with how much work I'm putting in. I appreciate the kind words.
As far as the carport, I've lucked out with the strata. They're pretty cool about me working on the truck as long as I don't drop any fluids in the parking lot.
I'm really looking forward to running the LT1 through its paces. There's still a bit of work I want to get done on the engine - a/c needs finishing, a wire tuck, etc. All in time.

An update on the wood bed - thanks to my fantastic wife, all the messed up spots have been re-stained and blended so they're invisible. I put the 3rd coat of varnish on them last night and they're looking good. The corner strips on the bedsides got a coat of epoxy paint which I'll smooth out on Friday, and drop a coat of tremclad on all the skid strips. The epoxy paint is good for strength but doesn't stand up to UV very well. Once they're all coated, final assembly of the bed can begin! Getting excited!

[1981Stepside]

Small update - ALMOST ready to reassemble the bed. Laid everything together for fitment, and found out that the boards are too wide to fit them all in. The original ones were 7.5" wide give or take an 1/8th. Well looks like I should have gone with take instead of give. To remedy the issue I took the middle board and had to cut a whopping 1 3/4" off one side. That being said, I obviously have to re-stain and re-varnish the cut edge. I'll try to get a mock up pic while I'm waiting for the stain to dry.
Also bought an old WWII ammo box that I'll be mounting in the bed to hold my jack, tire iron, jumper cables, etc and I'll have it painted the same colour as the truck.

[Greenlee]

Nice work! I like the back window. The ammo box is a cool idea also.
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[1981Stepside]

Thanks Greenlee - I got the ammo box idea from a hotrod forum on toolbox ideas that don't look like toolboxes. I'll post some pics once it's installed.
What I do have now is a mockup photo of the boards and strips laid in the bed for fitment. After trimming they all fit nicely. Now I just have to wait for the stain and varnish to dry.

Before


After

[MTCK]

Looks great!
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[1981Stepside]

Thanks MTCK! I appreciate it.
Small update - got the brakes reconnected and bled and the crossmember under the bed bolted back in. Squared up the bed and made some brackets for the ammo box. Waiting for it to stop raining to weld them in under the bed wood. My neighbour is going to help me try to align the passenger door. All this is to get it ready to ship it off to paint prison! Getting very excited!!

Thanks to S10fan (who I'm totally ripping off for my paint scheme) he let me know the details of which paint he used to paint Old Heap. I ordered the paint and picked it up on the weekend. I just hope my painter can make my truck look as good as Old Heap does.

Still need to think of a name for the truck once it's all done. Any suggestions?

[1981Stepside]

Update - the box has been dropped off at the body shop! My body guy told me that I could save some labour if I cleaned off the fenders and steps instead of him, so I grabbed a scotchbrite flap disc and went to town. I wasn't told how far to strip them so I took them down to bare steel. On the truck, they looked pretty rough so I was fearing the worst of what lurked underneath, but much to my surprise, they were pretty clean.

Here's the drivers side:

another


and here's the passenger side:


A couple of trouble spots, but nothing to lose sleep over. I wish I had recorded the body guy's reaction when I dropped everything off and pulled the fenders out of the trailer. When he told me to clean them off, he just meant the majority of the paint around the damage spots. He joked that all the fenders needed was a shot of clear and to be bolted back on the truck.
After he gave everything a once over, there were some waves and ripples but he told me ther wasn't anything there that he couldn't fix. So hopefully, in a couple of weeks he'll have the back half of the truck done and I can ship him the cab and chassis.

In the mean time, I still need to finish aligning the passenger side door. Turns out that I need to adjust the front of the hinge to bring the door forward so that means I'm going to have to rip the hood and fender off (again) to get to the hinge bolts. I think while I'm at it, I might just leave off all the extra bits (bumpers, lights, chrome, etc) so I'll have less to take off later when the truck goes for paint.

[bbbc10]

nice build!!! wish I could find a rear window for my square!!!!!!

[1981Stepside]

Originally Posted by bbbc10

nice build!!! wish I could find a rear window for my square!!!!!!

Thanks! It was a tough find, but there are a few still out there. I just can't wait until the truck is back from paint. Since it's on a budget, the bodyshop guy is working on it in between regular jobs

[1981Stepside]

Update! - Dropped by the body shop yesterday and the bed is almost ready for paint! Everything is in primer and the paint should go on either at the end of this week or the beginning of next! Going to start stripping the rest of the truck and send it down as soon as the bed is done.

[MTCK]

Nice! That's going to look great!

[1981Stepside]

Teaser update -
Got the bed and fenders back and they look great! No pics yet as I'm waiting to get everything back and reassembled.
I stripped the truck down of pretty much everything that would need to be masked to make the body guys job easier. (wipers came off after this pic)

Also, although he did a great job with the box, I'm hoping that since the cab and chassis takes up quite a bit more real estate in his shop, he'll be finished with it a bit quicker than the 4 weeks he had the back half of the truck.
So on Saturday, I loaded some bits and pieces into the cab and . . .

Off she went!! - why the driver decided to back the truck out, idk - looks like he's bringing it back looking like a turd.

[1slo_camaro]

Hey dude im freaking DIGGIN the truck!!!!! Can i ask what you had into the rear window in cost of material? and say you had to build one for somebody...... what would you be interested in price wise?

[1981Stepside]

Originally Posted by 1slo_camaro

Hey dude im freaking DIGGIN the truck!!!!! Can i ask what you had into the rear window in cost of material? and say you had to build one for somebody...... what would you be interested in price wise?

Thanks man, I really appreciate it.

As far as the material for the window, keep in mind that the one in the truck now is the factory CR Laurence one. As far as the one I started building - I had about $25 in flat bar, $115 in the blazer regulator, $60 in the seals, and The glass shop was going to charge me $50-$60 to cut the glass. So, around $260-ish?
I only got as far as making the outer frame and designing the regulator mount before I found the CRL unit, so the diy kit is far from done. I've also sold the blazer regulator since. That being said, even if I did finish one, the cost to ship it from the west coast of Canada to the east coast of the States would be enormous.
I could however, if you're interested I would be happy to send you measurements of the frame and felt channels that I made up.

[1slo_camaro]

That would be awesome if you get time, i am in NO rush right now i have a few other things i want to tackle on the truck before i start a project like this, just being out here on the east coast there is not the amount of customed 2wd full size trucks and amongst the few that i know of this would really set mine off, NOBODY has this or have even heard of it, so i would freaking love it.

[1981Stepside]

It's getting close now! I'm trying not to be impatient and pester the body guy, but man I want to get behind the wheel of this truck!! I stopped by yesterday and here's the truck in epoxy primer and a guide coat:



Going to stop by tomorrow and help put the hood on. I was told that the jambs are going to be done and once the hood's on, it just needs to be blocked again, urethane primered and paint! Can't wait!!!!

[1981Stepside]

SOOOO close now! OMG - the waiting is killing me! Spent a few hours at the body shop fitting the replacement hood on the truck. The original epoxy holding the hood skin to the inner skeleton had disintegrated long ago. The replacement was a jobber hood so the fitment took a lot of massaging. By no means is it a show fit, but it'll work.




The good news is that the urethane primer is on and the door jambs have been painted black. I've been told it should only be another week until paint is on and I can finally take her home!

On a side note - my wife and I just purchased a new house so I'll actually have a garage to store her in on the poor weather days. We move at the end of the month so timeframe (and especially money) will be super tight to get everything done.

Fingers crossed!

[1981Stepside]

*sigh* a setback yesterday. I went to go check on the truck and although it was painted, it looked like turd. Turns out that the paint was flash drying as soon as it hit the body and it had tiger stripes across every panel. What's worse, is the painter blew through all the paint I had left trying to fix it. So now I have to order another gallon from the states and hope that it gets to my mailbox in Blaine by Friday so I can pick it up by the weekend. I can't do it next weekend because I'm moving, and my passport expires at the end of this month, so it can't be done after I move until I renew my passport. FML! Sorry about the rant, but this is getting really frustrating waiting for the body to get done. Fingers crossed the paint will arrive in time.
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[1981Stepside]

Ok, sorry about the huge delay - I just finished moving and unpacking the computer and such. Love the new house, and love the fact that I have a garage for the new hotness to live in. By that I mean the truck. After having to go to the states to buy another gallon of paint, (which the body shop covered) it got resprayed and I am super happy with the result. Took a couple of days to put all the parts and pieces back together, but this is what I ended up with:




Still have a lot of stuff to do - a/c, an engine wiring cleanup, and an LS ignition upgrade. Pics as it happens!

For now - super happy with my new grumpy truck!

[mattcrp1]

Looking good.

[1slo_camaro]

Looks awesome! I have a chance to score a head and cammed LT1 and trans with harness and computer for a hell of a deal.... Recommendations? Did you have to do anything for the fuel? How bad was the wiring? I dont mind doing wiring but i havent got into much custom woring. I swapped a LT1 6spd into a v6 auto camaro but that was just completely swapping everythibg so it was easy just time consuming..... I guess im trying to decide if its worth keeping the lt1 or selling it to build a catbed motor
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