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

[superchevy]

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

[superchevy]

I will be posting the whole build pics soon.

[yuccales]

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! Looking forward to more build pics.

[superchevy]

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

[superchevy]

pic when I first dragged it home

[superchevy]

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

[superchevy]

braced the trailing arms, new track arm

[superchevy]

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...

[superchevy]

cut the floor to install a high hump trans cover

[buddylee]

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

[superchevy]

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

[superchevy]

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...

[superchevy]

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

[superchevy]

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...

[superchevy]

more bed pics

[superchevy]

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

[superchevy]

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

[superchevy]

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...

[superchevy]

time to get the bed on

[superchevy]

and she looks like a truck now...

[superchevy]

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

[superchevy]

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...

[superchevy]

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

[superchevy]

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

[superchevy]

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....