1980 Stepside gmc
 

I thought I’d do a build thread on my current project. I bought what I thought was a rust free 1980 stepside truck that was once a city of Palestine Tx city truck. The transmission was shot but it cranked and ran. It was supposed to be my “shop” truck but has turned into a full build. I’ll try to catch up to where I’m currently at in the build and keep it updated.

Pic from when I first got it and was carrying it to the trans shop
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Pic after it was running and driving
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Pic with porterbuilt arms and bags in front with 6” drop in rear
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Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

then came the billets! Along with a narrowed 12 bolt Posi with 3:73 gears
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And bagged the rear with just a c notch
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This is where it turned full build! The truck was originally school bus yellow and had a cheap, low quality, old paint job on it. I couldn’t stand looking at the yellow, especially the inside. So I started blowing it apart
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Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

So much for rust free. I climbed all over the truck when I purchased it but there was some hiding in both wiring channels and after blasting the passenger side body support had rust
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Cab removed
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I had painted the rear and front of the frame and with the cab off, I cleaned and painted the rest
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Body mount rust after blasting
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Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Cab blasted
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Rust repaired
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Etching primer
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Raptor liner sprayed
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Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

First time I have ever sprayed raptor liner. I was very impressed with it!
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Cab back up right and stripping all of the factory black gunk off firewall. I also welded up the blower motor hole. I will be using a vintage air ac and the block off plate is ugly
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Finished prepping the interior and primed
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And I found another spot of rust in the passenger side cab corner. I cut out that section and repaired it but forgot to get a pic
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Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Body work done on cab and ready for primer
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Outside primed with ever coat super build 4:1. It was the first time I’ve used it and I love it!Attachment 1873427

I sprayed all of the inside with white raptor liner except for the dash
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Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Dash painted base/clear white
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Outside blocked and ready for paint
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Base coated white
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And cleared
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This pretty much brings me up to where I’m at now. I started cleaning up and painting interior parts and mocking up my vintage air unit

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Love the truck. Can't be a square stepside!

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Looking good! I thought it looked good bagged with the rallies hahaha
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Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Cannot wait to see it finished. Very nice build

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Wow really nice job!

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Subscribing to this one.
Cool truck!

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Wow..This is going to be another beautiful Stepside..

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

How much did you have to narrow the rear end?

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

I love watching these builds progress. Awesome work!! Mike

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

work looks great!

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Looking sick... if you have time and the bed is still off, can you snap some more pics of how you did the rear suspension?

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Thanks for all of the compliments! I have been working on the truck pretty regular. I’ve been cleaning, blasting and painting a lot of parts, bolts, nuts, brackets and etc. it’s time consuming and doesn’t make for any cool pics.

I’ll try to remember to pull a measurement tomorrow. I don’t remember exact numbers but it was as much as possible without moving leaf springs and still have room for the disk brake brackets. When I cut the rear ended, I used the large bearing ford outer to delete the c clips.

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Texas two link with trac bar. Behind the axle brackets installed in front of the axle. That’s all of the pics I have. Let me know if want a pic something particular

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Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

I installed noico 80 mill butyl sound deadener inside the cab and started putting some things back in/on the cab. I cleaned up the inside wiring harness and rewrapped it also.

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Cab ready to go back on frame
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Cab on frame and bolted down. I also installed driveshaft, valve covers, intake manifold and water neck
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Today I also painted the drivers door hinges, some bolts, and the vintage air block off plate base/clear white. I had planned to paint the passenger side to but it needs bushings. I’ll paint it with the next batch.

I have also started body work on the passenger door and have been looking for a clean drivers door but have not been able to locate a decent one. The original driver door was straight and rust free but was cracked around the upper hinge bolts. I have a parts truck out back that has the large tow mirrors that otherwise has decent door on it. It’s looking like I’ll be welding the holes up on it, unless I just get lucky and find a door

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

I left out that I also finished cleaning up and painting the motor that came in the truck and installed it with the trans back into the frame rails. The motor ran good and I’m hoping that the Edelbrock carb/intake and a set of header with dual exhaust will waken it up a little. Oh and the narrowed 12 bolt has 3.73 gears where the original 10 bolt was 3.08. That should help also

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Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Right on, thank you. I have the same Texas Metal 2 link... I was curious about how you ran the trac bar... never seen it on the link like that or with that much angle. How much power are you going to be running from that SBC? How much side to side do you get when you cycle the truck up and down?

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

Frank, I figured you'd be watching this build. It's a great example of a two link system without a big c-notch.

I'd like to see the actual links on both ends of the trac bar.

Well done!!!

Thanks Mike

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

It’s not a “Texas Metal” (Ekstensive Metalworks) built two link. I built it myself. Texas two link, is just what I called it due to it seems more common in Texas. Ekstensive rear kit uses a pan hard bar. Mine is a trac bar. I’ll try to get some pics of trac bar mounts today

Re: 1980 Stepside gmc
 

I toke out 3.75” per side