1971 4X4 $WB $tep$ide Frame Off Re$to Mod

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Eye Candy

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Its a shame to cover all this up with Sheet Metal. As you can see this builder is a stickler for detail.

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Eye Candy...

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Picture speaks for itself. Note the Frame is boxed in here and within a few inches of the front. Same on both sides. The passenger side is a work of art due to the fact he had to trim the top rail to clear the headers and only took what he had to so the box has two "waves" in it. I could not get a photo that showed how great a job he did.

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Probably my fault but I cannot get more then one photo to load at a time....

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Someone earlier asked about the crossover steering I used...... He is probably already driving his truck but this shows the ORD Knuckles that replaced the stock stuff.

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Turn Key had to bench run the motor prior to shipping. That was 2012 and my fault for taking so long. He had to pull the injectors and rails and have them cleaned. Found a shop here that saved them all and cleaned everything for 160 bucks.

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Better shot of the ViAir Compressor mounted on the outside of the rail and the Air Tank mounted on the inside of the frame. And a bunch of Eye Candy....

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Eye Candy

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Finally..... Cab in finish paint. Hood is still Matt Black...... I had the entire truck painted Matt Black when I delivered everything to him...... He argued with me until he was blue in the face to convince me to let him paint it gloss black..... now that I have seen the finish product I am still apologizing to him. I think he left the hood that way to drive the final nail into my head. Thank God he stuck to his guns. The hood will have two 12" Graphite Rally Strips to break up the black without being too gaudy, and to match the Graphite Buddy Bucket Seats and Door Panels on the interior Carpet will be black.

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The 35" Toyo At II Tires and the Gear 17" Rims appeared in the last pic I failed to mention it. I hate those fake silver nuts and bolts on the rims and I had him pull them off and paint them black.....

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Inner Fenders are not in yet. Better Pic of the rims...... and the ugly silver fake studs and lug nuts..... It is difficult to find modern alloy rims for these old manual hub rigs. There is not enough of a market for them I suppose. These were not the rims I wanted originally but they are growing on me quickly.

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Eye Candy

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This Billet Grill is the only Chrome I allowed other then the Door Key Cylinder..... Bumpers, Stepside, Door Handles, and Side Mirrors will be Black Chrome..... I have not seen those yet myself.

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The engine compartment is staying matt black. There is a ton of room where the factory air used to be. The Vintage Air definitely cleans up the motor compartment.

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The interior is staying matt black as well. Will have Dakota digital gauges. That radio is the vintage look and accepts an ipod from the back. I went with the vintage air knobs rather then the slide levers.

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Red Oak Wood Bed. Three coats of wood clear and two coats of car clear coat. He exceeded my expectations here for certain.

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And I was looking forward to hauling my 130 lb Rottweiler around in the back of this truck once it was done...... I am not crazy about the fuel fill being right there but it made the most sense given the room available under the bed to attempt anything else and the stepside does not really have any place to put the filler without messing something up. I am sure others have solved this problem but I wont be hauling loads of gravel in this thing any time soon.

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I fell in love with my truck all over again when I saw it like this......

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Tim, the builder/shop owner is in this picture looking proud. He deserves to in my opinion.

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In case you did not notice in the last two pictures, Those ugly fake silver studs and lug nuts are no longer silver and now I love these rims..... Some may disagree..... To each his own.

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I know there are a lot more shortbed fleetside fans out there then there are stepside fans but I have always liked the stepside just a smidge better. I love the fleetsides too but this is definitely my dream truck from way back to five years old.

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The clearance lights deserve their own picture since it took me two years of looking to find a clean 1 Ton cab with factory air and factory clearance lights. I am sure some purists will not appreciate these being on a half ton but I had to have them.
If you have not noticed in any previous pics you can clearly see I deleted the window vent and had the full windows installed. No, there not electric. Its one perk I did not want. I can reach across this cab easy enough to roll down the passenger window.
This is it for now, your all caught up with me. I will post more pics when I get time to visit my truck next. I can't wait to see it with black chrome bumpers and those refurbished buddy bucket seats installed.

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Here is a "before" pic next one will be a complete "after" Pic.....

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That's going to be an awesome truck, and the end is coming fast. I like the cad plated parts, gives it a different look. Bet you can't wait to be driving it !

Gary