1980 Short Stepper Budget Build

[Jaysonb]

Thanks, that looks very clean. In my k10 I painted them black, and it looks good, it's just hard to keep them looking clean. Our colors look pretty close!

[Jaysonb]

Got the dents, and dings out of the hood. It is primed, and sanded, and I got the inside painted. Both of my stepside fenders ended up having pretty deep surface rust in the wheel well, so I ordered new ones.

[Jaysonb]

Well, I had to pull the front right fender back off, to adjust the door gap a little better. It's not perfect, but it's as good as I can get it. Then I had my neighbor help me get the hood on, and adjusted. It looks pretty good. Now I have to tidy up the shop, go over the truck with some 400 grit, tape her up, and I will either paint it tomorrow morning, or Saturday.

[Jaysonb]

I got some paint on the cab today. In spite of a few bugs, it turned out pretty good. Nothing a cut and buff won't take care of.

[Jaysonb]

Time to start working on the box. It's pretty straight, has some small screw holes to weld up, no major body work though. There is some old undercoating on the box sides that might sucks to get off. Unmasked the truck and pulled it out side, it looks pretty sweet. I'm getting excited to get it done.

[Jrgunn5150]

Were your bedsides held on with the Torx screws also? How did you get them off?

[Jaysonb]

Originally Posted by Jrgunn5150

Were your bedsides held on with the Torx screws also? How did you get them off?

The fenders were not original to the box, they were just bolted on with regular bolts.

[Jrgunn5150]

Originally Posted by Jaysonb

The fenders were not original to the box, they were just bolted on with regular bolts.

Lucky you , thanks for the info.

[Jaysonb]

I got the inner fenders painted, I painted them the body color, I got the door weatherstripping installed, got the rear glass installed, and broke the windshield trying to get it in. It had a chip on the edge, and that's where it cracked. It didn't have the antenna in it anyway, so not a real big deal.

[Jaysonb]

I got the inner fenders installed, put a little of the front end back together, and put the wheels on. I took the bow tie out of the grill, I'm having a guy cut a few out of stainless for me. I went to town this morning and got a new windshield, and I ended up with about a 2" crack in that too. That lmc weatherstripping is some pretty stiff crap.

[Jaysonb]

Here's a few pics.

[Jaysonb]

Picked up my seat today. Just about have the carpet in. I also got the door glass and vent windows installed. I still need to finish the box, I just need a little break from sanding.

[Jaysonb]

I put some lowering shackles in today, and dropped the rear 2 more inches. I put the box, and fenders on to check everything for clearance. I'm going to have to tweak the exhaust a little, but everything else looks good. Saturday I'm going to put the rear bumper, and tail lights on, and go for a drive to see how the new motor runs down the road.

[rip2174]

nice looking truck

[tinydb84]

Looks great

[Jaysonb]

Well, I put about 200 miles on it! Pretty fun to drive. My transmission pan started leaking a little, so I tightened up the bolts just a little. Then it really leaked, so I put a new pan, with a drain plug, and a nice moroso gasket, and the power steering pump leaks a little, so I'm going to swap that out this weekend. The motor seems to have alot of torque. I have a 600 edelbrock on there now, I'm going to try a 750 this weekend also.

[Jrgunn5150]

Originally Posted by Jaysonb

Well, I put about 200 miles on it! Pretty fun to drive. My transmission pan started leaking a little, so I tightened up the bolts just a little. Then it really leaked, so I put a new pan, with a drain plug, and a nice moroso gasket, and the power steering pump leaks a little, so I'm going to swap that out this weekend. The motor seems to have alot of torque. I have a 600 edelbrock on there now, I'm going to try a 750 this weekend also.

Interesting, i went from a 750 Edelbrock to a 600 Quickfuel lol.

Did you use SS paint? Or is that their BC/CC?

[Jaysonb]

I'm going to try the 750 because it's just sitting on the shelf. I'm not sure if a 750 is to much carb for a mild 400, I wanted to try a holley type carb, but there is so many, and being on a tight budget, I figured I better just stick to what I know. I used the single stage, then the high solids clear. I've used it on a bunch of projects, and really like it.

[Jrgunn5150]

Originally Posted by Jaysonb

I'm going to try the 750 because it's just sitting on the shelf. I'm not sure if a 750 is to much carb for a mild 400, I wanted to try a holley type carb, but there is so many, and being on a tight budget, I figured I better just stick to what I know. I used the single stage, then the high solids clear. I've used it on a bunch of projects, and really like it.

Well, I drove my mild 400 back to Michigan from Little Rock with the Edelbrock. It ran well, other than in Little Rock, they don't need chokes, so the guy I bought it from had thrown the entire thing away lol. So for the same reason as you, I went to what I know lol.

I have the exact paint combo in my cart on Summit now, thanks for the feedback, I wasn't sure. SOmetimes you can read too much on the internet lol.

[Jaysonb]

My wife wanted to ride her bike this summer, so I finally pulled them out of storage. It's warm, and sunny, all of the sudden I can't find my working on the truck motivation.

[Jaysonb]

I made a nice little bracket to mount the fuel pressure regulator on one of the front carb studs, and mounted a guage where I had the filter. Then I put the filter right before the pump. I got my door mirrors mounted also. The transmission still leaks after the new pan install, it looks like the front pump bolts might be leaking, not what I wanted to see....

[DBLSPRT68]

This is a sweet truck! I'm now following because of how impressed I am with your work.

[Jaysonb]

Originally Posted by DBLSPRT68

This is a sweet truck! I'm now following because of how impressed I am with your work.

Thank you! The truck is up on the lift, the transmission is ready to pull, and the front pump seals should be here by the end of the week. I hope to have the mechanical stuff done by the end of the weekend, then I can get the box knocked out. They keep pushing the ship date on my left rear fender out. Now they say the first week in July. I'll fix and paint the fender I have for the time being.

[rip2174]

where you get carpet kit from? looks like it fits very nice and the pile looks low and tight.

[Jaysonb]

Originally Posted by rip2174

where you get carpet kit from? looks like it fits very nice and the pile looks low and tight.

It is ACC carpet. I ordered it from summit, I'm not sure if they have the best price, but I had a bunch of other stuff to order from them. It fits very nice, I only had to trim the sides a little, looks and feels like quality carpet.