Brent's '72 Custom/10 SWB stepside build

[VA72C10]

Looking good!!!

[matthew20061]

Looks good!

[Damien]

Forward progress is always nice!

Too cold? I've been out in the garage for the last two weekends working on my s10. (I have no heat and have to have to door open to work under the hood.) 30* is awesome. Just a couple more weeks and the snow will be nearly gone. Can't wait.

[brossow]

Originally Posted by Damien

Forward progress is always nice!

Too cold? I've been out in the garage for the last two weekends working on my s10. (I have no heat and have to have to door open to work under the hood.) 30* is awesome. Just a couple more weeks and the snow will be nearly gone. Can't wait.

"Too cold" isn't quite the truth, I guess. Even if it was 80 degrees out, I still would have to literally unpack everything from the garage just to get at the truck. It's such a tight fit in there right now I have to shuffle sideways just to get at my toolbox if I need to change a shear pin for the snowblower. And that is why I haven't gotten anything done this winter.

But my little weather thingy is saying it's 34 degrees out -- that really IS t-shirt weather! If it was the weekend I'd at least be out busting up ice and chopping down snow drifts in the driveway to help it melt faster, and I'd be doing so in a t-shirt and jeans.

[Hart_Rod]

Updates? Do you have any pictures of your Lokar oil dipstick installed?

R/

[brossow]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

Updates? Do you have any pictures of your Lokar oil dipstick installed?

R/

I wish. So behind on everything I could cry. My buddy who was going to be doing the bodywork and paint for me dumped the stuff back at my place a couple months ago in primer because he needed the room for other projects. I haven't even unpacked it yet this year and we're already into July. I said just yesterday that even if I get it out now I've only got three months to work on it before I have to pack it up again. Just makes me sick.

[msgross]

MOVE SOUTH!

[brossow]

Originally Posted by msgross

MOVE SOUTH!

No way -- love the change of seasons up here. I just need a decent garage.

[msgross]

I have change in seasons too... but my spring/summer/fall actually last 3/4 of the year instead of 4-6 months!

[royo]

T T T for updates

[brossow]

Originally Posted by royo

T T T for updates

I wish. Circumstances have led to it being parked for well over a year now with no progress foreseen in the near future. No garage space to work, no skills to do paint and bodywork myself, no money to pay someone else, etc.

[msgross]

Originally Posted by brossow

No way -- love the change of seasons up here. I just need a decent garage.

MN has two seasons right? Winter and July

we use to use that joke when i was stationed at Ft Drum NY... brrrr, cold

[brossow]

Originally Posted by msgross

MN has two seasons right? Winter and July

we use to use that joke when i was stationed at Ft Drum NY... brrrr, cold

Cold? Nah -- it's only -16F at the moment. (No, that's not a typo.)

[mcbassin]

Any updates on this project? I love the LS install. Looks like first class parts everywhere.

[brossow]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Any updates on this project? I love the LS install. Looks like first class parts everywhere.

Sadly, no. I have zero room to work on it since my buddy brought back the sheetmetal (think I mentioned somewhere that the deal I had made for paint and bodywork fell through). I don't have the skills (or at least the experience) to the the bodywork and paint myself, and even if I did it would mean letting something sit outside which (1) would be terrible for whatever got moved out and (2) would upset my neighbors and put me in hot water with the city. I desperately need a new garage but the only way I could afford to build one is to sell this and probably other projects, which would break my heart and ain't gonna happen. Saving and waiting....

[brossow]

The best thing that could happen to me right now, short of winning the lottery, is that 2-3 experienced, enthusiastic guys would show up at my door early some Saturday morning and we'd crank out the bodywork in a long weekend. I've got all-new sheetmetal behind the cab and pretty solid stuff from the cab forward. If I could simply get the thing assembled in a quicky flat black paint job, I'd be the happiest guy in Minnesota. (Real paint could wait indefinitely.) I have virtually everything I need to finish this project except time, space, experience and a new program for the LS1 computer. Very frustrating!

[Ackattack]

I have no real body/paint skills either but I did this on my own with spray paint. Just something to think about if funds are tight and you want to get it on the road until you have funds for a "proper" paint job.

[brossow]

Originally Posted by Ackattack

I have no real body/paint skills either but I did this on my own with spray paint. Just something to think about if funds are tight and you want to get it on the road until you have funds for a "proper" paint job.

Nice work! My hangup is that I want the bodywork done right the first time and I don't have the experience to do it myself with the limited facilities and time I have available. I won't put it back on the road at the expense of using bondo and baling wire to hold it together and would rather wait longer to do it right. (Not suggesting in any way that you didn't do it right -- just saying that I'd have to cut corners to get mine on the road again anytime soon without help.)

[Damien]

How are the projects coming?

[brossow]

Originally Posted by Damien

How are the projects coming?

Sadly, there's been no change since my post above in October 2011. I am completely out of space to work and don't think I can move ahead until I get a new garage built, which is a very long-term goal. Having the deal fall through on the paint/bodywork really screwed me over in terms of getting the '72 done. Terribly disappointing.

[jc70chevy]

any updates

[brossow]

Originally Posted by jc70chevy

any updates

You mean since a couple days ago when I said nothing had changed since my last post in 2011? LOL! No, no updates.

[oldman3]

Brent, I've been reading tons of LS build on here for several days. Have gone thru four of these (Killer71) (67c10bub) (ackattack) (usmchevy) each one had very good info for other people doing these build. I saw you name and also read thru you build. I think you have done a wonderful job on you build to this point. If I had to work in your condition I don't know how I would have done. Just finished reading you build about 5 mins ago. I'm sorry you have been left in this position, which there was something I could do to help, but can't. Hope things get better, would love to see you finish this and able to drive it down the road. Best to you....Jim

[brossow]

Thanks! I really appreciate the comment. I'm trying to save money for a garage, but stuff keeps coming up -- needed a new roof last summer, have ceiling damage inside now as a result of that leaky roof, just had plumbers out for a clogged and possibly damaged main drain pipe yesterday, daughter needs braces, etc. Always something. Y'all know how it goes, I'm sure. So ... I'll just keep everything high and dry as much as possible until someday I get enough saved to continue working on it.

Cheers,
Brent

[brossow]

Thought I'd share a few pics I took this afternoon. Despite no real progress since 2010, I'm still hanging in here and if we can get our house sold and close the deal on the new place (contingent offer accepted) I'll have the shop of my dreams. To that end, I thought I'd try to make some more room in the garage by setting the cab on the chassis, which has been bare for about seven years now (lord, how the time flies). Met the goal of getting the cab on the frame with just my two bare hands, but somehow I ended up with less space in the garage than I had before. Must have been something special about how I had it arranged with the cab taking up 25 sq ft more of floor space. I don't get it.

Anyway, pics are attached. Sorry for the poor lighting. I threw some late-model seats in it (after these pics) that I've had sitting around for years, and I sat in the truck for the first time since about 2008. Felt darn good, I've gotta say. Love the look with the cab on and can't wait to eventually get back to working on it. Almost put the Boss 338s on it but couldn't bring myself to mount them just to have it sit on the good tires, so back into storage they went. Hope I get to use them before Mother Nature has her way with them just sitting....