'67 Stepper "Laymond"

[slowcpe]

Made a little progress today. Made a cab cart so not I can wheel it around the garage. Got the inner frame stiffener in so the chassis is basically mocked up. Still need to tighten everything up and ad just read end so the trailing arms fit better. BIG milestone for me.

[Advanced Design]

Nice job Ryan. Was the inner frame stiffener difficult to install?

[0608272c-10]

Cool build I'm thinking about doing the same thing suspension wise. Do you think the truck is going to sit level with the drop member in the front?

[slowcpe]

The stiffener wasn't too bad. Just had to remove about 1000 more rivets and drill a few holes. I'm finding the best way to drill holes in the frame is a small pilot hole and then move to a step bit. I still need to tighten it all up but figured I would spend most of a day to align the whole chassis.

I'm expecting a little bit of a rake due to the dropmember and c-notch. I like that look but Porterbuilt said I can limit the front end to level it out if I want. I considered a Level 1 rear but didn't want to fool with a 2-piece driveshaft.

[mcbassin]

Looking good buddy!

[slowcpe]

Going to bring this back from the dead. Slowly getting things situated to get rockin n rolling on the old truck soon. Decided my daily was too plain looking so I added a leveling kit and new tires and wheels. Love how it turned out and satisfied for once. Done. Ran across a deal on suspension parts for the Teryx I couldn't pass up so I upgraded and went with a 30" tire and now it'll go just about anywhere. Done.

Also been making some decisions and coming up with a game plan to get the truck on the road next year. I've enlisted a few friends for football, beer and truck work come fall/winter. If it all goes well it should be an achievable goal.

In the start of this thread I listed my gameplan. Pretty much all that has gone out the window. I'll update it here:

Finish assembling my Porterbuilt Chassis
Mock up LQ4 and T56
Run necessary lines for fuel and air
Wilwood 13" front brakes and D154s out back with Wilwood manual booster
Accuair air management with my Viair comp. (have an air tank but leaning toward the VT tank)
Tear apart to for powder coating
Install my 243 heads and swap cam to a BTR Stage 3 or 4 cam (have all valvetrain upgrades)
Leaning towards the Holley FI to simulate a carb setup (main goal for LS Fest)
Install 4.11s and posi in stock 12-bolt (save narrowing for a later date with the possibility of a 9")
Install new floor and rockers on my cab
Put all back together the way the truck looked in the first few pages
Drive it and enjoy it while I save more time and money for the next round of mods.

I put this here to see if/how I stick to this plan and hopefully hold myself accountable to hit my next year goal.

[Advanced Design]

Good logical plan Ryan. I need a plan ... and some motivation I think.

[ChuckLee]

Subbed buddy. Hope your new plan is easy to stick to. The problem with me is that the more I tear it down, the more I commit to do. I find that the more I sit around and plan the more discouraged I get. When I just get a small task done even it makes me feel like the task list is being chipped away a little at least

[slowcpe]

Getting back into this and reading has already started the whole deviation of the above plan Honestly I tore my truck apart too far, realized the cost involved to build the truck I want and lost motivation. I'm now focused (somewhat) and ready to get going again.

If you're subbed be prepared for a lot wishy washy, complaining and rambling posts.

[ChuckLee]

Dude, it's all good. The journey is the fun. Let it be fun when you work on it and know when to walk away for awhile and come back fresh. Sometimes that makes all the difference. Attitude determines altitude.
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Next week when I'm ticked at my truck remind me I said this, lol

[ChuckLee]

time to get busy.........what you get done on the truck this weekend?

[slowcpe]

Haven't touched the truck. I have very little time to work on the truck in the summers. I have been slowly cleaning the garage real good in preparation. I'm on vacation the week after next and hope to spend a little time on it. Plus that weekend is LS Fest and I plan to come home with some parts.

[slowcpe]

Well I took this week off work to get some things done around the house and head to LS Fest tomorrow. Also getting some time in on the truck. I threw in the towel on pressing in the ball joints myself with my HF kit. Took them to a buddy's shop and it took him all of 5 min. Got home and now my front end is mostly assembled.

The other day I also finally lined up the inner frame stiffener and snugged it down.

Ready for LS Fest so I can finalize some plans. Should finally be ordering my front brakes in the next couple of weeks.

Given the thin metal on the back of the frame, I believe I will box that area in just before the shock crossmember.

[slowcpe]

Well I tried to spend a little time out in the garage yesterday but it was way too muggy. I gave up after about an hour and went inside.

I've been spending a great deal of my free time reading about the science of brakes over on pro-touring forum. It's been quite interesting for the nerd in me.

I was quite surprised at how good certain combos do and don't work. In fact the combo I originally planned on would be less effective than the route I believe I'm going now and at over 2x the price.

Proposed brake setup:

Wilwood D52 calipers with twin 2.0 pistons
Stock GM 12" rotors
Wilwood D154R rear calipers w/single 2.0 piston and 12.19" rear rotors
Wilwood 7/8" Manual Booster

This setup should yield all the brake performance I need and come in at less than the price of the front rotors I originally planned on going with. I have to keep telling myself I'm building a fun driver instead of a magazine cover truck to keep my ideas/budget in check.

[ChuckLee]

Don't want power brakes or hydrabost?

[slowcpe]

I've been thinking about going manual brakes for quite a while. I like the cleanliness of no booster, don't want potential vacuum issues due to my cam and from what I've been told a properly designed manual setup is one of the best ways to go. That and if I don't like it I can just change out masters and add a hydroboost.

[ChuckLee]

True true. I'll have vacuum issues for sure. Probably will go manual myself.

[slowcpe]

Been a few months since I've updated this thread. Hunting season and Christmas is over so hopefully progress should resume. Been out in the garage this evening doing some work. No pics because I'm redoing some stuff I've already done. This week is a bit light for work so my goal is to have the rear suspension tidied up before the weekend.

Once that's done it's time to install my front brakes, mock up engine/drivetrain, and then run fuel/brake/air lines.

[slowcpe]

Small progress is better than no progress.

[builtbyKane]

Originally Posted by slowcpe

Small progress is better than no progress.

Attachment 1759565

Looks like some good progress from here.

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by slowcpe

Small progress is better than no progress.

That's definitely true. Keep at it!

[mcbassin]

Nice progress Ryan! Keep at it!

[slowcpe]

Well I guess I get to join the ranks of others that tore a truck apart and blew a basic build plan out of the water to the point it made logical sense to buy another truck to drive while building said project. I’ve been toying around the option for a while and I decided to pull the trigger on a ‘72 medium olive short bed. It needs a little cosmetic work but it runs and drives great, a HUGE plus. Hopefully next weekend I get to help a buddy put rockers and cab corners in it then I can bring it home to get it ready to drive.

[slowcpe]

Gonna bring this back from the dead.

Back in the spring I bought the above ‘72 truck and have been getting it to driver status. Now that project is “complete” and a bathroom remodel is finished I’m geared up to get back working on the ‘67. I recently ordered a set of wheels and when I get back from a business trip I’m ordering another set of spindles (robbed them for the ‘72) and front brakes (finally).

Hard to believe we’ve got a high school freshman and have been told she has to have a space in the garage when she gets her license. So I need to at least get the chassis done before then. 1.5 years is doable right?

Pic of the ‘72 now.

[nlped]

I dig the 72! Now get back to work on Laymond!!! What wheels did you go with??