1972 Stepside SWB

[whiteyandreddy]

Here are some pictures of my 1972 stepside truck after about 9 months of storage. I am looking forward to bringing it to our new house this month. This project has been a long time in the making, due to other commitments. I had the truck at a body shop for ~18 months. After they kept telling me they were making progress (paid for by my initial down payment), I had to have it towed back home with only the hood primed and all my engine work uncovered in a body shop for over a year. I have all the parts and will keep posting as I have new photos. Currently the truck has a newly rebuilt 350SB, 700R4 auto trans and a 3.07 rearend. The red paint on the driver's side is from my son who thought it would be neat to pinstripe the truck one day. Not bad for a four year old. What do you think?
I am interested in advice on welding in new rocker panels and cab corners.

[whiteyandreddy]

I had to post this picture of MATER from a salvage yard in Keenesburg CO. It is classic. Special Thanks to MB Salvage for their help.

[whiteyandreddy]

I finally have had some time to tackle this in earnest. In the past three weeks, I have gotten the truck running again, replaced the trailing arm bushings, rear sway bar bushing, and will replace the coils and shocks after painting the frame with POR-15. I wil post pictures later this weekend.
I need some input now on the cross sill placement. I don't have the old bed and have collected bed strips and cross sills from LMC and used trucks. I need help on placement. Does anyone know the order of the cross sills, front to back? I have three different types of perpendicular sills, plus the rear cross sill.

[67c10rustbuket]

Looks like a nice project ! that mater truck is pretty sweet also . heres a thread that shows some rocker , pillar etc. rust repair.

http://http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=271066&highlight=rocker+101

I really dig the $$$$ on the fender lol . good thing he did that before the body shop did anything to it .

[whiteyandreddy]

Thanks Rustbuket,
My son has gained some interest again as well. Now he can spin a wrench! He keeps asking when we can paint it, not realizing we are still a ways away from it. Thansk for the link. Good luck with your project. If you have any photos or comments on the placement of the bed cross sills I would appreciate your input. Thanks.

[whiteyandreddy]

I have attached some images of the rear frame as of Memorial Day weekend. I will remove all of the undercoating before painting, and should have the rear suspension and rear frame/chassis paint done this weekend.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

How did the frame turn out? Did you get it painted last weekend?

[whiteyandreddy]

Thanks for asking about the progress. I ended up working last weekend and between kids activities and a graduation party I ran out of time. I am going to clean up a few more spots before I paint. I did get the frame cleaned using POR-15 Marine Clean. I have never used it before but it worked well to degrease the frame. Hot water was key. How is your truck coming along?

[67c10rustbuket]

Hi there, I have my bed off now so what do you need to know about cross sills? do you have a fleetside or stepside ? the step side is different than mine (fleetside) aka wide bed. looks like your doing a good job so far , keep it up !

[67c10rustbuket]

DUH it says stepside in your thread title , i dont think my bed cross sills would give much helpful info for your step side bed . but im sure someone else has the info you need , i had a 68 short stepper for a short time but it was a pro-street drag truck that was hacked and only had 2 cross sills and a couple aluminum angle stock pieces used for cross sills.

[whiteyandreddy]

Hey RustBuket,
Thanks for the reply. If you are still offering, I would like to know about your fleetside cross sills. Starting at the first set of holes closest to the back of the cab, what is the placement, length and height of each cross sill? Does the sill sit against the frame or have a "standoff bracket" riveted to the frame upon which it lies? The reason I ask is I believe I may have picked up fleetside sills along the way. Thanks again for offering.

[67c10rustbuket]

Hey there, I will try to get you some measurements tomorrow afternoon (sunday) . been a busy week at work and BIL was in hospital for a motorcycle wreck. He's OK back home recovering with a few screws in his hips, very blessed to be alive!! and anyway my short bed has 2 "standoff brackets" on the frame, I believe a Long bed has an extra (3 total) "standoff brackets" on the frame.

[67c10rustbuket]

That look like a pretty clean cab, I saved some money on a SWB by buying a rust bucket but now im spending a but load in rust repair panels and I'm a welder! wish I bought a rust free one now! oh well guess ill know its solid in a few months..

[67c10rustbuket]

I took some measurements of the cross sills on the underside of the bed and this is what i came up with. There are 3 that are almost identical, shaped like a hat channel , they have a few different holes in each but they are dimensionally the same and their locations are at the very front of the bed, then about a foot back, and the third is just behind the rear of the wheelwell opening. these measure 71.8" at the longest point (they are longer at the top than the bottom surface that mates to the frame) they are 3" tall and 1.64" wide. the other main cross sill is at the very rear of the bed It is shaped like an upside down U channel where the bottom is open and the taillight wiring is ran through as well as trailer wiring if equipped, it measures 71.8" long 4.312" tall and 3" wide. There are also 2 small floor supports that are shaped like a small hat channel right in the middle of the wheel well and just forward of the wheel well, the one in the center is .7" tall and the one to the front is 1" tall . all of mine are spotwelded to the floor since I have a steel floor but I imagine a wood floor SWB would have them bolted to something for the wood floor. Where the rear sill connects to the bedside upright it is bolted so the bed can be unbolted and dissasembled but the bed floor cross sills will stay with the floor. I hope this helps or atleast makes sense ,its a little hard translating my thoughts through a keyboard when explaining this. I have a few pics to show the shape of them if you think you would like to see any of what i have attempted to describe just let me know and i'll post them. Later

[whiteyandreddy]

Wow - thanks for the terrific reply about your cross sills. I understand what your sayinmg. I will go back out make sense of the ones I have. I recleaned the rear frame and trailing arms again tonight. I wasn't happy enough with the way it lloked after the previous cleaning. I hope to ahve the Metal-rady applied sometime this week and paint nmext weekend, if I don't go fishing!
I also hope your BIL is OK. I am sorry to hear about his accident. Thanks again.

[67c10rustbuket]

no prob, looks like your making some good progress ! my BIL is back home recovering, apparently (BIL was stopped) the guy rear ended the bike and shot the bike out from under him and the sissy bar hit him in the lower back and cracked his hip sockets, so he got a few screws in each hip socket and a grandpa walker, also staples in the back of his head on impact (no helmet) but he will be just fine in a few months , thanks !

[whiteyandreddy]

I had not posted for a while so I thought I would update. I disassembled the front end of the truck after finishing the rear frame paint and reassembly. I removed all of the glass, doors, and gas tank for delivery to the body shop for some rust repair and paint.

[whiteyandreddy]

Progress made this month at the body shop. They have cleaned up the back of the cab and started cab floor and rocker panel replacement. The rust was worse than I had originally thought in the floor and floor supports. Need to replace the floor boards, foot wells and cab mounts.

[whiteyandreddy]

More progress on the rust repair. We also picked out a color- Medium Olive Metallic. This is a 1971 Chevrolet/GMC color. I attached some pictures for reference.

[whiteyandreddy]

The trucks rust repair is complete and the paint & clearcoat have been applied. Here are some images of the bed parts. The parts from Mar-K are outstanding. The bedsides are new from them and really turned out nice.

[whiteyandreddy]

The cab and front end turned out equally well.

[whiteyandreddy]

Here are a couple images of the interior. The color is medium olive metallic. Bed wood, gas tank, and wheels are next.

[67c10rustbuket]

Nice! long time no see ! I think your'e supposed to to post regular progress pics, not just just spring a project on us and come back a few months later with fresh paint. The truck is looking great man, keep it up. Just maybe post a few ugly progress pics in the middle too. Later

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Paint turned out great...

[whiteyandreddy]

Thanks guys. I will add some more pictures here shortly. I need to add an album to be sure.
I am measuring out the bed and frame again today before I buy the bedwood. We are going with Ipe (Brazilian walnut). I found a decking store that carries it and they are allowing me to comb through there lot to find nice pieces for the bed.
I also plan to buy the gas tank today and install later this month. Do you have any advice on steel vs. aluminum vs poly?