Project TLOW - 1971 stepside

[mcbassin]

Very nice looking welding cart/and welder. Are you going to sandblast the control arms?

[Rod Run]

Nah.... I'm going to continue stripping them myself with airtools and by hand. It's more work, but I've already paid to have a blaster strip my frame and I don't really like to have to rely on others for help. Plus, it keeps the budget more under control if I do it myself.

I do go over a friend's house and blast some of the smaller parts though.

I strip them during down time in work anyway, so it's kind of like I'm almost getting paid to do it.

[calvin78612]

Originally Posted by Rod Run

I haven't had much time to work on the truck lately but I know you guys like pics, so here are a couple

When I bought the truck, it had lots of new parts but they were neglected from sitting still for a long time. I took the shocks and cleaned them, before repainting them with some epoxy paint.


Sometimes it's the little things that make a difference. I took the calipers and took down all the heavy castings, before also prepping & repainting them with epoxy paint. I then lettered them up with high temp lettering. I've used this same process on my GTO and it has held up for many years now, even after taking some hot laps on the track at Watkins Glen International.

where did you find the high temp lettering ?

[Rod Run]

Originally Posted by calvin78612

where did you find the high temp lettering ?

I actually got it a few years back and had a few extra made just in case, for a situation like this.

I reached the guy through an HHR forum, but I lost the person's contact info

I would assume any lettering place would have the proper lettering for the high heat

[Rod Run]

Small update here, to say there really aren't any updates.

With the recent cold/snowy weather in my area and the lack of funds (I was on a 30 day layoff from work), the project had stalled for a bit.

Well, I'm back to work now and back on track. I just got off the phone with CPP, because I ordered their modular drop spindles and caliper brackets. The spindles are in their catalog for $299.00 but I got them to put them up on Ebay for $259.00

If I get them in soon enough, I'll paint them up and will be assembling the complete chassis next weekend, so pics will start flowing again.

[Rod Run]

Finally some updated pics for you guys.

These are pre-assembly shots of the chassis build



The front end (less spindles)


The rear end

[Rod Run]

Cut out for the c-notch



c-notch


c-notch installed

[Hankster]

That chassis is looking good!

[Rod Run]

Thanks man!

My spindles ship tomorrow, so assembly will start immediately after I receive and paint them, if not sooner

[Rod Run]

My new spindles just got delivered from FedEx, so I'll be taking them to work tonight to paint them. It's to cold in my garage, so that's why I take my parts to work in the winter for painting.

More assembly pics should be coming this week

[Hankster]

How are them spindles

[Rod Run]

Originally Posted by Hankster

How are them spindles

All I can say so far, is they look good and I've bolted them up to both factory ball joints with no issues.

That's as far as I've gotten so far. Hopefully I'll finish everything up tomorrow and post pics.

[RRR18]

I'm in.

[Rod Run]

Action shot. Had a little oversight and forgot to take care of mounting the extended sway bar brackets before painting the frame

No biggie, I have the tools & technology to fix stuff like that

[Rod Run]

Originally Posted by Hankster

How are them spindles

Got them connected to all the suspension parts now. Had ZERO problems with any of it.

To use your stock calipers, you need to use CCP's brackets (which I also have), but I haven't gotten that far yet. Hopefully get that done on Thursday.

I was working on mounting their rear sway bar today instead. Not much wiggle room AT ALL, when it comes to drilling out the trailing arms, for mounting the brackets. Gonna make sure that I Loctite those bolts real good.

[Hankster]

Can't wait to see the frame all together.

[Rod Run]

The chassis is finally back together and here are the first couple of teasers

[Rod Run]

[Rod Run]

Last 4 pictures of the chassis without the tires

[Rod Run]

Finally back on it's own four feet




And here is the next step in the project. I'm a little low on cash right now, so it might take a while to get this sitting back in the chassis. The engine makeover might take all the way until the end of April. As always, pics will be posted during every step of the makeover

[mcbassin]

Very nice work on the chassis! looks great

[Rod Run]

Thanks!

This was the first time I ever sprayed anything with a gun.

[Hankster]

The great work you did on the chassis can't wait to see the engine finished.

[Rod Run]

Thank you.

This weekend I'm going to make up some type of oversized drip pan, so that I can catch all the crap that falls off the engine when I degrease it. The drip pans they actually sell to put under engine stands do a good job of catching fluids as they come out of the engines, but they don't do a good enough job for major clean up jobs.

At first I was thinking a plastic kiddy pool would work perfect, but those are out of season right now. Instead I think I'm going to get a couple of very thick painting drop cloths and roll the engine stand over them. From there I will just lay a few 2x4's around the edge as a border.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Rod Run

Thank you.

This weekend I'm going to make up some type of oversized drip pan, so that I can catch all the crap that falls off the engine when I degrease it. The drip pans they actually sell to put under engine stands do a good job of catching fluids as they come out of the engines, but they don't do a good enough job for major clean up jobs.

At first I was thinking a plastic kiddy pool would work perfect, but those are out of season right now. Instead I think I'm going to get a couple of very thick painting drop cloths and roll the engine stand over them. From there I will just lay a few 2x4's around the edge as a border.

My idea was a sheet of plywood and attach some 2X2's around the perimeter, thinking the water would flow over the top but the most of the grime would stay in the bottom. but i got lazy and just tossed the plywood under it when i scrapped and sprayed oven cleaner and wire brushed the grime, guess i made a little mess in my side yard when i hosed it off but by summer it was gone.