67 Chevy LWB Stepper RestoMod

[Stubbs67]

I'm new to the board but let me give you all a quick history of my love affair with the 67-68 trucks. When I was 17, I bought my 68 LWB from my uncle for 1000 bucks. Truck was incredibly solid (except for rockers) and I loved that truck. well long story short, I was 19 and 2 engines later, It was parked in front of my house when a drunk hit it. bent the frame, dented the bed shape into the cab, completely obscured the bed etc. I was younger then, and dumb, and I sold it. I was mad at it when I sold it, then I was mad at myself for selling it. I have been itching for one ever since. I ran across this and after selling my wife's ford, I bought it and a plethora of parts.

My vision of my truck is a clean, streetable truck, with modern day reliability and good power. I am building a "center bolt head" vortec 350 for it, and im gonna slap a tpi on it. Have 700r4 with transstar stock stall converter, management for the TPI is a megasquirt MS-II V.3.0 and custom built relay/junction box. of course I have the HEI dizzy, and some nameless headers etc. Others have reported 24-26mpg with this set up

When I had my 68, I always admired the 67 small back window, so I went with it because I love the grille look and window

I Paid 700 for it with wheels and new tires... not to bad I guess

I have my work cut out for me, wood bed is rotted, interior is ok, and body is pretty rust free. It was originally a blue truck, painted fleet white (really thick) by the KRUM, TX ISD. The bed is pretty beat, I have a decent (for parts) fleetside bed if someone local wants to trade me parts for the stepside bed, I need the bed front, tail gate and some floor metal strips... The fleetside bed I have is rust free but the sides in the front of the wheel arch are bent from my DUMB ROOMMATE dragging it across the yard to move it. Front, floor, wells and corners are pretty good and I think it could be straightened. I also need a 67 pass front fender (no hole) and a driver's door.

PICS!!!!








ecu



relay box

[kyull67]

Looks like a solid start. I like the EFI.

[Stubbs67]

Finished hooking up the fuses and relays.

Here is the homemade diagram I cooked up, lemme know if you need the origional. I have it at work. I did it in paint lol but it is genious


Yeah, I am south of DFW and could REALLY use a TPI intake if anyone has one, let me know how much, or maybe I can work it off? Or heck if anyone is close enough, we could get together and talk truck. lol

also, lemme know if you know were the parts trucks are LOL I cant find many around at the junkyards.

[Stubbs67]

got pics of my placard, paint = special lol. It is 'specially white.



It had a plate riveted to the glove box, and someone drilled the rivets and removed it. I wonder what it said...

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looks like your off to a good start so far and welcome to the board..

[Stubbs67]

thanks, I wish I knew about this bored back in 2003 when I had my 68...

[67chevy1series]

well too bad i wasnt closer i would buy your old passenger fender , if the only reason your not keeping it is becauce that hole in the front cup peice then i would fix it ,down here i cant find a somewhat straight and rust free 67 fender to save my life

[Stubbs67]

Ripped the seat out and began pulling the tar mat junk up and quickly realized how MUCH rust was in the floor, also, ground off the rusted in screws in the sill plates and began fiberglassing... I know I am getting flamed for this one, but for the time being, its all I have. My welding skills are sub-par and I don't have one at the moment. I will one day replace the floor, but for now, this will have to work. It will get a few more layers and a good grinding/smoothing. I used "rust converting primer" all over that thing, after wire wheeling it with the drill. then fiberglassing over that. hopefully it will stave the rust until I can afford to replace the cab floor. I also patched a hole behind the passenger, It was a drilled hole that was bondo'd over, cracked, rusting etc. I "converted" the rust, then sanded it all off to expose clean metal, then glassed it from both sides,







Here is some shots of the engine, cant get 2 of the flexplate bolts out (prestripped for me) Oh well, I have a new eagle 383 crank in a bag, new bearings, gaskets etc. now all i need is a set of 4.030 383 pistons and a boat load of machine work...

[Stubbs67]

Did a little work this weekend. got driver rear fender off. I am at a loss for how to get the damaged metal on the top of the fender to stop "popping" down back into a dent. I am gonna hammer out the stress points... I may fiberglass the backside for structure then skim it with filler. I am not a good bodyman but i am a fast learner. also, came across some rockers (surface rusted) and some floor pans. All were made by tabco and still have the stickers on them. I am told they are over 12 years old lol, but at the right price OF FREE, I am not complaining.


my wire wheel did some work this weekend, I swear the paint is 1/8th inch thick, I am guessing that when it started looking shabby, the motor pool had it painted over poor body work.

Fender wasn't rusty, but it was dented to haydees, and was BONDO'D ON. I am going to fabricate some rubber body gaskets when I reinstall, the goomba's that did this used bondo as body gaskets.took a while to clean all that off, cleaned the inner fender well to metal, it was rusty, it looks like a repop, and the inside was never painted over the shipping primer...




now i can really see how beat the bed side is...

AND I started on the front fender. I picked up some dyna lite gold filler for the rear fender, Just need some sandpaper. and to find my roommate's hammer and dolly set.

[Stubbs67]

can i use bed sides from a 73-87 step side short bed? I also need the front and tailgate too, I don't care as long as it looks "original" and my fenders, tail lights, and running boards bolt up.

[spike38]

Originally Posted by Stubbs67

can i use bed sides from a 73-87 step side short bed? I also need the front and tailgate too, I don't care as long as it looks "original" and my fenders, tail lights, and running boards bolt up.

They are not identical, I think the fender bolt holes are different.
But where the bed bolts together, I believe they are the same.

On Brothers truck parts, They have two different part#'s

67-72 Stepside Bedside - Shortbed
Item: BS72S00

73-87 Stepside Bedside - Shortbed - Stepside
Item: BS87S00

Spike

[Stubbs67]

thanks, I just have an EXTREMELY low budget and will be doing ALL work myself, so I am trying to replace at a low (junkyard find) cost, just because it is sooooo beat up... closest bed to me no rust and straight is $600!!! I paid $700 for the truck.

I know I am a hard case lol, but I just do what I can on what I got. if that means dismantling it and doing body work one panel at a time in my shed. I know Im asking santa for lmc gift cards for xmas.

[spike38]

If you don't mind welding up some hole,
And punching some new ones,
It should work!

Spike

[Putter]

Good progress so far. Just stick with it. And if you are ever in central Mississippi, you are more than welcome to any parts you need from my '71 stepper parts truck.

And you might want to invest in some wheel studs & lugnuts.
(I've only counted about 4 on the entire truck!?!?!)

[Stubbs67]

I may take you up on that

and yes, I need lugs and studs. First I gotta sell these wheels and pick up something decent lol. I like the look but the backspacing in back is all wrong so there is a 1" friggen spacer in each rear wheel (came that way), look closely at the inset axle hub... That just ISNT my style...

One day at a time... THANKS FOR ALL THE COMMENTS GUYS!

[67chevy1series]

awsome truck and progresss glad to have another 67 on board

[Stubbs67]

thanks, it seemed good enough of a buy when i bought it

[67chevy1series]

it always does but you will be glad youy bought it

[Stubbs67]

i know it was a good buy, the only thing i didn't count on was the floor pans. boo hoo, I will replace them, its just a hella lot work.

[67chevy1series]

well what have you done ....... do you have an inspiration truck

[Stubbs67]

argh, I hate that it gets dark around here at 6!!!! I can't wait for the spring. I still have a few hours of work left in me lol

anyways, got outside today and used half can of PB'laster on removing the front clip,



and removed driver rocker,



test fit the "new" one



found some pretty rust in the passenger inner fender


removed about 1/2" of bondo from a dent on the cab corner, it was on a flat surface, man these guys that did this work were I am by NO means a body guy, but I have confidence in what I do, so I yanked the gas tank (which I don't want anymore anyways, used a hammer on the inside against a piece of wood outside and beat it mostly flat. I had to knock the screw spots down just a hair to get them flush. I do know that body filler should only be applied UP TO 1/8". I laid maybe a little more when I was done flattening to give myself room for sanding. On this corner repair, I used about a golf ball size of dyna de lite gold filler in total. I skimmed the area because of a small tiny dent in the bottom and I am gonna flat sand this whole area to a baby smooth finish.






my goal is to use NO MORE than this one quart of filler on the whole truck. I hate body filler but it is needed to a certain degree.

[67chevy1series]

well i hope you reach your goal

[Stubbs67]

thanks, also, the screw holes were pre drilled for me...

Picked up some cut off wheels for my 4" grinder... now to get that welder from my brother. also need to "make" some inner rocker panels. Those are trash as well. I guess I am gonna find my welding skills soon. What is the best way to keep from blowing through thin steel?

[67chevy1series]

have it at a low amperage and dont keep it on the metal very long myabe for 2 seconds and stop 2 seconds and stop ....etc

[Stubbs67]

the welder is a century wire feed with hi/lo and fast/slow speed lol I will do that. I will test on parts im not gonna use first