1981 Chevy Short Stepside "Lebowski"

[notyo_cheez]

Here's some pix, had it towed to the house last weekend. Backed it in to the garage this afternoon.





Doors are trash for the most part. Going to try to salvage the regulators to mount on the two good doors I have. Other doors have motors and electric locks, dont really want them.



Here's the cab to replace the rotten one, snagged it for $50 and hauled it back from San Antonio. On the coast finding one that's not rotten from sea spray is impossible. Pull-A-Part in SA sells them for about $250 and you have to take it apart yourself so this was a bargain even though I do have to clean it up a bit.

Original 305 V8, hasn't run in years so I'm not even going to attempt to resurrect it in it's current state. A rebuild is in order, not sure if I want to have this one restored or go for broke on a 350 crate. Needless to say The Dude will need everything.

[mooseknuckles]

nice start man!

[nbpro]

looking good

[andy4x4]

i like it, looks like a good start....

[notyo_cheez]

Thanks fellas. A little encouragement will go a long way for me.

[Gordonr1973]

It does look good....I wish my cab was that clean!

[JuicyJ]

50 bucks for a cab is a steal. That Gulf Coast will tear up that metal quick. I will keep an eye out for your build.

[notyo_cheez]

More progress on The Dude this weekend, cleaned up the cab a little more.




Used fiberglass Bondo for the first time to fill in the rust holes on the firewall rain channel, didn't come out perfect although the holes are filled.



Between an angle grinder and a wire brush on a die grinder I cleaned up the surface rust on the floor, rattle can primer over to save it.



More rattle can primer to slow down the sunburn.

Found two small cracks that formed on the floor that weren't there yesterday, probably between me sitting on the floor and the vibrations from the angle grinder. Smoothed them out and used SteelStik JBWeld on both sides, will grind 'em smooth maybe tomorrow.

More SteelStik will be needed to fill in the area where the firewall and the rain channel meet. Obviously it's not going to pass a concourse inspection but it's not really what I'm going for. This is my first solo go-round for body work, and now I know why I didn't want to get involved in doing major rust repairs...

[notyo_cheez]

Patched the hole in the floor, cut a piece of sheet metal using aviation snips. Die grinded the edges smooth, wire brush and DA sanded the surface rust and shot with primer on both sides. Mounted from the underside and used self-tapper hex screws to fasten it to the floor. Got tired of trying to get someone to weld it in for me so I got it done the only way I knew how.

Still another afternoon or two of bondo, steelstik, primer and RustOleum rattle can finish left to go along with cleaning up the bead for the windshield gasket. I wanna coat top and bottom of the floor with the rattle-can bedliner stuff, so there's that too. Hopefully weather permitting and no more weekend work that pays my salary I can progress on having the truck torn down to the frame.



Yeah, I know it looks like Frankenstein but eventually a rubber floor mat will hide it. Heard it referred to as an "Okie patch" although I didn't use tin...

[luifer76]

truck looks clean man and in one piece keep the pics coming....

[notyo_cheez]

More cleanup on the donor cab today, wire brushed the area around the windshield goes to remove the gasket adhesive. Didn't get any pix. A couple of spots along the edges will need some filler, will attack those with a die grinder to get the surface rust out then it's etch and primer time.

Thinking next week or when time permits I need to roll out the hulk and power wash cobwebs off so I can start tearing it down. Need to get moving, too slow for me...

[notyo_cheez]

More pix:







Picked up a pallet and mounted four 4" swivel casters to it so I have a dolly to move the cab around the garage, added my work height too which I needed. Took a 65 grit flap disc and put it on the angle grinder, resumed cleaning the rust. Door seam had rust under the bondo, when I was working on it I heard a pop and thought the seam on the passenger side might have cracked? Don't know, there was a crack already in the bondo on that side and I sincerely hope this cab isn't falling apart on me. Found a small rust spot on the windshield seam, looks easy to patch.

If this thing is falling apart I may have to send it along with the old rusty one and have the donor cut up and used for patches. More to come...

[notyo_cheez]

Sorry, no pix - maybe tomorrow. More progress today, picked up some roller tires and put them on so I can move it in and out of the garage. Rolled it out and broke out the presssure washer to knock off the cobwebs and mouse poop. Cleaned out the trash and the mouse urine-soaked floor mat from the cab and got a good look at the rusty floor. Previous owner stripped out the carpet and was running with a bare floor, with a carpeted floor mat on top. Washed the rat nests out of the engine compartment and found the missing air cleaner wing nut (yay!). Rubber from the air filter melted on to the air cleaner, will probably wind up trashing the whole thing anyway.

I plan on making progress on the donor cab over the weekend and getting a title in my name next week. Need to inquire about getting a repro VIN tag made up as I may not be able to salvage the old one.

[notyo_cheez]

Scored a couple of goodies at the recently-opened pick-a-part yesterday, got a decent pair of door panels and a custom grill. Also began the tear-down, staretd pulling the wire harness from under the hood. Felt good to have done something after 2 months...

[Your41Plague12]

Man I'd keep the 81 grille setup. I love that look, it's my favorite of the 80's Chevy's.

[notyo_cheez]

I'd re-use it except one of the horizontal pieces broke, and the center bowtie weathered from yellow to burnt orange and has cracks all in it. It's free to anyone who wants it.

[notyo_cheez]

More progress. Pulled the hood, most of the wiring harness. Today the radiator, condenser coil and core support came off. Bolt heads from support to frame rusted off, bushings held in by the remainder of the bolt and nut and I'm not sure how I'm going to get these off. Slow going but I've made more progress in the past two weeks than I've done all summer...

[notyo_cheez]

Finished removing the rest of the clip and pulled the a/c firewall box.

Looked closely at the control arms, passenger's side has five shims on one bolt and three on the other, driver's side has three on one and two on the other? First thought is, was this thing wrecked? Second thought is this is a 31 year old truck with an unknown amoung of miles (odo shows 49K) and the bushings are definitely shot. Body panels all seemed to fit despite being rusty so I don't really know. Pics later.

[grayharville]

GM used those shims on everything. I've taken fenders off trucks with no shims and stuck them on another, and have to shim them. Each truck is different. Nice project!

The truck im building started as an 81 stepside
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[notyo_cheez]

Pulled the rusty old cab off of the frame yesterday. Gonna make it easier to pull and reinstall the engine and transmission with the sheet metal gone. That's my brother-in-law in the background pushing a broom.



Another angle:



Next step, pull the bed and get some totes to organize the growing pile of parts. When the top of the frame is clear it's getting cleaned and painted, engine/transmission pulled and replaced, front suspension and brake system rebuild, new fuel tank and lines, replace the bed floor (wood), send the cab to the body shop for clean/prep/prime/paint. Probably won't have his thing running and driving before the end of the year though. Resisting the notion of giving it up and send it off to the scrapyard but feeling better every small step I take...

[grayharville]

Looking good! I can't wait to tinker with mine again
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