71 Step novice build

[bkwagonss]

Well, I thought it was time to start my own build thread.
I got a little encouragement at this point in my build because I’m in the process of installing a full cab floor.
There seems to be a number of people who need to do this and don’t know how hard it is to do themselves.
I am in no way saying I know how to do this.
Matter of fact, every step I take is a new experience for me.
I’ve never welded or really done much metal work at all.
This could turn out to be a “how not to build thread”.
I started this truck as a hobby.
I was showing my 94 Caprice wagon for almost 5 years, until it got wrecked.(more on that later)

I’ve always liked the 67-72 Chevy pickups so I started looking for one.
3 years ago my son happened to spot this truck.


It was pretty rough, but the price was right ($500) so I brought it home.

It’s a 1971 C10 Short Stepside ½ ton Pickup.
Options were amp and vacuum gauges, and a painted rear bumper.
It was originally Medium Olive but someone got the bright idea to paint the whole truck with
teal Rustolium paint, brushed on everything, even the rubber, dash and wheels.
The wheels and bumpers were painted brown to match I guess.

It had a 250 inline 6 and a 3 speed on the tree.
Someone later put a floor shifter in it.

It was bought new at a local dealer that is no longer in business.
I still have the owners manual and the Protect-o-plate card.

It did manage to drive up on to the flat bed under it’s own power and I drove it around the block once (without a muffler) before I started tearing it apart.

The first year I started taking the truck apart and collecting some parts I thought I’d need.
I fell into luck with the chassis.
My chassis was junk. I happen to be looking on Ebay one day and saw a complete chassis.
Someone had started the project and gave up. He sold everything else but still had the chassis.
It was blasted, POR-15ed, and painted Ford engine blue. All the bearing, bushings and seals were replaced and ready to go. I threw a low bid out there and won! $150
Two little problems, 1 it was in Detroit and 2 it was a 68 chassis (no disc brakes and 6 lug wheels).
My wife and I drove up there from Jersey with a tow dolly and dragged it home.

[bkwagonss]

The big ticket item I still needed was the drivetrain.
Since I was a big fan of the 94-96 Impala SS and Caprice I thought that getting an LT1 out of an old cop car would be a good deal. For around $1500, at the time, you could get a cop car with the LT1, 4 wheel discs, 4L60E tranny and a posi rear. All good pieces to put under the truck.

Well as it turned out my wagon got wrecked and was totalled.
I bought another wagon with the insurance money and was able to buy the old wagon back for $150. The wagon is still sitting in the driveway and I start it now and then to keep it well.
So that car will donate it’s LT1 engine, tranny and driveshaft. I will also use the gas filler door and possibly the master cylinder, proportioning valve and booster if they fit.
Maybe even the gas tank might work.
I will get a harness made from the wagon harness spliced into a new truck harness.
I know a guy who will reprogram the computer for me.
Bryan Herter of pcmsforless.com.

I also bought a 3:10 posi rear with disc brakes from an Impala club member for $100.
Drivetrain wise I should have almost everything I need, just have to put it in the truck.

I’m now 3 years into the project.
I’m really not going to keep anything from the original truck except the cab.
It’s in pretty decent shape except the lower foot of it.
I bought rockers and cab corners a while ago from a vendor at Englishtown, NJ.
I got the A and B pillar ends and kick panels for Jon at Tri Pro Automotive in NJ.
And I got a full floor with supports from Tim Christian.
I bought efabman’s video on how to do the cab sheet metal work.
I also bought a Lincoln Electric 110v wire feed welder and gas for it.
The gas came from a local welding supply place, and the welder came from Lowes.

No excuses now, time to get to work on the cab.
I welded in some supports to hold the cab in place. (Old bed frames)

I started by cutting out the rockers.


Then I cut out the floor leaving the floor supports.


Then with the help of my brothers, we tipped the cab back on its back.

I also used some self tapping sheet metal screws and mounted the new rockers in place.
They fit perfectly where the old ones came out and the add extra support for when I cut out the rest of the floor supports.

So here’s the floor all cut out.

[Cyclone44]

Looks like you have a nice truck to start with.....Good luck with your build.....

[bkwagonss]

So as you can see in these pictures, I'm doing this whole build in my crowded 1 car garage.
My township doesn't allow major car repair in the driveway.

So here's the firewall after I cleaned up the support that attaches to the support on the new floor.


By the way, all this work is done with a grinder with cut-off wheels, grinding wheels and flapper sanding wheels.
I also use a saws-all and regular hand tools.
I don't have air tools (yet).

The back wall had some rust on it. I got it all out, but it was almost bad enough to need a new piece of metal between the new cab corners.

[bkwagonss]

Here's a shot of the new floor in place.
I had to trim a little around the firewall brace area,
but other than that it fit's pretty good.


The floor fits perfectly up against both rockers.


It can slide on the back wall a little. I can clamp it even with the rocker bottom edge.


The firewall to new floor edge. Also fits nice now.


The passenger side of the firewall to floor edge.


The bottom side, firewall to new floor clamped into place.


And the passenger side.


This is as far as I've gotten so far.
I spent tonight sanding the edges to weld and drilling holes along the firewall edge, where I'll weld it in.

[thelonerife]

That looks good . Good luck with your build.

[msgross]

Thanks for sharing the info... Good luck,

any pics of the B-pillar attaching to the new floor?

are you going to repaint that frame?

Atleast you're starting with original rockers and other parts... mine has already been hacked by the PO so it will be fun getting them back in place...

[68 short step]

nice, so the complete floor, rockers,etc, came that way???
is that the new tri-pro peice?

[bkwagonss]

Originally Posted by msgross

Thanks for sharing the info... Good luck,

any pics of the B-pillar attaching to the new floor?

are you going to repaint that frame?

Atleast you're starting with original rockers and other parts... mine has already been hacked by the PO so it will be fun getting them back in place...

Thanks,
No pictures of the B-pillar yet. The rockers cover them up for now.
I'm going to weld the floor to the firewall and screw the floor to the back wall. Then I'll tilt the cab back upright. Mount the floor to the chassis with the new hardware I just got at Carlisle.
I can work on the A and B pillars and the kick panels and align them to the new floor.

As far as painting the frame; my plan was to leave it that color.
I was going to paint the truck a two-tone dark blue and champagne with the chassis color as a stripe between them.
I keep changing my mind.
I might also repaint the chassis dark olive and paint the truck the original color of medium olive.

[bkwagonss]

Originally Posted by 68 short step

nice, so the complete floor, rockers,etc, came that way???
is that the new tri-pro peice?

The complete floor comes with all the supports underneith.
It also has the inner rockers as part of the sheet metal.
The outer rockers are separate pieces.
I'm not exactly sure my floor is a Tri-plus part.
I bought it from Tim Christian and there were no stickers on it, like were on all the pieces I got from Tri-Pro Automotive.

[bkwagonss]

Well, I started welding the floor in.
These are my first welds...baby steps!
I drilled holes along the firewall edge then welded in the holes.

Then I welded the floor supports to firewall supports.

[bkwagonss]

Once I made sure the floor was even across the back wall, I drilled some screws in to hold the floor to the back wall for now.
Now I can start adding the other pieces in place.
First part to go in is the drivers side kick panel patch.
I'll sand the welds smooth, but here's how it looks before I do that.

[Richard8971]

Nice staring point. Sections of my floor needed to be replaced as well, but I patched it instead. If time (and money of course) allow in the future, I will prolly replace the front pans. Keep up the great work and keep us poste with pics? Any idea on a color yet? I would recommend orange.

Don

[thirdstreettito]

Good start!

lol I can se its your first time welding...looks good for a first timer though!

I have ARC welded once or twice, did really well too. I personally think MIG is much easier though. Just my .02

[msgross]

Nice progress,

Be sure that you get good penetration on those main supports... Did you grind off the black primer before you welded? Looks like your MIG was "popping", do you have gas for it? I would crank up the amps, slow the wire down to mid-way and hit every bit of those main supports...

Also, You are still installing the A-post lower pillar piece right? That part in front of the rocker with the big hole in it...

Good luck, keep us informed of any issues, i'm two weeks behind you with my floor...

[bkwagonss]

Originally Posted by msgross

Nice progress,

Be sure that you get good penetration on those main supports... Did you grind off the black primer before you welded? Looks like your MIG was "popping", do you have gas for it? I would crank up the amps, slow the wire down to mid-way and hit every bit of those main supports...

Also, You are still installing the A-post lower pillar piece right? That part in front of the rocker with the big hole in it...

Good luck, keep us informed of any issues, i'm two weeks behind you with my floor...

Yes I did grind off the black primer on the supports and crank up the amps, but I forgot one thing...to turn on the gas....duh! I'll try grinding off part of the weld and doing it again with the gas on this time. I did have a lot of poping so I guess I know now to look for that next time.
The kick panel worked out nice with good penetration.

Yes, I am installing the A-post piece, I was working on that tonight.

Oh, and thanks everyone for the support.

[msgross]

Be sure that the ground is cleaned off as well...

[bkwagonss]

Worked on the A and B pillars this week.
With all the bends and angles on the A pillar it's a little tough to line up correctly.
It seems to have worked out but I might have to massage the rocker a little.
Here's the A pillar complete.


Then I got working on the B pillar. This one is a little easier.
I clamped it in the end of the rocker first and made sure it fit inside, then I marked it and lined it up on the old pillar.
My welds are getting a little better. I turned the power up 1 notch and it's penetrating better.
B pillar before.

And after.


Here's the A pillar with the rocker clamped in place.


And the B pillar with the rocker clamped in place.

[msgross]

nice work... i'm still cutting more out! I think I'm done now... off to the blaster for mine...

[bkwagonss]

Well, I ran into my first real snag tonight.
I mounted the door on the truck with the rocker clamped into place.
With the door raised all the way up (which is where it used to be) it still hits the rocker by 1/4".
My first though was I messed up the A-pillar install and put it up too high.
But the rocker is sitting on the floor.
So even if the A-pillar end was 1/4" lower I still couldn't move the rocker down anymore.
Now if this was in the back near the B-pillar I could raise the back wall a little and take care of the problem, but it's up front.
The only thing I can think of at this point is to make the holes in the door hinge longer and raise the door up in the opening by 1/4".
This would work, but what will that do to me later when I try to align the front fenders to the door.
Can't shorten the door

[msgross]

ouch, don't know... email jaross44sr since he has done one of these already... might be able to help

[bkwagonss]

Oh yeah, he's the guy that worked on Jon's floor up at Tri-Pro.
I was up there right after he finished putting it together.
It even had the drivers door on it at the time and his fit.
I went back and looked at Jon's build thread and the pictures of it in jaross44sr's build.

[slowformula]

Hey guys - just a heads up.

This truck is finished! I bought this from blkwagonss in April and began working on it in May. I began daily driving it a week ago. The first picture is how I got it in April. The other two pictures were taken today after I put the wheels on(rims included with purchase of truck). I figured I would give you guys an update since a lot of these build threads seem to fade away!

Keep trucking!

[bkwagonss]

I'm glad the truck went to a good home and actually got finished!

This is my "new" ride.
1950 Chevy Fleetline

[slowformula]

Looking good!

Glad to see your garage is being put to use!