His 1969 Stepside build

[joey8383]

Hey guys, long time lurker but just finally set up an account. I've owned this truck 6 years but have been waiting PATIENTLY to start building it. I finally have a shop, some time, a little cash here and there, and my son just turned 5. I wanted him to remember building this with Dad.
Truck is a 69 stepside that was willed to me from a man that treated me like a son. I worked for Nelson at his lawnmower/small engine shop for 6 years during high school and college. When he passed he left it to me. He was an amazing person and like a father to me, so much that I named my son after him. It has been a long wait but FINALLY the time is here. I don't have $20-30k extra laying around so it won't be done next month. I'm hoping for 2 years or less. The truck is in pretty decent shape and he had "rebuilt" it in the late 80's. Minor rust on rockers, cab corners, and windshield.
Plan is a power steering, power brake, 5 lug, static drop, fuel injected LS (LQ4 probably), 4L80e or MAYBE T56 6speed, 12 bolt, air conditioned 400+ hp street truck that can be driven daily if wanted.
Right now it has a tired 327 with 3 speed manual.




I bought two parts trucks in the last a couple weeks, a 67 that I plan to rob the front clip from, and a 76 that I am going to rob all the front suspension, power brakes, and power steering from. Here's the 67. I will have lots of extra parts for sale soon. No pics of 76 yet. It's just a rolling chassis SWB with rusted frame.


The parts truck has a worn out 283 with 3 speed manual.


More soon..

[gdavis]

You got a lot of big dollar ideas there. But it will work if you take your time. By the way welcome aboard. I have adophed two brothers that are 7 and 9 so I understand. I have been working no my 68 step side shorty for 2 years now and I guess I am about 6 months left. as far as the rust it is always around the rockers and wind shield and cab corners But on the lighter note good luck.

[joey8383]

Thanks. I'm just picking parts up as I find deals and don't plan on building a $100k truck. I personally don't consider this stuff high dollar ideas. Especially when compared to a lot of the builds on here. I have a reasonable budget for it and hope to stick to it.

[JustCallMeDrew]

Very nice i love your plan im 16 and recently picked u a 68 lwb with a tired 250 and 3OTT and my plans are fix rust and dents, sand and paint, change up interior a little, lower with static drop and build my own carb'd 383 and turbo 350 or 400 and install...i will have most of my money in engine and transmission considering im doing everything myself...so i look forward to your build seeing we have some of the same plans!

[mcbassin]

Looks like very nice project Joey. You have some really nice plans. I'm all in with the later model power plants too. I have been working on my 2 year project for going on the 5th year. Be careful these budget builds can get expensive. Even if you're a tight wad like me. My kid was 15 when we started mine......he's gonna be a junior in the fall at OU
I will be following along too.

[jlaird]

Joey,

Good start by getting the parts trucks. They will pay for themselves many times over. Nice story too. My oldest son is 6. I try to get him involved when possible, but 6 year olds seem to like ninjas more than trucks! Mine does anyway!

[joey8383]

Thanks guys.
Mike, I know how that goes. There is no budget on this truck but the more conservative I am, the quicker it can be "done". I've been through all your build threads and really impressed. There's not much you can't do, huh?
Josh, last time we were out there we worked for 20 minutes and then stalked the shop with our guns drawn (1x4 lumber pieces) looking for bad guys.. =)

Headed to pick up my 76 parts truck this weekend that I bought a month ago. Tear down starts soon..

[72bowtiestepper]

Best of luck with your build....can't go wrong with a short stepside ! You and your son will have great memories & good times restoring, then driving it. Loads of great info. on this site to help you along. Welcome aboard !

[slowcpe]

Cool story and cool truck. Plus I'm a sucker for red step sides

The one thing I've found about my build and this board is it'll take way longer than planned and reading these build threads will cause you to spend more money

[FL71C10]

Looks like a good start. I'd be interested in that wraparound step bumper if you are selling it.

[joey8383]

Lots of people have been asking for parts. I will be starting a for sale thread soon and selling/trading lots of parts. I have that entire parts truck and will also be selling stuff off the stepside that I won't use. No plans to use that bumper or tail lights.
I'm new here but have a lot of selling feedback on Ebay (username jbcb83) and over on bansheehq.com (username joey83)
I will PM you on bumper when I start selling stuff.

[FL71C10]

I love the air cleaner on that 283. could it be any smaller?

[jlaird]

Originally Posted by joey8383

Lots of people have been asking for parts. I will be starting a for sale thread soon and selling/trading lots of parts. I have that entire parts truck and will also be selling stuff off the stepside that I won't use. No plans to use that bumper or tail lights.
I'm new here but have a lot of selling feedback on Ebay (username jbcb83) and over on bansheehq.com (username joey83)
I will PM you on bumper when I start selling stuff.

Joey sold me some mirror arms. I received them quickly and he also took a bunch of pictures for me and some measurements. Thanks Joey!

[Coda O'Dell]

I met joey tonight and he is a super nice guy. Bought a piece off of him and he is great to work with. Thanks Joey!

[joey8383]

Davis- I don't have any tire carrier parts at all.
Starting tear down on the front. I have another parts truck spoken for. It's a 72 with power brakes. I'm planning on selling the 76 that I was gonna rob all the front suspension off of. Is there any other benefit of using the 73+ front suspension other than the larger 1.25" rotors? Any harm in using this 72 power brake and power steering over the 73+ ?? Thanks
Will start a couple part out threads soon for the 67 and 72. I also picked up a clean cab. .


Here's the 72 parts truck I'm picking up friday

[mcbassin]

Nice parts truck. I don't know if there's any advantage to the 73 up parts, other than the steering gear box. I am using a 72 front suspension, brakes and 78 gear box. good luck.

[joey8383]

Finally got our schedules right and picked up this Cheyenne for parts, too. Somebody grabbed the axles out of it but I also traded some parts for a nice 12 bolt 5 lug coil spring rear end to another guy.
No real pics yet. Just tearing down and cleaning. Going to pull this front end out of the 72 and start sand blasting and replacing parts this week. Pics soon

[mcbassin]

Very nice parts truck!

[joey8383]

Appointment with the sandblaster in 2 days. Going to use Van Sickles trailer paint on frame I think.

[joey8383]

There have been many delays but I got the frame painted today. Also got all my front end wear items delivered last week. I ended up ditching the idea of the Van Sickles tractor paint on the frame after talking to my body man buddy, although he said it would work. For just a few bucks more I got some DTM from Sherwin Williams. I have a buddy that sales for them, they have an entire line of automotive paints I learned... ?? We'll see how it holds up. It's labeled semi gloss but is closer to satin thankfully.

14AWG wire will not hold a steering box.

My little compressor got it's butt kicked but held up.


My hunt continues for a LSx and trans. I was hours late TWICE on a couple 5.3's and 4L60E complete wrecked trucks for cheap. So I'm now on craigslist several times a day and have a couple buddies doing the same. I will get the next one priced right.. I REALLY REALLY want an LY6 6.0 that already has the L92 heads but will settle for an Lq4 or 5.3 I suppose. More later when it's back to rolling chassis.

[joey8383]

Picked up a COMPLETE LM7 5.3 drivetrain. I was so excited that I couldn't wait until I got home to get a pic


The truck belonged to a buddy of a buddy. It's an 02 with 120K miles. He wrecked it about 3 months and gave up on fixing it. So yesterday I went and drove the truck and checked it all out. It really ran good and shifted good.


He stripped the truck down and I was able to bring home the entire rolling frame with drivetrain (I had to put my old wheels on it to roll it). I will pull engine and trans and related components but will give him back the frame and rear end etc.
I really wanted a 6.0 with some L92 heads but just couldn't say no to this deal.

[gdavis]

well it seems that you got a good start on it. It never hurts to have too many parts while building. Before you get rid of the cab be sure you strip. For you never know what parts you will need. You can always get rid of them later.

[Hardesty454]

Nice build. Lots of fun stuff

[joey8383]

Wanted to post a pic. It's been really slow which drives me nuts. I go back through Mcbassin's 69 shortwide build and am shocked how quick people can get stuff done. I have been spending lots of lunch hours over at my buddy's sand blast cabinet at work. It's just slow blasting and painting bolts, hardware, brackets, etc... I hope to have it a rolling frame with all suspension down after this weekend. Then I will start mocking up the 5.3 engine and trans.

[67c10rustbuket]

Cool build! Are you an HVAC guy? I see lots of refrigerant in the shop.

Originally Posted by joey8383

14AWG wire will not hold a steering box.
.

Looks like something I would do. I think I ended up painting my gear box laying on a table because I was not confident in any of my attempts to hang it.

Keep up the good work, I'll be watching. Don't try to hard to keep up with Mike (mcbassin), the dude is a machine!