Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Ok so here's my build thread. I searched for 3 months to find the right truck.

Check out my intro thread if you want: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=344097

My criteria for buying it is the following (in order of importance):

short bed
has to be able to drive it home
little or no rust except for cab corners, rockers etc
v8
auto trans
less than $2000

I got all that.

the motor: 305 <<<starts right up but starts to die out at the stop light
the tranny: turbo 350 <<< leaks and can't make up it's mind on 2nd or 3rd gear on the highway
the body: rust in usual places and not much at all above the rockers
the bed: fleet side but gonna be a stepper

My plans:
1: make a safe and comfortable daily driver (not a show truck)
2: make brakes, steering, handling as good as new (or better if money allows)
3: lower suspension
4: possibly get a rebuilt 350 but definetly get a rebuilt transmission
5: repair body and all rust
6: fix up the interior and add a/c
7 get some nice wheels
8: paint

And do it all myself!

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Here's where I wanna work on it at:

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

But that's off limits so heres where I'm gonna work on it at:

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More pics

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Bed removal isn't as easy as it looks especially without help lifting it!

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That bumper was a pita to remove!

I gotta get a sawzall lucky me I had a carpenter replacing some doors at the house this weekend so he let me borrow his to remove those stubborn bolts. But not before I managed to twist 3 of them until they broke.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Breaking them is one way to remove them, you'd probably replace them anyway right? Are you using hand tools or do you have an air compressor and impact gun?

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Yeah Ive learned that breaking them is the best way.

All hand tools so far. But I made a list of things I'm gonna grab this week maybe an air compressor is near the top and a grinder too!

Check out this moth that was resting on the rear end.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

looking good ...

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The only update I have right now is:

My dodge dakota was stolen tonight :mad:

I was gone from the house for just over an hour.

The neighbors didn't see anything.

No broken glass.

Just gone.

Here's the only pic I have of it.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Sorry to hear about your Dakota JOJO...

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

I can't believe somone stole your Dakota, best of luck on locating the truck.

Aside from that, the build looks great!

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Was it in the garage when it was stolen? Sucks man :(

I hate to hear that, I leave my 67 in the garage with the door open most of the day...

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Well I was at a restaurant tonight and about 8pm I get a call from a buddy that I work with. He said he was driving down the street and saw a truck parked in a parking lot that looked similar to my truck.

He said he wasn't sure if it was mine but said he couldn't stop to check. After eating, I go to the parking lot which is less than a mile from my home.

As I turned the corner I saw it but the rims weren't mine so I wasn't sure. The closer I got the more it looked like my truck.

Sure enough it was mine!

They stole my chrome rims, stereo and my floor mats. The ignition switch and passenger side lock were bashed in. The dash was all banged up as well. Plus the guy smoked 2 cigarettes and left the butts in my ash tray (after taking all my change). He also spilled beer on the carpet.

What's crazy is they swapped the chrome rims with some stock dakota rims. They also switched the license plates with some handycap ones.

The police man showed up and changed the status to recovered. He tracked the license plates back to a lady that lives 2 streets over. Tomorrow I'm going over there to see if she's missing some rims.

I'm really happy to get it back! I love that truck.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

To make the story a little more weird. About 6 years ago, all the stock rims were stolen. Now I got some stock rims again!

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Glad you got it back and good luck with the build

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Glad you got it back, but it sounds like it's time to move :lol:

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Well it's been a while since my last update.

It's funny how much time you can spend on this stuff and barely have anything to show for it.

I decided that the frame off experience just isn't for me at this time. No room, and little experience are huge motivators for me. Plus I wanna drive this thing asap!

Here's what's been going on:
1. I painted the rear section of the frame with the por 15. (no pics of that since I got bored with that and won't be returning to frame painting any time soon)

2. got the stepper bed in place, put some fenders that aren't all banged up on it and spray bomb primered the sides of that old bed

Pics:

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3. Brand new paintable steering column installed from CPP's ebay store. (I highly recomend it and the price was just right - $300.)

The old steering column shifter components just felt way too loose and after getting lost disassembling it I decided to just get a new one.

Not to mention that I needed to move the truck so after throwing it all back together, I crossed some wires and smoked the cab and burned a bunch of wires on that old steering column.

I had to un-collapse the intermediate shaft because the new column was about 2-3" too short. So I stretched the intermediate shaft a bit and as you can see it looks pretty good.

Here's the pics and the u-bolt I needed to get as well:

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4. Fixed the brakes. I had NO BRAKES on the initial ride home. That must be why the dude who sold it to me called to see if I made it home safely (his conscience got the best of him I guess). I bleed everything 1000 times. I really thought it was a bleeding issue but was wrong. It turns out the master cylinder was shot. So I grabbed another one from autozone. Brakes work great now. Maybe some power disc brakes are in my future?

5. 3 New tires and 1 more on the way.

6. I bought a 700r4 transmission from a guy on craigslist for $100. And will be taking it in for a rebuild next week. I can't wait for that!!!

Oh yeah, and I got the wood bed installed as well LOL!

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7. It took forever to figure out why the motor wouldn't idle. So I finally had to get a new carb since the old quadra-junker was cracked. And voila, the motor idles just right now!

Hopefully that crack shows up in the pics its right in the middle where the choke is supposed to be:

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8. The current project is I'm installing tail lights on the stepper. Since installing the steering column, I got the rear tail lights going but with some weird issues.

The front left turn signals and marker lights turn on but no longer blink?

Also when the brakes are applied and the lights are on, the rear marker lights turn off? Maybe it has to do with me crossing the wires on the old column and burning through some of the old harness. Although I thought I replaced all the burned wires.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Looks like a lot of good progress....keep it up :chevy:

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

great progress.

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Coming along nicelyy

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I had some problems like that with my tail lights and it was grounding problems and wires being connected to the tail lights wrong. Try the flasher relay on the fuse box as well.

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I took that old 700r4 and the truck to the transmission shop for a rebuild and install should get it back in 7 days. And what's great is I drove the truck for the first time since driving it home back in may. What a difference having proper brakes and steering makes!

Getting all the tranny work done(rebuild the 700 and swap for the th350, new torque converter, filler tube, tv cable, speedo housing and speedo gear, 6 month warranty) for $850 does that sound like a fair price?

I got the all the lights working properly before driving it to the shop... Almost...
Located the missing wire (burned out) that runs through the firewall to the front left lights and causes them to blink. And hacked my own connector for the burned wire. Later I'll replace the whole harness with matching wires (I used red and yellow to replace the burned wires and should have used gray and dark blue). I do want that fixed properly so if a problem arises later, my setup will match stock wiring diagrams.

Aside from that the only problem that remains with the lights is the marker lights turning off when the brakes are applied. No biggie for now but I'll check that grounding thing when I get the truck back.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

i love to see a nice step side come together..

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Nice progress bro

What gearing is in the rear end ???

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I don't know what the gearing is. I don't even know how to find out without taking apart the rear end. Any tips on figuring this out?

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Very cool project! reminds me a bunch of my 67 I used to have...when I got it had a pontiac v-8 in it. I converted it to a a/c cab daily driver type truck. I think $850 is a good price if hes doing the install. keep it up!

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Thanks for the comments fellas.

and yeah that's exactly what my new plans are... daily driver with a/c... no frame off show truck here.

I got to say, I'm super excited about the transmission going in since that's the only major thing keeping me off the road. Plus I hope to have at least acceptable gas milage out of it. We'll see.

so what's next?
1. finish up inspection items (horn, hazard lights, seat belts) & get it inspected
2. get a valve job? I got a little bit of white smoking out the tail pipes.
3. sand & paint the rally's
4. get vintage air by the end of next month hopefully(who knew they are based right here in san antonio... not me! thats cool.)
5. cruise until I can afford suspension mods hopefully by november
6. put a welder on my christmas wish list and start body repairs by the end of the year

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Sounds like you have a good plan. Good call on holding off on the frame off. It takes time and sounds like you didn't have it. I really dig the steering column. I might go that route myself. That price on the transmission rebuild and install sounds fair to me.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

I like that steering column too. I need to find one like that too! Crazy story about your truck getting stolen. Keep the updates coming I have subscribed. We are trying to do a similar build on a VERY tight budget.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Well I got the truck back today with the fresh 700r4 installed.

I couldn't really give it a good test drive since it rained today (for the first time in what seems like months). Hopefully tomorrow.

But it seamed to do okay.

So far the only bad news is the transmission had a bad pump and costed a little more than expected but it should be solid now.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

sweet... drive the heck outta it!

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I fixed my horn, hazzard lights and drivers side seat belt. So the only thing left for inspection should be new wiper blades and a passenger side seat belt.

I'm considering getting the 3 point seat belts from brothers has anyone used them?

I have it registered in my name now and it's insured (not sure if I mentioned that yet)

Also, I got it out on the highway today!

It runs good but now I'm noticing a knock when I accelerate :(

Not sure now if the knocking was there before since I've barely driven the pick-up.

I'm no mechanic either so I have no idea if the new tranny would be the cause or not?

I also noticed that they didn't connect any cable up to the connector on the 700r, isn't that supposed to be for lock up in high gear? Should I get a lock up wiring kit?

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Depends on what that is for. Is the TV cable connected to the carb? That is very important to make sure the pressure is correct. You can ruin the tranny pretty fast w/out that properly set. Does it lock up now on the highway? The knocking could be timing also.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

No its definately the lockup but no wires are hooked up.

It seems to stay in high gear on the highway but I'm not sure.

I probably should get a tachometer to really be able to see what's going on.

The TV cable was installed by the tranny shop so I assume they adjusted it correctly.

They told me to bring the pick-up back in 10 days for them to inspect everything so I'm trying to drive it as much as possible between now and then.

I'll have to read up on timing I should be able to figure out how to adjust it if that's the problem. I was also told I may need hotter spark plugs but I'm not sure what that means either.

Re: Jojo's '70 Stepper
 

Nice start on your build so far. This will be an enjoyable one to see progress.