66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Hey folks, been roaming around these forums for the last year and finally decided to put up a build thread. Sent my truck off to the body shop a while back and it should be ready here pretty soon. Once it comes home, I'm starting a LS swap with a 4.8/4L60E and an 82 front suspension swap. Lotta work ahead of me, but I'm looking forward to it. Here's a couple of shots.

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...cs062-Copy.jpg
http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...s064-Copy2.jpg
http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...ywork-Copy.jpg

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Good looking truck. What color you getting it painted?

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Welcome aboard!! Nice looking truck. I do have a question. Are they done welding in the outer rocker? Why did they seam weld it instead of plug welding on the front and rear post? Just something that caught my eye. ;)

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

I'm having a tough time deciding on the final color. I'm debating between a similar color red, a nice two-tone red/white combo (classic good looks but lots of others out there like it), and a copper color. I've seen a couple other copper 60-66 trucks, and I like the way it looks. Whatever I decide I'm going to have for a while, so I'm really trying to find the right combination of good looks and something I'll like a couple years from now.

Hey, Thanks!

At the time that pic was taken he wasn't done welding it all in, that was just a pic he sent me to see the work as it was being done. As for seam vs. plug welding I couldn't answer. I don't know a whole lot about metalwork, which is why I had someone do it for me! :lol: I would guess he did it for a smoother finished look, but I dunno.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

We are here to help each other out, so please don't take this as an attack. ;) I'm trying to watch out for your best interest. I don't have the whole story of your truck. The main thing that concerns me is the outer rocker has been replaced, but the new front floor pan is laying on the rack under the truck. Does your truck need any work on the floor or kick panel area? If the answer is yes then it should have been done prior to the rocker going on. Most of these trucks have rot at the bottom of the A post that needs work. Like I said I don't have the full story. Maybe it didn't need any other work or the budget didn't allow for it. Just trying to help.

I've attached some pics of mine.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

More.........

Plug welds are holes punched or drilled in a panel that is on top of another panel allowing it to be welded to the panel underneath. It basically replaces the factory spot weld.;) You can kind of see them in the top middle of the outer rocker in the pics below.

The pics of the plug welds are not mine. They are google images.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

I appreciate the knowledge and dont feel attacked, so no worries. The floorpan was replaced after the rockers. As for the A pillar, i dont believe it needed replacing, but im bringing the cab and frame home today to start test fitting my LS so i'll see it then.

Curious why the order of replacement matters?
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Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Hmm... Well it makes sense. So are there any potential issues to watch for now?
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Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

It will hard to tell if he is done with it. Everything is covered up now. Did he take any other pics with the outer rocker removed? I'm not trying to scare you, but to educate you and others having work done by others. It's impossible to remove all the rust in these old trucks. The only way is to remove all spot welds, remove all panels and remove rust and recoat every panel. Then put it back together. Then use a body cavity wax to retard rust from forming around where the spot welds burned the coating off. I don't know of anybody that has done that.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

He did take several pictures. I stopped in several times to check progress as well, and feel pretty confident he's getting everything possible. The floorpans and even some of the area under the seat are gone, and the outer panels (inner and outer rockers and cab corners) have been replaced. The bottom of the truck cab is almost completely new.

With all that said, im sure theres going to be some rust left. The only thing i can do is coat the inside and outside with a sealing agent to prevent any new from forming.

And like I said before, I appreciate the knowledge. I plan on restoring more projects after this, so it'll come in handy one day.
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Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Finally got him back home. Time to make it roll under it's own power again.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Removed the radiator support in preparation for my engine swap.
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Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Old 350/350 removed, and front end gone.

Gonna get more pics up on here soon.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Took some more pics today. If anyone knows how to remove the glare, I'd appreciate the info.

I assume the orange we uncovered is the factory color.

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0538.jpg

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0537.jpg

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0536.jpg

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0535.jpg

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Nice progress!!

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Thanks!! This is my first attempt at a restoration and i may be biting off too much, but so far i've been able to do it all. Except for rusty crossmember bolts, that took help!
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Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

A big day in the life of a truck, I brought home his new engine!

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-28-11056.jpg

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-28-11053.jpg

And some better pics of the newly made opening, sans ugly flash glare

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-28-11052.jpg

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-28-11049.jpg

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Great looking truck to start with. Looking forward to the finished product.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Yep, i loved it from the first time i saw it. (though it stranded me on my test drive. Rubber fuel hose was being pinched at the tank when someone sat on the passenger side) I wish i could have driven it more before i started the teardown, but it had a series of small issues i had to fix and i finally just started the teardown.
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Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Got the cab-forward area of my frame cleaned off and painted today. Also got my '82 donor front end mostly disassembled. LCA bolts are soaking in some WD-40 to ease them off.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Been slacking on the truck and took a vacation. Got the donor front end disassembled finally and the crossmember is in place ready to start the engine test fitting. Hope to make big progress and have something to take a picture of!
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Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Took the plunge and started dropping in the 5.3. Got it in place and all, but if I had it to do over again I think I'd buy the purpose-built motor mounts instead of using the template here to make them. Having a beast of a time getting everything to line up.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Finally got the engine bolted in place. Not too tough, just took some trial and error with the DIY adapter plates.

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0851.jpg

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0850.jpg

Had to do some surgery on the old SBC mounts, as seen here:

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0856.jpg
and a better pic here:
http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0858.jpg

It's tough to make out, but I had to trim it to clear the bolt. Nothing would line up without it. I also had to trim a bit to keep the mount from hitting the block, but a pic was impossible once i got it installed.

Don't have a lot of room for headers here:

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0863.jpg

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0854.jpg

Plenty of firewall clearance, though. And this is with the motor mounts in the back two holes.

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0859.jpg

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0860.jpg


Some tips for using the DIY adapter plates. Bolt them to the block and then the rubber to the adapter before you start dropping the motor in. Had a booger of a time tring to bolt them on the block once we set the engine in place. Wound up pulling the engine back out and bolting them down first. Hope it saves you some time. Also, I don't know the thickness of the plate, but I feel like a slightly smaller thickness would make this job a bit easier (can't speak to it being strong enough, though. Had a machinist in my family make mine and he used some scrap he had on hand).

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Ordered my HPTuner Software today. Gonna take the plunge and tune it myself. If it works out, I can also tune my 04 Z71 :)

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Entirely too hot in the shop to work today. Got the coil spring in and the A-Arm bolted together before calling it quits.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

LOL at least you got something done. I tried working on mine and accomplished nothing. It was pushing 100 here today. Got sweaty just standing around! You have a great looking truck btw. I definitely want to see how it turns out :)
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Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Finally getting back to work on this. Started messing with the Transmission crossmember, trying to reuse my old Turbo 350 crossmember. Having some issues with alignment, but I'm sure I'll get them sorted tonight.

Also picked up a 5-lug rearend (wheel to wheel) from a guy on CL for $100. Seemed like a pretty sweet deal, even if it does have 3.08 gears in it. It's from a 72, so it should be a straight bolt in and a heckuva cheap 5 lug swap. Also, higher gearing will help with highway mileage, but I was hoping for something a hair lower. Oh well. If I decide it needs changing down the road I'll swap some newer gears in.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

nice work and nice truck....i also made a little progress on my 63 while it is cool out, way better than those 99-100 degree temps we have had the past few weeks....what city in alabama are you from?

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

The heat was definitely a momentum killer. I'm from the athens area. Theres a lot of these old trucks around here, local cruise night has 3-4 normally. One day I'll join em
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Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Well, after careful consideration I believe I've bit off more than I can chew on this. Going to be posting my basket case in the "for sale" section soon. Sad day, but I don't have the space to work on it nor the knowledge or helping hands to finish it and make it something I'd be proud to drive. I've got all the great parts to start a great stepside build, though, so hopefully someone'll come trailer it away.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Wow
I am not even sure what else to say.
Too bad you are giving up on it, that is a smart looking rig.

I did want to ask though, in picture #1 why your rim direction were opposing?
Usually people have them going in the same direction.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Was just that way when I bought it. I drove it home about two hours from the guy i bought it from and it wasa nearly midnight when we got it here. I took those pics the next day before I did anything to it.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Well, I found out that my extra pair of helping hands won't be able to help anymore, so I'm going to have to put this one up for sale and wait until I either find another one or get another helper.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

sad to hear you have to let it go! but its like they say you'll find another one, when your ready for another just ask on the site, i'm sure someone will be able to help you out!! on a site note i do mostly everything to my truck by myself too, its just the really hard stuff is when i get help!

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Yeah, I'm sad to see it go. However, if I can sell it fairly quickly there's another one around here I've got my eye on. It's a 64 283 that's had a fairly recent restoration done to it. No major work should be needed.

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

is it the rust in the cab thats made to feel the need to sell it? can you but the other motor back in it and it be easier to put back together? ive been save parts for my truck for 6 years, i got the cab, front clip on a frame, then i got my fleetside bed 2 years ago, and then i got my 70' frame with the steel floor last summer! i started working on it since last summer but really only this last year have i really been working on it! i wish i would have been working on it the whole time and my truck would be done, but life gets in the way and they i had two kids so the truck got but on hold then!

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

No, the rust isn't the issue. It's been mostly taken care of with new patch panels. If I can't sell then I guess I'll keep working on it, but it won't be done this decade :waah:

Re: 66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"
 

Good news! I found someone who can do some of the work I needed done for a very reasonable price. So I gets to keep it!