69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Well I had this full size Colt 1911 stainless 45 ACP in my safe for the past ten years gathering dust because my compact 45 ACP is much easier to carry with my concealed weapons permit. It was a fantastic weapon just not the easiest to carry without scaring the natives.

I had considered selling it but just hadn't gotten around to getting rid of it.

Browsing Craig's List the other day and a guy had a 69 C10 shortbed stepside project truck on there for sale and he listed a nice gun as a possible trade.

Next thing you know the deal is done and I am now the proud owner of a 69 C10 shortbed stepside. :metal:

The name 45 ACP just seems to fit since that is what paid for the truck.

I brought home all the pieces that would fit into my Tahoe this afternoon and will go back tomorrow or Friday and get the rolling chassis with cab, bed, hood and the rest of the parts. He has pretty much everything to make a complete truck, it just needs put together for the most part.

Forgot the camera at home so no pics of the truck itself except the CL pics.

Cab is pretty nice with only very minor rust. He bought Keyparts floors, driver rocker and a front pillar patch for it but they haven't been installed. It doesn't need but some very small pieces of the outer floor area patched so I probably won't use the floor pans on this cab. The outer rocker on the driver side has been removed so that has to go on for sure. The inner rocker looks like new underneath so that was nice to see. The cab supports & cab corners look great too.

Came with a running 4-bolt 350 and Saginaw 3-speed manual trans plus a nice Edelbrock electric choke carburetor. I will pick the engine up when he can go get it out of his shop.

On with the pics.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Here are a few shots of the stuff I packed into the Tahoe around the third row seats and my daughter.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

And a few more...

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Looks like a great start and a great name for a truck!!

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Nice buy!

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Nice trade..

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Thanks, now I just have to figure out what I am going to do with it.

We will see what I come up with after I get it home tomorrow and have a chance to mull it over.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Thanks guys. I think I got a great deal and the guy was happy with the trade being an ex-marine who carried the exact same gun as his side arm.

I've been looking for a 67-72 short bed stepside for quite some time now but never could afford what I did find for sale.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

I have decided I am going to put the 67-68 front clip from the K10 project onto the stepside and put the best of the two 69 front clip parts I have onto the K10.

It will allow me to put the A/C core support onto the K10 that has the factory A/C cab and give me the front end I really like on the cool little stepside.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Got the stepside home today with no problems. Nearly an hour drive each way.

Went to the DMV and got collector vehicle plates for it while transferring the title.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

A few more...

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Plan for the truck is to finish pulling out the manual trans parts & front drum brake stuff and put them onto the 67 C10 longbed truck along with installing the 350 that came with the stepside truck.

Once that is done I will drop in the 396 & T-400 out of my Camaro along with the column shift auto column & automatic pedal assembly from my other trucks. The truck will get the 427 I have in storage once I have the funds to put some new rods & pump gas friendly pistons into it and freshen it up. 13.5 to 1 and aluminum rods just aren't good for the street. The Camaro is getting a single turbo LS engine & 4L80E once I get back to it so losing the big block to the stepside is OK.

I have a set of big block headers that are left over from when I had a 396 in the 67 C10 longbed truck plus all the pieces needed to build a 3" Flowmaster exhaust system for the truck. Should sound nasty. My neighbors are going to hate me :devil:

The truck will stay manual steering and manual brakes but will get the C2500LD 6-lug disc brake parts I have and a Vette manual disc brake master cylinder & adjustable proportioning valve.

The PO removed the gas tank and did a decent job of welding a patch over the fuel filler hole in the cab so I will need to figure out a rear mounted fuel tank to use for the stepside. Not sure what I will end up doing or where to put the filler neck. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Not sure what it will weigh but it can't be much more than my 3900 pound 70 Chevelle. I will probably build some Cal-Trac style traction bars for the stepside to see if I can get the little thing to hook up.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Looks like a nice project!

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Looking like a great plan!
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Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

The olive green special order paint color makes me think this was government, forest service or other fleet truck at one time.

Looks like there was a larger decal on the glove box door above the small checklist decal that is still there. Wonder what it was.

Toggle switch & indicator lamp on the left side of the gauge cluster look military and 60's style.

Interesting minimalist options.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

my truck i'm building was my fathers and he was in the Marine Corps for 45 years so i'm using an ammo can in the bed floor for the fuel filler.... but you might not have the room on the step side.

slick story on how you got the truck and name too!

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Nice story behind yours too. I wish mine had been in the family somehow just for the heritage of it.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Sounds like you have a good plan figured out.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

I was planning on doing a rear disc brake conversion to it and run a C3 Vette manual brake master cylinder but decided to keep it simple and run the new drum brakes out back that the PO just finished.

This worked out to be able to use a 71 C10 front disc rear drum master cylinder. It has the deep push rod hole so it can be run with manual brakes like I will be doing. A big whopping $14 with a lifetime warranty. Power brakes are a waste of time on this thing as the engine builds too little vacuum for them to work.

Cleaned it up and sprayed the bare cast iron of the outside with a matte finish clear coat. Looks just like the unpainted interior of the master cylinder when it dried. I will have to be careful not to spill any fluid on it as I really doubt it is chemical resistant. We will see how it holds up.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

The M/C looks good.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Good idea. I hate how fast they surface rust. My almost brand new one on the truck I bought is now rust colored ;) I am switching to power brakes so I'm going to get a new master and will try engine clear to see if it holds up to the brake fluid...although nothing seems to hold up other than powdercoat :D

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

I agree. I love the look of bare clean cast metal but it never stays looking that good for long.

I'm considering giving this stuff a try on a freshly blasted aluminum intake manifold and see how it holds up.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Well I went to the wrecking yard to pick up some square body clamshell style motor mount stands so they will hold up to the big block and came home with a pretty decent 68 auto trans steering column with a nice 68 steering wheel on it plus a dent & hole free glove box door, nice shiny ball bearing style ash tray assembly, a set of tail light housing for my 67 C10 longbed and a set of marker lamp lenses for the stepside in addition to the motor mount stands. Also got a nice parking brake pedal pad, a set of clutch & brake pedal pads, some matching headlight & wiper control knobs and a set of headlight adjusters. Grand total a big $42.

I wasn't sure how well the square body stands would fit the 67-72 engine crossmember but they sit on it properly. Ran out of time so I still need to go back and get the steel part that bolts to the engine block but I have the hard part. I may steal the steel pieces from the K10 project for now to get the engine in this thing sooner and swap them out down the road when I get back to the K10 project engine install.

Its too dark to take any more pics. I just got home from shooting off about 400 rounds in my other 45 ACP at a friends house. Time to clean the powder residue out of the thing now.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Next thing on the to do list is to get the cab lifted up a bit so I can grind off the top rivets from the manual trans crossmember then clean & paint the front frame section and firewall with satin black after it is removed.

I really want to get that big block in there and get the 67/68 front clip installed so I can put this thing in DP90 to protect it before the weather changes around here.

I'm curious if the big tube tri-Y headers from my Camaro will clear the stepside frame and floor boards. The Camaro frame rails are a little further apart than the early trucks so they might not clear. I have a set of 1-3/4" tube headers from when I had a 396 in my 67 C10 so they are the fall back if the bigger headers from the Camaro don't work out.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

I really envy you guys with good junkyards. We're lucky if we get 3-4 in the yards around here TOTAL for a YEAR!!!

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

We are fortunate to have a pull it yourself yard that seems to get a pretty good amount of 67-72's in it. Some days there are none but others there are 4 or 5. Just need to make regular trips out there to get anything good.

Their online inventory is a few days behind the actual inventory so the trucks are picked over pretty good before they make it on the web site as even being there.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Didn't get much time to tinker today as it was the last day of the fair and my girls wanted to go.

I did get the firewall stripped and scuffed then repainted satin black. Didn't care for the PO's color choice of light silver for the firewall so this is a welcome change.

I will put a second coat on it tomorrow.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

looks alot better black

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Thanks, I agree. I have always liked the stock look with the satin black firewall, inner fenders & core support.

The silver just would have looked out of place when I am going with a completely different color, most likely black so it needed to change either way.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Got the cab tipped back on the rear cab mounts enough to get my grinder in and access the rivets on top of the frame.

What a paint in the rear those were to deal with. Why they didn't bolt that manual trans crossmember in place I will never know.

Had to grind off all twelve rivets as the crossmember is to tight of a fit to turn enough to get out of the frame intact.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Started cleaning the frame where I had just removed the manual trans crossmember rivets then completely lost my mind.

I ended up pulling the front suspension crossmeber out of the frame so I could clean it properly. I hadn't planned on doing this now but just couldn't resist while the engine was out and the front clip was not on yet.

Couldn't find my air gun filters or my at the gun regulator or I would have sprayed it this afternoon. I'm just going to buy some new parts along with some new grade-8 hardware to bolt the suspension back into the frame with tomorrow after a job interview I'm going to.

I used a wire wheel on my 4-1/2" electric grinder to get the bulk of the crud off then a red scotch-brite pad soaked in mineral spirits to get what I couldn't reach with the grinder.

I'm going to use rustoleum clean metal primer and satin black stops rust paint on the frame.

I may hit the firewall with it too while I am at it but now I want to wire wheel the firewall clean to remove the older layers of paint below the satin black I just put on yesterday :banghead:

I am only doing the area forward of the front cab mounts right now as I don't have a death wish and the cab will be coming off after I get the front suspension back in and the big block installed.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

I see the "might as wells" got you :D It will make it that much nicer!!! Good progress!

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

I know the feeling. It will pay off in the end.
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Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

I was hoping to get to the end a little sooner but at least now I won't have to pull the engine again to get where I want to be with this truck.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Decided not to use the primer with the frame. It was optional for "a more durable finish" according to the mfg. I just didn't want to wait 24 hours of drying time before I could put the black top coat over the primer. We will see how durable it turns out this way.

Looks pretty good sprayed on. I used 15% acetone to reduce it and sprayed it out of a cheapo HF spray gun.

I will recoat the frame tomorrow when I spray the engine crossmember & A-arms.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Engine crossmember was a complete pain to get clean. Lots of tight spaces the wire wheel on the grinder didn't like to go but I got it clean.

It is wiped down and ready to paint but I will wait to spray it until I have the A-arms & motor mount stands ready to go too because I hate cleaning spray guns.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

I think the 80k miles on the speedo are correct and that this was a well maintained vehicle for much of its life. The upper ball joints were the originals still riveted in place and felt solid as a rock after I pulled the spindles. So did the lower ones too.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Looking good!

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

I got the A-arms & motor mount stands cleaned up and painted along with the front coil springs. I also repainted my good newer silver front shocks to match the brand new white ones on the back.

I also put a second coat on the front frame rails.

Found a good use for the swing set my girls rarely use too.

Re: 69 C10 swb stepside project 45 ACP
 

Nice build! Subscribed.