Project "Grandpa gets a transplant"

[biohazardbill]

Some may have already seen pictures in the regular forums but now this bad boy is going to get some changes.

What we have here is a very solid 1967 step side that I purchased recently from a 91 year old man up the street from me. Have seen the truck sit under his carport for several years and always wondered what he was going to do with it. Finally it came up for sale and I got it. He sold it because he said he could not handle the manual steering anymore.

Plans were originally to keep it as it with the 6 cylinder (not original motor, PO said it was from a 72). It needed the carb rebuilt and a few other things. Mind you I am not a big fan of 6 cylinders but to keep the truck original and get her on the road quickly we were just going to fix these few items. Wife and I decided on a dollar amount to get her running as is, and if we hit that amount and still was not road worthy we would swap in a v8. Wel after rebuilding the carb, plugs, wires, rotor, points, cap the truck still was not running right, noticed a leak from a couple freeze plugs has an exhaust manifold leak ant the fuel pump just started leaking as well. If we could get rid of this miss it has, might have considered fixing those things but we have reached our dollar limit, truck isnt running right... so out the I6 will come. I know some of you will hate this decision etc.. but again it isnt the original motor.. so here comes the swap.

So plans for the truck as of now.

Keep body, paint etc as is.

Swap in big block/700r4

Lower it, not sure how much or what direction at this point.

At this minute the truck sits as you see below. As soon as it warms up a bit, headed outside to remove the I6 and trans

[Hart_Rod]

Nice truck!!! There's sooooooo many ways you could go with this.....!!!!!!!

[Bhelton]

SUBSCRIBED

[smartass12]

truck look a little familiar to me...

[biohazardbill]

Got started about 1 when it warmed up a bit.

Thanks Diabloceto for stopping by to give a hand.







Inner fenders are also out as well as the trans crossmember. Got to dark to take a pic. Removed inner fenders as we are going to clean up the engine compartment a bit and paint. Removing the inner fenders frees up alot of space to help in cleaning. To dark to take pics. Will need a new passenger side inner fender as there was some rot under the battery tray that someone had "fixed" before.

[Bhelton]

Originally Posted by biohazardbill

Some may have already seen pictures in the regular forums but now this bad boy is going to get some changes.

What we have here is a very solid 1967 step side that I purchased recently from a 91 year old man up the street from me. Have seen the truck sit under his carport for several years and always wondered what he was going to do with it. Finally it came up for sale and I got it. He sold it because he said he could not handle the manual steering anymore.

Plans were originally to keep it as it with the 6 cylinder (not original motor, PO said it was from a 72). It needed the carb rebuilt and a few other things. Mind you I am not a big fan of 6 cylinders but to keep the truck original and get her on the road quickly we were just going to fix these few items. Wife and I decided on a dollar amount to get her running as is, and if we hit that amount and still was not road worthy we would swap in a v8. Wel after rebuilding the carb, plugs, wires, rotor, points, cap the truck still was not running right, noticed a leak from a couple freeze plugs has an exhaust manifold leak ant the fuel pump just started leaking as well. If we could get rid of this miss it has, might have considered fixing those things but we have reached our dollar limit, truck isnt running right... so out the I6 will come. I know some of you will hate this decision etc.. but again it isnt the original motor.. so here comes the swap.

So plans for the truck as of now.

Keep body, paint etc as is.

Swap in big block/700r4

Lower it, not sure how much or what direction at this point.

At this minute the truck sits as you see below. As soon as it warms up a bit, headed outside to remove the I6 and trans

I want that steering wheel!!

Looks like it'll clean up pretty quick

[biohazardbill]

Alright, sun is out so here is current picture.



To convert over to automatic and still retain the stick look we opted to get a stick auto column (thanks bhelton) so that will be coming out today, we will also be converting to power brakes so off will come the master. Since the engine bay will the that stripped we decided to go ahead and throw some more parts at it. We have a set of 74 Control arms and steering components that have already been sand blasted and powder coated for a 66 Panel project we have. So today we will be removing the front crossmember and cleaning up pretty good in the front end, trimming the frame where need be for the ECE engine mounts (which will also be coming from the panel) and headers. Then we will be painting it all flat black in there.

The control arms have already been modified (ie bump stops removed etc) for bags however not sure if we will bag it at this time if at all.

[Hart_Rod]

Great progress! Where did you get the engine hoist??? That's pretty sweet.

[biohazardbill]

Engine hoist is agantry crane from Harbour Freight. I got it a few years ago. I believe original price was 695, waited til I saw it on sale for $100 off then also used a 20% off one item coupon from any of a number of magazines so got it for just under 500 with tax and everything. The hoist itself can from northern tool for 50 or so.

[Malamute]

Excellent start with that body. The sky is the limit with that truck!

[biohazardbill]

Break time, got a late start after going to Ihop for breakfast.. pancakes can sure make a man lazy....

Crossmember out





Nosey neighbor wondering what Im meesing with now.... (he is a cool old dude, likes messing with the yankee in his neck of the woods)



Getting the family in on the act....

Daughter pressure washing the crossmember:


Wife and Daughter:



Cant forget the spectator:

[mjensen]

Looks like a great start! I'll follow along

[biohazardbill]

Most everything is out from under the hood. Trying to figure out whe best way to get all the grease etc out of there short of blasting it. So if you guys have any suggestions I am all ears. Also debating what to do with the heater box. PO had some duct tape where the hoses attach, not sure why. So debating on removing it and going through it completely and reinstalling it, or just removing it and putting in some heater delete plates. I am not sure how hard those are to find. I did see some from porterbuilt that are weld in and basically shaves that part of the firewall. Probably wont make much progress during the week as I have to work to pay for these toys.

[biohazardbill]

Well not much progress since the weekend.. yesterday had issues getting the new blaster working. After working out some kinks, got started today. Not sure how much time I will have today/tomorrow to blast what I want but here goes.

[Rusbuilt]

Wow that truck looks great! Cant wait to see what all you do with it!

[biohazardbill]

Is it just me or does this seem right?



To bag or not to bag, that is the question....

[Bhelton]

Originally Posted by biohazardbill

Is it just me or does this seem right?



To bag or not to bag, that is the question....

By god, what is that velvet? That's beautiful!!...can I touch it?
Posted via Mobile Device

[biohazardbill]

Originally Posted by Bhelton

By god, what is that velvet? That's beautiful!!...can I touch it?
Posted via Mobile Device

Sure... come on down. That way I can start saving money on shipping.

Got the brake bracket, steering column and guages from you today Havent opened the boxes yet. I hate when work gets in the way of play.

[Bhelton]

Ha, I'm about outta parts!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Rusbuilt]

Bag it!!

[chopnchaneled]

Your neighbors name wouldn't be dave would it?

[biohazardbill]

Nope, his name is not Dave.

[chopnchaneled]

Originally Posted by biohazardbill

Nope, his name is not Dave.

OK,,, Thanks, he just looks a whole lot like a guy thats down in your area thats a retired machinest and is building a 31 model a on 32 rails.

[gdavis]

cool ride I like the way you are working on the old girl. With tender loving care. Work hard my friend.

[biohazardbill]

Ok some progress made today... seems like a lot more work than the pics show...

Started gathering parts this week.

So far I have got a 4 core radiator, new tail lights to replace the trailer lights currently on the truck, brake booster bracket which it turns out I will not be using, a different brake booster bracket I will be using, a 7 window guage cluster, automatic steering column which UPS broke, and 4 core radiator hold down tabs. Thanks to bhelton for help on some of these parts and diabloceto for coming over yet again and helping.

So put together some of the parts needed for the air ride conversion. I had these from a different project. Suicide doors front bag setup, 74 stock a-arms and steering, porterbuilt rear air setup.



Put security on the parts



Before we got real dirty, had to go to TSC.

Friends dont let friends do this:



Finished removing everything from the firewall



Sandblasted frame section:



Mocked up the suicide doors plates, drilled out ubolt holes to 9/16 for the 74 stuff:





Painted crossmember:



Painted frame:


Hopefully tomorrow the rest of the engine bay will be painted and back rolling on it's own wheels. Not sure how I am going to temporarily get air to the front bags yet.