64 Stepside - New Zealand Project

[phraza]

Hi all,

Recently imported a 64 Shortbed Stepside in to New Zealand from sunny San Francisco.

Spent it's whole life there, and has only had one owner (I think, the son was selling it on behalf of his Granddad).

Needs a few things done for it to be road legal here in NZ, which I'm currently working on. Not many of these are over here, only spotted a couple out on the road.

1964 Shortbed Stepside
350 V8 - ran the numbers and it's a 1979, would probably get a new 350 crate in the future
4 speed on the floor Saginaw - a bit clunky, needs pulling apart and some love given to it.

Will update with photos as I go along, you'll probably see me ask some silly questions in the general area of the forum (sorry). As these things are quite rare here, not many people know about them.

List of things I have to do to get it road legal here in NZ:

- Seatbelts: needed to have diagonal seatbelts for the 2 outer seats. This is all done and they look really tidy
- Rust repairs: needed a couple of small holes in the B Pillar repaired, pretty good as that's the only rust on the car. This is all done, just needs final paint.
- Rear window: needed a new rear window that has the safety stamp on it. All done, got a new toughened piece put in for cheap.
- Brakes: needs all brake lines, pipes and drum assembles seen to. I'm coming over to the US next week and have ordered a heap of parts for me to bring back. So will be tackling this in a couple of weeks after I'm back.
- E Brake: needs fixing/adjusted.
- Speedo: needs to be adjusted as it's got slightly larger tires. Have already taken the speedo gear out etc, and ordered new parts.
- Driveshaft Loop: needs a driveshaft safety loop for legal reasons here, as the engine is not standard. Will install this in a few weeks also.
- Fan Shroud: needs a fan shroud, currently has a mechanical fan, not sure what way I want to go: either get a shroud for that, or just put an electric fan in with a thermo switch.

Then the plan for the rest of the truck is to just make it tidy and clean.

- Bed: I bought back a full wood bed kit when I got the car shipped over. I ordered the Oak set with stainless strips etc from Mar-K. Looking forward to installing that soon.
- Engine: I have a new air cleaner, rocker covers, electronic distributor converter to put on when I can. Engine is pretty strong and well looked after which is awesome.
- Shifter: I'm picking up a new Hurst bench seat shifter stick in the US when I'm there
- Interior: Will find a cover (Mexican rug perhaps?) for the seats. Pretty sure it's the original vinyl cover so I want to protect that. Also plans to carpet the floor, tidy up the dash and replace the stereo.
- Exterior: The exterior is pretty tidy, has had a paint job on the last few years I would say, it's really good condition. (Recently repaired front corner which needs final paint). Tires are all good, but when they get low I'll replace them with BFGoodrich white letter tyres (or switch it up and go with steelies and whitewalls). Needs a side mirror for the passenger side too.
- Other: Lots of other little things that I'll work on and add to this build thread. Watch this space!

Anyway, I'll update this thread when I can, I'll add some initial photos the next couple of days so ya'll know what I'm working with.

Pretty excited, first classic car I've owned.

Cheers

[markeb01]

What a beautiful truck, and great plans for the future. Looking forward to the progress. Good luck!

[phraza]

Originally Posted by markeb01

What a beautiful truck, and great plans for the future. Looking forward to the progress. Good luck!

Cheers mate, always looking forward to the weekends to work on it!

[ibrown50]

Nice truck, looks to be in really good shape and IMHO 64 short steps are the best looking

Looking forward to your updates

[phraza]

Got back from a week in the US. First time there and I loved it! Thought I would see more older cars, but mainly new trucks on the streets. (I was in Anaheim, Palm Springs, San Diego and LA).

Pick up a bunch of goodies in the pic below. Airline didn't mind me bringing it all back haha.

4x drums
4x sets of shoes
4x brake cylinders
Hardware kits
Master cylinder
Shifter
Speedo Gear
Speedo Gear housing
Parking brake lever thingy

Unfortunately the speedo is still out with the new gear, so need to look into that issue again (Mentioned in my other thread). Might need a new speedo cable.

Getting my father in law to help with the brakes in the next couple of weeks (installing all the above, plus all new lines and hoses, can't wait!)



Bought a US flag for the garage while I was there heading back up at the end of October for 2 weeks. San Fran/Seattle/Vegas on that trip, will keep an eye out for events the dates I'm there, would be cool to check out a car show or swap meet or sometihng.

[phraza]

Father in law has been working a bit on the truck recently. Been hard as I have to work during the week, so don't get much time to help him out.

He's done half replacing the brakes, ordered new hoses and pipes.

Has also had a radiator shroud measured up and getting made from a mate.

Hopefully in the next week he will have finished his stuff then I only have a couple of things to do to get it back on the road:

- Speedo calibration
- Driveshaft loop

Woo! Can't wait!

I'm coming up to the US again at the end of October for 2 weeks. I already have some parts being sent to my mates place:

- New side mirror
- New door seals
- New dash knobs
- Speedo cable (mine is jumpy)
- Tailgate chain covers
- Locking gas cap

I might look at a seat cover while I'm up there, as mine is a bit boring (see below). It's old and good condition, but I slide around on it when going around corners haha. Also a carpet kit if I can fit that in my suitcase

[phraza]

Awesome day at my father in laws place getting the brakes finalized.

So this stuff is all done:

- New master cylinder
- New brake pipes all over
- New brake hoses
- New drums, shoes, cylinders etc
- Installed driveshaft safety loop
- Installed radiator shroud (it's now painted black, not like the pic below)
- Reset the parking brake (pulled about the mechanism and put back)
- Took the speedo out to take to a speedo specialist to get it calibrated

Drove it home tonight, drives and brakes really well now

Couple of pictures



(Fan shroud looks way better now it's painted)

[Palf70Step]

That is a very clean looking truck to start with. Looking forward to your progress.

[phraza]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

That is a very clean looking truck to start with. Looking forward to your progress.

Cheers! I got pretty lucky with this one, she's pretty solid.

Summer is just around the corner here, can't wait!

[phraza]

Here's a couple of pics of the painted fan shroud





I have a new air cleaner, valve covers to go on soon, then I'll give the actual engine block a scrub and maybe new rad hoses. The edelbrock intake/carb are pretty good condition

Then take off the exhaust manifolds to get painted (one has a slight leak too, sounds like a tractor at times haha)

[phraza]

Got my speedo back from the calibrator guy. He even cleaned it up for me! Looks really good now, just needs a lick of paint around the outside.

He did notice when he had it apart that the odometer was missing a cog and doesn't work.

Might have to keep an eye out for another one to replace it with (don't want to buy a whole speedo). Anyone got a spare lying around? Or know where to get a cheap odometer?

Cheers!

[phraza]

Got the truck back from the painters yesterday. They painted the rust repairs in the corners behind the bottom of the doors (B pillar?), and also an existing repair on the front corner (previous owner just had it primered).

Looks awesome now, getting final checks next week then it's road legal! Can't wait!

Not long until I head up to the US for a couple of weeks. Doing a few things, but mainly in CA (San Fran, Yosemite, Vegas) and Seattle. Going part shopping when I can

[phraza]

So happy today, got the truck road legal! Got plates and everything.

Can't wait to go cruising this weekend in it!

[Palf70Step]

[markeb01]

Beautiful!!!!!

[phraza]

Thanks guys, picking up a heaps of parts when I come up on vacation in a couple of weeks to the US, so that will keep me busy the next wee while

[61K10]

Looking good--have fun.

[phraza]

Had a pretty decent drive in the weekend. On the freeway for about 2-3 hours, mainly at 60mph.

Sat at that speed no probs, but it's missing a bit under load. So will go through and check all the plugs, leads etc. I have an electronic converter for the distributor which i'll also install in the next couple of weeks. (One of those Pertronix Ignitor II kits).

Exhaust leak is getting louder, sounds like a tractor at times haha. That is also next on the list to get fixed. Father in law is looking after our house while we are away in the US, so he is going to tinker with it (he loves it haha).

[northern 85]

Congrats on a really cool truck!

[phraza]

Originally Posted by northern 85

Congrats on a really cool truck!

Cheers mate!

[phraza]

Got back yesterday from my trip to the US. Had a blast, love checking out all the cool trucks!

Picked up several goodies for my c10 while I was there, and my father in law who was house sitting tidied up the engine bay too.

Will get more pics, but this weekend I have:
- clear tail gate chain covers
- new dash knobs
- new hurst shifter + knob
- new passenger side mirror (mine only had one)

And while I was away:
- new leads
- new plugs
- new air filter
- fixed exhaust leak (exhaust gasket and flange gasket
- new rocker covers

Runs really well now, nice idle and no hesitation/missing feeling when driving.

Summer is coming here in NZ, so i'll be busy with more parts to fit!

[Palf70Step]

Looking good. Now a few presummer burnouts.

[phraza]

Took it to work today as there was a free park at the office. Just fits haha! I think most parks down here are suited for smaller Japanese cars. Not many Chevys around

[phraza]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Looking good. Now a few presummer burnouts.

Indeed! Get that 4 speed burnin' those tires

[phraza]

Installed my new door stop brackets in the weekend.

Took the old ones out, and they didn't seem that old, and the rubber was still in good condition. (Reason for replacing is because my doors open too wide).

So I put the new ones in and the door still opened too wide. I decided to add both blocks of rubber to see if that helps and it does, it's a bit spongy when opening it (cause of more rubber I guess). In the future I could maybe put a few washers in the brackets so it doesn't open as far

This weekend hopefully start to install my aftermarket gauges. Have Oil Pressure, Water Temp and Voltage to install under the dash. Also need to rewire the radio as it stays on when the key is out, just need to swap the wires over I think. New stereo probably in a couple of months (mine has a cracked screen, and the US frequency doesn't work in NZ)