Restoring my (Dad's) 1970 CST

[Jessdigs]

I have my dad's 70 CST he gave to me when I was 16. It's a factory shortbed stepside truck, factory 402 and TH400, 12 bolt posi leaf spring with 4.11:1. I drove it in high school in the late 90's and unfortunately I blew up the 400 BB racing around 2002. I put a 350 in it and drove it a few years always wanting to put a new big block back in it. When I started commuting for work I bought a cheaper commuter and parked it. When my parents bought property near grizzly flat in Elk Dorado I parked it under an oak tree and it sat there from 2006 until August of 2021 when the caldor fire hit.
I was watching the fire get closer and closer, so I went up to clear all the brush from my parents property to try and save their house from the fire. I'm a heavy equipment operator by trade and it took me a few days to take all the brush and grass down to bare dirt on 25 acres and on the last day I brought a trailer up hoping to get the truck out. They had grizzly flat road blocked off and weren't letting anyone up with vehicles, but as I was leaving the last night late, about 11pm I talked the CHP into letting me go up and grab the truck. Thankfully my parents house did not burn and the truck has been at my house in the bay area since. I lost my father to mesothelioma a year later, so although the truck is in rough shape, it has sentimental value and I want to save it. It's my fault it's in the shape it's in but when I parked it I didn't have the money to fix it up and if I had to pay to store it all those years I might have lost it. I'm older now and have a good job and I've been able to save up some money to fund the restoration but I'm going to do what work I can to save $ and have more for the big ticket items.
I've had a lot of time to decide what I want to do and I want to slightly restomod it. I want it to look like a 70 era truck but run and drive like a new one.
The big block, 3 speed, and low gears were fun when I was a teenager but they were terrible on the highway.
I ended up buying an LT4/10L90E from a wrecked 2018 ZL1 Camaro and I bought a standalone harness from speartech to make it work. I'm going to order a standard ride height chassis from roaster shop to put it on which will take care of lowering it slightly, motor mounts/trans mount, disc brakes, and a 9" with 3.00 gears for the 10 speed trans to do it's thing. The truck sat in a field for 15 years but it only has a little rust. The trees around it did a good job of keeping the rain and snow off. It needs both rockers and a driver's side cab corner, and a small patch on the passenger side floor. I purchased all the patch panels I need and will be doing them myself. I also want to switch it to a short Fleetside bed but I'll probably keep the stepside bed too. You never know.
I was looking for a factory short bed to put on it but they cost a fortune , so I found two long beds locally for cheap that I'm using to practice cutting and welding as I've never tried any body work before. I've finished one already but the first one came out great and I don't think I'll need the second one so I may cut it down and sell it as a converted short bed. I'm getting ready to pull the cab start cutting into that. I think cutting down the bedsides gave me the confidence I needed to start.
I'll post pictures as I go.

[Jessdigs]

Here's the spid but hard to read

[Jessdigs]

Rust on rockers.

[special-K]

WOW! What a super cool truck from the factory, CST big block/4.10 SWB Stepside. That's a genuine factory muscle truck right there. That's a rare one

[jerry moss]

glad you were able to hang on to it for all those years AND you have a great story to go with, that's awesome. i'm just over the hill in brentwood.

[Steeveedee]

That's close to Yenko material, right there! Cool truck.

[1970cstblazer]

Neat truck. Unusual with the options. With the factory skinny bias ply tires, I'm certain it was a smoke show.

[72 tigger]

Cool story and truck!

[Jessdigs]

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

Neat truck. Unusual with the options. With the factory skinny bias ply tires, I'm certain it was a smoke show.

Thank you guys!
It was pretty quick stoplight to stoplight. We had a camper shell on it that my and my brother and sister grew up in. Sometimes we'd all go flying towards the back of the shell and I figured out years later why, especially when I started driving it. Pops was racing everyone from the stop.
After I put the 350 in it and drove it wasn't the same. Hopefully the LT4 with it's 650+ HP and torque will put a smile on my face again. And having the 10 speed and right gearing will give me close to the same mileage as the Camaro it came out of (20 ish mpg). The 10L90E has a 7.39 overall gear ratio and still has a 4.70 first gear with 3 overdrive gears up to 0.64. My truck weighs about 300lb less than the Camaro and will be Even lighter with a new chassis.

[68bowtie]

That camper shell is awesome! Straight from the 70’s for sure. Love the meats with raised white letters too.

[yuccales]

Great story about your truck. Looking forward to your progress on the rebuild!

[Jessdigs]

Originally Posted by yuccales

Great story about your truck. Looking forward to your progress on the rebuild!

Thanks. It's been years since I was working on this thing regularly.. But I still know my way around it.
I have been working on cutting down the bed floor. I test fit the bed side to make sure everything lined up before welding and it was perfect. All the holes lined up and bed floor was square. It's amazing what you can learn to do on YouTube.

[dagnabbitt]

That is one rare truck, look forward to following along.

[loudchevy]

Sweet truck, that new drivetrain is gonna be awesome. I to find it amazing what you can learn on Youtube. Nice job cutting the bedside down. Tons of good videos on the rocker replacement on YT as well.

[RenoKeene]

Sweet! Love a factory Big Block stepper. Wonder why

[LT7A]

Such a great picture with the canopy painted to match. All the right details. I like a lowered truck. But that truck had real street presence with the white letter Big O tires.

[Jessdigs]

Trying my hand at making a tip and flip cart to work on the cab. I tried messaging the guy with the plans on here and through email but he did not answer, so I'm Going off of the measurements posted on the forum.. almost done with the cart. The flip portion will be removable.

[clay68c10]

That dolly is a life saver.
Cool family truck, it’ll be a fun one.

[loudchevy]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

That dolly is a life saver.

Quoted for truth. So nice to have things on wheels to move around. Looking forward to seeing how you do the "flip" portion. I just extended the dolly rails out the rear and used them as a pivot point when lifting the cab from the front firewall. Def makes working on the bottom of the cab easier.

[Ol Blue K20]

I'll be watching!