My 1972 Chevy shortwide build REDUX

[69c10stepside]

I kept derailing my own previous build thread for this 72 a few times, time to start it over.

I had bought several parts and pieces of these pickups since I had sold my last 72 model I had, but I got tired of not having something more complete. Things came together and I bought this pickup.

SBC 350, turbo 350, power steering.





I have had it now roughly three months, and after getting tired of looking/driving past it everyday, I have decided to get it to the point of driving again. So far I have replaced the master cylinder (coverted to power brakes), fuel pump, and fuel filter.

I have it to the point where I can take it from my house to the shop to tinker on it. I am halfway through a serpentine conversion (running out of willpower when it is cold), put on some different wheels, put on the cowl induction hood that came with it also.



When I bought the pickup it came with the cowl induction hood I mentioned, new front fenders and another cab. I was going to go through the process of restoring the other cab, but I had another cab come up close to home. New cab is going to have a driver side rocker panel to be partially patch/replaced, about a quarter size of a hole in driver side floor pan and that is it. My major gripe with the cab is that it has had the factory radio hole cut to fit a DIN sized radio. I will fix it up when I want to work on it (might fix the radio hole, don't know yet), already getting interior parts bought/lined up for the better cab.

I might also replace the passenger side bed panel, pending how much rework it is going to need to get in shape.

Next moves for the short term are going to be finish the serpentine brackets, fix exhaust, and decide what to do for the fuel tank.

So anyways, my '72 rebuild will be running in tandem with my '89 model build, but each with different intentions.

[LakeAnna]

Cool truck you have there! Good luck with your build. Any pics of the interior?

[69c10stepside]

No interior pictures as of yet, don't have everything exactly figured out as to what I am going to keep/move to the other cab yet.

Started this thing up today to move it up to the shop for I could finish my serpentine bracket install when it decided to die right in the middle of me backing up. Started it up again, died again. It did this three or four times to me. Finally decided to get out and see if I could notice anything, and I there was a hint of gas in the air. I took the air cleaner off and noticed it was a bit damp. I just left the air cleaner off for I could see what was going on. Got back in, turned it over to get it to start, pumped the gas a bit, and then I seen a jet of gas shoot straight up in the air out of the carb.

Called my dad and he figured some trash got stuck in the carb (there wasn't a filter on the pickup when I got it, in the fuel line or the inlet on the carb).

So, today I pulled the carb/intake and put on a summit brand carb and older edelbrock intake on that I had laying around to get past the issue with the trash in the carb. Took about four hours and I was able to get the rest of the serpentine brackets on, everything done other then plumbing in the power steering.

Went from this:


To this (not all done yet, got dark and had to go into work!!)

[69c10stepside]

Finished hooking up the power steering and the rest of the cooling. Next on the agenda is going to be hooking up the gas pedal and anything else that needs hooked up from the carb/intake swap.

Going to put my black front fenders on it hopefully tomorrow, buy lowering springs, go through wiring to see what is going on with the head lights. Hopefully this weekend, I will also pull the fuel tank and put in my fuel cell in the bed.

[67c10rustbuket]

looking good! nice job on the serp conversion, is that from a 88-95 truck ? i have a couple of those setups stashed for projects because i hate V belts. On the dash/stereo hole issue you could remove one of the other dashes and install it in your good cab, if you dont mind drilling out some 50 spot welds and welding it in to the good cab. keep up the progress cant wait to see more!

[69c10stepside]

Yep, brackets were from a 90 model chevy pickup, and I am the same way on the vbelts. I have replaced a dash once that way, the next way I just cut it in the slots where the dash pad mounts and welded it there. The more I think about it, the more I have decided to just leave the cut dash as long as it is a straight cut.

[69c10stepside]

Picture of the brackets and everything wrapped up under the hood.



Started this morning after taking my daughter to school by pulling the passenger side fender..


Pulled the broke exhaust manifold off while I had everything undone on the passenger side.


What it looked like before I had to stop, still need need to try to get the inner fender straightened and put back on and replace the battery tray.



Found these in a box of parts that came with the pickup that I hadn't went through yet. The bag had new gaskets and backing plates for the mirrors.

I might get to work on it again tomorrow pending work schedule and weather.

[69c10stepside]

Worked on it today. Got the alt wired in after I drove the pickup to the shop. Finished hooking up other vacuum lines, changed wires and plugs.

Decided to move the pickup around the shop and unload some of parts/other things that was in the bed.. After I unloaded it all and went back to the shop with it, the transmission decided to start pumping fluid out of the dipstick after I had shut the pickup off. I did see it coming up and out of the dipstick tube, not the transmission case or anything like that, so I am going to hope that it is just the vent tube filled with dirt. I will look into that more maybe tomorrow or Monday..

Under all of the junk that was in the bed, found a good tailgate band that I didn't know was there. I went through everything else I got with the pickup and no other good suprises.

[69c10stepside]

Replaced the rear springs, with the springs from a 2000 model jeep. Rear springs from a 4 cylinder jeep.. here are the pictures:

New spring vs old spring


Profile




I think it will turn out nicely after I put some drop spindles on (which I had planned on doing anyways).. Glad I found the topic talking about the jeep springs on here a few days ago, was worth my while!

[VA72C10]

Nice truck and nice progress!

[69c10stepside]

Thanks, it gets pretty exciting when you can actually see progress on one. I wish the front tires were the same size as the rears, I guess that will happen when I go to buy tires.

Anyways, took the pickup out for the first drive today, made it about three miles past the house and turned around. Good enough for me on the maiden voyage (for sure when it is pretty much just open manifolds!).

[69c10stepside]

Bought headers, passenger side bed panel, drop spindles, new poly mounts, adjustable proportioning valve, front bumper, and other odds and ends for it today.

Has anybody done one of the vintage air retro installs and not use the ac compressor that they have listed?

[69c10stepside]

Installed the headers and drop spindles today, just finished a few minutes ago and it is hard to get pictures in the dark. I will get some tomorrow.

[69c10stepside]

Pictures of headers that I forgot I had done earlier..





Passenger side was a pain, took more work then it should have. I will get pictures of the pickup tomorrow weather permitting..

[69c10stepside]

Pictures of it with the drop spindles on..

[casey g]

It's looking good
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[69c10stepside]

Bed side came in today, put some temporary exhaust on.. Motor had a come and go miss, ended up finding one of my new spark plugs was giving me some kind of fit. Looked at the cap and found that it was cracked and replaced it.

[69c10stepside]

I decided my test drives need to be more legal.. got license and insurance on this pickup today. Need to put my fuel cell in that way I am not as scared to drive it more then a couple of miles!

[69c10stepside]

Here is the bad of the cab that I am going to use on this pickup..







There is also a dent on the driver side at the rear of the cab and a quarter size hole from rust/dent in the driver side rocker panel. I will more then likely just patch a repair panel in the bad area instead of replacing the whole thing. I will patch in the areas on the floorpan with either the repair panels or whatever I get a hold of that looks close

[69c10stepside]

Bought a blazer style gas tank, most of the rubber parts needed for the cab and doors/windows.


Been digging up parts that I need to get everything setup in the new cab..

I want to do vintage air, but until I get to that point I guess I will put enough of the original A/C parts in to get some heat. Going to have to buy some of the duct work and new felts and other parts for the vents.

Have a factory tilt column for it, bought a CPP shift linkage kit to go with it, but not done digging things out.


Now for the bad.

The cab that I am going to use is from a '71 truck. That is also the title that I used for this pickup. The current interior door panels on my pickup now are not a '72 style anyways. My best set of doors are for a '72, so I might have to rework some of my other ones for I can get some that would be more "correct". I don't know if I am going to be that concerned with it since so much other stuff is going to be different, but it might be the part that pushes me too much.

On top of that, I was driving the pickup up to the shop to start some of the other work I am going to be doing to it tomorrow and I had a slight problem..



Apparently I forgot to tighten down the lug nuts on the front driver side wheel with my break over after I ran them up snug by hand. No damage done other then the wheel being a bit gouged on one of the holes, nothing I feel that would be an issue though.


Anyways, I am going to be working on it most of the day tomorrow. Hope to post back with something worthwhile being done!

[laid_out_70]

i like the new stance. lol

[69c10stepside]

It looks like some of the cars from Japan I seen before



I got the bed off today, got the first part of the gas tank install done.


While I had the bed off, I went ahead and put the new bed side on..


Hope to have the gas tank install done tomorrow, then I am going to put shocks on, front sway bar, wire up the fuel level and other odds and ends as cold weather/rain comes back in.

[69c10stepside]

Put the new bed side on, you can see the small area that was messed up on the bed panel that I didn't find until after the delivery was done/signed for. Not a big deal, it will still take a lot less work to get that fixed compared to the time to fix the original one.



Mounted the fill tube (cut the fill spout off of the old tank just for the sake of doing it) in the bed floor behind the wheel tub.



Dug up a front sway bar to install, and some other odds and ends that I will try to get done before I start the cab work.

After that I am going to start working on the replacement cab next, get it fixed and all the new parts put in before I take everything loose on the pickup. When I go to do that, I will be switching out the other front fender, radiator support and other hard parts.

[67cheby]

looking good, keep it up !

[69c10stepside]

Took it for another drive today. I am going to have to get a faster rearend or an overdrive transmission. Just thinking about 2500 rpms and only doing 50 ish mph ...

Next part to buy is going to be a windshield for the other cab, along with the few patch pieces that I don't want to try to make for the cab.

Picked up an aftermarket battery tray and all of the bolts needed to bolt a front clip together. Going to move all of the fenders/inner fenders etc over to a really good radiator support that I have when I do the cab swap. I have most of the hard parts needed now..

I am thinking pretty heavily on doing 73-87 style engine mounts on the pickup... Anyways, it is getting fun again!