1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Yes, it will be. I've been driving Blue for a week, it feels great.

I'll bet!

[pjmoreland]

Since I'm waiting for the transmission main shaft shim kit, I spent the evening doing some smaller tasks. I disassembled, cleaned and painted the clutch bellcrank.

[pjmoreland]

I also wire wheeled the exhaust manifolds and then painted them.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

Since I'm waiting for the transmission main shaft shim kit, I spent the evening doing some smaller tasks. I disassembled, cleaned and painted the clutch bellcrank.

I would have suggested you closely inspect the welds on the Z-Bar Ears before painting. Those welds have broken on me about three times. Twice on the GMC Jimmy and once on the Stepside. Not a good feeling when you're stuck in gear, stalled, in traffic, in the city...

The Jimmy's Z-Bar had some exotic S-style joggling done to it -- weakening the Factory welds. The Stepside was closing in on 400,000 at the time. Daily Driver, urban application.

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

I would have suggested you closely inspect the welds on the Z-Bar Ears before painting. Those welds have broken on me about three times. Twice on the GMC Jimmy and once on the Stepside. Not a good feeling when you're stuck in gear, stalled, in traffic, in the city...

The Jimmy's Z-Bar had some exotic S-style joggling done to it -- weakening the Factory welds. The Stepside was closing in on 400,000 at the time. Daily Driver, urban application.

Good advice. I didn't inspect the welds super closely, but I didn't see anything obvious under casual inspection. I won't be venturing far from home for the first few months of driving.

[pjmoreland]

Received the main shaft shim kit today, so I set the end play this evening. Took a couple tries. Got it set to .003", and the spec is .002-.006.

While reassembling the overdrive gears, it became apparent that I am missing a component due to the distance between the small gear and the threads for the nut that holds it in place. After a little online searching, I learned that I'm missing a spacer. It's on order now.

[raggedjim]

You've gotten a lot done on this in a short period of time! Nice work.

Did you have a build thread for your avatar truck (68 stepper)? I looked but didn't find one. Thanks, Rg

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

You've gotten a lot done on this in a short period of time! Nice work.

Did you have a build thread for your avatar truck (68 stepper)? I looked but didn't find one. Thanks, Rg

I should have done a build thread, but I didn't, unfortunately. I posted lots of stuff on the "What Did You Do Today To Your Truck?" thread. Here are some other threads that I created for some of the projects I did on it:

Fuel Tank Relocation

Bed Wood Replacement

Vintage Air Install

Disc Brake Conversion

700R4 TCC Arduino Controller

Tremec TKX

Buddy Bucket Seats

[raggedjim]

Thanks for the list, I'm sure I've read some of them.

[pjmoreland]

I'm waiting for some parts to arrive, so I worked on a side project today. The fresh air door seals are crumbling, and the metal has some surface rust. I ground off the formed ends of the rivets, cleaned up the parts and painted them.

[pjmoreland]

Painted

[loudchevy]

I really enjoy watching the progress you're making on this truck. The almost daily updates are very inspiring and your work and attention to detail is fantastic.

Well done!

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

I really enjoy watching the progress you're making on this truck. The almost daily updates are very inspiring and your work and attention to detail is fantastic.

Well done!

X2, I couldn't say it any better.

[pjmoreland]

Thanks, guys. I'm enjoying this project. I'm finding it challenging to have the parts I'll need to have in hand ahead of time. There's always something to work on though.