New Project: 1974 2WD Shortbed

[Shady Chevy]

New member here. Starting a new project. Just picked up a 1974 Chevy 2WD Shortbed. Here are some pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7876231...in/photostream

[Shady Chevy]

Having trouble posing pics. I put them on Flicker.com. But I thought I should be able to do it directly. Any help?

[Shady Chevy]

This truck was originally purchased by the US army. They owned it from 1974 to 1988. It was then purchased by a private individual in Hagerstown Maryland and used from 1988 to the present as a farm truck. I just picked the truck up on Saturday May 12, 2012 and brought it back to central Pennsylvania. It currently has a 350 with an Auto. I plan to turn it into a clean street truck. Specific details are yet to be decided. This is my first Chevy truck build, so help and suggestions are welcome. I am new to the Chevy world, coming from a Mopar background. Rough ideas are to paint it orange metallic, steel cowl hood, N/A built 350/350 with single 4, 15 inch wheels, corvette C4 seats, light tan interior, custom console with custom stereo system, plain tailgate with roll pan. More pics to come as I try to figure out how to post directly in the post.

[l79m20]

i use photbucket. Have to upload there and then copy the link while hovered over the pictured. You then post that link here in your reply. Hope that helps.

[Shady Chevy]

[Shady Chevy]

I79m20, Thanks. That worked perfect.

[Shady Chevy]

Ok, I started work this week. I am using a DA sander with 6 inch disks. I only had 80 and 60 grit on hand. I just bought 40 grit 6 inch disks at Lowes, but have not had a chance to try them yet. The good thing is that all the paint on the truck is original after 37 years, so there is not several layers. Any comments on what grit works best to get it down to bare metal?

[Shady Chevy]

Spent 1 1/2 hours removing the back bumper. It had to go ASAP. Looks better already without it. It will get a roll pan in the end. I have been wondering what the truck would look like with late 80's IROC wheels on it. Does anyone have pics of this style truck with IROC wheels on it? I realize that the IROC wheel is 5 X 4 3/4 pattern instead of 5 X 5 pattern that I have now, so I would need to do something there. Haven't had a chance to try my new 40 grit sanding disks yet. Looking forward to see how they work out.

[Gordonr1973]

Anything that doesn't scratch the metal deeply should be okay to use. I used 80, but there are people that use 60 and 40 as well.

Your rims can be used with adjusters. You can buy sets off of eBay to do that....I got my set on eBay for about $200.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=308430

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=328163

[Shady Chevy]

Gordon,
Thanks for the reply. I checked out the links. But I am still curious about using a factory IROC 16x8 wheel from a swap meet. If I spend the money on 20's I will go with a different style wheel while I am at it. I understand that the backspacing is not ideal. But I would be using a 1 1/4 inch think 4 3/4 inch to 5 inch wheel adapter anyhow. It seems that the extra 1 1/4 inch distance from the wheel adapter would help "take up" some of the excess backspacing. There is so much room in the wheel well of these trucks, it seems like it would work. I don't have any IROC wheels or spacers out in my shop right now to try.
But then this begs the next question. What is the backing plate to backing plate distance of an 80's Camaro rear axle compared to my '74 truck? It seems that getting a junkyard Camaro axle might be a good way to go, as it would also give me my 4 3/4 bolt pattern without spacers. (understand that I would have to weld the spring perches on, and I don't know about driveshaft length/ U joint compatibility) Or maybe there is some other junkyard choice that makes even more sense? Something that already has rear disc brakes?
Then if I really wanted to put a lot of work into it, what about a C4 corvette rear suspension? I am sure someone on here has done that on these trucks. Not that I would do that just to run IROC wheels, but I like the idea of using different factory parts in interesting combinations.
One last thought right now. There must be a factory front rotor off something that has a 4 3/4 bolt pattern that would fit right onto the factory 74 truck spindles?
I have just come over from the mopar muscle car world, so a lot of this basic GM compatibility stuff is all new to me.

[Shady Chevy]

I do have a set of 4 of these wheels in the shop. So I thought I would see what they look like. They are new, 15 by 10 inch with 4 3/4 inch bolt pattern. So they don't really fit, it is just hanging on the top wheel stud, to get an idea what they would look like if I bought the adapters and went with them.

[Shady Chevy]

Back to the body work: I tried the 40 grit 6 inch D/A disks. They work great. That is what I will be using to get down to bare metal. I still have no idea if I am going to even use this bed yet. I am not sure how hard/expensive it is going to be to find/buy a rust free bed. Here in Pennsylvania such a thing does not exist. LOL. I will be at trucks at Carlisle every year now, so I am not sure how often people bring nice beds for sale to that swap meet. That is the only big show I will have a chance to attend.

[Gordonr1973]

You can really do any of that.

If it was my truck and I really wanted to use those rims I'd get the adapters and see how it rides and how it tracks.

If I wanted to keep those rims then I'd consider swapping the rear axle. To me, it's a question of time and money. This is more or less what a sign says in a bodyshop shop I go to alot:

Things can be fast, cheap or good quality....but only two of the three.

If it's fast & cheap, it ain't good quality.
If it's cheap & good quality, it ain't fast.

And if it's good quality & fast, it sure ain't cheap!!

Originally Posted by Shady Chevy

Gordon,
Thanks for the reply. I checked out the links. But I am still curious about using a factory IROC 16x8 wheel from a swap meet. If I spend the money on 20's I will go with a different style wheel while I am at it. I understand that the backspacing is not ideal. But I would be using a 1 1/4 inch think 4 3/4 inch to 5 inch wheel adapter anyhow. It seems that the extra 1 1/4 inch distance from the wheel adapter would help "take up" some of the excess backspacing. There is so much room in the wheel well of these trucks, it seems like it would work. I don't have any IROC wheels or spacers out in my shop right now to try.
But then this begs the next question. What is the backing plate to backing plate distance of an 80's Camaro rear axle compared to my '74 truck? It seems that getting a junkyard Camaro axle might be a good way to go, as it would also give me my 4 3/4 bolt pattern without spacers. (understand that I would have to weld the spring perches on, and I don't know about driveshaft length/ U joint compatibility) Or maybe there is some other junkyard choice that makes even more sense? Something that already has rear disc brakes?
Then if I really wanted to put a lot of work into it, what about a C4 corvette rear suspension? I am sure someone on here has done that on these trucks. Not that I would do that just to run IROC wheels, but I like the idea of using different factory parts in interesting combinations.
One last thought right now. There must be a factory front rotor off something that has a 4 3/4 bolt pattern that would fit right onto the factory 74 truck spindles?
I have just come over from the mopar muscle car world, so a lot of this basic GM compatibility stuff is all new to me.

[Shady Chevy]

Gordon,
I think you are right. Get the adapters to see how things work out. If I like the wheels, then work on a permanent solution. I am going to look for a set of IROC wheels at the Carlisle shows this summer. The other thing I like about the IROC wheels is that I would paint the piece in the middle of each spoke body color, which right now is planned to be metallic orange as the top choice, with red or yellow second and third.
I haven't had a chance to read through your threads in your signature yet, but they looked really interesting. I am going to go through them as soon as I get some more time on the computer. Right now I am trying to get out in the shop every chance I get. I have 6 week old twins on top of a 3 year old right now, so every minute is valuable. All my friends think I am nuts for trying to build this truck...but that is my biggest motivation.
I was thinking about the motor a little today. I was assuming I would put together a basic 350 for it, but my brother pointed out the fact that I should start with a 400 foundation, and run vortec heads. It is going to be a street truck, so I really can't get to crazy with the motor and still drive it any time I want. The motor will be a whole other project in itself. Stay tuned for that chapter.
This is really going to be a fun project. My last project was a '71 Pro-Street Barracuda. Parts were so expensive that I didn't get too far and sold it on e-bay. 71 cuda grill is like $1000. Repo chevy truck grill is like $40. I can afford the parts and have fun actually working on the truck.

[Shady Chevy]

[Shady Chevy]

[Shady Chevy]

Was able to get the bed off Wednesday morning. I used an angle grinder to grind the heads off all 8 bolts that hold the bed on. Then hammer the bolts down thru. I would be interested if anyone has a clever way to remove those bolts. After 37 years of rust, there was no way they looked like the nut would ever come off, so I didn't even try.

I need to build a cart with wheels on to sit the bed on while it is off the truck. I figured wood would be the simplest way to build something, since I don't have any angle iron or sq tube around. Any interesting ideas here? I sure we all have the same need. Something to wheel the bed around on while working on it. The engine hoist did work great to lift it off the truck.

[Shady Chevy]

[Shady Chevy]

Progress Friday morning. Started cleaning up the frame. I am going to have to buy some type of sandblaster to do this job.

[RandyP]

I have to ask, why did you do anything to that bed besides remove it? I realize you're in the rust belt (at least I think) but I would think you could find a bed that is in much better shape.

I'll go grab some photos of the bed carts we have made ourselves. As long as you can stitch some angle iron together with a square, you can build one fairly easy.

[RandyP]

Ok, here's our two bed carts we made. One of them is standing upright against the booth so I can't really get a shot of the entire thing, but it is about 8'x4' with solid metal casters. We've had plenty of 8' dually beds on it. We don't like using it as much because it is harder to roll around, especially across the floor drains. The other is about a 4'x4' with some large pneumatic casters on it I bought cheap at harbor freight. In hind site I wish I would have only put 2 swivel and 2 stationary on it. It rolls so damn easy it will get away from you if you're not careful. We use this cart almost daily for various purposes. Lay down some heavy cardboard and you create a nice work top to lay out your nuts and bolts and small parts etc.

[flashed]

WOW ,youve been busy. Im going tuesday to look at a barn find 74 ,dont know if its long or short bed but it is a stepside .Ive known of this truck for over 20 years and now its for sale. Good luck with your build. I hope in a way I dont come home tuesday with another one.

[Shady Chevy]

RandyP,
Thanks for the pics of the bed carts. That gives me some good ideas. I think I am going to design the cart to double as a rolling workbench when not in use as a bed cart. I hope this weekend that I can put something together. I will show you guys what I come up with.

On the bed itself: I haven't decided to use this bed or not yet. At first I was going to send it off for scrap metal, but now I am not sure. Finding a nice bed is not easy in PA. Anything that spent time here is rusted real bad. I need to find a vendor that is coming to the trucks at Carlisle swap meet this Aug, that has a nice bed for sale from down south somewhere.

[Shady Chevy]

Ok, I built my bed cart last night. I just used stuff that I had laying around the shop. I didn't have any steel to work with, so I used some scrap wood. All four casters are swivel type. I left room to add 4 jacking bolts. I am thinking about using 4 pieces of all-thread with a nut on, that would allow me to lift the four corners of the cart up off the wheels so the bed won't roll around when I am working on it. I didn't have enough all-thread last night to finish that part. This cart does roll around nice. Now I can move the bed around any way I want.

[Shady Chevy]

Here is one pic of the back of the cab. I need to figure out what brand primer I am going to go with. Any suggestions? I would like to find something that I can buy local. I assume NAPA is my best bet? I bought a quart of orange metallic lacquer at Pep Boys. I just want to get a tease of what it would look like in orange. I am not 100% set on orange as of yet. But, I hope to spray a little on in the next few days. I have to buy a straight line sander this summer. I am using only a D/A sander with 6 inch 40 and 80 grit disks right now.