66 Stepside C10 Project "Walter"

[1966Stepside]

Hey folks, been roaming around these forums for the last year and finally decided to put up a build thread. Sent my truck off to the body shop a while back and it should be ready here pretty soon. Once it comes home, I'm starting a LS swap with a 4.8/4L60E and an 82 front suspension swap. Lotta work ahead of me, but I'm looking forward to it. Here's a couple of shots.

[kalirodding]

Good looking truck. What color you getting it painted?

[Alan's Classic]

Welcome aboard!! Nice looking truck. I do have a question. Are they done welding in the outer rocker? Why did they seam weld it instead of plug welding on the front and rear post? Just something that caught my eye.

[1966Stepside]

Originally Posted by kalirodding

Good looking truck. What color you getting it painted?

I'm having a tough time deciding on the final color. I'm debating between a similar color red, a nice two-tone red/white combo (classic good looks but lots of others out there like it), and a copper color. I've seen a couple other copper 60-66 trucks, and I like the way it looks. Whatever I decide I'm going to have for a while, so I'm really trying to find the right combination of good looks and something I'll like a couple years from now.

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

Welcome aboard!! Nice looking truck. I do have a question. Are they done welding in the outer rocker? Why did they seam weld it instead of plug welding on the front and rear post? Just something that caught my eye.

Hey, Thanks!

At the time that pic was taken he wasn't done welding it all in, that was just a pic he sent me to see the work as it was being done. As for seam vs. plug welding I couldn't answer. I don't know a whole lot about metalwork, which is why I had someone do it for me! I would guess he did it for a smoother finished look, but I dunno.

[Alan's Classic]

We are here to help each other out, so please don't take this as an attack. I'm trying to watch out for your best interest. I don't have the whole story of your truck. The main thing that concerns me is the outer rocker has been replaced, but the new front floor pan is laying on the rack under the truck. Does your truck need any work on the floor or kick panel area? If the answer is yes then it should have been done prior to the rocker going on. Most of these trucks have rot at the bottom of the A post that needs work. Like I said I don't have the full story. Maybe it didn't need any other work or the budget didn't allow for it. Just trying to help.

I've attached some pics of mine.

[Alan's Classic]

More.........

Plug welds are holes punched or drilled in a panel that is on top of another panel allowing it to be welded to the panel underneath. It basically replaces the factory spot weld. You can kind of see them in the top middle of the outer rocker in the pics below.

The pics of the plug welds are not mine. They are google images.

[1966Stepside]

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

More.........

Plug welds are holes punched or drilled in a panel that is on top of another panel allowing it to be welded to the panel underneath. It basically replaces the factory spot weld. You can kind of see them in the top middle of the outer rocker in the pics below.

The pics of the plug welds are not mine. They are google images.

I appreciate the knowledge and dont feel attacked, so no worries. The floorpan was replaced after the rockers. As for the A pillar, i dont believe it needed replacing, but im bringing the cab and frame home today to start test fitting my LS so i'll see it then.

Curious why the order of replacement matters?
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[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by 1966Stepside

Curious why the order of replacement matters?
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The truck is put together from the inside out. It only makes sense to work from the inside out when replaceing panels. The floor pan section (which includes part of the inner rocker) is sandwiched between the cab support and the A post then the outer rocker. Hope this helps.

[1966Stepside]

Hmm... Well it makes sense. So are there any potential issues to watch for now?
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[Alan's Classic]

It will hard to tell if he is done with it. Everything is covered up now. Did he take any other pics with the outer rocker removed? I'm not trying to scare you, but to educate you and others having work done by others. It's impossible to remove all the rust in these old trucks. The only way is to remove all spot welds, remove all panels and remove rust and recoat every panel. Then put it back together. Then use a body cavity wax to retard rust from forming around where the spot welds burned the coating off. I don't know of anybody that has done that.

[1966Stepside]

He did take several pictures. I stopped in several times to check progress as well, and feel pretty confident he's getting everything possible. The floorpans and even some of the area under the seat are gone, and the outer panels (inner and outer rockers and cab corners) have been replaced. The bottom of the truck cab is almost completely new.

With all that said, im sure theres going to be some rust left. The only thing i can do is coat the inside and outside with a sealing agent to prevent any new from forming.

And like I said before, I appreciate the knowledge. I plan on restoring more projects after this, so it'll come in handy one day.
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[1966Stepside]

Finally got him back home. Time to make it roll under it's own power again.

[1966Stepside]

Removed the radiator support in preparation for my engine swap.
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[1966Stepside]

Old 350/350 removed, and front end gone.

Gonna get more pics up on here soon.

[1966Stepside]

Took some more pics today. If anyone knows how to remove the glare, I'd appreciate the info.

I assume the orange we uncovered is the factory color.

[Alan's Classic]

Nice progress!!

[1966Stepside]

Thanks!! This is my first attempt at a restoration and i may be biting off too much, but so far i've been able to do it all. Except for rusty crossmember bolts, that took help!
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[REDNOSE65]

Nice truck and progress.

[1966Stepside]

A big day in the life of a truck, I brought home his new engine!





And some better pics of the newly made opening, sans ugly flash glare

[fryer1979]

Great looking truck to start with. Looking forward to the finished product.

[1966Stepside]

Originally Posted by fryer1979

Great looking truck to start with. Looking forward to the finished product.

Yep, i loved it from the first time i saw it. (though it stranded me on my test drive. Rubber fuel hose was being pinched at the tank when someone sat on the passenger side) I wish i could have driven it more before i started the teardown, but it had a series of small issues i had to fix and i finally just started the teardown.
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[1966Stepside]

Got the cab-forward area of my frame cleaned off and painted today. Also got my '82 donor front end mostly disassembled. LCA bolts are soaking in some WD-40 to ease them off.

[1966Stepside]

Been slacking on the truck and took a vacation. Got the donor front end disassembled finally and the crossmember is in place ready to start the engine test fitting. Hope to make big progress and have something to take a picture of!
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[1966Stepside]

Took the plunge and started dropping in the 5.3. Got it in place and all, but if I had it to do over again I think I'd buy the purpose-built motor mounts instead of using the template here to make them. Having a beast of a time getting everything to line up.

[1966Stepside]

Finally got the engine bolted in place. Not too tough, just took some trial and error with the DIY adapter plates.





Had to do some surgery on the old SBC mounts, as seen here:


and a better pic here:


It's tough to make out, but I had to trim it to clear the bolt. Nothing would line up without it. I also had to trim a bit to keep the mount from hitting the block, but a pic was impossible once i got it installed.

Don't have a lot of room for headers here:





Plenty of firewall clearance, though. And this is with the motor mounts in the back two holes.






Some tips for using the DIY adapter plates. Bolt them to the block and then the rubber to the adapter before you start dropping the motor in. Had a booger of a time tring to bolt them on the block once we set the engine in place. Wound up pulling the engine back out and bolting them down first. Hope it saves you some time. Also, I don't know the thickness of the plate, but I feel like a slightly smaller thickness would make this job a bit easier (can't speak to it being strong enough, though. Had a machinist in my family make mine and he used some scrap he had on hand).