Jojo's '70 Stepper

[matthew20061]

Originally Posted by jojo

8. The current project is I'm installing tail lights on the stepper. Since installing the steering column, I got the rear tail lights going but with some weird issues.

The front left turn signals and marker lights turn on but no longer blink?

Also when the brakes are applied and the lights are on, the rear marker lights turn off? Maybe it has to do with me crossing the wires on the old column and burning through some of the old harness. Although I thought I replaced all the burned wires.

I had some problems like that with my tail lights and it was grounding problems and wires being connected to the tail lights wrong. Try the flasher relay on the fuse box as well.

[jojo]

I took that old 700r4 and the truck to the transmission shop for a rebuild and install should get it back in 7 days. And what's great is I drove the truck for the first time since driving it home back in may. What a difference having proper brakes and steering makes!

Getting all the tranny work done(rebuild the 700 and swap for the th350, new torque converter, filler tube, tv cable, speedo housing and speedo gear, 6 month warranty) for $850 does that sound like a fair price?

I got the all the lights working properly before driving it to the shop... Almost...
Located the missing wire (burned out) that runs through the firewall to the front left lights and causes them to blink. And hacked my own connector for the burned wire. Later I'll replace the whole harness with matching wires (I used red and yellow to replace the burned wires and should have used gray and dark blue). I do want that fixed properly so if a problem arises later, my setup will match stock wiring diagrams.

Aside from that the only problem that remains with the lights is the marker lights turning off when the brakes are applied. No biggie for now but I'll check that grounding thing when I get the truck back.

[500caddy]

i love to see a nice step side come together..

[Spray-Bomb]

Nice progress bro

What gearing is in the rear end ???

[jojo]

Originally Posted by Spray-Bomb

Nice progress bro

What gearing is in the rear end ???

I don't know what the gearing is. I don't even know how to find out without taking apart the rear end. Any tips on figuring this out?

[mcbassin]

Very cool project! reminds me a bunch of my 67 I used to have...when I got it had a pontiac v-8 in it. I converted it to a a/c cab daily driver type truck. I think $850 is a good price if hes doing the install. keep it up!

[jojo]

Thanks for the comments fellas.

and yeah that's exactly what my new plans are... daily driver with a/c... no frame off show truck here.

I got to say, I'm super excited about the transmission going in since that's the only major thing keeping me off the road. Plus I hope to have at least acceptable gas milage out of it. We'll see.

so what's next?
1. finish up inspection items (horn, hazard lights, seat belts) & get it inspected
2. get a valve job? I got a little bit of white smoking out the tail pipes.
3. sand & paint the rally's
4. get vintage air by the end of next month hopefully(who knew they are based right here in san antonio... not me! thats cool.)
5. cruise until I can afford suspension mods hopefully by november
6. put a welder on my christmas wish list and start body repairs by the end of the year

[tdave00]

Sounds like you have a good plan. Good call on holding off on the frame off. It takes time and sounds like you didn't have it. I really dig the steering column. I might go that route myself. That price on the transmission rebuild and install sounds fair to me.

[mcbassin]

I like that steering column too. I need to find one like that too! Crazy story about your truck getting stolen. Keep the updates coming I have subscribed. We are trying to do a similar build on a VERY tight budget.

[jojo]

Well I got the truck back today with the fresh 700r4 installed.

I couldn't really give it a good test drive since it rained today (for the first time in what seems like months). Hopefully tomorrow.

But it seamed to do okay.

So far the only bad news is the transmission had a bad pump and costed a little more than expected but it should be solid now.

[my67chevytruck]

sweet... drive the heck outta it!

[jojo]

I fixed my horn, hazzard lights and drivers side seat belt. So the only thing left for inspection should be new wiper blades and a passenger side seat belt.

I'm considering getting the 3 point seat belts from brothers has anyone used them?

I have it registered in my name now and it's insured (not sure if I mentioned that yet)

Also, I got it out on the highway today!

It runs good but now I'm noticing a knock when I accelerate

Not sure now if the knocking was there before since I've barely driven the pick-up.

I'm no mechanic either so I have no idea if the new tranny would be the cause or not?

I also noticed that they didn't connect any cable up to the connector on the 700r, isn't that supposed to be for lock up in high gear? Should I get a lock up wiring kit?

[VA72C10]

Depends on what that is for. Is the TV cable connected to the carb? That is very important to make sure the pressure is correct. You can ruin the tranny pretty fast w/out that properly set. Does it lock up now on the highway? The knocking could be timing also.

[jojo]

No its definately the lockup but no wires are hooked up.

It seems to stay in high gear on the highway but I'm not sure.

I probably should get a tachometer to really be able to see what's going on.

The TV cable was installed by the tranny shop so I assume they adjusted it correctly.

They told me to bring the pick-up back in 10 days for them to inspect everything so I'm trying to drive it as much as possible between now and then.

I'll have to read up on timing I should be able to figure out how to adjust it if that's the problem. I was also told I may need hotter spark plugs but I'm not sure what that means either.

[Palf70Step]

Nice start on your build so far. This will be an enjoyable one to see progress.

[mas09ts]

Truck's lookin great!!

[jojo]

Thanks ya'll.

And Mitch, your build thread is one of my faves and I hope to get my stepside looking like yours one of these days.

I got the knocking to go away by using 93 octane gas (from a different gas station) with a bottle of octane booster. After I use up that tank of gas, I'll go back to the 87 octane and keep ya'll posted but I think one time is all that's needed to clean out whatever was in there.

Took the tranny back for inspection and to pick up the warranty. They did adjust the tv cable since it was running through the first 3 gears really quick and I didn't have passing gear. I'll probably order on of those tv angle correction brackets for the holly soon though. It was also leaking tranny fluid from the cooling line up by the radiator so I replaced the rubber hose and clamps from a previous repair somebody did on the hard lines.

I was at the salvage yard yesterday and snagged a bench seat. I hated that late model bucket set up that the PO put in there. It's in pretty good shape except for 2 holes and it was painted with red vinyl paint and $35 was a good price. I'll need a new bolt on passenger side besides that it works great and all the springs are intact. My dad offered to go halves on the reapolstering but doing that now is like putting a bow on a pig. So I'll have it reapholsterd after the truck is a little more pretty for now it's beach towels for seat covers. This seat is way more comfortable IMO and I sit up a little higher now. That old bucket set up is most likely gonna get trashed. Here goes the PICs:

Oh yeah and I'll do a proper clean up in that cab when I finally get to rust repair. I can tolerate the uglyness for now since my goal is to get it mechanically sound first.

[mcbassin]

Nice progress!

[jojo]

Well I put $15 seat cover on the bench in place of the beach towel (no pics today)

And I think I discovered why I keep blowing brake light fuses in the pick up truck. The turn signal device has a copper connector on the underside that was grounding on a metal piece in the steering column (design flaw appearantly) so I bent the metal piece up about 3mm and covered the underside of that piece with electrical tape for good measure.

Then I started poking around behind the gauge cluster to see why only the gas and speedo gauges are working. I metered a couple of the connectors back there and saw no voltages so I'm not sure where to start. And while poking around my gas gauge is now acting erratic.

I was so close to ordering the drop kit today. But I want to wait until I have enough money to order some rebuild parts for the front end as well.

[jojo]

Ok, best money I ever spent on the truck to date: $10 on used lower shock mounts and $40 on new rear shocks.

The truck is actually safe to drive. And maybe I'll take it down to the inspection station this week now that I'm not blowing tail light fuses.

Pics of the old shock mounts:

[VA72C10]

Keep up the progress...those mounts looked well past their prime

Looking forward to pictures of the seatcover.

[jojo]

Saturday I set out to replace the trans-cooler lines, hood hinges, throttle/detent cable bracket. I also wanted to install my brand new shock mount brackets (to replace the old junk yard ones from a couple of weeks ago).

Pics of the old damaged coolant line and bad hood hinge:

[jojo]

Pics of the new stuff from LMC. I really wish those hinges were painted black out of the box. Also the pics of the hinges installed:

[jojo]

It took forever to route the so called "pre bent" lines from the transmission up to the radiator. They were off by nearly a foot by the radiator and several inches by the tranny. I had such a difficult time screwing the fitting in at the tranny it must have been an hour and a half to finally get it to start because there was such little space to work down there and the hard lines were difficult to line up.

What sucks is it was much easier to start the fitting by the radiator because somehow it's stripped! I found out because after connecting every thing and starting the motor, copious amounts of tranny fluid leaked out by the radiator.

My solution was pulling the fitting off the old th350 I had and screwing that into the stripped inlet. Then I JB welded around the fitting threads. This repair worked well I drove 20 minutes to and from the gym with no leaks.

BTW I actually gave up after replacing the upper line and left the lower line since there was no damage to that line.

Pics of the temporary JB repair (since I'll eventually get a new radiator) that brass thing is the fitting from the th350:

[jojo]

Pics of the carb bracket and tv cable angle correcting bracket and a funny pic I took outside my house: