Project Step Aside, 1971 SWB/Step

[BP68]

Niiiiiiice truck, and thanks for your service!

[tucks69]

Super nice truck, maybe I will see it cruising around Pinehurst one day.
Michael

[westbrookw]

subscribing. Nicely done truck.

[SCOTTMO]

love the truck,the stance is perfect.that is the look i will be going for after
i get my 67 going again after being in storage for the last 5 years.

scott

[AJohn6]

Scott, I appreciate the compliments, the truck is far from done but it is out on the road now. I just had to drive it.

Mr Westbrook, thanks for checking out the thread. I gotta say it was cool running into you this last weekend. Now if I can get the paint looking as good as your '72 does I would be a made man. Man that thing is nice...

Adam

[OARNGESI]

Thats looking great

[AJohn6]

Originally Posted by OARNGESI

Thats looking great

Thanks, trucks no show queen but it is fun as heck to drive and it is fun to think about what I am going to do next. I might try and fix the body work and paint it or find an older Chevy and go to town on it. I want to drive the old girl every day I can so I probably won't do much to it for now. I am thinking about getting an older Chevy to try all my ideas out on. We will see what happens next....

Adam

[blizno23]

I noticed you did a one piece window conversion. I was thinking of doing the same thing. Did it help the cab noise at all? How easy was the instal? Great looking truck!

[AJohn6]

Alright its been quiet some time since I have answered a question a about the truck....

Did it help the noise?

No.

How easy was it?

It wasn't that hard to do, but an extra set of hands would have been nice to have around when removing the door and re-installing it. I don't like how the outer molding looks. The spot where the vented window starts the door panel curves in and they bent the metal portion of the molding and cut the excess rubber. That part of the molding moves a lot when I rolled the window up and down. You also have to trim the inner door stop and the directions weren't the clearest on how much to cut. Needless to say I didn't cut enough. So, when I close the door it pushed the front windo channel pinching the window making it really hard to roll up when the door is closed. I still haven't fixed it. Once it is all together and you are ready to install the mount on the glass and re-install the glass is wear the real fun begins. Getting the glass mount on properly with the rubber install takes a lot of patience and a dead blow heavy rubber mallet. you will have to hit along the entire portion of the groove with the hammer until the mount is seated correctly on the glass. Once this is completed it is time to put the glass in the truck. This part sucks. Getting the glass in the door without scratching it and getting it mounted back on the original window regulator is very difficult and time consuming. A lot of patience is needed and a few basic tools. Would I do it again? Yes, I like the way it looks. I still need to fix the door stop since I broke my window regulator trying to roll it up about a week before i left.

Sorry for writing so much but I figured I would tell youu as much as I can so maybe it can help you do it to your truck.

If you need any install help hit me up on here and hopefully I can help you out.


Adam

[AJohn6]

Hello all...

It has been a long time since I have posted anything related to the progress of the truck. Once it was on the road I just couldn't bear not driving it.

So a quick update. I never completed the inner fenders, made a couple different ones using modified stock inners and completely custom inners. I didn't like how any of them looked. I continued to have issues with the master cylinder that I bought from Brothers and turns out the inner seals on the piston were bad and binding.

I did an engine swap in my 2000 Silverado a year or so ago and drove the '71 while the swap was in progress. It rained one day while driving in the '71 and my glove box completely flooded, shorting out my air management system. It ruined it and I could never get it going again.

I found the leak, which was a rust hole under some pealed up original seem sealer underneath the cowl panel. So no it take me to its current state.

The truck, well some of it, is in the garage completely torn down waiting patiently for me to come home. I am going to do a complete rebuild of the truck since I found more rust and bad body work on it than I wanted to.

So my plans are either a custom frame built by myself or heavily modifying the stock frame. I ordered 13" Wilwood front and rear brakes, Vintage Air A/C and an under-dash brake kit from Scotts Hotrods. I am going to fab a custom rear-end and 4-link set-up. I already have an '05 6.0 Gen III LS motor for it and getting ready to find a 4l80E tranny. I'm thinking about doing a twin-turbo set-up since I think they are bad to the bone.

More to follow,

Adam

[AJohn6]

Here are a couple pics of it before I finished tearing it down completely and removing the firewall. Also a pic of the rust hole, which is just in front of the A-pillar on the passenger side

[dinger76]

Great looking truck and like how the build is going! ? for you. Where/What was the front chin spoiler or air dam from??? Thanks.

[AJohn6]

Originally Posted by dinger76

Great looking truck and like how the build is going! ? for you. Where/What was the front chin spoiler or air dam from??? Thanks.

I have no idea but if I had to guess just based off of the shape and size I would say a mid-90s full-size Chevy truck.

Adam

[AJohn6]

70BigBlock here you go.

I couldn't figure out how to PM a picture and 70BigBlock was wondering if I had any rubbing issues. Long story short yes, but only when aired out or when turning while cruising real low.

[Tinkermc]

truck looks great can't wait 4 U 2 start again. Thanks 4 your service I am so old I did this little thing called Viet Nam a long,long time ago

[AJohn6]

Originally Posted by Tinkermc

truck looks great can't wait 4 U 2 start again. Thanks 4 your service I am so old I did this little thing called Viet Nam a long,long time ago

Thank you for your service, I have a feeling you had it far worse than I do. Anyhow you aren't old, you've just aged.... like a fine wine.

[AJohn6]

Heres a couple pictures of the 13" Wilwoods....

[AJohn6]

Another update...

I ordered the Porterbuilt Mild Dropmember with PB LCA's and the NoLimit Engineering Basic Fatbar 4-link. I am excited to get all the parts in so I can start building the frame up.

On a side note: If amyone is looking for suspension parts PM me. I have ART StrongArms LCAs available and a complete rear end with trailing arms and cross-member that will be for sale/trade soon. The LCAs have a couple years of use and I can't use them with the PB mild dropmember.

[gdavis]

Originally Posted by Tinkermc

truck looks great can't wait 4 U 2 start again. Thanks 4 your service I am so old I did this little thing called Viet Nam a long,long time ago

So did I 69 thru 70 i am a little old myself 63

[AJohn6]

Originally Posted by gdavis

So did I 69 thru 70 i am a little old myself 63

Sir,

I feel this doesn't get said enough to your generation; thank you for your service and sacrifice.

Respectfully,

Adam

[AJohn6]

Well I got the cab thrown on the truck so I can make room for the Monster Transmission 4L80E. Thing is quite a bit bigger than the TH350.

I started by cutting out the portion of the firewall so I could get the cab on the frame. Once I did this I cut the front portion of the trans tunnel and then cut front to rear on the lower portion of the tunnel. After I removed it I was able to sit the cab on the frame. I had to remove the pinch weld above the frame so the cab would sit on the body mounts, this was because of the 3/4" body drop. I did some pie cuts and used scrap to hold the tunnel where I needed it.

On this note I need a hand. Can someone tell me if the thicker body mount goes in the front or in the rear mounts.

[AJohn6]

I started to fill in the open space with some 18ga sheet metal and, again, started to realize that I am terrible at this. But I looked at the replacement floor pans I had and the wheels started to move.

The replacement pans had bends that looked just like the original tranny hump so I took a couple quick measurements and figured I could just flatten those bends out and it would fill the gap perfectly and it would look more stock than the filler piece. Plus in the end it would be less welding and grinding if I just replaced the floor and filled the gap at the same time.

What do you think?

[Bennett68C10]

Beautiful Stepper you have. Did you have to trim anything from the rear fender lip to get your 20's to tuck up in there when aired out. Can't wait to see what you do with it now. Sounds like some really nice parts your going to throw at it.
Posted via Mobile Device

[67cheby]

WOW....sorry i missed so much, i might be able to help with you inner fender problems though ! Check out the parts i build SLOSH TUBZ

[AJohn6]

Originally Posted by Bennett--G4L

Beautiful Stepper you have. Did you have to trim anything from the rear fender lip to get your 20's to tuck up in there when aired out. Can't wait to see what you do with it now. Sounds like some really nice parts your going to throw at it.
Posted via Mobile Device

If you look at page 4 towards the bottom there is a photo of it. I did have to cut out a bunch of it. When I ordered my rims I got the wrong backspacing and I was a 1/2" off and it made it a hair too wide. With the Step-side I am limited on space in there and hopefully when I build the F@^d 9" for it I will get the space right. It will still be a tight fit but should work nice.

Originally Posted by 67cheby

WOW....sorry i missed so much, i might be able to help with you inner fender problems though ! Check out the parts i build SLOSH TUBZ

I have been looking at your inner fenders for a while now and may send a PM once I start throwing the body parts back on.