My grandsons 68 stepper

[54belair]

A few more

[swamp rat]

Hang in there, I feel overwhelmed and havent put a dent in the body work yet LOL!

[jlsanborn]

Glad to see this back on the list! Interior is looking great, love the wheel!

[54belair]

Another good day (?) on the truck. My goal today was to quickly mount the a/c condenser and lines-----

Since I changed the core support I didn't notice the mounting holes were wallowed out (my fault) so in order to mount the condenser I had to remove the radiator--then I noticed it would require nuts on the inside of the core--with no easy way of getting to them if needed at a later date. Off comes the core support and had to weld nuts on the inside of the core support (hopefully without burning paint off) Anyway after a few hours of back tracking, it all turned out well. Got the entire a/c system mounted and plumbed (except for the heater hoses-----some dummy forgot to get new hoses for that!!

Managed to mount and hook up the master cylinder and booster (still have to bench bleed the M/C, but Ill save that for another ).

Dug out the new instrument cluster and wiring harness, I guess Ill start on mounting the breaker panel and hooking up to the inside cab stuff. Gotta pull out the old cluster harness and mate the old with the new.

All in all--it took about 6 hours to do maybe 2 or 3 hours work. None the less-----Its progress!!!

[54belair]

more pics from today

[Xeen]

Glad to see you back on it and I'm looking forward to updates.

[Seventy Two]

Very nice

[88Stanger]

Awesome build! We are close to the same place in builds, you are a bit ahead of me. I'm saving painting for later on parts I can and getting the inside the cab done. I really like the headliner. I was looking at getting one, are they made of good material?

[54belair]

88stanger:
It seems to be well made. I was worried that it might be flimsy and even sag, but I installed it in summer of 2014 (I think) and its still rigid. I had thought about double sided tape or a good contact adhesive---but then if you ever want/need to remove you have a real mess getting the adhesive off .
Im at the point now that I may be willing to accept something less perfect---to just get it done!!! Im starting on wiring now rather than finish the front clip--due to the fact that I don't want to hang the drivers door just yet (easier to work inside without it.)

[tucker69]

Hey there Belair54, I have been following along, congrats on retirement and the build, its looking real good... I feel you on settling for less than what you want in order to keep making progress. I am not a fan of red. but I got to say that color is "awesome". by the way where did you get your gages, are those just replacement faces?

[54belair]

Thanks, Man,,
I say Im willing to settle for less but-----Ive been on the internet most of the day looking for "Just the right hardware"! lol
The dash gauge cluster came from a place called "Edd's 67-72 chevy truck dashes". he's over in tenn. I really like the look of it, I bought it about two years ago for this build. I reaaly don't remember what it cost---it was in line price wise with most other dashes I found (and I like the white much better.) Im pretty sure he is a member here, but I think I bought the dash off of ebay.

[Green67Stepper]

that rendering looks awesome.

[tucker69]

Builds looking great, the kid will be super excited to get it.. Heck if his is not... I will take it.. ha ha. Keep up the good work... Casey

[54belair]

No new pictures to show yet but I have been working on it a few hours a day generally.

Just doing the hundreds of little things.

finished the wiring (still have to tidy up)
re-attach ductwork knocked off during wiring!
replaced rear brakes and wheel cyl.
determined rear wheel bngs were bad (will pull axles and replace when I replace the carrier, rear gears and posi.

ordered and installed washer bottle, bracket and tubing



The most frustrating part is the waiting on parts. I keep saying that I have everything on hand to finish-----then it seems like every evening I come in with a list of "little things" I need------things I need tomorrow before I can finish what Im working on today.
Gotta love it-----or Cry!!!!

[54belair]

Here it is May--and Ive been off on other projects. Acquired a chevelle and had to make a few changes for cruise nites, so once again the truck has suffered. Ive gotten the wiring under control (still have some engine bay stuff to wire). Slowly but surely Im getting the interior finished. Seems like Im doing everything in reverse order--since I have to continuously take it apart to add the next thing!! I have a little dress up to do under the dash yet. I have the new carpet, layed it out in the sun to get the shipping wrinkles out.
Im going to pull off the interior this week so that I can finish doing whatever needs doing to the underside---Im going to try and persuade the relatives to give me a hand setting the bed on the truck this weekend.
My grandson has been after me to install the new wheels for at least 2 years. I brought them in from storage last month and piled them on the rear frame---so today, it was time. He was here and they needed to be moved. After we were finished he said "this is the most fun Ive ever had" (silly boy---life has some surprises for him!!!)

[54belair]

Today I managed to commondere some extra hands so we could get the bed back on. After a few years sitting at diff. places in the shop Its starting to come together and almost looks like a truck again.

[Jason7121]

What a great build I like all the work you have done so far. Your grandson is a lucky kid!

[jlsanborn]

WOW that is looking more like a truck! Very nice work. Was the wood pre-finished?

[54belair]

No, I finished it (last year!) The Mar-k wood kit comes precut and pre drilled but unfinished. I sanded it, just used a natural stain (pretty much clear) and 4 coats of clear over that. I sanded lightly the last coat then applied one final wet, thin coat. The problem was sort of like applying clear coat-----keeping the dust out of it till it drys. My biggest problem with the whole install was: I replaced the bed front panel with a new one and it wasn't drilled exactly right to match the wood widths of the mar-k kit---so I had to re drill carefully as I installed.

[54belair]

Now that the bed is ready to be bolted to the frame----I asked----what is the correct spacing??
My spacing isn't where I want it and it isn't the same on both sides.
5/8" spacing to cab on dr. side and 7/8" spacing on pass. side.
Tomorrow Ill start by measuring and making certain bed is square on frame----then if spacing is still off Ill remeasure and square cab on frame.
When You've had Everything apart, Its difficult to decide Where to start squaring everything up from. Good luck to me!!!!!!!!! lol

[jlsanborn]

Anxious to see the results!

[Bubba4spd]

Looking forward to more interior pics anyway so glad to hear it. Really like your shifter and where it's located.

[54belair]

Thanks, The shifter is just an old school rebuilt Hurst competition plus. I think with the seats Im using it will work well---hope so anyway.

[Bubba4spd]

Just checking in to see if any progress has been made. Yeah I'm anxious to see this interior come together.

[jlsanborn]

Great progress, looks really nice!