Brother's keeper - '58 Stepside build

[Black_Sheep]

This is the story about an old Texas farm truck my brother bought back in the early 2000's with the intention of turning it into a cool cruiser. Building a car was uncharted territory for him but through sheer determination and the help of friends he was able to realize his dream.



The build process was a rollercoaster ride with the usual setbacks and enough small victories to keep momentum going.



On his first time out, he was awarded best sport truck interior at the 2006 Car Craft Summer Nationals in St Paul, MN. The whole gang was on hand to enjoy the moment.

[Black_Sheep]

In May of 2010 my brother passed away from complications related to his lifelong battle with Cystic Fibrosis. Instead of selling the truck when my folks liquidated his estate, I asked my folks to keep it in the family so a deal was made, when the time was right I brought it home and began the long journey to where we are today.

One of the first things I did was swap out the painted grille and bumpers for chrome pieces...





Later I discovered some issues, the most concerning was a lack of oil pressure. The big lumpy cam sounded great but it wasn't compatible with the stock torque converter, idle quality was horrible at best. After driving it for a summer I decided to swap in a milder cam to improve drivability, that's when things started to snowball.



During the cam swap I discovered a wiped lobe on the cam...



Change of plans, the motor had to come out...



No pics of the carnage but the bearings were full of metal shavings and the oil pump was trashed, which explains the low oil pressure.



I freshened up the motor and added some bling.

[Black_Sheep]

At the same time, I relocated the fuel tank from the cab to under the bed...



Rewired the truck including moving the battery to the frame and hiding as much wiring as possible to clean up the engine bay...





And spruced up the interior a little bit...



I also added a few other personal touches, just for something to do...

[Black_Sheep]

More recently I modified the bed rails and refinished the bed wood...











While the box was off I cleaned and painted the frame from the cab back, replaced the cheesy allen head bolts with some grade 8 frame bolts...

[Black_Sheep]

About a year ago it looked like this. The hood was off being filled with louvers when this photo was taken...

[Black_Sheep]

Over the past winter I began prepping the truck for a repaint. The Mrs. couldn't deal with all of the dust so I concentrated on refining the interior. Bodywork would have to wait for spring.

I gutted the cab and began by fitting an aftermarket heater from Summit. This thing will blow your hat off in high speed, just what's needed for cool weather cruising in the spring and fall.



Then I marked out some cut lines...



No guts, no glory...



fitting...



filler...



waiting on paint...

I also built a custom gauge cluster...

door panels...















a console...





And kick panels with custom speaker grilles...





Lastly, rear speaker mounts to go in the corner behind the doors...

[iowaboynca]

Nice

[idbeast]

looking good!

[Black_Sheep]

Currently the truck is blown apart, I took advantage of nothing in the way to build a full exhaust system and re-plumb the brake lines...







With the cab off the frame it was pretty easy to shave the firewall using 18 gauge sheet metal, 3M panel bond and a little filler...









Ford HP White with satin clear...



I glossed over a ton of stuff but I covered most of the high points, now it's back to block sanding and more sanding...

[focusedontheprize]

Great work. It amazes me, people ask why I love the car scene so much - it is situations like these that are the exact reasons I love this hobby.

[ptc]

Nice project truck you got here and great story of carrying on the family legacy of your brothers.

So whats with the "Blacksheep" name you got for yourself? theres gotta be a story behind that too! ----


Good luck on the build - its gonna be great. and memorialize your brother in it!

[59chev]

Great that you kept it in the family and that you are making it your own. Was this truck in a magazine when it was first built? I remember that distinctive paint job.

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by ptc

Nice project truck you got here and great story of carrying on the family legacy of your brothers.

So whats with the "Blacksheep" name you got for yourself? theres gotta be a story behind that too! ----


Good luck on the build - its gonna be great. and memorialize your brother in it!

Every family has a Black Sheep, looking around at family reunions it didn't take long to figure out that I was "that guy"

59chev, no ink that I'm aware of

[ChuckDriver]

Cool truck!!

[Indian113]

I really like the direction your heading with your truck. Awesome work and a great tribute to your brother.

[Black_Sheep]

I got the steps and smooth cowl panel back from being blasted and epoxy primed, the steps are better than I expected with only a few minor dings and a little pitting in the flange area.

[bowt1ed]

Black Sheep, looking great. Could I ask for a close up pic of your throttle pedal and where your throttle cable goes through the firewall? Thanks, Jim

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by bowt1ed

Black Sheep, looking great. Could I ask for a close up pic of your throttle pedal and where your throttle cable goes through the firewall? Thanks, Jim

Currently the throttle pedal is out of the truck, I probably have a pic on my home pc which I will post later. The hole where the cable goes through the firewall got covered when I shaved the firewall but it's still visible from inside the cab, I will get a photo of it as well...

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by bowt1ed

Black Sheep, looking great. Could I ask for a close up pic of your throttle pedal and where your throttle cable goes through the firewall? Thanks, Jim

The sheetmetal bracket on the firewall hump was in the truck when I got it, not sure if it is factory or not. I fabbed a L bracket which is bolted on after the carpet is in place, the throttle pedal mounts directly to that.

The ferrule for the throttle cable will go through the hole up and to the left in the pic. The hole will need to be redrilled since it got covered when I shaved the firewall, it will be in the same location

[Black_Sheep]

Working towards getting the cab bolted back on the frame, today's project moves things one step closer. After getting the cowl area prepared I shot a couple coats of PPG epoxy primer and a couple heavy coats of Slick Sand. The windshield header, grill surround, tailgate, steps and front splash apron got the same treatment.

[bowt1ed]

Originally Posted by Black_Sheep

The sheetmetal bracket on the firewall hump was in the truck when I got it, not sure if it is factory or not. I fabbed a L bracket which is bolted on after the carpet is in place, the throttle pedal mounts directly to that.

The ferrule for the throttle cable will go through the hole up and to the left in the pic. The hole will need to be redrilled since it got covered when I shaved the firewall, it will be in the same location

Thanks!

[Black_Sheep]

I sanded the clear and base coats off of the exterior of the cab and doors today. This truck was stripped to bare steel and the bodywork was done about 10 years ago so I'm not going to take it back to bare steel again. The next step will be to pull the doors, prep the jambs and do a little detail sanding in places I couldn't get to with the sander. The goal is to get the cab in high build primer on labor day weekend so I can get it back on the frame and start mocking up the front end sheetmetal.

[Scottish58chev]

Nice looking truck and cool that you managed to keep it in the family.

[LCA1971]

Sweet truck. Your brother would be proud of the upgrades! Are you going back with the original paint scheme or changing it up a little?

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by LCA1971

Sweet truck. Your brother would be proud of the upgrades! Are you going back with the original paint scheme or changing it up a little?

It was a difficult decision but I'm going to change things up. The flames are going away simply because I'm not a big fan of flames on TF trucks. The original green started as Ford D9 Pine Frost Metallic to which pearl was added. I plan to use a slightly different shade of green from the PPG "classic" line with a white metal flake roof.