67 Shorty Stepper

[Dakcrew]

Hello all, been lurking around here for quite a while. I have read many threads and builds from beginning to end and learned a great deal from all of the great people here. I have been wanting a1967 short bed for as long as I can remember and a couple of weeks ago was finally able to locate one that fit the bill.

In my daily CL perusing I came across this short bed stepper that looked promising. The truck was a really good price and really fit the bill as far as I was concerned.

Sure it has its problems, doesn't run, some rust, beat up couple of panels, the seat was out by the barn... But it was all there! Anyway this is the way it was after we got it on the trailer. Oh, and did I mention that the seller let me borrow his trailer to haul it home! The deal just kept getting better.
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[Dakcrew]

So, to continue on I have pretty standard plans for this beast.

Get it running with the original L6 250
Lower it as far as I can without cutting into the bed or fenders
Beat out the dents
Replace all of the rusty bits with new
Move the gas tank under the bed
And a nice set of wheels

Forgive the lack of pics I am still trying to figure out how to post them from my phone....yeah noob here!
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[Dakcrew]

Oh yeah check out those 4 different wheels AND tires!!
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[70_step]

Looks like a good start, can't wait to see it transform!

[Dakcrew]

So first thing I had to do was get after the interior and lose the groovy shag house carpet and left over rubber mat that had glued itself to the floor boards. As bad as it was I think that the rubber mat might have saved the floor from being worse than it is. This is what it looked like when I started.
Posted via Mobile Deviceoh and did I mention that the crate was how I steered it while my dad pulled it with his lawn tractor! Yeah real redneck moment there!!!!

[Dakcrew]

And here we have the result of 6 hours of scraping and prying. Found that I will need to replace the outer rockers on both sides, inner rockers on both sides, and some of the corner floor near the firewall and near the corners by the vents. Thinking this is pretty normal stuff, but really not all that bad considering what it could be.
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[Dakcrew]

This is the fabulous monster of an engine! an L6 250 (I believe still trying to figure out how to tell with complete confidence).

[mcbassin]

Hey, looks like a solid start. I love those old steppers.
Lot of good plans you have too.

[Bomp]

Nice find.

Subscribed.

[gdavis]

yea you will like the short stepper. I have a 68 and almost ready to shoot some color. Good luck and God bless

[Dakcrew]

Well, been working on it every weekend. I can only work on it then because it is across town at my Dad's place since he has the room for things like this....

I got the carb all cleaned up, and rebuilt a couple of weeks ago and we were able to get the motor to turn over, but no spark! am thinking that it has a bad coil, but not sure as there was no spark from the coil to the distributor. also may have been the boat battery that we borrowed from his fishing boat

then I pulled the gas tank from the cab. Man that thing looks almost new! gonna clean it out with some acetone and put it back once the floor is fixed.

Got a couple replacement steelies and put them on after that and my it looks different!
[IMG][/IMG]

Finally this last weekend I wire wheeled the entire cab floor and found a couple more bits to replace and pin holes, but not too bad. knocked all the scale off and then sprayed with rust converter.

Anyone think that I need to do more replacement on the floor if it was just scale? it sounded pretty solid, but this is my first time getting this deep, so any comments are welcomed.

[Dakcrew]

Originally Posted by gdavis

yea you will like the short stepper. I have a 68 and almost ready to shoot some color. Good luck and God bless

I have followed your build from the beginning and really liked the read. thanks for good wishes.

[Dakcrew]

Well, I haven't forgotten this build or anything just had a few other "honey do's" get in the way. I was able to get after the nasty crusty Gauge cluster though. I took it all apart and followed a couple of other threads on here (not sure where I found them...) and got it looking really nice. Unfortunately as I was taking out of my car to place with the truck parts the darn thing fell on the ground and busted the plastic surround all to hell! I guess that it just moved the Billet face plate farther up the wish list...

After that I was able to take the steering wheel off and start repairing the cracks and broken bits.
[IMG][/IMG] This is what it looked like when I started. I used some metal bonding epoxy and it is starting to turn out really good. still got some sanding to go and shaping, but should be really nice when complete.

Then to top it all off last weekend I was able to start taking the truck apart to begin the restoration. I got most of the front sheet metal off, doors and windshield. Was a bit disappointed when I pulled the windshield and found rust through in the dash!
But! i found another dash and firewall section out of a '70 that I am going to use.

[Dakcrew]

Anyway,

Here is where I started the day:


And by the time I called it quits a couple hours later I was left with this:


It looks like I am not going to surprised much more about the rust in the cab and flooring. I was able to check things once I got the quarter panels and doors off and found the front of the cab is still in pretty decent shape.


Also like many others on here I pulled the heater box and there was a surprise tenant that had to be evicted, so it had a great odoriferous sent and cleaning it out was a lucky chore....


Well, that is as far as I got last time. I am looking forward to this weekend as I will have some more time to spend with the truck. Hoping to get the rest of it torn down and possibly even start cutting the drivers rocker and floor out to start repairs! Until next time...

[Dakcrew]

it was a good weekend at the shop. We got the rest of the front end tore down and found that the bottom of the core support under the battery is indeed toast as well as the chin piece (not sure what it is called) under the grill that mounts to the core is also going to be replaced as it folded in on itself when we removed it!

However, the frame rails and other components look pretty good and no cracks or rust thru!
Next on the list was to get the bed off the truck. We ended up cutting the mounting bolts after finding that they were just spinning thru the bed wood. I knew it was bad, but all I needed to do was apply a little leverage and the darn boards fell apart! So, I just took the new cutoff tool and sliced the bolts out. It was the first time using it and made quick work of it. We then slid the bed back over the bumper and tilted it off the rear of the truck. I was surprised at just how light it actually is and my Dad was shocked that it was only the 8 bolts holding it to the frame! We then used a hand truck to move it to its temporary home on the other side of the shop out of the way. While looking at the frame we noticed that the rear most cross member was bent to all hell and only being held on by the 2 rivets on the passenger side rail. Had to drill them out and then it was revealed that the frame had been tweaked a bit. Not bent out of shape or anything, just the top and bottom of the rail were no longer square. Gonna need to bend them back into shape now....

[Dakcrew]

Once we had that all done, and after a little liquid refreshment... we got back after it. proceeded to remove the driver side rocker panel and found about 3 pounds of nice organic mulch!!


So, we continued to get that cleaned out and then I found that I need to replace the hinge pillar piece and also the lock pillar piece which I didn't think were at all needed. oh well.
We cut out as much of the bad as possible without having the needed pieces and had to call it a day. This is where we left it.



Oh and yeah that is the grinder that we are using! it was my Grandfathers and my dad can remember using it when he was a teenager, so.. IT WEIGHS A TON and is quite the tool! It is fun however knowing that my granddad used it and now I am.

[Dakcrew]

Just curious if anyone knows where to pick up the bolts and nuts that are used to mount the inner rocker to the cab supports? The nuts do not appear to be welded onto the replacement panels I picked up and the ones that were on there are shot beyond retrieving....Thanks all.

[Dakcrew]

Got some more work done on the truck over the last 2 weeks we started by cutting a bit more away at the driver side door rocker. I picked up new filler panels for the A pillar and B pillar since both were shot under the rocker. the only problem is that when we cut away at the A pillar we also started cutting the front of the floor section to replace that and found that the front cab support had a huge hole in it that was covered with undercoating. SO.... what was a fix while on the frame quickly became a full frame off restoration! we disconnected everything, had a little trouble with the wire harness, but ended up just breaking out the block since I had planned on replacing the entire harness in the long run.

then on Saturday last we completed pulling the cab from the frame with another CL find! a $75 cherry picker! that thing worked great and made the task easy. We set it on its back on a couple of dollies so that we could get to the cab support easier.

Here is the section that had to be removed. we were originally going to get a new replacement piece, but decided that we wanted to see if we could get around buying more new metal. And we have that entire firewall section that I picked up for the dash that needs to fixed so...lets use it!

[Dakcrew]

oh did i mention that we had great weather here in the NW and we got to work outside all day! what a good thing that was because I decided that it was also a good time to start stripping off the undercoating. and my dad started putting the new metal in the cab support.

got about 2/3 of the way through it with a wire wheel and man is that stuff nasty!!! Looked like a reverse raccoon when I was finished for the day. Anyway, here is the replacement.

pretty happy with it. especially since I haven't used a wire welder but maybe 2 minutes, and my dad hasn't touched one in like 45 years!! He did a great job and it is really sweet to see replacement metal finally going back into the truck.

[Dakcrew]

Wow, didn't realize that it had been so long since I had posted here. I have been trying to work on the stepper a little every time I visit the folks, which is only about once a week. things are going super slow this holiday season and haven't completed much. I was able to get the inner rocker tacked into the driver side, but that meant removing the cab corner, and a bunch of other metal, so didn't feel as good getting it in as I thought it would. although the bits that I removed did need to come out as they were rusty and nearly fell apart on their own. Anyway, enough *****in'. decided to take a leap sideways and see if we could save the drivers door that I was going to replace. turns out that moving the hing mount point was going to be a lot more difficult than I originally thought, so commence deconstruction!!!

I pulled the door skin off and guess what I found more mulch! oh, and an old beer can pull tab! when was the last time you saw one of those? So here is what I was starting with on the skin:
[IMG][/IMG]
And:
[IMG][/IMG]

Now granted the crease wasn't that bad, but the bondo was a good 1/4 inch thick there on the corner and come to find out it was just like that on the back corner as well. So, I stripped all the paint off and commenced to beating it into submission...
[IMG][/IMG]
Didn't turn out great, but it is pretty straight and only has a few ripples. I rattle canned some primer over the surface to keep it from rusting and to see my handy work a little better but forgot to get pics of that...
Bad news is that while I was working the edges a few pieces separated from the panel and I will have to weld them back, but I am going to do that after I fix the shell. I has a crack down the center of the top of about 2 inches and looks like some one used a hammer to open the door from the inside! More beating and banging in the future...

[msgross]

If I were in Oregon i'd go looking for a fresh set of doors... Nice project, stay motivated and don't take any shortcuts... my project is on hold due to garage space and motivation (family events take priority too).

[mcbassin]

Very good progress on the build. Looks like you are making easy work of the cab rust. Be careful when you install your new rockers. If you can, mount the cab back on the frame and install the doors and fenders to check your gaps. You might be fighting with it later like myself if not. Good luck.

[Dakcrew]

Originally Posted by msgross

If I were in Oregon i'd go looking for a fresh set of doors... Nice project, stay motivated and don't take any shortcuts... my project is on hold due to garage space and motivation (family events take priority too).

Yeah my original plan was to scrap the door and get a replacement, which I have already done, but I wanted to see if this could be saved. And at this time it has cost me nothing but time, so no loss there just experience.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Very good progress on the build. Looks like you are making easy work of the cab rust. Be careful when you install your new rockers. If you can, mount the cab back on the frame and install the doors and fenders to check your gaps. You might be fighting with it later like myself if not. Good luck.

I was worried about the same thing, but when we put the cab on the dolly we measured it for square before any cutting was done and everything is perfectly square on the dolly, so I am hoping that will transfer to when we put it back on the frame.

[Dakcrew]

Wow! it has been over 2 months since an update... that is horrible! I have been plugging away at the cab still almost got the driver side floor, A, & B pillars buttoned up and looking at the rear cab corner as the last piece on that side. I don't have too many update pics, but will get a couple up here tonight I hope.

I also went out and built myself a blasting cabinet for those pieces that will fit in it. It was made from an old bathroom vanity that I picked up from Habitat restore and I can do a write up on it if anyone is interested.

Oh and I took some good advice... got a new driver door since the couple that I had were in such poor shape. The new one has a speaker hole cut in it and a small crease just below the belt line, but should be easy fixes from metal of the other doors and a bit of body work.

Anyway until I get pics up, and the motivation moving... Hope all have a great week and until next time..

[Dakcrew]

Well yesterday I started on the newest driver door that I have. I took this one home with me so not working at the shop this week. I got most of the rot cut out of it on the bottom and need to finish trimming up the speaker hole for filling, but making progress again feels good. I am hoping to have the door finished up this week and then maybe try some fitting of it over thee weekend. Oh this is moving way to slow for me, but I am doing most of the work and it is very rewarding knowing the effort involved! come on motivation keep going.....