Clemson Chevy's 65 stepside heap build

[ClemsonChevy]

I bought a '65 chevy stepside with 230 I6 from a friend. I also got a '77 suburban he had bought for parts to convert the '65 to disc brakes and power steering. All of this for $900. I put a battery in it and got it started within minutes. He had bought it a couple of years ago and drove it home, but had sat there for about a year. The brake master cylinder was empty, so we put some fluid in and gave it a few pumps (my thigh is still burning) and the brakes began to work. I drove it around the block. Someone had moved the shifter to the floor with a crappy floor cut job. My friend had put a drivers seat from a Chrysler Sebring convertible with integral seat belt. The passenger seat is there but not mounted. Radio hole has been mangled. She has some through rust in the floors and the drivers rear fender.

[ClemsonChevy]

My immediate plans:
regasket and repaint the engine.
Troubleshoot and remove extra wiring for starter circuit.
Add power steering using box from 77 burb.
Add front disc brakes from 77 burb. Add power brake booster. Redo rear shoes/hardware.
Replace turn signal switch and troubleshoot wobbly steering column/shaft.
Replace rear shredded E-brake cables and get ebrake working.

Medium term plans:
Make ghetto wood bed.
Patch radio area or make flat place to mount gauges.
make seat mount for passenger seat

Long Term plans:
repair/replace rusted floorboard area, rocker panels, etc.

[ClemsonChevy]

So I removed my gauge cluster to day to check bad bulbs and such. I took the cluster apart, and was amazed at how faded and cracked the original warning light filters were:





Here they are held up to light:



I had a good read from the "How to restore and Detail and Original Gauge Cluster thread" found here. While I had it apart, I repainted the fuel and speedo needles that were faded. I painted them white then bright orange. I had the paint already for using on gun sights.







Heres the fun part. I looked around for translucent colored things to use as new filters for the warning lights. I found these clear colored folder things at staples for $5. They didn't have a dark enough orange, but the pack I bought had green and red (along with blue, purple and clear). I folded the folder to make three layers. Using the cardboard tubes that the filters mount to, I traced around the outside of the tube with a fine tipped marker. I cut the pattern out which gave me three pieces. I used three stacked together per cardboard tube to give a deeper color. I test fit the three pieces just into the rubber ring and trimmed away my pieces until they fit without being bubbled or wavy. Once satisfied, I put the cardboard tube back together with the rubber and the new filters. Mine were still lighter colored than the originals, but I like the look.











My truck is going to be mainly a daily driver/beater, so I didn't worry about the light rust on the speedo gauge or the scratched cluster lens. Maybe this will give someone some helpful tips or ideas.

[ClemsonChevy]

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[NEWFISHER]

A good start, I've seen worse become better. Did they use a butter knife to cut the trans hole? At least you have a cupholder, I'm still freezing my ......
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[TJ's Chevy]

If your interested in hot rodding the little 6 I have a whole bunch of info and parts places for you. Would love to see another one of these restored with a 6 stock or rodded! If so let me know. Nice truck! Look forward to watching the progress! T.J.

[ClemsonChevy]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

If your interested in hot rodding the little 6 I have a whole bunch of info and parts places for you. Would love to see another one of these restored with a 6 stock or rodded! If so let me know. Nice truck! Look forward to watching the progress! T.J.

Sure! It will be further down the road, but send me what you have.

[McMurphy]

Looks like a fun start! and to the site .....tons of fun builds, info, and people around here.

You may goof around and find you are in good company !!

Good Luck, keep us posted we are photo and progress addicts here

[Ta2Don]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

Looks like a fun start! and to the site .....tons of fun builds, info, and people around here.

You may goof around and find you are in good company !!

Good Luck, keep us posted we are photo and progress addicts here

Have Fun no matter what, that's what these trucks are for...

[1963c-10]

Good looking project...cant go wrong with a short stepper

[bluex]

Nice truck, some of us local upstaters meet up once a month. Check out the NC/SC section for details or I can PM you when we are meeting if you want to stop by.

We are doing one this weekend at a cruise in at the chick-fil-a in Greer. I know that one might be kinda far for you but we sometimes do the quaker steak in Greenville too or the mustang club cruise in at the texas roadhouse in taylors...

[TJ's Chevy]

You can start by calling Tom Langdon, he sell Headers, distributors and has a boat load of info 1-586-739-9601. Mike Baril at Ravenswood paint and body is excellent for info 1-954-923-9883 . Larry at Clifford Performance sell good parts, his 270 cam is a good choice(offers .525 lift with stock rocker ratio I believe), I used his intake and headers. his intake is a better choice than the offenhouser. And unlike Landon's his Clifford's headers are tube headers not cast iron. You can look at my build thread for pictures(link below). My info is, a good simple way to get power is too work on the head also. I would get a head off a 194. And convert it to a lump port desighn, and put oversize 1.94 intake and 1.60 exhaust valves in. A set of flat top 307 piston is recommended to raise compression. The clifford intake and headers, with a 390 holley. And a Davis unified ignition( 50,000 volts). The clifford 264 cam is good also. It provides .518 lift and come with all the needed parts to install. But I would call Tom Langdon or mike at ravenswood cause they can give even more info than me. DO NOT call Larry at clifford performance! He does NOT give true info on 6's, I've dealt with him and almost got scamed into buying the wrong parts. So don't call him for technical info. One more great place to call for the lumps and or head info is Larry Page at Twisted 6 1-321-303-2742. He's a member on here. you'll catch him on the Tricked out chevy ' cylinders thread.

[ClemsonChevy]

Today I decided to open my heater box and take a look. GM should've sold heater boxes as hamster cages.......

Anyway, popping the lid, found a few pounds of leaves on top of the core. Mine had no screen to keep trash out.



Off with the top revealed the squirrel apartment:


So I removed the whole assembly, cleaned it all up and primed and painted it semigloss black:




Next, I need to order a new fan motor since mine is crusty and barely spins. I am going to use the old core, it appears good. I flushed it out and sprayed out between the fins.

[ClemsonChevy]

I got the heater box back in last week. I did silicone on a leaf/critter screen while it was out.

[ClemsonChevy]

I finally got the beast running again after sitting a while. I changed most of the gaskets on the engine except head gasket. Did rear main and front seals. I put on a new starter, but had to grind some on the nose of the starter to get the bolt holes to line up. I have heard some of these noses are aftermarket china castings, so maybe that was the issue. I installed a new stock style alternator, but the GEN light is staying on. I tried swapping the two smaller wires since mine were just female spades, the connector is long gone. My other guess is maybe bad ground at alt since I just painted the engine. I may run a ground wire to the alt since it didn't have one previously. I installed a HEI dizzy and made new wires and got different plugs. I replaced the ghetto flex upper rad hose with one I made work with the aftermarket random aluminum radiator.
I installed a better battery tray and ran new cables. I paint bombed the engine to keep the rust down, but its a 20ft job at best. I didn't set the timing with a light, but got it idling nice and revs just fine by hand. The stock timing marks are iffy to me. I have a Zero and an "A" for advance, but the marks have no numbers on them.

[TJ's Chevy]

Engine looks good! I'm getting excited about doing the performance rebuild on my 292! Good to see some progress again! I was beginning to think we lost ya! LOL!

[ClemsonChevy]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

Engine looks good! I'm getting excited about doing the performance rebuild on my 292! Good to see some progress again! I was beginning to think we lost ya! LOL!

I've just been busy. I have way too many projects and too little time.

[bj383ss]

Man those squirrels had a hell of an apartment. Now you got me curious what is inside mine. May pop it open today and have a look.

Bret