67 short step Daily driver build, 5.3 and 33s

[Creepycrawler]

Hey everyone though I would share my buildup with you all, I’ve been working on my 67 short bed stepside, build plan is aluminum block 5.3 out of a trailblazer that I wrecked with the 4l60 that was behind it. Gonna use the trailblazer rear axle as well. I’m going for a very different stance, I’m shooting for it to look like a 1 inch lifted factory 4wd. Reason for this is 2 part. My grandpa and great grandpa both were farmers and had always had 3/4 ton 2wd trucks, and they always had bigger tires on them front and rear with the most aggressive tires you could buy on the rear so they could get in and out of the fields. Basically be infatuated with that since I was a tiny kid, they always kinda looked prerunner ish with the big tires and they were usually loaded down with feed or whatever they were hauling. 2nd reason is this truck will be for working and hauling me to enduros and most of the time I need a truck it will be going off pavement so lowered is no good for me
Here is a picture of it when I bought it

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[Getter-Done]

Sounds like a cool build.
I like the high-ride 2-wheel drive look also.
I will Follow along with your build.
Was going to welcome you to the forum.
I see you have been here awhile.
Keep the pictures going.
It good reference to have for the build progress.






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[Creepycrawler]

Thanks! Moving on along I wanted a under bed tank, so following some advice on here I went with a 53-54 Chevy car tank from tanks! Setup for fuel injection but I just couldn’t bring myself to pay for there pump and sending unit,more on that later. First things first the tank fits with some trimming but I didn’t like that the one crossmember was crooked and I would have to trim a lot off it to get the tank to fit, so I cut it out, flipped it upside down and backwards and put it in square to the tank, felt like 3000 test fits and grinding a little more here and there to make it fit to get to this point


Also didn’t expect the filler to interfere with the frame as bad as it did, if the truck was just gonna be a looker I wouldn’t care but this truck is gonnna get worked hard and tow heavy so I decide to make a pass through, kinda hated how it looked once done but it’s growing on me. Gonna add a plate on the inside of the frame next time the tank comes out, here’s a few pics of the progression on the pass through

[Getter-Done]

Looking Good.

When you add that plate,
Will you drill a hole and weld a pipe in for
access to the bolts to take the bed off?






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[Creepycrawler]

Been busy figured I’d post up some progress, got the motor pulled what a total ***** that was, sawzalled the front clip and frame off and still had no room to work



Pulled the rear axle next, don’t mind the sketchyness



Machined a drill guide to swap back to 5 on 5, not my best work but it did the job



Got both sides done



Swapped oil pan over to a F body pan



Next up is getting the new rear end in the truck hopefully this week

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by Creepycrawler

Been busy figured I’d post up some progress, got the motor pulled what a total ***** that was, sawzalled the front clip and frame off and still had no room to work



Pulled the rear axle next, don’t mind the sketchyness



Machined a drill guide to swap back to 5 on 5, not my best work but it did the job



Got both sides done



Swapped oil pan over to a F body pan



Next up is getting the new rear end in the truck hopefully this week

Was your 5 on 5 drill guide done with a Dividing head or CNC?
Or ///???






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[Creepycrawler]

I made it on a manual mill with a DRO. You just program the bolt pattern you want in the DRO and then it calls out each hole and you manually move the mill to the holes the screen calls out, works really slick if somewhat labor intensive

[Getter-Done]

That's what I figured .
Just checking.
A bolt circle program.
Great work.






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[jcramsey]

Looking forward to this. Truck looks familiar....Was it at the Charlotte Auto Fair this spring? I seem to remember one with flat white paint and NASCAR looking wheels.

[Creepycrawler]

It’s possible that it was, I bought it out of North Carolina and it had a for sale add on the written on the window like what you would do if you were taking it to a car show
Sneak peak of the stance with the bed on, this is at full bump ride height will be 2 or 3 inches higher.

[Getter-Done]

Great progress, Looking good.







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[Madkidd007]

Been there done that with the tight clearances on the trailblazer platform, I’ve done 2 engines and 1 trans. Might I suggest at minimum put a corvette servo in that trans. For reference here is my 70 on a coil spring chassis, have C30 springs in the front with a Cummins and bags in the rear in place of the coils with a 2” body lift and 33s.

[jjzepplin]

Interesting. Something a bit different. So the trial blazer rear end fits?

[Creepycrawler]

That C20 looks sweet very close to the stance I’m going for, yea the trail blazer rear fits really good, surprised more people haven’t done them, for reference the rear rims are 15x10s with 4.5 inch backspacing and you can see they barely peek out the fenders on the step side, which is a little narrower than a fleet side. I grabbed a couple quick pics of the rear trailing arm mounts I made and some of the CAD panhard bar brackets that should be done and welded by the end of today

[Madkidd007]

The 6 cylinder trailblazer used a kinda weak 8.2 diff, all 5.3 had an 8.6 which is holding up fine to my 6.0 and the TBSS has a 14 bolt semi float which I’ve had waiting for when the 8.6 grenades. As long as you don’t have a moment of no traction to very good traction I think you’ll be good especially with the 3.73s

[Creepycrawler]

That’s good to know you’ve had good luck with a 6.0 in front of yours, I’ve got 3.42 I think, gonna be regearing to 4.56 at some point to help take some strain off the trans while towing and to give it some pep in its step. The trans will get a full rebuild in a year or so with all the good stuff to bring it to 4l70 ish specs, for now I’m just gonna run it, same as the motor, just gotta get a year of use out of it then it’s full rebuild time

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by Creepycrawler

That’s good to know you’ve had good luck with a 6.0 in front of yours, I’ve got 3.42 I think, gonna be regearing to 4.56 at some point to help take some strain off the trans while towing and to give it some pep in its step. The trans will get a full rebuild in a year or so with all the good stuff to bring it to 4l70 ish specs, for now I’m just gonna run it, same as the motor, just gotta get a year of use out of it then it’s full rebuild time

Well a servo is only $13 and takes 5 minutes to put in. Research it and you may change your mind, I even put on in my 70 because it’s that helpful. Not trying to push things on you, just previous experience

[Creepycrawler]

Oh I didn’t realize that, I’ll have to get one ordered for sure if that’s the case. I got more brackets made today, I got a little fancy and I’m real happy with the way they came out
Below is the before and after bending the lower control arm brackets



And a crappy pic of the panhard rod bracket, I’ll get some better ones tomorrow

[Creepycrawler]

Got the lowers full welded, heres a pic showing the welded inner and the outer just hanging



Here’s showing the internal bracing



And here she is fully welded, hopefully get the uppers done today




Turned out a little bulky but I’m still pretty happy with them for just using a portaband and a grinder

[Creepycrawler]

Got the uppers tacked in so I could test ride height, I think this is about perfect

[Creepycrawler]

Trying to figure out bigger pictures here is a test

[Creepycrawler]

[jjzepplin]

How did you do it? (pics)

[muddstir]

Originally Posted by Creepycrawler

Man, i do like that stance.

Will be following along with your build - so keep up the good work man.

[Creepycrawler]

Been working hard on this thing but forgot to get any pics till I dropped the bed back on. I’ll get some when I pull it back off but these will have to do for now, I got the upper link mounts done and the air bag mounts and bumpstops done, what a pain figuring the clearance and travel for everything.



Rear is sitting on its own weight for the first time now just gotta get the front doing its part