1979 K-10 Stepside Shortbox - Beagle's Build -

[beags86]

beags86 submitted a new Build:

1979 K-10 Stepside Shortbox - Beagle's Build -

So I have been asked to put together a build thread. Please bear with me as many pictures I will be posting were kind of dark and didn't scan in real well.

So my story (and my truck's) started in 1998. When I turned 16.
I grew up in Northern IL outside a small farming town of 500. My father is a farmer and always had squarebodys. So I always wanted one. Shortbox. Lifted. Huge tires. Rollbar full of lights. Dual pipes with huge tips.
The stuff that measures a man's manliness. You know the standard OFF-ROAD mid 80's magazine stuff.

Where I came from everything is a short drive and it's pretty much unheard of for a 16 yr old not to get a car and start driving.

So my search for the perfect square started when I was 15. After looking at a bunch of trucks that just weren't right for one reason or another, my father convinced me that a proper 16yr old should have a car. And when I turned 16, he would buy a new truck and I would get his.

So a 16yr old with a car and a truck? SCORE! Right? No, not for me. His truck at the time was an 89' half ton. Nope. Wrong body for me. Plus IFS?
Forget it.
So when I turned 16. I got this. Still have her.

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Read more about this build here...

 

[beags86]

So, I should also say that growing up my father also owned a 15 min. oil change place. So I started working when I was 12. I did shop stuff, cleaned cars, basic busy work around the shop until 15 or so when I started changing oil on customers cars. One day my truck was low on oil and I had to top it off.

 

[beags86]

So, sorry for the worthless background info. On with the good stuff.


Since I had the 89 and the Monte SS I decided I could buy a POS and fix it up instead. The search for a restoreable shortbox was on. This vastly opened the door to what I could buy.

Northern IL= rustbelt.

Since I was looking for a rust free or low rust truck before it was tough. Now I had a open door to buy any old pile of crap I found on the cheap.

And oh what a pile it was. I loved it!

 

[beags86]

MAN ALIVE! What a sweet truck!

305!
Headers!
4in lift!
33's!
Roll bar!
Turbine wheels!

LOL. It was a solid starting point.

I quickly blew up the tranmission pulling a 400 bushel wagon of corn. Man those open headers on a stock 305 sure sounded tough..

So let the teardown begin. I really don't have any good pics of this. Sorry they are so dark.

 

[beags86]

so I then picked up up a greaseball 400SBC from a junkyard that ended up being a complete POS. I still have this. Needed EVERYTHING!

 

[beags86]

Since I just had gotten burned by the yard.
No refund after the promise that it would run.. didn't run. Needed new crank, pistons, etc... (old one already was turned, already bored 30 over, yada,yada,yada)

I turned toward the rest of the truck.
Got the body off and paid 100 dollars for this to show up.

 

[beags86]

That's a mobil sandblast rig. (that pic is recent -2013- but you don't know that yet)
Got my frame blasted and started to paint it up.

Standard crap I won't go into detail.

 

[beags86]

So that this time, I found another chevy truck that had a fresh 355 mildly built and bought it and pulled the drivetrain.
I used the engine out of that truck, rebuilt the trans out of the stepside and the t-case out of the stepside.


(that other truck's body was scrapped out and the frame was sold to the guy that I orginally bought the stepper from for a 4wd/2wd drive conversion project)

Got some fancy shocks around that time with that coveted dual steering stabilizer. (manliness test - Winner!)

Dad painting in the first pic. (oh yeah he also paints tractors on the side so he's a pretty good painter)

Pay no attention to the cab in the background In the forth pic....

 

[beags86]

So around this time I had been looking for a new body. I spotted an ad in Car and Truck Trader for a stepper bed. I went to look at it. Pile of crap.
But he did have a 91 burb sitting there with a good front clip.

Hashed out a deal. 91' GMC front clip and a lund visor (DING,DING,DING - Manliness test-Winner!!) heading home with me.

The guy was going out of business (it was a junkyard) and he liked that fact that a kid was doing this so he gave me the stepper box. It was a pile, but better then old one I already sent off to china to be made into a toyota.

Note: This was around 1999-2000 and you really didn't see many trucks running around with this grill conversion... if any. In fact it was rare even to find a 91' in the yards at all at that time.

With a bed and front clip all I needed was a cab. Since I was going with a newer clip. I thought I would get a cab from the 80's. (liked the dash better) didn't care what it was. But I wanted power windows and power locks.

So my dad knew a guy that made "Southern Runs" for sheetmetal.
(anyone from the rustbelt knows what I am talking about)

A short while later I had an 84 chevy silverado trim 2WD cab sitting at the Farm. Texas rustfree.

 

[beags86]

Then it was time to marry the frame and cab.
In some of those pics you will see a dude sitting around and another frame sitting there. He was my buddy, he was doing a shortbox 302 powered ford ranger. Anyway, he gave me a 3" body lift.

By using the body lift, it enabled me to keep the 2wd floor in the cab. It's still that way. I don't care if no body likes body lifts. It's worked for me for a long time. I have no plans on changing it.

 

[beags86]

After that happened, I was working on getting the engine fired and ran into a problem, I couldn't get power to my Cab. I didn't know what it was. And I couldn't figure it out. So I had to take it to a guy to help me out. This was the only time someone has worked on the truck directly. To this day.

So off she went. It was sad to me that I couldn't get it.

 

[beags86]

Worst Part. I had a grounding issue. Two days later and some better grounding I was ready for the next step. Fenders and a box. Roll bar and CB whipps?? (I guess the photos dont lie)

 

[beags86]

Paint.


Went to napa and found a ford mustang red I liked.
Time to learn to paint. Guess I did ok. dad helped.

Then I went to the dealer and got a new grill

 

[beags86]

Next up. Roll bar.
Used an AC tractor silver.

 

[beags86]

Bought some wheels.
Bought a truck with brand new 33's on the truck and paid less then new 33's from Farm & Fleet.

Wheels. Tires. Rolled it outside to take some pics.

This was in 2001. About 6 weeks away from my SR. prom. My plan was to have it done in time to drive it to prom. It didn't happen. I "finished" it right after I graduated high school.

My plan for my High School truck didn't work out. I just missed it.
Oh well, life moves on.
I am going to leave it at that for now, will continue the update a bit later.

 

[82355]

Nice.

Martin

 

[82355]

Why was all of your hair bleached? I graduated in 2000, everyone around here only bleached the hair on top of their head.

Martin

 

[beags86]

Thanks, I will add this. Then I will go into stepside version 2.

At this point I drove the truck like it sits, oddly enough I never took a photo during this time.

I put a side vent window, got the front bumper right, exhaust, and the roll bar lights on and hooked up. The rest of the odds and ends finished. The only photos I have during this time frame are ones that she pops up in the backgound.
I will show you about the best one I have.

This is during my hometown's festival. I was on the fire dept. and we were having a "waterfight" I am in the front here controlling the nozzel. My stepper is in the background watching over.

 

[beags86]

Why was all of your hair bleached? I graduated in 2000, everyone around here only bleached the hair on top of their head.

Martin

lol. I think I had it like that before that photo. I think that was version 2.0

 

[82355]

Haha. Someone posted a picture of me on Facebook the other day from back then. It was a classy hair style.

Martin