My "Official" Stepside Restoration Thread and LS Swap 2021

[sandawgk5]

Not just the joint. That stub is shot too, you can see how the ear got egged out from the joint hitting it. Probably stretched alittle first and spit the cap then the cross hit it and bent it good.

Dik

 

[Chevy305]

Not just the joint. That stub is shot too, you can see how the ear got egged out from the joint hitting it. Probably stretched alittle first and spit the cap then the cross hit it and bent it good.

Dik

Ya a steep hill climp in 4lo 3rd gear and full throttle will do it...

EDIT: btw I can't wait to take my hub apart again because we all know how much fun I had the last time...

 

[lectric80]

The last time should make you and expert on those hubs now.

 

[Chevy305]

First shot at fabrication

So today since I had the day off I decided to play with my new welder a bit. I decided to reinforce the rear end of the frame where if you guys recall I had a tow hook rip clean through the frame when I sank it...

So my solution is was to box it in with some 1/4" steel plate that I may or may not have swiped from my job. Anyway enjoy the pictures, and remember that this is my fist time welding a frame and I'm still getting used to using this welder or mig welder for that matter or a welder in general... ok I'm a noob but I think I did alright:

The piece of scrap 1/4" cut to right size and beveled edges for better penetration and I got to play with the oxy acytelene torch too

The frame before:

After shots:

From the angle I was welding upside down and pretty much blind so this weld is not so good...

Painted with Eastwood Zinc Phosphate:

As far as the holes I have another smaller piece of 1/4 plate that I will slide into the frame and the tow hook will bolt through that and the frame kinda like a huge really thick washer.

So opinions please good and bad on my first frame welding experience?

 

[h0wl0ngcanitbe]

looks rad, whats DTF stand for?

 

[Chevy305]

DTF = Down To F*uck

ya its a Mass Maritime thing, my buddies thought it was hilarious.

 

[lectric80]

It is so weird seeing that wood there, just not something I am used to with the stepsides. Never looked at the older ones that much, but I have always loved the look of the stepsides. Keep up the great work.

 

[h0wl0ngcanitbe]

thats what i figured, kinda like P and Vagee!

 

[Chevy305]

It is so weird seeing that wood there, just not something I am used to with the stepsides. Never looked at the older ones that much, but I have always loved the look of the stepsides. Keep up the great work.

Ya I replaced the wood not too long ago. Esentially the bed just sits on a big piece of ply wood. Thats how I got it when I bought it and it works so why change it? Honestly I rarely actually haul stuff with it. If I did then I'd look into putting in a metal floor.

 

[offroadblazer764x4]

If it's not broke dont fix it. a pickup truck is maid to haul stuff. The plywood bed floor is defiantly the way to go. keep it old school.


_________________________


76 k5

 

[Chevy305]

oh ya and I replaced those hex bolts in the bed with carrige bolts so no more nubs.

 

[Chevy305]

Finally there has been a break in the weather so its no longer 10 degrees as a high. So with a list of stuff I wanted to tackle, I figured I'd start with the biggest on the list, the wiring harness. Enjoy my misery...


So now the old harness is out. wow talk about spagetti

Let the pictures do the talking:

I think for the new fuse block, I'm going to weld in a patch of metal over that and use a hole saw to bring the wiring through.

Does anyone know what the connectors are on the right? They came off of the steering collumn but not the main harness clip that is to the left.


Here is how I am mounting my gauges with the kit from EZ-Wiring. Essentially bolts to the plastic thingy and you take a hole saw and hack out whats behind it so the gauges mount flush. Although now I can see why they specify 73-80 because the top metal piece has nothing to mount to. So if anyone has a 73-80 one of those let me know

 

[lectric80]

I am curious to see how this turns out. I wouldn't mind stipping my stuff out, but I am wondering how much hacking you have to do to the bezel to make it work. I will also check the stuff I grabbed out of the 80 Sub and see if I kept the gauge cluster. It should be exactly what you are looking for.

 

[JDNobodi]

Does anyone know what the connectors are on the right? They came off of the steering collumn but not the main harness clip that is to the left.

The connectors go to the ignition switch.
In fact the 12 gage yellow wire should go to the neutral safety switch for the starter, After the safety switch, it should go purple. 12 gage pink wire is ignition. At least that was how it was on my harness.

 

[Chevy305]

The connectors go to the ignition switch.
In fact the 12 gage yellow wire should go to the neutral safety switch for the starter, After the safety switch, it should go purple. 12 gage pink wire is ignition. At least that was how it was on my harness.

There is a yellow and a purple wire coming off of the neutral saftey switch. The new harness comes with a new set of wires for it. Pretty much all the colors are the same as factory so it should be pretty simple to figure out what goes where.

 

[Chevy305]

Update!

Not much progress over the weekend, but today was all for the truck.

I made a patch panel and welded it in. Althought the welds suck, I am terrible at welding sheet metal. Give me 1/4" plate and I can go all day. But seeing as how there was still insullation behind the firewall and the fact that the surrounding metal got hot enough to make the old rubberized undercoating go up in flames. So I tried doing a tack here and a tack there going back and forth to keep the heat down. So I was a left with messy bogger welds and with the inner fender in place its too tight to fit my grinder in there and I dont want to drop the inner fender when I will have to drop the gas tank to get the old wiring thats clipped to the frame behind it.

So this is what I'm left with for now:
Rustolium Flat Black because I ran out of my fancy Eastwood stuff

So the fuse box is now mounted up and it looks pretty awsome. I am very pleased with this kit installation so far has been very easy and straight foward.

Now that I have made all the connections somehow I have to snake it up over the column back into place.

Also I picked up some hole saws for my gauge mounting and so I had to try them out:

What do you guys think of the gauge mounting? For the small gauges I am going to do exactly what I done before and mount them to the bezel and not the green plastic thingy.


What I still need to figure out is what I am going to do for my idiot lights that I still want to keep like my highbeam light, brake light, and bat/alternator light. The directionals are still in place so they are all set.

 

[Kenny78]

Drill small holes in the black "trim" piece and wire in some blue LED's. Don't know what color scheme you would want for bat and brakes, but it could be done with flashing LED's for the warnings. what piecve needs to be pre 1980 for thta gauge kit to work, 'cause that looks awesome!!

 

[lectric80]

I believe he is talking about the original gauge cluster. The green plastic piece that the steel gauge mounts attach to behind the bezel.

I looked and I don't have the 80 version from the Burb. I kept the bezel since it was uncracked, but didn't keep the cluster itself. Not sure why, I don't really remember.

 

[JDNobodi]

Mount the idiot lights where the shift indicator goes for an automatic truck. You do have a manual transmission?

 

[lectric80]

Another option is some surface mount LED lighting from Radio Shack. They are about $2-3 each, and are available in different colors.