BUILD THREAD 68 P10 STEPPY

hi guys,

i have finally got my pride and joy home, took me three years of back and forth to get the guy to sell....
funny thing is, about 2 weeks ago he ran out of places to store her, so in the end, i got her, and for a really great price !
here are a couple pics to get started, and a "story" put together on photobucket

im going to tag this post in hopes of helping the millions of steppy enthusiasts out there find this thread......believe it or not, there are no truly dedicated forums for these rising stars

***ok, forgot there was a 7 day period for pics and links, lol, i never read the rules***





step van, steppy, p10, stepvan

rain and work, rain and work.......
i cant win for loosing sometimes, lol
i did sell my 77 kurby today, so as long as i dont get stupid i should have a pretty decent budget for the 68 !

Glad to see another steppy!

This one is mine, will get back to it this winter. Has a SBC and auto trans, all other mechanical is original.
https://s6.photobucket.com/user/fcinsrc/library/#/user/fcinsrc/library/metrovan53?sort=6&page=1&_suid=13747626014840615004714047557

this one is my dads



and this one belongs to jedeweese, another new member here




keep us updated and post some pics as soon as you are able/allowed!

you metro guys are soooo lucky !
i keep hearing about this elusive barn find not too far from my house, supposed to be a little step van as the guy puts it...."one of the little cute ones"
i can never get our schedules to cross paths to go check it out though.....
what are you fitting out the metro for? and what in the world is that last one? that thing would be super cool to rod out.....
im really happy with my 68 p10, it has a lot of rust issues, but the backbone is still good and strong, best thing i see so far is everything is screwed or bolted on so replacing panels should be pretty easy for my newbie butt to deal with..... at the very least they will give me a definite start/stop point for each section as i work my way around the van....thats what my optimistic brain parts tell me anyway, lol

The body is steel? I've got a '77 P10 with an aluminum body. It looks a lot like yours except for the headlights and turn signals.

yep, steel body..... the 77 i just sold has all aluminum body, it was a gruman kurbmaster, was fun not dealing with rust on that build, but i think i can handle this one with little issues....

i built the 77 with a 327, turbo 350, and rebuilt rear end with 456 gearing, lol...it was an in town cruiser to say the least.....im already getting flak from family and friends for letting it go, but the guy just offered me too much to turn down, im going to miss her a lot, but the little 68 is already filling the void nicely

if your 77 is a true 1/2 ton p10 from chevy with aluminum body hold on to it, you have a rare one there

The last one is a 63 Jeep FJ3a. I think there might be a few steppys show up at the Midsouth Econoline event this year...

lets see if i can post now.....

ok....its the night of day 7 !!
maybe in the morning then  

the heater box is going to be the first sub assembly i tackle to bring back to usable state

all out and ready to be tore down, hopefully the search for a heater core goes smoothly

i think i need to resize my photos, they seem to be getting cut in half when posted...

may be a little pitting dimples showing when done, but she seems pretty solid...... just needs a good cleaning and rust removed, wire wheel to the rescue !! .... and a little chemical rust treatment to finish it off and prep for painting....

really ??..... not even an hour into it.......

12,000 rpm, stiff wire cup....... blood sweat and tears so soon into it

this "L" channel is the only structural piece that will need extra attention i think, all the rest looks bad, but is still good and strong, just a lot of surface rust

this is a story i put together on photobucket since the first round of pics are too large, lol, i didnt realize i had the camera set to 10meg....... the rest should be 640x480

this is a source of great inspiration .....

gotta love working at the parts store !
just brought home 4 drums, 4 cylinders, 4 spring kits, and 4 adjuster kits...... all in stock for a 68, can your local parts house say that?

i priced out rear drums for 23 bucks each, then i saw the fronts were 91 bucks each !! for 11x2.5...... but the rear drums showed they also worked for the fronts if 11x2.......lol, i was glad to see no fins on those front drums

i picked up a 230 out of a 64 nova wagon today to use for power, i dont think i could have the old crusty engine in the van now up and running for that much and even if i could its going to be almost surely less of a headache just swapping it out...

plus that gives me a chance to drive it around, get the feel of it, and decide how/if i want to build the current motor for more power and performance.

i think my plan of attack will go somewhat in this order....

brakes (no point in moving if ya cant stop, lol)
suspension/steering ( three middle coils on rear springs are touching/sitting tight on each other)
wiring (am looking at a hot rod wires 8 circuit harness)
interior (dash rebuild, stereo, wiring, etc...)
exterior body (i think i will farm most of this out, lol)
lighting (i have some great ideas for LED conversions)
back to interior (fitting out interior, seating, trim, etc....)

That's going to be a sweet ride when your done. Looks to be in pretty good shape for it's age.

she is for the most part
im not going to try and do a perfect restoration, basically just cutting out the rusty parts and replacing with fresh sheet metal, updating a few things, and fitting her out to what my idea of comfortable is

OddBallSteppy wrote:if your 77 is a true 1/2 ton p10 from chevy with aluminum body hold on to it, you have a rare one there

I found a pic, here it is:

I haven't touched it since I bought it . . . someday I will!