Finally working on the stepside / Dallas

[1973c10]

Welcome nice to have another stepside on here

 

[rpcraft]

Happiness is a shop with a Chevy truck inside...

You keep saying that and Ford guys are going to take note and start an internet Meme, lol.

 

[WolverineStepside]

Update: I have been busy and pulled the truck out of the driveway for the first time today and filled the empty tank with year old gas with some fresh super unleaded. I painted the grill and headlight buckets, found a perfect condition factory blue seat, painted the door panels, adjusted the door pins, fixed the window mechanisms, installed now door locks, rewired the tail lights, changed the belts, gave it a tune up and swapped the Saginaw for the TH350. It is purring like a kitten now. I need to do some brake work to get it ready to drive farther than the gas station since the calipers are hanging bad but everything else can be done while I drive it. I didn't intend to spend the last two weeks working on it but I have enjoyed it! Back to work now and I'll slip this into the weekend project bucket now that it is enjoyable! Here's some pics and a You tube video getting up to 60 for the first time.

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[78C10BigTen]

Do you happen to have any pics of the center support and hood latch where the grill bolts too? I bought one for my truck to swap a 73 grill but it wont bolt up with mine due to the interior hood release, i guess the hood latch changed.

 

[WolverineStepside]

Yes if memory serves the hood latch changed not from years but from manual to cable operated. My '79 was a manual one and I was able to use my old one. On the '78 I did, I had to nix the cable latch and use the '73 manual latch and only two bolt holes exist on the top of the '73 center bracket whereas there are three holes on the core support but the two holes are plenty to secure it. This is all from my memory which can sometimes be suspect but I believe that is the case. My pics wouldn't help since I don't have the cable release on mine.

 

[78C10BigTen]

Yes if memory serves the hood latch changed not from years but from manual to cable operated. My '79 was a manual one and I was able to use my old one. On the '78 I did, I had to nix the cable latch and use the '73 manual latch and only two bolt holes exist on the top of the '73 center bracket whereas there are three holes on the core support but the two holes are plenty to secure it. This is all from my memory which can sometimes be suspect but I believe that is the case. My pics wouldn't help since I don't have the cable release on mine.

I was just wondering if i did buy the right support. I did not take into account the cable release... i guess i shoulda took the latch too.

 

[WolverineStepside]

I believe there are only two supports, the 73/74 sits snug up against the radiator (to allow clearance for the deep grill) and the others sit out away from the radiator. If you have the snug one you got the right one. I'm sorry I don't have a pic of it and I would need to pull off my grill to get one but I hope that description helps. If you can't get that hood latch from the junkyard or wherever you got the grill let me know, I think I might have a spare.

 

[78C10BigTen]

Here is the support i bought plus it looks like my latch uses alot less bolts. I remember taking out about 5 on the other truck. Also sorry to clutter the thread.

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[dvdswan]

Great find. Welcome to the site.

 

[WolverineStepside]

Thanks for the Welcome Dave,

Ted, Wow, I've owned 9 square bodies and I can't remember ever seeing a core support that looked like that around the latch, although I know most of mine have been manual latches and it is quite possible I am just be forgetting about the 1-2 I've had with a cable. Mine is a '79 with a manual latch and this is a pic, so it bolted right in. My latch opens front to back and yours opens side to side so you definitely won't be able to use the 73 latch. I wonder if you can just leave your original latch bolted in and just attach the support to the radiator area and just not bolt in the top? Is there clearance? 4 bolts should be plenty for that support. Oh and you got the right support for a 73/74. Here is my latch

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[WolverineStepside]

I searched all my photos of my old '78 and this is the only engine pic that gets close to the latch but even with this limited view I can tell that it is like yours and it had the cable latch too,so I guess that is the difference since my '79 is newer but has the old style latch. I can't remember how the heck I did it on my '78?. Man getting older sucks.

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[78C10BigTen]

Thanks for the Welcome Dave,

Ted, Wow, I've owned 9 square bodies and I can't remember ever seeing a core support that looked like that around the latch, although I know most of mine have been manual latches and it is quite possible I am just be forgetting about the 1-2 I've had with a cable. Mine is a '79 with a manual latch and this is a pic, so it bolted right in. My latch opens front to back and yours opens side to side so you definitely won't be able to use the 73 latch. I wonder if you can just leave your original latch bolted in and just attach the support to the radiator area and just not bolt in the top? Is there clearance? 4 bolts should be plenty for that support. Oh and you got the right support for a 73/74. Here is my latch

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Looking at your pics i now realize why mine has such a big hole around the latch and yours dont. My hood itself doesnt latch with the big cone shaped ball like yours, mine is a square shaped hook. I guess i have to change the whole top plate on the core support. Heres a picture of the hood on my dads 73 and the hood of my 78 to show the differance im talking about. Sorry about the crappy pic, theres mice living in his.

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[Honky Kong jr]

Looking at your pics i now realize why mine has such a big hole around the latch and yours dont. My hood itself doesnt latch with the big cone shaped ball like yours, mine is a square shaped hook. I guess i have to change the whole top plate on the core support. Heres a picture of the hood on my dads 73 and the hood of my 78 to show the differance im talking about. Sorry about the crappy pic, theres mice living in his.

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Now you’ve learned the difference between a male and female. Good for you lil guy. Lol

 

[78C10BigTen]

Now you’ve learned the difference between a male and female. Good for you lil guy. Lol

 

[WolverineStepside]

I am SURE my '78 didn't have the hook, I would have remembered that. (right?? LOL) maybe it might just be good to keep your existing grill, if it is black it should still look great