1977 P10 Step Van Rebuild

[Valarius_Starchaser]

Sweet I love it when guys keep the 6 banger this thing has cool written all over it Im in!

[jdl71]

Me too! I thought you were set on a drop in crate small block. I must have missed the post where you decided to keep the 6. It looks great. Kudos!

[mattdmeyer]

I was hell-bent on a crate V8, but then reality set in. This will allow me to get this back in service much faster. With the minor performance tweaks, I think it's going to be a great little workhorse with just enough pep.

I'm looking at the old pictures before it was pulled out, and the stock carb & air filter did sit pretty high, so I think I'm going to be ok on the height. I may just have to rotate the carb 180° and come in from the other with the cable linkage. We will all know soon enough.

[tintbox]

I'm in!! I like that you kept the six!

[Old school choppers]

Do you have any other pictures how did the automatic transmission work out

[thirdstreettito]

Subbed!

[Koffer]

Nice looking truck Matt .
I see it's a steely , all those are long rusted away here in the northeast , my aluminum was a rare unicorn that was still around .
I put a 700r4 in mine behind the stock 292 with 373s and was the best upgrade I did so far .
If your able to find a motorhome you can pull the steering column out for both the automatic shifter and a tilt wheel . Or if you can find a 67/72 pickup with an auto that column will also work . .
I sent you a PM about the power steering stuff too .

[mattdmeyer]

I realize that it's been awhile since I last updated. Lots of progress though. Over the past month, I've found a new steering column, sourced all the power steering components, stripped all the paint in the front compartment to the bare metal, primed, and then reinstalled the engine. Lots of little hiccups along the way, but so far all have been manageable. Here come the progress pictures for each of these little milestones.

[mattdmeyer]

1/28/2016

Steering system day!

Pulled off the old steering components and removed the old steering column. The old column was a non-tilt, floor shift model. It has a busted turn signal switch inside so it needs to be rebuilt. It would turn on, but would not automatically turn off for the right-hand signal. If you didn't remember to turn it off, it would make for some good times on the streets of Dallas.

This truck came with manual steering originally. I see the logic that the fewer bells and whistles you have, the fewer repairs that need made. But man, manual steering sucks to actually drive. I could deal with manual steering if it was an automatic transmission, or I could deal with a manual transmission if it had power steering. But when you have neither? No way, screw that noise. I decided I wanted to ride in the pure lap of luxury though, so I decided from the start that I was adding an auto transmission and auto steering.

Steering column:


There are only a few things that secure this. There are 2 bolts holding a clamp just under the instrument panel, and just under the floor plate there is a clamp holding it to the floor. That floor plate? That was an interesting story. More on that later. Then finally the end of the column is connected to the intermediate shaft. Loosen everything, and it should just slide right out.

Once the components were off, I was able to see what I had here. The original column is 35", no-frill, straight column with no shifter. It was a decent enough shape, minus the turn signal problem. Since I was moving to an automatic transmission, I wanted to move the shifter back to the column. The OEM automatic version is quite difficult to find. A P30 RV will have what I really wanted (tilt and auto shift), but there are not many step van graveyards around here, so I hit the Internet to find something.

The steering column is 3/4", 36-spline. Write that down. That was a big deal since it needed to match with the intermediate shaft if I couldn't find an original and needed to go aftermarket.

Intermediate shaft:




Next off came the intermediate shaft. This is the part that connected the column to the gear box. Pretty simple component. Heavy too! This thing is serious. In a murder case it would be known as exhibit A. I don't recommend having your face under this when removing it from the truck or you'll be likely to lose a few teeth if it falls on you.

Once off, I was able to get a better look at it. It's 3/4", 36-spline on one end (to match the column) and 3/4, 36-spline on the other (the gear box end). This is important to note, and I found out why later on. After looking at, this thing has grease fittings all over it. A real fine piece of craftsmanship and built for business.

Gear box:


Ah, the old manual gear box. 38 years of manual steering. Only 3 bolts holding this to the frame. Just don't be under it when you remove it. Little thing is a heavy SOB for its size.

See the end on the right side? Yeah, 3/4", 36-spline. That matches the same connector as the intermediate shaft. Cool. It's like the engineers at GM thought of everything.

[mattdmeyer]

02/03/2016: Tackling the steering column

Man, the steering column on this thing is pretty difficult to find. Again, I wanted to move the shifter back to the column because of a two main reasons.

1. That was the stock look with an automatic transmission.
2. I wanted the floor space back. How many times have you had to straddle the shifter when you exit the seat to the right and come close to the hitting a sensitive area? For me, I'm not very tall so it became a safety issue.

There was a P30 parked just down the street from me that NEVER MOVES. It’s used for advertising an auto shop. It works too cause it’s bright green. You won’t miss it. The frame is cracked and it's dented in too many places to count. I asked to trade my old floor shift column for his automatic shift column, but he was not interested. Strike 1.

I hit the interwebs. There are not many column shops that supply this specific animal. I finally found one but they were not interested selling it to me since they wouldn't get a core in return. It was a pricy little bugger too. $700-ish. I would have paid more too for the original, but they were not budging. I can understand though. Without a core, they cannot keep the inventory and the problem of finding an OEM to restore falls to them. Oh well, Strike 2.

Finally I found something that seemed perfect. The fine guys over at Classic Performance (http://www.classicperform.com) seemed to have something. I found a 35” column with an auto shifter and no key (since the key is located in the instrument panel) for $325. Oh, and it even was a 3/4”, 36-spline too. Seemed just right, so I called and it was exactly what I needed. It even had a tilt, so another convenience upgrade.

Steering column: TC-6772-SB
6772 TILT SHIFT BLACK STEERING COLUMN 6772 COLUMN SHIFT; 3/4-36

Linkage kit: CPTSL
GM SHIFT LINKAGE KIT TH-350, 400, 700-R4,4L60, 4L80

Here is the old column:


The new column arrived:


Testing the fit:


The shifter arm at the floor end of the column was going to cause an issue though. The floor plate didn’t have an opening to account for this. So I was presented with two options.

- Dismantle the entire column so I could remove the shaft that had the shift arm attached. Reassemble it with the floor plate above the shift arm. Discard the rubber boot.
- Cut the floor panel to the size of the rubber boot. This would allow you to get the shift arm through the panel. Seal the hole with the boot.

I went with option 2. I hated the idea of cutting the original part since I’ll never be able get back to original. Also, if I screwed up the cut, I’d be left with a large hole in the floor and forever searching junk yards for the panel. After much deliberation it was the path of least resistance. I don’t have enough experience with steering column assembly so if something went wrong, I’d be up a creek. I had the tools to make a clean cut though, so I created a template in CAD and went to cutting. Turned out very well.

Cut lines on the floor panel:


I then stripped and primed the panel so it’s ready for the final coat of paint.

Here it is installed:

[mattdmeyer]

2/27/2016 - Power Steering Gear Installation

First, a special thank you goes out to Koffer for all his help with this install. He was very patient with me and the million of questions I had.

This upgrade turned out to be much more expensive that I estimated. So far only the new gear box and new pitman arm is installed. No hoses and no power steering pump yet. That will come soon.

It was a pretty simple install once you figure out all the parts you need, and that is where Koffer really helped me out. Again, thanks!

First thing was to remove the old pitman arm from the gear box. This little guy didn’t want to come off. I didn’t need a pitman arm puller, but it would have been a lot easier had I rented one. Just a couple direct whacks with a hammer and it popped lose though.

Next was to remove the intermediate shaft that was between the gear box and the steering column. Once that was loose, just 3 bolts held the gear box to the frame, and everything came apart.

Koffer told me I was going to need a new intermediate shaft, and once I had everything off, I understood why. The old shaft for the manual steering setup had 2 identical connection sizes at the ujoints. They were both 3/4”. The input shaft on the manual gear box was also 3/4”. So that works. The problem was the new power steering box had a 13/16” input shaft. No worries, I’ll just get a new intermediate shaft. That can't be expensive, right?

Also, the other connection on the gear box that attaches to the pitman arm is larger. (I don’t have the sizes). This is why a new pitman arm is required. The old one would just not fit correctly. The good news is it appears the idler arm is not different between manual and power steering, so at least there is that. Although I’m thinking about swapping it out anyway since, but that can really wait until I can drive it to the auto shop.

I noticed that the old bolts were pretty rusty, so I went to the specialty hardware store and grabbed some new grade 8 bolts and nuts. Then came the time to put the new parts together.

The power steering box is attached by 4 bolts. The holes were already drilled in the frame, and just needed to mount it. Again, don’t put your face under this thing when installing. Just don’t. Or do it, I don’t care, it’s your face.

Once the new box was installed, the pitman arm attached without any incident. Just a couple of nuts. I torqued down the nut and noticed the arm gets wedged onto the gear box. It’s not coming off now unless I have a pitman arm puller.

Then I attached a new intermediate shaft. One end is 13/16” and the other end is 3/4” The 13/16” side attaches to the gear box input shaft, the 3/4” side attaches to the steering column. Next step was to get it in there and torque down the bolts to hold it in place.

One thing I noticed is there is a small nut on the intermediate shaft. It’s right in the middle of the slider. I’m not sure if this is for a grease fitting or if I’m supposed to torque that down to prevent the shaft from moving. I don’t think it will move since both ends are pretty tight, but if someone knows, feel free to chime in.

That’s about all there is for the steering right now. The next part will be to mount the PS steering pump, attach the hoses, and install the belts.

Parts list:

Pitman arm
Moog K6143 - $71.99
There are cheaper options, but this one had grease fittings and was built for business.

Intermediate shaft
Mill Supply 89-715 - OEM Number 346810 - $312.40
This this is crazy expensive. I didn’t have a choice in the matter though. Mill Supply was just as expensive as the dealer.

PS gear box
Master Pro 503-0118 - $138.99 + $75 core ($213.99)
Seems to be just as good of a box as anything else out there.

New power steering pump bracket
4-5-6chevytrucks.com $260
More expensive than others on the web, but these look fantastic. Very well constructed.

Total cost so far: $858.38, and I still don’t have the pump, hoses, belts, and pulley yet. Is it worth it? I think it is.

Old Pitman Arm


New Steering Box Installed


Intermediate Shaft (I cleaned it up for no reason)
Before:

After:

[Koffer]

Looking good so far Matt .
As for the nut in the new shaft I'm not sure ,does it look like that where the grease fitting is on the old unit ? Also you don't want to tighten the slide part of the shaft as it does 2 things ,allows for the body and the frame movement or you would beat the snot out of the steering gear input shaft and column with the body flex. Also acts like a collapse able steering shaft .

[mattdmeyer]

Originally Posted by Koffer

Also you don't want to tighten the slide part of the shaft as it does 2 things...

Ah, OK. Then I won't tighten it. Once I get back home from work this week I'll take a picture. From memory, it looks like a hex nut with a flat top. Almost like I could replace it with a grease fitting if I wanted.

What you say makes sense though. I would definitely need some up/down play as the steering wheel turns. Otherwise, just like you describe, that would cause a lot of force being shoved into the steering box. Makes perfect sense.

[Koffer]

If it is in the same spot as the grease fitting in the old unit , just pull it and install a grease fitting . Now that I think back my pick and pull unit had a "plug"screw in a grease fitting if left in the spot would hit the frame as the shaft installed the opposite way with the slide jount was toward the box on one of the shafts and the other way for the power steering .i just pulled the plug , put the fitting in to grease it then reinstalled the plug when finished

[FFTravisM]

Any update on the transmission?

[mattdmeyer]

Originally Posted by FFTravisM

Any update on the transmission?

Just sent you a PM about it.