think even from the beginning we always knew that we wanted to flush mount the glass in the truck. It was a series of modifications that I wanted to hold off on for quite a while, though, for a few different reasons. I didn’t want to get into it right away just in case the project took a turn early on. The bed, engine bay, hood, and various other panels and modifications seemed to be far more important to get done “early” on in the build. The last thing I would want is for the project to stall and you need custom glass just to seal up your truck [laughs]. Another reason is that I didn’t actually know the best way to do it. You don’t really see these trucks with flush glass very often, so there isn’t much to go on. Thankfully, once we changed the passenger door window opening, this gave me a perfect way to pull the lower corner glass edge off the beltline, which ended up being the baseline for starting the new glass openings.

The corner glass for these trucks seems to be widely considered an afterthought with how weirdly placed and shaped they are. By pulling them off the beltline, I feel like it drastically changes the overall look of the corner of the cab, despite being such a small and subtle modification. Once this was figured out, I felt it was best to just shave all the windows on the truck and then cut all-new openings in. So I sought out doing that, slightly reshaping each corner of the cab so there isn’t a weird “knuckle” of material where the top of the original corner window is.

(Footnote regarding the initial decision NOT to use Flaming River’s updated Type 2 power steering pump kit: The OE pump (reservoir) not only created cramped quarters for the steering linkage and plumbing, but the worn-out pump itself didn’t put out sufficient pressure, thus creating an overly sensitive steering situation. We followed up shortly thereafter by installing the new pump and, wouldn’t you know it, new-truck steering response! We’ll cover that in part 2.)

ack in February of 2022, we introduced you to Flaming River’s direct bolt-in 1967-72 C10 cradle-mount rack-and-pinion kit that we installed in a 1969 SWB … with overwhelming results (ease of installation topped by vastly improved steering response/driveability). So, when the opportunity arose to test out their recently released cradle kit for the 1973-87 Chevy/GMC (PN FR318NC), we jumped at it and quickly began searching for a suitable steering swap candidate.

Well, it didn’t take long before Richard Garcia’s 1979 Stepside was brought to our attention. Not only was it in need of a new tilt column, but the factory power steering was worn out as well. Perfect.

Now, while Flaming River’s “complete” kit includes everything necessary for the installation—one-piece 3/8-inch plate steel cradle mount, Flaming River’s front-steer power rack, U-joints/intermediate shaft with support bearing, and Type 2 pump with pulley, bracket, and reservoir (a free hose kit available at the time of install … check Flaming River’s site for current offer/availability)— Garcia wanted to retain his original power steering pump, so we opted not to take advantage of that upgrade … which would ultimately prove to bite us in the butt (more on that later).

t’s rare indeed to find a vintage pickup that doesn’t suffer from the ravages of rust in one place or another. Very often corrosion can be found in the rear cab corners as these areas are natural collection points of dirt and moisture. Paul Wilson’s 1952 Chevy pickup is one of the best examples of an original early truck that we’ve seen in a while, but even it needed repair in the form of new cab corners from Chevs Of The 40’s.

While the good folks at Chevrolet saw fit to put drain holes at the bottom of the cab corners in these early pickups, they often became plugged with dirt and debris. Not to mention the cab corners were a great spot to stash gloves, rags, and all sorts of stuff, which collected moisture and inevitably led to rust.