Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

First of all I am new to this forum. So here is a little background, I was given my step dads 53 five window (Cecil) a few years ago to eventually give to my son when he is old enough. My stepdad bought this when he turned 16 in 1975 and it is really good condition. After some study I decided that I would turn this into a rusto mod, complete with a 85 S-10 undercarriage. For most is not all of this, I have contacted SKYMANGS and he will do transformation since I didn't have a lot of time (or expertise) to get this wrapped up because I wanted my mom to see this vehicle before she eventually lost the battle to ALS. Unfortunately that didn't happen, but now I want my step-dad to see his old truck, drive it and help him cope with mom's passing.

Shawn

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Now the plan is to do a Rusto Mod on a 83 S-10 that I have and transplant a 5.7 TPI that came from my 1987 IROC-Z that I purchased new but was unfortunately totaled a mere 9 months later. (That's a story for a different thread) :waah:

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

One thing I can do is disassemble. Not the best at reassembling but I can take things apart. So I set out to remove Cecil from his frame and then start the process of removing the 40 year old white paint.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

The donor S-10 is a drivable 85 that I picked up on CL. Unfortunately this one doesn't have a 700r so I will have to use another CL find. My goal is to drop this vehicle to about an overall stance of 6'4 or so. Chris is going to install drop spindles and lowering blocks in the back. The tire wheel combo is Ridler 695 (18x8 and 20x10) with meaty Kumo Tires (255/55/18 front 275/55/20back) I prefer more sidewall but this may not allow me to get the overall height I want, we will see.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Will keep an eye on the build...Jim

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

cecil,,,,, like the name.. and me too, i can take anything apart, putting it back together.. well thats a different story. Good luck on the build i like the truck .

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Cecil was the name he was given by my Step Dad in 75, so it will stick. Will try to get some more photos up this weekend. I am hopeful to be mostly thru the "rusto" process. Here's a sneak peak at one of the fenders completed so far.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Has the tpi been sitting since 87? Looks like a pretty cool build so far!

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Yes the TPI has been in my dads shop since about 1990. It is not locked up, and I have been PB blasting the cylinders the last few weeks and turning them every few days. Per some fellow forum members I picked up the Wiring Harness and ECM from http://www.larryselectricsite.com/index.html

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Oldman3 I am hopeful to have the truck at Ole Sarge's (SKYMANGS) shop in October. He is working on a 32 roadster now, then another S-10 swap before he can start on mine.

I spent some time hunting Turkey up in the West Plains area back in the 80s. My uncle Willard Sparks (Sparks Farms) used to own the Doan's Ranch.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Did some priming and painting this weekend on the hood and the bed. Both of these had been stripped before and there was little in any of the Ocean Green left. I laid a black primer and then about 2-3 coats of Ocean Green. I will then hit the Green with fine/medium grit and age it back to the patina the Cab has.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Here is a mock look of what the hood fender and wheel will be.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

I have had a couple PMs about the tire wheel combos. I went with Ridler 695 and Kumho ecsta packagae. As I stated I wanted more sidewall and was willing to give up and inch or so of height to get the meatier look I was going for. I am pretty sure that we are going to have to mini tub the bed and hopefully we wont have any issues up front we will see.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Looks like a great project.
I will keep an eye on it, also.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Those wheels are great. I can't wait to see what they look like on the truck. Just the other day I was looking at tires and thinking how I wanted an 18 inch rim but didn't want a rubber band tire.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Ok the push is on to get most of the body work finished up before Cecil goes to SKYMANGS on 10-12-14. I have finished up all the fenders, the bed, the hood only thing left is the Cab.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Here are the pictures of the "aging" process on the bed and hood. Only thing left to do is seal the patina in with Penetrol.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

That looks great! How did you do that? Acid?

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

I completely stripped/sandblasted the parts that I wanted to age. Flat Black Primer then painted them. After it dried for a few days I then sanded the entire part with mixture of coarse, medium and fine grit sanding disk on my orbital to give the pain the weathered look.

To make the rust you first need to completely sand any spot you want to rust to bare metal. Then you mix up a spray bottle with these ingredients.

16 oz Hydrogen Peroxide (fresh bottle un open is best)
2 oz white vinegar
1/2 Tbsp of Salt

lightly spray the bare metal and rust will form almost immediately. Let this dry then repeat. The more time you repeat the process it the darker it will be. You can also use a small propane torch to speed up the drying process.

After the rust has dried for about 24 hours, take fresh small paint brush and gently remove any extremely loose rust pieces. I use leaf blower to blow the loose particles away. Be careful because most of the rust will wipe away at this point.

After you removed the loose particles you need to treat and seal the rust with Pentrol. You can buy this at Lowes or Home Depot in the paint department. This will adhere it surface.

Lastly you should clear the patina with a satin or gloss clear. I am going to do that in about a year.

It is not as difficult as this sounds, but it does take a little time sanding.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Thank you for that info. I have some patch work to do on my 49 but was avoiding it due to not being able to keep the patina.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Glad to help. There is some patch work on the cab that Chris (SKYMANGS) will be doing when does the S-10 swap next month. After he is finished I will age the new sheet metal the same way. I am going to wait about year before I satin clear just to give it some time to weather a little.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

I am the same way, I fixed up the bed sides and they are just in grey primer. I wanted to get it to match the patina and I think this will be the best way to try!!

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

On the advise of some other forum members I picked up a TPI wiring harness from http://www.larryselectricsite.com/ Good Luck Chris https://www.facebook.com/OSGcustoms

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

So I have about 99% of the old white paint removed from the cab. As you can see there isn't much of the factory Ocean Green left except on the doors. So the plan is to flat black prime and re paint every thing except for the doors. Then go through the aging process so the cab matches the bed and hood.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Pulled the gauges and all in all they are not in that bad shape. We are going to do a little refurb and retrofitting of new gauges into the cluster. We are going to have to use a converter to make the VSS on the 700r work any suggestions?

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Looks great. My guages are in about the same shape with the speedo needle broke off too. My speedo shows 6000 and some miles but the truck looks like it has 600 000. LOL! Sorry I have no idea on the conversion.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

I finally found the seat. It is an Astro 2nd row with the fold down cup holder and it was only $60 thanks to the local pull a part. Plans are to recover it in either Black and Gray and maybe add "butt warmers".

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Nice seat. Any idea what year they are out of?

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

FarmerSid - It is out of 1998. Here is the link to SKYMANGS description of how to make it fit http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=149

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Your "aged" paint looks pretty good. Not easy to get it to look that great. My 49 is about the same color.... except somebody painted the entire thing with a brush at some point.... yuck! Can't wait ot see it all finished and put back together :)

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Thank erichevy It has definitely been a chore to get the look right. I am hoping to finish the Cab (last piece) done this weekend.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Thanks!

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Well I am in the home stretch of the body work. 2 weeks from today "Cecil" will be in MO at SKYMANGS shop for the S-10/5.7 TPI transformation. This weekend I repainted the cab in an attempt to match the "Patina". Next week will "age" the paint by sanding and rusting it. Here are the before pics.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Here are the after pics before the aging process.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

I finished up the Cab exterior this weekend and come Friday Cecil is headed to SKYMANGS shop in MO. The photos aren't that good it was late, I was tired and lighting was not that good. But here is the "aged" cab that should flow nicely with the rest of the "Rusto-Mod" look I am going for.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

754, is Chris going to post his part on this thread or start another? Want to follow along whichever way it goes, let us know...Jim

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Jim,

Chris said he would post on this thread.

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Looking great Shawn! Love the patina you've re-worked. Can't wait to get this one under the knife!

Jim, I'll be updating this thread, but I have another week or 2 on my current project ('54 long-bed/Extended cab frame, LS swap) before This one. Sorry... behind schedule is just about par for the course lately!

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

Chris, as fast and great as you do these conversions, I would still be thinking about what to do next. How did I miss the 54 build?...Jim

Re: Cecil the 1953 5 window / S-10 / 5.7 TPI
 

You're in good hands! this oughta be good.