1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Hello, this has been a long time coming, this was my great grandfathers 1 3/4 ton grain truck and then my grandfathers (gigi's) when he took over the farm. Gig eventually stopped farming and gave the truck to his brother in law the lived and farmed 1 mile away, he used it for a year and parked it beside a building. 20-30 years later Gig wanted to make a dumping trailer out of the frame and hoist, 4 or 5 year old Me would not let him do it, so he pushed it to the back of the yard and we aggred when i was older we would get it running and he would teach me how to drive. Another 20ish years pass by, Gig has been having a rough couple of years so this truck is going to be on the road so i can get the long overdue drive in the truck with him.
There is the quick backstory of the truck, my quick backstory, i am a redseal jounrney man tech for our local Ford dealer, the last couple years have been very busy for me, started a family fully renovated my house and built a decent sized shop which now alows me to build this truck.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Update after a week, cleaned out the mouse nest inside the truck, attempted to start the truck, motor seems to be seized solid of course :banghead::banghead:
Pulled the screwed in patches off the floor, ive got the front clip off, found all the rust holes.
So current direction i am going for with this truck is bagged and hopefully on a set of 22in GM transport rims i bought for this truck. Ls/auto trans drivetrain.
Looking to make a cruiser that i can jump in a drive where ever i want.

So on that note i am Trying to determine the direction what to do for the chassis
Im thinking of 4 diffrent options
-S10 but im not very sold on it i dont like the idea of wheel spacers and seem to be hard to find in my area
- orginal idea was to used a Tahoe and i would end up with a good frame 4 link rear suspension and ls drivetrain, but unsure of fitmet under fenders
- 2003 explorer, 4 wheel independent suspension 4 wheel disc, but still need to buy an Ls and may be costly or difficult to bag
- trail blazer cannot seem to find how it would fit under the body

I am also very hopefull to use the transport rims in which 3 out of the 4 options may be dificult to use
Anyone have an suggestions or experiance with any of these options

Thanks

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

If your original frame is in decent shape, why not use and modify it? As another member stated here, nothing fits like your stock frame.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

i had orginaly thought of that do that as i had some extra front end from 67-72 c10. But just thinking of the possible time savings and value from upgrading to a newer frames

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Thing is your truck has the large front hood/fender setup,,(longer/wider)
a small truck frame will be really narrow under there..and I know it's been done..(lower50s)
if your really wanting a frame swap, then look towards a more fullsize truck donor option
Or just keep your orig frame and fab off that..
Trailblazer ss have been used under several trucks on here
If you want LS power, I would look for a frame/engine/trans from a LS powered truck,

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Just so we are on the same page, I wasn't being critical of your choice(s). Just simply asking a question. As for time saving, I would think there would be a lot more work modifying a newer chassis as compared to just boxing your original, and/or adding different suspension options to the original.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

No problem! I had thought alot about it

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

are you planning to keep the big truck front end? or switch to a 1/2 3/4 1 ton front clip? if you are going to keep the big front:

most of the trailblazer swaps i have seen on here widen the front with big truck fenders, so that might be a good fit.

and his name escapes me but he built a coe (same size front end) on an ext cab silverado frame and his wheels fit (barely), so a tahoe probably would too.

explorer is definitely going to be a pickle to bag.

for using the stock frame it may be possible but I think its at least 10 inches tall on the loadmaster/big trucks. you mentioned bags, that would sure hold you off the ground a bit.

no matter what flavor you pick, you have guys here who will throw in their two cents (as you already have seen haha) so give us something to look at once in a while!

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Russ...47fasttoys
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ghlight=47+coe

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

:wave:

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

The cab over truck, light blue made a big flat deck and moved the motor back? If so i know what truck your refering to. I measured a 2003 denali that showed up at work it did have some ofset rims best i could measure by myself it was 77 inch and my fenders are 72 to the widest point and yes i am planing to keep the fenders. Im planing on not painting it this year just get it going and blow part apart next winter bepending on life.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Quick update, I have the doors and hood pulled off, cab is unbolted and ready to come off. While pulling the ****er and the park brake lever off as this being a 1100 the park brake is on the back,of the trans, i got an idea that seems pretty simple and cool to reuse the park brake lever into the shifter for an auto trans. It has a pretty good latch set up that i can manipulate for the detents for the auto trans, also got some pictures of all the rust

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Pics

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

just googling the track width (center of tire) of the denali should be ~66, and the width of your big truck front end should be ~75". so with the right wheels it should fit. I think thats what 47fasttoys found too, he got some more positive offset wheels and it fit.

not pushing you one way or another! you have some rust repair ahead of you, i got a full body shiver looking at it (I hate rust repair)

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

dude! that's an awesome story!

i love the big-bolt trucks, and they have a MUCH bigger frame in them. unless you are planning to run some crazy HP and build a pro-touring truck, that stock frame should be great to build from. the cab n body fit, they have bolt-in kits for an LS, etc. hell, i'd use the stock manual trans and keep the parking brake.

any chassis you get will need a full rear suspension build, so its the same with this frame or another. for the front i'm a personal fan of the C10 IFS, and with your bigger clip it should fit and tuck nice too. i had to play games to get mine to tuck in the narrower front clip.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Yeah i had measured a truck i had previously owned, i was leaning towards the fullsize truck but i have a lead on a 2005 trailblazer just hoping to get it for a resonable price since most of it will end up scrapped

Yeah rust is just a part of life, its not nearly as bad as every other truck ive owned

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Would be really convenient for the park break but the trans is screwed, could most likly be fixed

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Got the hood and doors to work and washed, the yellow looks sweet cleaned up, hoping to get the front fender and grill washed this week to

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Pics

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Wow...that's cleaning up nice..I think Russ (joedoh) did a truck that had a lot of yellow in it

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

As requested, This is the envoy front suspension with a 28.1" tall tire on a stock wheel.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

sux about the trans ...

but that paint came out amazing!

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

i love that shade of yellow, the closest I found for mine was at tractor supply, the new holland touch up paint.


one thing about that stock frame, I bet you can find a front suspension to fit it, either the later model chevy independent or even a MII but the frame is HEAVY. I hauled one off and just this section with the motor was way way over 2k lbs.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Little update havent done to much, cabs pulled off the frame ready to go to work and get cleaned
I also stuck a wheel under the fender just to see how its going to look :metal:

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

have you checked out welders series stuff? lots of kits and misc brackets, tubes, gussets etc. Canadian as well so it is what it is for pricing. great guys to deal with.
figure out your fender to fender inside dimension, then see what has the right track width. like 6dof says (check his build for details) the chevy square body frot end may become your winner. lots of aftermarket stuff available too, off the shelf.
dunno about there but it's -20C here with a nice cutting wind and snow. great time to be figuring out truck stuff.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Got the cab washed, found some more rust of course!

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

OOF, mouse rust. been there!

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Been a while since i updated but was on a bit of a stand still.
Over christmas i was able to get the rust cut out.
I have been looking for a chassis and i finally found one last week,
I ended up with a 1996 gmc sonoma with a 2.2l and a 5 speed. I know i was looking for a full size chevy but prices are crazy right now.
The truck was to good of a deal and in my price range, and put a battery and gas in it and was driven it up and down the back lane. So my new plan with this truck is to use the 2.2 and 5 speed for now.
I have a set of spindles off a 71 c10, im thinking they should fit so that i can gain the 6 lug bolt pattern.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

maybe you'll get some cash back from used body parts on the S10.

Got the cab off the other day and ive made half my money back for the s10. Cab is all striped i need to cut the brake pedel out as its built into the cab on this truck
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

I vote leave the 4 banger haha I had a 65 C10 I built with a 98 2.2 5spd and everyone who said it was a waste of time and wouldnt get out of its own way was just wrong. it drove like a normal truck and while it wasnt the fastest thing it did 70+ on the highway no problem

looking good! great progress!

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Has been a long time since an update, ended up getting the cab set on the s10 frame and started fixing the rust, had some life happen and didn’t get any farther.
I also rebuilt a 1969 c10 for someone else, blended the rust repair into the old paint and made a nice cruiser.
So finally back to working on the truck

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

So now for the update, I found a 2005 avalanche for the drive train, removed the body and remeasured the frame and looks like the cab will fit,
So back to my original plan of a full size truck, going to use the hole drivetrain, plan as of right now is still to bag on 22 inch transports shorten the frame

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

here is a link to gmupfitters body builders manual that has dimensional drawings that you may find helpful

https://www.gmupfitter.com/light-dut...prior-to-2013/

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

fixturing your body with some threaded rod "stilts" that hold your cab off the frame may help you level your cab to the frame. will you be using the stock avie body mounts?

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

That’s not a bad idea, I’m trying to get the cab as close to the frame as possible, I’m trying to get the running boards to be on the ground. I had done that with the s10 frame, I used the factory mid cab mount on the frame lined up with the rear cab mount and used the factory s10 bushing and frame brackets. I plan on doing to same with the avalanche frame.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

when you put your cab on the frame to see the ride height, and you wanna make it lower, remember the suspension is gonna have more travel in the upwards direction so it may be a good idea to factor that in. some avies had struts, which would be easy to pull out and then move the suspension to its snubbers, but I'm not sure what year that started. anyway, just a heads up.
I put my 57 on an envoy xuv frame and suspension. I used the floor and firewall from the envoy. that made the mounts atc easy. it complicated lots of other stuff though.
keep posting pics, its gonna be great to see how you do this and what obstacles you overcome

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

I am going to mount same way I was on the s10 frame. Pulled the keys for the torsion bars and rear springs out and threw the front end on just to kinda line up the cab. Looks like I can cut about 2 inches out of the inside edge of the cab corner so it can drop onto the frame, and set the cab an inch off the frame. Need to cut the front frame horns off just in front of the steering. With the bump stops out I’ll be 3 inches up but I can still trim the bump stop mounts and drop spindles if I need. I’ll post some pictures as i do it.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

what will the plan be for the added track width?
will you keep it 4 wheel drive?
I loved my 03 avie, wish I had kept it and redone the rusted body. no time for that though and parts alone would have broke the bank.

Re: 1953 chevy 1100 gigis truck
 

Managed to get the cab sitting on a 2x4 on top of the frame just need to find some universal body mounts. Got it as low as I think I can get it, only about an inch off the ground