"williams welding" 54 5 window
 

hello y'all,

this will be my first ever build thread and my first ever complete resto, after spending a lot of time reading other peoples builds, I figure I would try my own hand at it, any and all advice is welcome, ill also do my best to take and upload pics. this project is going to be named "Williams Welding" as i plan to stencil that on the door or tailgate and make it look like a old 50's business truck. I enjoy doing small projects for people as a side gig, but i end up becoming friends with many of the people and then feel bad charging any money lol, so not a great business venture.

I seen this truck for sale one day , and decided I wanted one, but rather then buy it, I wanted to build one, figure i would have more joy in it and hopefully spend time with my son and maybe pass it along

Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

after 6 months or so of searching I was able to locate a 54 5 window that was only 2 hours away from me, most of the nice trucks were located in texas, and preferred not to drive 20 hours away.

when i got the truck, the engine was pulled and front body panels were disassembled, the previous owner attempted to replace floor panels and cowl pieces, which were kind of a disaster and made more work for me

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After getting the new rocker panels, cowl pieces, and inner pieces tacked together , i wanted to see how the front fenders and hood went together and lined up , I have zero experience with trucks of this age and or how they are suppose to go together, so its all learning curve for me

anyone have any idea why the previous guy would drill so many and such large holes in the cab?

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now that i have two active projects, the 54 and my and z28 camaro, I decided to go ahead and pick up a lift to help make things alot easier down the road, went ahead and finished sealing my concrete as well.

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I needed a table to work on things, after seeing the prices of the ones for sale, figured id just make my own , it ended up being 3'x8' with a 6 inch back splash, has some casters laying around so through those on as well, also installed a outside light on the garage.

Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

Welcome!

Large holes? Are you talking about where the hood hinges mount?

Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

no, where the new cowl panels ( or thats what i call them) meet the cab, they drilled 3/8 holes and crimped the original metal

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looks like he used a cardboard freight (harbor freight) spot weld tool to drill out the original spot welds

nice space!

Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

tlwilliams

Great shop, looks to be a fun build. Just a view questions.
What is the ceiling height?
What sealer did you use on the floor, and would you use it again?
What is the foot print of your building?
And any tips you want to pass on.

No rush

Keep on keepin on

NC

Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

thanks!

thats what i was thinking as well, but i dont understand why he crimped the exsisting panel, when the new panel also comes crimped, made for a challenge lining the two up,

thank you sir! ceiling height is 12' after i poured the concrete its around 11'7" barely enough for the lift

sealer was surekoat 30 shine, which i believe they only make 25 now, with only 1 coat put down, it seems to do a really good job

building is 30x40x12 which was a blessing coming from no garage the last 3 years, i just had the building erected last year, i did everything but build the exterior, the amish did it in 12 hours! i had a 16x10 door installed specifically for a boat i had, which sold the boat in may, and decided to get back into cars

idk if i have any tips , other then i would def pay to have someone else build it, i saved myself a little bit of money but doing the grading, wiring and concrete, but also spent much more time and effort in the process. if you want i can post some pics of the building or send them to you

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well the lift came into great use when disassembling the truck down to the frame, got a call saying that my mustang 2 front end would be here today, i ended up going with the heidts kit mostly because i felt like they had the best customer service , the only place i didnt call was fatman, idk why but the yellow parts in the pics turned me off lol (silly reason i know), i also did my best to sand blast the frame with my friends industrial power washer, didnt turn out that greatest but for the 10 bucks i spent, i cant complain to much

Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

Great project, looks fun! I will be tagging along. You will love your lift...good choice.

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I'll tag along for the build, looks good so far...Jim

Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

looks like your inmfor some fun....this big cowl holes are a head scratcher....
on your shop your probably gonna wish you had insulated it...cold in winter ,, sweat in summer...

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Welcom aboard. Your giong to love that lift. I use mine for everything. I just "forced" my car trailer on mine and rewired it standing under it. Saves the back.

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ok so after around two hours of work, i was able to remove the stock solid axle, and get all the mustang2 stuff tacked in, but ran out of acetylene so couldnt notch the frame for the rack and pinion, but it did bring me to a question for yall, before you box your frame in what are you coating the insides with? i had some weld thru primer so i used that, but figured id c what everyone is doing on this subject before i box the rest

also when installing your cross members, what are you setting the rake to? i set mine to +1.5 degrees , i marked my front axle line before removing the solid axle, but given the heidts measurement from the front shackle , they are about 3/4 of a inch off

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thank you sir!

thanks jim , i can only hope it turns out a fraction as well as your truck

yeah i will likely have to add in some thin sheet metal over the crimped areas, and yeah no doubt, id love to have insulation but its all i could afford at the time, summer wasnt bad but i will install a large fan before next year

haha nice, idk if im that brave yet, i likely wont ever lift over 4,000 lbs

Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

Nice truck. It doesn't look terribly rusty. Those holes sure are weird though.

Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

Awesome project. Keep the progress coming!

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ok guys , in order to attempt to keep this project rolling along, im ready to setup my own or order a 5 link setup for the rear suspension. what are yall doing for your rear setups? i found several universal kits for 250-400 bucks, for that price it doesnt make sense to build my own, but want yalls advice,

thank you

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As in a 4 link with a panhard or watts link?

I thought about using a thorbros 4 link set up on a C20 short bed I'd like to build. Idk if I'll get to it this winter or not though.

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For my 48 black truck I used the Thornbeck brothers universal triangulated kit for the rear suspension. We mocked everything up, cut the bars to the correct length then tigged the threaded inserts in. At the time they were located in Jasper IN. Maybe they still are.

The 48 Suburban, it has a Heidts parallel 4 bar with a panhard bar and a Ford 9 inch housing. This was installed in the completed chassis I purchased for it. A buddy of mine owns Trick Trucks and Rods rod shop in OH. He built the chassis and uses Heidts in all his builds.

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awesome! ill def check out thornbeck , i looked at the heidts and its just a little more then i wanna spend , i found a website called airslamit.com and they have a parallel 4 link for 250 , then just need to build my own 5th bar weather it be a panhard or etc, ill def keep y'all up to date with the route i go

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Great build so far. I'm jealous of your shop and lift! I'm in the backyard... What's your plan for the drivetrain?

Matt- thank you after 3 long years of work I finally got it built, my original plan was to put a 9" in my camaro and put factory camaro rear into the truck, still my plan and I just ordered a thornbros tri 4 link , so rear suspension should be in next couple weeks, I'll verify it's all squared and put cab back on , then finish weld it all
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Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

I'll be watching your build, enjoy it with your son and have tons of patience and it will be something he will rember for a long long time. priceless!!

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happy thanksgiving to everyone, no real updates yet, ordered a tri-4link from thorn bros, and this weekend ill likely place the order for my 9" for the camaro , and pull the camaro rear end out, possibly narrow it a inch on each side and mock it in, thinking of going with the qa1 coilovers outback, anyone have any experience with them?

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Does this era of truck need the wheel centerline moved forward to look right in the opening like the TF trucks? When you lower a TF truck the front axle centerline needs to move ahead roughly an inch or so...

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BOBINBC- i know before i removed the old soild axle it was centered in the fenders, but i can also tell you that today i will be throwing a set of wheels on and checking the center and get back to you

Re: "williams welding" 54 5 window
 

Nice build and shop. I just put QA-1 coilover on my front clip and they are good quality.

Mac

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A friend of mine who owns a hot rod shop strongly suggested I move the "new" centerline 3/4" to 1" forward from the factory location.

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im wondering why tho? where i put my cross member, i barely had room for the rack and pinion cut outs and the core support as is

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so ive been progressing steadily , still waiting on my 4 link to show up and when it does ill pull the axle out of the camaro, i ordered my 9" rear from quick performance, they said it should around 2 weeks to ship out , BY FAR the best pricing on a new 9" rear, only thing left to order is some coil overs

tomorrow i should be picking up 40 foot of 1.75 round tubing to build cross members

right now im welding up all the holes in the frame and getting ready to box everything in, I straightened the metal where the old engine cross member was, by far the hardest part of the this build has been removing all the old pieces and original rivets, what a pain in the a**, if i was to do it again, i think i would just build a new frame from scratch. will post pics later tonight

only question for the day , what angle is everyone trans sitting out ? ill be running a 5.3 to 4l60, thanks

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ok pics as promised... i put the cab and fender back on to check center on the suspension, hopefully yall see what i see, it looked good to me so i burned it all in no going back now

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time spent cutting off bracket and rivets, and welding holes

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unrelated to the build, but i was able to get my son his first four wheeler! proud dad moment , he's quite a bit to small for it , but gives me time to work on it till he's ready

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Looks pretty good. Set it down off the jack to check fitment. I'm not sure if the mustang II suspension goes straight up and down or if there is a slight toe effect when you put weight on the frame. That may put your wheels back an inch or so which would look pretty spot on.

For all the measurements I did with the front fender, nothing beat just sitting back on the floor and staring at it until I felt the lines were spot on. I just did it with my front fender by laying on the driveway and staring at it. Eyeballing I ended up 1/8" off from one end to the other :) not bad

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It looks good from here! Congrat's on the new 4 wheeler...cute son there!

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thank you doug for the kind words!

tonight i got the rest of the cross members removed , since i cant find anyone around who will sand blast, ive been spending countless hours with a wire wheel and a grinder cleaning up the inside frame rails to prep for box. one more evening and i believe all rivets and holes will be done.

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FINALLY have the entire frame stripped of all stock pieces and rivets, frame is clean and about to be boxed and cross members built... any advice on how to set engine and trans in the frame? this is my first time doing something like this , its a 5.3 4l60e combo, do i put cab back on and set engine in place to get front to back or is there another way?

also i hate to bad mouth anyone or company, but i ordered my 4 link from thorbros since there were local, money has been taken from account but now i cant get them to return any of my calls (4 in total) has anyone else ordered from them? thanks