1952 Chevy Vette Farm Truck Build

[STOCKISH]

Absolutely amazing work bro. Amazing! I love that visor. Wish I had one for mine. Really looking forward to more progress.

[fabguy]

Build looks REALLY sweet!!!

[FarmerSid]

Thanks guy's for the comments. Worked on fitting of the outer cowls tonight for a bit. A bit of hinge tweaking to get the doors flush front and back and top and bottom.

[MIKESAD50]

Nice work!
I'll be following

[oldman3]

Wow, the amount of work to the cab is unreal, super nice job on everything...Jim

[FarmerSid]

Thanks again guy's. The sheet metal was worse than I thought. I ended up making my own new front cab mounts and rocker patches.

[STOCKISH]

How are you making out up there Bro? Any progress lately?

[FarmerSid]

Getting gaps set has been a chore. Trying to get them to 3/16" or the thickness of a paint stick. Two full days last weekend on one door has pushed the limits of my patience so I decided to pull away for a few days and work on my ATV's. One needed the carb cleaned and the other needs both inner rear CV joints.

These after market parts are something to be desired. The inner to outer cowl part is the biggest pile of ........ I've ever seen.

[pgf545]

I actually had to do some sectioning to get my gaps close and they still aren't perfect.....lol. If you ever look at an original truck the gaps are not real close, these were original farm trucks and only us hotrodders are crazy enough to want decent door gaps. I have looked at a lot of these trucks at shows and most of them the gaps are less than perfect. I did the best I could and am moving on.

Bernie

[Bishops Trucks]

Very nice project.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work and I am really enjoying the build! Thanks for sharing.

[FarmerSid]

Thanks all! One thing I am finding that may help out others that have to replace the rear panel and outer cowls. When installing the doors to set gaps, spend more time on the front outer cowls setting the gaps with the door and save the trimming and such for the rear panel and door gaps. You don't have to remove the door each time to do cutting and welding. You do for the where the outer front cowl and door meet. It's also easier to hammer and dolly any welds on the rear panel. That's what I have found so far.

Anyway's, a bit of a story I forgot to mention earlier. When I started smoothing the fire wall, I removed the 4" cover plate on the passenger side of the firewall and look what I found.















Pretty cool! It's the same key cut as the one I got with the truck. First owner probably hid in there when it was brand new.

[FarmerSid]

Not much but a bit of an update. Got the door openings smoothed out now that the rear cab panel in welded in and done. Door jamb looks nice with no seams. rear panel is a bit thinner than the rest of the panels. Almost buggered up and scrapped the right outer cowl as the curvature to the door and being flush to the door is way off. With so much welding on it, it looked like crap. I pulled out my shrinker stretcher and made a new piece so now I think I can save it. Not done yet but on the right side but the drivers side looks like it's going to be a pain too.

Give me a bone guy's! Should I be grinding away at the door edge to get my gaps set? This is the hardest thing yet on this build.

[oldman3]

Sid, I ground the edge of my doors for better gaps. In my case the "A" pillar had nice line and so did the back part of cab. I used a paint stick to get my gaps. Some places I had to weld to make smaller and some places I had to grind down oversize and then weld back up. To dress the edges of the door I used a long file to bring back to size, so stick would clear....Jim

[FarmerSid]

Thanks Jim. How much did you have to grind off the doors? A wooden paint stick that I have is 3/16" thick but the gap looks a bit much. I have a aluminum auto body paint stick that is a bit thinner and i like the looks of that gap better. By the looks of things I'm gonna have to grinds off about an 1/8" off the door if not more. The belt line gaps are perfect. Both outer front cowls have to be cut and pulled out and cut and pulled forward to get a decent gap along the front of the doors..

[oldman3]

My paint stick was about 1/8" I think. Sound like your door and body were worse than mine, but on the pass. side some parts were ground down an 1/8" or more and then rewelded. I didn't have to move any of my front cowl, but the cab corners had to be worked a lot (repop stuff)...Jim

[Algoma56]

Great project, and great writing and photos. I bought C4 pieces off of Kijiji last spring for a Nomad project. Trying to find someone with OEM dimensions for the C4 stuff, so I can plan the conversion ahead of time.

[STOCKISH]

Hey Sid, how's everything going up there buddy? Hope everything is going well.

[Nut Case]

I'm just starting to follow this build. My project (soon to start is a 57 GMC that I have purchased 93 vette IFS & IRS) I would like to get the drawings for the IFS that you are using to fab your own cross member. I willing to sweeten the request if necessary to get these drawing and dimensions. Please let me know. I made a deal with my wife, I will build her a head board for the master bedroom before I can start this build. I promised that I would after finishing our son in law's 52 F1. But that doesn't stop gathering information. So let me know. Thanks

[solidaxel]

Very Impressive, a lot of decisions to be made and a farm to run, still have time for a great project.
Keep up the good work!

[48ChevBagged]

Awesome job.

[68 Four on the Floor]

your work is awesome Cid. That crossmember is sweet. Why build one and not use the stock C4?

[STOCKISH]

The stock crossmember doesnt fit well in the AD trucks and doesnt look very good either.

[tobins 52 gmc]

nice work

[FarmerSid]

Hey all! Thanks for the comments and call to make sure I'm alive and kick'in. Been a bit I know. I'm still here and have made a bit of progress. I will update you all tomorrow when I have some more time. Till then.......