My Great uncles 1950 Chevy

[fisherman420]

So I figured it was time to start a build thread of a project of mine that has been 16 years in the making.

Quick(ish) history.......when I was 14 years old my dad discovered that my great uncles 1950 chevy pickup resided at a local neighbors farm and after a few months of doing anything I could to make money it was mine for a cool $600. With a boost and a quick tire fill we drove the truck on the backroads with no brakes back to the farm. Unsure of what to do with the truck at the time it was driven around for fun until a plan was made to restore it to a fun lil driver pickup.....Yanked out a running 4 bolt main 350 from a 1970 farm truck in the weeds and planned to "drop in a sbc, auto trans, fix the brakes and steering and get er on the road".........So it turns out that limited funds slowed this process along with a busy lifestyle, going to college and eventually working for a living....who would have thought haha.....

The project was put on hold for a few years until I started saving to re-kindle the desire to finish this truck. I rebuilt the 350 into a nice runner 383 for some initiative and purchased a mustang 2/ rear 4 link setup for a smooth "modernized" ride.

The last few years the truck has slowly started to come together between family, hunting/fishing/sledding trips and of course work schedule. I will filter in some pictures of my progress to the rolling chassis with a majority of the sheet metal installed as it sits to this day.

This is how the truck looked when my Uncle Hugo owned it back many moons ago

[Advanced Design]

Great history...I am in to tag along.

[mongocanfly]

Really like to hear about these trucks that have a family history..

[Zoomin]

Fine looking truck units day, nice to see it's getting another chance.

[fisherman420]

So at this point the cab was stripped and blasted which revealed a lot of rusted out/ bondo areas susceptible to 60 years of Alberta weather that needed to be replaced. The fuel neck hole was filled and the floor and firewall replaced along with both cowls.

Once the cab was solid again it was placed back on the frame to set engine mounts and steering column. I wanted to set the engine as low and far back as possible...I ended up notching the frame to clear the steering shaft to a comfortable distance from the block hugger headers.

[fisherman420]

Found a couple more pics, here is the frame after I blasted it. I decided to prime the frame immediately after blasting to avoid any unnecessary rust developing not knowing how much time I would be able to commit to this project. I made the drivers motor mount offset to avoid using too many u joints in the steering shaft.

[fisherman420]

Prepared and assembled my narrowed 9inch with trac loc, 3.73 gears, new axles and disk brakes. All the 4link and shock mounting brackets got fully welded before rattled on a couple primer coats for protection. Also have all the box mounting brackets fabricated and installed along with the 16gal fuel tank installed.

[fisherman420]

My motor kept calling out to me since it was rebuilt so I decided to build a run stand and break-in the cam and let all the neighbors (and myself) hear the stroked small block come to life. A couple pics because that's always better than reading imo

[Dan in Pasadena]

Very nice looking project, Fish. How will you finish it out? Colors, wheels? Anything planned yet?

[fisherman420]

Thanks Dan, I want to give a bit of a tribute to the original colour... I'm thinking a black pearl base covered with an organic green to give a nice deep yet vibrant tone. For wheels I'm looking at a 5 spoke torq thrust style or possibly a rally wheel in 17 or 18" with all the width I can squeeze in my available real estate in the rear.
Posted via Mobile Device

[fisherman420]

Tall valve covers combined with a long water pump created a slight clearance issue at the firewall from the original low profile stock covers I used in mock up so some indents got fabbed up to clear everything. Installed the steering linkage and added a heim support above the u-joint located by the frame that's not in the picture.

All the fuel lines and brake lines are complete, now just have to plumb the exhaust and tidy up a few loose ends on the frame. Its nice to have the chassis nearing its final stages.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work. Did you move your steering column a little to the left from the factory location?

[fisherman420]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work. Did you move your steering column a little to the left from the factory location?

Yes, I didn't like the close proximity of the steering shaft to the #7 header tube and knew I was re-working that portion of firewall anyways. That eliminated the need for a bunch of u-joints and I also positioned the steering column more centered between the gauge openings so those two modifications combined makes the steering wheel sit nicely

[fisherman420]

[fisherman420]

I found a really good page on the ol' interweb about refurbishing the original heater so I took some time to do my own. The core had a pinhole and a mere $20 I had a rad shop fix it for me. Over the weekend I disassembled the unit, sandblasted all the parts in my cabinet and painted the core and squirrel cage high heat black and finished the rest of the parts with a hammer tone that closely resembles the original finish. The new 12v fan motor was sourced from my local napa and I scored a 12v variable controller off ebay for $10.






Heres the link to the rebuild site...great step by step
http://devestechnet.com/Home/HeaterRestore

And the controller
http://www.ebay.com/itm/9-60V-Max-20...-/302014786519

[fisherman420]

Its been a while since I've updated my build. I've had my truck at a friends house since I don't seem to have any time with work and personal life gets so busy when I'm home. He's been helping me out and been doing a kick ass job as well. The box sides got stripped, tear dropped the rear bedrails and fabricated and installed some mini tubs from a princess auto trailer fender and some flat bar. Put together the box with new cross sills, new front headpanel, new tailgate with hidden hinges and some homemade brackets for the trunnions. Also installed a roll pan and mounted the taillights with some more homemade brackets (access to a plasma table helps). I came across the picture of the transmission tunnel template.....Its some plastic type cardboard material I picked up at a craft store and worked great.

[fisherman420]

Here's a couple more pictures of the progress. I'm really happy with the way the truck is coming together. I originally was going to use a 2001 Dakota seat but it seemed a bit too narrow so I purchased a 1991 chev truck with a blown transmission for the donor seat.......I ended up rebuilding the 700r4 trans for practice, buying another cheap chev bench and driving the 1991....

[MIKESAD50]

Very nice progress and work is nice also.

[47 Fasttoys]

FWIW I have had both seats in my AD. The Silverado does fit better as far as looks but setting in it you will not have the wheel centered in front you, I found I was to close to the drivers door. I currently have the Astro 3rd seat in mine and although it does look a little narrow compared to the Silverado it seats much better.
Rob

[fisherman420]

A long time has gone by without much progress but something is better than nothing right!?! I rebuilt the 700R4 to handle the torque of the 383 and got it installed. Wheels and picked out (mounted some freebie corvette rubber for now) and have spent most of my time moving, working on other life projects and will soon be able to continue work on the 50. heres a few pics.

[8man]

Nice work! The truck looks good.

[NeoJuice]

Fellow Albertan here. Where you at? Love what your doing with the truck and I admire all your talents.