1953 Awakening

[1956cameo]

Last summer I was getting a little burned out on my 1972 Blazer project. I had been working on it for almost three years and needed a break. I didn't want a break from working on old trucks, just a break from working on that particular truck. As I walked up to my dads house from the shop I noticed that he had a lot of project vehicles in his storage sheds that just needed a little attention to become fully functional vehicles. They might not be the most beautiful old trucks but there was no reason why they couldn't be on the road after a few weekends of tinkering and a little bit of money.

I talked to my dad (Muleman100) about the idea of slowly pulling some of the future projects out of the sheds and doing just a little bit to them cosmetically, but doing whatever was necessary to get them operable and safe. That way they would stay in better shape, and we would have a break from the monotony of a total restoration. Up to that point we had been getting vehicles out of the shed one at a time, doing complete restorations on them over the course of 1-3 years and than going to the next project. The problem with this was that many vehicles that were waiting on restorations were starting to sit too long and trucks that were once quick fixes were starting to look like trucks that needed total overhauls.

After explaining the benefits of at least mechanically fixing up the "down the road" restorations my dad was on board. The first project that we pulled out was a 1957 Suburban. We bought it in 2003 out of a junkyard in Midland, TX. The junkyard owner said that it had come from Arizona. Unfortunately I did not document this project but below is a picture of it at the Austin Hot Rod Show earlier this year.




Since the Suburban is as finished as it is going to be for now it was time to turn our attention to the 1953. We found this in a small junkyard back in 1999 on the east side of Houston, Texas. We told the junkyard owner that if he could get the truck started we would buy it. After hot wiring the truck and hooking up a gas can to the truck it fired up and idled smoothly. We bought the old 53 and brought it home. It sat for a few years and than one boring summer day back in 2002 I fired the truck up again. It drove great, but since it didn't have any brakes I hit a pole and busted out the passenger side headlight (put another headlight in but the trim never went back on properly as seen in pics). It also died every time I took a sharp turn because the gas can would slide off of the fender. After that day it sat for over another decade until we pulled it back out of the shed last week.


Nothing fancy. A three window with painted bumper and grill. It is a factory black truck which I like.


Not sure what happened but the paint flaked off of the drivers side door real heavily a couple of years ago.

[1956cameo]

The passenger side is a little straighter.


I am not sure what the truck was used for in its former life, but it had poles welded to every corner of its bed.


Not much left of the bed. Just enough to hold the original seats.


Hopefully that old engine can still run as good as it did that first day I heard it in 1999.


The original seat and frame used to be in the cab, but for some foolish reason I stole it for a 1954 truck that I worked on years ago. We do silly things sometimes when we are teenagers.




So this thread won't be a complete restoration. Instead it will be a thread showing a dormant truck come back to life as a usable and safe vehicle. Some cosmetic details will be taken care of. If any rust needs to be addressed immediately we will take care of that as well. The whole project should take a few months to complete and just a little bit of money. Hopefully everyone enjoys seeing this old truck get ready to hit the road again.

[Bubba54]

Sounds like an interesting build. Are you leaving the suspension and drive train stock ?

[1956cameo]

I want to say yes; but that was also the plan when we started working on the 1957 suburban and it ended up getting a hotrodded V8 and bagged suspension. Right now the plan is to lower it but keep everything else fairly stock.

[Muleman100]

Ordered and received brake shoes, wheel cylinders, master cylinder, wiring harness, conversion bracket for an alternator since we are converting to 12 volt. Rims are being sand blasted and painted in the next week. Now looking at mono springs to lower it 3 inches all the way around. The front spring on the passenger side is broken so we might as well replace all the springs to get the stance we want.

[Muleman100]

All sheet metal repair panels ordered. Mono leaf springs for front and back ordered. All spring shackles, u bolts and spring bolts ordered. Now we must invent time to do the work. Will have the stock rims finished sand blasted this week and early next week we will have a new set of rubber so we can roll her around.

[1956cameo]

We have made a little more progress in the last few weeks. We were able to find some original rims the replace the rusted out and mismatch wheels that were on the truck before. We got the new rims blasted and painted. We will get some new rubber in the next few days.




When we first put the 53 up on the lift we noticed that the drivers side front spring was broken. Since the springs were obviously worn and we thought the truck would look better lowered we went ahead and got new aftermarket 3" drop sprigs. Mono's in the back and dual springs in the front.




Unfortunately the floorboards, toeboards, and front door jams were a little rustier than we would have liked. We wen't ahead and ordered replacement panels but the first step was to remove the front clip for easier access. I believe every bolt but one broke off, not a good sign for things to come.




Now that the front clip is off we can start performing metalwork and replace suspension and engine parts without much restriction. We also got all new wiring and brake parts so that should take place soon. We also decided to replace the bed with a better one off of a 1949 parts truck. Once we get the old bed off we can replace the bad metal in the cab corners.

[chevyboy73]

love the patina, you are doing what i hope to do to one truck someday. excited for more

[1956cameo]

chevyboy73, Thanks! We were originally hoping to keep the patina but after we do all of the necessary rust repairs probably have to paint the truck.

[Marte_Mcfly]

Cool, can't wait to see more. I'm starting on my '53. looks like it is in similar shape as yours. Subscribing!

[1956cameo]

Marte_McFly, Thanks for subscribing. I will definitely keep you updated starting right now!



So the more I look at this truck the more crusty I realize that it is. It isn't anything that we cant handle, it is just going to make this project take a little longer than we thought. This also means that we wont be able to leave it in the original paint.

The first thing I noticed was that the side and front bed panels were pretty well corroded around where the bed floor would have originally been. I decided the best thing to do would be replace them with better ones from a parts truck. I will keep the fenders and rear cross sill but everything else will be replaced.
So here is a picture of the original bed on the truck for the last time after 60 years of service.



After about three hours of grinding and breaking off bolts I finally got the bed torn completely apart and removed from the frame.



Now that the front clip and bed are removed we have nothing restricting us from performing the metal work on the cab. We will completely do everything on the drivers side than we will tackle the passenger side. We wen't ahead and took the door off for more access.



As usual there was plenty of rust in the cab corner.



I was able to remove the outer cab corner without much effort. Since I did not have the replacement inner cab corner I left it in place for now.

[1956cameo]

Next I started to review the rust situation along the firewall / front door jamb area.



As you can see someone's failed attempt to mix old newspapers with bondo did little to fix the rust issues.



I removed the outer skin to see how this area was put together at the factory and decide how to go about everything. I have never done metal work on a 47-54 style truck so all of this is new to me.



It looks like the best way to go about it is going to be to remove the rotten floor and toeboard, inner kick panel, and repair the from the inside out. I started to remove the floor but than found that I am going to need to remove the emergency brake set up before I can get all of the floor board and toeboard out.




So I was able to remove the emergency brake set up and we ordered all of the patch panels that we don't have yet. Next week I well remove all of the rotten metal and start building everything back up.

[Marte_Mcfly]

Its getting gritty! Judging by the quality of your sheet metal removal, it will be a cinch once you get the replacements. Keep it up!

[1956cameo]

Marte_McFly, It's definitely getting gritty. At the end of the day I look like I have been working in a coal mine all day.


So I got my replacement panels in, but I foolishly forgot to order the rocker panels so now I get to wait another week for those. So I went ahead and completely removed all of the original rotten metal out of the areas that I did have replacement panels for. That pretty much encompassed all of the drivers side floor board, the bottom 5" of the toeboard, almost all of the kick panel, and the entire front fender brace. I still have to weld temporary braces and remove the bottom of the front door jamb, and the entire rocker panel.


After I removed all of the rotten panels I brushed Eastwoods rust converter all over the existing metal, especially in the areas that will be hidden again once everything goes back together.



A whole lot less metal but the rotten rocker and lower door jamb still need to be removed. I also removed the seat base due to thin/rusted out metal all across the bottom of it.



Before calling it a day I was able to fit and trim in the replacement floorboard and toeboard panel. However I will not be able to weld it into place until I get the new rocker panel into place.





That's all I have for now. I am hoping to get back after it next weekend with lots of pictures to update with.

[1956cameo]

I got a little more work done to the 53 this week. I finally completed taking all of the rotten metal out of the drivers side lower section of the truck. It was A LOT more metal than I thought it would be.



I was getting a little nervous at this point in time because there were very few reference points left to help put everything back together.



We put a little bit of bracing in to make sure the cab didn't twist on us.



Finally time to put new metal into the cab.



Replacing the rocker panel was by far the hardest of all the panels. In all we replaced the floorboard/toeboard, inner kick panel, rocker panel, lower door pillar, front fender brace, and front outer cab sheetmetal.




Now there are just a lot of details to take care of in that area (fill in welds, grind welds, etc..). Next I will get the inner and outer cab corner into place before starting on the other side of the cab.

[1956cameo]

So it's been a long time since I last posted but I have made progress. I had a little time today so I figured that I would update the thread to where I am at now.

So when I last left off I was putting the drivers side patch panels back into place. Here are a few more images of the rocker and kick panels that I replaced. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of putting the drivers side front fender brace or outer skin back on. Fortunately I took a lot more pictures of the progress that was made on the passenger side of the truck.



Sorry for the fuzzy picture. I have been having some issues with my camera lately. This is a picture of the inner cab corner patch. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the outer cab corer patch after it was in place.


After getting the drivers side patches all into place I went ahead and replaced the inner skin of the door.

[1956cameo]

After getting the drivers side of the cab back into place it was time to turn my attention to the passenger side. As you can see there will be plenty of patches needed for this side as well.


So the process of cutting away rotten panels begins. After each original panel is removed it is measured up to the replacement panel to make sure it will fit properly.


This comparison allows you to see how much of the original panel was missing.


Another image of the rot on the front side of the doorway.

[1956cameo]

Next to be removed was the kick panel. The rust went much higher on this side than it did on the drivers side due to a leaky heater box.







With the kick panel out of the way it was time to remove the rotted out toeboard and floorboard. These were separate panels from the factory, but they are the same panel with the reproduction panel.

[1956cameo]

Now that the floorboard is removed it is time to spray rust neutralizer on the braces that will remain and start building back out with the new panels.


Overall this panel fit pretty well. It did require a splice down the side of the battery tray opening because it was too wide on the back side. It also doesn't have the proper flaring for the battery lid so you will need to cut the flared portions out of the old floor panel and weld them to the new panel to get the battery lid to lock in.


With the floorboard tacked into place the next step to take was to remove the rocker panel. When I removed the rocker I went ahead and removed the lower door pillars on the front and back of the cab.


Before the rocker could be removed I had to take out the outer and inner cab corner panels.




Now I have all of the rotten panels that were on the passenger side of the cab removed. Everything from this point forward centers around putting in the new panels.

[1956cameo]

I got the new rocker put into place and started working on getting the lower door pillar and kickpanel fitted.


I don't have the kickpanel tacked in yet. It has taken the better part of a day to get the panel prepped. The first thing that I had to do was cut out the flared area around the original panel and weld it onto the replacement panel which did not have the flare. Then I noticed that the peproduction panel was too long so I had to cut about 2-3 inches out of the lower center of the panel. I also had to re shape the curve in the bottom of the reproduction panel. The original curve was nothing like the original. The last two things that I had to do was attach the flap that is on the original panel that wraps around to cover part of the firewall and trim about 3/4 of an inch off the front of the kick panel that was excess material on the reproduction kick panel.




That is all of the progress that I have to show for now. I am hoping to be done with all of the metal work on the truck by August. I still have to put patches on the front and rear fenders, repair rust around the cowl vent, patch parts of the cab belt line, repair the passenger side door, and repair one of the runningboards.

[Katrina/10]

When you cut away so much rusty metal, how do you know the patch panels are oriented correctly? I don't see good reference points with so much metal removed.

[1956cameo]

Katrina 10, As I remove a panel I do all of the fitting and trimming to the replacement panel for that piece before I cut off the next rusty panel. My process looks quick in a long string of pictures like I just posted but every panel usually takes a few hours to fit and some even take up almost an entire day. After I trim the replacement panel and it fits well to the old existing panels I make marks on the existing panels as to where everything should line up; than I remove the existing rusty panel. Once the old panels are removed the replacement panel will be fit into place and the marks from the removed panel will be put in the same spot on the replacement panel. I don't know if any of that makes sense, but all I can tell you is there is a lot of measuring, trimming, marking, and comparing.

[Katrina/10]

It does make sense. I have replaced a few small pieces before, but nothing as extensive as what you have. I see many pictures here of people hacking large parts off their trucks, welding new metal on, and everything looks great. I guess the pictures do make things look easier than they really are. Thanks!

[FarmerSid]

I hear ya on the patch making and new sheet metal in stall. One little piece can take all day! I just got done what you just did. Keep on keeping on.

[1956cameo]

FarmerSid, Thanks for the encouragement!