52 5 window ground up build

[Fenhold]

I've been wanting to start this threads for about two years.......so here we go.
This truck belongs to a good customer of mine who was interested in restoring it to use and eventually pass along to his son. I own a stereo shop but have a good assortment of tools and basic fabrication skills so I said what the hell...bring it down. I started on this in December of 08 and work on it Saturday afternoon after work.

After 20 years of sitting the truck sputtered to life and he limped it down to my shop.

[Fenhold]

a couple more pics before I tore into it.
(a link or quick tip on how to place the pics so I can add text would be great!)

[Fenhold]

I started with the front end to see what I was up against. Going into this I knew absolutely nothing about these trucks. The first thing I learned was that
I hate clutch head bolts. The second was that the 50's must have been the golden age of rivets.

[Fenhold]

The bed had none of the original wood left. There was a 1/2" sheet of plywood
with about 2 trashcans worth of leaves and a lifetimes supply of black mold. Even the wood blocks that hold up the bed had wandered off.

Once the bed was broken down I attacked the cab with its endless supply of pedals. When I first looked inside I thought "good lord it has five pedals". There were two cable type pull handles on the dash too. one for choke and the other was rigged up to the throttle.

I couldn't believe how much room there was with the bench seat out.

[Fenhold]

after a good number of Saturdays I had the truck picked clean but little in the way of a grand scheme. After hours of internet searches, phone calls and exchanges (with a rather rude someone whose company might have the words total and cost in their name) I decided to call No Limit. Good People! They had done several of these trucks and had what I had in mind to get the suspension going. I ordered up some parts and set to clean up the frame.

I set up one of my old Ez-up frames and picked up some disposable plastic drop cloths. I gaff taped them to the poles and to the floor. My ghetto blast tent was only big enough to do one half of the frame at a time but it got the job done.

[Fenhold]

I found a few gems like this as I cleaned up the frame. I mentioned that there were a few cracks in the frame to the owner. He said that he was not the leas t bit surprised. He remembered one time (about 30 years ago) when he went with his dad in the truck to pick up gravel. The jackhole operating the front loader dumped the whole load all at once and the front end of the truck almost came up off the ground.

I heated the area and got the frame straight(ish). After grinding a bevel I drilled out the end of the crack and welded it up.

[Fenhold]

If there is a point where you think "well, there's no turning back" this would be it for me. It was pretty satisfying at this point considering how filthy this haggard work truck was. On the other hand I kept thinking " I just unmade a truck".

[Fenhold]

During the time I had been working on the frame clean up I picked up the suspension parts and ordered the motor/trans. I figured the boxing plates would be a good warm up exercise. Michael at No Limit recommended squaring the upper and lower frame edges to simplify the install. The lower lip of the rear part of the frame stick further out than the top does. I used flat stock and clamped it to the frame to mark the line where I would cut.

Once they were squared up I clamped and welded them in.

[Fenhold]

Although the front required less trimming it required more cussing. Once I got the front boxing plates to sit flush vertically I realized this frame must have been made on a Friday. I put the whoop dee doo's to the torch and pounded them flush.

[Fenhold]

Before I plunged into the front suspension I did some work on the rear cross member. I was given instructions to "build it like it was yours" so the first decision I made was fuel injection. The guys at no limit built an aluminum tank along with the suspension parts. They recommended trimming down and relocating the rear cross member all the way back to make room for the tank. I torched the lip smaller on each side and welded flat stock to the bottom to stiffen it up.

[Fenhold]

The No Limit front cross member has little alignment notches cut (water jet) into the sides so you can accurately line it up based on measuring off of several of the factory holes punched in the frame. With the measurements scribed in the frame I flipped the frame over and leveled it out.

[Fenhold]

The inner edges needed some grinder time to clearance the added thickness from the boxing plates. With everything seeming in order I welded the cross member in place.

[Fenhold]

With the frame upside down I decided to open up a can of worms in the form of the center cross member. There was tons of heavy surface rust visible inside and I had gone through all the trouble of getting the rest shiny. I torched out all of the rivets and removed the two bottom plates so I could use my spot blaster and clean it out. Once it was done I sprayed the inside so it will hopefully never rust. I found a local outfit that had rivets that resembled the original ones in the cross member. After clamping it all back together I welded the back side and built it up to resemble a rivet head.Probably a big waste of time.....but its done and behind me.

[Fenhold]

Before welding on the shock/upper arm mounts I did a test fit of the mustang II rack. I was concerned that the steering rack rods/boot might not clearance the frame. The guys at no limit said if it was not going to be slammed it should clear, but not knowing the stance it would be a good idea to notch the frame. I had some decent diameter pipe (no idea why) and cut two half circles. I scribed the outside of the frame and cut a conservative size arc. after murdering a flap wheel I had the two pieces clamped.

Next I lined up the scribe marks from the cross member to the notches cut into the shock mounts and welded these and the notches at the same time.

[Fenhold]

Well I'll post more soon so I guess that's it for now.

Thanks for looking!

[Kodiaks53]

Looks like that truck had a rough former life, but it sure looks like its in good hands now!

[Atommik]

It looks flike you're off to a great start!! I'm doing an s10 swap, but if I build another I think will keep the original frame, just so I can do something differnet.

[pgf545]

Looking great....keep up the good work!!!! Those welds look great.

Bernie

[xpickup]

Fenhold, Frame looks great. And I agree those clutch head bolts do suck! Keep up the great work, and love all the pictures.

Shannon

[Fenhold]

I have a little time so I'll post some more.

With the foundation of the front suspension complete I moved on to getting ready to start the rear. I figured the best place to start was picking the rear end itself. After lurking here and talking to the guys at No Limit I decided on a Borg Warner 9 bolt. The width and the price/availability were the two main reasons I went with the 9 bolt. The truck will have plenty of power but won't be beat on (too much). I picked up the rear end disc to disc complete for about $150.00 at a local junk yard. I have to say that prepping the rear end was one of my lest favorite things I have done on this project even up to present time. That housing is like the Swiss army knife of brackets, tabs, clips, geegaws and receivers. I think I used more flap wheels and cut off wheels on the rear end than the entirety of the frame.

With the rear end prepped I was anxious to get parts on the frame. After reading through the instructions several times I was stumped at step one.

1. Find your desired axle center

Feeling like an r-tard I asked No Limit how to determine the "desired" center. I hadn't noticed but they pointed out that the rear axle isn't centered in the fender from the factory. Freshly armed with what should have been obvious I reassembled the bed and fenders, borrowed two wheels and got started. With the axle visually "centered" I borrowed a bubble type pipe center finder to find the axle tube center. With the center marked I hung a plumb bob off of the boxing plates and scribed the new center mark on the frame. This gave me the reference mark I needed to locate the correct position for the rear shock mount bar. After tacking it in place I double checked my measurements and welded them up.

[Fenhold]

With the shock bar in I wanted a quick simple project for a Saturday afternoon so I test fit the aluminum fuel tank. My quick simple project turned out be needing to add notch for the fuel filler neck.

[Fenhold]

The single most nerve racking thing I did on the frame was placing the front 4 link hangers. Being that this is the first time I have done this and my nature to be as precise as possible, I literally spent about 6 hours measuring, clamping, remeasuring, reclamping , staring, pondering and second guessing. After the fact I asked what the acceptable tolerances were and 1/8" was deemed acceptable. I figured I had it to within 1/32" from left to right frame rail. I came up with the term "Sharpie close" to keep myself from doing this again. The entire time I was envisioning the truck going down the street like an Econoline E-350 where you can see the entire side of the van.......while following it. You know you've seen one too. Once the hangers were in place I welded them up and sprayed the frame with rust encapsulator.

To finish the rear suspension mock up I needed the pinion angle. The engine placement was one area I was lacking confidence. I had asked about having the motor mounts installed on the front cross member when it was made and they did what they could based on a similar year truck. I praise them for their effort but it didn't work out.

I was lowering it in place and heard the dreaded "thunk" before the motor mount holes lined up. The next few weekends were spent trying to avoid the inevitable. I tried a Moroso oil pan, different LS1 adapters and motor mounts. Once I got the clearance I needed the pipe dream of not placing the motor my self came crashing down once I put the cab and radiator in place. The water pump pulley was sitting inside the radiator fan shroud and I had a ton of space behind the motor (not for long though). I walked in a circle for about two minutes, got over it, ordered some trim to fit mounts and took it all apart.

That was definitely a Fozzie Bear moment. Waka waka waka!

[Fenhold]

Thank you all for your comments and for checking out my build!

[jfortvalley]

WATCH OUT when moving the motor back the fuel lines for the 5.3 come pretty close to the firewall . on the drivers side

[Fenhold]

Originally Posted by jfortvalley

WATCH OUT when moving the motor back the fuel lines for the 5.3 come pretty close to the firewall . on the drivers side

Thanks for the heads up. A recessed firewall works its way into the build, but not quite yet.