1953 Chevy 3100 Project

[TheQuicksilver]

Time to break myself in on the forums and make this post #1. I closed the deal today on my "new" truck, a 1953 Chevy 3100 (for those interested, it cost me a cool $3000). It's running, and has been converted to 12V and had an engine swap out to a 261 with a 235 head at some point in the past. The same guy has owned it for the past 37 years (he paid $125 for it in 1971).

My immediate (as in tomorrow) goals to address are the three on the tree shifter, which seems to have something binding the linkage preventing it from going into neutral, 2nd, or reverse (thoughts, suggestions, or advice welcomed). No gear grinding or anything, the shifter just don't wanna go there. The other is I want to hit some of the surface rust with some sandpaper and seal it with primer.

Long term, she'll get painted back to a rich, dark green. New tires and hubcaps, a new wood bed with some wood side highteners (is that even a word?). New furniture most of the way around (handles, trim, etc). Going to update the interior just a little with better insulation and upholstery, even considering bucket seats, though that might be a bit too far from stock for me. I'll also probably install power steering at some point, on consider updating the transmission to something more highway friendly.

My ultimate goal is to have a good, daily driver truck. Not a show truck, not a hotrod.

I have a Flickr set with plenty of initial photos that I'll be keeping up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fienen/...7608722892176/

Here's some to show it off:

[87Lowrider]

Welcome aboard.... love the "Bill"... nice truck


Kenny

[Kid]

welcome to the board from Wellington. Looks like you have a VERY clean unmolested truck there. What a bargin!!

[Albatrossian]

Sweet truck and welcome to the boards from GA!

[dan42]

Nice truck - that was a good deal. I like 'em close to stock as well - good luck on it, and keep us posted.

[Lextech]

Wow, Very clean starter project. That was a great price for such a clean truck.

Jeff

[Kim57]

Looks like a nice truck.
Kim

[OrrieG]

Hello - looks like a good start. $150 in '71?? Guess I paid to much for my 59 in 76, it was $375.

[TheQuicksilver]

Well, I appear to have proven good at two things, taking stuff apart, and putting it back together and making the problem worse. I tore into the problem shifting this morning. Turns out I was wrong, it's just flat out stuck in third. The linkage isn't the problem, as I was able to disconnect it and move things fine. I pulled the side off the transmission, moved the interconnects around fine, shot some gear oil into the crank case, and sealed it back up (nothing looked wrong inside the tranny, but I couldn't see well). Anyway, started it back up, and now not only will it not shift out of third, the truck won't actually even move. Before, it was in third, and would at least go forward when I let off the clutch, now, it just dies. So either I screwed something up bad, or the gears aren't set up the way they were before. Either way, it's going to be a long week. Blegh.

PICT1593 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[dwcsr]

what happens on these covers is the pin at number 1 wears on the recesses in number 2. that makes it easy for 2 gears at one time. Number 3 get turned around when putting it back and that locks it up also. Thew linkage is also a problem combined with the cover wear you have consistant lockups that require you crawl under and move the levers back.

[TheQuicksilver]

Originally Posted by dwcsr

...that makes it easy for 2 gears at one time...

You mean it's easy to engage two gears at one time? I'm going to pull it back off tomorrow and double check the direction of the keeper you noted at #3.

[Daniel U]

Nice truck! I saw someone on here do a T-5 swap with little or no fab work. I think there was a different trans. cross member and a new shifter, but his was a floor shift to begin with.

[TheQuicksilver]

Got started with some sanding and initial priming to stabilize some rust this weekend. Pics coming. This thing must have been at least four different colors over its life. I think I'm gonna need a better sander to blow through this.

Also got it out and drove it around town some. She actually cruises VERY nice. Got it shifting good, accept for some resistance going from 2nd to 3rd, where it likes to grind. Heater works good. Planning an order into classicparts.com this week for some misc. stuff, as well as new tie-rod ends after I take a second look underneath. When I was under it working on the tranny, the tie rod setup didn't look at all like what the catalog shows. Not sure what that's all about just yet.

[55dude]

t-5 swap requires rearend swap also, open driveline. a 55'-59' TF will bolt into your AD to make conversion. check out www.stovebolt.com for swap info. nice truck!

[nuke1]

welcome from saskatchewan canada and nice truck you have there, great starting point.

[TheQuicksilver]

Here's a picture, as promised:


Re: tranny swap, the more I think about it, the less I want to do it, if only because I'm a sucker for keeping things as original as I can, and getting rid of the three on the tree seems like a damn shame.

[72BlckButy]

Welcome to the board from Mid-MO!!!

Great looking '53!

[TheQuicksilver]

Got my next mystery. I'm looking to replace my tie rod ends in the front end, because the steering has a mean wobble to it. Something about the whole assembly doesn't look quite right though. First off, the steering assembly doesn't look like a 53 setup. If anything, it looks more like one from a 55+. Secondly, it looks like the tie rod sits REALLY low to the ground, though that might be because they don't have the right size tire on the truck. Here's some pics I took today to show it:
http://flickr.com/photos/fienen/arch...ed/2008/11/18/

What do you think? Honestly, I don't think it quite matches either, the control arms the tie rod ends hook into don't really match the 47-55 or the 55+. Has it maybe been replaced at some point with some aftermarket setup?

Unrelated; in the last picture, that's on the passenger's side of the engine. The pipe coming off it appears to just go down and sits open at the bottom, not connected to anything. What is that?

[54 jimmy]

that tube is called the road draft tube it is the crank case breather. road draft tube is a very primative valve cover breather. you'll probably notice that the undercarrige of your truck is a greasey mess that is from the road draft tube.

[Bigblue29]

Nice truck. Any updates beside looking for tires?

[TheQuicksilver]

You caught me. I was just thinking about how bad I'd been about any new news since posting about the tires, heh. So YES, here's some stuff to chew on.

First, just got the radiator back from being resoldered for a couple leaks. Replaced all the hose while I was at it. Started it up, ten minutes later I was sitting at 212 degrees and no apparent coolant circulating. I think the thermostat might have frozen up while it was dry and stuck closed, so I'm gonna replace that this week and retry.

Had an appointment to get kingpins redone, only to be blessed by a master cylinder bleedout before I could get it up to the shop. Luckily, I knew there was a leak, so I have a rebuild kit already (just hoped it'd wait long enough to let me get the pins replaced before giving up), but I'll have to pull all the carpet out, which isn't original, and I think is glued in before I can get at it. On the plus side, I just bought a brand new jack, so I might be able to get at it from underneath maybe.

Pulled the fresh air vent free and cleaned out all the caulking they'd sealed it with. Gonna pull the vent out to put in a new molded gasket and replace a missing bolt in the control arm so it pulls it down all the way.

Other news (pics below, and has anyone else noticed the Flickr embedding in the forum seems all kinds of screwy?): Front bumper re-whited (rear following shortly), bumper brackets blacket, front splash panel behind the bumper pulled to get some bondo to smooth out some dimples in it, new door panels installed with new window cranks and door pulls, new horn push, new headliner.

Full Flickr Gallery

[TheQuicksilver]

Got the master cylinder refilled tonight, and have brakes again. Also replaced the thermostat. Couldn't do a test drive tonight, as the battery was dead, so I've got it on to trickle charge overnight and will warm her up tomorrow. If all goes well, now kingpins soon! (assuming the cylinder 4 misfire code I'm getting on my car doesn't drain my funds getting fixed.)

[TheQuicksilver]

Started work refinishing the rear bumper, replaced all the plugs and ignition coil. Also did a color test on the fender with the new green.


Also bought carpet to use in the cab to replace the old worn out, ugly green crap:

[pgf545]

Looks like you have a great start. The best thing to remember is do it the way you want it and to have fun doing it.

Bernie

[TheQuicksilver]

Here's a look at the visor after a coat of paint. Need to wetsand it and give it another coat yet:

(BTW, mods/admin, embedding images from Flickr as links appears to be totally FUBARd)