Plus Five
Well, I am to the point where I can start the build thread for my 53 Chevy pickup.
I'll start with the background info and some goals I have for this project. I have always liked working with my hands building things, and worked at a tool and die shop while I worked my way to a flying career. I started a hobby shop back in September of 2001 and have worked on various car and motorcycle projects. My uncles both worked on antique cars and motorcycles and thought a pickup project would be a good choice. My uncle found the truck locally, and I bought it and started the tear down in October of 2012. I had a couple of requirements for the build. It needs to be reliable, comfortable, and easy to start and drive. It has to be easy to service with over the counter parts. It needs to be legal, and as safe as a 60 plus year old truck can be. It should look nice. It doesn't need to win awards. I am going to drive it! Oh, and my wife needs to like it. She will be driving it too! So here's the thinking; I was most concerned with the legroom issues in these old trucks. I have friend who owned a 50 Chevy truck and the steering wheel was in your face and there was no legroom. The seat back was also too vertical for my taste. So the cab would need to be lengthened. The old six banger it had could barely get out of it's own way, and didn't meet the wife's drivability requirements. An engine swap was in order. New York State can be pretty picky about inspections ( they recently required an emissions test for my 2008 build year custom roadster, even though they initially, and for six years, had issued the inspection as emissions exempt as it was originally registered. ) so I wanted one with all emissions equipment in case they ever go that way down the road for this truck. No I don't trust them! Plus, a computer controlled engine and tranny should be easy to start and drive. 99% of this build up to this point I have done myself. I am not a painter or body guy. I did paint the chassis and some other parts myself. I asked the painter to check my work after the major mods were complete. He said the work was fine. ( although he did joke that he could turn my ugly pieces beautiful. ) My brother has contributed some machining and he has helped with planning and engineering on some of it...he is a tool and die maker. The extras here and there I did for fun. I'll be putting it back together soon and will try to post pictures of the progress that includes the construction photos as well. I'll also soon be getting into some areas outside my comfort level, so will be asking for some help. Sorry for the long intro, and thanks for reading. More soon! |
Re: Plus Five
Welcome!!
Sounds like an impressive project! Be sure and post lots of pictures, especially of the build process. |
Re: Plus Five
Good to have goals and think through. Always stick to the scope. I'd recommend start to budget against your goals and if it works stick to it, if not recalibrate then work on it.
Good luck!:metal: |
Re: Plus Five
3 Attachment(s)
this is how it started...
typical rust issues, tore it apart and started planning cab extension |
Re: Plus Five
2 Attachment(s)
sent the cab out for sand blasting.
had a bunch of bondo, lead, and brazing. no worries, it will all be fixed I built a rotisserie for all the work it will need, and to help with painting the floor later |
Re: Plus Five
4 Attachment(s)
split the cab into three pieces.
stretched it exactly 5 inches, and widened the rear about 7/8 of an inch. the cab tapers toward the front, so to keep the extension along the floor straight, it widened the cab. This actually made extending the rocker panels and doors pretty straight forward. |
Re: Plus Five
5 Attachment(s)
made some ribs to hold the curve of the cab roof, and started making the
cab roof pieces |
Re: Plus Five
5 Attachment(s)
more cab work
|
Re: Plus Five
5 Attachment(s)
reworked the cab corners and firewall
|
Re: Plus Five
3 Attachment(s)
the replacement pieces for this area fit poorly, so I made my own
that will be removable to allow running wiring and A/C drain hose |
Re: Plus Five
4 Attachment(s)
braced the cab floor to support seats and seat belts
added bracing to the rocker panels and tied in cab mounts |
Re: Plus Five
nice work on the cab
|
Re: Plus Five
3 Attachment(s)
cab is pretty much done here...
doors will be fit to door openings. |
Re: Plus Five
5 Attachment(s)
I made cross sections of the various door shapes and extended the
inside five inches also. I also made an exterior door skin brace for each door. It anchors the bottom of the door window track also. The door skin will be separated from the brace with sound deadener like Dynomat or Fatmat. The perimeter frame around both removable panels is a boxed beam structure to better brace the door and the hinge attach areas. They are removable to allow installing the window and mechanism. |
Re: Plus Five
2 Attachment(s)
that pretty much covers the cab stretch.
this is whats next for the fenders..... the stripe is going to be the cut line for a front end tilt |
Re: Plus Five
Impressive metal work donandal! Tagging along for the rest.
|
Re: Plus Five
Great work. Its builds like this that remind me of how awesomely talented a lot of you guys are on this site. Fantastic job so far.
Marc |
Re: Plus Five
Very nice work! What kind of bead roller do you have? I need a good one.
|
Re: Plus Five
WOW! very nice work. wish I had a small amount of your Fab talent.
|
Re: Plus Five
This is some impressive metal work!
:jdp: Makes me happy, just to look at it! |
Re: Plus Five
Impressed with your metal work. Also like your rotisserie
|
Re: Plus Five
4 Attachment(s)
Thanks everyone,
I stopped by the paint shop today. The cab is blocked and ready for color. Interior is already painted the light champagne color I chose. He sure does make my metal work look nice! |
Re: Plus Five
1 Attachment(s)
these two indentations were made for the firewall for extra
clearance around the heads. |
Re: Plus Five
Great work on the cab stretch +5, that a lot of work and craftsmanship to say the least. Now for my 2 cent son the tilt front end. I've done 2 of these and don't think I'll do another. My frame was boxed to the transmission cross member with IFS, I still had issues with frame flex which causes issues with clip alignment. One more note, you may want to review the cut pattern you have marked out, it looks like you would have limited access to the rear of the engine do to the point hanging out. Keep us posted truck looks like it will be a quality build.
Rob http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/s...cy%20Truck.jpg |
Re: Plus Five
4 Attachment(s)
usual cab rust areas were fixed.
I also rebuilt the hinge pockets...the back bracket is stainless steel sand blasted for paint should never rust out |
Re: Plus Five
1 Attachment(s)
This is where we are headed....
Just got this photo today |
Re: Plus Five
I really like where you are going with this. Great fab skills and hope you keep updating your progress for us to follow along.
Papabill :metal: |
Re: Plus Five
Beautiful color!!
|
Re: Plus Five
Impressive. Need a lot of pictures!!!
|
Re: Plus Five
4 Attachment(s)
OK,
I'm going to jump around a little. Eventually I'll try to cover everything. The rear end is simple. New leaf springs from Eaton Detroit. 3" drop and softer. They have the specs for the original springs. Bilstein shocks on mounts that I made. Late 70's camaro/firebird rear end. Sway bar setup I made using mid 90's camaro sway bar. |
Re: Plus Five
5 Attachment(s)
The rear end was reworked by a local shop. New gears ( 3;42 ) and
new eaton posi and new bearings and seals etc. Brushed on tractor enamel after they were done. They dipped it and it was perfectly clean. The brakes are 1998 to 2002 Camaro that have parking brake thru the disc type setup. I made the brackets and backing plates. |
Re: Plus Five
4 Attachment(s)
The cab was extended 5 inches so the frame and running boards were
also extended five inches. I did the frame extension about under the middle of the cab. |
Re: Plus Five
3 Attachment(s)
the running boards needed 5 inch extensions, plus a rework
of the curved area that meets the rear fender. I also reworked the bottom braces for strength and to allow easier installation. |
Re: Plus Five
5 Attachment(s)
this sequence of photos shows the frame after paint...
|
Re: Plus Five
1 Attachment(s)
one more piece of color
|
Re: Plus Five
Nice work! I'm diggin' that front end.
|
Re: Plus Five
Very nice details with the body and chassis. The caliper brackets had to take some time to figure out.
The engine mounts on the frame are interesting too. Will they fit a factory engine mount? |
Re: Plus Five
What's the details on your paint color? I think it looks amazing, but I might be a bit biased - I love red like that!
|
Re: Plus Five
Unreal metal work...........looks great!!
|
Re: Plus Five
3 Attachment(s)
Quote:
the recommendation of the Pace Performance gentleman that sold me my connect and cruise package. He said they would be easy to use, and he was right. I just made up those angle brackets and bolted them thru sleeves that I welded into the boxed frame area. |
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 02:38 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright 1997-2022 67-72chevytrucks.com