47-55.1 Two Steps back. My high school chevy 1950 3100

[Roust]

Hello there

I have been wanting to share my progress on this build since I started a deep tear down a few years ago. But, unfortunately I couldn't get the forum site to give me permission to post anything. Apparently that has changed! So I will try again.

The victim is my 1950 chevy 3100 I bought as my very first vehicle in high school. I bought it in a little town south of Fresno CA. We towed it to my grandma.s ranch and I spent the summer with my uncle learning some basic mechanical skills while working on the truck. When the summer was over I was rewarded with being able to drive the truck back home to L.A.

When I picked up the truck it was slammed with gold spoked wheels, 1970 El Camino front clip, and a S.B 350 swap. All in all it was in very poor order.

Over the years, I have blown up two motors and swapped them out, and have made every mistake known to man while working on the truck.

I never really got into doing paint or body work so I had the truck painted by someone else. Well lets just say it turns out there was almost as much bondo as there was truck. Tweakers will be tweakers.


20 years after getting the truck I decide to do a FULL tear down and rebuild.
All I knew I wanted to do was a Code 504 S10 frame swap kit and an LS motor swap.

Well it snowballed from there.
As the title of the post suggest its all been an ugly learning experience. Lots of backward steps and redoing work. It is proving to be a rewarding yet extremely frustrating experience.

Now I will be turning to fellow forum members for help as I run into the enviable issues.

here is a pic of the truck the last time it ran. Remember, beauty is only skin deep.

[Roust]

And then it was time to commit to taking the truck apart. Once piece at a time.

[Roust]

Sorry I don't have pics lifts or removing pieces. I always work by my self, and often don't have free hands or a free brain cell to remember to take a picture in the first place.

[Roust]

So this is where I start digging into the problem I want to address. Here you can see the firewall skin that was used to give the "smoother" look.
I achieved the effect but it always bother me that it was double layered. I always heard this is to be avoided.

Perhaps I should have stopped here! It is the last time it looked so good. my efforts from this point forward have made a "eh" situation worse. With the same goal of achieving a smooth firewall.
I am learning as I go. And learning some hard lessons.

[Roust]

Damn that is some Swiss cheese. but you ain't seen nothing yet. Just you wait.

Oh yeah, and that cutaway in the drivers side kick panel will be trouble in the future. Turned out it was cut out by the first owner to get to damage from some event. It was never fixed properly. I didn't know what I was getting into until recently.

At this point, we are looking back in time to Jan 2020.

[Roust]

I don't have a pic of picking up the S10 frame. Nor do I have pics of all the risers and cross members cut off of the frame.

Here you can also see some of the components of the Code 504 swap kit (powder coated black) temporarily mounted to the S10 frame. I don't have any pics of the Code 504 kit its self before or after.

And last is a pic of my frame heading off to powder coat.

[Roust]

And at the snap of the fingers, the frame is back... in black!

Here I am putting on a few of the Code 504 cross members and risers.

[Roust]

On to some suspension and breaks.
Did you know that tubular control arms don't lend much over stamped pieces other than looks? I didn't! Yeah, I didn't. these things are not lighter...

I learned something on this day. Trying to compress springs without a drivetrain on the frame leave few options. And the one I chose to use felt dangerous and sketch as ****. ratchet straps and a death wish.
Seriously, do this after you put some weights on the frame. Body parts, engine and trans, ANYTHING.

I went with some Wilwood disks front and back. Here I am modifying and tapping some 2" drop spindles to accept the kit.
BTW the drop spindles that speedway sold didn't work. Something was off about the casting, but I don't recall what it was. Had to re-order some Belltech drop spindles, much nicer castings.

[Roust]

Ford 9" housing off to powder coating and then received.
Then you got to hang the whole thing.

And one pic of the under floor break set up.

[Roust]

So these pics probably will mean nothing to onlookers, but it is highlighting another lesson and issue.

I had the brackets on the rear end measure and welded on by a third party who was familiar with the code 504 kit . I received the part and set off to powder coating straight away. Silly me.
Turns out they are of and I wouldn't have noticed it unless it was hung on the truck and then measuring it. After staring at it, it became obvious something was wrong, and only then did I measure things. Whoops.

Test fit all your parts before final work! Lesson learned.

I have NOT fixed the issue yet. I will ultimately have to order new brackets and cut the old **** off. Try setting up the dimensions my self and then find someone who can weld well enough to do that kind of fab. And finally I will have to get it powder coated once again.

[Roust]

My shop stool wanted to try out being a proctologist. It didn't go so well.

But back to the work.

putting the 5th member in proved to be more difficult than I had expected. I ****ed up one very costly gasket the first time around. I ordered another gasket and used my hoist to help lift and align the 5th remember.
Another option I didn't consider before struggling with it would be to install the 5th member in the rear end with it off the truck and just rotating the rear end so that the studs on the pumpkin are facing up. I think that would help with alignment. I imagine it will be a wrench throwing frustration doing any of this under the truck in the future.

Also installed the axles and rear wilwood brakes.

[Roust]

I am going to do something different with the steering.
I am sure I will end up regretting it but I swapped the power steering set up with a manual rack and pinion rack with the expectation of adding electric power steering assist in the future.

[Roust]

Now it is time to begin some major mistakes.
I have never welded anything that mattered before and starting your cab on your classic vehicle is a **** way to start.

Started with the firewall and some LS fab panels.
Before everything goes down hill let me be clear. LS Fab parts are great and their customer service is excellent.
The problems that occurred were due to user install error.

It's funny looking at the pics nothing looks too far gone, but I will tell you, I have tons of burn through, extremely thin metal from excessive grinding, and massive warpage due to heat.
I turned my firewall in to an ocean of bulges and ripples and paper thing metal.

Lessons learned:
-mind your gaps. Get everything to fit up nearly perfectly before committing to welding them in. Don't assume that filling gaps with weld is the way to go. It's not.
-heat from grinding ****s things up as much as heat from welding.
- chasing perfectly smother weld areas can lead to excessively then metal. The weld area creates a W shape a high near the base metal, a low, then a high on the weld bead, a low, and the a high near the base metal. chasing that around with a grinder will **** your **** up!
-And watch out for those knotted wire stripping wheels! They are worse than your pissed off ex wife, but they might not do quite as much damage.

Ultimately I had to throw in the towel and look for someone to fix my. I gave mistakes.
I had given up on the cab at this point and decided to drop it off to someone who could handle this work better than I could.
AND OF COURSE this choice turned out to be a total disaster!

[Roust]

well now that I have yielded to the sheet metal gods and gave my cab up to someone else, lets focus on something else.

How about the LS swap part of things?
Do you remember these cars?


How about now?
Attachment 2256617


Several years back I did a motor swap on a 2008 Saturn sky.
6.0 LQ4 iron black boarded and stroked to 408 C.I.
T56 trans.
Needless to say the thing was a blast to drive. But as all projects I seem to jump into, it was not without its foibles, not least of which was not being able to pass smog here in cali.

Over the years it had become more and more difficult to get a car "passed" and finally I chose to give up on the sky. The route I chose to go was selling the chassis and all of the components that make it possible. I kept the motor trans and engine management.

[Roust]

The LS motor pulled out of the sky was perfectly healthy, making 460ish hp/tq to the tires, but I had other plans for this motor once in the truck. Namely forced induction. So I had to open up a motor with less than 2,000 miles on it to drop the compression, from 11.0:1 to 9.0:1 or there abouts.

Seeing as I am writing this a few years after the build I can't rattle off the list of components used off the top of my head. If anyone is interested, I have kept notes and recipients.

While I was at it I changed the heads from ported 243 heads to some afr ls3 style heads.

Apart she goes.

[Roust]

The lower compression was accomplished by the bigger dish of the pistons and larger chamber in the heads.

Before

After

[dsraven]

nice work, thanks for the pics.
my wife wanted a sky soooo bad. she ended up with an audi TT quattro roadster. fun but small inside.
keep posting up pics, and wearing the gloves, coveralls and face protection when you're using those knotted wire brushes, haha. (been there, even with the safety stuff on they get through the clothing)

[gsinon]

Great build. We all struggle with things at one point in time. What's the old saying...If it was easy everyone would do it.

[Roust]

Originally Posted by dsraven

nice work, thanks for the pics.
my wife wanted a sky soooo bad. she ended up with an audi TT quattro roadster. fun but small inside.
keep posting up pics, and wearing the gloves, coveralls and face protection when you're using those knotted wire brushes, haha. (been there, even with the safety stuff on they get through the clothing)

Yeah they sky and solstice platforms were fun little cars. I had 2 at different times in my life. One was the redline turbo tuned, and the other was the one that I did the LS swap on. I am just 6'1" and had to REALY REALY want it to work in order to fit into the damn things. Loved the cars though. Even with their flaws.

Originally Posted by gsinon

Great build. We all struggle with things at one point in time. What's the old saying...If it was easy everyone would do it.

Thanks gsinon I will keep on keeping on. I wanted to do a thread showing all the issues I'm having. It always seems that everyone's build continue on without issues. I want to share the mistakes and hickups. Im still just catching up with the progress thus far, and I'm posting the issues from memory. I am sure I will have more detailed accounting of issues and learning experiences as I catch up to where I am now.

[Roust]

Moving on to engine assembly. some where towards the end of 2020.

After picking up then block from the machine shop where it was undergoing some basic clean up, and installing new cam bearings, I started putting parts together.

Its always a good idea to test fit and check throughout the process.
when I went to place the cam in block I noticed binding between one of the bearings and cam journals. After much frustration I discovered that the cam bearing bore in the block had a bur on it and when the bearing was driven it, it deformed the bearing radius cause the cam to bind on installation.

Its hard to see but this is where the bur was in the bore causing the bearing to deform.


This is just a pic for dramatics sake. I don't recall how many boxes of bearing sets and individual bearings I went through figuring this out! Plus I think I was already running oversized bearings on some boars. I don't recall for sure.
Attachment 2256835

But eventually I figured it all out. I filled the bur down gently, bought the tool need for removing and driving in cam bearings my self, and continued on with the build.

[Roust]

With disaster averted, for now, I continued the assembly.
After the cam bearing bore issues, everything else went together like butter.

****!!! I didn't flip the head gaskets the wrong way round did I?!?! Well I guess I will find out when I run the damn thing...
Seriously these kind of thoughts always get to you when you get to the end of an assembly.

Attachment 2256841



Harbor Freight torque wrong, don't fail me now!
It didn't... I don't think.
Attachment 2256843

Attachment 2256844

[Roust]

I got the cab back from the body guy after I gave up on doing the work myself.
The guy had may cab for way over a year and took almost $4,000 to do metal work on the sucker.
Well, I ****ing hated how it turned out.

The bead roll in the firewall he did was pinched in the transition spots. But the worst thing is it was lopsided. It droops to one side. Garbage.
I'm sure some will say "it's not that bad" but that's not the point. It clearly there and one of the things this person was hired to address.


This is an example of how much Bondo was on the door jam before. I wont fault my metal guy for leaving the vin there. I get the issues that presents.
Attachment 2256846

Hey wait mister metal man, weren't you supposed to fix this gaping whole in my kick panel? I guess not.
Attachment 2256847

Well screw it. I might as well move along with the rough assembly of my truck as I fume and brood over this disaster.


There are other major issues too. included continued use of excessive bondo used to cover some cover panels he slapped on.

You might ask why I took delivery of the cab like this and the answer it he had it for so long. I was no longer willing to deal with the situation. I just wanted my cab back and wash my hands of this chapter of the build experience. I paid him in full. Threw my cab onto my little utility trailer and went home with my tail between my legs.

[GreasyLikeaBurger]

Originally Posted by Roust

I got the cab back from the body guy after I gave up on doing the work myself.
The guy had may cab for way over a year and took almost $4,000 to do metal work on the sucker.
Well, I ****ing hated how it turned out.

The bead roll in the firewall he did was pinched in the transition spots. But the worst thing is it was lopsided. It droops to one side. Garbage.
I'm sure some will say "it's not that bad" but that's not the point. It clearly there and one of the things this person was hired to address.
Attachment 2256845

This is an example of how much Bondo was on the door jam before. I wont fault my metal guy for leaving the vin there. I get the issues that presents.
Attachment 2256846

Hey wait mister metal man, weren't you supposed to fix this gaping whole in my kick panel? I guess not.
Attachment 2256847

Well screw it. I might as well move along with the rough assembly of my truck as I fume and brood over this disaster.
Attachment 2256848

There are other major issues too. included continued use of excessive bondo used to cover some cover panels he slapped on.

You might ask why I took delivery of the cab like this and the answer it he had it for so long. I was no longer willing to deal with the situation. I just wanted my cab back and wash my hands of this chapter of the build experience. I paid him in full. Threw my cab onto my little utility trailer and went home with my tail between my legs.

Damn, I feel your pain. I dropped my cab off at a local dealership body shop (this was 1999) that was known for doing classics in there slow times of year(tax time and xmas). All the old timers in the area would swear by it. So I dropped it of, with repair panels for the floor and firewal (*****in Products), they sold them as a matching set. I check in every few months and am given the line that they are busy, but you are next. I even pop in every once in a while and see my cab sitting on the dolly I made for it with casters, sitting uncovered in there lot. Anyways, 18months goes by and I hear through the grapevine that the shop is closing (dealership got bought and is moving locations). So I call the manager up and says they are closing, but one of his guys is going to get it done in the next 2 weeks. So im thinking, sweet finally going to happen. A week and a half later I get a call, that I need to pick it up by the weekend. So I asked if they got it done, and he said "nope, didnt really get it started". So i go down there an pick it up. Half the floor brace pieces are missing, they had decided to attempt to grind out the firewall spot welds, then took a cutoff wheel to part of it and half butchered in the pass kick panel section. The manager had the balls to say, "dont worry, im not going to charge you for the work they did". It looks like a kid in his first day of auto shop tried to repair it. And its been sitting like that ever since. I still alk by it sitting in the garage. Someday I will get to it myself.

Im still "planning my build out".

[Roust]

GreasyLikeaBurger, that's a brutal story. It's like the people have no empathy for others and that it takes to get your project cars through the build process. All the time and money. And it's these people's jobs/professions. If anyone should be able to understand how much these projects take, it would be them. I don't get it.

So you have had a cut up cab sitting around for 20 years?
It took me about a year to get over the frustration of my cab mishap and start to cut it apart to try and fix it my self... AGAIN. I'm sure the motivation has got to be there somewhere for you!
Good luck, and do what you love!

I'll add another pic of more rough work he did (we are breaking from the timeline a bit here. getting closer to present day and the steps I'm taking now). These were supposed to be cover panels to remove the vents of both side of the cab. Well the patch panels are certainly there! but so is tones of warping, sinking, and....BONDO!!!!!
Attachment 2256882
I would say that stuff was over a 1/4 in thick, at it's heaviest application on there. This kind of work was exactly what I was trying to avoid AND remove.

both sides are like that.

[Roust]

Eventual I got an old 4L80E transmission I had laying around rebuilt by a local speed shop out here. I kept the automatic valve body but I was told this thing should still hold some serious power.


As I have mention before, make sure you mock up and check EVERYTHING!
Also remember, never draw a transmission to a motor with the bell housing bolts. If something isn't right you can snap off parts of the trans casting or whip out a trust bearing inside the transmission.
When I went to bolt the trans to the motor there was a little binding. I can't recall what exactly was going on but I had to change out some parts do to interference with flywheel and the torque converter.

Another issue I had with the trans was the sickout of the torque converter. The puck in the center of the torque converter need to stick out into the back of the crank a certain amount when the torque converter is pulled up to the flex plate.
At first there wasn't enough stick out. This is in revers, as we are looking here at the impression left by the TC puck in some play dough.




I had to send the TC back to the trans shop where they added some length. Even the pros can't know every potential combo out there and can make mistakes. cover your ass.
This was what the proper amount looked like.