Hello HAMB!! Just purchased a 57 Chevy 3100. I am putting a 350/350 power train in it. I plan to use it as my daily driver here in Arizona. It came with a 1976 10 bolt rear end with 6 lug. I want to do the following things. Sand blast and rebuild the chassis. I plan to remove the cab, front end, and bed to get this done. I have old rims and roller tires on it now. Anything I need to know before having this work done? AC, its hott as hell here in the summer! I don't know which route to go on this, any advice?? Power steering. I am currently looking for more info on installing the toyota 4x4 steering box. I have some instructions but no pics. I have located a complete power steering unit, pulleys, pitman arm and box but don't know if I can use/need all of it. Guy is asking $250 for all of it. Any advice? Brakes. I would consider keeping the 4 wheel drums if they will stop the 350! I don't currently have a master cylinder so that much will be upgraded. Power brakes disc brakes would be a plus but not mandatory. Suspension. I want to lower the shit out of this thing. have talked with Terd Ferg about this, thanks for the advice. Plan is to run a drop axle and remove some leafs in the front. Rear will be flipped and thats about it. I purchased a set of 16x7 rims and am hoping they will fit after some mods. Right now the front hits the tie rod and the rear doesn't fit over the axle, the ID on the rim is too small. Plan to open the rim up so it will bolt up. Let me know if this will kill me. The body is in great shape. I will truly find out once the chassis is out. I plan to do a foux tina paint job just because it will be cheap and get the look I want. I know, its fake but I don't have 40 years to spare!!! NOW FOR THE PICS!!!! Picture of rear axle. My rally rim ID is not as large as this one. Should I bore it out to fit??
Ok, a few power steering revelations. 1. The 79-84 Toyota 4x4 power steering boxes are hard to find. 2. Classic Performance Products wants $288 for the steering box bracket, 2 hoses and a pitman arm. This sounds expensive to me. 3. Mid Fifty sells a similar kit for F100's which includes everything below but no hoses for $295. That steering box mounting bracket looks heavy duty in both kits. I still think this could be fabbed up at home for much less. link to a detailed F100 install
STeering will be funky with a short drag link, make sure the geometry is correct. Those wheels don't fit these trucks, as you've discovered. There are plenty of 6 lug 15" wheels around that will. Hint: look at the offset (backspacing), you need wheels that make the tire stick out further Neat truck! Should be fun. I've been driving these old trucks with stock drum brakes and manual steering and no a/c and big blocks for decades. Maybe I'm abnormal. ps looks funky with the 55-56 grille and 57 hood
squirrel, Can you tell me about your drum brakes are they bone stock or modified in some way to stop better? I have to purchase a master cylinder as the truck didn't come with one. If I can put together a manual drum system that will keep me out of trouble I am all for it. Found a set of 15" steelies, going to look at them this afternoon. I am keeping my eye out for a 57 grill but its low on the list right now.
Looking at king pin sets. Do you pay what you get for or are they pretty much the same kit? Rock Auto has a set for $35 LMC charges $50 Oldchevytrucks is asking $90
I don't know if stock drum brakes would keep you out of trouble, they work for me as long as I keep up on the maintenance. Plan on rebuilding the hydraulics every ten years, adjusting the brakes every 5k miles or so, and keeping an eye on the shoes so they don't wear too far and eat up the drums. Having the steering and suspension in good condition helps a lot too...so it won't pull to the side when you hit the brakes, etc. I don't know what's up with king pin prices, also I don't know what quality parts are comign from the resto places on that stuff. I try to find new old stock parts when I can. Be sure to look at the steering parts, and the spring bushings and shackles, when they wear the truck will handle badly. Power steering and power disk brakes are nice if you want to drive it like a modern car. If you can deal with using a little more muscle, and driving more carefully, then you should be ok with the old stuff after you get it all working right. But if you do'nt think you can deal with it, you should go ahead and look into all the upgrades...but it can get expensive or complicated.
After thinking I would never find a set of rims, I scored a set tonight. Hell they even came with whitewalls on em!!! THANKS TIM!!!!!!
cool truck! I have done the power steering conversion, power brake conversion, 350/350T, conversion 350/700R4 conversion, disc brake conversion, etc. Squirrel is your man for 55-59 Chevy's (trucks or cars). The man is the shit, so ask him if you have any questions. Terd is your man for custom questions. I have a power steering unit out of a mid 70's Chevy that works just fine... just wondering why you were thinking of the Toyota junk (price maybe?) Try classicparts.com or truckandcarshop.com for your truck needs, maybe a lot cheaper and the same brand of part.
Might want to look and see if the rivets are ground down on the front brake hubs, if not they'll keep the wheels from seating properly. Looks good, just get rid of the whitewalls and it'll be perfect!
Neat, it's an original V8 truck, it has the motor mounts riveted to the back of the front crossmember. I didn't see the wheel picture before, this is a 1988-98 type wheel, not a 1970s wheel.
Cool pickup & nice project. I would suggest get it running and driveable the easiest, cheapest, & fastest way right now. Once you are driving it, it will be much easier to see what you can live with and what needs fixing ASAP. I made the mistake of taking mine all apart - then I got laid off. I had to move out-of-state for work & left it at my folks house. Long story short - it's taking me years to put it all back together - & I still live in another state!! I will never again take apart a car or truck without a semi funded plan (& time) to get it all back together
Thanks for pointing that out. I guess I can return the V8 conversion kit and get my $100 back from LMC. Man the door hinge setup on these trucks is total shit. Just prior to stripping the cab off the frame I was able to install the new drivers side striker plate and was able to get the door to close. Well, I could slam it closed..... Are there any tricks to getting these doors setup right? Thanks for the advice. I am leaning more and more towards the "get it up and running then change shit out" school of thought.
The door hinges do have problems. The usual culprit is where the hinge bolts to the door at the bottom. The mount breaks around the bolt holes. You'll see that the upper hinge has a piece of metal sandwiching the hinge, the lower one does not. I've reinforced the lower ones by adding a piece over the hinge to help make it stronger, after welding up the cracks around the nuts. When the hinges are working right, and the door is aligned, then the latch doesn't cause too much trouble. THe stock V8 mounts only work with the original style bellhousing, for a manual transmission. If you have an automatic, then you want to install side mounts on the engine, and a crossmember to support them, along with a single rear transmission mount and crossmember.
So I just did a little research on the 350 that I picked up. It has the 462624 head casting, not good. I need to find something on the cheap to replace these boat anchors. maybe some vortec heads??
I don't think you will find any remarkable difference by going from one OEM cyl head to another. IMO, if you want to go faster, these old trucks really like big blocks. A 396 won't kill your MPG too much, & the cool look factor is waaay better than any SBC. A nice used m-20 muncie with that BBC would be icing on the cake. 396's can be found for good prices too Drop in that 350 with those heads & spend your dinero for the other stuff, like POR-15 for the frame. I would also replace the fuel & brake lines (upgrade to s/s). You might be able to rebuild your wheel cyl's & master cyl. This would also be the time to install a dropped axle if you are thinking about going in that direction. Get an LMC catalog & add up the small parts like brake lines & stuff. If you can swing it, upgrade the rear end at this point. You can always get back to it later though.
My only reason for hunting for some new heads is I plan to put a cam, intake, and 4bbl carb on this thing. It would be a good time to do the heads and would help the engine make alot more HP. I know one thing for sure, its not getting put in with the stock intake and 2 bbl carb. Period. A BBC would be cool but not for me. I "eventually" plan to run a newer LS engine down the road a few years. I just want something in the mean time thats reliable and fun to romp on. rebuilding the brakes, Brake lines, and fabbing up the rear fuel tank are my next big items to do, once the chassis is blasted. I am at the point where I need to decide about what master cylinder I will be using........ any inputs??
The master cyl will depend on the brakes you are planning. Disc brakes will need some type of booster. I'm rebuilding my stock brakes & orig master cyl for now on my '59.
Going to run the drums front and rear. Here is a pic of the front. At least there was grease on the bearings. I have two broken wheel studs in the drums. How do I go about replacing these? Should I replace them all? Not so lucky on the rears! I will need to make a trip to the junkyard to get the missing pieces.
I didn't notice before, but you have a later model rearend in there, probably from a 1970s 4x4. You can replace all the front studs, or just the ones that are bad, it's up to you.
I am trying to decode the damn axle tag but can't find it online. Maybe cause its out of a truck. I have been looking at Camaro, Nova and Chevelle info. The axle code is KRY041W9Z. The ratio appears to be somewhere around 3:73 judging by the number of driveshaft rotations (3.75) vs the axle turns (2) on one side only.
I rebuilt my stock master and brakes....BUT... I have a feeling once I get the 283 thats in it tuned I may be upgrading to discs....
Still running drums in my 57 one ton, but they're 12" instead of 11 that the half tons have. But it only has a 454
Do you have a photo of the diff? Here's some ID stuff if it helps http://59chevypickup.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=81987113 http://59chevypickup.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=144767144
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